Change of Venue

Got a phone call yesterday from the Magen David Adom district dispatcher -- concerning the annual 2 day Emergency Responder/EMT and Ambulance Driver refresher course I'm registered for this coming Sunday and Monday.

"The venue has been changed from Jerusalem, we just wanted to make sure that's ok with you", the caller said.

"OK, where has it been changed to?"

"Ashkelon," the MDA representative told me, "and make sure to bring your ambulance driver's license, as you're all going to be on-call..."

With the sudden increase of rocket attacks from Gaza towards Sederot and Ashkelon, what better way for MDA to prepare, than to move the entire course of over 100 EMTs to Ashkelon?

"Is the convention center in Ashkelon rocket proof?" I asked.

The MDA person had no idea...

Replaying this conversation to my wife, she admonished me. "What a question! You drive everywhere, don't drive a bullet proof car, go all over the country...volunteer up north during the 2cnd Lebanon war, visited non-rocket-proof homes in Gush Katif, and now for MDA, you're suddenly asking if the convention center is rocket proof?!"

She's 100% correct...and I don't know why I asked. Perhaps the media is doing such a fine job of describing how bad it is there, that it subconsciously sinks in.

Rocket proof or not, I'll be there on Sunday. Let's hope its quiet.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Hiding Behind Ammunition in Gaza

In today's latest exchange between IDF soldiers and Gaza Palestinians, IDF soldiers were attacked from Palestinian positions in Beit Hanoun (Northern Gaza Strip). One IDF soldier was wounded.

"The IDF reported that it had attacked a group of gunmen spotted near forces operating in Beit Hanoun. Soldier belonging to the Givati patrol brigade exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen in the area. During the military activity, an IDF soldier was lightly injured in the leg and rushed to hospital." (YNET)

Palestinians claim that 4 children and their mother, were killed Monday morning in an IDF strike in the northern Gaza Strip -- a shell hit a house in the town of Beit Hanoun. (JPost)

However, IDF radio reports as follows (something not yet appearing in any English language report).

"Unofficial IDF sources report that Palestinian woman and children were not killed by an IDF tank shell.

IDF Givati brigade soldiers engaged 2 Palestinian terrorists in a gun-battle -- the terrorists shooting from within the house of the woman and children. Each terrorist was wearing an over-sized knapsack, apparently loaded with ammunition. When hit by IDF gunfire, the terrorists' ammunition exploded, causing the deaths of the woman and children inside the house. Source: Galei Tzahal IDF radio, in Hebrew)"

For the first time in recent months, the IDF is not apologizing in knee-jerk reaction fashion for the deaths of civilian casualties in a war zone, making the IDF radio report even more believable.

As a result, even more Qassam rockets have been raining down on Sederot and Ashkelon. The following news story was from Friday, but I didn't get a chance to post the pics till now)

Four Palestinian Qassam rockets were fired at Ashkelon on Friday morning, one of then landing in the city's southern cemetery.

The al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad's military wing, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, as well as for a shooting attack which left two Israeli guards dead in an industrial zone in the Sharon region.

Eli Yifrach, the cemetery's manager, told Ynet that "luckily the rocket landed before the employees arrived for work. It fell inside the cemetery and many graves were damaged.

"One of the graves was completely destroyed, and we are now working cautiously with the police so as not to desecrate the dead. This is a very sad sight." YNET Pics Link

Money Quote from PM Ehud Olmert at yesterdays's Mimouna Celebrations:

"Without being arrogant, God forbid, I think that today we can say that the Israeli people have a government that can defend it; that it has leadership that knows how to care for its people's security and future." (JPost)

Olmert? Arrogant? G-d forbid.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Monday Morning Musings

Sunday in Sederot...rockts, Monday, rockets. Tuesday...Wednesday...even on Shabbat the poor Sederotians don't get a break.

This past Shabbat morning in Sederot...the rockets continued to fall and landed on 3 cars. The only thing that remained from the above car were the initials for G-d; HaKadosh Baruch Hu (The Holy One Blessed be He).

