They threw Molotovs at my neighbors

 

2022-08-12 Residents from the Arab village next door threw Molotov Cocktails over this security fence, aiming to injure residents of these homes in my Jewish village in Samaria. This was around 11:30 pm during Shabbat, on the 12th of August.

 

2022-08-14 JTOD org update: My village was attacked with Molotov cocktails this Shabbat (11:30 pm on the 12th). Nobody is reported injured. I probably wouldn’t have even known, except that a dear friend overseas (who visits Israel occasionally and watches and prays) picked up this story from the news media and alerted me. This morning I biked over and took this photo, on the security road which encircles my village.

So, here’s the layout:  The Jewish homes on one side, and extra-high / extra-secure version of the security fence on my other side. (See here for the type of security fence we have on the other side of town).  Near the fence pictured, the neighbors have told me previously that sometimes the Arabs throw stones at them, right over that fence. So, this is probably the section of wall where they threw the Molotov cocktails. It’s near the street that was in the reports.  So – I assume that at least one Molotov landed in at least one yard and exploded uselessly. Of course, that means that nobody was sitting in the yard at that time, to enjoy the Shabbat evening breeze.

 

Behind this fence next to me, the hill is quite steep leading up to the Arab homes in the Arab village next door, so, I think that hill makes it a bit easy for people to toss things over the fence and aim for the Jewish homes. At this point, I’m upset about this; I’m trying to calm down. I reached out to some of the neighbors who are my friends, and heard back from one. The affected street is not far from her mother’s house. So, she and I were able to trade back and forth some dark humor, which takes the edge off a bit. I know that many people would say to me, “It’s all YOUR fault! You deserve to be killed by Arabs!” Whatever.

Portable hospital, or Giant Ambulance? You decide. When troubles arrive, this baby rolls into town just in case.

Today there’s an increased presence of Israeli military activity in town. In the bakery three soldiers came in for lunch, they are tall, strong, and armed to the teeth, and very relaxed, with their sandwiches and iced coffees. These guys are bigger than the regular everyday soldiers I see around town. Also unusual: There’s a field hospital set up on the edge of town, it’s housed inside a converted city bus. So it’s like an ambulance and rolling hospital, combined. I saw a tractor smoothing out the sand on the ground right next to the security fence. That means the Army can easily spot the footprints in the sand, if Arabs had cut thru the fence somewhere. More and more I’m slowly getting over it.  That’s part of the Israeli experience, to get normalized to terror, and carry on with life as if nothing happened.

 

Living With Constant War in Israel

Comedy from Jackie Mason

3 days, 1000 missiles

8 Aug, 2022:  Egypt helped negotiate a cease fire between Israel and Islamic Jihad. Went into effect at 11:30 tonight, after 1,000 rockets fired at Israel. Let’s see how this goes.

More Palestinians in Gaza were harmed by Palestinians than by Israelis.  How does that work? Islamic Jihad hides among Palestinian civilians (war crime #1) to fire missiles against Israeli civilians (war crime #2), many of which  fell short and landed on apartment buildings inside Gaza.  By contrast, Israel does not fire on civilians.  That’s how this war resulted in more Arab civilians harmed by Arab fire than by Israeli fire.

Please continue to pray for safety.

Living With Constant War in Israel

Comedy from Jackie Mason

“Every Jew is raised to think it’s his moral obligation to help and love the weak and the underdog.”

“Every militant knows that if you are caught trying to kill Jews and happen to get wounded, the Jews are the only people in the history of warfare who will provide the best medical attention in order to save your life. “

Jackie Mason, Jewish comedian, 18 Aug, 2014 in his op-ed found at: https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Thank-God-for-the-Republican-gentiles-371433

Living With Constant War in Israel

Living With Constant War in Israel

Excerpt from “When we get used to living with war: Israel in times of crisis is a mix of routine and solidarity,” by Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post, 12 Aug 2022 pg 13.

