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July 31, 2006
The Good Guys
By Jeff Katz (Israeli tour guide)
Shalom,
I am writing this note on Monday afternoon. Yesterday was
the unfortunate incident in Kfar Kana.
I am feeling a little calmer now. You should have seen me
last night and this morning. It has to do with the bombing
in Kfar Kara and the 48 hour "no air strike" truce we agreed
to and Condoleeza's last press conference.
It's like we Israelis are stuck in some Greek tragedy or
some movie that has a sad ending with the hero dying. And no
matter how many times you see it, the ending is always the
same. It seems no matter who Israel is acting/fighting with
on the stage, we always end up being the bad guy and the
crowd hating our guts.
The true villain walks off with the
girl and the money. The play is cut short before we get to
finish the job we set out to do. I mean haven't we been in
this situation before, in 1996 in Lebanon. In 2002 in Jenin
(the phony "massacre")?
Have you seen the air force clips that were aired last
night? I will ask Benay, my wife, to attach them to the
bottom of this mail.
They show how the Hizbolla shoot rockets from behind
civilian apartment buildings and then, my friends, you watch
as the truck carrying the rocket launcher drives into a car
park under a house! How the heck does anyone expect us to
clear out these rockets without bombing the house?
The local Lebanese population was warned by Israel to leave the
area three days in advance. Some locals stayed because the
couldn't afford to leave. I read that Lebanese taxis charge
$1000 to go to Beirut. So someone please explain to me why
these locals didn't hide in a building where there were no
rockets or any ammo dumps?
This morning the reporter on Sky News asked our former
foreign minister why the Israeli army didn't go house to
house in Kfar Kana and confirm, room by room, just who is in
that room and then determine if that person is a civilian or
a combatant. For god's sake! Give me a break! Kiryat Shemona
was shot with 100 (one hundred) rockets in less than 1 hour
yesterday.
Did the Hizbollah go room by room looking for
civilians? If they had the chance, yes they would. They
would find the kids and make sure they shot each one. I know
it. You know it . We just lived through it. It was called
suicide bombers.
Afula Hospital (Emek Medical Center) prepares for War.
Anyone who has toured with me knows I love maps. But I
probably have never pointed out or mentioned Afula. It is a
small town dead in the center of the Jezreel Valley. It's
famous for "Golani Falafel" and until "Golani Falafel" is
publicly traded on NASDAQ, most of you will never hear of
Afula.
Last week Afula hospital was targeted by Hizbollah long
range missiles. How do I know it was "targeted"? 5 rockets
of the 5 shot landed near Afula hospital. Take a look at one
of the attached photos. There are no army bases or sensitive
facilities in Afula. Hizbollah targeted the Afula hospital.
Should you be surprised that Hizbolla targeted a hospital?
Well, they've already targeted Rambam hospital in Haifa and
hit the hospitals in Nahariya and Tsfat. So they
intentionally target our hospitals and the world expects us
to go room by room looking for civilians in Lebanon. But we
covered this topic in the first part of this mail.
Benay [Jeff's wife] volunteers in the ER of Afula hospital.
She has prepared 300 files for a mass-wounded situation. The
ER is in the basement of the hospital and it is built as one
huge bomb and chemical warfare shelter. Funny how there
isn't a single hospital in the Arab world that would even
consider the necessity to build a hospital in a bomb
shelter. Why? Because they know we would never target a
hospital.
Yesterday the hospital decided to empty out its top floors
and bring all the patients down to the lower levels. Lets
think what this entails. Cancel all unnecessary operations.
Kick out any patient you can. Double up on bed space in the
lower floors and have the staff and patients live and work
in 1/3 of the space they are used to. Wards are now
intermingled. Patient beds are doubled up. Have I mentioned
about privacy, sanitation, confusion...
Here's a quote from the instruction sheet given by the
hospital's director to the various wards:
- Dept. heads will do their utmost to lower the number of
patients in their departments.
- Social Services will encourage patients to go home.
