Fred Teng Gets It
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Politics, Profiles, War, coexistence
Given the avalanche of hate against Israel on the internet, at anti-Israel protests around the world, and in the media (of course!), it’s easy to believe that “nobody” likes us. By “nobody,” I mean, of course, folks from the wide world. And even if they are willing to overlook our “crimes” in Gaza (no, of course I don’t mean that), they still don’t “get it” – they just can’t understand what we’re up against. 
So I wanted to share with you a message I got from a friend who’s in New York right now. There was a big pro-Israel rally this past Sunday, featuring speakers from the Jewish and general community. According to the message I got,
“The most powerful speaker at Sunday’s massive rally for Israel was Fred Teng, president of the Chinese Community Relations Council of NY. His words would have been exceptional even coming from an Israeli — and how much more striking for having come from the heart of a New Yorker and a member of the Chinese community.”
Suffice to say Mr. Teng “gets it.” He’s got Hamas’ number – comparing them to the gangs of big American cities who get their jollies running drive by shootings against innocent people. In the words of Mr. Teng,
“Enough is enough”
“These Qassam Rockets and the people behind them are like Drive-by Shootings. We have to put every gang member away for good, not just the ones that did the shooting. These Qassam Rockets and the people behind them are like a Fire in the Forest, You can’t STOP only half of the fire in the forest, and thinking you will be safe. If your house is next to the fire, you won’t think so. It is not the Qassam Rockets; it is the people behind the Qassam Rockets that we need to go after. This is an epidemic threat to the entire world.
“In the last 60 years, every gesture of peace by Israel only met with escalated violence. Every peace proposal, whether it is multi-lateral, bi-lateral, or uni-lateral was never honored by the terrorists. However, in this time of extreme difficulties, we shall not lose hope. We shall say yes to Peace. We shall say yes to Life. And we shall forever say yes to an eternal Israel Am Yisrael Chai.
Maybe someone should tell this guy we have an election coming up? Sounds like he’d make a good prime minister!
The reality of teenage life in the south
Last week I wrote about Eye 2 Israel, blogs authored by students of Ort which offered a rare glimpse into the real life of young people who are experiencing the onslaught of missile attacks in the south. Eye 2 Israel is not alone. There are several other initiatives as well, one of the most high profile being, Join My Life, an initiative started by Nir Kouris, founder of Ecamp.
In his own words:
The blog entries were initially in Hebrew only but several are being translated into English. Join My Life will also be donating free webcams to youth in the south to make it easier for them to tell their stories. Living in the center of the country, it’s hard to imagine what it is like down south right now – or what’s it’s been like for the past several years. Blog posts like one authored by a thirteen year old girl in Ashdod give perspective. When I was thirteen all I care about was ninjas.
Yesterday, around nine o’clock in the evening, imagine you’re having a quiet night. After a day without alarms and sirens, thinking you’re going for a long tiring day at school.And then…you hear a siren, one that recently we hear once a day, not very frequently and usually a false alarm. You get in the shelter with mom, god knows where dad is now… waiting for the siren to end so that you can find out it fell in north Ashkelon… but then you hear a boom.
The first thing you think is- where’s dad, maybe one of my friends was hurt…was someone killed? You go on the internet and validate your suspicions and worries- someone was killed and as a mater of fact a Grad missile did fall in Ashdod…pretty much in the center, on a bus station.
The lines were down, we can’t locate dad.
Relatives barely managed to call…because the lines were down. Then we hear dad get home, he’s fine. But the fact that dad is fine doesn’t mean someone else is fine. Seven injured, one dead and many that are in shock. Just as you think it’s over, about half an hour after, when you’re on your seventh dream about winning the lottery, the siren goes off…while you’re sleeping.
That’s basically what a non-typical day in Ashdod sounds like.
You can read more entries here.
Kids in distress
Residents of Tkuma, near Sderot, stand at the scene of a rocket attack on Tuesday. (Photo: Reuters)
With the inappropriately named ‘cease-fire’ dissolved, and dozens of Kassam and Grad missiles fired toward the southern city and other Gaza area communities (not to mention Ashkelon) in the last couple days, the situation for families and their kids on Hannuka vacation is pretty intolerable.
Most of them are stuck at home day and night, a scenario which has become commonplace over the last seven years of regular attacks from Gaza. That’s why the work being done by the REUT-Sderot Association is so important.
They organize trips for Sderot children to enable them to get out of their stressful situation for a couple days and enjoy ‘normal’ life in other parts of the country. This non-political, non-partisan organization estimates that it costs about NIS 6,000 ($1700) to pay for a group of 100 children and accompanying staff.
Helping them out isn’t negating the terrible conditions that the children of Gaza are living under, but it is focusing on the fact that the children of Sderot haven’t been living in a bed of roses either. And it doesn’t look like the situation is going to be improving any time soon.
If you’re outside of Israel and want to contribute, you can do so at The Mitzvah Heroes Fund.
In israel, you can do a bank transfer directly to their account, or send them a check.
Reut Sderot Association, P.O.Box 339, Sderot
Banking details for “Reut Association”: Bank Leumi L’Israel
Branch Number 941, Kikar Hanasi, Sderot
Account No. 10390098
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