# 452 – Bring Them Home

Bring Them Home

(Sorry, for some reason, can’t insert the attached image into its rightful place at the beginning of this Letter. Succeeded with the 2 images below. Just don’t know which button to press).

On the bus coming home, a lady was sitting opposite me. Perhaps wrongly, I took this photo before talking to her. “Where can I get one” I simply asked. It was not important to know why she was wearing it, whether she was a mother, a friend or just a concerned citizen. We chatted for a few moments before she got off at her stop.

In English, it says ‘Bring Them Home’ – In Hebrew ‘Our Hearts are Captive in Gaza’.

Islamic Jihad have offered the release of an old woman and a young boy ‘on humanitarian grounds’. They have hijacked a beautiful word. (Hey, hijacked and Jihad are almost anagrams…).

Perhaps I need to take a step back. This is getting to me. Of course, it is getting to everyone in Israel (yes, and in Gaza, but allow me to focus on ‘us’).

We are fighting a life-threatening war, yet we are led by faces most of us detest. Someone very close to me is caught in the argument about the failure of ‘democracy’. When I see what Israel has to go through in order to reach ‘The Day After’ I sometimes curse democracy. But, that ‘close to me person’ is, of course, wrong. Democracy had been hijacked by false facts, social media etc. etc. But it really is the only system of which one can occasionally be proud.

So Bibi leads today. Tomorrow will take care of itself.

I was yesterday reminded that I am a centrist by several people. I have already mentioned that after this war, we shall be faced with the re-building of our next-door-neighbour. For, like it or not, we are not going away, nor are they. It is extremely difficult to foresee a peaceful border with Gaza. We all know that the likelihood of another Hamas arising is great.

Call it what you like (nobody seems ready to face the word ‘re-education’ – too Orwellian), but those 2 million, almost half of whom are too young to have been completely brainwashed, need RE-EDUCATION. There, I’ve said it loud and clear. And I do NOT mean conversion to Judaism or memorising the U.S. Constitution. If there is any ‘people’ who are prepared to step up to that plate, let us see them. The PA (Fatah)? Egypt? Jordan? The UN?

I repeat, while Israel must remain in charge of security, and the rich Arab cousins finance and organise the reconstruction (labour will not be a problem), I think Israeli Arabs, fellow Palestinians, are in an ideal position to give the Gazans a chance for living in peace and prosperity next to Israel.

And what a fantastic P.R. moment. Even those. in the streets of London will not know which flag to wave.

On that subject, and I cannot leave it alone, tomorrow in the UK, you have your ‘moment of destiny’…

Siren…….I am not moving……                  6,7,8 explosions, some are near. I still cannot recognise the difference between Iron Dome interception and landed bomb. I went up on the roof, expecting to see something. Almost nothing. Well, some white smoke trails in the skies above, indicating defensive success. Someone suggested that the Iron Dome technology and its founders should win the Nobel Peace Prize. Their use? Defense. Their aim? To save lives. I have to add: I estimate that the cost of 7.5 meters tunnel of average diameter would have bought a defensive missile….or a decent little house on the Gaza beachfront.

I sat upstairs for a while, shocked by the suddenness of the sunset – as can be seen by these 2 photos, taken just 2 minute apart…

Second, recognising what our friend meant, I focused on the honest or passive marchers (unlike those recently in Israel, no kids in strollers – I wonder why?). I can accept them protesting once. But, when they return a second time and are surrounded by the same anti-Semitic fanatics, waving heinous flags of death to Israel, then they have a decision to make. By continuing, and then a 3rd and 4th time, they have joined the ‘others’.

They have had their chance to democratically decide where they stand. Memoria​l / Remembrance Day must be left alone – whether at the Cenotaph or on the streets of East Bradford. The British deserve their day of mourning. I suppose I wish there will be trouble – the wake-up call. Because then, and only then, will the silent majority – the neutrals – realise what is happening around them. In the meantime, the peacenik, Stephen Pohlmann, ‘is a bigot’.

UN Sec. Gen. demands a ceasefire, so the negotiations in Qatar can bear fruit. They are talking about releasing 14 of the 239 hostages during that ceasefire. I know of 14 families who would agree to that. There are versions of the song ‘Bring Them Home’ from ‘Les Mis’ making their rounds on social media. A crying song, perfect for this situation. No wonder.

But a song of the same name came out in 1966, sung by Pete Seeger. It was not anti-war as such, but anti-Vietnam war. I am convinced that Pete would have been fighting on our front line in this war for Israel’s survival. You should listen to Bruce Springsteen’s update version.

Stephen