" ... When Israel uses her military might—not pin-point pricks— the Arabs crawl back into their holes and cower in fear. They are, at the core, terrorists who hide behind the skirts of women and children. They cannot fight against Jews as equals..."

sorry to be the bearer of bad news,
see Debbie Schlussel's latest post:
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/

let's see what the NYT will say ...
or what other MSM or liberal media will say

the same way it is with the Land of Israel it is with Jews all over the world

the cowardly Arab attacks will stop quickly once they are fought back with enough force so that they are incapable of attacking again

it may be time for any who have been critical of Rav Kahane ZT"L HY"D and his views,
to re-examine what he said and warned about,
and if they still disagree,
to come up with a better plan that still protects Jews,

in the meantime,
here is a quote from a post on today's Jihad Watch:

"...Iranian textbooks: "Every Muslim youth must strike fear in the hearts of the enemies of God and their people through combat-readiness and skillful target shooting" ... "

http://jihadwatch.org/

at the very least,
Jews should learn the same skills,
and learn it much better ...

what else has to happen in Israel and around the world before this is clearly understood?!?

An eyewitness account of the yeshiva massacre:

YERUSHALAYIM MEVAKEH AL BANEHA

TERRORIST ATTACK AT YESHIVAS MERKAZ HARAV

AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT AND MORE……

By Y. Koppel

Rabbi Murray and Mrs Lisa Goldenhersh moved to Israel from St. Louis Missouri sixteen and a half years ago, and live with their family in the Har Nof neighborhood of Yerushalayim.

Every Tuesday and Thursday Rabbi Goldenhersh gives an advanced shiur in halacha to a group of about 20 professionals who are part of a Semicha Program in Merkaz Harav. Every Thursday his wife Lisa meets him outside the Yeshiva after the shiur.

On Thursday night Lisa was running a little late. The weather had suddenly changed and it was extremely hot that night so Lisa had taken out a lightweight jacket. She noticed that there was a button missing so had taken a few minutes to sew it on. She got into the taxi and when she got to Shderot Me'iri at about 8:50 PM (the continuation of Kanfei Nesharim) which runs through Kiryat Moshe to Shderot Hertzl the road was already blocked to traffic. Usually she meets her husband who comes out of the Yeshiva building and they continue on together to their destination.

She jumped out of the taxi (without paying) and told the driver whose motor and meter were still running she would be right back to continue on, she was just going to find her husband.

As Lisa walked closer to the Yeshiva to see what was going on, she thought she heard what sounded like gunshots but like everyone else though it was just Purim Shtick. After all it was Rosh Chodesh Adar.

The Goldenhersh's 25 year old son Shaya has been learning in Yeshivas Merkaz Harav for 12 years including 4 years in the Yeshiva L'Tzeirim for 4 years and 8 years in the Yeshiva Gevohah. In the evening he learns with a younger bachur in the Library in their favorite spot at a small table in between the rows of sefarim shanks and he is responsible for closing up the Library every night, putting away the Sefarim and locking up. Last Thursday night Shaya Goldenhersh's chavrusa couldn't make it and b'hashgacha pratis, Shaya had stepped out of the Yeshiva building, something he rarely does.

By now Lisa was in the bus shelter outside the Kupat Cholim Building across the street to Merkaz HaRav. For some reason, b'hashgacha pratis the bus driver who was driving the High School boys home from a tiyul decided he was not dropping the boys off in front of the Yeshiva (which would have meant he would have to make a U-turn) - but had dropped them off in front of the Kupat Cholim across the street. This laziness on the part of the bus driver was hashgacha pratis that saved lives since had they been dropped off only moments later in front of the Yeshiva itself they would have walked in just as the terrorist was starting out R"L!!

The Yeshiva L'Tzeirim boys had heard the shooting emanating from the Yeshiva and had stayed where they were at the bus shelter across the street where they were saying Tehillim. Lisa stood there shaking saying Tehillim along with them as the bullets kept flying, knowing that her husband and at that moment thinking her son were both inside the Yeshiva building.

B'hashgacha pratis only 8 people attended Rabbi Goldenhersh's shiur that night instead of the regular 20 who usually all come. One had an urgent appointment, one regular participant in the shiur said his daughter started having a tantrum that night "Abba don't go out!" One man's wife called him at 7 and said they had to go to Netanya for a relative's levaya and so on…..

After the shiur they daven Ma'ariv with their own minyan. Rabbi Goldenhersh who is an avel had been davening Ma'ariv for the amud and was also running behind his usual schedule because b'hashgacha pratis they were looking for a tenth man for a minyan (being the group was unusually small that night). As he was finishing Kaddish, Oseh Shalom Bimromov, Rabbi Goldenhersh and his talmidim heard round after round of shots. Among those in the group was a quick thinking doctor. Recognizing the sound of gunfire he told the group to lie on the floor. The doctor barricaded the door and told everyone to be totally silent. Had they davened Ma'ariv as usual right after the shiur Rabbi Goldenhersh and his talmidim from the Semicha program would have been leaving the building in direct line of fire as the terrorist started shooting.

When everyone had dropped to the floor and was quiet the doctor called the police. Like the now much broadcast clip of the dispatcher's response to one of the bachurim who called police from his cell phone to say that there was an attack and shooting at Merkaz HaRav Teshiva in Kiryat Moshe, when the dispatcher just kept saying repeatedly, "Ma? Ma? Can you see anything? Are you sure?" wasting precious moments, the police dispatcher who answered the doctor's call for help also responded "How do you know?"

Rabbi Goldenhersh and his talmidim lay on the floor for a full ten minutes in the shiur room above the library which was the central location of the vicious attack and were totally silent as instructed as they just heard magazine after magazine of machine gun fire in the library on the lower level. One of the men had quickly looked out of the window and seen bachurim jumping from the second floor.

Lisa was now standing on the corner. Her kids were calling one after the other to inform her about the attack knowing that their father and brother were probably inside. All of a sudden Lisa's cell phone rang and her husband was on the line telling her repeatedly "Don't come close, don't come close…..Shaya's O.K. Don't come close. Run away!" Next Lisa's daughter was on the line, "There is a Pigua (attack) at Merkaz Harav. Is Shaya O.K?"

By now Lisa was crying and shaking as she looked on helplessly. The boys next to her were saying Tehillim with the maximum of intensity. Bang, Bang, Bang……the bullets kept coming in quick succession until baruch Hashem there was silence and the police went in. The heroes, Captain David Shapira a former talmid who now lives across the street from the Yeshiva, and Yitzchak Dadon, a bachur in the Yeshiva who had shot the terrorist were shouting "Anachnu Yehudim!" not chas v'shalom to be mistaken for terrorists and become targets.

The police ushered Rabbi Goldenhersh and his stunned talmidim out of the building. On their way out they passed the mutilated bodies of two of the dead kedoshim which were riddled with bullets laying in pools of their own blood Hashem Yinkom Damam!

Later on when pictures of the victims were publicized Rabbi Goldenhersh pointed to the two he had seen. "I saw him r'l." "I saw him r'l."

When Lisa's husband finally came out he screamed, "Let's get out of here." At that point it was thought that there was still a terrorist on the loose in the vicinity and they just ran home.

Apart from sharing what had happened with his wife, Rabbi Goldenhersh could not talk to anyone for hours and did not take calls from the many concerned family members and friends who had been calling non-stop since they heard about the attack at Merkaz Harav where they knew Rabbi Goldenhersh was giving his Thursday night shiur.

It was most unusual that Shaya Goldenhersh should not have been in his favorite seat in the library where he can be found every night. He had stepped out of the Yeshiva but when he heard the gunshots he ran into the Yeshiva through a little known back entrance and headed for the library where he could here the gunshots. When the shooting stopped Shaya was also accompanied out of the building and he too passed the dead bodies of his young friends.

The Goldenshirsh's sat and talked over Shabbos about the significance of the attack and the hashgacha pratis of their hatzalah. The men bentched gomel on Friday morning Rosh Chodesh before the levayos. Rabbi Goldenhersh says we are olim, newcomers to Eretz Yisrael and yet each one of our children's lives have been touched by terror attacks.

5 years ago when their daughter was only ten, her classmate lost 5 members of her family, her parents and three siblings, the Scheveschurders in the Sbarro attack.
Another daughter lost two of her high school friends in Sbarro. Another younger son is currently learning in the Merkaz HarRav High School and is a friend of all the victims. Dr. Dovid Applebaum (Head of Sha'arei Tzedek Emergency Room and Founder of Terem Emergency Centers, who was killed with his daughter Nava the night before her wedding in the attack on Café Hillel four and a half years ago) made Rabbi Murray and Lisa Goldenhersh's shidduch. Lisa was Debra Applebaum's room mate in Michlalah and made her shidduch with her late husband Dovid Hy"d!!

