A memory of the Intifada
As we come to the 10-year anniversary of the height of the 2002 terror war against Israel, IFCJ and SFI staff will be sharing with you their memories of those difficult days.
The second intifada had already started by the time I got to Israel – most people say it began with Sharon going up to the Temple Mount in September of 2000, others say it had been ongoing for some time. I arrived on June 2, 2001 (the day after the bombing at the Dolphinarium) for my first year in seminary. I settled in to my apartment at 5 Lincoln (yes, THAT Lincoln) St. in the neighborhood of Rechavia. One block down the hill was my school. A ten minute walk from the Old City. 15 minutes from the Wall. Still one of the happiest times of my life.
But gradually, over the course of the year, the violence got worse. It’s hard for most people to remember now, but the Israeli army had left the West Bank and Gaza years before as part of the Oslo Accords. The forces of Yasser Arafat were solely responsible for security and police work in the territories.
Around this time, in early 2002, the situation started to come to a head. The violence against civilians escalated severely and there were attacks or thwarted attacks every single day. It was during this time that I developed a policy of emailing my parents as soon as I could after a bombing to let them know that I and my classmates were alright. My father saved many of those emails and sent them to me a few years ago.
And then, in early 2002, in the middle of my year in Jerusalem, things started to get really bad. Ten years ago this afternoon, a suicide bomber blew herself up on Jerusalem’s busy Jaffa Road (Yaffo, in Hebrew). Pinhas Tokatli, 81, of Jerusalem was killed and over 150 people were wounded, four seriously. The female terrorist, identified as a Fatah member, was armed with more than…
Read More » Comments (7) »Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 3:53 PM | Rabbi Jonathan Greenberg
Hamas officials sheltered by Red Cross in Jerusalem
Photo by Chameleons Eye / Rex Features
It appears that, for the better part of the last year and a half, officials at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Jerusalem have been sheltering two wanted Hamas officials.
Hamas, you’ll remember, is a designated terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip and which unabashedly calls for the destruction of Israel and the destruction of the Jewish people. When not engaged in genocidal anti-Semitism, they also like to endanger their civilian population, degrade and subjugate women, and commit violence against their political enemies.
Israeli police arrested the two men this morning.
Funny…even with that level of cooperation, the ICRC still couldn’t manage to get into Hamas-controlled Gaza to visit with kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit during his captivity. Or, perhaps because of that level of cooperation, they just weren’t trying all that hard. Kind of makes it tough for Israelis to trust them, huh?
Comments (8) »Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 10:17 AM | Stand for Israel
Photo Friday goes to Mount Hermon
(Photo: bibleplaces.com)
Here’s a beautiful view of Mount Hermon, the highest point in Israel. Enjoy, everyone — and a Happy New Year to all our dedicated supporters and friends of Israel!
Comments (5) »Friday, December 30th, 2011 at 12:17 PM | Stand for Israel
What happened while Israel slept?
Jerusalem at dusk
A Soldier’s Mother on the reality of life in Israel:
Comments (4) »So, while I slept, Israel was hit with at least four rockets and there were, it seems, at least two more attempts to fire against our citizens. What happened while you slept? That, my friends, is the difference – and that is why another Gaza War may well be around the corner. I slept…but hundreds of thousands of people in the south had a long night. At some point, they probably decided just to try to sleep in safe rooms – rooms that are protected by thickened walls and smaller windows with a metal door that shields the glass from impact. They are lucky – it is winter and so closing the window blocks out the cold rather than causing them to sleep in hot, unbearable conditions.
Thursday, December 29th, 2011 at 7:41 AM | Stand for Israel
What civilization looks like
I have a friend — a dear, longtime friend — with whom I often disagree on matters related to politics and world affairs. The disagreements occasionally turn into arguments, but the friendship has endured, and will endure – we’ve known each other too long, and been through too much together.
One of the things we disagree on is Israel. After Newt Gingrich’s comments of a couple weeks back that the Palestinians are an “invented” people, my friend bristled. This, he insisted, was not the point. It was simply that both sides in this conflict — the Israelis and the Palestinians — needed to behave in a “civilized” manner.
Implicit in this statement is the notion that both sides are not behaving in a civilized manner. It’s an idea all too common in modern thought. Weary of the ongoing, seemingly intractable Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and under the influence of media coverage that is quick to point out every misstep Israel makes (and loath to point out examples of Palestinian terrorism and rejectionism), people who adopt this way of thinking reason that both sides must be equally to blame. There are no heroes, no villains in this fight — just two parties that stubbornly refuse to treat each other with dignity and respect.
The problem with this narrative, of course, is that it has no basis in history or experience. It’s especially hard to stomach when you read stories like this, which involves Israeli doctors at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem saving unborn Palestinian conjoined twins through an innovative medical procedure.
This is what civilization looks like. It’s scientific achievement, harnessed for human good; it’s simple human compassion, extended not just to your own people, but to all people. Palestinians are treated every day in Israeli hospitals and receive the same high level of care that everyone else does, irrespective of their ethnicity or religion.
A note to my friend: Israel is well-versed in “behaving in a civilized manner.” If Palestinian leadership made similar efforts, we wouldn’t be at odds about the Middle East. There would be peace — or at least an absence of the day-to-day conflict…
Read More » Comments (2) »Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 10:04 AM | David Kuner
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