Every Mother's Son...

My long time readers (yes, Janet...all 2 of you...) know that I am a mother. My long time readers are also aware enough to know that as I write this, Israel is - again - in the fight of her life. You may be wondering what the connection is between those two facts. I'll tell you: as a mother, I feel so many emotions as I read and listen to the news coming out of Israel.

I am outraged at the reports around the world, of demonstrations in support of Hamas by supposed proponents of peace, in which the demonstrations turn violent. Don't believe me? If the msm is your only source of news, you might be excused for ignorance. (Well, maybe for a nanosecond.) Yesterday, for example, listening to the local CBC radio news (shhhhhhh!) I heard two differing accounts within the space of an hour about the same demonstration that apparently took place downtown in the city I live in. The first 'report' said 'about 150 demonstrators held a peaceful demonstration', but within the hour the SAME reporter said "a demonstration of about 600 turned ugly." The demonstration was in support of those poor Hamas civilians, who are being terrorised by those nasty Israelis. (Yes, that was sarcasm.) And yes, on media other than the main stream, have come many reports of these demonstrations in the world turning violent. For the purposes of this piece, I have read and looked at so many sources. At one demonstration in the US, one of those 'religion of peace' Hamas supporters punched a pro-Israel supporter. Yes, it was caught on video, and yes, the police were involved, but don't hold your breath there, folks!

From This ain't Hell, But you can see it from here, comes this:

Muslim attacks Jewish counter protester in DC (UPDATED) [Jonn]

January 2nd, 2009

ANSWER and the Muslim American Society were at it again today in DC, this time in front of the Israeli Embassy. Of, course, you know I couldn’t resist going. Yep Brian Becker, the ANSWER national coordinator was there again calling for the arrest of George Bush and the rest of the criminals so they can answer for their “crimes”. Lord knows what they’ll do after January. It looks like they had a few hundred;

But it had the feel of a social event more than a protest;

They even had a token self-hating Jew. Just one.

See the yellow flag? It’s the Hezbollah flag - sweet crowd, huh?



There were two counter protesters. The little guy on your right was a Lithuanian Jew who had immigrated here in 1985.

When I went up the street to start filming the protest as it moved to the Egyptian Embassy, I kept an eye on that corner where the two counterprotesters were and I saw this guy in the white shirt hit the Lithuanian Jew;

So I scurried back down and it’s all in this video;

I got there just in time to see a cop pinning the guy in the white shirt to the pavement.
So this guy and I are the only two who volunteered to be witnesses for him;...

UPDATE: I just watched the Fox 5 newscast and they didn’t use either interview, but they did mention the incident in relation to the police officer that was injured tackling the aggressor (in my video you can see the officer struggling to stand up Go to this source to read the rest)

I understand that international journalists are being kept out of Gaza. There's a shocker, but an excellent decision in my opinion. I am disgusted at the blatant bias in the world media coverage of events in Israel. It is so blatant it makes me sick. To believe the msm is to believe that the Israeli forces are the aggressor, and they are randomly killing Hamas women and children. You may not have heard, but in the house where that Hamas leader and two of his wives and some of his children died, they were forewarned by the Israelis to leave. They chose to stay, and of course the msm dwells on the mayhem this Israeli bomb wreaked.

My question is: where has this media been for the last many years while Hamas has been deliberately bombing Israel in an unending campaign of terror?

Imagine if you will, that where you live with your family is constantly - day in, day out - the target of bombs from a neighbouring community. Imagine that as you try and cope with a "normal" daily life with your children, outsiders are saying, "oh, you must not retaliate. That'll just create more violence. Let's talk about this; let's negotiate."

Israel has been negotiating their very existance for all of my lifetime. What's that morality tale about if you keep poking a stick into a tiger's cage, eventually that tiger will turn on you? So it has come to be for Israel. In the example I just gave, any person with common sense would side with the tiger (well, I would.)

And today, as I have for years, I stand with Israel. Why? Because it is the RIGHT thing to do, on every level, but most of all, morally. The world media would have you believe that Israel's response to this constant 'prodding' by Hamas is disproportionate. If you are merely a msm drone, you might wonder why Israel is smacking down those Hamas. Take a look at this:

(Hat tip: paparock.)

