What Makes People Tick?

 When news reports started coming in on Saturday evening (European central time) that Iran had launched an attack against Israel, I started worrying. I have no family in Israel. I'm not Israeli. I'm not Jewish. I'm not worrying about 'my home' or about family members. But I am a supporter of Israel. I'm not always a staunch supporter of the Israeli government, true. There are decisions that I, as a person, do not agree with. There are things I would change, would do differently, if it were up to me. But am I a staunch supporter of Israel's right to exist, of the right of Israeli people to live in freedom? Definitely. I have friends in Israel. People I've met as I travelled the world. Good people. Kind people. People with parents, with siblings, with children. People I care about.  My main thought as I was watching the news on television and reading the updates on Twitter/X however, wasn't about my friends in Israel. I wasn't worried about them: T...

  Last weekend, on Saturday the 7th of October, a great number of people got together to cross a border. Some flew over using gliders. Others toppled a fence in a lot of places. Through the breaches in the fence came people. Men. In cars. On motorcycles. They didn't come through that fence to find freedom, or to flee from persecution. They didn't cross the border hoping for a better life, for the fulfilment of a dream. The men who crossed the border, they came to kill, to murder. To shoot people in their homes. To kill babies and children in their beds. To go into communities full of people, civilians, and indiscriminately shoot everyone and everything. To go to a festival where people were dancing, enjoying themselves, and to shoot, kill, rape those people. The stories of the survivors are horrifying. Stories of people rushing for their cars, driving, being shot at. Stories of people running, being shot in the back. Stories of people hiding, being found, finding new places to ...

Source: The Growing Reach of Hamas'  Rockets | New York Times I started writing this on the 8th of August 2014. I finished it on the 3rd September. Decided to finish this piece of writing and post it, even if parts read a little disjointed due to the gap between when I started and finished the article. While many the world over call on Israel to be 'nicer' to the people in Gaza, Israel is more intent than ever to ensure safety for her citizens. While some may call the Israeli response to Palestinian / Gazan / Hamas / Islamic terror groups' terrorist attacks 'disproportionate,' or too much or unfair, I am left wondering what other options Israel has. I also fail to see the logic in Hamas' actions, they only seem to sabotage the Palestinian cause by their insistence on fighting instead of talking. Let me be very, very frank. Is it right that innocents die? No. Is it right that innocents are scarred by events for the rest of their lives? No. Is it righ...

I am very glad that this video is only fictional.  Way too many people dead in Gaza, among them many innocent non-combatants. Shortages of water, food, electricity and just about everything else. Rockets being launched from inside or next to mosques, schools, hospitals, houses. The threat of being forced into being a human shield ; of being executed for disagreeing with the establishment, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. All of that is very real .  What is also very real is the threat that Hamas and groups like it pose. It is time that the world stops blaming Israel for a conflict that is being caused by radical fundamental Islam. The "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria has crucified Christians, has killed fellow Muslims, are attempting to exterminate the Yazidi people. Remember the horrible events of 9/11? London subway bombings? Suicide bombings throughout Israel? Dutch documentary-maker Theo van Gogh killed in Amsterdam while riding his bike? Pro-Palesti...

Check out this 23 July 2014 article from Tablet Magazine describing what the Palestinian people could have built, instead of smuggling / terror tunnels leading into Israel. At this point the IDF had, as the quote says, only located 18 tunnels. "Israeli troops entering Gaza last week have so far uncovered 18 tunnels used by Hamas to send armed terrorists into Israel and built using an estimated 800,000 tons of concrete.  What else might that much concrete build? Erecting Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, required 110,000 tons of concrete. Hamas, then, could've treated itself to seven such monstrosities and still had a few tens of thousands of tons to spare.  If it wanted to build kindergartens equipped with bomb shelters, like Israel has built for the besieged citizens of Sderot, for example—after all, noted military strategists like Jon Stewart have spent last week proclaiming that Gaza’s citizens had nowhere to hide from Israel’s artillery—Hamas could hav...