12 Aug 2022, Samaria:  Whenever Israel is attacked by missiles, I switch on the notifications on the Red Alert app in my handheld.  I sometimes choose “all areas,” and sometimes just the areas close to me for alerts. This helps me pray for various locations, as well as make decisions about my own movements, where the nearest bomb shelters are located, and how much time I would have to make it into a shelter before the shrapnel and explosions land.

During Pillar of Defense in 2012, I didn’t have a smart phone, nor did I during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009.  By 2014 I had acquired a 5-year-old iPhone 4, second-hand, from a Filipina caregiver from Jerusalem.  So, Protective Edge was my first experience with nationwide missile alerts.  That was also the season that I started taking my own personal fitness more seriously, doing jumping jacks and chin-ups at the local soccer field.

One year ago, we lived through Guardian of the Walls in 2021.  That one was extra odd, because while missiles rained down from Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, local Israeli Arabs (with Israeli citizenship) rose up and attacked their Jewish neighbors on the streets, marking Jews’ doors with symbols for home invasion attacks.  This was odd; normally, Arabs with Israeli citizenship did not express their solidarity with Palestinian Arabs in such a blatant way.

That brings us to August 2022, the three days of missiles during Breaking Dawn.

Back in Dec-Jan 2008-2009, I lived through Operation Cast Lead, which was when Israel unilaterally withdrew all its villages and military presence from Gaza, in a sign of peace.  Within two week, Gazans took that gifted land and used it to fire missiles at Jewish civilians, beginning with Operation First Rain (started when Gaza started heavy Qassam rocket fire on Sderot) and then Operation Cast Lead.

Then, in between all the other wars listed above, we endured “minor wars” such as Summer Rains, Autumn Clouds, Warm Winter, Closed Garden, and Black Belt.

Occasionally, as I check the alerts in the Red Alert app, I also check the comments.  Those fall into two categories:  Arabs who write “death to Jews” and such things, and prayer warriors who write things like “May Y’shua guard and protect the people from harm,” and then occasionally, things like “Israel’s army ought to turn Gaza in to a parking lot,” meaning, bomb it all to the ground in order to stop the missiles for good.

It’s that third category that I’ll address here.  First, Israel, along with the Judaistic perspective, cannot in any way justify the wholesale killing of all the people in any area.  There are many who accuse Israel of doing just that.  Well, that’s a false accusation and here’s why.  Year after year after year, the population of Gaza is still around 1.8 million people.  If Israel set out to wipe them all out, they’re doing quite a poor job of it.  There are those that argue that Palestinians are David and Israel is Goliath.  Well, if that were true, then certainly Israel has enough technology and firepower to do it.  So why don’t they?  Morals.  And in reality, Palestinians are part of a pan-Arabic solidarity that encompasses Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, etc.  So Arabs would be the Goliath, and Israel would be the David, in the big picture.  Evidence:  the wars in 1948, 1954, 1967, 1973, 1981 when groups of nations coordinated their armies together in wars against The Jews.  Currently, the strategy is different, with Iran not-so-secretly shipping munitions and money to Arab militias in such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria.

Remember all that cash that President Obama sent to Iran in the now-defunct Iran Nuke Deal of 2015? None of that money practically made it to the Iranian civilians.  All of it went to “good causes” such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the nuclear reactor program that was supposed to be halted.

So, again, despite all this, modern Judaism does not permit, morally, any type of genocide.  “Every life is a world,” as Jews say.  Further, Jews quote the Bible as saying “the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” (Lev. 19:34 KJV).  I must add, that in Leviticus, those same strangers were required to live like the Jews and walk in obedience to the Torah, just like the Jews.  Modern Judaism and modern Israel makes no such requirements upon “strangers,” despite Exodus 12:49 which states, “There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” (Ex. 12:49 ESV).  Modern Judaism attempts to extend the gift of honor and respect to non-Jews, even to Arabs living with or without Israeli citizenship, but without any of the Biblical expectations that such foreigners must obey Biblical instruction.  That’s just the current situation.

