Humble Opinions

Around 5 weeks ago, I moved from New Jersey to Jerusalem. Many people wondered why I decided to move, and when asked the reason, I found myself advancing a wide range of answers - everything from the inspirational, to the spiritual, and even the practical (”well, I have a lot of friends there”). Now, being Israeli for 5 weeks, I would like to list some of the reasons I decided to move, and add my present-day opinions, now that I have a bit of hindsight on the matter.

(1). Israel is the only country that actively protects Jews worldwide

You may not know this, but there are Israeli mossad agents in every single country on planet earth. I kid you not. If you’ve done a bit of reading into history, and intake regular quantities of Middle Eastern news, you’d know how vulnerable Jews are worldwide (if you disagree, I assure you I can change your opinion). Let’s leave anti-semitism out of the picture for a moment. The state of Israel as a country is rather controversial in the world. Terrorism against Jews in any country can send a serious message to the state of Israel, and that is why Israel takes on the unbelievable burden of watching out for Jews all over the world.

It may not seem like a big deal for Jews living in America, under the security and protection of the world superpower, but when the situation hits the fan for the Jews (and believe me, it does), circumstances can become dire. That is why I feel the safest living in a country full of Jews, run by Jews, whose #1 priority is to protect Jewish lives.

(2). This is the chance our ancestors waited over 1800 years for

The 2nd temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans, and the Jewish people were exiled, and dispersed from Israel to locations all over the world. In their daily prayers (3 times a day) Jews have been praying for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and their temple for over 1800 years. Rewind just 100 years ago: Millions of Russain Jews were living in ghettos, poor, starving, and 40% unemployed, where it was illegal to practice any form of Judaism whatsoever. The Jews of that period in time would literally have done any possible thing to be freed from their oppression, let alone to have a state of their own, where Jewish observance was not only legal, but facilitated.

Now that the chance to live in a Jewish land of Israel has returned for the first time in 1800 years, I would think it an unimaginable lost opportunity to just ignore it, and live somewhere else. We’ve been wondering from country to country for centuries already.

(3). We’re making history

Read some history books. In approximately the year 378 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus The Great set forth an edict allowing Jews to return to their homeland, and rebuild their temple. A mere 5% took him up on his offer. Not only that, but later on, when the temple was finally rebuilt and the 2nd Jewish commonwealth was underway, 75% of world Jewry lived outside the land of Israel. Our Rabbis and Sages say that had the Jews risen to the opportunity that Cyrus The Great had helped to provide, the 2nd temple may not have been destroyed.

To put it mildly, their great grandchildren and their descendants felt they made a disastrous decision, and the Jewish people have paid wholesomely for it, for millennia. When the history books of the 21st century are written and studied by future generations, I don’t want to be looked back on poorly.

(4). Israel needs Jews!

Having lived in Israel for 5 weeks at this point, I can say definitively that Israel needs Jews living here. In just 60 years, the country has gone from practically nothing, to a first-world country, often times leading the way in technology and science. I believe this is solely due to the unparralelled talent, and drive the Jewish people have, collectively.

I like to think of myself as a talented individual, and thus, one of the reasons I decided to move to Israel was so that I can put my talents toward improving the Jewish state. There are a lot of smart Jews living in Israel, and let me just say, it’s apparent.

(5). Everything you do is a Mitzvah

There is only one country on earth where picking trash up off the ground is a Mitzvah, and there is only one country on earth where sweeping the ground outside your apartment is a Mitzvah. You guessed it: Israel.

(6). What do you want to do with your life?

Believe it or not, there will come a point in time that you will look back on your life, and begin to judge whether you lived your life satisfactorily. For me, when that time comes, I desperately want to be able to list the multitude of things I dedicated time and energy toward during my lifetime that helped build Israel into a better place. I also hope at that time, I can say that I successfully raised a generation of children that will continue the legacy of the Jewish people.

Maybe they’ll each have their own blogs. That would be awesome. I know a good programmer they can hire.

(7). The food here is ridiculous

Seriously, if you like food even a little, you would love living in Israel. The ice coffee is in slurpee consistency! Enough said.

(8). Hebrew is sickly cool

עברית היא שפה קדושה ומגניבה

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As the fighting between Israel and Hamas continues in the Gaza Strip, I am hearing many lashing out at Israel’s actions. Thus, I decided to list the major ones I am hearing, and offer my highly intelligent rebuttals. First let me just state that I do not blindly support every action Israel takes. If I were running Israel, I would definitely do some things differently. I would also probably be a chain smoker and drink twice as much coffee as I do now.

(1). Argument: Israel is killing SO many civilians, and should be tried for war crimes according to international law.

