Guest Post: "Where Are the Samson and David of our Government?"

"Where are the Samson and David of our government?" asks Israeli Jean Vercors, who's no stranger to regular readers of this blog. 

He writes:

When I was a little child, I was fascinated by kites.  Seeing the kites dancing with the wind with colorful structures in the blue sky was magical. I remember running in all directions on the sand trying to fly my kite like a butterfly, a bird, a happy heart. Like all the children of the world I played with kites on beaches.

 Kites are normally children's toys. Except in Gaza, where the population uses the kite as a weapon of terror against the Israeli civilian population.

 For more than three months, hundreds of terror kites and incendiary balloons have been launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel, causing considerable fires and threatening the civilian population in southern Israel (where I live).

 Reports indicate that thousands of dunams of crops and plants have been destroyed because of this form of terrorism: agricultural terror.
 
Since the beginning of Palestinian violence and attempts of incursions into Israeli territory, the damage to flora, crops and wildlife has been considerable, with estimates that losses amount to several millions dollars.

 According to a JNS report, "officials of the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority have estimated that at least a third of the Carmia Nature Reserve has been destroyed, with significant damage to local plants and wildlife".

Because Israel has the advanced technologies needed to fight terror kites and incendiary balloons.

It would only take a few hours for the IDF to completely raze Gaza and put an end to this problem.

Except that this problem is not technological, but purely political.

Indeed, to combat these terrorist incursions into Israeli territory, the IDF uses barely 1% of its military power.

The IDF is very successful in preventing all terrorist incursions on its territory. So, no human loss on the Israeli side is deplored.

Politically speaking, the Israeli Government and the Israel Defense Forces believe that these terror kites attacks are secondary.
 
Without downplaying it, the Israeli government has decided not to use force. No wonder why it will take longer to finish the job.

As long as human lives are not in danger, Israel has chosen restraint and patience and prefers to listen to other nations who condemn us even for "stealing clouds in Iran".

 With these terror kites, the Palestinians try to play the David against Goliath and have managed to ridicule the IDF for at least 3 months.

Israel needs spiritual determination not restraint to overcome them. Restraint only shows our weakness that empowers the terrorists to harm us more.

 We give them food they send us terror kites.

Every week thousands of tons of goods enter Gaza from Israel.

We give them food, water, gas, electricity and even medical care.

Which country in the world would do this to his enemies?
Terrorists try to deceive the whole world into believing that they are the real owners of this land they prefer to burn.

 Where are the Samson and David of our government?

 It’s time to show no restraint to those who only wish to destroy Israel.

Adds Daphne: 

Meanwhile, is it any wonder that many Israelis regard this Israeli general part of the problem, not of the solution?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21EFsxRMP6U

A French Oleh on Israel's Miracle & What Europe Might Learn from it

Coincidentally yet not inappropriately on the day France goes to the polls, here's a guest blog by French oleh Jean Vercors.

I've added the emphasis (bold font), on his text and below.




Writes Jean Vercors:

'On the evening of Monday, May 1st, we celebrated Yom Ha'atzmaut, the 69th anniversary of the State of Israel. The return of the Jewish people to its ancestral land is a real miracle; it regains its sovereignty in Israel on May 14, 1948, the 5th Iyar of the year 5708 of the Hebrew calendar.
 
Surprisingly, the month of Iyar is the only month that bears a Hebrew name, the other months being Aramaic.

The Book of Kings calls it ziv (1 Kings 6: 1 and 6:37), or "shine," for it is the moment when the trees shine with all their "splendor" (Rashi and Radaq).

According to Rabbi Yehoshua, the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob were born during the month of Nissan, which brought new light to the world (in Hebrew zohar, ziv in Aramaic). And it was the following month, that of iyar, which first benefited from this new era of light following their coming into the world (Rosh hashana 11a).
 
The miracle began with the Lovers of Zion (Hebrew: בבובבי ציון, Hovevei Tsion), a popular, social and national Jewish movement that was active between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century and aimed at renewal from the people of Israel, through the return to Zion and the reconstruction of their homeland.

