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Thursday, July 13, 2006

Milchamah



"Milkamah" is the Hebrew word for 'war'. I didn't learn it in ulpan. I learned it from the daily news, which has gone from being on now and then to being on constantly. Bus drivers go by with their radios blaring; the coffee shops and security stations of buildings all have their televisions turned to the latest news. The country is mobilizing in the face of rocket attacks all over the north.

Yona is up north now. She called to tell us she never made it Nahariyah, as planned, and instead stopped in Acco. She moved south from there to Kiryat Tivon, a town outside of Haifa. Haifa is currently taking Katyusha attacks from Iran's proxy army, Hezbollah.

Katyusha rockets landed in the northern Israeli towns of Karmiel, Hatzor, and Majd el-Kurum, as well as several other communities, throughout the north on Thursday. On Thursday morning alone, there were confirmed Katyusha attacks on Nahariya, Rosh Pina, Kibbutz Hagoshrim, Kibbutz Mishmar Hayarden, Gadot, Kfar Nasi, Beit Hillel, Kibbutz Mahanayim, Kibbutz Kabri, Mount Hermon, Netiv Haasarah, Mount Meron, Shlomi, Zar'it. Hospitals are moving patients to lower floors and expectant mothers are being housed in bomb shelters.

By this afternoon, rockets hit Karmiel, Safed, Hatzor, and Majd el-Kurum as well.

At least 28 people were wounded in Majd el-Kurum - two moderately and seven from shrapnel. Majd el-Krum is a major Arab city. Katyushas, once launched, don't distinguish between Moslem, Christian and Jewish Israelis.

Two are dead: a woman sitting on her apartment balcony in seaside Nahariyah and another elderly woman in the Mt. Canaan town of Safed. The latest news reports indicate over 200 hospitalized.There is a report, unconfirmed, of a man killed in Safed and a boy trapped in a bombed building.

If you aren't familiar with the geography, then allow me to explain that this is a full-scale rocket attack all along the north of Israel, from the Mediterranean sea to the Syrian border, and as far south as major cities like Karmiel and Haifa.


And the EU is portentiously announcing that Israeli reaction to the Katyushas raining down on us is "disproportionate."

I wonder what a 'proportionate' response is?

During World War II, Germany launched the V-1, a missile, like the Katyusha, that had no guidance system and was designed to hit and terrorize civilian areas. There was virtually no protection against these Nazi missiles, but the RAF didn't hesitate to bomb Germany into rubble even more than it had before, along with American and other Allied Forces assistance. Was THAT disproportionate?

Hello, world? This is a war. It is not a police action, not a terrorist strike. It is missile attacks on civilian population centers at a time when Israel is in compliance with UN directives concerning the northern border with Lebanon. There's no such thing as a 'proportionate response' in a war. There is only winning and losing.

We can't afford to lose. We won't lose. One Shoah was enough.

11 Comments:

Blogger Jill said...

I will have more peace of mind when Jen gets back to Jerusalem. I appreciate your posting,Bob attempted to bring up a live webcam of Israel, and we brought up a map as we were reading your Blog [for perspective] of where the war-zone is. Keep up the reporting from your end, and if you'd like I will try to forward news from my end. Sending our love!

Friday, July 14, 2006 at 1:48:00 AM GMT+3  
Blogger aliyah06 said...

Thanks, hon--Yona didn't tell anyone she was going north--all she said was that she had a job interview in Tel Aviv so understandably no one was concerned--we didn't know she went north. Fortunately she didn't get to Nahariyah. So far, its quiet in Jerusalem. Watch--my best guess is that Syria fomented this in order to destabilize Lebanon and create an excuse to move back into Lebanon....we'll see. Missiles can't reach Jerusalem from the north--however, from the West Bank they can reach all of Israel. Withdrawing from the West Bank, per Olmert's disengagement plan, would be suicide.

Friday, July 14, 2006 at 7:47:00 AM GMT+3  
Blogger Kapara said...

Roommates family suggested that Nahariyah might not be a good vacation spot at the moment so we just went to Akko. The train service to Nahariyah was suspended yesterday. They did not feel Akko was a whole lot better. I am back will and all is well.

Friday, July 14, 2006 at 6:06:00 PM GMT+3  
Blogger Basya said...

