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April 22, 2007
They Fought Like Lions
It is time to remember fallen heroes.
As Israel's afternoon sun slowly sets over Jerusalem, we prepare to commemorate Israel's Memorial Day, "Yom HaZikaron" — the day we remember the approximately 22,500 who fell defending the Land of Israel since the 1860s when the Jewish people created the early neighborhoods outside the old city of Jerusalem.To read the rest, click here to go to Jameel at The Muquata.
Meanwhile, David Bogner over at Treppenwitz provides a chilling analysis of the current Israeli government and citizen's understanding of the rules of engagement against an implacable and genocidal enemy. The current Israeli policy can only be termed: suicidal.
We have steadfastly refused to behave as a country at war, thinking that if we only provide a convincing illusion of peace it will hasten the arrival of the real thing. While we have forced our soldiers to act under the rules of engagement appropriate for suburban policemen and our civilians to behave like sheep, our enemies have broken every rule of civilized warfare and blurred erased any meaningful distinction between civilian and military targets.
To read the entire post, please click here.
Seraphic Secret would like to point out one simple rule of psychology.
That which is rewarded is repeated.
We hear a great deal about "proportional response." This is wrong. In fact, it is stupid and dangerous. When a nation is attacked the response must be overwhemingly disproportionate. This is the only way to punish the attackers, their host countries, financiers and cheerleaders. The response must be immediate, and absolutely overwhelming. Diplomacy must never be given a chance to put a nice face on terrorism. This has given a legitimacy to evil that has brought untold suffering to the world.
When Rome destroyed Carthage, she brought generations of peace to her empire. When Rome appeased the barbarian tribes, she collapsed. America dropped two Atomic bombs on Japan and the world has not had any trouble from the Japanese ever since. Nazi Germany was bombed backed into the stone age by the allies in WWII and now the Germans make very fine cars. These elementary lessons of warfare have been conveniently swept under the rug by our post-modern moralists—hence terrorists stalk the earth and enjoy rock star status.
For too long Israel has played a dangerous game of appeasement with the so-called Palestinians. In return Israel has seen the rise of Hamas and Hizbullah. Peace Now is a fifth column in the heart of Israel; the so-called disengagement has given new legitimacy to the Nuremberg ghetto laws, making whole swaths of land Judenrein; and the false G-d of international law is nothing but a replacement for good old fashiond Jew-hatred.
I lived in Israel during the Yom Kippur War. I lost several friends in combat. Not a day goes by when I do not remember them. I think about The Battle of the Chinese Farm—brutal close quarter combat. I recall brave young men who fought like lions. If not for their sacrifice, Israel might not have survived the two-pronged onslaught.
May their memories be a blessing.
Baruch Dayan Emet.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at April 22, 2007 04:20 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.
Absolutely spot on.
"Where are the rules for a ‘appropriate’ response written? What exactly is the appropriate response to regimes that pose an existential threat to a free society?
How dare the Europeans, after the Holocaust, deny Jews the right defend themselves with all the might they can muster? How dare the French, with the history of the collaborator Vichy Government, tell the Israelis what is and isn’t appropriate when it comes to their well being? How dare they lecture Israel!
In France, Jews have been targeted for violence and have been killed, even as the French government allows extremists to preach hate, bigotry and violence...
Israel has every right to defend herself every way she sees fit. It isn’t as if Europe has a great track record of defending Jews. As Jews were trying to leave Germany prior to the war, European countries blocked their borders to increased immigration. The Swiss were kind enough to send them back to Germany. Undoubtedly, the EU member states (and America and Canada) have forgotten their own shameful behavior that allowed for the death of uncounted souls.
Day in and day out, for decades, the Israelis and Jews are bombarded with vicious and vile hate from the Arab world. Day in and day out, Israel is promised destruction, violations of the most heinous kind and ‘rivers of blood.’ We are told that thousands of volunteers are ready to bring mayhem and violence to the Israelis.
The UN is up in arms as the Israelis bomb empty building and runways. No word from the UN on the ongoing rapes and slaughter in Darfur by the Arab Janjaweed. That’s no real surprise. The UN didn’t care when a million were killed in Rwanda, either.
Europe and the UN have no business talking about ‘restraint’ and ‘disproportionate’ responses.
Here’s a reality pill: The Israelis have been remarkably restrained.
Sorry for hogging the comments here, but I am outraged.
There is no 'disproportionate' response from a society and culture whose heroes venerate life against an enemy whose heroes take life.
It is clear that the Arab world is no position to lecture Israel or the west on morality.
Before free nations engage in that kind of exercise, they had best take a long hard look in the mirror.
Israel is not above reproach and certainly not above criticism, if deserved and fairly applied.
To date, that has not yet occurred.
Posted by: sigmund, carl and alfred at April 22, 2007 05:23 PM
the are a lot of scary things about the way the military is being run in israel. see, for example, http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com/2007/04/lack-of-confidence.html
Posted by: Ari Kinsberg at April 22, 2007 07:40 PM
Thank you. This sooo recharged my batteries.
Posted by: Jeremiah at April 23, 2007 10:29 AM
S,C,&A:
Your outrage is a blessing. Never worry about hogging the comments. We welcome your every vowel.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 23, 2007 10:34 AM
Ari:
A friend in the American military recently told me that the IDF has been running on "the fumes of the Six Day War for far too long."
This might be something of an overstatement, but there is a kernel of truth, and it must be addressed and very quickly.
Round #2 with Hizbullah is coming, and make no mistake about it, Israel must be able to claim victory and deterrence.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 23, 2007 10:38 AM
Jeremiah:
Just think of us as a battery recharger.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 23, 2007 10:41 AM
A recharger? A transformer.
It's especially fortifying living here in Galutland (the SF Bay Area), where most of the Israelis I meet are in one form of psychological or moral flight from Jewishness, both present-day and eternal.
Posted by: Jeremiah at April 23, 2007 12:53 PM
Jeremiah:
Hello! What specimen of Israeli do you think is attracted to Planet SF Bay area?
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 23, 2007 02:53 PM