I found that at Little Green Footballs here, in a piece called Report on Palestinian Rocket and Mortar Attacks. Them's the facts, and the fact is that even a cursory skimming of sources other than the msm, proves undeniably that Israel has been MORE than moderate thus far. But if you only read sites like the BBC, all you will see is pictures of the ever-willing Hamas shoving their wounded children in front of the cameras, who are complicit in the misinformation campaign against Israel.:

Gaza facing 'critical emergency'

The UN an estimates that at least 2,000 Palestinians have been wounded

The UN has warned that Palestinians in Gaza are facing a serious health and food crisis, as Israeli air strikes continued for a seventh day.

The "critical emergency" comes despite an increase in humanitarian shipments, said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN's chief aid co-ordinator for the territory.

The UN believes that at least 100 of some 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli action so far were civilians.

Israel said Gazans were continuing to receive sufficient food and medicines.

In a statement, the Israeli foreign ministry said that since the beginning of the campaign, 335 truckloads of humanitarian aid (7,800 tonnes) had been delivered into Gaza....(here)

Look at that again. Notice how the lead is worded, and how far down in the story is the fact that ISRAEL is shipping humanitarian aid into Gaza? "Shaping the news" much? The only thing 'critical' here is that the voters voted in a group of terrorists as their "government."

I know you won't have seen this is in the msm, but that child in the picture has probably just come from a Hamas kiddie terrorist training session. Don't believe me? Take a look at this: WARNING! It will make you sick.

Hmmmmmm...yep, that's the 'religion of peace', alright. I found that video on a blog based in Israel: Israel Matzav here. Lucky for you and me, many outside the msm ARE recording what is going on, and the REAL basis of why Israel is fully justified in fighting back. If you don't know the history of this land, a source I recommend as a starting point is the CIA World Fact Book:

Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. Subsequently, the Israelis defeated the Arabs in a series of wars without ending the deep tensions between the two sides. The territories Israel occupied since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel country profile, unless otherwise noted. On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement. Israel and Palestinian officials signed on 13 September 1993 a Declaration of Principles (also known as the "Oslo Accords") guiding an interim period of Palestinian self-rule. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982. In April 2003, US President BUSH, working in conjunction with the EU, UN, and Russia - the "Quartet" - took the lead in laying out a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005, based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. However, progress toward a permanent status agreement was undermined by Israeli-Palestinian violence between September 2003 and February 2005. An Israeli-Palestinian agreement reached at Sharm al-Sheikh in February 2005, along with an internally-brokered Palestinian ceasefire, significantly reduced the violence. In the summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip, evacuating settlers and its military while retaining control over most points of entry into the Gaza Strip. The election of HAMAS in January 2006 to head the Palestinian Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Ehud OLMERT became prime minister in March 2006; following an Israeli military operation in Gaza in June-July 2006 and a 34-day conflict with Hizballah in Lebanon in June-August 2006, he shelved plans to unilaterally evacuate from most of the West Bank. OLMERT in June 2007 resumed talks with the PA after HAMAS seized control of the Gaza Strip and PA President Mahmoud ABBAS formed a new government without HAMAS. (here)

So what about Hamas and the Gaza Strip?

The September 1993 Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements provided for a transitional period of Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under a series of agreements signed between May 1994 and September 1999, Israel transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for Palestinian-populated areas of the West Bank and Gaza. Negotiations to determine the permanent status of the West Bank and Gaza stalled following the outbreak of an intifada in September 2000, as Israeli forces reoccupied most Palestinian-controlled areas. In April 2003, the Quartet (US, EU, UN, and Russia) presented a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005 based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. The proposed date for a permanent status agreement was postponed indefinitely due to violence and accusations that both sides had not followed through on their commitments. Following Palestinian leader Yasir ARAFAT's death in late 2004, Mahmud ABBAS was elected PA president in January 2005...

