Murder in Hevron Hills

Even though I have some thoughts to share about my recent birthday, Israel, and blogging in general, I couldn't let this pass without mentioning it first.

 

A land flowing with milk and honey. 

 

This past Shabbat's Torah reading includes G-d promise to take the Jews out of Egypt, and lead them to Eretz Yisrael -- a land flowing with milk and honey.

 

Those of us fortunate to live here today, and those of us even more fortunate to realize what a beautiful land we live in -- take the opportunity to tour the land, seek it out, and appreciate the trails, rocks, streams, springs and landscape.

 

This past Friday 3 Jewish hikers went out to explore the land, Nachal Telem in the Hevron mountains.   Guilty of touring.  Palestinian terrorists neared to group and opened fire.  2 of the hikers were in elite IDF units and bravely returned fire, and a gun battle ensued.  Outnumbered and attacked first, the hikers bravely fought to the end...killing one terrorist, seriously wounding one, moderately wounding another, and another one or two got away.

 

The third Jewish hiker hid and managed to alert security services which evacuated her.

 

"Two IDF soldiers on leave were killed on Friday in an apparent drive-by shooting south of Hebron. Cpl. Ahikam Amihai (20) and Sgt. David Ruben (21), both residents of the neighboring settlement of Kiryat Arba, were hiking through the Telem Creek area with an unnamed female companion when a group of four Palestinians drove up towards them and opened fire.

 

The third hiker in the group managed to take cover as the first gunshots were heard and called the Kiryat Arba security headquarters to alert them of the incident. "We've been hit, there are two critically wounded Israelis here," she reported. However the female hiker had difficulty giving rescue services the party's exact location and the searches took over an hour.

 Amihai and Ruben were seriously injured and died of their wounds shortly afterwards, they were pronounced dead at the scene by a military doctor. They will be brought to rest Saturday evening, after Shabbat.

Eli Rosenberg, a volunteer with the regional MDA rescue services told Ynet that the third hiker was crying hysterically when the search party reached the scene after a 1.5 mile walk from the central path.

"She said they had been walking near the creek and noticed a car driving back and forth near them several times. At some point the car left the path and began driving towards them, as its occupants pulled out their weapons," said Rosenberg.  YNET

One of the 2 hikers killed, Achikam Amichai, is the son of the head of Machon HaTorah VeHa'aretz (which is responsible for Otzar Ha'Aretz -- a mehadrin shmita solution which I've blogged about before).

 

A healthy Jewish response would be reaffirming our commitment to the land.

 

Instead...

 

What Israel does: Ehud Olmert continues to release Palestinian terrorists and re-arm them with bullets, rifles and armored vehicles.  Olmert has  frozen all Jewish construction in the West Bank, and virtually stopped all new plans for Jewish construction in Eastern liberated Jerusalem.

 

What the EU does: Israel said on Saturday it had recently seized a truck carrying chemicals used to make explosives hidden in bags marked as EU aid for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.  The army said 6.5 tons of potassium nitrate were in bags marked as sugar from the European Union for Palestinians in the coastal enclave.  EU officials in Jerusalem had no immediate comment.   The cargo in a Palestinian truck was traveling in the West Bank and seized several weeks ago at an Israeli checkpoint, the army said.

 

What Haaretz wants: (see below**) Israel needs to be raped. (After last week's story that IDF soldiers are racist and evil for not raping Palestinian women, it's only logical for the leftists to demand that Israel to get raped...?)

 

Don't worry - I'll post some good news later.

 

Shavua tov,

 

Jameel.

 

** Since the JPost link keeps breaking, here is the entire article before it's not available in the google cache.

Dec 27, 2007 21:45 | Updated Dec 28, 2007 9:25
Ha'aretz editor: Israel wants to be raped
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

Ha'aretz editor David Landau told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a recent private dinner that Israel "wants to be raped by the US" and needed more vigorous American intervention to resolve Middle East conflicts, according to a report in the New York Jewish Week.

Landau made the remarks at a confidential gathering of Israeli guests at the home of US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones on September 10, the Jewish Week reported on its Web site Thursday.

The paper said that Landau, who was seated next to Rice, reportedly referred to Israel as a "failed state" politically that needed a US-imposed settlement. It added that Landau reportedly "implored Rice to intervene, asserting that the Israeli government wanted 'to be raped' and that it would be like a 'wet dream' for him to see this happen."

In response, Landau told the New York weekly that this description was "inaccurate" and "a perversion of what I said," and that he had expressed his views with "much more sophistication."

But, he went on, "I did say that in general, Israel wants to be raped - I did use that word - by the US, and I myself have long felt Israel needed more vigorous US intervention in the affairs of the Middle East."

He explained to the paper that each of the participants at the dinner spoke of Israel's challenges, and he chose to point out that since 1967, Israel had failed to resolve its territorial conflicts with the Palestinians. "I told [Rice] that it had always been my wet dream to address the secretary of state" on this critical issue, Landau told the Jewish Week.

Rice was "fantastic" and "completely unfazed" by his comments, he said, and remained "urbane and diplomatic."

Landau said he had no regrets about what he had said, and that he was later congratulated by several professors in the room who felt "I articulated what many Israelis feel."

Other participants said Rice told the guests that the US had no intention of imposing a settlement on the Israelis and Palestinians.

Channel 2's Arab affairs expert Ehud Ya'ari briefly reported the incident some weeks ago, but did not name Landau. Ya'ari called the incident "embarrassing."

 

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael