17 Av 5779
18 August 2019
Say a Special Prayer
Your prayers are needed for Nahum (son) and Noam (daughter) Nevies, children of Zahava Rivka. These are the two teenagers who were run over by a Palestinian terrorist in Samaria two days ago. Nahum suffered a fractured skull and traumatic brain injury; he showed “slight improvement” yesterday as did his sister Noam; they need your continued prayers.
Quote of the Day
“Once again we find ourselves in our bomb shelters, as usual. This weekend has proved that the government policy of containment has failed miserably. The equation must change.”
Ophir Libstein, Head of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
On the Gaza border:
*For the second straight night at 9:00 pm, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza unleashed a barrage of missiles at the Sderot-Sha’ar Hanegev area. This time, a missile hit a house in Sderot; 2 were intercepted by the Iron Dome.
Also for the second straight night, a number of Israelis were injured trying to run to their bomb shelter, and numerous men, women, and children were treated for trauma by MADA.
*Early this morning, IDF scanners detected another armed group of Palestinian terrorists approaching the border fence along the northern Gaza border. They were engaged by an IDF helicopter and tank. 5 terrorists were killed and 2 escaped back into Gaza.
In Judea and Samaria:
*10 wanted Palestinian terrorists were captured overnight.
*Terrorists threw “rocks” and Molotovs at Israelis at Mevo Dotan, the Gush Etzion Junction, near Tekoa, at Luban A-Sharqiya, and beside Tapuach among other places.
TODAY’S BLOG
“Containment” and “Relative Quiet”:
The Fraudulent Use Of Terminology To Conceal The Truth
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Let’s begin this blog by revisiting part of the quotation above from the head of the Sha’ar Hanegev Council:
This weekend has proved that the government policy of containment has failed miserably. The equation must change.”
The two favorite words these days of the Netanyahu government and the IDF General Staff when it comes to the Palestinian terrorism emanating from Gaza are “containment” and “relative quiet“.
Translated, “containment” means that only the communities in southern Israel along the border are being hit by missiles, set on fire by explosive “balloons”, exposed to terrorist infiltration, and struck by sniper fire.
Only the communities in southern Israel. Not central Israel, not Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem, and not northern Israel. It is a pathetic sign of our lack of proactive strategy that the government and army are copacetic about using the southern communities as nothing but fodder. Everything is OK as long as only these communities are attacked.
Insofar as the second term “relative quiet” is concerned, it is hideous in the extreme because it suggests that Israel is willing to settle for a situation in which its southern citizens do not live in “quiet.” They are now expected to tolerate a situation in which missiles, balloons, infiltrations, and rifle fire are just a normal part of life.
Equally horrific is how the measure of these items has changed. For example, there was a time when only 1 missile a month was considered “relative quiet’; then it became 1 missile a week; then 1 missile a day. Now we have the absurd situation in which Hamas can fire 400 missiles at Israel over the space of a weekend and what do we have?
Relative quiet.
It is all very Orwellian.
Containment means not contained.
Relative quiet means not quiet.
One final thought:
Also abominable is the use of the word “equation” because it attempts to replace the emotional and physical toll being exacted on citizens of the south with the idea that all of the terrorism coming from Gaza is just part of some scientific formula.
If we tinker with this variable a little bit, that variable will change, and in the end we will come up with a different result. In essence, an “equation” dehumanizes the situation, and suggests that something short of the destruction of Hamas will solve the problem.
In this latter regard, we all know by now that it will not.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.