Then it was successive Aliyot (to ascend) that built the nation and made the new desert become the start-up nation, where 20 per cent of the foreign companies listed at the NASDAQ are Israelis. 

Another miracle.
 
According to the essence and faith, to the people, to the return of its natural state and to the definition of the Maharal of Prague, the normality of a people must meet three conditions:

1-He must live on his land, 
2-Free and independent,
3-Together in non-dispersed.
 
The prophet Ezekiel (chapter 28): 

"'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. They will live there in safety, they will build houses and plant vines."

 Indeed, there is a great mitzvah to inhabit the land of Israel. According to Rashi and Rambam, this is a mitzvah of the Torah, the Torah is Zionist, and Hashem is Zionist.

Since the end of the 19th century, it has been a series of miracles. Despite a hostile and chaotic neighborhood, Israel continues to grow. It's great to be a free and independent country for 69 years.
 
The Jewish national calendar of Israel is embellished with new festivals that Israel has placed at the center of its national Jewish consciousness and which define the most important moments of the year of Israeli society.
 
Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), Yom Hazikaron (Day of Remembrance of Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism) and Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day) celebrate the celebrations in a single week.

Independence Day is a celebration of the renewal of the Jewish state on the land of Israel, the birthplace of the Jewish people.
 
In the land, the Jewish people began to develop its distinctive religion and culture some 4,000 years ago, and little is known about it, has retained an unbroken physical presence there, for centuries as a sovereign state, as formerly under domination Foreign exchange.

Throughout its long history, the desire to return to its land has been at the center of Jewish life. 

Theodor Herzl, leader and founder of the Zionist movement, kindled international recognition for the need for a Jewish state.
 
Since its creation, Israel continues to be a homeland for the thousands of people who come to live there each year. All its citizens enjoy the same democratic rights delimited by the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel.

Despite terrorist attacks and threats of war, Israel creates and innovates every day in every field, whether medical, scientific, or high-tech.
 
The small agricultural nation that declared its independence 69 years ago is today a superpower, the 8th largest in the world, a world leader in the fields of biotechnology, the environment, and very present in the field of culture And art.

On Yom Ha'atzmaut we express our political independence and our security.
 
As Rav Kook has stated, Jewish nationalism does not depend on the state; The basis of our nationality is our spiritual holiness.  He writes :

"There are righteous people, philosophers, and holy men in the world, but there is no nation whose inherent soul can be fulfilled only by the purpose of the divine plan in the world - other than Israel.

Individuals are everywhere, but an entire nation that represents G-d does not exist. It is our uniqueness.

Since the days of the Hasmoneans (Greek Domination, 32 to -142), for nearly 70 generations, until the liberation of part of the land of our ancestors in our war of independence and the restoration of a Jewish state within its borders, no new holiday  has been added to our annual cycle of joyful days. 

The return of Israel to the land of his ancestors is predicted in the Bible: 'Hashem Your Lord shall bring you into the land which your fathers have possessed, and ye shall possess it "(Deut. 30: 5).

In other words, on the day of Yom Ha'atzmaut, I must not only remember the past, but I must strengthen my present with the same energy that is renewed in the universe at this precise moment. 

That is, to strengthen my roots with my land, my people, my Torah and myself.
 
This is the true meaning of Yom Ha’atzmaut following Yom Hashoah and Yom Hazikaron. He redefines Israel as a family that weeps together, and by remembering the price we paid to be free Jews, it redefines the meaning of Israel.
 
A people decimated by the Nazi Final Solution experienced a sovereign regeneration only three years after the Holocaust. A nation facing a war of extinction from the very first day of its creation - and relentlessly thereafter with more wars, waves of terrorism, economic boycotts, incitement to mortal frenzy, its legitimacy - and never gave up or surrendered. 

Despite the ever-present threats, the Israelis have embraced life to the fullest, have not succumbed to a siege mentality, nor lost the aspiration for lasting peace and normality.

When we turn to Yom Ha'atzmaout, we do it with a deep sense of responsibility. Our country was not given to us on a silver platter.
 
