Moving to Israel

There was a fantastic blog post on Friday published by well known radio personality Tamar Yonah. The piece is entitled “Allah is a Zionist” and includes an extremely moving interview with Major David Shapira, the hero who ultimately killed the terrorist who brutally murdered the innocent victims of Mercaz Harav Yeshiva ten months ago.

Besides the interview being so powerful and the post so eloquently making its mark, I think one of the most beautiful, inspirational elements of the piece is the strength we should feel to be Jewish and, hopefully, live in Israel as “their god, listens to our prayers.”

Keep up the good work Tamar.

Ari

I mentioned the other day how some of Israel’s greatest battles during these trying times would be fought in the PR arena and how important it would be to publicize as many of the pro-Israel sources out there as possible to combat the various anti-Israel rhetoric that will make their way into the public.

Following up on this, I want to point out a great site by Barry Rubin. It is a site updated all the time with news and fantastic editorials covering Israel and the Middle East. Every time I read one of Barry’s columns it seems to touch a nerve in me and I know this is the type of content we absolutely need the public to see.

Please help spread the word: www.gloriacenter.org

 Ari

As the world continues to absorb the latest trauma in Israel’s Gaza offensive it is clear that in the coming weeks and months one of the biggest challenges of the tiny land will be on the public relations front. As usual, there is a good chance that the world’s anti-Israel media will all be rushing to the forefront to condemn Israel’s actions and to sympathize with “the poor, suffering Palestinians.” It is therefore critical that when there is a positive piece of news regarding Israel we publicize it to the max and make sure to spread word that this is a war that Israel has never asked for but is involved in solely for the purpose of protecting its citizens.

On that note, I’d like to get the ball rolling by pointing out a great piece that appears on the normally left leaning haaretz.com written by Bradley Burston. It predicts what are likely to be the worst anti-Israel charges we should expect to be hearing as coverage of the battle continues and, while I personally am skeptical about what part two of this article will have to say when it comes out, there is no doubt about the fact that this piece of writing is fantastic and is worthy of being pointed out.

Give a look at the article and let’s all make sure to help spread the word whenever anything positive is being printed about Israel and her struggles.

May Hashem help the Jewish people overcome yet another challenge against its enemies.

Ari

As the murderous terrorist attacks in India seem to have come to a close and the wreckage is sorted through Israeli experts have begun to voice their opinions on the whole affair as well as the methods that were used to finally kill the terrorists.

Israel’s analysis will be particularly scrutinized as, unfortunately, Israel has lots of experience in such terror acts and the Mumbai Chabad House was one of the higher profile targets. Though thoughts will continue to come forth in the coming weeks and months, one of the facts that seem to be in agreement is the lack of prior intelligence that helped to lead to the attacks. While reacting to a coordinated attack of such scope is certainly no easy task and should be taken into account one positive that can hopefully come out of this tragedy is yet another people being exposed to the realities of extreme Islam that has terrorized Israel for years and is now pouring out to the rest of the world.

We can only hope that, together with G-d’s help, this continuing opening of the world’s eyes will help to eventually stop the murderous rampage that radical Islam has unleashed on the world. May Hashem bless the souls of all the good people who were killed as well as their families.

Ari

There was a fantastic article on the Valley Reporter web site today. It  is a local site serving the Mad River Valley since 1971 (Vermont) and the piece responded to a previous article that had been published on the same site. The original article was the “heartbreaking story of the poor Arab woman who had to wait at the terrible Israeli checkpoint for over two hours” and Yehezkel Laing wrote the retort.

Aside from the fantastic job the article does in responding to the original story I found it fascinating that this local site was even willing to print the response. It was a powerful, inspiring article that calls out the Valley Reporter for becoming yet another vehicle for anti-Israel propaganda. While I was disgusted with the original article and was in awe of the new piece, I must give the Valley Reporter credit for accepting the submission and then publishing it. Perhaps steps like this will encourage other news outlets to listen to the whole story instead of spewing much of the usual anti-Israel rhetoric we’ve become accustomed to hearing. Let’s hope individuals follow Mr. Laing’s initiative and continue to respond to the seemingly endless criticism that Israel so often has to absorb.

 Ari

As we approach Election Day in America the subject on many peoples minds here in Israel has been, not surprisingly, the ramifications of the election in regards to Israel’s well being. While it is very important for all of us Americans to vote and have a say in who will be, in essence, the leader of the free world, it is also extremely important to know all the facts about each candidate’s views on Israel and the Jewish nation at large. On that note, I found this article in IsraelNationalNews.com to be very disturbing.

While I have no idea what will happen in the election on Tuesday I know that I will be praying to Hashem that the new world leader will be a friend of Israel and the Jewish people.

Ari

Easily the article of the week (and maybe the month) for this blog appeared in the Jerusalem Post the other day. It was written by Herb Keinon and does a fantastic job of discussing the conflict we often have as American-Israelis particularly when it comes to election season. Give it a read as it definitely may apply to you (I know it did to me). Good job Herb.

Ari

This being a blog about moving to Israel and the country of Israel in general, I’ll often comb the Internet for news about Israel and comment on the various stories. I won’t necessarily read the sites that I personally rely on for news but will frequently check out the big international sites to see what the average person is seeing. Today I checked out cnn.com - one of the most popular destinations for news in the world - and noticed something very interesting. I noticed that Israel was not on the front page.

