Yom Kippur and false conceptions

Last Saturday Jews in Israel and Worldwide observed Yom Kippur. A day of repentance, forgiveness, fasting, prayer and soul searching.

This is also the anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, a war that is largely remembered in the Israeli consensus as the most traumatic. A coalition of Arab armies led by Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on its holiest day, in what is generally seen by the mainstream Israeli discourse as a "great surprise" and the result of Israeli "complacency". Some scholars put in on par with the greatest military surprises of the 20th century: Operation Barbarossa and the attack on Pearl Harbor.

This year, 41 years later, just like any other, Israeli newspapers, tv shows and internet portals all dealt deeply with that war, providing even more new stories, angles, insights, excuses and apologies. Much is said about a sort of a PTSD the nation still suffers from 41 years later. Interestingly enough, if we look at the results objectively, it's easy to put Yom Kippur War in the same line with The War of Independence and The Six-Day War along with Israel's greatest victories. Just to put things into perspective: the unanimously-agreed "triumphant" Six-Day War lasted (as the name suggests) for 6 days; the generally-considered "disastrous" Yom Kippur War lasted for two weeks and a half. Helplessly outnumbered and surprised in the beginning, the war ended in the outskirts of Cairo and Damascus, not Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. It was after the Yom Kippur War that the Arab countries' ambition to destroy Israel by force was crushed, (turning instead to propaganda and "indigenous" narratives). And still, perhaps in line with the Yom Kippur traditions, we keep repenting and searching within ourselves, trying to realize how did we go "so wrong"? What lessons can we learn from the mistakes of 1973? How can we make sure we don't repeat them?

IDF accepts surrendering enemy soldiers in Egypt (left) and Syria in 1973.

And here comes the interesting part: the mainstream is convinced the great surprise of the attack was allowed by the "false conception" the command was trapped in. The intelligence knew of the Arab armies' preparations, the soldiers in the Sinai peninsula saw the movement of the Egyptian forces, Golda Meir received the warning of King Hussein of Jordan, and still the false conception prevailed. The conception the Arabs will not actually dare to attack. Now let me ask you: if that was indeed the case, are we not wasting Yom Kippur War's lessons away? Are we not trapped again in a false conception?

For some 20 years now Israeli governments, left and right, operated within the paradigm of the two-states solution, "land for peace" formula and the belief that only the establishment of a Palestinian country in the very heart of our own will solve all our problems. This, however, was tried and failed numerously. If there's indeed any science in "political science", then these "experiments" and "observations" must be taken into the most serious of consideration.

1. Israel went through with the Oslo Accords, establishing (and arming) the Palestinian Authority, relinquishing control over Areas A and B in Judea and Samaria, hoping this would end violence and become a step towards peace. Instead we received a rise in violence, terror and bombings. It took Operation "Defensive Shield" and the construction of the Security Barrier to bring bloodshed coming from the PA to a halt.

2. Israel left Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah took over and started terrorizing the Israeli north with missile fire. Israel had to return and engage Hezbollah in 2006 in what was dubbed the Second Lebanon War.

3. Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip in 2005, extracting all military and civilian presence and pulling back to the revered (pre-)67 borders. Instead of establishing a prosperous Palestinian state, Hamas (who took over by force in 2007 after winning the elections by a landslide) invested millions (millions!) of international aid money in its terror industry. Millions that could have went to infrastructure and welfare. Since then three military operations and counting were needed to block Arab aggression against Israel.

Infographic taken from http://www.idfblog.com.

If the main disagreement between PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who is considered to be a right wing conservative and Zehava Gal-on, leader of the far left Meretz party is where the border with the future Palestinian state would be, how many Jewish "settlers" will be evacuated, will Jerusalem be divided or not, then at the end of the day both of them are operating within left-of-center, destructive, proven wrong time and again paradigm. We are trapped once again in a false conception. This conception tells us to ignore the realities on the ground and the historical precedents for the sake of some pre-constructed ideas, and believe the hostilities towards Israel will magically stop with the establishment of a Palestinian state. Lest we want to repeat the mistake of Yom Kippur, we must start thinking outside the box. The excuse of the left used to be "well, what is your alternative?", suggesting there's no choice but the two states. Well, now we have a countless array of classical right wing alternatives. It's time to be original and brave and invest the money, intelligence and think tanks that go into the "peace process" industry towards finding an actual working and lasting solution. Sure, it's not going to be easy and it is going to be very expensive. There are no magical solutions. But all is better than a certain suicide.