Israel must be the one who remembers, and through this memory he constantly commands himself to be worthy of the price we have paid. It is a memory that obliges us to embrace life and challenges us to live it to the fullest, to build lives individually and collectively. This is Israel's task. It is the legacy of our past and the challenge of our future.

Through courage, inspiration, sacrifice and innovation, and the challenge of every chance, the Israelis built a remarkable country in their ancestral home.
 
Again, the work is incomplete and the challenges are many.

But in 69 years, the Israelis proved strongly that Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion was right when he said: "In Israel, to be realistic, you have to believe in miracles."

Regardless of how you feel about Israel as a nation, or the Arab-Israeli conflict, it is not possible to deny that Europe has much to learn from our successes. 

By resisting the cultural Marxism and Islamization that have seized a large part of humanity, Israel has given itself a strong chance of survival. The very young Europe and its young people would do well to imitate what Israel and its very old people do if they hope to survive.
 
Their fate is in great danger while that of the Jewish people continues its way intact.'

I don't know Monsieur Vercors's views on the current French presidential contest, but I do know that if Emmanuel Macron truly believes in "Open Borders" then he is dooming his country to a bleak future, as indicated in my previous post.

Here's another searing indictment of Macron, in summary.

 France: Emmanuel Macron, Useful Idiot of Islamism by Yves Mamou  •  May 7, 2017 at 1:30 am

 Emmanuel Macron, a "Useful Infidel," is not a supporter of terrorism or Islamism. It is worse: he does not even see the threat.

 Louizi's article gave names and dates, explaining how Macron's political movement has largely been infiltrated by Muslim Brotherhood militants.

Is Macron an open promoter of Islamism in France? It is more politically correct to say that he is a "globalist" and an "open promoter of multiculturalism". As such, he does not consider Islamism a national threat because the French nation, or, as he has said, French culture, does not really exist.

Read the full article here

And here's an incisive analysis of what ails Europe's leaders today.  Not that it's fair to blame Europe's seemingly inexorable plunge into the destructive vortex solely on childless politicians.

There are plenty of childless people, including some of the best and most courageous political pundits (a number of whom are openly gay), who fear as much as any parent worried for their children's future the creeping islamisation of the European continent.

It's not necessary to have children to dread an Islamic future for one's country or continent. What is necessary is to recognise the superiority of Western civilisation and of Judeo-Christian values over benightedness and barbarity, and to see society as a social contract between past, present and future.

The enablers of population replacement and islamisation are not only betraying the next generation and those that come after it; they are betraying their ancestors and themselves.

 Europe's Childless Leaders Sleepwalking Us to Disaster by Giulio Meotti  •  May 6, 2017 at 5:00 am

As Europe's leaders have no children, they seem have no reason to worry about the future of their continent.

 "Europe today has little desire to reproduce itself, fight for itself or even take its own side in an argument". — Douglas Murray, The Times.

 "Finding ourselves' becomes more important than building a world." — Joshua Mitchell.

Read the full article here

Update:

A French Oleh's Lament: "French journalists practice a disgusting double standard against Israel"

This illustration is taken from the updated edition of Edgar Davidson's superb "Rules and Guidelines for Westerners reporting on Israel".

Here, as an example, is Rule 2:

'Rule 2 (Arab casualties)

If there is any incident either in Israel or near its borders in which there are claims of Arab casualties you must write a report with the following headline:

“Israelis kill X Arab civilians including Y children”

For the numbers X and Y simply choose the highest figures from the following sources:

    Hamas
    Hezbollah
    The Palestinian Authority
    Islamic Jihad
    Syrian State Television
    Islamic State
    Al Jazeera or Press TV
    Any person within 20 miles of the incident who is wearing a kaffiya or a Burka.

You do not need to state the source of your claim. In the unlikely event that an Israeli spokesman claims either a different figure, that the 'victims' were armed terrorists, or that the incident simply did not happen you may end your report with the following:

“An Israeli spokesman claimed, without evidence, that they ‘acted in self-defence’.