I hope peace comes soon. Doesn't is scare you all? I don't understand why the world doesn't see the need for Isreal to defend herself. I guess they think we Jews are just sapossed to take the attacks and die off.

May there be a lasting peace soon. I will put that prayer in my Shabbat prayers again tonight.

Friday, July 14, 2006 at 8:04:00 PM GMT+3  
Blogger aliyah06 said...

Basya--does being in the missile sites of the former Soviet Union, China, now North Korea and al Qaeda (and probably Iran soon) scare you? That's life these days. Any one of them can open fire at any minute. Hezbollah did so, and I'm more sad for the families of our dead than I am scared. I think we all wish for peace--that was the whole point of withdrawing from Lebanon six years ago, and withdrawing from Gaza last year---and the answer has been more attacks. It takes two to make peace. Clearly the other side isn't interested at this point.

yona--glad you made it back for Shabbat--good to see you, glad you joined us.

Saturday, July 15, 2006 at 10:25:00 PM GMT+3  
Blogger Basya said...

Sure being the potential target of missle attacks makes me nervous. Right now we are not being attacked though. When and if we are, you bet i will be scared. I would not leave of course because this is my home. Just like you and fellow Isrealis wont leave. I am amazed that with so many people giving lip service to hating the US that not much happens here. I hope it stays this way. I hope Isreal is triumphant soon. I feel sad for the families who are losing loved ones. People should be able to live in peace.

Sunday, July 16, 2006 at 11:03:00 PM GMT+3  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How old are you? (If you don't mind answering) This is a very 'immature'
outlook. It is a far more complex issue; also historically speaking WW2
is not a proper analogy.

-Dr. A.T.Coleman

Monday, July 17, 2006 at 12:26:00 AM GMT+3  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jilly gave me your blog address since Mike's e-mail responce is like his letter writing was in his army days. Hope all of you are safe. We are following our 24 hour Fox news. I love reading your Blog, Pat, please keep it up. It keeps me better informed as to what is going on in the region than our newspapers. Keep you in our prayers. Cousin Kathleen.

Monday, July 17, 2006 at 6:22:00 AM GMT+3  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"We are following our 24 hour Fox news". Ha. There is your first problem.
--Miller

Monday, July 17, 2006 at 6:57:00 AM GMT+3  
Blogger aliyah06 said...

Miller--Beg to differ--Fox never called the 9/11 terrorists anything but the 9/11 terrorists...CNN played word games and called them 'militants' 'alleged terrorists' etc.in an effort to placate the feeble-minded, Far Left and Arab Oil Interests. I'll go with the broadcasting company that doesn't mince words, although after today's Hardtalk, which raked the Palestinians' Saeb Erekat over the coals, I may give CNN a little more credit for jounalistic integrity than before.

Kathleen--I'll send you our email address although, you're right, you'll probably hear more from me than him;

Dr. Coleman--with all due respect, I have a "Dr." in front of my name as well. Kindly don't condescend. I find that people who accuse others of 'immature' outlooks are freqently those who cannot debate the topic but prefer to indulge in name-calling, which is essentially what you are doing when you gratuitously denigrate another's point of view without any countervailing facts.

I'm very well aware of the complexities of this area both in terms of the historical antecedents and the complexities of international law--and there is a point of view out there, whether or not you agree with it, that the current global jihad is, if not world war three, very much akin to it; thus the strategic terror of the Hezbollah rockets can be likened to the Nazi buzz-bombs designed to terrorize the civilian populace of London, and the Allied response of bombing Germany into rubble and not accepting any kind of conditional surrender is a suitable analogy...whether or not you agree with it.

Proportionality is a legal concept, and not necessarily applicable in the circumstances of a 'de facto' state of war where the hostilities are initiated without provocation by the trespasser.

If you would like some examples of the current non-applicability of proportionality, kindly review the NATO attacks on Serbia; the Russian offensive against the Chechens; the US obliteration of Afghanistan's eastern provinces. The mind reels at the plethora of nonproportional wartime responses at large in the world, but only Israel is demonized for not being 'proportional' enough.

There is a word for this kind of double standard. It's called 'racism.'

Tuesday, July 18, 2006 at 4:50:00 PM GMT+3  
Blogger Jill said...

Touché…I am pleased to read how well you ‘connected the dots’ for the anonymous posters to your Blog perhaps this will broaden their focus a bit. Well put!!!

Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 5:48:00 PM GMT+3  

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