What Makes People Tick?

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...

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...

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

A Soldier's Mothe r is the personal blog of the mother of a soldier in the Israeli army, the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). Writing to ease her worries, to share her thoughts and to tell her story to the world, this particular soldier's mother started blogging about her eldest son Elie's entry into the IDF in 2007. Now, A Soldier's Mother will be going to print. There's a fundraising campaign to raise money to print and publish the book:  Help A Soldier's Mother get published at Jewcer.com. I first started reading A Soldier's Mother several years ago. I was looking for new blogs to read, blogs by people from interesting places or those writing about interesting things. I wanted to expand my horizons; get to know different worlds and different perspectives - A Soldier's Mother fit the bill on all counts. Paula Stern is an American Jewish woman who moved to Israel with her husband and three young children over twenty years ago. Now a famed blogger...