In January 2006, the Islamic Resistance Movement, HAMAS, won control of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). The international community refused to accept the HAMAS-led government because it did not recognize Israel, would not renounce violence, and refused to honor previous peace agreements between Israel and the PA. HAMAS took control of the PA government in March 2006, but President ABBAS had little success negotiating with HAMAS to present a political platform acceptable to the international community so as to lift economic sanctions on Palestinians....(here)

There is much more and and it IS worth the read, as a primary backgrounder. The CIA World Fact Book is a good source, I find, updated quite often. Those two pages cited above were updated December 18, 2008, so although quite current, they do not reflect today's events.

The distortion of events happening right now in Israel is not the sole purvue of the msm. Again from Little Green Footballs comes this:

Fake Anti-Israel Video Posted at Liveleak

Blogosphere | Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 10:08:45 am PST

This is rich. A gruesome propaganda video uploaded to LiveLeak that purported to show the aftermath of an IDF attack on civilians in Gaza turned out to be a fraud—it actually shows the results of an accidental explosion of a truck full of Hamas rockets at a Palestinian rally.

This didn’t stop the video from reaching the top spot on reddit.com and gaining more than 2,000 up votes, because reddit.com is absolutely infested with antisemites and terror supporters: GRAPHIC Video of Israel Defense Force’s attack on Gaza civilian market — originally uploaded on & banned by YouTube (NSFW) : politics.

And the Jew-hating moron who posted this at reddit, now in damage control mode, seems to think LGF is somehow responsible:

Someone, likely a pro-Israel right-winger (judging his attitude rebutting criticism of Israel’s response to Hamas/Gaza reminiscent of Little Green Footballs fan who sought to “minimize” the horror as reflected in reddit comment history), posted a detailed comment on Reddit that debunked the claim.

Here’s that detailed comment. We had nothing to do with any of this, of course, but we congratulate ‘TW9zc2Fk’ for an excellent, lizard-like job of debunking another anti-Israel libel.

And please note that even after the video was definitively proven to be a fraud, the link has not been removed from reddit.com.

No, I am not going to post the actual video. You want to see it for yourself, you can go over to LGF here and follow the links.

When I could no longer stand the obvious manipulation by the msm, I started subscribing to a number of sites. HonestReporting.com is one resource that I now receive daily updates from. Their stated mission is:

Israel is in the midst of a battle for public opinion – waged primarily via the media. To ensure Israel is represented fairly and accurately "'HonestReporting'" monitors the media, exposes cases of bias, promotes balance, and effects change through education and action....

Why is the struggle for media fairness so important? The media sways public opinion, which directly affects foreign policy towards Israel and in turn the lives of her citizens. One person alone may not impact this struggle, but thousands united can! (here)

They have this as a "Primer" on why Israel is doing what they are:

Israel at War: A Primer

Background & key issues behind Israel's campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has launched a major military operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Over the coming days and beyond, Israel will come under intense pressure both in the mainstream media and in online forums and the blogosphere. HonestReporting presents a guide to the important talking points to enable you to answer the questions and issues that will appear.

Defending Israeli citizens from terrorist fire

• A quarter of a million Israeli citizens have been living under incessant terror attacks from the Gaza Strip with thousands of missiles fired over the past eight years.
• These missiles have been described as "home made" by the media. They are, in fact, deadly. Hamas has in its possession longer range Katyushas and Grad-type missiles which can cause devastation such as that on Monday 29 December as one Israeli was killed and 14 injured in a Grad attack on Ashkelon.

• Israel left Gaza in 2005, giving Palestinians the chance to run their own lives. Despite this, more than 6300 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel since then.
• During the past year alone, more than 3000 rockets and mortars have been launched into Israel.
• Since the end of a formal ceasefire (during which terror attacks continued) with Hamas came to an end on Dec. 19, more than 170 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israeli civilians including a barrage of some 80 missiles on Dec. 24 alone.
• As US President-elect Obama stated during a visit to Sderot five months ago, "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing."
• No other country in the world would have exercised the amount of restraint that Israel has shown for the past several years without responding.