Note that there are certain circumstances where Arab deaths from violence should not be reported at all. This is when Arabs themselves openly claim to be the killers. This applies, for example, in the following cases:

Mass slaughter in fighting between different rival groups (Shia v Sunni, Hamas vs PA, Hamas vs Al Qaeda, PA vs Islamic Jihad etc)

 Where the victims are accused of being Israeli collaborators

If news of these killings does leak out into the Western media then simply write a brief statement including the words:

“The underlying cause of the violence was the oppressive Israeli occupation”

Any claims of deaths of Israelis during such incidents can be assumed to be false and hence ignored.

Read all of the Rules and Guidelines here

Of course, it's not only in the English-language press that the media gets the message of such "Rules and Guidelines".

See, for instance, this new article by French oleh Jean Vercors, no stranger to my blog; he's provocatively entitled it "French media: the thought Einsatzgruppen".

Writes Jean Vercors:

Since ancient times, many people have hated the Jews and this is not going to change.

The French journalists practice a disgusting double standard against Israel that constantly stirs anti-Jewish hatred.

Is this because they are affiliated with trade unions close to the Communist Party?  Are they automatically anti-Israel because Israel is supported by the United States or because of or banal hatred of Jews?

My observations of media bias against Israel are a constant source of aggravation.

No matter what happens in the world, Israel is always making the headlines. A morbid obsession. The daily massacre of Copts, Yazidis, Chaldeans, Christians, Assyrians, Kurds, and Africans in Muslim lands are barely mentioned.

In Israel, the press is free. Journalists can cover the news as they wish; they know it and do not hesitate. I can write things here, to express my thoughts in a way that would send me to court if I was in France.

In Israel, journalists are not harassed, assaulted, raped, followed by the police, tortured, intimidated or even beheaded as in Syria or Iraq.

In an article of July 2014, I called the French media scavengers and my opinion has not changed since.

When three young Israelis were kidnapped and killed by local Arab terrorists, rather than blaming the criminals, French media preferred to report how dangerous it is to hitchhike the Gush Etzion area.

Today, with the story of the dead Arab baby in Duma, the mainstream media, with L’Agence France-Presse (AFP) leading the pack, brought out the heavy artillery. No excuse can justify this act proclaims the same media that naturally found excuses for the killing of three Jewish students in July 2014 .  Apologists for the Arabs, not the Jews: double standard.

Then the media accuses "religious extremist settlers" of being the perpetrators even before the police investigation has begun.

The countless assaults by Palestinian Arabs against Jews goes unreported and without condemnation.
Similarly, the UN and EU have a big problem only with the one single attack by a few persons against the Arabs, even though there is no clear proof yet that it was indeed perpetrated by Jews. The entire Jewish nation has already been condemned.

As with the notorious invention that was the al-Dura case, it represents a continuation of the age-old libel of ritual murder of children by Jews.  It is the antisemitic blood libel that Jews murder non-Jewish children for ritual purposes. French journalists did not need evidence to charge the Jews, they lit the pyre and prepared media killings.

In ten years, the Arabs in Palestine killed nearly 180 Israelis, dozens of babies. Where is the outrage of the media?

Are journalists dishonest and hypocrites to that point? Yes definitely.

This hypocrisy was also revealed in October 2014 by an Arab site,Actionpal.org , which identified the number of Palestinian Arabs killed in Syria: 2 512. Not a single line in the media.

The French media practising intellectual terrorism.

Censorship of any idea contrary, any debate, arguments and intimidation methods for preventing the development of harmful ideas, nothing can stop the media, speak with one voice as if it was only one opinion and they had been brainwashed.
This ideological censorship, the font of the word, forbidden to speak of what is beyond the gates of the ruling doctrine.

The thought police uses the techniques of fascism and Nazism to implode Arab propaganda.

Some examples: Alexandra Schwarzbrod Liberation, Mediapart, BFM, ITV, Le Parisien, Le Monde, Courrier International, France 24, La Croix, MetroNews, France 2, Marianne, 20 Minutes, Slate, Nouvel Obs, Le Figaro, The AFP: all decided Jews are the criminals, without leaving their confortable offices and without any confirmatory police report, found Jews to be culpable .

