7/18/2014 - My second set of observations

Dear Family and Friends  (please feel free to pass this along):

I would like to provide a personal update as well as focus on a number of important ideas now that our IDF has entered Gaza last night. If anyone chooses not to receive an update, please let me know.

Meryl and I are OK though we feel the stress.  I see it a lot with the grand-kids. They talk about violence and killing.  It is very disturbing.  You also can feel it in the air even though Israelis are known for trying to keep life as normal as possible.  For example, I did ride with my road cycle group this morning even though we first talked about what to do if there is a Code Red.  I'm not sure my bike helmet is very protective from a missile attack and quite a few missiles were aimed at the area where we cycle. You also think more about where to drive to avoid areas where there could be rock or Molotov cocktails being thrown though overall the violence by Arabs (only Muslims, by the way, and it is interesting to see the Arab Christian community being very apart from their Muslim counterparts - but that is for another missive) is minimal.  Life goes on.  I also have a bunch of friends whose sons are now fighting in Gaza and we all pray for them.

As Israel adhered to a self-imposed cease-fire on Tues (while rockets continued to rain down on Israeli cities) and a "humanitarian cease fire" yesterday (which was also violated by terrorists in Gaza), it became clear to everyone that we would need to enter Gaza to deal, first and foremost, with the tunnels leading into towns and kibbutzim along the boarder with Gaza.  Had the 13 terrorists who exited such a tunnel yesterday morning succeeded in entering Kibbutz Sufa  http://www.timesofisrael.com/tunnel-infiltration-thwarted-near-kibbutz-sufa/, we would have had a mass casualty event -- and maybe that would have encouraged the New York Times, left wing agitators and an assortment of anti-Semites to update their scorecards as I discussed in the last email - I doubt it.  For Israel, it would have been a disaster and it was time to act against Hamas both for the firing of missiles -- nearly 2,000 so far -- as well as these tunnels.

On a personal basis, interactions with our Muslim Arab friends can be strained but I want to relate one quick story.  Our carpenter is an amazing craftsman as well as a wonderful human being.  When he came yesterday to deliver our reupholstered chairs he mentioned that he was fasting (along with his two workers) for Ramadan. Then ensued a fun conversation on the differences between Jewish and Muslim fasting. Of course, since he has lived with Jews his whole life he know that we wait until 3 stars are out to break our fast (or, I told him, 2 stars and one aircraft :). And that was it.  Of course, there were the things left unsaid and, were he alone, I would have asked him about his feelings, etc.  But the key is that the interaction was unremarkable.  And that is the way it should be.  So one of the key items I want to address is why Hamas and its distorted Islamic philosophy has taken hold.  It is easy to attribute it to Islam per say and, yes, horrible horrible things are being done in the name of Islam all over the Middle East today.  But the political ideology behind this is also extremely important to understand since the Palestinian "movement" was started by purely secular Arabs.  And only later was Islam grafted onto this murderous ideology to give it a patina of religious zeal since Islam was perfectly suited for this transformation.

The most powerful piece I have seen on this subject was just published in the Times of Israel (http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-tragic-self-delusion-behind-the-hamas-war/).  It's a read but worth your time if this issue interests you since I think he nails the underlying ideology perfectly. In a nutshell, from the days of Arafat, the premise of the PLO, Fatah and now Hamas is that Israel is a colonial enterprise and that like all anti-colonial movements, if they strike Israel enough times, the Zionists (they mean Jews) will decide it is not worth the cost, pick up and go home.  It is based upon the same revolutionary movements that threw the French out of Algeria and the French and Americans out of Indochina.  It finally explained to me the odd comment by the Hamas spokesperson recently that Hamas is willing to sacrifice as many martyrs as possible -- in fact, in Algeria 45,000 were killed in a single day. (here is the quote -- and the slip of the tongue that the spokesman made when he said that Hamas is intentionally leading their civilians to death...err, I mean, confrontation http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12063)  But it was worth the sacrifice because the French, in the end, turned up their tails and left.

