# 429 – Blight and Whack

The truth used to be a good source for discussion between 2 opposing views. No longer.

Let me state 2 unconnected examples:

– I have friends who are Jehovah’s Witnesses (can’t recall if any of them are on this mailing list – but I am not insulting them in any way by mentioning this). Good friends, I might add. And beautiful people. Some of their habits and ways are strange to the rest of us. In today’s World, that’s OK. They mean no harm. But…JW’s are known to say ‘We know’ instead of ‘We believe’.

Occasionally our conversations would slip into the subject of religion, and sometimes they’d ‘stray’ into the proselytising mode. “Give me a few hours of your time, Stephen, and I’ll prove it to you”. Well, I never gave them those few hours, and am fairly sure they would NOT have changed whatever mind I had. And one of the simple counter-arguments would be that their source is their interpretation of a book which has been interpreted in umpteen different ways. Not all humans think alike.

– I know some people who are classic ‘conspiracy theorists’. Exactly like the JW’s they have studied their version of the facts so intensely, that they are 100% sure of themselves. It’s no secret that, when there a million facts out there, learning a few hundred by heart is enough not only to be self-convincing, but enough to argue a point until black and blue.

In both cases, black and white are no longer distinguishable

The pro-Palestinian protesters are in the same category. I watched interviews and debates. Some of ‘them’ are fanatics, absolute extremists (like Mohammed Hijab, disgustingly debating with Piers Morgan). But the rest, the ones who applaud lies on ‘Question Time’ in the UK, or its equivalent in Australia, are just caught in this ugly mess.

The main subject, of course, is the massacre on Oct 7 in Israel and now the plight of the Gazan civilians. If I were forced to debate the  difference, I’d immediately refer to the plight of the +/- 200 hostages held in Gaza. Not even an ugly Hamas representative in Londonistan could deny my care for the welfare of the hostages. I mean, we still have a policy of ‘not leaving one behind’, and a history of exchanging well over 1,000 (disproportionately?) prisoners for Gilad Schalit.

(Reminder: 1 of the released became leader of Hamas in Gaza, whom, it is reported, we have now killed). Before we calculate the collateral victims of our attacks in Gaza, we have our hostages in mind. And be sure, each time one is killed, it is our military which will be blamed.

Everyone is watching the Israeli ground forces clustered along the Gazan border. They have not yet gone in. Why not? One of the theories is that we are closely watching the movement of Hezbollah, who may be waiting for a weak moment to attack from Lebanon (Understandably, approx 20 Israeli towns and villages in the North have been evacuated).

Another reason is that we want the aerial bombing to ‘maximise’ its job before sending the infantry into what will clearly be a deadly quagmire.

Or maybe they’re listening to people like me:

– Evacuate all non-Hamas population into temporary camps in Sinai.

– Exterminate Hamas

– Prevent 1 more loss of Israeli life, including combatants

– Create, build, construct a beautiful new beginning for the innocent people of Gaza. (Yesterday, I called it ‘New Saudia’. but I’d accept almost any name except ‘Gaza’). Many of those people could be brought back to help in its reconstruction. How about getting the help of Palestinian billionaire, Bashar Masri, who paid for and master-minded the construction of the new city of Rawabi in the West Bank.

Hey! Let’s call it ‘New Rawabi’, which would also revive interest in the original city – currently a white elephant.

And, as I dreamed yesterday, get Mohammed Bin Salman’s support.

Yesterday was Aviva’s sister’s birthday. She looks great, her mind is 100%, but she’s fragile. During the happiness, we all had to evacuate to the shelter. This morning she was taken by ambulance into hospital for check-ups. She went home just now, 6-7 hours later.

Living in a small country like Israel (yes, I am reminded that Gaza is even smaller), we’re always close to something. Bombs are close, Iron Dome rocket launch sites are close, and Gaza is only 70 km down the road from here. You may recall that we had Shimon Perse as our upstairs neighbour, with Yitzhak Rabin living 4 buildings away. Yair Lapid, ex-PM, current Opposition Leader, lives ‘up the road’.

In one interview yesterday, he told of his chat with an old lady he’s known for some years. She lost her son last week. She’s ‘thankful’ she has terminal cancer, so that she won’t have to suffer long.

That’s what Hamas has done. That’s what this conflict has created. Just remember that many of the left-wing protesters would be among the first to be beheaded were they to live in a land ruled by the very people they claim to support. These are very bad and sad times.

Hamas are deadly and disgusting terrorists of the worst kind. The Gazans are oppressed Palestinians, who have been brainwashed into blaming Israel for their woes, blind to the fact that 2 million of their people live freely in neighbouring Israel as the largest of many minorities. This is despite 75 years’ absence of true peace in the region. The term ‘only democracy in the Middle East’ is often bandied about. But, compared to ALL of the other 15  countries, the Gazans must surely dream of a life-style like their brothers in Israel.

And they could have it, if only they could rid themselves of their criminal leaders. That’s what we always wanted: a life, in peace with our neighbours.

Stephen