A guest post by Zahava

Sorry about the lack of Photo Friday today.  I am out with the kids tending to the bee hives.  However, I hope you enjoy this guest post by my lovely wife Zahava.  Shabbat Shalom.

Dear Treppenwitz Readers:

I don’t often offer my 2 cents — at least not publicly — on matters of politics. However, in light of the deteriorating security situation here in Israel, I believe our continuing struggle with 'image' and the fair portrayal of Israel in the media must continue to be  a priority. We simply cannot afford to overlook the damage that agenda-driven 'human interest stories' inflict upon the world's perception of the situation here.

The best recent example that jumps to mind of how Israel is demonized in the media is the unfortunate story of the young Gazan girl (Hadeel Ghalia) who lost her family in an as-yet, unexplained explosion. The source of the explosion is irrelevant, although certainly not the result of IDF artillary as had been initally widely reported. Also irrelevant is the 'human interest' aspect of the story when outsiders attempt to link it to Israel's ability to protect both its land and citizens. Before anyone starts shouting that I am a heartless monster, please take a moment to consider the sentiments behind these statements.

On a human, and even more importantly, on a humane, level my heart breaks for this orphaned Palestinian girl. It is truly tragic that she will grow up without a family to love, guide, educate and cherish her. There is no mitigating information that would make me feel otherwise. Contrary to reports (read: thinly-veiled accusations) elsewhere on the Israeli-Anglo blogosphere, I don’t think that there is anyone who doesn’t feel some level of both sympathy and empathy for this girl.

My major philosophical break, however, is with feelings of responsibility. I do not feel responsible for this girl’s situation. Not. One. Bit.

Again, before playing the 'heartless b*tch' card, please allow me to explain .

It is not surprising – given my status as an Olah (immigrant) to Israel – that I am quite proud to be an Israeli citizen. I am proud of our land, our heritage, our government (okay, maybe this last part isn’t always true).  And I am especially proud of our armed forces because, despite protestations to the contrary, they conduct themselves with an unprecedented respect for human life – their own as well as our enemy’s. Do they occasionally err? Yes. In time of war, no army can escape isolated errors of judgment.

However, our armed forces, often at great risk to themselves, operate in such a manner so as to cause the least damage to civilian population centers as possible. This is especially difficult when Israel’s enemies deliberately place their entire terror/military infrastructure in the heart of their own civilian population centers.

This does not dismiss the tragic fact that armed conflicts exact civilian casualties. But when an enemy uses their own civilian populations to shield themselves from retaliation it contextually reflects a different attitude about the value of civilian life.

It is no accident that Palestinian militants and other Islamic holy warriors hide behind women and children. They count on the high value placed on human life by the Judeo-Christian tradition to weigh heavily on our retaliatory decisions. They exploit this fact and scream ‘war crime’ and ‘atrocity’ to the western media when, despite the multiple precautionary layers, our need to strike at those who have attacked us result in less-than-desirable results. And sadly enough, they are no longer simply hiding behind their women and children.  Israeli security prisons are bursting with young men, women and even teenagers because they are actively recruited as instruments of terror.

The issue of militants taking refuge in centers of civilian populations is an enormous problem that is completely ignored in the international discussion of the local conflict.

First and foremost, our military has a responsibility to Israeli civilian populations to do everything in its’ power to keep them safe. It is unreasonable to suggest that a pursuit of a known terrorist be aborted simply because he/she has taken refuge in a place were civilian lives are jeopardized. As long as the terrorist remains free to operate, lives of all citizens – Arabs and Jews – are endangered. Terrorism isn’t selective.  By definition it is deliberately random with the primary goal being the loss of civilian life.   Bombed busses aren’t able to eject their Arab riders and detonate only the Jewish ones! The pursuit of terrorists into civilian populations isn’t designed to heighten the risk to Arab populations, but rather to lessen the risk to all populations.

Another issue often swept under the proverbial rug is the fact that these civilian populations have not made any noticeable attempt to force the terrorists to stop using them as human shields! This is not to suggest that they want to be shields. But, to date, these folks have not done much to “take back their neighborhoods.” And while one can argue that is a difficult and dangerous task to oppose armed militants in ones midst… so is being a human shield!

Before you jump down my throat and tell me that “it isn’t easy",  and that innocent Palestinian civilians are threatened – often at gun point – to comply with the terrorists’ wishes, I’d like to remind you of the power of collective consensus.

Certainly, there is much work to be done in the drug-infested inner cities in the US. But much has been accomplished in this regard. And it begins with a brave refusal to allow armed drug lords to continue with the intimidation and violence they use to dictate their terms to society. It begins with a group of committed individuals saying “go somewhere else, I won’t be a party to this.” Some of these brave and committed individuals sacrifice their lives by saying no. But in this sacrifice, they hope to put an end to intolerable conditions. For their kids. For their grandkids. For justice.