The left rejoices – finally some "proof" for their slanderous accusations of Israel.

The immediate and vociferous world reaction, including that of the Israeli media, was overwhelming. Many claimed that Jewish terrorism happens all the time and is ever present. Time will also tell if it was indeed an attack by Jews. But we do not need to wait to find out who has perpetrated dozens and dozens of attacks against Jews in the last year or two: Palestinian Arabs, driven by their fanatical, antisemitic, Islam-inspired hatred of Jews.

Arabs attacking, maiming and murdering Jews is an almost-daily event.

In France, when reporting police arrests of criminals, journalists always use the conditional, speak of "suspect" until law courts have given their verdicts. In this reportage, however, there are no suspects, there is no use of the conditional: the putative miscreants are guilty for sure, taken for granted to be so because they are Jews.

The kings of the amalgam, finally, it is they, the journalists.

For a well-oiled disinformation process, the disclosure of wrongdoing attributed to some Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria allows for a huge amalgam to stigmatize an entire population
 – that of Israel – and then develop the amalgam to the top of the state, and accuse the Israeli government of ultimate responsibility.

Disseminating slanders against the Jewish state, it is trendy.

Denounce any amalgam against the Muslim community as well.

Intellectual terrorism is not an end in itself, it is a means to steer public debate against the Jews and Israel. Thus, the media, when they talk of Israel became "Einsatzgruppen" of thought.

The media who lie about Israeli assault me. My story, my identity, their refusal to allow me to define myself, is the expression of intellectual terror.

The offspring of right-wing extremists, Nazis, fascists, it's them.

Yes they attack me. We Jews have a hard shell, very solid. Nevertheless, they attack us.

Our real enemies, the Europeans, the Arab worst enemies in the region, attacking us for years not for what we would do or would not do, but for what we are and what we represent.

It does not succumb to the temptations of the oppressors and persecutors worldly, so we give up our history, our values, the faith of our fathers, and worst of all: our identity, the word they hate the most.

We do not accept the deletion they are inflicting to the European people by dilution in Islam, his drowning in immigration. On the contrary!

Recalling Leo Tolstoy's perception of the Jewish People:

“The Jew is that sacred being who has brought down from heaven the everlasting fire, and has illumined with it the entire world. He is the religious source, spring, and fountain out of which all the rest of the peoples have drawn their beliefs and their religious. The Jew is the pioneer of liberty. The Jew is the pioneer of civilization. The Jew is the emblem of eternity.”

The Iran Menace: An Israeli's Open Letter to Congress

Jean Vercors, an oleh from France who's no stranger to this blog, kindly sent this to me a few days ago.  My sincere apologies to him for my tardiness in posting it.

Open letter to members of congress – Jean Vercors

Iran and six world powers including your country have concluded an agreement that will lift sanctions on Iran, in a historic mistake designed to encourage more terror in the Middle East and in the world.
 
The West has become willfully blind to Iran’s terror machine and signed a nuclear accord that will endanger world peace while the Iranian president marched with huge crowds behind him holding signs reading “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Hezbollah Lauds Nuclear Deal as US surrender.

For two decades and for the duration of the negotiations, Iran has cheated and swindled the international system, spreading uninhibited terror, directly and indirectly (Hamas, Hezbollah) and is now rewarded.
 
Iran that commits gross and systematic violations of Human Rights is not only given immunity, but is actually rewarded with the lifting of sanctions.

A senior Iranian military official has threatened to unleash a firestorm of 80,000 missiles on Israel and warned that “Iran will flatten Tel Aviv and Haifa. »
 
Iran has raised the specter of “wiping Israel out of existence,” since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in the country in 1979.

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” in a 2005 speech. More recently, in late March 2015, General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the commander of Iran’s Basij militia – a volunteer paramilitary organization under the command of the IRGC – said that, “wiping Israel off the map is not up for negotiation.”
 
Iran also actively finances and militarily backs proxy terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah that are ideologically opposed to Israel’s existence.  A Hezbollah suicide bombing killed 241 Marines in October 1983.

The JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) allows Iran to retain much of its nuclear infrastructure, and grants it the right to enrich uranium on its own soil. But the deal also requires Iran to cap and partially roll back that infrastructure for ten to fifteen years, and grants the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, managed access to monitor that program with intrusive inspections.
 
In exchange, the governments of Britain, France, Russia, China, the US and Germany have agreed to lift all UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran— once Iran abides by a set of nuclear-related commitments.
 
Your Excellency, my country Israel was not bound by the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran, it is a « historic mistake », and Israel is ready to defend itself.

The deal negotiated would not prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons that could be used to target country.
 
Your country among the six powers that negotiated the deal — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States have chosen to collaborate with a tyranic regime.
 
This fraudulent, tyrannical dynasty has now agreed to dispatch some of its subordinates to negotiate with world powers with the aim of reaching a settlement over its disastrous nuclear program that has brought nothing but misery and calamity to the Iranian people.

This nuclear agreement is ‘a massive betrayal’ of Israel and the Sunni Arab states. Iran, who arrived at the negotiating table in a weak position, has emerged victorious. Instead of fighting terror with all its might, the free world has granted legitimacy to Iran’s hateful, murderous ways. This agreement is a tragedy for all who aspire for peace, regional stability and fear a nuclear Iran.

Lifting sanctions would allow Iran to further support proxy militants and add to the instability rocking parts of the Middle East. While analysts say unilateral military action by Israel seems unlikely for now, Our Prime Minister Netanyahu and other officials have kept the option on the table.
Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran because Iran continues to seek our destruction.

Only 77 years ago, History reminds us that The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany’s annexation of Czechoslovakia.
 
The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany among the major powers of Europe, excluding the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Today, it is widely regarded as a failed act of appeasement toward Germany.
 
The agreement was signed in the early hours of 30 September 1938. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the future of the Sudetenland in the face of ethnic demands made by Adolf Hitler. The agreement was signed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy.

Because the state of Czechoslovakia was not invited to the conference, it considered itself to have been betrayed by the United Kingdom and France, so Czechs and Slovaks call the Munich Agreement the Munich Diktat.
 
On 30 September 1938, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini and Édouard Daladier signed the Munich Agreement. The German army was to complete the invasion of by 10 October.
Your Excellency, The deal signed by your country is a capitulation of historic proportions to the Iran-led axis of evil.
 
As you know, Regimes such as Iran that rape and torture political prisoners, subjugate women, and commit crimes against humanity from slavery to genocide — sends a message that crass politics trumps basic Human Rights.

UN watch reports: As of January 2014, Iran was holding at least 895 “prisoners of conscience” and “political prisoners.” This includes 379 political activists, 292 religious practitioners, 92 human rights defenders, 71 civic activists, 37 journalists and netizens, and 24 student activists.
 
Iran continues to use cruel, inhumane or degrading punishment, including flogging, hanging, stoning and amputation. It executes juveniles, and uses capital punishment for crimes that do not meet the standards of international law.
 
As of January 2014, more than 300 members of religious minorities were in detention: 136 Baha’is, 90 Sunni Muslims, 50 Christians, 19 Dervish Muslims; four Yarasan, two Zoroastrians, and six from other groups.
 
History has shown that regimes which zealously persecute their own people also have a tendency, when given the chance, to try and do the same if not worse toward other countries.

The total removal of sanctions against Iran will benefit the six powers interests and economy but not at the cost of my existence.
 
What we are living through now is worse than Munich because we are ignoring the lesson learned from that event at the cost of millions of deaths.
 
Dishonor is a lack or loss of honor or reputation, a cause of disgrace for your country who has lost honor and prestige.

I join with millions of deeply worried Americans and people around the world in relying on you, our Congressional leaders, to thwart this one-sided, dangerous agreement.
 
I am urging you to stop Iran, the leading terrorist state, from becoming a nuclear power in the world’s most dangerous region.

With or without you, we will always defend ourselves.

Sincerely yours,
Jean Vercors