Hamas bears responsibility

• The deterioration in the situation is the direct result of Hamas policy. It violated the calm, is firing against and attacking Israeli citizens, and is investing all its resources in arming itself and gathering power.
• If Hamas would renounce the path of terror, there would be no need for the Israeli action. Quiet will be answered with quiet, but terror will elicit a response.
• "We strongly condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence there." - US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
• "We talked to them [Hamas] and we told them 'please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop' so that we could have avoided what happened." - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
• "For quite some time, Egypt has been warning. Whoever tried to confuse the understand of [ignore] this warning, must bear the responsibility. The Prime Minister of Israel warned the Hamas and said: "You must stop, otherwise we will take measures in response." In response to what? To not renewing the calm, to the rocket fire. Just before the arrival of [Israeli Foreign Minister] Livni to Egypt, 60 rockets were fired from Gaza!" - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit

Israel targets Hamas and the terrorist infrastructure

• The goal of the Israeli military action is to strike the growing infrastructure of terror and ability of Hamas and its allied organizations to launch missiles and mortars at Israeli citizens and carry out terror attacks.
• Hamas has used the ceasefire to massively arm itself with increasingly sophisticated weapons to expand the range of the threat against Israeli civilians.
• Hamas has demonstrated its increased threat as the Ashdod area was hit by rockets, marking the northernmost point where Hamas rockets have reached, more than 40km north of Gaza.

Israel does not target Palestinian civilians

• The terrorist organizations work out of the Palestinian population centers and cynically exploit them, so the responsibility for Palestinian civilians getting hurt rests on their shoulders. Israel, for its part directs its activity at terrorist elements and does its utmost to refrain from harming the innocent.
• Those homes and buildings which are used for storing weapons caches and manufacturing weaponry are legitimate military targets.
• The high casualty figures being fed to the media from (unreliable) Palestinian medical sources do not differentiate between terrorists and civilians. The vast majority of those killed in IDF actions have been terrorists. Hamas terrorists do not always wear uniforms to distinguish themselves from the general population.
• As The Times of London reports: "Radio stations ordered all members of the security forces, who have borne the brunt of the attack, to slip into civilian clothes, stay away from their bases and avoid congregating in groups to escape death from above."
• At the time of writing, even the United Nations is citing some 50 civilian deaths out of more than 300 Palestinian casualties.
• Hamas TV has acknowledged this morning that the vast majority of those killed are from the Hamas military. A news ticker running repeatedly from 10:00 AM announced:

"More than 180 Palestinian policemen were killed including the [Police] Commander, General Tawfik Jaber."

In the background Hamas TV is repeatedly broadcasting the same scenes of dozens of bodies of the uniformed Hamas soldiers who were killed in Israel's first attack Saturday when Israel hit a Hamas officer's course graduation ceremony. (Source: Palestinian Media Watch)

• In stark contrast to Israel, Hamas actively celebrates targeting Israeli civilians. A video on Hamas TV Sunday morning blended pictures of Hamas fighters shooting at Israel with pictures of injured Israelis and medical evacuation scenes. In addition, the visuals include pictures of skulls dripping with blood, captioned: "Let them taste violent death". Other narrations and texts include:
  "Send them to Hell! Tear them to pieces!"
  "Send them to Hell, Qassam missile!" (Source: Palestinian Media Watch)

• 
  

(source)

They also have a video up, called Breaking Point: The real story of Israel's Gaza Operation, with more graphic evidence, which I can't figure out how to post. So you'll just have to go here to watch it. I URGE you to do that, even if you have a weak stomach.

If you STILL are one of the vocal minority that believes Israel is guilty of "disproportionate force," watch this:

This is the trailer of a movie Mary Ann sent me (thanks, M*A!), called Obsession, and even to those of us who have been watching the global creep of the terror of submitting to this "religion of peace," the images are bone-chilling. I couldn't figure out how to post the video Mary Ann sent me, but you can find that here.

This movie IS nothing new to those of us who bother to be informed; those of us without our heads up our... , well you know! A while back (actually October, 16, 2007), I wrote a piece on Tanker Bros called Jihad 101.

It reads - in part:

Let's talk about Muslims and Jihad today, shall we? This last week I have come across all sorts of information on what exactly will happen to all of us if we do not stay the course and WIN this Global War on Terror. Yes! TERROR! Candid confession: there are many days when I would love to pull the covers over my head and wait for this all to be over. Really, as the extent of the intentions of those who wage war on us all becomes clear, I really almost go into brain freeze at the enormity of the threat. But, the consequences of any of us doing that are so dire, that I know none of us can afford to ignore what is right in front of our noses. Suuuuuuuure, the Pelosi and Reid camps would have all us believe that if we have little "chats" with our muslim neighbours, the world will be at peace. Uhuh... Whateverrrrrrrrrrrr...