- The operating rooms will perform only cancer and emergency
operations.
But how does the head of the hospital end her directive?
And here's the part that keeps me going:
"In this war we will be tested as a society, as an
organization (hospital) and as individuals.
Working together, in full cooperation, we will complete the
very complicated task before us:
- to clear the wards
- work in very tight surroundings
- give the best service that we can
- be prepared for a mass-wounded situation."
So what's the part that keeps me going, that makes me proud
of being an Israeli and a Jew? It's the fact that Afula
Hospital, that same hospital being targeted by Hizballah, is
used by Arabs and Jews. It is staffed by Arabs and Jews. 17%
of its Department Heads are Arabs, proportionate to their
percentage in the total population.
The Moslems and Christians and Druze and Circasians all work together and treat all their patients equally... and guess what? That won't change no matter how many rockets Hizbollah drops on the Afula Hospital. That's what makes us different from our enemies. That's what's makes me proud.
So you see, we are the good guys. And we have to win.
We're all in this together,
Jeff
Go to http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/ and click on the right
column
1) IDF Video: Hizbullah missile fire from within the village
of Kafr Qana
2) IDF Video: Hizbullah use of civilian shields
Hat Tip: Seraphic Friend, Naomi Regan
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at July 31, 2006 03:23 PM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
What's all this nonsense about a 48 hour "no air strike" truce?
The U.S. and others are presently touting a alleged 48-hour air campaign halt by Israel, which is an obvious response to the air strike on Qana which killed 60 civilians and inflamed Muslim opinion around the world.
That turned out not to be a halt in bombing at all. Israel continued to bomb in direct support of ground operations!
The U.S., and by extension SoS Rice, just look clueless as a result.
Posted by: Michael at August 1, 2006 06:45 AM
I got some questions:
Why the MSM keeps counting the number and type of missiles Hezbollah launches into Israel, but no one seems to count the number and type of bombs and missiles Israel launches into Lebanon, what's the difference?
Why we still have not seen any picture or video of Hezbollah rocket batteries destroyed amongst the rubble of the buildings Israel destroyed?
Did anyone see a Hezbollah rocket launcher at the Beirut Airport? Or the Power plant?
It’s the phrase "the right to defend itself" copyrighted by Israel?
Why everyone has to comply (or else) with IAEA and UN resolutions and inspections, but Israel?
with what type of moral authority the US can ask countries (like Syria and Iran) to stop sending armament to Hezbollah (allegedly) when the US is sending armament to Israel (allegedly)?
Why nobody wants to address the root of the problem: the inhumane conditions in the Ghettos in Gaza and West Bank, and the right to Palestine to exist, and be respected as human beings?
How the people trying to leave the South of Lebanon or the country can do so if almost every bridge and road is bombed and destroyed? I think the flying magic carpet is just a stereotype...
CNN will surely remind us today that it is Day 19 of the Israel-Hezbollah war - now branded as Crisis in the Middle East - but you won't catch anyone saying it's Day 1,229 of the war in Iraq.
I hope I am not labeled as anti-Semite, because I am asking these questions...
Posted by: johnny bravo at August 1, 2006 12:06 PM
Johnny:
I don't think you're an anti-Semite, but you are woefully underinformed. That's nothing to be ashamed of, there's a lot of things I have no idea about too, but this is a dangerous place to be ignorant.
Let me just start with your "root cause" comment. It is absolutely true that many Palestinians live in bad conditions, (although not all, and you should know that a lot of the so-called refugee "camps" are actually apartment complexes), but this is 100% the fault of their own leadership. The Palestinians have had numerous chances to have their own state with the chance to be completely free of any non-Palestinian influence MANY MANY times over the last 65 years or so. Instead, they and their leaders have made it extremely clear that they chose death instead. They'd rather live in squalor and blame the Israelis instead of making a better life for themselves and taking responsibility.
