Analysis of a Comment

Analysis of a Comment

You know, you have to be careful what you say. I was at a blogger's session at the Tomorrow 2012 conference here in Jerusalem and someone asked what to do with comments. A few bloggers talked about comments often being a pain; another said sometimes they are really dumb comments and I opened my big mouth and said I love comments - most are so supportive. I told the people about some of the comments that people have made on my blog and the way I handle them. 


So, my luck, of course, I posted what I would have thought was a simple post - a protest in the only way I can protest. With words. I can't fly planes to stop the terrorists firing these rockets, but I can write about it. And then Brooke R. left this comment: (the gray text will be discussed in the next post...this one has become too long...just on the first two lines.)

50 rockets hit Israel, but how many people were injured or killed? If 50 rockets hit the West Bank or Gaza at least a thousand people would be killed or injured. The land you live on is stolen. The way you treat the people who you stole the land is abominable. If you lived the way they did you'd be angry too. If I lived the way they did I'd be angry. Crazy thing? There are people who are angry but who don't hate you like you hate them. Crazy thing is that those people are looking to their faith and what it teaches them, what God teaches us. To love, and not oppress. To love your enemy. I think its a bit out of whack for you to play the victim card. You are not a victim. The Palestinians are the victims. They are the victims of my government, your government, many Middle Eastern governments. For once why don't you try to put yourself in their shoes. Let go of your anger and victim mentality. That's what I try to do when I think about how your government treated me recently.

I need to explain something here - and so, line by line, Brooke, let me correct you.

50 rockets hit Israel, but how many people were injured or killed? 

This is a common mistake that people who are, in truth, anti-Israel, love to make. They need to explain that is it, essentially, okay to fire a rocket at one million people so long as you miss them. It is akin to putting a little kitten in a garbage can and rolling it around for a while - so long as the cat isn't hurt and you release it, is it really animal cruelty? Have you actually done something wrong? I will tell you that you have.

When the rocket is launched from Gaza, Israel's brilliant army knows the launch site, knows the trajectory of that rocket and knows within milliseconds, the general location of where it will land. Within seconds, a siren is sounded in that area and surrounding areas. We do not take chances with people's lives and so we warn them - run. RUN FAST. NOW. Get to a safe area.

And we instruct them - how to protect themselves. The safest part of a building if they can't get to a secure room; what to do if they can't get to a building at all. What if you are in a car? In a field?

The rocket lands and explodes...and then there is silence. The terror of those seconds before the rocket lands and the panic when you hear the explosion near by and wonder where it hit, who it hit...and where your children are, your parents, your siblings...

In the end, after rolling that cat around in the garbage...if you release it...is it okay? If a person isn't hit by the rocket or the little metal balls the Arabs pack into the missile so that when it explodes, if you don't get hit by the rocket, maybe you'll at least get hit by this bullet-like balls that explode out with a force strong enough to kill and maim - is it okay?

Is the only measure of the right and wrong here - that one criteria - if someone was hurt or killed. I know that four people...yes, they are soldiers...were hurt by one missile - one is in critical condition. Is that enough blood for you, Brooke?

 If 50 rockets hit the West Bank or Gaza at least a thousand people would be killed or injured.

Actually, Brooke, more than 50 Israeli rockets have hit Gaza and a thousand weren't killed because unlike the Arabs, we target our missiles to hit terrorists who are firing rockets at Israel, Hamas training grounds, etc. As for the West Bank, well, you're wrong there too because geographically, the area that Gaza is firing at is more less densely populated than the cities (Beersheva, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Shderot, etc.) at which the Arabs are firing.

The land you live on is stolen.

Do you actually know where I live...the house, the city, or are you sort of just talking about all of Israel? A question I often ask people is when do you start history...is there a specific moment that gives someone more or less rights to something? But in this case, let me answer specifically. You are wrong. I bought the land that I live on from a man who was born in Israel. His parents fled Iran after Israel was created and the Arabs thought there was a chance for them to push the Jews into the sea. Only, they didn't.

During the war they started in 1948, the Jordanians pushed westward, hoping to advance that great dream of a final resting place in the water for my people...they were stopped, of course, and Israel remained in existence, but this area where my home now is, became part of Jordan. Prior to 1948 and the Jordanians occupying/capturing it, it was a barren hill under the control of the British and their mandate. They got the land from the Ottomans.

Under the Turks, under the British, under the Jordanians - no one built on these hills to the east of Jerusalem. In 1967, when it was clear that war was coming, the Israelis launched a preemptive strike - no rational person believes it was Israeli aggression and even the Arabs admit they were about to attack us - that we just attacked them first.


Shortly after the strikes were launched against the Egyptians and the Syrians - Israel sent a message to Jordan through international channels asking them not to attack and telling them that Israel did not want a war. Jordan responded that they would stand with their brothers and attacked. And lost. The land on which my home was built was a barren hill controlled by the Jordanian government until the Israel.


It was not built on stolen land and so you are wrong again.

http://israelisoldiersmother.blogspot.com/2012/06/analysis-of-comment.html