Israel today is facing Islamic terrorists made to believe time and destiny is on their side. No longer fearing the painful retribution once administered to them for incessant aggression, they now depend upon soft jihad; the canard of peace talks and denial of legitimacy to the land, and hard jihad, sustained violence from Gaza and homicide bombings emanating from Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).
An interesting article appeared in in the Atlantic Sentinel this past March 13th. Entitled Hamas Refused to Participate in Latest Gaza Violence, the author, Daniel R. DePetris points out that although this was the most intense fighting since Israel was forced to invade Gaza 3 years ago, he takes solace in the fact that during latest round of violence smaller terrorist groups did the heavy lifting and Hamas largely stayed out of the fray.
I'm sure this was very encouraging to Israeli citizens throughout the south that have 15 seconds from the time the sirens go off to herd their families into shelters before the rockets land and even less time if the terrorists decide short range mortars are the weapons of choice on a particular day. This is the way of life Jews living in towns and cities adjacent to Gaza have been forced to live since the Sharon government unilaterally uprooted thousands of people and pulled out of Gaza in 2005.
The author then goes on to applaud the 90% success rate of the "Iron Dome" defensive system jointly developed by Israel and the United States, stating, "only a few projectiles hit populated areas....One landed in a schoolyard that wasn't occupied at the time." Well, weren't those kids and their families lucky. Atlantic Sentinel (Hamas)
This is patently absurd. What a way to live. Even with 90% success rate, should a country be willing to settle for 10% of an enemy's unprovoked firepower being unleashed upon its citizenry? Or for that mater, should anything less than 100% quiet be acceptable to a sovereign nation? Clearly the Iron Dome, enhanced bunkers, or any other defensive measures are not the answer. They represent a modern day, technological Maginot Line; it's palliation where a cure is what's really needed.
Militarily, this tit for tat response to aggression makes no sense. Psychologically, maintenance of the status quo is draining upon the Israeli populace and encouraging to the terrorists. After all, since the initiative remains with the terrorists, they're allowed to pick and choose when it's in their interest to reignite hostilities. Economically, at $100,000 dollars a pop, each anti-missile, missile from the Iron Dome could bankrupt the country if full scale dependence on this system is used.
Israel, subsequent to the days of Menachem Begin has painted herself into a corner. No longer willing to eviscerate her insidious enemies, she has withdrawn into a defensive cocoon only emboldening them. Vacating positions of power won during 4 major wars and innumerable smaller ones she now bows apologetically to the will of an international community, a community in lock step with her enemies; enemies supplied by Iran with increasingly sophisticated weapons now capable of reaching major cities deep within her heartland.
Israel today is facing Islamic terrorists made to believe time and destiny is on their side. No longer fearing the painful retribution once administered to them for incessant aggression, they now depend upon soft jihad; the canard of peace talks and denial of legitimacy to the land, and hard jihad, sustained violence from Gaza and homicide bombings emanating from Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).
What's the answer to this untenable situation? Certainly a continuation of current reactionary, defensive policies to both soft and hard jihad isn't it. Some, including this writer believe the answer lies in going back to the future.
Can anyone from a security standpoint argue Israel wasn't in a better position subsequent to exiling Arafat and company to Tunisia following the First Lebanese War? Can anyone that truly loves the Jewish State and the people therein recognize what a mistake it was to bring that tyrant back and sign the Oslo Accords with him? It's time, it's been time, it's time long overdue that Israel formally recognize what the Palestinians and their Islamic supporters have recognized from the get go, Oslo was a mere ploy to get back in the game. Only Israel, yearning for peace took it seriously.
Only the naive and/or the disingenuous; fit Obama into either category, believe this conflict has a diplomatic solution. The various Palestinian entities want the peace of the schoolyard bully. They seek submission not compromise. To the Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, the PLO, the Assads, and all the other miscreants within this cabal of hate, compromise and peace is interpreted as weakness and acquiescence. Israel must regain the initiative.
