Getting out and going in
As we sit here in Netanya, until now in comparative safety, the northern part of our country is under siege. It is estimated that ca. 1,600 rockets have been fired into the area between the Lebanese border and the line from Haifa to Afula. Within that region live 1 million people. In the border cities, such as Nahariya and Kiryat Shmona, life has become impossible, and a large portion of the population has fled. One man was killed yesterday by a rocket in Nahariya. Also Haifa, where people were trying to continue on, now has been hit with so many salvos of rockets that life there has also come to a standstill. It is estimated that one third of the people in this area have evacuated, that's ca. 300,000 people, most of them moving south, to where we are and further south to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as well as tourists leaving Israel by air.
It's true that much of Beirut and Lebanon have been affected by Israel's air war against Hizbollah, and each of the major countries are evacuating their nationals from Beirut, mostly by ship from Beirut harbor. The total numbers are also large, supposedly 20,000 Brits (less than 1,000 have been evacuated so far), 25,000 Americans, 20,000 French, also Scandinavians, Irish, Spanish, Italian, etc. But, even though the images of war ships taking refugees out of Beirut Harbor to Cyprus are very photogenic, not a single word or report has been given of the far larger population movement of Israelis to the south away from the rocket bombardment of Hizbollah. It is quite demoralizing that one week after the war started the number of rockets landing in Israel has not decreased.
To illustrate the danger of these rockets, yesterday three hit Nazareth, an Israeli Arab town in central Galilee, and killed three people, two children in a direct hit and a man in a mall. Being Arabs they may not have thought that Hizbollah would target them, and they may have ignored Israeli Government warnings to shelter. This attack on the birthplace of Jesus may give Christians deeper insight into the murderous nature of Hizbollah and the randomness of their attacks on civilians.
Of course, the foreign nationals being evacuated from Beirut are angry at Israel for disturbing their lives or visits to Lebanon, and some say very nasty, such as that Israel has no reason to be striking Lebanon and deliberately killing innocent civilains, that no one can control Israel its a murderous country on the loose, and of course that Israel started this for no reason and can't be stopped, etc. etc. But, these people not only have not been exposed to a free or balanced press in Lebanon, but they are giving the opinions of Hizbollah, that is a violent anti-Western terrorist organization. They completely ignore the attack by Hizbollah into Israel that started this, and they ignore the 1,600 rockets that have been fired into northern Israel, and the stopping of life throughout the region, including businesses, etc. If they knew that there were more refugees like them flooding into southern Israel, they might have more sympathy for our plight. Also, reporters in Lebanon pointing to bombed buildings say things like "these were civilian apartments, etc." without any possible knowledge of rockets that might have been stored there or telecommunications centers, etc.
And those calling for an immediate ceasefire are not living in the real world. AS PM Blair sadi int eh Commons, how can you get a terrorist organization to agree to and adhere to a ceasefire. Would al Qaeda give the US a ceasefire, would the insurgents in Iraq, the idea is ridiculous? The only way to deal with such an organization is to defeat it. This is one of the aims of the IDF, otherwise after the fighting stops Hizbollah will go right back to being a violent and active terrorist organization. The IDF must "neutralize" Hizbollah in order to prevent a recurrence of this situation where Israel's north is hostage to rockets and life cannot go on as usual.
While the fighting is going on in the north and the south, yesterday there was a major terrorist alert in central Israel that caused huge traffic jams. Eventually a Palestinian terrorist was captured on a building site in Hod Hasharon, in central Israel.
Also, today the IDF announced that it has been engaged in intense localized ground warfare against Hizbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon. Two IDF soldiers were killed and some were injured. In order to ensure that Hizbollah is removed from southern Lebanon in the final analysis ground action is necessary. Thank God for our brave troops who go into Gaza and Lebanon under these circumstances.
It's true that much of Beirut and Lebanon have been affected by Israel's air war against Hizbollah, and each of the major countries are evacuating their nationals from Beirut, mostly by ship from Beirut harbor. The total numbers are also large, supposedly 20,000 Brits (less than 1,000 have been evacuated so far), 25,000 Americans, 20,000 French, also Scandinavians, Irish, Spanish, Italian, etc. But, even though the images of war ships taking refugees out of Beirut Harbor to Cyprus are very photogenic, not a single word or report has been given of the far larger population movement of Israelis to the south away from the rocket bombardment of Hizbollah. It is quite demoralizing that one week after the war started the number of rockets landing in Israel has not decreased.
To illustrate the danger of these rockets, yesterday three hit Nazareth, an Israeli Arab town in central Galilee, and killed three people, two children in a direct hit and a man in a mall. Being Arabs they may not have thought that Hizbollah would target them, and they may have ignored Israeli Government warnings to shelter. This attack on the birthplace of Jesus may give Christians deeper insight into the murderous nature of Hizbollah and the randomness of their attacks on civilians.
Of course, the foreign nationals being evacuated from Beirut are angry at Israel for disturbing their lives or visits to Lebanon, and some say very nasty, such as that Israel has no reason to be striking Lebanon and deliberately killing innocent civilains, that no one can control Israel its a murderous country on the loose, and of course that Israel started this for no reason and can't be stopped, etc. etc. But, these people not only have not been exposed to a free or balanced press in Lebanon, but they are giving the opinions of Hizbollah, that is a violent anti-Western terrorist organization. They completely ignore the attack by Hizbollah into Israel that started this, and they ignore the 1,600 rockets that have been fired into northern Israel, and the stopping of life throughout the region, including businesses, etc. If they knew that there were more refugees like them flooding into southern Israel, they might have more sympathy for our plight. Also, reporters in Lebanon pointing to bombed buildings say things like "these were civilian apartments, etc." without any possible knowledge of rockets that might have been stored there or telecommunications centers, etc.
And those calling for an immediate ceasefire are not living in the real world. AS PM Blair sadi int eh Commons, how can you get a terrorist organization to agree to and adhere to a ceasefire. Would al Qaeda give the US a ceasefire, would the insurgents in Iraq, the idea is ridiculous? The only way to deal with such an organization is to defeat it. This is one of the aims of the IDF, otherwise after the fighting stops Hizbollah will go right back to being a violent and active terrorist organization. The IDF must "neutralize" Hizbollah in order to prevent a recurrence of this situation where Israel's north is hostage to rockets and life cannot go on as usual.
While the fighting is going on in the north and the south, yesterday there was a major terrorist alert in central Israel that caused huge traffic jams. Eventually a Palestinian terrorist was captured on a building site in Hod Hasharon, in central Israel.
Also, today the IDF announced that it has been engaged in intense localized ground warfare against Hizbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon. Two IDF soldiers were killed and some were injured. In order to ensure that Hizbollah is removed from southern Lebanon in the final analysis ground action is necessary. Thank God for our brave troops who go into Gaza and Lebanon under these circumstances.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:00 PM
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