A 29 July 2014 article by Efraim Inbar on the Middle East Forum looks into the wisdom of sending more economic aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Executive Summary the article starts with states: "The developing international consensus to offer Gaza economic aid in exchange for a ceasefire is a moral and strategic mistake. As long as Hamas rules Gaza, funds sent to Gaza are likely to be used for aggression against Israel and the personal use of Hamas leaders. The world should not be rewarding the most extreme Palestinians for violence and terror."  Source:  No Economic Aid To Hamas-Ruled Gaza , Middle East Forum The article itself looks at Hamas rule in Gaza and what supporting continued Hamas rule through economic channels would mean for Gaza, for Palestine and for the world. Hamas is not a political party or a just, honest and democratic government. Hamas is an internationally recognised terrorist organisation intent on destroying Israel , exterminating the Jewish peopl...

The words "Free Gaza From Hamas" seem to be popping up everywhere on social media. I hope this means that the world is starting to wake up, just a bit, to the reality of Hamas. It is a terrorist group intent on the destruction of a nation and the extermination of a people. I understand that in 'the West' we see images of what is happening in Gaza and sympathise with the plight of the people who are effectively stuck in Gaza. We should sympathise with them because they are suffering and they deserve a better life than they have now. However we need to consider, very carefully, what the money or goods we are sending to Gaza are being spent on. Are they being spent on making the lives of people in Gaza better, or are they being spent on making the lives of people in Israel worse? Construction materials meant for Palestinians routinely enter Gaza from Israel. To be exact, 4,680 trucks carrying 181 thousand tons of gravel, iron, cement, wood and other supplies have ...

Operation Protective Edge continues. While I read earlier this morning that there might be a 72-hour ceasefire starting today; Israel National News (Arutz Sheva)  tells me that the ceasefire has already been broken, not even two hours into the 72 hours. How surprising... Not... "Israel uses weapons to protect its civilians. Hamas uses civilians to protect its weapons. Hamas puts Palestinian civilians in the line of fire." Source: IDF through Barenaked Islam

Yale University's Avalon Project has a copy of the Hamas Covenant 1988  in their archives. The following is a direct quote. I encourage all readers to read the entire Covenant and to form your own opinion based on your personal interpretation of the document. Article Twenty-two:   For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard a...

Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of Hamas founding member Sheikh Hassan Yousef. After realising that Hamas was a violent organisation that he did not want to be a part of, he left Hamas and eventually moved to the United States. Mr. Yousef is also the author of the book " Son of Hamas " published in 2010. Judging by the reviews on Goodreads, it looks to be a very interesting book. I have to admit that I'd not heard of this book nor of Mosab Hassan Yousef until about an hour ago when I was alerted to the video below. In this video , Mosab Hassan Yousef speaks to CNN about his decision to leave Hamas and explains candidly why he could no longer be a part of such a brutal regime. If you watch anything today, watch this video! "In the mosques Hamas taught us that without shedding innocent blood for the sake of the ideology we wont be able to build an Islamic state. They were preparing us from the age as young as five years old.   This is the ideology that Hamas w...

Want to know what life is like in Israel? Watch this very touching video made by Dana bar-on who lives very close to the Gaza border. She brought tears to my eyes, which is why I'm sharing this video. Source: 10 minutes about living on the Gaza border ,YouTube

In een artikel van vandaag bericht De Telegraaf dat het Nederlandse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken een half miljoen euro aan het Rode Kruis zal geven. Zoals hiernaast te lezen is voegt het Rode Kruis daar zelf 30,000 euro aan toe voor de hulpverlening in Israël. Bedankt, Rode Kruis Nederland. Bedankt dat jullie niet alleen de grote nood in Gaza zien maar ook de nood in Israël zien en proberen om daar te helpen. De situatie in Gaza is vreselijk. Dat ziet iedereen. Maar de verhalen die ik hoor van vrienden in Israël, de beelden die ik uit Israël zie - die zijn ook vreselijk. Daarom, bedankt dat jullie beide kanten zien. Nederland geeft half miljoen voor hulp Gaza   "In Israël werkt het Internationale Rode Kruis nauw samen met Magod David Adom (MDA) en in de Palestijnse gebieden met de Rode Halve Maan. Beide zijn zusterorganisaties van het Nederlandse Rode Kruis. Bij elke inslag of elk bombardement rukken zij met ambulances en hulpverleners uit om gewonden op te halen, te ...