Secondly, if Israel were to “wipe them all out,” logically and militarily, just how would that solve anything?  Isn’t there a never-ending stream of terrorists and Jew-haters?  Even for a secular Jew who may not even acknowledge YAH’s existence, or who may subscribe to a different religious belief, this idea is not reasonable.  We are left with managing the situation rather than solving it.  Therefore, Gaza’s Arab population remains growing from around 1.8 million.  Israel’s perspective is expressed in the phrase, “mowing the lawn,” which means, when the terrorists rise up again and start attacking Jewish civilians in their homes and businesses, try to take care of the situation quickly without destroying the whole yard.  Because, every human life is valuable, according to Judaism.

Excerpt from the Jpost article in the photo above (emphasis added):

“The downside, however, is that there is something deeply troubling about hundreds of rockets shot off toward Israel’s population centers becoming routine.

“Some argue that if we didn’t accept these rounds as routine, then we would take pains to end them once and for all. The counterargument is that this is something that you can’t end once and for all; that there are always going to be terrorists out there who want to destroy Israel; and that the healthy and positive response is to just try to minimize their ability to do so as much as possible – through, for instance, periodic military campaigns – and live under this shadow in the most constructive and productive way possible, something Israel has proven wonderfully adept at doing.”

full article at this link (copy paste):  https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-714541

 

So that’s how it is for us as civilians in Israel: Living under the shadow of constant war, but doing so in the most healthy and positive way possible.  Please join me in praying that Israel will continue to find healthy ways to survive with as little harm to Israel’s enemies as possible.

Comedy from Jackie Mason

Operation Breaking Dawn – Israel vs Islamic Jihad

Backing up a few days prior, here’s the rundown:

2 Aug, 2022: Israel arrested Palestinian Islamic Jihad senior member Bassam al-Saadi in Jenin. Jenin, located in the northern Samaria, aka northern west bank, is part of the palestinian government regime.  Home base for the PIJ is in Gaza, where the PIJ is the second most powerful terrorist organization, after Hamas, which was elected into power over a decade ago.  After the arrest, foreseeing trouble, Israel put the Jewish communities near Gaza on lockdown for their protection.

5 Aug, 2022: Israel used a precise drone to assassinate Tayseer al-Jabari, on the 7th floor balcony of a “safe house” apartment located on “Martyr Street” (Al-Shuhada St.) in Gaza.  Jabari, 50, had risen through the Islamic Jihad ranks for decades, had replaced Baha Abu Al-Ata, who Israel assassinated in a surgical strike in 2019.  Jabari was in charge of Islamic Jihad’s missile arsenal, including anti-tank missiles (also used against Israel civilian cars), as well as the #1 coordinator with the Hamas terror organization.

The surgical strike left Jabari dead, and his wife and children uninjured in the very next room on the afternoon of 5 Aug.  The type of strike used was scientifically engineered to not penetrate walls.

At 9 pm that night, Islamic Jihad began its indiscriminate launch of hundreds of missiles at civilians.  This is a double war crime.  First, for hiding behind civilians and mosques in order to launch the missiles, and second, for launching in the direction of civilian non-combatants.  Israel, in contrast, fires only at combatants.

Israel has a military web page for citizens to receive information: how many seconds they have for to get into a bomb shelter when they hear the siren for their area.  Friday night, that web page crashed as Israelis overwhelmed the site.

By the end of the 3 day operation, Islamic Jihad fired nearly 1,000 missiles at civilian targets in locations such as Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Beersheva, Holon, Bat Yam, Rishon LeZion, and hundreds of others.  160 of those missiles fell short and landed in Gaza.

6 Aug 2022 At around 9 pm Sat evening a building in Jabalya, Gaza, was struck, and four children tragically lost their lives.  Arabs, including Israeli Arab Ahmed Tibi, a member of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) and leader of the Joint List Arab Party.  MK Tibi claimed that Israel had fired the shot.  Within a short time, Tibi deleted his tweet, as Israel showed with video proof that it was an Islamic Jihad missile.  PIJ fired the missile from Gaza at Israel, but it changed direction in mid-air and landed on a building in Jabalya, in northern Gaza.  The false claims had already spread on social media, but Israel’s quick response prevented a public relations disaster.  The whole world, including CNN and even Ahmed Tibi, did in fact accept Israel’s proof as true.  Every dead child is tragic.