Exhibit 1:

...

"It is the individual duty for every Muslim to kill Americans and their allies - civilian and military." Osama Bin Laden - 1998
"Allah will destroy Israel". Protest placard.
"The goal of Jihad is world domination."
"Europe is the cancer. Islam is the answer."

Did I make those up? No, if you are at all awake, you KNOW I did not. These are actual quotes in a media presentation from the Terrorism Awareness Project. Yes, this presentation IS graphic, but if you even have a scintilla of doubt as to the intentions of the muslim extremists, you have to go here.

At that link, you will see every quote I just gave - and many more - plus documented, pictorial evidence of some of the places that jihad has already been waged with devastating effect.

Some of the terrorist acts, not in chronological order:
Beirut
Kuwait
Frankfurt
Achille Lauro
Malta
Riyadh
USS Cole
Phillipines
Tanzania
London
TWA 840
Buenos Aires

In all, twenty eight incidents are highlighted on a map. In this media presentation called "What Every American needs to know about Jihad" - all of 4 minutes long btw - is undeniable evidence that this war IS global. You doubt that? ...

I, of course, had much more to say on that occasion, and you can read it here. There is ongoing evidence that Islam will never surrender in their stated mission of not only wiping Israel off the world map, but also of world domination. There are many, many videos out there that show 'rallies' of Islamic hordes screaming "Death to America, Death to Great Britain."

But does the world stand with Israel and demand that Hamas actually STOP with their disgusting intent of wiping Israel off the map? Not so much. Amidst the various Hollywood nonentities who have added their voices to the ignorant bleating, we also have world leaders "demanding" a cease fire. From the BBC comes this round up:

Gaza conflict: Reaction in quotes

HAMAS OFFICIAL ISMAIL RADWAN

Gaza will not be a picnic. Gaza will be a graveyard for you.

HAMAS MILITARY WING IZZEDINE AL-QASSAM

Be prepared for a unique surprise, you will be either killed or kidnapped and will suffer mental illness from the horrors we will show you.

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN

What we have to to do almost immediately is work harder than we have done for an immediate ceasefire.

I can see the Gaza issues for the Palestinians - that they need humanitarian aid -- but the Israelis must have some assurance that there are no rocket attacks coming into Israel.

EU EXTERNAL RELATIONS COMMISSIONER BENITA FERRERO-WALDNER

It is absolutely necessary that violence has to stop.

US DEPUTY AMBASSADOR TO UN ALEJANDRO WOLFF

The efforts we are making internationally are designed to establish a sustainable, durable ceasefire that's respected by all.

And that means no more rocket attacks. It means no more smuggling of arms.

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT

It is essential, without delay, to put an end to the suffering of the civilian population on both sides, to stop the bloodshed and secure a mutual ceasefire.

POPE BENEDICT XVI

War and hatred are not solutions to problems.

Today, in all the churches of the Holy Land, [church leaders are] calling on worshippers to pray for the end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip and [for] justice and peace for their land.

ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL AMR MOUSSA

The aggression must stop, the siege must also stop, and peace has to be addressed in a determined and clear way and not just to resume the same old tactics of talking for the sake of talking.

The time is very crucial: end of aggression, one Arab position, reconciliation among Palestinians and the end of siege.

And therefore entering into a peace effort once and for all.

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY

France condemns the Israeli ground offensive against Gaza as it condemns the continuation of rocket firing.

This dangerous military escalation complicates efforts by the international community and in particular the European Union and France, the members of the Quartet and the states in the region to end the fighting, bring immediate aid to civilians and reach a permanent ceasefire....

Oh you know there is more, and you can find that here. Interestingly, but no surprise, this comment:

CZECH EU PRESIDENCY SPOKESMAN JIRI POTUZNIK

At the moment, from the perspective of the last days, we understand this step as a defensive, not offensive, action. (same source)

And of course, the BBC quotes Barack Obama as saying:

SPOKESMAN FOR US PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA

The president-elect is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza.

