A Scary Day at Home - A Raging Fire

 Today was intended to be a sort of more relaxing day, however by mid afternoon, we were shocked to see thick black cloud passing by our balcony.

Yet another fire erupted in our neighbourhood, this time much closer than the one two weeks ago. The fire could be seen from miles away. This photograph was taken from Jerusalem

By mid afternoon we were told to leave our apartments and go down to parking level -1 where were served with ice cream (not Ben and Jerry's) and cold water

Everything was done in an orderly manner, no panicking and in good humour. 

To be honest, even though i was very young at the time, it reminded my of going down steps to a shelter under out garden when the sirens sounded to warn of incoming German aircraft during world war !!.  Strange tricks memories play!

Endless Aid to Eternal Fake Refugees!

source wikipedia.org / FaceBook

International aid has been provided to Palestinians at least since 1948!

The Palestinian National Authority (PA), within the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and Gaza Strip, receives one of the highest levels of aid in the world.

The entities that provide such aid are categorized into seven groups: the Arab nations, the European Union, the United States, Japan, international institutions (including agencies of the UN system), European countries, and other nations.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was set up in 1949 to provide humanitarian relief to Palestinians displaced by the 1948 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Originally, it was intended to provide jobs on public works projects and direct relief. Today, UNRWA provides education, health care, and social services to more than 5 million registered Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and other segments of Palestinian society, as well as providing some financial aid to Palestinians.

UNRWA employs over 30,000 staff, 99% of whom are locally recruited Palestinians.

In 2013, $1.1 billion was contributed to UNRWA, of which $294 million was contributed by the United States, $216.4 million from the EU, $151.6 million from Saudi Arabia, $93.7 million from Sweden, $54.4 million from Germany, $53 million from Norway, $34.6 million from Japan, $28.8 million from Switzerland, $23.3 million from Australia, $22.4 million from the Netherlands, $20 million from Denmark, $18.6 million from Kuwait, $17 million from France, $12.3 million from Italy, $10.7 million from Belgium as well as $10.3 million from all other countries.

Did you know that the PLO has received over $50 Billion in foreign aid since the mid 1990's? Let that number sink in - $50,000,000,000.

Why do they claim poverty to the world while we know they have received more aid than any other legitimate refugees per capita on earth? 

Iran helped the EU lose its credibility

 After countless EU lectures on human rights and the moral high ground it has taken towards Israel and others, the EU has crossed a line that even most fervent critics and Eurosceptics would have had a hard time to believe.

The drop was when Josep Borrell, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, decided to send an envoy to attend the inauguration of the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, aka “the butcher of Tehran.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat reacted on Twitter by saying that Israel is “puzzled” and recommended the EU to retract its attendance. Israel was indeed puzzled, and so were most Europeans. It was simply hard to wrap our heads around the fact that the EU, the self-proclaimed ultimate human rights defender, failed to draw a line in the most extreme of circumstances: an EU envoy sitting among leaders of terrorist organizations, celebrating the election of a man guilty of the worst crimes against humanity.

Nonetheless the signs were there, piling up slowly but surely.

It is a fact, Borrell has failed to stand up for any Iranian dissident that faces a grim outcome. Even Dr. Ahmad Reza Djalali, a EU citizen no less, who has been incarcerated in Iran on baseless accusations and awaits his death penalty, could only count on an appeasing message to Iran regarding his release. Iranian dissidents and human rights activists implore the EU to stand up to Iran for Djalali, but there’s no one home.

Borrell systematically looks the other way for Iran’s human rights abuses, its terror activities throughout the Middle East, its threats against Israel and even more flagrantly, decided to condemn the recent vessel attack in Oman only after EU envoy Enrique Mora’s attendance was decried.

Even more absurd, when it comes to Israel’s policies regarding Jewish communities in Area C, the EU reacted in a harsh tone and suggested legal action with the ominous statement: “steps towards annexation, if implemented, could not pass unchallenged.”

Furthermore, the EU does not hesitate to use the terms “humanitarian law”, “international law,” “illegal” and accuses Israel of fueling tensions on the ground. In reality, the EU has been systematically misusing these legal terms to falsely accuse Israel of violating international law in order to pressure Israel into political concessions.