This may not sound like that big of a deal, but to me it was. I was pleasantly surprised. Some of you may ask why? Why would a pro Zionist like myself, who writes about the country on a regular basis trying to encourage people to move here, be happy about the lack of exposure of Israel on one of the most popular sites in the world?

The answer, as many of you are probably aware, is that, unfortunately, Israel is in the news way too often and is usually painted in a less than flattering light (to say the least). The fact that the country is so often demonized is bad enough but to me one of the biggest signs of anti Semitism and anti Zionism is the fact that Israel is so often front page news at all.

All over the world catastrophe reigns. Masses are slaughtered while countries are run by murdering tyrants yet it is the Jews and Israel that are always leading the news. Did Israel build a wall? Are they humiliating the “Palestinians” today? Have they used any “disproportionate responses” to murdering “militants” lately?

How is it that such a tiny country (Israel) can have such a profound effect on the day to day news? How is it that a people (Jews) so miniscule in number can possibly be the obsession of news outlets that has a whole rest of the world to report on?

The answer to these questions, of course, is that Israel does not have such a profound effect and the Jewish people are not worthy of the news obsessions. They receive the attention they do and will continue to do so because of the same old reasons. There is anti Semitism. There is a hatred for Israel and everything Jewish. It may sometimes be passed off as legitimate news and often is. However, the underlying story is usually the same: a negative story about Israel that would not have even made the fringe pieces of the Internet if it were a country of any other people.

Here’s hoping to see more days of Israel not making the news.

Ari

Every once in a while, an international entertainment personality will make their way to Israel among much hype and fan fare. This month is scheduled to bring one of these events as Paul McCartney, the legendary singer and musician, is scheduled to perform in the Holy Land. Events like these commonly attract thousands of people and helps serve to bring Israel to the front of the news for a different reason than the usual negative, and often tragic, stories.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the news of McCartney’s visit has indeed been interrupted with, what else, a threat of a suicide bombing by Muslim Sheikh Omar Bakri. Incredibly, this just goes on without any threat of a response from Israel or the International community. Imagine the outrage if things were reversed. Imagine the venom that would be spewed in the direction of Israel if a Jew/Israeli would threaten random terror around the world because they are unhappy with the guests of a particular country.

While shameful things (and much worse) are occuring every day this just stuck me as one more particularly horrendous act by the Muslim world on a completely friendly venue. A musician coming to perform a concert for a hard working country that anxiously awaits such events cannot even anounce his intentions to do so without the threat of the ultimate punishment.

A religion of peace indeed.

Ari

People often have “political” discussions when it comes to Israel. This has taken on the generic meaning of referring to the situation in Israel vis a vis the Knesset, Arabs and, most importantly, the security of our country. Generally speaking, the two opposing sides of the argument includes the left and more dovish side that favors concessions and negotiations with our enemies and the right and more hawkish side that, allegedly, backs the use of force and more severe measures (please keep in mind that this an extreme generalization that I am making for the sake of this article; I by no means intend to paint anyone in any particular light).

Without getting into much specifics, I have been decidedly cast on the right side of the argument and recently found myself in a discussion with someone placed squarely on the left. Obviously, many people on both sides of the argument have provided sound, logical reasoning to back up their beliefs over the years and I am not here to argue one side versus the other. However, this particular discussion I had left me deeply disturbed. It was an argument in favor of the left by my friend and coworker that I had never heard before.

It seems the crux of his argument leaning towards the more dovish, concession like approach is that (and I’m paraphrasing) we, as Jews, should start to realize and accept the fact that we have been handed a rough situation and should just, essentially, accept our lot in life as a people who were meant to get the short end of the stick. Now keep in mind that this is a very educated person. He has been through Orthodox Yeshivot/Schools all of his upbringing and is a certified lawyer in the New York City area. Therefore, this is not a case of lack of information or the access to it. This was someone’s genuine opinion on the political situation in Israel and, to an extent, the world.

I found this disturbing as, again, I had never heard such an argument. I always thought that people on the left sincerely believed that their “way” was the best way to fix the various problems. I had never thought that our people actually considered themselves inferior. That we were entitled to anything less than anyone else. I mean, when one goes through the leftist’s arguments that’s the conclusion that can reasonably be made. However, I had never actually heard someone make that explicit assertion.

Then it occurred to me. This is indeed the bottom line of the “dovish” side of the argument. We do feel we deserve less and that is the reason for all of the one sided concessions always provided by Israel to its enemies. Perhaps this lack of self worth is one more reason why people, despite the best of intentions, hold back from ultimately making Aliyah and moving to Israel. If we don’t believe we deserve the land and believe that we should continue to be handled with lower expectations of justice than another people, then why should anyone take up one more challenge and face all the hardships that await us in Israel. Living here, and being Jewish for that matter, are hard enough without having the presumption that we deserve less than anyone else. We are a tiny nation that has survived numerous attempts on our existence throughout time while continually thriving and making a disproportionate contribution to the international (medicine, technology, security, etc.) community. We have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to apologize for. We deserve an equal amount of justice as anyone else and should fight for it when it is not provided.

Only when we begin to understand this and truly believe it will it be easier for us to make those hard and challenging decisions, including one of the hardest of all: to pick ourselves up and move to Israel, our rightful homeland.

Ari