Friday night wasn't quiet in Kiryat Gat either. In the Chareidi neighborhood of Kiryat Gat, a family caught a robber red-handed. After beating him up significantly that he couldn't run away anymore, he was dragged to a public telephone and forced to call the police to turn himself in.

The family didn't want to call themselves because it was Shabbat, so they forced the thief to call and turn himself in.

From a Jewish Legal standpoint of halacha, I have no clue if they asked in advance if that was the correct thing to do.

Seems to me that even a Jewish thief shouldn't be forced to call the police on Shabbat.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Palestinians Disconnect Sederot's Electricity

Palestinians disconnect Sederot's electricity and disable Israel's Missile Alert System (via a Kassam rocket attack), while Israel's Attorney General says Israel is forbidden to touch the electricity of Gaza. (war crimes against humanity alert)

Three Qassam rockets were fired Sunday afternoon from the northern Gaza Strip towards the western Negev. One of the rockets hit a house, causing damage to the building and its surroundings.

"A second rocket hit a power line, starting a small fire. Several people suffered from shock. The damaged power line also resulted in a temporary blackout in Sderot.

"We heard three loud explosions, but the Color Red alert system didn't sound… my whole house was shaking," one of the residents told Ynet.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz had a heated exchange of words following Mazuz's decision not to approve the plan to restrict power supply to the Gaza Strip.

JoeSettler introduced me to the following dialogue at an IDF roadblock I drive through occasionally.

The scene: IDF soldiers successfully holding down a Palestinian boy down so he couldn’t move.

“Leave him alone, he’s just a child!” yelled the women of MachsomWatch.

“Let him go now” the women demanded of the IDF soldiers.

Luckily for Israel's tourists, visitors and citizens, the IDF soldiers held the Palestinian child to the ground and totally ignored the screams from the Machsom Watch women.

Wikipedia says...Machsom Watch, or Checkpoint Watch is a radical left wingIsraeli checkpoints. [1] The self described "politically pluralistic" human rights organization is composed of Israeli group of Israeli women who monitor Palestinian at women to the exclusion of men, with a "bias towards mature, professional women" who tend to have a "liberal or leftist background" [2] Machsom Watch claims to have 400 members, notably including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's daughter Dana.

In the Palestinian child's knapsack was a bomb.

IMHO, Machsom Watch gives "mature, professional women" a bad name.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Yet another fatality in Sederot.

Car hit by rocket (Photo: Tsafrir Abayov/YNET)

A man was killed Sunday morning in the southern town of Sederot after a rocket landed near the car he was sitting in.

The man, 36-year-old Oshri Oz of Hod Hasharon, crashed into the wall with his car after it was hit. He managed to get out of the vehicle and take a number of steps before collapsing. He was evacuated to the Barzilay Medical Center in Ashkelon, where he died of his wounds.

Oz was a computer technician who used to visit Sderot often as part of his work. He was survived by his pregnant wife and a 2-year-old daughter.

Sederot hasn't been receiving much protection from Israel's government, so they decided to print their own money.


Does anyone care?

Will anyone accept responsibility for the Disengagement's security fiasco?

No one from Kadima or Labor, that's for sure.







Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Sunday, May 20th. On the brink?

Friend of the Muqata, Robert Avrech has coined a name of the upcoming (or already happening) war in and around Gaza..."The Inbetween War"

While there are those such as JoeSettler who think we are not at the brink of war -- and bring as proof that the Israeli government is mulling over the stationing of international troops in Gaza to protect Israel...if you ask any kid in Sederot if there's a war going on or not, they will say absolutely.

Just because Israel refuses to take serious action against Gaza, and tycoon-billionarie Arkaday Gaydamak is doing more for the people of Sederot than the Israeli government, does not mean we are not at war.

This past summer, the government refused to declare 'war', yet everyone knew we were at war -- They kept referring to it as "fighting in the North."

So, why is this war? If it looks like war, smells like war...then we're on the brink.

Let's see some of the roundup for today...

Special HomeFront situation declared

Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Sunday declared a "special Home Front situation" as

Qassam rockets continued to fall in southern Israel and in light of the estimation that the situation would continue for many days.

At least 125 Qassam rockets have landed in the western Negev in the past five days, the IDF reported.

