What Makes People Tick?

  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 ...

Personally, I'm for peace between Israel and the Arab / Muslim world, the Palestinians included. I'm for a one-state, a two-state, a three-state or even a four-state solution IF that solution brings peace, prosperity and stability for ALL people of the region. I definitely do not think that Hamas will bring peace to anyone. They are open and honest about their desires: To destroy Israel and kill the world's Jews.  Read the Hamas Covenant 1988  to find out for yourself, or read some excerpts of that Covenant through clicking the 'Hamas' tag underneath this post. In an ideal world a " One Land Two States " solution would be my suggestion for peace in the Holy Land. Turning the presence and reality of Israel from a 'bad thing' into a 'good thing' in the eyes of Muslims might help them see that the Jewish people are NOT the enemy. Look at what Israel has achieved since 1948, look at how they have managed to make the desert bloom, look at the ...

What else did the IDF do to minimize harm to civilians in Gaza? Read more --> https://t.co/tg9GtZH1A4 pic.twitter.com/Y33t0Ut9gx — IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 22, 2015

In 2014, when Hamas attacked innocent Israelis with numerous rockets day in day out, the world was mostly silent. Or I should say: The world quietly applauded the so-called Palestinian 'freedom fighters' and their despicable terrorist acts, calling them heroes and courageous people.  What is courageous about terror and hatred? What is courageous about killing innocents? What is courageous about sending rocket after rocket at men, women and children simply trying to live their lives? What is courageous about terror tunnels meant to attack non-combatants? What is courageous about hating Jews because an old book tells you that you should? Yet when Israel fought back, when the Jewish people responded by protecting their own instead of waiting to be slaughtered the way the world seems to think they should, the world reacted. The world shouted about the 'evil Jews' and the supposedly horrible acts they committed. The world shouted about 'concentration camps' in Gaza...

Today, April 1st 2015, the so-called State of Palestine has become a member of the ICC, the International Criminal Court. For the sake of innocent peace-loving civilian Palestinians who simply want to live in peace, security and safety, I welcome and applaud this move. However I also want to remind readers of this blog of what ICC membership for 'Palestine' actually means. The 'State of Palestine' is made up of Hamas-controlled Gaza and the Fatah-controlled West Bank - Judea and Samaria. WhileI am not a supporter of Hamas or of Fatah and personally believe that the Palestinian people would be better off without these so-called leaders, today I do not want to talk about my opinion, I simply want to share some facts: The Hamas Covenant 1988, known as the " The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement " is the founding document of Hamas. The document makes it very clear what Hamas' hopes and dreams are for the future. From that Covenant, here are three...

In a 26 March 2015 article, The Jewish Press writes that "Rhetoric plays a major role in the demonization of Israel. The dissemination of false arguments is prevalent among the major demonization techniques. It is thus important that those who publicly defend Israel be trained to see through such tactics. One technique used against Israel is false moral equivalence. It is based on the deceitful claim that there is no difference between two greatly dissimilar actions. Examples abound and only some of the most frequent ones can be mentioned here. A prominent one is the perverse claim that Israel’s behavior is equivalent to that of the Nazis. This example of false moral equivalence is widespread throughout Europe. Five studies covering nine European countries show that about 40 percent of Europeans think Israel is a Nazi state." Source: Demonizing Israel With False Moral Equivalence | The Jewish Press http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/demonizing-israel-with-fa...

The Jewish Press » » Home Schooling This cartoon got me thinking. I hope it does the same for you. Source: The Jewish Press

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the United Nations General Assembly on 29 September 2014. The Times of Israel published the full text of his speech online. May the world listen, for a change, and see the truth of what Israel's Prime Minister is saying. "Our hopes and the world’s hope for peace are in danger. Because everywhere we look, militant Islam is on the march.  It’s not militants. It’s not Islam. It’s militant Islam.  Typically, its first victims are other Muslims, but it spares no one. Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Kurds — no creed, no faith, no ethnic group is beyond its sights. And it’s rapidly spreading in every part of the world." The past few months have shown very clearly that the 'Islamic State' does not care about Christians, Jews, Yazidis or Kurds. It does not even care about other Muslims who happen to think for themselves and disagree with the terrorist group's extremist views. American and British journalists were ...

The website United with Israel reports that Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Liberman, met with US Secretary of State John Kerry last Wednesday to discuss the ongoing threat posed to all humanity by the Islamic State terrorist group. I don't always agree with Liberman's words, however today, I agree with Israel's Foreign Minister one hundred percent. Liberman noted that the war against terror, in all its forms, is the most important task of the Free World today. Reiterating the Israeli government’s stance regarding the regional terror threat, he said:  “We cannot differentiate one form of terror from another. The Hamas terrorist activities against Israel and against the people of Gaza are no different from the terror of ISIS. The difference is only semantic, and in the media approach adopted by the organizations. Ultimately, the aim of all Islamic terror is one and the same: the destruction of Western civilization. Hence, just as we cannot negotiate with ISIS, we ...

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...

For those who say that Israel 'created' Hamas, for those who believe that Hamas is some sort of mostly-peaceful organisation, here are some quotes from the Hamas Covenant 1988 : "The Islamic Resistance Movement: The Movement's programme is Islam. From it, it draws its ideas, ways of thinking and understanding of the universe, life and man. It resorts to it for judgement in all its conduct, and it is inspired by it for guidance of its steps." "Time extent of the Islamic Resistance Movement: By adopting Islam as its way of life, the Movement goes back to the time of the birth of the Islamic message, of the righteous ancestor, for Allah is its target, the Prophet is its example and the Koran is its constitution. Its extent in place is anywhere that there are Moslems who embrace Islam as their way of life everywhere in the globe. This being so, it extends to the depth of the earth and reaches out to the heaven." "The Islamic Resistance Movement is...

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

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 Thirteen:   Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.  Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion.  Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. "Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know." Source:  Hamas Covenant 1988 , The Avalon Project Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library