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Jewish Journal

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November 15, 2012

Gaza Today – Yehiyeh Tov by Jonatan Gefen and David Bruza

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Mobile Sections, News, United States /

Anyone who has visited Sderot in the south near the Gaza border must appreciate why Israel cannot tolerate the hundreds and thousands of missiles launched indiscriminately by Hamas from Gaza on Israeli cities and settlements.

The Israeli targeted killing this week of Ahmad Jabari, the mastermind of the Gilad Shalit kidnapping and a terrorist responsible for the murder of hundreds, if not thousands of innocent Israelis, is justifiable. Any progressive Jew should be supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas bombs. No nation in the world would do otherwise.

Having said this, understanding context and the risk of unintended consequences is important. Though it is nothing new that Hamas is a sworn enemy of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, the political fall-out for Israel from this operation and anything yet to come from a possible invasion is unknown and cannot be predicted one way or another.

Israel is in the midst of an election campaign. The PA is preparing to introduce a bill into the UN General Assembly to gain recognition of a “State of Palestine” and already has the votes to get it passed. Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to miss opportunities to work towards a two-state solution, most recently when he ignored President Abbas’ statement that Palestine is the West Bank and Gaza and not Israel. President Obama is refocusing (I would assume) on the Middle East after the American election, and has stated his desire to draw down more quickly, if possible, the number of American troops in Afghanistan. He also understands the need to stabilize Iraq, address ongoing issues relative to the “Arab Spring,” tighten sanctions on Iran, maintain a working and productive relationship with Egypt, and figure out what to do about the deadly civil war in Syria.

Another Israeli-Hamas war, even if justifiable, throws a monkey wrench into the mix.

A popular Israeli song from 1977 written and composed after Anwar Sadat visited Israel (“Yehiyeh Tov” – lyrics by Yonatan Gefen; Music by David Bruza) still expresses the yearnings and dreams of Israeli youth who have born the burden of defending the Jewish state for so long. As we read the unsettling news day in and day out, it is important to remember that at the heart and soul of the Israeli people is a yearning for a better future and peace. I believe the same is true of the Palestinian people.

The melody of Yehiyeh Tov is beautiful and the English translation a pale reflection of the original Hebrew. You can watch and listen to David Bruza sing it here (and below).

“I look out the window

and it makes me very sad,

Spring has left;

Who knows when it will return.

The clown has become a king;

The prophet has become a clown;

And I have forgotten the way;

But I am still here.

All will be better, yes –

all will be better.

Sometimes I break

But this night,

O this night

I will stay with you.

Children wear wings

And fly off to the army

And after two years

They return without answers.

People live with stress

Looking for a reason to breathe

And between hatred and murder

They speak about peace.

And all will be better…

Yes, above in the heavens

Clouds learn to fly,

And I look up

And see a hijacked plane.

A government of generals

Divide the landscape,

To what is theirs and ours,

And we know not the end.

And all will be better…

I look out my window –

Maybe it will come,

Maybe it has come,

Yes it has come –

A new day.

Here comes the prince of Egypt.

O how I rejoiced for him.

There are pyramids in our eyes

And peace in his pipe

And we said let’s complete it,

And we’ll live as brothers

And he said let’s go forward.

Just get out of the territories.

And all will be good…

We will yet learn to live together

Between the groves of olive trees;

Children will live without fear

Without borders, without bomb shelters.

On graves grass will grow,

For peace and love,

One hundred years of war

But we have not lost hope.

I look out the window

Perhaps a new day will come.”

David Bruza has been singing this song for 35 years, and vows to continue until there is peace.

Gaza Today – Yehiyeh Tov by Jonatan Gefen and David Bruza Read More »

Gaza rocket hits city near Tel Aviv, no damage or casualties

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck an Israeli city on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on Thursday, exploding in an open area within the municipal limits of Rishon Lezion, the army said.

Air raid sirens sounded in Rishon Lezion, a city some 12 km (seven miles) south of Tel Aviv, and an explosion was heard. A military spokeswoman said the rocket hit an uninhabited area. There were no reports of damage or casualties.

Israeli media reports said the rocket came down near an amusement park in sand dunes on the edge of Rishon Lezion, a city of 300,000 people. It was the northernmost point struck by a rocket since Israel's Gaza offensive began on Wednesday.

Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Crispian Balmer

Gaza rocket hits city near Tel Aviv, no damage or casualties Read More »

Israeli peace activist says Hamas’ Jabari received truce document—and Israel knew

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin said that hours before Israel assassinated Ahmed Jabari, the Hamas military leader received a draft of a permanent truce agreement with Israel.

