Etikett: terror

”So why was the wall raised, why were the checkpoints established?”

Hello,

As I read mr. Kim’s blog and the ”letters from Israel section” I started to feel that I should share my experience, and my opinion of Israel, it’s people and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that seemingly became part of our lives. But as I imagine the letter I would write it always goes to dark places.
I do not wish to make a grim picture of my beloved Israel, but it seems if I wish to discuss the conflict, specially the allegations of Israeli apartheid, that hurts me deeply, I have to go there.

When discussing the check points and the West Bank wall people say it’s illegal and inhumane, that we don’t have a right to treat the Palestinians as some sort of cattle that we close within a cage. Today all I hear of Israel are these allegations of racism and apartheid, but all I can recall of why all of this was created, is my time at school around the year 2000 when the Second intifada (A.K.A Intifada Al-Aqsa) started.

As the Palestinian Popular uprising started one of the most remembered incidents was the Ramallah lynch where two IDF reservists entered Ramallah by accident (there were no checkpoints at that time) and were lynched by a large mob. After this incident our teachers devoted an hour talking about the conflict. I clearly remember my teacher saying: ”Although this is a bloody incidents, I try to understand the Palestinian point of view. They have accumulated a lot of anger and that two soldiers were an object that they could focus their anger on.”

After the incidents a wave of murderous terror acts started. Every other day a suicide bomber blew up in a bus, or a mall. At first, it was working, people got scared, I remember how for several months everybody refrained of going out, they preferred to stay at home. I felt that too, but then something even worse happened: we got used to it, we became numb. I remember clearly me sitting in class when one of the students that was checking the news on his cell-phone (something new at that time) saying: ”There was a terrorist act in Netanya.” And then us asking him automatically: ”How many died?” and it was just another day in school. I still watched the news regularly, but it was out of an almost compulsive need to be up-to-date. I recall how motionless and emotionless I was as they read the names of the victims: ”And these are the names of the 21 deceased that were taken at the bombing in the Delphinarium night-club in Tel-Aviv…” By the way at this terrorist act most of the killed were kids aged 14-18 and the oldest was the bouncer aged 25. And most of them went to the same school.

So why was the wall raised, why were the checkpoints established? Because as much as we would like the Palestinians to move freely on their lands, we had to take control of the situation. Since those times suicide bombing became very rare (relatively) and what we suffer is ”just” the rockets from Gaza for the most part.

Are the measures we have taken to stop these terrorists humane? Maybe not, many innocent Palestinians now live in less than optimal conditions with many of their rights violated. But were those measures justified? You tell me…

Thank you,

V.P.

Moshe’s Letter

Dear friends,

I cannot summarize the Jewish history or Israel’s history in one letter. So I decided to bring you just a small and narrow point of view of the gap in life between my world and yours.

A few years ago I went to travel in Australia.
The first thing that ”hit” me was when I entered the shopping mall and there was no security guard at the entrance to search the people that goes inside the mall. It looked very strange to me because since I was a kid in Israel there are security guards everywhere. At shopping malls, at cinemas, at theaters, at schools, train stations, bus stations, coffee shops, restaurants, and so on…

I am not sure if you know the reason for all that security but it is very simple: Palestinian terrorists wants to get inside those places and bomb themselves in order to kill as many people as they can, no matter if it’s grown-ups or teenagers or kids or even babies.
I won’t tell you all the horror stories about things they did over the years, I just wish to show you how different my life and your life is.
I also don’t wish to get into the political argument but I think no innocent

man should get killed in any circumstance, no matter what that may be.
This call should be heard loud and clear all over the world.

I don’t blame you for not liking us so much.
I am sure that you know very little about what is really going on in Israel. But you have to believe me: we wish for a peaceful quiet life like you have and like people in every western country have. I can promise you that.

I can just only invite you to come here and travel here and enjoy all the great places we have here. I know it may sound strange after all the ”scary” stuff I said but I can assure you that Israel has a very high standard of security so it’s a safe place and a safe country.

Yours,
Moshe.

”The state of Israel had to be founded in order to protect us, the Jews, from the world”

I’m writing these lines while watching the news. Listening to the reporter saying there has been a terror attack against Israelis in Bulgaria. For now, it says 7 innocent people have lost their lives. The numbers will probably, unfortunately, increase.

Israelis and Jews around the world have always been a favorite target for the radical Islamic terror organizations.

I’m thinking about all the people who say: ”the terror against Jews is only because of the occupation”. They say that if the state of Israel didn’t exist (on occupied Palestinian land), there won’t be terror and hatred against Jews around the world.

Well, I guess I wasn’t aware of the fact that the Israeli occupation existed also during the holocaust, for example. Of course there had been many other events of hate towards Jews, but I’m taking the holocaust as a major argument to that claim.

I find that claim, that the existence of Israel is the reason for the hate – ridiculous, and also insulting.