Happy Tishrei holidays, all!

Don't stop using your brains!

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"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter"? Think again!

On thursday night three Israeli teens went missing on their way back from school in Judea and Samaria. It was pretty clear from the very beginning they were kidnapped by Arab terrorists. Today it's known for a fact. Now whether it's Hamas or Fatah (under their new, whitewashed name "The Palestinian Authority"), their main bodies or some rogue factions, or indeed some completely different Islamic insanity group, is of absolutely no importance. Security importance, sure (where to look, who to press, who to arrest, etc.), but not political. Even less political importance should be given now, when the new "wonderful unity of the 'Palestinian' people" government emerged.

In the meantime the only thing more deafening then the initial world media silence was the vile Anti-Israeli framing of the incident that followed. "What? Three Israeli kids have been kidnapped by terrorists, how can they possibly present it in an Anti-Israeli light?!" - you'll probably think. Well, the leading news outlets had managed to do just that. Whether by focusing on the IDF search and the measures it has to take to try and locate the kids like the BBC did, or making sure everyone knows the teens are not just innocent, kidnapped human beings but are first of all "settlers" like The Guardian and The Independent did (regardless of your stand on the disputed Judea and Samaria territories, technically only one of the three teens lives beyond the Green Line), or unmistakably recognizing "the cause of the destabilization of the Israeli-Palestinian relations" like the NY Times did.

With such disgusting attempts to manipulate reality, I wonder when was the last time these "progressive, liberal, freedom championing" newspapers blamed rape victims for "dressing up provocatively" and "asking for it"!

The kidanpping crisis and the media's treatment of it, has brought me to analyze the cliché phrase from the headline of this post. It has turned into one of those idiotic aphorisms, that insufferable know-it-alls throw at you every now and then with a calm, smug expression of an enlightened guru. Well, guess what? They're dead wrong! Legitimate resistance fighters fight the oppressive mechanisms, i.e. the armed forces of the occupier, just like the Jewish resistance groups fought the British occupying forces at the dawn of the state of Israel. Legitimate resistance fighters don't target civillians deliberately, just like the Jewish resistance groups didn't when they fought the British armed forces for the Israeli independence. Want to be called legitimate "freedom fighters"? Be my guest, attack army bases and police stations! You'll still be my enemy, and I'll hate you, but at least when the "pro-peace" world media would call you "resistance", I wouldn't need to fight a gag reflex. Want to kidnap innocent teenagers, on their way back from school, cheer and give out candies for their abduction and start a vile, gloating celebration campaign on the social media to "honor" it? Think again! You're nothing, but a filthy, terrorist scum!

And you'll ask me: "So, you acknowledge the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit was a legitimate act of resistance?"

And I'll tell you: The act itself, if could be viewed as a stand alone act, all by itself, could be called a legitimate resistance act. Unfortunately, the Shalit abduction didn't take place in a vacuum, but in the real world. The gang who took Shalit, the Al-Qassam Brigades, is the military wing of Hamas. They are the same people who for a decade targeted Israeli civillians with missiles, and for two decades exploded Israeli buses and restaurants. If Shalit's abductors were to differ themselves from the rest of the terrorists, perform operations exclusively against the military and condemn their fellow Arabs for the attacks on civillian population - we'd have an armed resistance group. Since obviously nothing of the sort ever happened, the Shalit abduction can't be put in a vacuum, and is an act of terror. In fact, today the IDF fights nothing but terror - there are no legitimate Arab resistance groups.

Got the difference?

Good! Keep using those brains!

P.S.