Israel National News reports that for the second time since the start of Operation Protective Edge; United Nations workers have found rockets stored in one of their schools in Gaza. United Nations relief agency UNRWA has discovered, for a second time during the current war in Gaza, Hamas terror rockets stashed in one of its vacant schools.  A statement by UNRWA Tuesday said that “Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip.” Source: Again, Rockets found in UNRWA schools , Arutz Sheva - Israel National News

The always inspirational Hillary Clinton, former First Lady, former Secretary of State and presumed Democratic presidential candidate, appeared on the 15 July 2014 episode of The Daily Show. She gives a candid four-part interview, talking about a very wide range of topics. I highly recommend watching all four parts of the interview -  part one  here and part two  here. Parts three and four deal with the ongoing attacks against Israel and the war in Gaza. The Daily Show The First Video: Part Three The Second Video: Part Four

"Yesterday, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered approximately 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip.   UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations. This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law.   This incident, which is the first of its kind in Gaza, endangered civilians including staff and put at risk UNRWA’s vital mission to assist and protect Palestine refugees in Gaza."  Source: UNRWA strongly condemns placement of rockets  in school , UNRWA Published 17 July 2014.

“Hamas was perfectly well aware what would happen if they started raining rockets on Israel. They fired a thousand of them, and they have a strategy designed to force Israel to kill their own civilians so that the rest of the world will condemn them.” ~ Former US president Bill Clinton Source: Bill Clinton says Netanyahu 'could and should' clinch peace deal , The Jerusalem Post

While Israel defends itself from rocket attacks and suicide bombings, the world sits by, waiting as if for a miracle, and calls for Israel to be 'moderate' and 'exercise restraint'. When will enough really be enough? How many more rockets will Hamas' fighters have to send at innocent people before 'the west' and the international press decide that Israel's finally allowed to defend itself? When will enough really be enough? How many more rockets will Israel's innocent people have to endure before 'the west' and the international press decide that Hamas has gone too far? When will enough really be enough? How many more rockets will Gaza's innocent people have to endure before they themselves and their brethren in the West Bank decide that Hamas has gone too far?   Source : Twitter account @ IDF Spokesperson Ayelet Shaked, a member of the Israeli parliament wrote the following: Our residents in southern Israel have endure...

There's a story in the Bible about a wise and just king named Solomon. Perhaps the most famous story about Solomon is a story about two women who come to the King and ask him to decide which of them is the true mother of a newborn baby. Source : The C Section The story is recounted in 1 Kings 3:16-28. Two young women who lived in the same house and who both had an infant son came to Solomon for a judgment. One of the women claimed that the other, after accidentally smothering her own son while sleeping, had exchanged the two children to make it appear that the living child was hers. The other woman denied this and so both women claimed to be the mother of the living son and said that the dead boy belonged to the other.  After some deliberation, King Solomon called for a sword to be brought before him. He declared that there was only one fair solution: the live son must be split in two, each woman receiving half of the child. Upon hearing this terrible verdict, the boy...

* Disclaimer : Based on a true story, some dramatization. Recently, my neighbours decided to remodel their bathroom. No big deal, apart from the noise which he warned us about early on. I thanked my neighbour for letting us know about the coming noise and promptly forgot all about it. Until the drilling started two days ago. I'd just made myself a large mug of tea in the kitchen, intending to relax on the couch with a book, nurse my cold and soothe my sore throat. I'd put a lot of honey in my tea which is why I made sure not to over-fill the cup - I didn't want to spill that sticky sweetness on the floor after all.   But enough about the tea - where was I? Oh right - And then the drilling started. I'll set the scene: Imagine me carrying my mug of tea from the kitchen to the lounge, feeling a bit frail and under the weather but bravely soldiering on. Suddenly, I hear this ear-splitting noise from behind me, after another second it feels like the noise is coming at m...

As Fatah and Hamas unite and attempt to form a unity government, the weather conspires against Palestinians in Gaza. As the Middle East Monitor reports, a heat wave has caused the death of large numbers of chickens and effected egg yields. The heat wave affecting the Gaza Strip has caused the death of large numbers of chickens and affected egg yields, farmers have reported.  The issue was considered a disaster according to experts who estimated that the damage hit most of the poultry farms in the Gaza Strip killing more than half of the chickens.  Initial reports estimate that 200,000 chickens have died so far. Source: Heat wave in Gaza kills 200,000 poultry , Middle East Monitor