Uhuh, right, whatever! I am sure Obama and the General Secretary of the UN can have some "constructive talks" on this and other issues. That is what such meetings are described as, isn't it? In case you missed it, Ban Ki Moon is "distressed" etc etc at the current violence. That may be, but even the UN security council can't agree on a public statement about today's events. It seems that after four intense hours of 'negotiations', the US was the lone hold out in signing some declaration or other. Thank goodness.. I was also pleased to see that President Bush has definitively laid responsibility for the current events at the feet of Hamas. And so it is.

So while all this blathering is going on, Israel is taking care of business, and some who "get it" show their strong support for the war weary citizens of Israel. The New York mayor paid a surprise one day visit to the area today. From the Jerusalem Post comes this:

Jan 4, 2009 15:53 | Updated Jan 5, 2009 0:37

NY mayor visits Israel in solidarity

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Defense Minister Ehud Barak meet on Sunday.
Photo: Defense Ministry

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg paid a one-day solidarity visit to Ashkelon and Sderot on Sunday, where he met local officials and residents, toured Ashkelon's Barzilai Medical Center, and expressed support for Israel's right to act against rocket attacks.

Bloomberg, who flew to Israel on his personal jet, was accompanied by New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, and US Congressman Gary Ackerman, who represents parts of Queens and Long Island, and is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.

Bloomberg said he fully understood Israel's actions.

"You should rest assured, if anyone in New York was being threatened, my instruction to the NYPD would be to use all the resources at their disposal to protect civilians," Bloomberg was quoted by AP as saying.

"I think as a New Yorker, we've been attacked twice by al-Qaida itself," said the mayor, who is Jewish. "We've seen enormous devastation and courage and after that you sort of feel you have a bond, if you will, for those who live in a dangerous world and subject to someone trying to kill them."

Bloomberg blamed the current situation entirely on Hamas.

"All Hamas has to do is stop sending rockets over to kill people and agree on the accords that were negotiated earlier and come to an agreement that is verifiable, durable and effective to stop

people from being killed," he said.(here)

He "gets it." Someone else who "gets it" is Mark Steyn - no surprise there. He has written an interesting article on this clash to the death of one group that loves life, and the other that reveres and celebrates death. It is a long article, and again worth the read. Called Clashing Civilisations, you can find it on the National Review Online, here. Go read it.

Another source for factual information is the Daily Israel Report from Arutz Sheva ( Israel NationalNews.com) I subscribed and now get daily headlines and indepth columns from them. You can find them here.

There ARE more than a few out in the online media who share their insights on what is going on. One of my regular sources is a blog called Monkey in the Middle. If you haven't read this site, make time to go read all the excellent, fact-based posts up there. One of the recent pieces is called Double Standards and it addresses the bias that is running rampant in the daily msm roundup. Seems the Hamas casualties are to be wailed over and the Israelis suffering has been all but ignored for a looooong time now. Go read that here.

The most recent post on that site, goes some small way to address the imbalance of the msm:

In Memory

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of SSgt. Davir Emmanueloff, 22, of the Golani infantry brigade. SSgt, Emmanueloff was from Givat Ze’ev near Jerusalem. He is the first Israeli casualty of the ground phase of Operation Cast Lead.

SSgt. Davir Emmanueloff (here) And be sure to go meet this amazing young man over at A Soldier's Mother here.

There are many excellent posts at Monkey in the Middle, including Prayers which are offered for our precious sons and daughters. Check it out. There are also many other sites out there. One is Radarsite, which has some great pieces, as well as some by Lionheart in England. Lionheart states that Israel is the canary in the mineshaft" in this global battle of Islam against the civilised world. He is absolutely correct. He has many must read pieces up there, but Operation Caste Lead: An English view, is quintessential Lionheart:

Operation 'Caste Lead': An English view

In memory of Tsafrir Ronen a Jewish Warrior

Info courtesy of Children of
Holocaust Survivors



Like the light
that continues to travel from a star that has died
long after it has gone.