Rebuttal:

Israel never targets civilians. Read the news - every civilian death is causing insane rioting all over earth, including in the US, France, the UK, and in many more countries. It hurts Israel for Palestinian civilians to be killed, and thus they take many measures to try and avoid this. Their % of civilian casualties is remarkably low compared to other armies that have performed similar tasks.

The reason there are civilian casualties in Gaza is because Hamas militants dress like regular Palestinian citizens. They have homes and families just like any other Gazan citizen, however, when an Israeli soldier passes by, they’d gladly shoot them. Hamas has been purposely firing at Israeli soldiers from within crowds, and from civilian apartment buildings. They have been storing weapons and explosives in mosques, and have been shooting at Israeli soldiers from schools, and even hospitals. All of the Israeli videos show this quite clearly. Because of this, Hamas is purposely making sure Palestinian civilians are hit.

(2). Argument: Israel is overreacting with its assault on Gaza killing hundreds, while Hamas rockets have killed only tens of Israelis.

Rebuttal: If Hamas rockets had any sort of aim or guidance systems, or if Hamas was able to extract more casualties in any other way, they would employ those methods. In Hamas’ doctrine, it states quite clearly that their short term goal is to destroy the state of Israel, while their long term goal is to establish an Islamic state spanning all of Israel. Israel, on the other hand, just wants to live in peace, without being attacked on a daily basis.

Israel has been warning Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel for 3 years, to no avail. They specifically warned them many times that if they did not stop, Israel would retaliate, and it would be extremely painful for Hamas. All this was ignored, and now Israel has taken on the task of completely dismantling Hamas.

(3). Argument: The reason Hamas fires rockets is because Israel has been blockading Gaza and has setup dozens of checkpoints for Palestinians to go through.

Rebuttal: Think about this practically: Israel is always in dire financial situations. Income tax in Israel is just under 50%, and the majority of the country’s budget goes to supporting its military - out of necessity. An enormous portion of all of Israel’s money comes from donations by worldwide Jewry, and support from the US government. Do you think Israel likes wasting money blockading Gaza, or maintaining checkpoints? Those things are quite expensive. The only reason Israel has this in place is because if they took it down for even a single day, you would see the Mumbai slaughters x 10 happening in Israel. If you think otherwise, I would recommend reading more Middle Eastern news.

The Israeli blockade was setup AFTER Hamas seized control of Gaza and murdered the heads of the ruling Fatah party. The blockade and checkpoints are entirely self defensive. Israel has no interest in starving 1.5 million people. If you’d like hard evidence, consider the controversial Israeli West-Bank barrier, which separates the West Bank from the rest of Israel. Immediately after its construction, suicide bombing in Israel decreased by 99%, and thankfully these days, we have not read about a suicide attack within Israel for quite some time. Compare that to 10 years ago, when buses, pizza shops, and malls were suicide bombed on a somewhat regular basis. I believe the Gaza blockade and checkpoints are a similar situation. If Hamas would stop firing rockets, and prove it can exist as a peaceful neighbor, Israel would be able to slowly ease the blockade.

(4). Argument: Israel can’t kill 1.5 million people, so their assault on Gaza is essentially a pointless murdering rampage.

Rebuttal: While it is true Israel cannot, and will not kill all 1.5 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, there are many real beneficial goals to Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Here is a quote from DebkaFile, an Israeli news source: “The Israeli Gaza offensive has cut by half the daily missiles / rocket level from Gaza by wiping out 60 percent of Hamas’ missile stocks, demolishing its production facilities and knocking out of action the Philadelphi smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border.”

In addition to destroying much of Hamas’ infrastructure and weapons stocks, there are 2 other goals that can be obtained: (a). Israel will show its neighbors (including Hizballah and Syria) that there is an expensive price to pay for attacking Israel and/or its citizens. This hopefully will deter Israel’s neighbors from igniting future conflicts (although, it doesn’t seem like they learned much from their defeats in the wars of 1948 and 1967). (b). Israel may be able to get an international force stationed between Egypt and Gaza, to ensure Hamas will no longer be able to continue smuggling Iranian weapons and explosives into Gaza. Personally, I would see this as a very temporary goal, as the UN peacekeeping force in the Sinai desert from 1956 - 1967 did not prevent the 1967 war, and the peacekeeping force in Lebanon in the early 1980s did practically nothing, as Hizballah was not disarmed in any way. But at least it might show some of the world that Israel refuses to live with its citizens being targeted.

(5). Argument: Hamas rockets do not even have warheads on them!