A couple of days ago Steve Erlanger (aptly dubbed the “official spokesman for Hamas” by our friend Robert Avrech over at Seraphic Secret) wrote a lovely little human interest piece about the goings-on in Gaza. The original title was “Once Again, Gazans Are Displaced by Israeli Occupiers.” The title has since been changed – one would hope, due to complaints, but it was actually the contents of this article that inspired me to express myself today.

I don’t have the energy to run around correcting every inaccurate detail of every anti-Israel article. But I can't overstate the importance of insisting that news outlets clearly diferentiate and identify information which is factual from that which is editorial.

Journalists are entitled to their opinions, and should be encouraged to express them. But, they should be both accurate and honest about when they are reporting facts and when they are sharing their opinions. That line is no longer blurry… it has disappeared altogether in the main stream media… and sadly, editors don’t seem to mind this breach of ethics that occurs when journalists shop their own personal agendas under the guise of hard news.

Here is what I wrote to the editors:

“Once Again, Gazans Are Displaced by Israeli Occupiers.”

To the Editors:
 
“At least Israel should release the women and children prisoners of ours that they have,” he [Mr. Edbary] said. “It’s shameful.”
 
This article is shameful. The sensationalized title is deliberate in its’ obfuscation of the facts. Gazans have not been displaced by “Israeli occupiers,” – their “displacement” is due to Hamas’ refusal to cease missile attacks from Palestinian territory into Israeli areas of civilian populations, and renounce terrorism.
 
Once again, Steve Erlanger is all too eager to cast Israel as the “occupier.” Shameful is the fact that the Palestinian women and youths in Israeli jails have been caught trying to take innocent Israeli lives.

Shameful is the idea that these prisoners’ rights are more valuable than the lives they attempted to take or jeopardize.

Shameful is the fact that militant Palestinian factions use densely populated civilian areas as refuges.

Shameful is the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians elected a government that both endorses, and actively supports, terrorist activities.
 
Israeli civilians face daily threats from rocket attacks, suicide bombers, snipers, and roadside bombs. These threats have only escalated since the completion of Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon and ‘disengagement’ from Gaza.   Good intelligence rather than a decline in terror attempts have been responsible for the perception of calm that existed prior to Israel’s recent retaliatory activity.
 
The myth of a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza  is just that – a myth. Border crossings have been opened on an ongoing basis to allow humanitarian supplies (food, medicine, etc.) to reach the civilian Gazan population.   IN many cases Hamas has thwarted these attempts to aid their own people.
 
Israel is not responsible for the Palestinians living in Palestinian controlled areas.  The Palestinian Authority is. At present, the Palestinian Authority is run by Hamas.   Rather than creating municipal infrastructure, legislation, or the development of economic recovery plans, Hamas has placed its’ priority on recruiting the weakest, poorest, and least educated members of their society into its’ military wing to perpetuate the untenable state of “low-intensity warfare” against its’ neighbor Israel.

Fortunately for Israel, the majority of these recruits fail at their missions, hence their confinement in Israeli prisons. But the fact Hamas recruits these young men, women and even children, trains them, and finances their missions without a word from Mr. Erlanger? Now that is “shameful.”
 
Respectfully,
Zahava Bogner
Efrat, Israel

I don’t know if Mr. Erlanger is actually anti-semitic, anti-zionist/pro-Palestinian, or if he simply has a misplaced sense of sportsmanship which has him constantly painting the Palestinians as the victimized underdogs. What’s more, I really don’t care.

In nearly every piece he writes, facts are made subordinate to opinion. And while opinion is valuable, it should not determine nor dominate a discussion of why the average Gazan is being oppressed.

Gazans need a plan. They need jobs, schools, housing, healthcare, and a government willing and able to deliver these things to them. The possibility for these things existed under Israeli “occupation”, but they preferred to self-govern and self-determine… which, of course, is their right.  But it seems odd that they refused to accept these things from the Israeli government, yet they won’t demand them from their own leadership either.

The world has shown unprecedented generosity to three generations of Palestinian refugees. Yet while the typical Palestinian family remained in squalor, Arafat’s estimated personal wealth grew to around $33 million dollars.

When you factor in the additional resources being poured into bombs, missiles, and terrorist activity it is not hard to understand why they lack the down payment on some of the municipal infrastructures so sorely lacking in Palestinian society.  Donations from around the world probably would not have solved all their problems, but my guess is that it would have gone a long way towards giving a hopeful future to those now so despondent over their situations that their only option is to don a 10-kilo bomb belt and try to take as many Israeli civilians as possible into the next world with them.

So, Mr. Erlanger (if you’re listening), If you’re not part of the solution, you might very well be part of the cause. Allowing the Palestinians to perpetuate the myth that the destruction of Israel will solve their problems dooms both Israelis and Palestinians to a future of warfare and tragedy.   

The only motivation I can identify in Mr. Erlanger’s agenda is that it will certainly assure him a secure future of writing about the intractable Israel/Palestinian conflict.