Islamic Jihad had fired that missile toward Israeli civilians (a war crime) from a mosque in Gaza (a war crime) and it landed among civilians in Jabalya, Gaza (a war crime).

7 Aug, 2022: A cease fire was called at 11:30 PM.  8 minutes later, Islamic Jihad resumed missile fire from civilian locations in Gaza against civilian populations in Israel.

 

 

Security Fence Continues

7 Aug, 2022: A week ago we posted that another section of our village security fence is being upgraded.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are new photos which show the progress:

Original photo of the start of the work, performed by Palestinian non-Israeli Arab construction workers:

Removing the 30+ year old rusted chain-link fencing.

 

Background: the old fence removed, and new fence posts have been installed and are standing as the concrete dries. In the foreground, part of the old fencing still remains.

 

New fencing has now been mounted onto the new fence posts.
Seen from another angle: here the new section is in the foreground and the old outdated fencing is in the background.

8 Aug 2022 Update:

As of this morning, another section of old fence is removed, and holes dug for the new posts to be embedded in concrete..

 

10 Aug 2022 Update:

10 Aug: Section now has new fencing (foreground and background).

Here in the village in Samaria, aka “West Bank,” we have intelligent and active security guards which usually prevent problems; thus, we can afford the risk to go ahead and hire palestinian construction workers to help build our security fences and even our homes.

 

We’re getting a new security fence

We’re getting a new security fence

Three Palestinian Arabs (Non-Israelis) work to replace the old security fence around my tiny Jewish village.

1 Aug, 2022:  I like to take prayer walks around the village in the mornings.  It helps to clear my head and get a bit of simple exercise.  I listen to audio chapters from Proverbs in the headphones and pray in tongues.

So just a little about the situation here as I do my work:  This little Jewish village is located in Samaria, aka “the west bank,” specifically in Area C which has a majority Israeli Jewish population (under Israeli law), alongside  a minority Arab Non-Israeli population who answer to the Palestinian government, while ultimately, the entire areas A, B, and C are under the authority of the Israel Defense Force.  Here, the Arabs are able to find jobs in Jewish cities and towns, as long as they have the proper work papers.  However, Israelis under no circumstances are allowed to work, dwell, or even enter the non-Israeli Arab towns here.

This village is surrounded by several such Arab villages, as well as several Israeli villages.  Each Israeli village is surrounded by a security fence with guards 24-7.  Arab villages in this area have 100% employment rate, due to the proximity of the Israeli villages where the Arabs find work.  Every day, Arab non-Israelis enter and exit this village at the designated times for work, along with their legal work permits.

The photo above shows three such Arab construction workers, employed in rebuilding and renewing the security fence around the Israeli village.  The old fence is old, rusted, and looks like it’s perhaps 30-40 years old.  The new fence appears to be rust-proof steel, and sturdier.  The workers are using heavy machinery to dig the post holes. Tomorrow, those post holes will be filled with concrete with the new posts stuck right in there as they harden.

Obviously, there’s a risk.  Jewish homes – including where I rent – are located just a few yards/meters from this fence under construction.  Any of that construction machinery or tools could be used against Israeli civilians or their houses.  And such incidents are known to happen from time to time.  In addition to prayer and protection from Elohim, practically on the ground, there is also the Israeli Defense Force, which patrols the area, uses spy techniques to learn about evil plans ahead of time, and offer Defense.  I’ve spoken many times with the foreman of this crew, a Muslim Palestinian, and he’s a friendly nice guy who speaks fluent Hebrew.  I believe that he and his wife and children usually have more to gain by personally keeping peace with the Jews here.