Rebuttal: That is true. Hamas’ rockets and missiles are not designed to destroy buildings. Rather, they explode and shoot shrapnel in every direction - thus designed to kill human beings. Every single rocket is shot at civilian settlements, making 100% of their targets civilian.

If you’ve got an argument I did not cover in this blog, please post it as a comment, and I will be happy to reply so we can discuss it, but please keep it professional, excluding personal attacks and vulgarity. Thanks.

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Being Israeli for a total of 6 days, I can definitely say I am proud to be so. I am proud to have immigrated during a war and to show my support, and am most proud of how the Israeli army has been handling their strikes thusfar. One might think it somewhat evil of me to be proud of the Israeli army, who in the last 8 days has been responsible for over 50 Palestinian civilian deaths, but I think those people are not seeing the full picture.

In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, and destroyed the Israeli civilian settlements there, forcing thousands of Israelis from their homes, jobs, communities, and ways of life. This was done to “give the Palestinians a shot” at living without Israeli security in their midst, and as a token for peace. Hamas quickly seized control of the strip, and ousted the ruling Fatah party out of power, blindfolding many Fatah leaders, and throwing them of the roofs of buildings (I’ve seen videos).

Since then, Hamas has been smuggling thousands of Iranian/Syrian rockets, machine guns, and armor into Gaza via underground tunnels they dug from Egypt. From the 2nd day that Israel withdrew from Gaza, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have been firing rockets into Israel, at this point totaling to 6,000 - all aimed at civilian settlements. Also, Hamas captured an Israeli solder and has held him hostage, offering to trade him for 1,000 jailed Palestinian/Hamas militants.

Israel has spent 3 years warning Hamas to stop the rocket fire, and have been pushing the political front both in the United States, and at the UN - all to no avail. Also keep in mind that this has been happening simultaneous to Israel’s Hizballah threats and 2006 Lebanan war coming from the North, and an Iranian nuclear threat that has been building.

The reason I am so proud to support the Israeli army is because they are acting in the most humane way an army ever has compared with similar circumstances. Consider what America’s response would be to Hamas shooting rockets into southern California. There has never been a single reported case of an Israeli soldier raping an Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, Arab, or Palestinian. Israel never knowingly targets civilians, and many times gives civilians warnings about pending Israeli attacks.

In the last week, Israel has done a few very smart things:

1. It allowed around 400 foreigners to safely exit Gaza before any ground invasion took place. I can’t think of another army that has done that.
2. It dropped leaflets all over Gaza written in Arabic, explaining that Hamas militants will be targeted in the Israeli campaigns, and if a civilian hides or helps a Hamas militant, they are putting their life in danger.
3. The IDF called Gazans and left voicemails informing them of the pending attacks, and told specific civilians to leave their areas, to avoid any kind of injury.
4. The IDF has mounted cameras into all of their airplanes, and is capturing every bombing on tape. They opened a YouTube channel and are posting videos of the IDF targeting Hamas militants as they load missiles to fire into Israel. They also have been posting videos of the IDF destroying weapons/explosive warehouses, in which a secondary explosion is seen in the video, caused by the Hamas explosives in the buildings.
5. They even mounted cameras onto the Israeli rockets themselves, and have posted many “rocket view” video clips of them specifically targeting Hamas offices, militants, and ships.

How many armies do any of those? There is no count of Iraqi casualties from the American invasion, but I believe there have been literally millions of Iraqis killed, the overwhelming majority being civilian. Compare that with Israel, who is targeting militants only, doing everything to keep civilian casualties down, and is currently keeping a 20% civilian casualty rate. I’m not saying 20% is good, it’s horrible. I, as well as the IDF, are hoping for a 0% civilian casualty rate, but if you compare that with other world armies, the number is extremely impressive. Compare that with the enemy, Hamas, who solely targets civilians, and whose goals are to inflict as much death and tragedy as they possibly can.

In light of the attacks, Israel has closed many of its schools that are within range of Hamas rockets, and are running classes online for its students instead. Israeli President Shimon Peres kicked this off by giving the first online class in Social Studies himself! Want to guess whether Hamas has done the same for the Palestinians?

Here is a small comparison chart between Israel and Hamas:

I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a clearer picture of good vs evil in my life. I have many friends serving in the Israeli army. On Saturday, when the IDF was calling their troops up preparing for the invasion into Gaza, all 4 of my roommates were called up, and 1 other friend of mine as well. I know the people fighting for Israel. They are good people, and they want to bring peace to Israeli citizens and their children living under barrages of rockets for years. Hamas, on the other hand, beheads Israelis on video and posts it to the Internet.

I can’t understand how any of this blame can be placed on Israel.

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