JERUSALEM – In the movies, war is often accompanied by
torrential rain, thunder and lightning. In Israel this Passover week,
almost every day has brought with it those conditions.
From the thunderstorms that hailed the Netanya Passover massacre, to the dramatic barrage of hail that preceded the Kiryat Yovel supermarket explosion, to today’s dreadful
weather that is interspersed with the booms of shellfire in nearby Bethlehem, it’s
the appropriate accompaniment to the fateful sovereignty war now being waged
on many fronts.
One can only feel profound concern and gratitude for our soldiers out in the
field. The temperature has dropped far below the seasonal norm, with snow
falling on Mt. Hermon. Reports are coming in from Efrat and Beit El that
hundreds of reservists are camped out in youth movement facilities and on
school basketball courts. The Israeli Defense Force is scrambling to provide adequate
provisions for the more than 20,000 additional soldiers who’ve been called
away from their civilian lives to fight this war.
Meanwhile citizens in Efrat and Beit El (and probably other places that we
haven’t yet heard about) have been cooking and setting up tables laden with
food for the soldiers stationed amongst them. Every reservist is of course
someone’s son, boyfriend or grandson. Heartwarming reports of generosity
from supermarket owners and restaurants have been flooding the media.
Men in their 40s are being called up, and many older volunteers have been
turned away. The Border Police have put out a call for volunteers to beef
up their ranks. Yesterday, one of their finest, Tomer Mordechai, 19, was
killed as he stopped an Islamikaze bomber from entering Jerusalem by car. No doubt
his action saved many lives.
A Ma’ariv poll published yesterday found that 93 percent of the Israeli
people support the major military offensive against the Palestinian Authority. This, despite the fact that we’re still getting mixed messages about the goal of the campaign. Is it to rout out terror, eliminate the PA, take back Area A, etc. etc?
Depends who you listen to.
Meanwhile, hundreds of families struggle to deal with their losses. In
March alone, 125 Israelis and tourists were murdered and more than 600 were
wounded. In some unimaginable cases, the bomb attacks resulted in entire
families being wiped out, or one family member remaining alive. Today’s
paper featured a full page of color photos of the March victims.
Several families requested no media coverage at the funerals of their loved
ones. But those that were filmed were unbearable to watch anyway.
In an effort to revive Israel’s sadly flagging PR effort, the Government
Press Office finally set up shop at the Binyanei Hauma center. There are daily briefings, lots of noise and a bevy of international journalists
who have descended to breathlessly report from the front. Dan Rather is in
town – it’s probably a good thing that we can’t receive CBS here.
But there are still all kinds of missed opportunities. A colleague of mine
was trying to get to Rachel’s Tomb to pray yesterday. Because of the
military action in Bethlehem this proved impossible. However, at the
junction where the bus normally picks up people to travel the two-minute ride
to the tomb, he saw a contingent of around 50 members of the infamous
International Solidarity Movement people (the same group that was delighted
to present themselves as human shields in Arafat’s office the day before).
Accompanying the group were around 40 members of the international press
corps – including Lee Hockstader of the Washington Post, CNN cameras, etc.
These media people have been prevented from entering Ramallah, so they just
moved where the action is.
The media pack were totally focused on the “peaceniks,” just taking
occasional photos of the massive IDF tank presence in contrast to these
civilians in T-shirts. My friend approached an officer wearing insignia of
Dover Tzahal to ask if they had an English-speaking person who could talk to
the reporters. “If they want English speakers they’ll have to go to
Binyanei Hauma,” he was told.
Another lost opportunity. I watched the results on BBC and CNN last night.
Later, 200 “courageous” Palestinian fighters took up position in
Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity. It’s truly difficult to believe that
anyone in the West could be sympathetic to such blatant cynical tactics.
Sending teenagers and young men to blow themselves up as they murder elderly
people observing the Passover Seder; celebrating terrorists as martyrs;
using ambulances as courier vehicles for explosives while unsuspecting patients
ride along; printing counterfeit money to finance their terror – how could
anyone in the civilized world justify a single one of these actions?
It’s time for the IDF to try to rid the world of this scourge. If Israel
does not succeed, it’s not too much of a stretch to foresee a time when
Islamikazes strapped with explosives will spread their deadly tactics in
America.
Jerusalem-based journalist Judy Lash Balint is author of “Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times,” available now in WorldNetDaily’s online store!
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