More historical background: This is Area C of Israel, which, along with Areas A and B, were under Jordanian control until Jordan joined with Egypt in massing troops against Israel in 1967 – and then lost when Israel miraculously overcame.  International Law clearly states that the defensive party can legally keep any land gained while defending itself against aggressors.  The world conveniently likes to forget that when it comes to the Jews.  But how did Samaria (West Bank) fall out of Turkish hands and into Jordanian hands in the first place?  Well, in World War One, Britain won all the land (current Israel AND Jordan) from the Turks, and Britain held control until WWII.  At that point, Britain reneged on her promise to grant the entire land to the Jews, and instead chose to partition the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for the majority of the land, while saving a sliver for the Jews.  The Jews were immediately required to defend their sliver from 1948 forward.

Obviously there are different narratives and opinions – and my intention is not to get into squabbles about history, but just to address the fact that I work in a very complicated and nuanced situation.  For example, did you know that there are around 2 million Israeli citizens who are Arab, and Muslim?  Full citizens, with full citizenship and rights to acquire any job, home, opportunity, anywhere in Israel.  And Arab Israeli sits on the Supreme Court.  Said population is rather distinct from the Palestinian Arabs who do not hold Israeli citizenship.  Many of them were offered Israeli citizenship and refused.  Many of them hold Jordanian citizenship even while living here.  Nuanced, complicated, and impossible to describe in just a few paragraphs.  And yet this is where I do the work.

 

https://jtod.org/security-fence-continues/

 

Struggling? Some tips that work for me

Challenging times, indeed.  Lockdowns, reductions in income, increases in costs, loss of friends and family contact, poverty, loneliness. I’ve been struggling, and in the daily work, I find that I’m not the only one. Far from it.

What has worked for me is learning how physiological changes can make an improvement.

For example, exercise, stretching, and power poses.  These have great support in scientific studies.  Here’s what I’ve learned:

120 seconds of hands lifted high Yes, I nerd-out and set a timer to make sure I complete two full minutes – that’s important.  Hands high overhead is my power pose always included in my morning.  I read somewhere that two minutes is the minimum needed to release the right physio stuff.  Spiritually it’s cool, too.

Stretches: I use a couple dynamic moves including: “World’s Greatest Stretch” (funny name, but true–just ask any trainer). If I feel great I might do more stretches, with more focus on hamstrings, quadriceps and specific muscle groups, but these are the bare minimum “must do” dynamic stretches that get done even on my worst days.  I take about 30 seconds for each pose, no stopwatch needed.  Somewhere between 4 and 8 movements for each stretch does the trick for me.

Fifteen to Thirty minute brisk walk I used to think that jogging and sprinting were so much better than walking, and in some ways they are.  But for emotional and mental health, walking has a couple of advantages:  It takes less motivation to accomplish, and the minimum needed is just hitting a half hour walk, a mere three times per week.  I can do that even on my worst weeks – and when I don’t feel up to 30 minutes, I simply cut it short to 7-15 minutes for that day.  It helps to do this first thing before taking calls, checking messages, or the schedule.  I start with the pose and stretches above and then walk, no matter what.  I can always add sprints or jogging if I want, but this walking is the minimum.  If I miss a morning, I’ll pay for it about halfway thru the day when I realize my emotions are out of whack.

Pet a Cat:  Now, before this little routine of “hands high,” stretches, and a walk, there is one more thing that demands attention; and that’s my cat along with her kittens.  They rush into the door as soon as I go look for my newspaper.  They’ve been hanging around outdoors all night waiting for me to emerge from my cave to bless them with kibble.  They’re grateful and if they allow me to pet them they cut back on the negativity.  Eventually I’ll probably have a dog again, but with my travel and work schedule, right now the cat(s) is/are a good fit for my lifestyle.  Plenty of street cats in Israel, digging through the garbage cans.  No shortage there.  It just so happened that one of them really hit it off well with me.  And then she brought her kittens to my door.  One is adopted to a new home, and three to go.

Other basics:

Sleep: Enough hours, the optimum hours, the optimum darkness levels:

Enough hours – check to find what’s optimal for your age bracket and activity level.