Nations are comprised of people. The same situations individuals encounter daily mirror those of nations which are made of their aggregate. Many of us seeking a peaceful life may have encountered the classroom or the aforementioned schoolyard bully at one time or another. The taunter, the rebel without a cause, except when he or she has made you their cause; the guy or gal that despite your admonitions would purposely smack you in the head or knock your books off the desk. Since reasoning failed and only begot further aggression, for many of us the desire for lasting peace soon outweighed the fear of physical confrontation or administrative sanction by the school authorities. Was their a price to pay for fighting back? Definitely. Was it worth it? Absolutely. In many cases, a former tormentor became a friend after such an incident.
I can think of no better analogy for this dance of violence which Israel is engaged in with the Gazans. In her excellent article, published in the Jerusalem Post on March 29th, "Another Tack: Batman and the Iron Dome," Sarah Honig correctly recognizes this. She also sees the futility of accepting the Iron Dome and defensive measures as a way to assuage peace with the terrorists.
She aptly notes that during this last spate of violence, the Israeli aim should have been to entirely disable the terrorists from striking again. Since Israel timidly failed to accomplish this, in the view of the terrorists, they won. Whether Israel accepts this view or not is irrelevant. As long as the Islamists are left to think they won, they won. (Jerusalem Post Article)
If Israel is to survive and prosper in peace as a sovereign nation she must be prepared to foreswear reliance on any other country, including the United States. She must be willing to accept the scorn of the sanctimonious international community and to once again get her hands dirty. She has the power to do so, the question remains, does she have the will? Most importantly, the Jewish State must readopt the policy made famous by the great Prussian general, Karl Von Clausewitz, "The best defense is a good offense."
Jerrold L. Sobel is a published author with articles published in Israpundit, American Thinker, The Jewish Press, and other cyber and hard media in addition to his own weekly blog of 10,000 subscribers.
Romney might have inquired: "Mr. President how did a Community Organizer, in effect a social worker, acquire such wealth." "Furthermore sir, I'm curious. In 1981 as a 20 years old sophomore in College you managed to travel to India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Africa. Where did you get the money for such extensive travel?" Romney might have continued: "Mr. President, recognizing your concern for my taxes and that of other wealthy Americans, can we now discuss the 6400 square foot mansion you bought at 5046 S. Greenwood Ave in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood?
About half way through this debacle, there was an interesting exchange on the economy and jobs. Romney castigated the President for misrepresenting his tax proposal as a gift to the wealthiest 3% of American small businesses. He correctly stated 97% of small businesses are taxed at less than 35% per cent whereas the remaining 3% employ half of all people that work in small business. Those are the businesses that employ one-quarter of all the workers in America.
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), a woman with credibility issues of her own explained, the exclusion of language recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital in the 2012 Democratic national platform as a "technical error" that had not been discussed at all during the drafting process.
What's been lost over the years in this back and forth over Palestinian Arab refugees is the plight of approximately one million Jewish refugees that were disenfranchised throughout the Muslim world from the late 1940's into the 1950's. During 1947 and 1948, 820,000 Jews were inexorably persecuted and threatened with violence and expulsion by the governments of these countries
Definition: King's Calendar Chronological Research
The Premise: Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE (but continuing down to at least 104 BCE), Sectarian redactors transcribed the legitimate 'solar year' chronological records of Israel and Judah, into an artificial form, with listed years as each comprised of 12 months of 4 weeks of 7 days, or 336 days per year, thus creating a 13th artificial year where 12 solar years existed.
When the Synchronous Chronological Data provided in the Books of Kings and Chronicles for the Divided Kingdom Period are measured in years of 336 days, the synchronisms actually align. [Refer to Appendix 5. to see how it synchronises the Divided Kingdom Period]
About the KingsCalendar Publisher
R.P.BenDedek is the owner and Editor of KingsCalendar.com which was originally set up to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran'.
Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
During the current economic downturn, this book has been drastically reduced in price but will eventually rise as the economy improves.
Check the Chapter Precis Page to see details of each chapter and to gain access to the Four Free to Air Chapters
R.P. BenDedek writes social commentaries and photographic 'Stories from China' both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News in Maine USA.
(He has been teaching Conversational English in China since 2003 and currently (2013) is teaching in Suzhou City Jiangsu Province.)