We must continue in this light. We shall see this through – with a sense
of deep loss -
and carry on with the courage that Tsafrir
had.
Tsafrir's Ronens blog

Listen to Tsafrir Ronen: Interview

Learning of Tsafrir Ronens death has been the catalyst ive needed to write in support of Israel's War with Hamas in Gaza.

My view on 'Operation Caste Lead' from England is my small contribution to the media frenzy surrounding Israel's military operation against Hamas in Gaza. It is in solidarity with the heart
and vision of the deceased Tsafrir Ronen and all those Jewish people in Israel and from around the World who carry that same heart and vision for the Nation of Israel and its divine right to exist in the Holy Land.

I personally had dealings with Tsafrir when I was in the Holy Land after spending time with the extreme Left Wing Anarchist group the "International Solidarity Movement", after a contact I was in communication with at the time from ACT put us in touch...

What happens to the Nation of Israel has a direct bearing upon all Western Nations. The conflicts it faces with its neighbours like Hamas and Hezbollah are the exact same conflicts we now face with our neighbours in the form of the Islamist movements who are living amongst us and
calling for our Nations to be turned into Islamic States so that the global Caliphate can be established.

You can deny it but pull back the curtains of reality and look at the facts and you will see the picture staring you in the face as clear as day.

For Israel to fall would be one of the greatest victories against our Judeo/Christian civilization for centuries, and would mark the beginning of the end of Civilisation as we know it, that is why now after 2000 years and its modern re-birth, the Nation of Israel will never fall no matter what the cost, because a future without it isn't a future worth thinking about.

That's why the Israeli's have the Samson effect written into their military code, and they have the staunch backing of America, still the most powerful Nation on Earth, both defenders of our Judeo/Christian civilisation.... (here)

In the past, I have posted a couple of Lionheart's writings on his own struggle with the Islam-declared Jihad against all the British infidels. Radarsite has published all of Lionheart's stuff, and if you ever doubted that the Islamic terrorists mean to kill you and me, to silence ANY dissenting voice, go spend some time at Radarsite here.
Go check out what has happened to the land of my birth.

There are many sites written by families living this daily hell. As my long time readers know, I always trust the "boots on the ground" in any event around the world, and the families in Israel - the Gaza Strip - have most certainly all been "boots on the ground."

I started off this loooong post by saying that some of my reaction to the ongoing violence against the Israeli people, which has always affected me deeply, is somewhat in part because I AM a mother. As a mother I cannot imagine living in such terror and uncertainty about the safety of my own child.

Sad to say it has been a way of life for far too long for many families in the middle east, especially Gaza, Israel. Because of my work with Soldiers' Angels I have been blessed to become friends with more than a few mothers whose battle on the home front is fraught with anxiety as their children have volunteered to join the Global War on Terror; I have watched and heard as these American soldiers' mums have shared the aches in their hearts.

And then, and then, I came across a site that I now have added to my own blog roll:

A Soldier's Mother

This site is written by an Israeli mother, and the post I initially found on her site, just about ripped my heart out:

Friday, January 2, 2009

Houses of God

Breathe in...breathe out...I've been doing it all my life, so why today does it seem so hard?

In a conversation with Elie, we talked about the rocket attacks on Beersheva. I told him that a kindergarten and a high school had been hit hard - thankfully the buildings were empty. Of course, they were empty because we would not risk the lives of our children, and the buildings aren't fortified against missile attack. Why should they be? Is your children's school fortified against missiles? Who shoots missiles at a city where hundreds of thousands of people live?

And then Elie said, "that's artillery, Ima." Yes, that's the point. The Palestinians are shooting artillery at us...and we will now shoot artillery back. And Elie, as he has told me in the past, is artillery.

So, last night, two things happened. The first, Israel warned a senior Hamas member to vacate his home. The army knew it was being used as an explosives storage facility. The army issued the warning, allowed time for the evacuation, and blew up the house.

As expected, there were numerous secondary explosions that were triggered by the initial Israeli missile. These explosions, one of which was shown live on Fox News the other day, prove that Israel is hitting explosives, not just empty buildings. Nothing exploded when the school in Beersheva was hit. Part of it just came crashing down.

