KEEP AN EYE ON ISRAEL

Amazingly, the UN’s “Palmer Report,” detailing the investigation into last summer’s “flotilla” incident—in which Israeli commandos boarded a “humanitarian” ship bound forGaza, to check for weapons smuggling—is actually favorable to the Jewish state. Sadly, though, but now routine, its release has been buried by the media (as outlined by Honest Reporting,www.honestreporting.com) as Turkey’s increasingly bellicose Prime Minister, Erdogan, continues to use harsh rhetoric against Israel. And in one of the “small” incidents this past week, Israelis living in the town of Netiv Ha’asara had to deal with sniper fire from Gaza. I have friends in the Jerusalem suburb of Gilo who dealt with the same thing a few years ago, this time from Bethlehem. It is obvious to all, even their supporters, that the Palestinians are not fit for a state. They do not embrace even basic humanitarian values, and do not value life. I am still waiting for American mainline churches to denounce the brutal murders of the Fogel family in March. They are silent about any violence directed at Israel, including the continued imprisonment of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. According to a story from the Meir Amit Intelligence andTerrorism Information Center: “A spokesman for the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine nicknamed Abu Jamal claimed that operatives belonging to his organization had begun sniper fire attacks. He said the organization had previously carried out sniper attacks. He added that it had been carried out "thanks to a modern, advanced, precise weapon" the organization received, which could hit a long-range target and did not endanger the shooter. It was also, he said, thanks to the training the operatives had undergone in precision shooting, concealment and evasion.” Another encounter nearby around the same time illustrates the wide gulf between Israel and her supporters, and the Palestinians and their supporters. An IDF patrol was hit by mortar fire, and in the response, Khaled Ahmed Abu Sahmoud, a member of the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC) was killed. He was the commander of the east Khan Yunis unit. The Arabs have been launching terror raids and campaigns against Jews in that land for 100 years, intensifying them in the lead-up to World War II, and making almost daily efforts since 1948. No other country in the world (the UN has about 195 members) has ever dealt with such threats, so consistently. Yet Israel’s critics continue to chatter about what the Jewish state does wrong. Do the critics mention that the IDF made the decision in 2002 to send soldiers house-to-house in Jenin, looking for Hamas killers? Do you understand my point? Just like the Lebanon War of 1982, rather than flatten whole Palestinian villages from the air—and thus save their own troops—the IDF commanders made the decision to send troops into harm’s way, to prevent civilian casualties. Silence from the Left. As a Christian (and all my Jewish friends, here and in Israel, share the same sentiment), I am grieved, truly, at Abu Sahmoud’s death. One casualty in world history, he was still known to God, and it is a horrific tragedy that terrorism caused his death. Does the Left think of or remember his family? The Iraqi soldiers who were put through the meat grinder by Saddam Hussein in the Gulf Wars, so he could use them as human shields…does the Left think about them? I know they don’t think about Jews murdered by terrorists, but do they think about the fact that policies they embrace (appeasement and negotiations with terrorists) embolden the terrorists and result in more killing? As for Israel, they have too many enemies. Politicians. Armies. Diplomats. Media figures. Terrorist-murderers.

I think a lot about the casualties on both sides, even the terrorists. And I think almost continually about my Israeli friends, who have by far too many enemies.

Most people pay some attention to the big picture, to the negotiations and to the Palestinian threat to attain statehood from the UN. jim@prophecymatters.com