IDF attacks as Qassams land in Sderot

Five rockets land in wetsern Negev on Sunday morning; one hits empty house, seven people suffer from shock. On Saturday night, IAF attacks Qassam launching cell, car carrying Hamas members and rocket-manufacturing facility.

Female suicide bombers 'eagerly await' IDF soldiers

Islamic Jihad warns Israel of 'surprises' should IDF invade Gaza Strip; dozens of female suicide bombers eager to blow themselves up, take soldiers with them

Today's question: Who's really running Israel?

Ehud Olmert

IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi
Arkady Gaydamek
Hamas
Fatah

The correct answer is, "The Winograd Report"

Israel's politicians are scared into paralysis of any serious military action -- and are afraid of getting blamed by a future Winograd Report.

So while children in Sederot continue to sleep in bomb shelters, Israel's government sticks its head in the sand and hopes this problem will go away.

Muqata Prediction: Israel will be dragged into this war kicking and screaming...and it's only a matter of days.







Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Qassam in Sederot...a picture

All Rights reserved to Zev Trachtman.

Taken today, May 17, 2007 in Sederot.

Source

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

Sederot under fire: The Shame of Israel.

I will post about Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Reunification Day) later, but as on all the radio stations and news updates today, our first priority has to be what's going on in Sederot.

Actually, it's almost everyone's top priority.

It doesn't seem to bother the Israeli government that much, let alone Prime Minister Olmert or Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

Last night was one of the scariest for the Western Negev town of Sederot. More than 20 rockets were fired at the town, resulting in Israeli wounded, some seriously. Dozens of shock victims flooded Barzilai hospital for psychological help.

Yet, I'm amazed by the experts in the media. Every single one says there is no military solution to the rockets being fired at Israel.

Not one member of the Israeli government has a moral backbone to defend the poor residents of Sederot.

Why don't they comprehend that it is our moral and ethical right to defend ourselves?

Even at the expense of a full-scale ground operation into Gaza, even at the expense of collateral damage among Palestinian civilians, even at the expense of world opinion turning against us, even at the expense of imposing full IDF mandatory military and civil administration over the entire Gaza strip -- it is our right and it is imperative for it to be done now.

When the residents of Sederot are literally begging for a solution, and the best Israel can come up with is, "limited and precise targeted air strikes," it is truly a disgrace.

Sederot residents are pleading with Soviet billionaire Arkady Gaydamak to provide buses and temporary refuge, since they know that Olmert's government is incapable of providing them basic security or basic living alternatives.

A Disgrace.

RafiG thinks that the residents of Sederot should find their own rockets and shoot them back at Gaza. Normally, I'd agree, but that's the sort of reasoning that Israel reserves for traitors and lunatics. (What? Defend myself? He was shooting at me....)

And yet, let's take a look at what's going in Gaza itself, the liberated and free Palestinian area of autonomy.

The warring Palestinian factions (also known as terrorists and political parties), Hamas and Fatah declared a ceasefire at midnight after they managed to kill 16 of each other yesterday. And how long did their ceasefire last among themselves?

A few hours.

YNET reports:

Hamas gunmen fired mortars at the house of Fatah security chief Rashid Abu Shbak before storming it and planting pipe bombs inside, the officials said. The gunmen killed five of Abu Shabk's bodyguards, and a member of President Mahmoud Abbas' presidential guard.

The "experts" on the radio preached today: "There is no military solution to what's going on in Gaza"

I say, there's no one to even TALK to in Gaza.

The Palestinians can't even control their bloodlust from killing each other for a few hours, let alone going after Israel. And we are supposed to negotiate with them?

The original sin of our problems goes back to the Oslo agreement.

Signing a peace treaty with a terrorist and importing 40,000 terrorists was guaranteed to lead to this sort of anarchy.

And a unilateral disengagement was destined to be a security failure.

Akiva has a very worthwhile post about an IM conversation he was having with a resident of Sederot...during a Qassam attack. Check it out.

Happy Yom Yerushalayim...will post on that later...even with it pouring rain in Jerusalem now. (flooding everywhere)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael