Israel’s happy but realistic about bin Laden demise

May 3, 2011 - 6:47 AM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, News, Politics, War 

Americans celebrate outside the White House Sunday night.

There was almost uniform praise and congratulations from Israeli officials and citizens over the successful US mission to kill al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issuing a statement congratulating President Barack Obama and hailing “the United States’ determination to fight terrorism.”

Other government officials as well as the Israeli media made sure to point out the reaction to the killing by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who condemned the US ‘policy of killing and repression’ and hailed bin Laden as a Muslim mujahed [warrior] and Arab human being.

The only naysayers among the general public in Israel were those fringe Obama haters who worried that the action would boost the US president’s ratings and chances of being reelected in 2012. “There is no doubt that Obama is a greater threat to Israel than Osama was,” National Union MK Aryeh Eldad told The Jerusalem Post, going down in infamy as an all-time boneheaded statement.

But while there weren’t any spontaneous celebration – like there were in Times Square, outside the White House or at Ground Zero – the vast majority of Israelis rejoiced along with America on Monday.

Perhaps, because we’ve been fighting the daily struggle against terrorism and our own local bin Ladens for so long, we’re aware that one knockout punch isn’t going to end the battle of Islamic fundamentalist terror against the West. It didn’t happen when Israel took out Hamas mastermind Sheikh Yassin in 2004 and it didn’t happen when it targeted Hiezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh in 2008.

That could be why we weren’t out dancing in the streets along with America. It’s not the last dance yet.

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Googling Israeli streets

February 16, 2011 - 5:29 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Politics, Technology 

Street View in San Diego. Next stop: Tel Aviv?

Google’s “Street View” service is coming to Israel. Or is it?

In principle, “Street View” seems to be a terrific idea. In addition to seeing a map of a city, you can tour at street level, as if you’re actually walking down Jaffa Street in Jerusalem (watch out for the light rail trains, though!) Google does this by sending out cars with cameras to capture images that are then stitched together by Google’s magic elves.

The service exists all over the world although, since its inception in 2007, it has generated controversy in some places, Germany in particular, where it’s viewed as an invasion of privacy.

In Israel, Google Street View takes on another dimension: terrorism. Could enemy organizations use Street View to help plan attacks against Israeli cities or public figures, asks Haaretz?

It’s not a theoretical question. Hamas has been known to use Google Earth to help target and track the missiles it launches out of Gaza.

So what’s a small and precarious country to do? Set up a governmental committee, of course. A ministerial task force – headed by Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor, and including ministers Moshe Kahlon, Yossi Peled, Michael Eitan, Stas Misezhnikov and Limor Livnat – will probe the security concerns raised by Google’s service.

The committee will consider which streets and buildings to ban from the Googlemobiles, as well as which cities to allow (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for sure, Haifa maybe).

Beyond the cities, what of Israel’s sensitive military bases? Taking a more macro perspective than Street View, do online map services indiscreetly provide detailed instructions on how to get to, say, military intelligence headquarters?

If you know where to look, Google Maps will lead you right there. The local Walla Maps site, however, blocks out access, replacing army bases with empty agricultural fields.

I, for one, am glad to know that I am being defended from military threats by an ear of corn.

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Peace talks or target practice?

September 2, 2010 - 11:22 AM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Life, Politics, War 

Security personnel inspect the car containing four Israelis which was bombarded with bullets on Tuesday night near Kiryat Arba. (AP)

A morbid comment by a friend after the last two consecutive days of drive-by shootings of Israelis by Palestinians, which have left four Israelis dead – ‘you can always tell when peace talks are starting because Israelis start dying.’

It’s horrible, but unfortunately true. I think everyone is starting to remember how previous waves of terror began – a shooting here, a bus bomb there, and before you know it, it’s an everyday thing.

I’m getting on a bus in a few hours, and for the first time in years, I may be looking around and checking out the passengers getting on, doing my own personal profile checking.

I guess the big difference this time, though, is the fact that we have a security barrier which is supposedly preventing potential suicide bombers from arriving at their destination, and the facts that the cooperation we’re getting from the Palestinian security forces are helping to prevent and catch terror acts before they happen. But not always, as the last two nights have tragically shown.