There is only one "slight"  problem with this ideological model, The French could go home -- but Israelis are indigenous to here and we have nowhere to go. So instead of these attacks weakening our resolve to the point we leave (to where I am not sure) it stiffens our resolve and unites us.  This is a fatal flaw in their ideology.  It also explains why 1. they are willing to direct the killing of their citizens (http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12019) 2. they put almost no money in state building and -- and this is most important -- they invest enormous  national and intellectual energy (and so does Fatah, the PA and Abbas himself) that only the Palestinians -- a completely invented people and national identity (http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/david-meir-levi/an-invented-people/) --  are the true indigenous people and the Jews are no roots here -- that there was no Jewish Kingdom -- King David was a fable; no Jewish Temple in Jerusalem; Jesus was a Palestinian, not a Jew, etc.  Under their current ideology they must say this even though you and I and any normal Jew or Christian knows this is a total fabrication.  Essentially, the Palestinians are stuck in a failed ideology now anchored in Islam. Here is an example of how this anti-colonialist theology becomes completely sick http://elderofziyon.blogspot.co.il/2014/07/arab-writer-justifies-rocket-terror-as.html#.U8TxQrHiO4Y  and btw Elders of Zion is a great resource: http://elderofziyon.blogspot.co.il. Due to Hamas' anti-colonialist theology, Leftist the world over support Palestinians and call for the elimination of Israel (in consort with the ultra-right, which does seem strange but when it comes to anti-Antisemitism this is doable) in spite of Israel's liberal, democratic society that does not hang gays, abuse women, restrict speech or demand religious loyalty -- all important issues for a typical Leftist ideology.  So the Left the world-over is stuck as well in a dysfunctional, diseased paradigm that is completely divorced from reality and is a historical artifact from Arafat's design. 

The other thing I wanted to mention is this whole issue of Israel (really Jewish) power which I also alluded to in my last email.  If Israel wanted really target civilians with our military we could flatten Gaza and Algeria would look like a picnic.  270 dead "civilians" compared to what we could do (and the 270 civilian number is completely fabricated by Hamas people on the ground like in every battle we have with them -- that the majority of the casualties are fighting age males and that Hamas calls them civilians to up the casualty count as part of their PR strategy --http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/07/15/watchdog-al-jazeeras-gaza-fatalities-data-indicates-israel-killed-mostly-combatant-age-males-not-women-or-children/)  clearly proves we are avoiding civilians casualties (see this clip by Col. Richard Kemp testifying on Israel's conduct during wartime -- I have met him and he is a true hero to stand up to these false accusations at the UN: http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=7536409). So Israel is protecting civilians even as these Hamas fighters hide behind the skirts of civilians and Hamas launches, day after day, missiles into cities to kill as many civilians as they can.   Hamas first tells its population that it's good to die for Islam and the "cause", then it places them as human shields, then when civilians die, Hamas uses their deaths to piss off the West and feed the Left's and Arab propaganda machine.  It is such a  cynical use of human life yet  this is all you hear from the foreign media. http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/07/16/nothing-makes-hamas-happier-than-dead-palestinians/

I want to spend a moment on our worst enemy -- ourselves.  I mentioned last time Jewish Voice for Peace.  Another example of how dysfunctional and dangerous the Jewish Left has become are the writings of Gideon Levy of Haaretz. Take,  for example this reprehensible article (http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.605001) He spews this vitriol weekly.  Out of curiously, I wanted to know whether there were Jews supporting Hitler during the early days of WW II.  Yep!  Here are a few links. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_German_National_Jews and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Naumann.

For all those who still read the drivel of the NYT I just want to show a simple example from an op-ed piece by Serge Schmemann, member of their Editorial Board: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/opinion/sunday/13serge.html?_r=0 . Bottom line, there is  no understanding of nuance in the Middle East and he uses Western concepts of "balance" as he sits comfortably in his office in Manhattan and writes these inane pieces while people, Jews included, read and think they are being enlightened about the Middle East. Just compare this to a recent piece by Liat Collins, the Editor of the International Jerusalem Post -- note the subtlety and balance. She is not blinded by political ideology so she is not confused by the facts!   http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/My-Word-Rockets-and-political-science    Please beware, The Times no longer reports news.. it is one big Left wing editorial.  Without mentioning names, the ex-husband of a dear friend, who is an award winning NYT author, told her (I paraphrase) "Look, I am as Left on Israel as it gets, but between us, believe me that Israel will never get a fair hearing at The Times. Period."  The Times is cooking up it's ME coverage.

Before I wrap up, let me mention a few tidbits for reflection.  This article on the more global issues confronting the Middle East and it's impact on our conflict is brilliantly presented in this piece: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/177456/settlers-one-state-solution?all=1# Those who read it get extra credit :).

