# 447 – Thank You

Thank you

I want to thank you ‘recipients’ for ‘listening’. For some of you, it must be difficult to read my increasingly-aggressive words, just as, I assure you, it is difficult to write them.

But I continue…

(More sirens, more explosions here in Tel Aviv area – and I heard Eilat in the south was also being target. By whom? Houthis from Yemen again?)

This is war on so many levels. For you and mostly for me, it is played out on the internet, through TV, newspapers etc. etc. And it’s interesting how quickly we believe what we read, see and hear.

Ambulances – A convoy of ambulances carrying injured southward to safety is bombed by Israel. Sound right? Sorry, no it doesn’t. Not to me, anyway. I’ve lived here 40 years. I’m not a ‘blind Israeli’ or a ‘blind Jew’, nor even a converted one. I just slowly grew to appreciate the ups and downs of Israel.

And, yes, because of what I perceived to be unfair attention towards the country, began a need to defend/explain this country.  And to admire it. In this case, with the reputation for care that the IDF has, it sounds incredible that they would attack such an obviously innocent target. Their intelligence 100% knew what it was aiming at. Israeli claims they saw Hamas fighters load the ambulances with weapons and jump in the vehicles themselves. Knowing Hamas as we do (or should), this absolutely mirrors their behaviour. Totally unsurprising.

Yet, as usual, the media jumps to the ridiculous conclusion that Israel was to blame. ‘Cos it’s easy.

Watch James Schneider on whatever Channel it was. He typifies the problem we have to get our message through. First, he’s a Jewish-born Englishman. Well-spoken, well-‘educated’. An unhesitating, confident speaker. The first hint of his leaning is the fact that he was a close advisor to Jeremy Corbyn, famed ex-leader of the Labour Party with anti-Semitic tendencies.

He argues with the presenter and the other guest ‘in the most stubborn and anti-Israel way. For him, the obvious black lie is the truth, and vice versa.

Yes, there are quite a few Jews on the Left who criticise Israel’s every action, every step. At least they know they are safe from assassination. Whereas an Arab who speaks out in favour of Israel is in immediate great danger.

Watch the interview in Lebanon with a Hamas leader, Ghazi Hamad. (And you thought all their leaders were in Qatar and Gaza…). He speaks good English. So much so, that the excellent interviewer noticed the differences between what the guy says in English for ‘us’, and in Arabic ‘for them’.

But in principle, he is constant in his blind hatred. How CAN a decent Arab, let alone a decent non-Arab, have any sympathy for such a pathological liar and killer, whose only wish is to repeat the massacre?

Watch the video showing a Gazan cyclist filming the killing of Gazan refugees on ‘SocialNews.XYZ’ – an Indian online news corp. He sees Gazans being killed by Hamas as they attempt to escape to the South. He is heard to shout that there are no bombs…

There is an excellent article in today’s J-Post by Ori Wertman, focusing again on my ‘favourite subject’: the move towards normalisation with the moderate Arab nations. I fear he is right that, no matter how keen they are on the move, they cannot be seen to help us. They will be there at the end of this road. And then we shall all be able to ‘forge ahead’ with stability and prosperity in the Middle East. But in the meantime, we are on our own.

So, we meet fire with fire. Until they release ALL our hostages, no ceasefire.

ADHD – Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I can assure you, it’s not only found in children. It is here, in Israel. And, dare I say, it is there, in Gaza. It’s affecting the extreme majority who did not expect this. Many are just bystanders, suffering the consequences. But most are victims, today and maybe tomorrow.

I am taking his advice to heart, for there is no question I am feeling the strain.

But I did get on the tennis court today. The courts were ‘well-occupied’, but not full. The kiosk was open, however, and we were allowed to stay on to watch the end of the final in Paris. Surreal. Of course, when we hail each other, ‘Ma nishma?’ – ‘How are you?” – there’s none of the oft-said ‘Metzuyan’ – ‘terrific’. In fact, the most popular response was a slight shrug of the shoulders.

I was back in hospital this morning for my thrice-weekly phototherapy (re-learning how to smile). It’s almost the first place you go to witness the good integration of our peoples.

A normal percentage of Arabs on both sides of the counter: I watched 2 Arab ladies line up to buy coffee at Aroma downstairs. Visitors, not ashamed nor scared to be wearing what could so obviously be provocative clothes – like the kippah or Star of David on a London street. I was tempted to sit with them, ask them questions. But that would have been crossing the oh so invisible line, created only recently by Hamas.

Stephen