The draft also included mechanisms for maintaining a cease-fire during upticks in rocket fire between Gaza and Israel, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Thursday, citing Baskin. He reportedly had a relationship with Hamas leaders after he helped negotiate a deal to release captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held by Hamas in Gaza for more than five years.

Israeli officials ordered the hit on Jabari despite knowing about the truce draft, Baskin told Haaretz.

Baskin met Jabari when he was mediating between the Hamas leader and the Israeli representative to the Shalit negotiations.

Baskin told Haaretz that he showed Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak a draft of the permanent truce agreement, and said that an interministry committee on the issue was established on the basis of the document.

Israeli peace activist says Hamas’ Jabari received truce document—and Israel knew Read More »

Six women detained for wearing prayer shawls at Western Wall

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

Six women were detained by Jerusalem police for wearing prayer shawls at the Western Wall as more than 100 women gathered there for the monthly Women of the Wall service.

The detainments Thursday, on the first day of the Hebrew month Kislev, follow the arrest at last month's service of Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman. Hoffman was not at Thursday’s service, as she was banned from the Wall for 30 days following her arrest on Oct. 17.

The detainments occurred before the service began as women were putting on their tallitot.

“We came to pray, especially today, for the peace of the state,” said Lesley Sachs, one of the detainees, referring to fighting in Israel’s South between Israel and Hamas.

Women of the Wall has held a special prayer service at the holy site nearly each month for the last 20 years on Rosh Chodesh, or the beginning of new Hebrew month, at the back of the women's section. Western Wall regulations dictate that women cannot wear tallitot, or prayer shawls, as it contravenes the “local custom” as determined by the Western Wall’s chief rabbi.

In 2003, Israel's Supreme Court upheld a government ban on women wearing tefillin or tallitot, or reading from a Torah scroll at the Western Wall

While many of the women at the service wore tallitot, most wore them in the fashion of a scarf, sidestepping the regulation.

Following Hoffman’s arrest last month, the Israel Religious Action Center, which advocates for religious pluralism, said it planned to submit a petition to Israel’s Supreme Court aiming to change how the Wall’s regulations are decided at the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which administers the Wall. Hoffman told JTA last month that Women of the Wall hopes to be given one hour to pray every month.

A mix of younger and older women attended the service, along with a handful of male supporters.

“It’s important for me to support women and men who want to come one hour a month,” said Laura Wharton, another detainee.

Six women detained for wearing prayer shawls at Western Wall Read More »

Deterrence is the idea behind Israel’s strikes in Gaza, but how far will conflict with Hamas go?

Leave a Comment / Is Featured?, Israel, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

Wage war to make peace.

That’s the idea behind Israel’s strikes this week against Hamas targets in Gaza, including Wednesday’s attack that killed Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari.

What’s not clear is how far Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense will go, what price Israeli civilians will pay in the conflict, whether it will succeed in its goal of deterring Hamas from future attacks on Israel and what consequences there might be for Jerusalem’s fragile relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood-led government in Egypt.

“Today we sent an unequivocal message to Hamas and the other terror organizations, and if need be the IDF is prepared to expand the operation,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Thursday. “We will not accept a situation in which Israeli citizens are threatened by the terror of rockets.”

Approximately 400 rockets and missiles have been fired at Israel since Saturday, when attackers from Gaza fired an anti-tank weapon on an Israeli military vehicle along the border, wounding four soldiers. The Israel Defense Forces said its air assaults Wednesday destroyed many of Hamas’ long-range Fajr missiles in addition to assassinating Jabari.

The fighting was the heaviest in Gaza since Operation Cast Lead, the last major Israeli ground invasion in Gaza, which lasted three weeks from December 2008 to January 2009. In that round of fighting, 14 Israelis and an estimated 1,400 Palestinians were killed.

“There’s no doubt that Hamas suffered a heavy blow in two ways — the killing of three of its senior commanders and the intensive attack on its arsenal of long-range rockets,” Ephraim Kam, deputy director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, told JTA, speaking of the latest Israeli operation.

Hamas stepped up its rocket fire on southern Israel following the assassination, launching more than 250 rockets, according to the IDF. On Thursday, three Israeli civilians in the town of Kiryat Malachi were killed when a rocket struck their apartment building. At least a dozen Palestinians have been killed in the fighting this week.

