Congressman: 'I felt safer in Israel than in New York, Chicago... or Baltimore'
For those of you who fear visiting or moving to Israel because it's 'unsafe,' Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga) has a message for you.
“The whole time we were there, of course, we had security with us,
but there was no restrictions on travel, we never felt threatened one
bit — unless you’re threatened by the merchants in the Old City trying
to get you to come in their shops,” Loudermilk told Washington Watch, the radio show of the conservative Family Research Council.
“In fact, I can say that we felt safer in Israel than we would in certain parts of New York City or Chicago,” Loudermilk said.
“Yeah — or Baltimore, I would think, as well,” interjected host Tony Perkins.
In an earlier post, I talked about the Defense Ministry's apology to New York Times photographer Lynsey Addario and why I thought it odd that she apparently classified it as more outrageous than the 48 hours of sexual abuse she endured at the hands of the Libyans.
In case some of you are wondering why Addario would have had such an extensive search at a crossing from Gaza into Israel, let me remind you.
Let's go to the videotape.
Ah, you say, but Addario isn't even an Arab. Neither was Anne Marie Murphy.
The plan was to plant explosives in the belly of the plane; the explosives were to be transported by a duped and innocent passenger entirely unaware of their existence. El Al security agents at the London stop uncovered the explosives and prevented the terror attack. After the discovery of the explosives, local authorities took over and arrested the passenger; later also arresting the man who sent her, a Jordanian Arab named Nizar Hindawi.
The passenger, a 32 year old Irish woman named Anne-Marie Murphy, who was six months pregnant, arrived at the check-in desk some forty minutes before it closed. She was approached and questioned by the deputy security officer as part of routine passenger security checks.
No suspicious signs were revealed during her questioning. The passenger, who gave the impression of being a simple woman, responded in the negative when asked if she had been given anything to bring to Israel. During the questioning she was calm, and revealed no sign of nervousness. In the check of her baggage, suspicious signs came to light: a Commodore scientific calculator with an electric cable was found; the bag raised suspicion due to its unexpectedly heavy weight. The security officer’s examination of the bag revealed explosives concealed in the bottom of the bag, under a double panel. He called the police, and the passenger was arrested.
Examination of the bomb by the local police revealed a detonator in the Commodore calculator coated with plastic Simtex explosives, connected to an electronic timing device which was set to activate the major explosives cache hidden inside the bag. An examination of the timer mechanism, once it was disconnected from the explosives, revealed that the jet was intended to explode about two and a quarter hours after its takeoff for Israel, at a height of 39,000 feet, when it would have been airborne between Italy and Greece.
Addario was part of the media? So was Ahlam Tamimi. For that matter, so was Nezar Hindawi - Murphy's boyfriend. Or at least, so he claimed.
I received this via email and it's simply too good not to pass on:
September Barbeque of Jews
By Ari Bussel
One thing I must surrender: The Palestinians are determined.
Did anyone notice that they have been relatively quiet recently although September is already upon us?
There were several pronouncements by the PA they would never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, but really not much more.
So what is in store for Israel later this month?
Israel has been relatively distracted by the “social revolt” that is now subsiding. The summer is over, school is back in session and life has to return to its normal course. The days of summer happenings at tent cities were full of attractions, but every party comes to an end.
Israeli politicians were on missions, seemingly targeting African countries for support. While this path allowed them to travel and accumulate miles and overseas expenses, the sum total of this effort is quite meaningless. In fact, it promotes a false sense of security and a notion that “we have done everything possible, but the Palestinians are simply stronger.”
It is a defeatist attitude from the very start.
I am reminded of the month leading up to the Turkish Terrorist Flotilla. Israel did nothing, ignored all available open sources and played into the hands of its enemies. Five Israeli elite soldiers were injured, nine terrorists killed, Israel relaxed the “siege” and so was seen as having capitulated to pressure, Turkey downgraded its diplomatic relations with Israel and a UN report was published concluding that Israel acted within its rights, but too aggressively. There was also an Israeli commission of inquiry.