On Shabbos morning Rabbi Goldenhersh still smelt gunpowder. The shooting had been so intense with the estimated 600 shots that the pungent smell of gunpowder lingered on. He had felt so helpless that he says that he is going to get himself a gun.

Lisa, who was a much loved teacher in St Louis now works for P'Tach in Har Nof where she is a Special Ed. Teacher. She has taught in several of the Talmud Torahs in Har Nof and currently teaches in Talmud Torah Ma'amad in Har Nof and continues to express hakoras hatov for her personal Nes. The Dean of Talmud Torah Ma'amadm Rav Gizbar is the Shiur Aleph Rebbe at Merkaz HaRav. Another Ram from the Yeshiva L'Tzeirim High School lives in Har Nof. His own son was among the first three students the terrorist ran into. The friend to his right was murdered the friend to his left was critically wounded and he baruch Hashem was able to run away. Two of the 8th grade students in Lisa's school lost cousins who were killed in the attack.
She knows many of the bachurim in Yeshiva personally and her sons' friends are often guests at her Shabbos table. She says they are beautiful boys in the YeshivaL'Tzeirim. They are magnificent. Committed to Torah. Happy young boys.

Lisa then talks about her 11 year-old son who was waiting at home alone on Thursday night. His sister who was to have come home shortly after her mother left at 8.30 was too scared to leave her friend's house after she heard about the attack. The 11 year-old bravely manned the phones and held the fort, relaying to his mother the latest updates on the news reports.

Someone (obviously a little tactless) called and told the young boy, "Call your mother and see if your Abba who is giving a shiur at Merkaz Harav is OK!"
Rabbi Goldenhersh does not take his cell phone to the shiur.

The Goldenhersh's were planning to go out to eat after the shiur and Lisa had made reservations at a restaurant. When the Goldenhersh's didn't show at the restaurant they called the house to see if they would be coming. 11 year-old Master Goldenhersh answered, "My father is in a piguah right now. I don't think he is coming for his 9 o' clock dinner reservation!"

Three years ago the Goldenhersh's took their children to visit their former home in St. Louis and showed them the comfortable lifestyle they had enjoyed in a house with a pool and a beautiful shul. It didn't mean much to the Goldenhersh children who then thanked their parents for moving to Eretz Yisrael. Even though they do not have the more pampered lifestyle of their American cousins they said. "Thank you for making aliyah. Life in Eretz Yisrael is so meaningful. Every step we take in Eretz Yisrael is so meaningful."

At 9 o'clock Friday morning, Lisa called Shaya. She wanted to talk to him every few hours so that he could talk and express his feelings and deal with the trauma of the previous night. She asked him how he was and what he was doing. Shaya replied, "I'm in the library learning Eicha." Shaya, even before the levaya had had the courage to go back to the library, his second home, despite the carnage that had taken place there hours earlier!!

As it says in the last passuk of Eichah, Hashivenu Hashem Eilechah V'nashuva Chadesh Yameinu K'kedem!

Reading your post, Mr. Avrech, I couldn't have said it better myself. Hopefully, the time will come soon when Israel will fight back against Islamic terrorism.

Amen, Robert. We are in great danger because of the "enemy within" who prays only to the god of political correctness.

Amazing that people can't grasp what you have outlined so clearly. Of course, these same people want to make it impossible even to confront playground bullies, so we shouldn't be surprised. Still, you've nailed it.

Virgil

Exdem:

Yes, I know about the attack in Brooklyn.

I don't care what the liberal media says. Especially about Israel and the Jews. It's clear that they are prepared to sacrifice Israel in the vain hope that this would appease the jihadist blood lust.

I don't care what the UN says. I don't care care what Europe says.

I care about national and religious survival.

Joe:

Thanks so much for allowing us to read this powerful letter. I'll see you in shul. Have a happy and meaningful Purim.

Morgan:

Thanks so much for your comment. Israel does fight back, but only in stuttering stop-gap measures. This government, and the chattering classes, seem never to have heard of victory. They have been conditioned, like Pavlov's dogs, to accept grinding, incremental stages of defeat, as if they mean nothing when, in fact, they mean everything.

Daniel:

It never escapes me that the primary battle for the Maccabees was against the Hellenized Jews, the chattering classes of their time. The liberals, the appeasers, those who surrendered to the more "sophisticated" culture, those who attended the best schools and of course those who intermarried. Nothing ever changes.

Virgil:

Thanks so much. As you know I have great respect for your vast and distinguished military service, so this is a real, “Aw shucks” moment for me.