The escalation may have died down even without an Israeli offensive, as the rocket attacks on southern Israel had subsided the day before Israel’s airstrikes. But Pillar of Defense is meant to deter Hamas from launching rockets in the long term, even as it provokes more rocket fire in the short term, said Meir Elran, head of the homeland security program at the Institute for National Security Studies.

“Basically, unfortunately you have to hit hard to make your point,” Elran told JTA. “This is something that is supposed primarily to resume the deterrent effect that has been diminishing” following Cast Lead, which led to a significant decrease in Hamas rocket fire.

Elran said that Israel would be better off avoiding a ground incursion this time, but that two factors could make that inevitable: a Hamas strike on a large city, such as Tel Aviv, or a surge in Israeli casualties.

“Even if you have 99 percent misses, you might have an unfortunate 1 percent that will change the situation,” he said.

Kam said he believes there is “no doubt Hamas will try to fire against Tel Aviv.” On Thursday, three rockets hit Rishon Lezion, 10 miles south of the city.

Hamas may be emboldened by Egypt’s government, which is led by the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’ parent organization. Egypt recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv on Wednesday after Israel launched its strikes in Gaza.

“We were practically assured that Egypt was safe on the sidelines” in previous operations, Elran said. “Nowadays it’s not as clear. We should not be intent on making a major move of ground forces. It might irritate the Egyptians and bring them into something that they and we don’t want.”

Egypt’s need for foreign aid could be a moderating force that keeps it out of the conflict, said Professor Shmuel Sandler of Bar-Ilan University.

Should the Israeli offensive end soon, it could give Netanyahu a short-term boost as Israel heads toward elections in late January — something Elran and Kam cited as contributing factors in Netanyahu’s decision to launch the operation. But Sandler noted that patience with Netanyahu among Israelis could wear thin in the face of rising civilian fatalities, more Hamas rockets and a long ground invasion.

“If it goes too long it will hurt” Netanyahu, Sandler said. “But I think there are too many outside forces pressuring [Israel] to stop the operation.”

For now, the fighting seems to have shifted the public’s attention from socioeconomic issues to security — an area seen as a Netanyahu strength.

Hamas, which governs Gaza, also may want the fighting to end as soon as possible, even though the terrorist organization is committed to destroying Israel. Bar-Ilan Professor Mordechai Kedar noted that the conflict had quieted down on Tuesday, before Israel’s strikes began, and that Saturday’s attack on the Israeli military vehicle was not Hamas’ work.

“Another organization hit the jeep,” he said. “This was the event that started this. They pulled Hamas into the affair because Israel sees Hamas as responsible.”

In any case, Kedar said, the operation is necessary for Israel to safeguard its citizens.

“You need to constantly fight terror,” he said. “We can’t let them have a terror state.”

Deterrence is the idea behind Israel’s strikes in Gaza, but how far will conflict with Hamas go? Read More »

IDF pinpoint strike on Ahmed Jabari [VIDEO]

Leave a Comment / Israel /

The IDF targeted Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip, on Nov. 14. Jabari was a senior Hamas operative who served in the upper echelon of the Hamas' command and was directly responsible for executing terror attacks against Israel in the past.

The Arabic leaflet reads: “Important announcement for the residents of the Gaza Strip: For your own safety, take responsibility for yourselves and avoid being present in the vicinity of Hamas operatives and facilities and those of other terror organizations that pose a risk to your safety. Hamas is once again dragging the region to violence and bloodshed. The IDF is determined to defend the residents of the State of Israel. This announcement is valid until quiet is restored to the region. Israel Defense Forces Command.”

Video courtesy of IDF drops warning leaflets over Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip Read More »

This week in power: Election aftermath, IDF tweets, Rocket attacks, Jewish jocks

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A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Obama's vote
How's the President wind up doing on Jewish support? Not bad. In 2008, he won 78 percent of all Jewish voters, with this year ” target=”_blank”>said Jeremy Ben Ami in The New York Times. And there's no better time for the President to reassure Jews that this is the start of a beautiful friendship, ” target=”_blank”>according to reports. But what really got people fired up was the way the IDF announced the news — via Twitter. And the tweets didn't seem to stop all day long. “The social media and real-life assaults are ongoing and more than a bit startling, combining the strong declarations of war with the immediacy and promotional aspects of the Internet, using lingo such as 'in case you missed it' and memelike photos designed for maximum virality,” ” target=”_blank”>added Matt Buchanan at Buzzfeed.