Could Israel have done anything differently? Clearly. This was seen with the thwarted flotilla and flytilla that followed.
It has now been a good several months, a solid period of time by any account, for Israel to prepare for September. On the 20th of this month, the UN General Assembly is expected to recognize “free and independent Palestine.” Many countries have already committed to this course of action and several have already taken the necessary steps to recognize Palestine. Even the Israeli Ambassador to the UN has admitted that it is a solid eventuality.
Recognition of Palestine with recognized international borders will de facto create a new state, one that never existed, by tearing apart a portion of Israel. Imagine the Turks’ reaction if the UN were to take a fifth of Turkey and declare it “Land of the Kurds,” or China’s reaction to international recognition of Tibet? Except with Israel everything is permissible, and Israel is not fighting back.
It is much, much worse than it seems.
Many Israelis, mainstream media and politicians from across the aisle do not view Judea and Samaria as an integral part of Israel. For them, the more than 330,000 Israelis living there (not counting Jerusalem) are a security and financial burden. They still use the word “Settlers” to refer to them, and truly resent their presence.
Other than the Arab Spring of 2011, processes take a very long time to mature. The discussions about Israelis living in Gaza, or at the outskirts of Gaza, have lasted for many years. In 1989 or 1990 I went on a tour of Gaza, for I wanted to see with my own eyes and experience what Gaza was all about. Analysis was conducted at that time in the Israeli military if the resources invested in protecting the “settlers” were justified. Slowly the realization that Israelis should be uprooted started deepening. It all sounded reasonable and logical, leading to the 2005 unilateral “Disengagement.”
This is not a question of lacking institutional memory or not knowing one’s own history. Here, in the span of one generation, Israelis initiated a critical mistake and are about to repeat it now. The mystery is that Israel’s actions are neither a result of desperation nor of utter stupidity (even though they seem so). And yet, Israel is ready to commit the very same suicidal step again.
First it was Gaza, next Judea and Samaria, and to top the move, Jerusalem will be sacrificed on the same altar, and with Jerusalem - God. Israelis give up their very identity, every right they have and soon, they will give up on their very being too.
The Palestinians are determined, and the Family of Nations has already decided to accept them as equal. Israel, its Government, Foreign Ministry and citizens are too busy debating the merits and possible courses of action. The favorite choice is, as all too often, inaction. There is a small bit of meaningless fanfare, but overall they are simply doing nothing of substance. Severing ties, annexing the area, expelling non-citizens or other measures are not even considered and are readily dismissed as extreme-right-wing-fanatical ideas, option that will never be exercised.
Until Israelis feel pogroms once again. At first, these would be dismissed too, for the immediate defenders are those “Settlers” in the “Occupied West Bank.” It already happened, but it was just one family on Friday night. Two young Palestinian males entered their home and butchered the young couple and three of their kids, the youngest three months old. They cared not of the horror of their actions as it was all justified in their minds. Since the Jews are “Settlers,” “evil pigs and apes,” “filth that needs to be removed and exterminated.” It will spread on.
The Palestinians refuse to recognize Israel for what she is, the one and only national home of the Jewish People. They boycott Israeli goods and services, but Israel stubbornly continues to supply them. Their rhetoric and actions are clear and unambiguous, but Israel refuses to do what is necessary for her own survival.
So when the question is asked: Why did Israel do nothing? Or, why does Israel continue so stubbornly to ignore all the signs, the answer is obvious: “Never Again” is a slogan that sounded good for some seven decades, but the distance of time and space has removed Israelis from the true intention behind that promise. Thus, it is bound to happen again, this time not on European soil, but in the Land of Israel.
_____________________________
The series “Postcards from America—Postcards from Israel” by Ari Bussel and Norma Zager is a compilation of articles capturing the essence of life in America and Israel during the first two decades of the 21st Century.