Optimum hours: Every dark hour slept before midnight counts as if it were two hours after midnight.

Early wake time: To reset the cycle, get that back-of-the-knees area of the skin out and exposed to the morning sunlight.  That area of skin has the sensors which reset the body clock.  Using the sun’s light more and artificial light less is a good way to stave off depression.

Optimum darkness: Blackout curtains / eye mask; no LED’s or other types of electronic lights in the room; all communications devices out of the room on their chargers in the kitchen.

If I’m doing all the above things, along with Bible study, prayer and worship, and still struggling, I then seek to amp up with these tools:

Poverty:  It can take clear thinking, prayer, and action steps to get out of a financial slump.  I’ve often found that poverty can be downright miserable.  Get the above steps in order and the ideas just start flowing.  But it’s often too difficult to find those action steps when there’s sleep deprivation, lack of enough exercise and decent nutrition.

Loneliness: Even casual conversations on the street, in the market, or with neighbors is better than nothing.  I speak as more of an extrovert; those weighted toward the introvert side might not even care about loneliness so much.

Mindfulness: I journal every day – minimum three pages which comes out to about 750 words when typed. Works great for me.  Stream of consciousness stye.  I feel worse when I skip.  Sure, my first few paragraphs might be bland “to do” lists, but by the end of it I’ve certainly tapped into the deeper things my mind has been working on, as well as the struggles and challenges.

Caffeine Limits: Important for me to keep stress and heart rate down by keeping away from coffee and replacing it with green tea or phenylalinine vitamins (that’s an amino acid) whenever possible.  Further, coffee is not such a great source because it can strip away calcium and magnesium from the body.  Both of these minerals are good for bones and teeth, and magnesium in particular is good for mood and muscle recovery.  So, we should be looking for foods which deliver more calcium and magnesium, rather than remove those minerals out of our bodies. If a little mental energy helps, better to get it from good nutrition and green tea rather than coffee.

Therapy:  For me, IFS has worked better than CBT, but others have done fine with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.  To me, too much talk was just talk talk.  Internal Family Systems is evidence-based and generally successful, along with EMDR.  Here’s a great book on the topic written by a believer.

I’ve not had to use them, but i read that prescribed antidepressants are on the rise, yet researchers do not really understand the long term effects of how they work. Yes we know that they effect brain chemicals such as serotonin, but the evidence also shows that they inhibit the brain’s natural ability to produce serotonin.

To my mind, SSRI’s are not an option for me if I’m not even petting a cat first thing in the morning and getting a 15 minute walk in along with a couple of stretches.  Walking a full 30 minutes is not that hard to do 3x per week.  With no car, I get 20 minutes walking just to the bakery.  What would feel even better is getting in a gym with squats and deadlifts.  But the time, money, and motivation are not always there. But as for SSRI’s, the article states that therapists have been prescribing them a bit to easily to too many people, without enough evidence, rather than these activity choice-based solutions which are quite well supported by science.

 

All this is emphasized in the below article, which references a recent study.

A central paragraph states:

“The authors of the review encouraged further research and advice into treatments focusing on managing stressful or traumatic events in people’s lives, such as psychotherapy, exercise or mindfulness, or addressing underlying contributors such as poverty, stress and loneliness.”

But as for the cat, I’ve already gotten one of her kittens into a new home for adoption.

 

 

Photo sources and full article:

Jerusalem Post, 31 July 2022: Trauma and stress, not chemical imbalance, likely cause of depression – study

 

 

Updates in Israeli Society

Israeli Postal Service to be Privatized by Mid-2023
July 11, 2022 Jerusalem Post, pg 4. Selling off the Postal service to private investors. For more commentary, see this archival 2011 article: https://www.jpost.com/Business/Globes/Privatization-has-cost-Israelis-dear

 

And this from 2020. Read the comments for a clearer picture:

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/ups-expresses-interest-in-israel-postal-privatization-tender-638455

 

Court recognizes marriages held online
July 11, 2022 Jerusalem Post, pg 1.