One of the issues for the Arab culture to also confront is how tactical they are.  Not strategic.  They have patience to wait out their enemies -- which is a strength, of course -- but that is a tactic.  I believe this has two impacts:  1. they do not consider strategies to build their societies (I see this a lot even from Jews coming from Arab countries -- appears to be a cultural issue) and 2. their leader are inept.  Boy are they inept. And if they are strategic, they are typically assassinated like Anwar Sadat.

Lastly, you will hear people say, you know, you make peace with enemies. Yep, that is true, but only after they have been completely defeated.  Look at the difference between WW II and the Korean conflict which is still going on.  Until our enemies accept their defeat -- they cannot move on, their "street" will continue to agitate for murder and we will be in this cycle of violence. I heard this first from Dr. Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/. This leads me to the open letter I just penned to our about-to-depart President, Shimon Peres.

The open letter is below.

Have a wonderful weekend and may Israel be strong and fully defeat this murderous ideology.

Sam
________________________________________

Dear President Peres:

We have met a number of times at your conferences and I have been an admirer and deeply humbled by your many years of service to the State. 

I must, however, ask you to reconsider your position regarding Mr. Abbas as it is out of synch with reality.  I know you speak often of being a dreamer and that is a wonderful quality, however, at the same time dreaming requires an adjustment to reality. You declared at yesterday's press conference with Mr. Blair: "President Abbas is not only a partner for Israel but is the best hope for the Palestinians for a future of stability, respect, independence and prosperity. He is a man of peace, a responsible leader."  A responsible leader? He called our measured actions to defend ourselves from terror rockets by Hamas -- actions you personally defended on CNN -- a "genocide" and then likened this to Auschwitz. ("It's genocide - the killing of entire families is genocide by Israel against our Palestinian people...What's happening now is a war against the Palestinian people as a whole and not against the factions” and he then declared “Shall we recall Auschwitz?”) This is not responsible. This is grotesque. This is incitement. Pure and simple. 

Mr. Abbas is the leader of Fatah and the PA whose websites incites daily against Israel in the most murderous and hateful ways. He cannot hide from this. You know that.  Palestinian Media Watch, which tracks this constant hate speech in Arabic, is replete with these disgusting quotes. Just over the last week, the PA website stated that Jews' God demands: "Passover Matzah made from the blood of our children" (http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12004) or Fatah to Israelis in Hebrew: "Death will reach you from the south to the north... The KN-103 rocket is on its way toward you" (http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=11964). He is their leader yet not a peep. And differentiating between the PA and Fatah is a fiction.  And you and I know that he is not even democratically elected.  And you and I know that his family and friends personally benefit from his position for financial gain.  He is not a partner for peace. He says wonderful platitudes to gain international recognition and incites on a regular basis in Arabic.  I wish we would stop making excuses for what he supports either through words or silence.  Please.

So let's try a test. Let's see if he will not only retract his latest incitement of genocide/Auschwitz and say he is wrong. Let him declare he will dismantle the hate machine he condones within Fatah and the PA.  While we are at it, let him visit the families of murdered teens, Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar  and Naftal Frenkel, by his coalitions partners the way you, Mr. Peres tried to visit the family of Mohammed Abu Khdeir.   He cannot. He will not.  I believe, in your heart, you know that already.

One last thing.  When you hosted the summer camp for kids escaping the missiles in the South you were at a loss to explain why hostilities have escalated in Gaza given the bad economic shape of the people there.  President Peres, we all know the reason why they do this and it is a immoral and corrupt connection to radical Islam which calls for the destruction of Israel no matter the price and the creation of a culture of murder and death in their society.  You have, thank God, been around long enough to know this is the issue throughout the Middle East. It infects Hamas, and, I am sorry to say, it infects Fatah and the PA and therefore Mr. Abbas.

Please be honest to the world about what is really happening here.  The world trusts you and you have the credibly to set the record straight.  Maybe, at one time, your support for Mr. Abbas made sense. But let's call a spade a spade.  Genocide -- Auschwitz.  He has crossed a red line that even you should not accept in your dreams.

I hope you receive these words with respect and admiration for all you have done.

Thank you.

Samuel H. Solomon

Mr. Solomon made Aliyah 5 years ago from New York and lives in Rosh Pina.  He is an investor and Chairman of two Israeli Software companies.  He may be reached at sam@arizal.biz