Picture Perfect

To hear the BBC report on Gaza, click here (by DJ productions :-D)

And so the middle east situation is not really getting any better. After just under 40 years, Israel is pulling out it's civilians from the Gaza area. The move is highly unpopular amongst Israeli's. The reason is because they have lost faith - lost faith in the ability of the PA to stop terror, lost faith in any alleged cease-fire agreement - and therefore, what good will giving land to the Palestinians do? Will it stop the bombs? Whilst the more naive of you say "it's worth a try, perhaps it will" - if one looks back in Israel's short history, when did giving land to the Palestinians stop the terror?

I'll be frank with you all.
Before Israel was under Jewish control, it was an arid desert, with swamps and marshland. It hand a population of about half a million people in total - both Arab and Jewish (Jews have maintained a continued presence in the land for over 3,000 years). A few holocaust survivors came to the land. They were hard men. They had to be. And they knew the difference between success and failure; they understood what a monumental task was at hand: it can be said it is akin to transforming part of the Sahel region (almost hostile desert) into fertile, livable land. And they succeeded. Israel is a wonderful country to go to today - but just 50 years ago, you would be insane to go there. Now, tourism is it's biggest industry.

If I offered you the choice between a maroon rover (whose engine has cloncked out, and the car is currently parked in an awkward position on a road near me [thank goodness. Otherwise i'd have had a long way to walk!] - I hope it's not towed or anything) or a Rolls-Royce, which would you take? There is no doubt that the land of Israel in it's entirety is the Rolls-Royce, and any land the Palestinians would have for themselves would remain forever the Rover, without a doubt (due to corrupt leadership who would not invest in it's people, but rather bombs, to blow up other people).  

The militant (recognised) terror organisations like Hamas and the PA - yes, they are terrorists too, they're just more subtle, and fund everyone else to do the dirty work for them (which is why there are numerous jokes about the PA stopping terrorists about) - realise that any Palestinian land just wouldn't compare to what Israel is. As I have said previously, and no one has challenged me on this point, the Palestinians do not just want a state. They want a state built on top of Israel. This is akin to the IRA wanting a state instead of England.

And now Palestinians are moaning about a Hamas "commander" being shot by who they assume was an Israeli  sniper. Does it come as a wonder that Israel wants to kill those who mastermind terrorist bombs, ambushes, and ultimately, will be the death of the state of Israel if allowed to continue it's natural course? Equally, does it come as a surprise that Hamas wants to kill people in the Israeli army (It is a despicable and cowardly thing to terrorise civilians, who cannot defend themselves. If they want a shoot out, then so be it. But suicide bombers are the lowest of the low. These people do not deserve to have a war fought based on the Geneva convention rules - as the USA and UK is finding now to their discomfort). "One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist" is something often quoted at me. I am therefore highly familiar with this saying. And as I always reply: Guess what? He's my terrorist, and I will stop him.

That's right folks. When I get to Israel, Hamas are out to kill me, they want to see me dead. Therefore, I will take whatever measure necessary to ensure they do not succeed in taking my life, or that of anyone else, as it happens.

I dislike this veil of namby-pamby "political correctness" which is blinding so many to the realities of the world. Be PC, that's admirable - but not when it starts to result in the persecution of the majority by the minority. Let us not pretend that there are no sides to be taken on the middle east conflict - because there are. Let us not pretend that when speaking about the middle east, people (especially the media) are unbiased. They are highly biased. And that's ok - just don't expect me to agree with opposing views.

So yes, there ARE sides to take.

I reject the false notion that the Palestinians are fighting Zionism and not Judaism, just as I reject the view that the Israeli's are fighting for Judaism or any religious matter, but rather for their very existance as Israelis. In short, the Palestinians are fighting for religious reasons, and the Israeli's for their lives. There is no other way to explain it. Which "nation" rejects the offer of another stronger country, to give them 97% of their demands, and make up the other 3% in other concessions (when that 3% was the demand for Israel to give up Jerusalem, their current capitol)? I'll tell you who does that. A "nation" who doesn't want peace, and who doesn't want land, but who simply wants all the Israeli's out, as Judaism just does not fit with their ideology.

 I say the Israeli's aren't fighting for religious reasons. No doubt, some are. But on the whole, they are not. Regretable, perhaps, to the religious. But the sad fact is, the country where Judaism, Christianity and Islam meets (albeit sometimes violently), is one of the only nations in the world not to make mention of God/gods in it's national anthem. Many Zionists are not only non-religious, but anti-religious. It is doubtful, therefore, that the average Israeli (who is most probably secular, and has about the same inkling of what Judaism is, as anyone currently reading this. Although the likes of sara may know a little more) is fighting for anything other than their own country. I am not criticizing this. Indeed, if I join the army, it is not because I dislike Muslims, but because I dislike Palestinians who attempt to kill me, and others. That's putting it mildly. There is no religious motivation in my decision to join the army, thought I am a practising Jew.

I can catagorically say that the problem in the middle east is not the settlements. It is not this piece of land, or that piece. It is not the Golan Heights, or East Jerusalem, or the Temple mount. It is not oil, or land, or water, or geography or metaphysics. The problem of the middle east is in plain sight. You know what the problem is, and so do I. The problem is that the middle east hates the Jews.

Fine. I don't care. Hate me. Afterall, I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not. Fine, Palestinians War with me. Just don't expect to go unscathed yourself.