Death by Defenestration

I should really blog more often.

I see from other blogs that they build momentum and develop a certain rythym. My twice a month postings will never accomplish that. I think I should blog more often. What do you think?

So what's happening today in this small country on the sunny shores of the Eastern Mediterranean?

Here's a good one: Shimon Peres was selected by the Knesset to be the country's ninth president today. It's nice that they finally gave him a figurehead job where he can't cause any trouble. Thank you Knesset!

Next, we have civil war in Gaza. Here I am, sitting peacefully while full fledged civil war is raging just 40 miles away. That's less than the distance to the Lincoln tunnel from my former home in Marlboro (which means, for my non-New York area readers, not far at all).

Hamas (those are the religiously observant Islamic Arabs) have now added Defenestration as a method of disposing of their Fatah foes (Fatah are the secular, formerly Marxist, but now just plain corrupt Islamic Arabs). Recently, Hamas has been grabbing Fatah guys off the streets of Gaza, tying hands behind back and then hurling them from the top floor windows of the highest buildings in Gaza (about 18 stories). This comes on the heels of a rash of particularly cruel shootings committed by Fatah in recent weeks where dozens of bearded young Arab Gazan men are shot at close range in the legs and left in the street to bleed to death (although you can view videos on YouTube where the victims are mercifully shot through the head if they plead sufficiently). Apparently, bearded men in Gaza are presumed to be Hamas supporters. Now might be a good time to be in the disposable razor business in Gaza.

I took a walk today, and I realized that I sure do know a lot of people in this town. On my short walk to the Post Office and back, I saw at least 20 people that I know in one way or another. In all cases, smiles or waves were heartily exchanged. I exchanged greetings with familiar faces in passing cars, as I passed Mercaz HaPizza, Rafi the Pizza guy spotted me and gave a wave. I got a hello from Shai the Computer guy. In the post office I exchanged hellos with 3 familiar faces standing ahead of me in the line, and of course the nice Postal lady asked how things were, she knows me by name which is nice because I never have to show ID when picking up packages. After the Post Office, I got a wave from Dudu the grocer, Murray the other Pizza Guy (at Halav U'Dvash), and don't forget the nice guy at the Felafel stand. On the way back, more familiar faces stopped cars to offer a ride down the hill, but I declined. Passing the Matnas, a group of 8 special young people, mostly with Downs, were walking up the hill holding hands. As I passed through the group, I gave big "Shalom", and got a whole bunch of Shaloms in return. I exchanged Buenos Dias with the nice Argentinian fellow who I sometimes see when I daven at Chabad, gave a big Shalom and a smile to the neighbor next to the Shul who frequently accuses us of throwing our trash in his trash can, and got waves and hellos from all the kids playing outside their houses on the shvil. I would say that at least 10,000 people live in my part of town (out of a total population of 70,000 between Bet Shemesh and Ramat Bet Shemesh). That means that there are lots more people to meet out there!

What else happened today? The Sunnis in Iraq blew up the same revered Shiite mosque today that they blew up a little more than a year ago. Now there is a total curfew in the country, although if I lived in Iraq, I wouldn't need a curfew to know that it would be a good idea to hide in the basement after a thing like that happens. Sunnis make up 20 percent of the population of Iraq, but they want to be in charge of the whole country because they think that their version of Islam is superior. I think they also want to be in control all of the revenues from oil production. You know the old saying in the Arab world: He with the most money can have many wives, but then he needs many houses in which to keep them, and many cars, and many servants and therefore he needs the most money. Doesn't that sound like a circular argument? Or maybe it's a pyramid scheme... ha ha ha that's a funny one! (think Egypt).

Side note: Now that the Arabs are blowing up one another's mosques, I sure hope that we get plenty of advance notice if they are planning to blow up the big one on top of Har HaBayit.

Eileen did a big Chesed yesterday. As we were driving back from Yeheskels hardware store, I was looking out my own window, while Eileen, who was driving, let out a big gasp. I said "What?!" and she pointed to a lady on the ground on the other side of the street. Eileen had witnessed her trip and fall to the ground. We stopped the car, and by the time Eileen crossed the street, the lady was up on her feet. The sidewalk was wet for some reason, and the poor Russian lady was all muddy and scraped up on the arms. Eileen brought her across the street into the car, and we drove her to her apartment, which was pretty much on the other side of town, but that's OK since this whole city is only 1 kilometer wide, so the other side of town isn't really that far.

The Lebanese army has been flexing it's muscles in the last two weeks. They have been mercilessly shelling apartment complexes containing Al-Qaeda inspired "activists" (as the BBC likes to call them) who are hiding amongst the regular civilian population. Dozens have been killed so far. I'm sure this story will have the usual familiar ending: Syria will let loose a series of suicide bombings that will bring the country to a standstill, and the people will have to "invite" the Syrian army back (again) to help restore civil order. This time, it will probably take more than the 30 years that it took the last time.

I saw another photo in the paper of Sudanese refugees sneaking on foot across the Sinai border into our little country. A whole group was picked up yesterday just outside of Beersheva. There is a debate in our country about what to do with them. Not many in the world today are paying attention to the fact that the lighter skinned Islamists in Sudan are terrorizing the indigenous darker skinned African population. Well, terrorizing is not completely accurate. How about murdering, raping, maiming and then terrorizing? That's more accurate. Hundreds of thousands have already died, and millions have been displaced from their homes. I don't get it. Sudan is more than 10 times the size of our little country, but the Islamists can't find enough room there to just let the non-Islamists live in peace? Those Islamists sure do have a hard time getting along with other people. Just ask anyone who has had a car torched in France, or been blown up on the Underground in London. The European Union has it's hands full with it's own Islamists. I guess that's why they don't have the resources to do anything about the ongoing carnage in Sudan. In the meantime, we sit in this small country on the sunny shores of the Eastern Mediterranean, debating how many displaced Sudanese we can absorb into our own economy. I'm sure the UN will find a way to condemn us for that.

Here's a bit of positive news: On Tuesday, UK Conservative Party leader David Cameron said in a public forum that he is a Zionist. His words: "If what you mean by Zionist, is someone who believes that the Jews have a right to a homeland in Israel and a right to their country then, yes, I am a Zionist and I'm proud of the fact that Conservative politicians down the ages have played a huge role in helping bring this about." He took a firm stance on Hamas, saying that Israel "has a totally legitimate right to exist and defend itself." While Tony Blair, the former Labor Party leader and Prime Minister held a similar opinion, Blair frequently expressed his belief that the starting point for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East began with a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Cameron parts company with Blair on this point, saying "I think sometimes politicians can be a bit naive in believing that if only we solved the problem of Israel and Palestine then roadside bombs will stop going off in Iraq."

These words of clarity are welcome in light of the plethora of boycotts against Israel that have been recently declared by Academic and Trade Unions in the UK, who consider the Jooos to be the single greatest threat to peace in the world.

What is a simple Jooo to do? Why do Sunnis hate Shiites so much? Well, where I'm concerned, if the Sunnis and the Shiites and the Alawaites and Baathists and Sufis and Wahabis and Hashemites and Saudis and Persians and Kurds and Egyptians and Copts ever figure a way to live with one another, that's when the Jooos should start to worry.

In the meantime folks, just keep doing acts of random kindness. It's the only solution.