The "Bring Back Our Boys" social media campaign is touching and heartwarming. However, I don't believe it to be useful. If anything it can do more harm than good. No terrorist would ever be dissuaded or convinced to bring the boys back because of the campaign. If anything, the opposite is right. They'd get reaffirmation to hold them for as long as possible, and encouragement to demand as many murderers in return for them as possible. It's hard to believe citizens of the world would be persuaded as well. After all they have such "objective and unbiased" media to inform them. So, what can a simple citizen, who wants to raise awareness to these tragic events, do? Here's an alternative. All those of you who do social media and care, share the hashtag #AbbasIsHamas. It's simple, informative and non-emotional. Hamas is recognised as a terror organization in most of the Western world, in Egypt as well. Help expose the world to the true nature of the "wonderful Palestinian unity government". Thank you!

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Israeli 'occupation' of the 'West Bank': FACT vs FICTION

What are the first associations that come to mind with the word "occupation"? Martial law? Guns everywhere? Poor, oppressed population? Prison-like conditions? Penniless refugees in tents? It's very clear to those who use that libel against Israel, that these horrible images will be the first ones you'll see in your mind, when you hear of the conflict. But, how many of those actually apply to Judea and Samaria (the so called "West Bank")? And can Israel be really called an "occupier"? Let's look at the example of Jericho and decide for ourselves.

This photo was taken at the Tourist Center in Jericho, a major city in Area A. Area A is a zone in the "West Bank" fully under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, where they completely govern, police and educate themselves, as well as vote for their own officials (as often as they do in the Arab world) without Israel's participation.

Myth #1: "The Palestinians suffer from terrible "highway Apartheid", which prevents them from moving freely on their own lands, being constantly subjugated to checkpoints" - BUSTED!

All checkpoints from within areas A and B (those under the PA's control) have been removed years ago. All Arabs travel freely within the PA wherever they want. The checkpoints are located at the entrance to Israeli territory, for the same reason they're located at any other border in the world (especially one with a hostile entity).

Myth #2: "The "Palestinians" live under terrible Apartheid in horrifying conditions of "occupation", whereas the Israelis enjoy riches and luxury" - BUSTED!

The Arabs in Jericho live in a variety of the modern world's accommodations from brand new appartment buildings to luxurious private houses. Not to mention the booming tourist industry.

Myth #3: "The Israeli government treat Arabs with racism and segregation" - BUSTED!

At the entrance to Jericho (and any other Area A town), there's a big red sign telling Israeli citizens in three languages that entering is illegal and also warning them of danger to their lives. Needless to say, no such announcements are found at the entrance to any Israeli town anywhere. You see, the real Apartheid in Israel - is towards the Jews (just like in the Temple Mount)!

Myth #4: "But Israel surrounded the entire "West Bank" with a huge wall (enter any number here) miles long! It's (enter any number here) times bigger than the Berlin Wall! It's a racist wall of ethnic seperation!" - BUSTED!

Had it been a "wall of ethnic seperation" it would have failed miserably, since 1.5 million Arabs live in Israel and 400,000 Jews live in Judea and Samaria. The Security Barrier doesn't seperate ANYONE on ethnic basis. In fact, The Security Barrier is a wall for only 3% (three percent) of its length. The other 97% (ninety seven percent) is just a fence. Yes, it's not pretty, but it allowed Israel to stop entirely the wave of bloody terror attacks known as "The Second Intifada", and to save thousands of lives. 

And, finally Myth #5: "By boycotting Israeli products you help the "Palestinian" cause" - BUSTED!

"Palestinians" use Israeli products daily, boycotting them would harm the "Palestinians" first of all. Many Israeli companies (such as 'Ahava', 'SodaStream', etc.) collaborate with the PA to help bring economic prosperity to both sides. And indeed, the Arabs at the Jericho Tourist Center sell the 'Ahava' products for fantastic, absolutely over the top, dollar prices!

Any conclusions yet?

And you'll say: "okay, okay, I get it, but what about Gaza?!?"

Gaza, dear friends, deserves a post of its own! So keep in touch! And never forget to use those brains!

Shalom!

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