To top it off, the EU takes a softer approach when it comes to Hamas’ human rights violations and indiscriminate rocket attacks against civilians. The terror organization that, contrarily to Israel, actually violates human rights on a daily basis. Mora sitting next to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh shouldn’t shock any of us after all.

One would think that threatening a state with “legal action” is a reaction that could better fit Iran’s constant threat in the region and its gross human rights violations. Yet, everyone understood that the EU does not wish to undermine any of its interests with Iran and so Iran’s violations were repeatedly met with silence. Israel, on the other hand, is a safe partner in the background and a safe foe at the forefront in order to secure the left and center-left votes in Europe. Therefore pointing fingers at Israel is a much needed exercise.

One Picture + 1000 Words

 

One picture is worth 1000 words: 1- on the right-a senior #Hezbollah representative ( Kasim) 2- on the left- a senior #Hamas representative ( Haniya) 3- in the back, circled- a senior #EU representative (Mora)

The occasion- the inauguration of
the ‘butcher from Teheran’,Raisi.

Iranian dissident delegation visits Israel

By David Isaac

It was billed as the first Iranian delegation to Israel since the fall of the Shah 42 years earlier. Six Iranian Muslim dissidents, forced to leave their homeland decades ago and who made their way to the United States, came on a three-day solidarity mission last week to show support for the Jewish state following the May clash between Israel and Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip—namely, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad—that have long been backed by Iran.

 Accompanying the group were four former Trump administration officials, including Ellie Cohanim, former U.S. deputy special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism at the U.S. State Department, who described the visit as “historic.” Cohanim was born in Tehran and escaped with her family shortly after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

 “They know that Hamas, which rained down these rockets on Israel, is an Iranian proxy, and they know that Hezbollah on the Lebanese border is an Iranian proxy,” Cohanim told JNS. “And they wanted to show the Israeli people, but also the world, that they support Israel in its right to a country and its right to self-defense, and they really just stand against the Iranian regime.”

The mission was organized by the Institute for Voices of Liberty (IVOL), a U.S.-based nonprofit that seeks to “counter the false narratives propagated by the Islamic Republic and its apologists,” and to act as a voice for the “freedom-seeking people of Iran.”

The group’s whirlwind tour of Israel included stops at the northern border with Lebanon and Syria, and at the southern border with the Gaza Strip. They also met with officials at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ministry tweeted on Sunday: “It was an honor to meet these brave individuals.”

 

The Disappearing Dead Sea

 Noam Bedein has been documenting the changes in the Dead Sea since 2016 and travels the world presenting his findings to raise awareness for this beautifully weird body of water.

Bedein’s “Dead Sea Story” website includes his photographs of salt formations covered with water, then later peeking out to sparkle under the hot Israeli sun.

These four time-lapse photos show the dramatic changes Bedein has documented with his camera.

A NATION LIKE ANY OTHER

 Cross posted from Grandma's Army

Since its inception, Israel has not been allowed to take its existence for granted, like every other nation on earth.

Although Israel is just a “dot” on the map, there are more international journalists in Israel per capita than in any other place in the world. The eyes of the world quite literally watch and judge whatever takes place there.

Even after decades of independence, the existence of the State of Israel is still not recognized by some states and international bodies, while others are even pledged to bring about its destruction. In addition, criteria of judgement which differ from those applied to any other nation, are applied to Israel.

Having achieved independence, Israel still found itself in an ongoing battle  for recognition and for its right to life. Under constant threat of violence or war, Israel’s achievements have, nonetheless, been remarkable:

It has taken a neglected, desolate landscape and turned it into a place of farms, forests, nature reserves, and thriving towns.

It has taken immigrants from a hundred countries, speaking eighty languages, and turned them into a nation.

It has taken a people, devastated by the Holocaust, and given the opportunity to make a life for themselves.

It has created a modern economy, with almost no resources, other than the creative gifts of its people.

It has sustained democracy in a part of the world that has never known it before.

It has taken Hebrew, the language of the Bible, and made it speak again.

It has benefitted the world with many innovations in every sphere of human endeavor.

One of its many challenges is the blatant falsehood that Israel is the aggressor; that it has not sought peace. The choice is not between supporting Israel or supporting the “Palestinians”, but between peace or violence. Peace is sacred, violence a desecration. Too many lives have been lost, and too much blood has been shed.