That takes care of the Palestinian issue. As for Hezbollah, these guys couldn't care less about the Suni Palestinians. They act as an arm of Iran, which is trying to become the dominant player in the Muslim world in part by beating on Israel.
Look Johnny, Israel is not 100% blameless. But we're dealing with 7th century barbarians here. Yes, they have innocent civilians among them, but never never think that the Muslim world values keeping its own people alive more than it celebrates killing Jews.
Okay, now to address your "questions" one by one:
"Why the MSM keeps counting the number and type of missiles Hezbollah launches into Israel, but no one seems to count the number and type of bombs and missiles Israel launches into Lebanon, what's the difference?"
Easy answer: Israeli govt. agencies provide this data to the news media every day. I work in the news media and I can tell you ready-made news gets on the air.
Harder answer: Hezbollah couldn't give two sh*ts how many Israeli shells come in to Lebanon.
"Why we still have not seen any picture or video of Hezbollah rocket batteries destroyed amongst the rubble of the buildings Israel destroyed?"
Easy answer: You think Hezbollah is going to let CNN, BBC or the rest anywhere near a "ruined" site? They're too busy parading dead bodies on the air.
Harder answer: CNN is not going to send its people that deep into a war zone. That's for the brave stringers and freelancers who get paid peanuts to risk their lives. (Don't try this at home).
"Did anyone see a Hezbollah rocket launcher at the Beirut Airport? Or the Power plant?"
How do you think Iran sends their weapons to Hezbollah? The tooth fairy? It comes through the airports and roads. The power plants help power the Hezbollah infrastructure and its propaganda TV network.
"It’s the phrase "the right to defend itself" copyrighted by Israel?"
I realize this is a rhetorical question on your part. (Perhaps they all are, but I'm humoring you). But when you're the country that always gets attacked by terror guerillas and other nations you kind of get a reputation for defending yourself. I don't know if you're a football fan, but think of the Middle East as the OPPOSITE of a football team. You see in football, when you challenge a defender and get smacked down hard, you usually avoid that guy for the rest of the game. In the Middle East, everyone goes after that tough defender again and again in hopes that THIS will be the time he backs down. Of course, every time you get nailed can complain to the refs in a phenomenon I discussed vis a vis the World Cup in an editorial published in Newsday. You can read that here: http://jakejakeny.blogspot.com/2006/06/world-cup-and-european-mindset-by-jake.html
"with what type of moral authority the US can ask countries (like Syria and Iran) to stop sending armament to Hezbollah (allegedly) when the US is sending armament to Israel (allegedly)?"
With the same kind of moral authority that the U.S. can ask taxpayers to keep paying to arm our cops against the outlaws who have guns too. Look, I'd love for Israel to beat the bad guys with pea shooters, polo mallets, and Ashlee Simpson CD's, but it doesn't work that way.
"How the people trying to leave the South of Lebanon or the country can do so if almost every bridge and road is bombed and destroyed? I think the flying magic carpet is just a stereotype..."
The infrastructure is not 100% damaged. People are escaping every day on the roads North which are pretty much intact. AND the bombing of the bridges, etc. started mostly after the first warning leaflets were dropped. But again, civilians always suffer when wars begin. It's just like the innocent children of murderers who probably suffer terribly when their dads get sent up the river or executed. Should we decline to punish them because their kids will suffer?
"CNN will surely remind us today that it is Day 19 of the Israel-Hezbollah war - now branded as Crisis in the Middle East - but you won't catch anyone saying it's Day 1,229 of the war in Iraq."
Well, here we agree on one thing. The news media is almost always working with its priorities out of whack. That usually comes from intellectual laziness. I'm also not the biggest fan of the war in Iraq, but mostly because it was obviously not planned very well. But what if America had been attacked daily by Iraq with rockets, etc? I get the feeling you wouldn't be so against the war then.
If you can't find which side to support in this conflict, then your moral compass is simply broken. Don't worry, if your's truly is on the fritz, you have a lot of company.
Posted by: Jake at August 1, 2006 12:47 PM