I, like most Israelis who want the peace talks beginning today in Washington to succeed, want to believe Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when he said that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the other Palestinian terror rejectionist groups are Israel and the Palestinian Authority’s common enemy.

But if all Israelis, and not just settlers (who for some, incomprehensibly, don’t count as they are bringing it on themselves by living in the West Bank) are now going to be open targets for the guns and bombs of terrorists, it’s clear that the peace attempts in Washington are going to fail miserably. And our Palestinian neighbors will only have themselves to blame when their statehood once again moves beyond their reach.

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Gilad Schalit turns 24

August 28, 2010 - 8:55 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Politics, War 

Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday night in Jerusalem to mark the 24th birthday of Gilad Schalit, the kidnapped IDF soldier who has been held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since 2006.

According to The Jerusalem Post, at the rally, Gilad’s mother Aviva Schalit read out a letter addressed to her son, beginning:

“Again this year I have not bought you a present, I have not baked you a cake, and you will not be able to blow out your candles and make a wish.”

Further on in her letter, she apologized to her son for having been unable as yet to secure his release, and went on to address Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, imploring her to become more involved in her son’s plight.

Addressing the prime minister himself, she said: “Secure Gilad’s release, before we run out of time.”

On Friday, Gilad’s father Noam Schalit commented on his son’s impending birthday.

“Tomorrow we will celebrate a sad birthday, the fifth, for Gilad in Hamas captivity… Unfortunately, we don’t see anything happening moving forward. There are no negotiations and we do not see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Here’s some photos of Schalit and the various rallies that have taken place in his name over the last four years. May this be the last year that he’s in captivity.

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Eilat under attack

August 2, 2010 - 8:51 AM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Politics, Travel, War 

August is one of the busiest seasons of the year in Eilat, as well as its hottest. The kids out of school, summer camps finishing up, and semi-attractive deals offered by the dozens of hotels and resorts in the Red Sea haven all contribute to an influx of tourism from within during the month.

Especially since Israeli tourism to Turkey has dropped to virtually zero because of the post-Flotilla diplomatic tension between the countries, Eilat is even more packed than usual. Which makes this morning’s news about five rockets likely fired from Sinai landing near the city is sending tremors throughout the country.

The five rockets – two in the Red Sea, one in a field near Eilat, and two in Jordan – included one which reportedly landed in front of the Intercontinental Hotel at the neighboring Jordanian port city of Aqaba, injuring four.

According to initial reports, a possible group behind the rockets could have been Hamas, which is known to use Sinai to smuggle weaponry and operatives in and out of the Gaza strip. There are also known to be global Jihad elements in the Sinai who have the capability to fire rockets toward Eilat. The attacks could be a continuation of the weekend rocket attack on Sderot, an attempt by Palestinians rejectionist groups to torpedo planned direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Regardless of the reason, the fact that rockets are falling close to the main vacation center in Israel is disconcerting indeed. Some Facebook posts are already intimating cancellations of plans to go to the Red Sea location: “My summer vacation is ruined,” wrote one FB poster.

Rocket attacks in Eilat are rare but not unheard of, with two attacks having occurred in the last five years. In April, two rockets fired landed in Eilat and Aqaba.

But what’s more disconcerting about the attacks – both in the Eilat area and in the South near Gaza – is that if the terror groups are trying to goad Israel into another Operation Cast Lead-type incursion, these incidents won’t be remembered at all.

The world media will write about Israeli aggression and overreaction, and ignore the fact that a sovereign state has been attacked. The average newspaper reader of TV news watcher in the US or Europe probably has no idea these acts of violence have taken place against Israel. But, if Israel retaliates, you’d better believe they’ll know about it.

So, besides getting the word out that Israel is being attacked seemingly on a daily basis these days, there’s one other thing to do: keep going to Eilat. I’m not going to cancel my plans to vacation there near the end of the month, and I urge everyone else to do the same. The coral reef and the dolphin beach more than make up for the inconvenience of having to dodge a rocket here and there.

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