The writers invite readers to view and experience an Israel and her politics through their eyes, Israel visitors rarely discover and Israelis often ignore.
This point—and often—counter-point presentation is sprinkled with humor and sadness and attempts to tackle serious and relevant issues of the day. The series began in 2008, appears both in print in the USA and on numerous websites and is followed regularly by readership from around the world.
Proving once again its seemingly limitless capacity to ignore facts in order to push its hard Left ideological line, Arianna Huffington's 'news' site (which will soon be writing all news content for AOL) publishes a piece by one Ira Chernus (yes, of course he's Jewish) claiming that Israel has no security needs.
In the United States, though, the myth of insecurity is the taken-for-granted lens through which the public views everything about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Like the air we breathe, it’s a view so pervasive that we hardly notice it.
Nor do we notice how reflexively most Americans accept the claim of self-defense as justification for everything Israel does, no matter how outrageous. That reflex goes far to explain why, in the latest Gallup poll matchup (“Do you sympathize more with Israel or the Palestinians?”), Israel won by a nearly 4 to 1 margin. And the pro-Israeli sentiment just keeps growing.
Our politicians, pundits, and correspondents breathe the same air in the same unthinking fashion, and so they hesitate to put much pressure on Israel to change its ways. As it happens, without such pressure, no Israeli government is likely to make the compromises needed for a just and lasting peace in the region. Instead, Israel will keep up its attacks on Gaza. In addition, if the Palestinians declare themselves an independent state come September, as manyreports indicate might happen, Israel will feel free to quash that state by any means necessary -- but only if Washington goes on giving it the old wink and nod.
If American attitudes and policies are ever to change, one necessary (though not in itself sufficient) step is to confront and debunk the myth of Israel’s insecurity.
It's really easy to pooh-pooh Israel's security needs from the safety of Boulder, Colorado, isn't it? But the entire reason that Israel has the type of military superiority that Chernus describes is that we have Judea and Samaria. If we give them up, we go back to being a state that is nine miles wide at its narrowest point, in the heart of our population and industrial centers. That means zero warning time against air attacks, and almost zero warning time against ground attacks.
Who still wants to attack us? Well, Egypt - even under Mubarak - always used Israel as the foil in its war games scenarios. Lebanon under Hezbullah is spoiling for a fight. So are the 'Palestinians' in both Judea and Samaria and Gaza (no difference between Hamas and Fatah there. And then there's Iran and Iraq and Syria. Jordan might be afraid to attack us, but they won't hesitate to let anyone else through. So where are we so secure?
Nuclear weapons? Assuming that we have them, we have already proven that we will get to pretty dire circumstances (see "Yom Kippur War") and still not use them. Second strike capability? That won't stop the suicidal Islamists from striking us, God forbid, and I would rather be alive than be able to take someone else with me through a second strike capability.
In summary, contrary to Chernus' assertion from 8,000 miles away, we most definitely are subject to military attack.
If you think our lives aren't in constant danger from terrorism, you're not watching or listening to the news and you're not reading the daily IDF updates on how many terrorists are being arrested each night, night in and night out, in Judea and Samaria. Were it not for the IDF presence in Judea and Samaria, 2003 would never have come to an end. Were it not for the presence of revenants in Judea and Samaria, a long-term IDF presence would not be sustainable. God has protected us for the last 40 years from the stupidity of politicians who wanted to pull us out.
The fact that the 'crude' Kassam rockets have not killed more people is not for the 'Palestinians' lack of effort. It's because - unlike them - we try to protect our population. The shelters, Iron Dome, the constant IDF actions all have minimized the number of Israeli casualties. Were these measures not taken, we would still be living with 2000-03 terror attacks.
As to the threat of delegitimization, unfortunately, by the end of the General Assembly session in September, Israel could yet find itself as isolated as South Africa was during the apartheid period.
One final thought: Name me one other country that fought and won a defensive war and then returned its territorial gains. For that matter, name me one other country that has ever fought such a war and then faced demands to give back the territory it won.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
