Blog/July 2014/Jul 25th

July 25th – still relevant: masei 5770

Hi, again!

There’s a lot to talk about, and I don’t want you to get lost or get bored with things which don’t interest you. So as a guide, I’ve added “headlines” in bold to separate sections:

Israel and the “situation”

We’re in the third week of a mini-war with Gaza. The terrorists there still manage to send rockets our way, with the intent of killing, maiming, and terrorizing Israelis. The Israeli response highlights the moral chasm between Israel and Hamas. While Hamas hides rockets in UN facilities — and the UN turns over the rockets to Hamas! — the IDF continues to follow its foolish purity of arms doctrine. Not just foolish from a military standpoint, but actually contrary to Jewish law.

All the while, the Fakestinians, as befits their fictitious status as a “nation”, bombard the social media with fake pictures of suffering Gazans. Some of these “Gazans” are actually Iraqis, some are Syrians – but they all have in common that they are Arabs, a people known for their ability at, and verve for dissimulation. Liars, in less academic phraseology.

The world loves dead Jews, while detesting live ones. This becomes ever more clear with each headline. The UN has moved beyond being despicable to become a legitimate military target because of its assistance to our enemies during wartime. And the US seems to have decided it does not need to support Israel.

None of this is to say that the residents of Gaza are not suffering, nor that there aren’t some few innocents there. But just as the US did not distinguish between the innocent and guilty in Dresden (or more to the point, currently in Pakistan), nor did the UN so distinguish in Yugoslavia, so too is Israel under none but self-restriction under the accepted “law of war”. And most particularly, not when the enemy completely disregards said laws.

USA

President Obama, the man who wasn’t there, either instigated or encouraged the recent FAA ban on flights to Israel. I wish Ted Cruz the best of luck in his demands for answers on that ban, but as we’ve seen the current US administration is, at best, less than forthcoming. And most Israelis see the US move against Israeli air traffic as a shakedown, and this most recent Obumble means that Israeli trust in the US as a “fair arbiter” has reached new lows.

Despite being officially recognized by all Western governments, including the US, as a terror organization, Hamas continues to receive funds. The US not only tacitly supports Hamas, much more disturbingly (and illegally) funds it.

Personal news

Sarah had, as she put it, an “exciting experience” this week. On the bus in Rishon LeTzion, the driver stopped and told everyone to get off the bus and take cover. Then she and her fellow travelers witnessed six missile tracks and six “Iron Dome” interceptor booms. My daughter took it all with surprising aplomb…

Esther and I continued our relentless progress. She advanced a bit with our fledgling website, as well as with other issues relating to getting us prepared for going to market. I split my time between negotiating the work schedule for my client's “alpha” product and working on my own product. There was actually some very significant progress on that, B”H!

We had planned on attending the “Nefesh B’Nefesh” ceremony welcoming the planeload of new “olim” who landed this week, because Dinah’s sister Leah and her husband and children were on that flight (welcome home!). But the “Home Front Command” forbade large gatherings of people because of the possibility of rocket fire from Gaza, so the ceremony was canceled. Nevertheless, we met with Leah and Eitan yesterday and welcomed them home. They could have chosen a less exciting time to come, but with recent events in the USA and Europe, there’s no time like the present to come home!

This week we’ll be hosting Dinah and RivQua. On the menu:
Aunt Nancy’s chicken, rosemary baby-potatoes, stir-fried vegetables and rice, zucchini kugel, onion-sweet pepper kugel, salatim, lentil stew, fruit crumble, and cookies.

Until next week,
shabbat shalom!

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