The state of Israel had to be founded in order to protect us, the Jews, from the world. We needed a country that will stand up for us and protect us, because no other country did when we were being slaughtered in Europe. No other country stood up for us and shouted about one of the most horrible crimes against humanity throughout the history of mankind.

I find myself thinking a lot about the unjust hate towards us. It breaks my heart to see how Israel is being reviewed in the international media, being criticized in every opportunity.

The percentage of the Jewish people in the world is about 0.2%. The percentage of the Arab population in the world is about 23%.

And yet, Jews and Israelis are making such a big contribution to the world. Whether it’s the Nobel prizes some of us receive in medicine, science, economy, math and more; whether it’s the Israeli High-Tech companies, which contributes to the progress of technology around the world and much more.

Islam, which is supposed to be ”the religion of peace”, stands as a contradiction to the Jewish and Christian religions. They hate, they terror, the kill innocent people only because of their beliefs, their way of life and their religion.

How can the world be so blind to the truth? This thought keeps harassing me. I can’t understand that.

There is a sentence I heard once, and I believe it’s true:
”The Arabs have passion for death, as much as the Jews have for living”.

We love life. We cherish our lives and even our enemies’ lives. We think that the gift of life is the most sacred thing there is. And we will keep believing and longing for a better future for us. Because we love life and we will never give up.

I also wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for all the support you give us.
It gives us strength and optimism.

Bless you, friend.

Segev Moses.

”Jag är israel – för en del är detta skäl nog att avsky mig”

Hej,

Mitt namn är Adi och jag är israel.
För en del är detta skäl nog att avsky mig. Som om det vore kriminellt på något sätt att komma från Israel.
Israel har under sin korta existens varit framgångsrikt inom många områden, men vi har misslyckats med en del. Under våra 64 år har vi inte kunnat skapa fred i regionen. En del kommer att säga ”upphör med ockupationen och sluta med förtrycket så kommer freden”. Detta är inte bara att vara naiv – det är också att vara omedveten om vad som händer i vår värld.

Vi prövade med att lämna Gaza och tvingade tusentals israeler att lämna sina hem för att få fred. I utbyte fick vi åtta år med raketattacker. Människorna i Gaza lider, men deras ledare gör ingenting alls för att lösa problemen; de vidmakthåller dem genom att peka på Israel som måltavla. Medierna älskar denna situation med palestinierna som de i underläge och i dessa dagar känns det som om antisemiter har ersatts av palestinaälskare. ”Om vi kan hata Israel utan att verka som om vi vore rasister eller trångsynta, utan i stället som medkännande och politiskt korrekt, så måste det vara rätt.” Det är inte rätt!

Låt inte andra tänka åt er, oavsett hur korrekt eller bekvämt det förefaller. Ta reda på saker och ting själva! Läs om konflikten! Prata med människor som påverkas på båda sidor! Allra minst bör ni avstå från att sprida era feluppfattningar om en situation som är långt borta från er, beträffande vilken ni endast matas av medierna. Döm inte oss på grund av en artikel i en tidning. Ni skulle inte tycka det var trevligt om situationen var den omvända. Vi är visserligen inga änglar (det är det ingen som är), men vi är inte heller några demoner som vill förtrycka andra. Vi är mer som ni än vad ni tror, det är bara det att vi lever i en annan, frustrerande och nästintill omöjlig realitet.

Fred
Adi

Översättning: Ingrid Olsson.
Read this letter in English.

”I’m an Israeli – to some this alone is a reason to resent me”

Hi,

My name is Adi and I’m an Israeli.
To some this alone is a reason to resent me. As if being an Israeli is a crime of some sort.
In its short life Israel has succeeded in many fields, but in some it has failed. In our 64 years of existence we could not bring peace to this territory. Some will say ’stop the occupation, stop the oppression and peace will come’ but this is not just being naive – it is to be unaware of what is going on in our world.

We tried leaving Gaza, ripping from their homes thousands of Israelis, to find peace. We got eight years of rockets attacks in return. The people of Gaza are miserable but their leaders are doing nothing at all to resolve it, they are perpetuating it by pointing the finger at Israel and saying ”fire”.  The media loves this underdog situation and these days I feel anti-semites are replaced by pro-Palestinians. ’If we can hate Israel and not appear to be racist or closed minded but instead compassionate and politically correct then this must be right.’ It is not right!

Do not let others set your mind for you, however correct or comfortable it might look. Find out things for yourself! Read about this conflict! Talk to people who are affected by it on both sides! Or at least don’t spread your misinformed opinion of a situation miles away, of which you are only fed by the media. Do not judge us because of an article you read in some newspaper. You would not have liked it if it was vice versa. While we are no angels (no one is) we are also no demons looking to oppress. We are more like you than you think, just in a different, frustrating, almost impossible reality.

Peace
Adi

Read this letter in Swedish.