There was one problem with the hit on the Hamas leader's home. He indeed was not home - but the Palestinians didn't bother to evacuate the building. The man's four wives and eleven of his thirteen children were killed. One son survived. The other child died years ago when he decided to kill himself for the "divine" pleasure of becoming a suicide bomber to murder Israelis. So, this man who stored explosives in his home with his wives and children wakes this morning to a new reality - his wives, his children, and his explosives are all gone. I can't help but wonder what he mourns most.

The second thing that happened last night is that the army of Israel moved my trained son to a war zone to help fight against those who fire missiles and rockets at our civilians. There is no military secret here. The army has already made it clear that artillery and tanks are in place. The only "news" here, is that the name of at least one of the soldiers in the artillery is Elie. My Elie.

This is good. This is why he is in the army - to defend his land and this is why today, amidst cooking for the Sabbath and baking a cake and cleaning the house and doing the laundry, I am going to try, really really hard, to remember how to breathe. It seemed during the night that I'd forgotten, but since I'm still here, I guess I managed it enough to survive...and I will today too.

And you would be so proud of me. I was so calm when Elie told me. Even when he told me he was going to close his phone to save the battery and so I can't call him but have to wait till he calls me. I told him to be careful, told him to call when he can and didn't start to cry or panic until I'd closed the phone.

May God please, please protect my son, all my sons - because they are all mine. Watch over them and keep them safe and guide their missiles to hit only those buildings that have explosives and rockets in them. And please, God, give the Palestinian leadership enough sense not to store their explosives with their wives and children.

Oh, and one more prayer - please take care of those Palestinian gunmen who are hiding themselves and their weapons in hospitals - especially in the maternity wards among the innocent newborns.

Oh, wait - one other - please ask the Palestinians to choose between praying in a mosque and storing weapons there because, if they store weapons there, like the two we have already bombed, we are going to bomb those structures too. A House of God is not an arsenal and an arsenal cannot be a House of God....(here)

I could have just given you an excerpt of that one, but I just couldn't. I know you all understand this.

Meet Elie:

Elie

As I read THIS Soldier's Mother's words, I wanted to reach through the screen, and just hold her, encourage her to breathe. But I cannot. The miles divide us. But, I surely know, as I live and I BREATHE, she and I are mothers as one. For all our beloved sons and daughters, OUR children. My heart aches for her, with her, just as my heart always aches, and reaches out to the American mothers I care about. In another post this Soldier's Mother writes:

Friday, January 2, 2009

Scatterbrained...just...Scatterbrained

I went into my bomb shelter - where I keep my pots and pans and mixing bowls. I'm making vanilla cake muffins with pineapple. I looked at the stack. The white or the yellow bowl? Definitely the yellow. I took the white one to the table and began mixing the cake.

All done. I made 24 little muffins, each with a bit of pineapple in it, and put them into the oven. When they are finished, I'll continue making more. Maybe I'll make brownies. Good idea. Well, the white bowl still has batter in it, so I got the yellow one. This time, I got it right.

I went to add eggs to the mix. There's already an egg in the cup. That means that instead of adding 6 eggs to the white cake, I added only 5 and left one egg in the cup.

I don't know if I should laugh or cry about it. No, crying would be dumb. I have so much more I could cry about. This morning as I attempted to bake cakes in the wrong bowls and with too few eggs:

• two rockets landed near Sderot
• seven rockets landed in Ashkelon, wounding at least one woman
• a rocket hit near the city of Netivot and people are being treated for shock
• two other rockets landed near Sha'ar HaNegev - one hitting near a large school

And it is only 10:20 in the morning...and I don't know if those rockets are flying over Elie's head.

And these words, and the many more from mothers like this, (you can find many links on her site and others) are WHY I will always stand with Israel. This mother, who I may never meet, reminds me by her words, WHY we must be ever vigilant until the scourge of terrorists is wiped off the face of this earth.

And she reminds me why I pray. Always. For the children AND their mothers.

The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows when
But I'm strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We'll get there
For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

If I'm laden at all
I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart
Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another

It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on the way to there
Why not share
And the load
Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

He's my brother
He ain't heavy, he's my brother...


As I have as part of my signature on Soldiers' Angels : "Every Soldier is one of our own. Every soldier's family is OUR family."