My heart is heavy but my soul is always full of love and hope.
I always try to be light and positive and informative in my articles but admit I have been struggling this past week.
Like so many other Jews and humans around the world, I have been horrified with the events taking place in Israel.
Attacks on Israel is nothing new. Israelis have had to defend themselves just hours into its official statehood back in 1948 and has had to endure countless missiles, attacks, and war from all of their neighboring countries ever since.
Israel is a small country about the size of New Jersey. It has only about 9 1/2 million total citizens and home to 7 million Jews. It is the only Jewish homeland and is the only democracy in the Middle East. However, it chooses to accept Arabs and Christians and various other faiths who have lived mostly peacefully together for years.
This latest attack on Israel is more extreme than ever. The acts of barbarism are beyond comprehension as Hamas terrorists raped and killed young women, kidnapped young children and elderly women and brutally murdered families with unspeakable acts to babies.
I am a proud American Jew who has always supported Israel and its right to exist as the only Jewish state in the world.
The following is an article I wrote in my former local paper’s editorial section after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets and mortars into Israel from the Gaza Strip in January 2009. I responded to another residents’ comments defending Palestinian actions.
I invite you to learn some history to have a better understanding of these events.
The danger in allowing “views” to be published is that sometimes people seem to confuse propaganda with well-documented facts. This is shown clearly in Peggy Waldman’s January 22nd out of touch and inaccurate statements concerning Israel defending itself against Hamas.
Ms. Waldman claims “…the people of Gaza were driven there by the Israeli army in 1948…”
FACT: The Palestinian refugees in Gaza were forced there in 1948 not by Israel but by the Egyptians, kept there under guard, shot if they tried to leave and never given Egyptian citizenship or Egyptian passports. They were Arabs rejected by all neighboring Arab countries. (These facts are recorded by Yasir Arafat himself in his authorized biography by Alan Hart, Arafat:Terrorist or Peace Maker? 1982).
However, let us not lose sight of the cause of the Arab refugee problem to begin with. In 1947, the UN partition plan mandated the creation of two states on the remaining 20 percent of the Palestine mandate: the State of Israel for the Jews, and another state for the Arabs. However, the Arabs chose to reject their state, and instead launched a war against Israel. After failing to obliterate Israel, they would not sign a formal peace order or take care of the Arab refugees who remained outside Israel’s borders.
Ms. Waldman then claims “… Israel’s strategy has been to make ordinary Palestinians suffer in hopes of creating ill will toward Hamas”
FACT: First, under Israeli rule from 1967 to 1992, the Palestinian population of the West Bank experienced the highest standard of living of any Arab country with the exception of the oil states. The same is true of Arab Israelis.
By contrast, since the transfer of authority in the West Bank to the PLO in 1993, the condition of the Palestinian population under the Palestinian Authority has declined precipitously. The standard of living of the West Bank Palestinians has eroded, and GDP is 1/10th of what it was under Israeli control.
This is due to the misappropriations of more than $5.2 billion by the rule of the Palestinian Authority into the personal accounts of Arafat and his lieutenants for weapons, neglect of the infrastructure, and due to the continuous terror war, against which Israel must exercise defensive controls.
Now, under Hamas, we see much of the same with Hamas funneling money into weapons to destroy Israel while denying the needs of their own citizens. The Palestinians are certainly suffering-suffering from the people they elected to govern.
More outlandish is Waldman’s comment on Hamas not being a terrorist group.
FACT After Arafat’s death in 2004, Hamas rocket attacks on Israel proliferated with as many as 80 per day targeting civilian sites in Israeli communities in and near Gaza. In an effort for peace, Israel unilaterally and unconditionally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 painfully uprooting 9000 Israelis.
By extending this olive branch, Israel believed that this would finally give the Palestinian Authority a chance to finally be in charge of its own destiny by building its own state, giving its people a national identity and peace with Israel.
Hamas, however, promptly declared the withdrawal a military victory, emphasizing the success of terrorism in defeating Israel, and promised more terror attacks from the newly ceded Gaza Strip and West Bank. These areas now became an even closer launching pads to fulfill Hamas’s founding document that called for the obliteration of Israel and the genocide of the world’s Jews.
The almost daily barrage of as many as 80 unprovoked Qassam rockets and mortars indiscriminately into Israeli cities and farming communities, continued right into December of this year constantly breaking cease fire agreements. Yes, Ms. Waldman, I’m pretty sure this meets the definition of Hamas being a terrorist group!
Finally, Israel proclaimed it had enough in December of this past year with its invasion into Gaza. As President Obama said during his visit to Israel this year, “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.”
Israel’s purpose to their offensive into Gaza was to destroy the pipeline of underground smuggling of weapons from Iran and Egypt used against Israel. Israel used precision missiles to destroy these tunnels and stockpiles of weapons.
In their shrewdly barbaric style, Hamas hid their stockpiles in private homes, mosques, and even schools—using their own people as human shields (something Ms. Waldman conveniently does not mention).
Knowing this, Israel made an incredible effort in distributing flyers and even made phone calls to warn citizens of their targets prior to launching in order to protect as many civilians as possible.
Yes, I would agree that the loss of 1000 Palestinians is tragic and I am grateful that the offensive has ended. However, it is also tragic the thousands of civilian Israelis who have lost their lives over the years and others who live in fear daily of suicide bombers and indiscriminate missile attacks by a group who cannot see peace as an option but whose only mission is the destruction of Israel.
FINAL FACT
If the Arabs put down their weapons, there would be no more violence.
If Israel put down her weapons, there would be no more Israel.
Jill Gordon
Warren, NJ
Echoes Sentinel
January 25, 2009
This article could have been published today with the latest events. However, the atrocities are more horrific than ever.
After the Holocaust, the main motto has been, “Never Again.”
That is why it is so important to know what is happening so we can prevent tragic events like these from happening. I have chosen to help make people aware of the facts as knowledge is power. So, please share this or let others know.
I have also chosen to show my support by donating money to various charities to aid Israeli soldiers and citizens who have been injured, lost loved ones and/or their homes:
https://www.fidf.org (Israel Defense Forces)
https://www.israaid.org/ (non-governmental humanitarian aid in Israel)
https://afmda.org/ (American Friends of Magen David Adom-Israel Red Cross-Michael Bloomberg will match any donation)
I also invite you to join me in sending prayers to everyone who is involved in these tragic events.
“It is our choices that show what we truly are far more than our abilities.”
Live well and love more,
Jill Gordon
CHHC, MHt, MNLP, MTT, MSC, CLC
Certified Holistic Health Counselor, Master Certified Clinical Hypnotist*, Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming*, Master Certified Life and Success Coach
All material in this newsletter is provided for information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action or inaction should be taken based solely on the contents of this publication;instead readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being. The information provided has not been approved the Food & Drug Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness or disease.