Days of rockets
Israeli's attack this week followed several days of rocket attacks fired in the region. “Israel is literally surrounded by enemies, armed and funded by Iran, and sworn to its destruction,” ” target=”_blank”>asked Gadi Adelman in The Jerusalem Post. There's still hope to quell the Syrian uprising, ” target=”_blank”>networking than to settle unresolved issues within the Jewish community. Elie Wiesel and Natan Sharansky were the keynote speakers at the event, and some argued that the assembly would be better off with some younger guests. “Because we’ve grown up in the age of Uzi’s and M16’s, battles like Wiesel’s and Sharansky’s—over the bare fact of Jewish survival—don’t resonate for us the way they do for our parents,” ” target=”_blank”>wrote editor Marc Tracy about his new book. “With so much variance in substance and style, it's hard to pick a single standout,” ” target=”_blank”>said Bloomberg's David M. Shribman.

This week in power: Election aftermath, IDF tweets, Rocket attacks, Jewish jocks Read More »

Israeli and Palestinian civilians killed in border fighting

Leave a Comment / Israel /

Two rockets hit the outskirts of the central Israeli town of Rishon Letzion, more than 22 miles from Gaza, raising concerns that Hamas will fire long-range missiles that can hit Israel’s business capital of Tel Aviv

[UPDATE: Rocket strikes southern outskirts of Tel Aviv]

Earlier, a rocket fired from Gaza slammed into a four-story apartment building in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi, killing two men and a woman in the first Israeli casualties since Israel killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari. Palestinians say a two-month-old baby was killed in Gaza, along with ten other Palestinians. In Gaza, hundreds attended Jabari’s funeral and vowed revenge.

“Israeli planes have been firing missiles non-stop stop,” Muhannad al-Jannar, who lives close to the Israeli border in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis with his wife and four children told The Media Line. “Whenever an airstrike hits, the children get terrified, but after that they’re curious to see what happened. They look out the windows to see where the missiles have fallen.”

Israeli officials confirmed that they have bombarded targets extensively, although said they were trying hard not to hit civilians.

“The IDF (Israeli army) hit 230 separate targets in Gaza,” Army spokesman Captain Eytan Buchman told The Media Line. “We’ve been gathering intelligence on these targets for months now. We started with the senior leadership and moved to long-range rockets with an over 25 mile range. After that, we hit shorter range rockets.”

Buchman said more than 140 rockets were fired at Israel, and 90 were intercepted. Life in the south of Israel came to a standstill as schools were closed and residents close to Gaza were ordered to stay in their homes. Many stores also stayed closed.

“It feels like the sirens (meaning an incoming rocket) are going off constantly – before one even dies down, another one starts,” Zeev Silverman, a professor of anatomy at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva told The Media Line. “We don’t have a reinforced room at home, so we go to an inner hallway that doesn’t have any window. But if a missile directly hit our house, that wouldn’t really help us.”

He says he feels his blood pressure go up with every siren.

“You know it’s going to hit somewhere,” he says. “And you wonder, is it going to hit you or someone you know? Then you wonder, what if I’m in the shower? I decided that if I’m in the shower I won’t get out.”

Israeli officials launched a public relations blitz to try to explain Israel’s position.

“There is no moral symmetry; there is no moral equivalence, between Israel and the terrorist organizations in Gaza,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the foreign press today. “The terrorists are committing a double war crime. They fire at Israeli civilians, and they hide behind Palestinian civilians. And by contrast, Israel takes every measure to avoid civilian casualties. I saw today a picture of a bleeding Israeli baby. This picture says it all: Hamas deliberately targets our children, and they deliberately place their rockets next to their children. Despite this reality, and it’s a very difficult reality, Israel will continue to do everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties.”

However, given the densely packed Gaza Strip with 1.6 million Palestinians in a small area, that seems virtually impossible.

Israeli analysts say they believe that Israel has reasserted its deterrent position vis-à-vis Hamas.

“Israel has changed its policy with the decision to assassinate senior Hamas leaders,” Dr. Eitan Shamir, an Israeli expert on national security told The Media Line. “It is the first time that Israel is acting so strongly since the Arab Spring and the change of regime in Egypt, which many thought would constrain Israel.”

He said that both Israel and Hamas do not want a further escalation and an Israeli invasion of ground troops into Gaza.

Palestinian analyst Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a political science professor at Al-Azhar University told The Media Line that an Israeli ground operation is a likely possibility.

“It depends on Hamas,” he said. “Until now Hamas has only fired rockets into the Israeli cities close to Gaza, but if Hamas will fire missiles into Tel Aviv, this will lead to a confrontation and will provoke Israel to initiate a ground attack on Gaza,” he said.

Israeli and Palestinian civilians killed in border fighting Read More »