Helping the People of Israel

[Guest yod]

Thank you Sandy for shedding some light on the ignorance of believing what the mass media is reporting. What we (and the whole world) is getting from them is like the difference between night and day but the truth is "out there" for those who will only seek it.

This is a spiritual battle and our enemy's greatest tool is the lie. It has worked well since the Garden...why stop?

There is a special kind of darkness which rules the heart those who despise Israel.

Therefore, we try to find rational reason where there are none and can be easily deceived.

Who would send their own child to blow himself up in a falafel stand? When someone hates you more than they love their own kids...what can be done to make peace with them?

I don't suppose you know Roni Netzer in Gilo?

[Guest shiloh357]

Hi ,

I know that I'm an unknown factor here, however I've read this whole thread and felt like I'd like to comment.

I lived in Jerusalem, Israel for three years with my husband and son. We were there when the intifada began and were there for alot of the intensity of it.  This is not a problem that Israel brought on. Israel's response has been solely defensive. Every nation has not only the right , but the responsibility to protect her citizens and that is what Israel is attempting to do.

The secular media has played a large part in the negative peception of Israel during this time. I would sit in my apartment watching CNN or BBC reporting (and I use that word loosely) about an event that had happened that day. 9 out of 10 times I was astounded and disgusted by the outright lies they would tell and at the least the misrepresentaion and unbelieveable pro-Palestinian (and/or terrorist) bias.

One day I was in downtown Jerusalem grocery shopping. It was a cold and rainy day and when I came out of the store I decided to step into a little falafel cafe and have a bite to eat. Immediately I felt a nudging in my spirt to not do that , I thought that's strange I don't remember God not wanting me to eat falafel before... so I thought ok I'll go into this new coffee shop right near the falafel place and have a hot cup of coffee ... I had the same small voice of the Holy Spirit telling me not to. Well I finally got the message, I got in a taxi and started home. Before I had even arrived at my apartment a suicide bomber blew himself up right where I had been. It destroyed both the falafel place and the coffee shop. 3 people were killed (including a pregnant woman and her husband - they had just come from the doctors office where they learned they were having twins) and it wounded over 150 people. This is the kind of evil insanity that the Israelis live with daily. They have what I can only believe to be a God given inner strength and perserverance that enables them to live in such a pressure cooker of a situation and still have hope and still want peace. Speaking of peace ....  why is it the Israelis are the only ones required to give tangible things for peace? The opposition gives (false) peace for land land and more land and the Israelis only get a piece of paper that can be torn up the next day (or just ignored by the terrorists). I think peace should be given for peace. Palestinians quit blowing us up and you get to live there in peace.

There's no need for me to go into the historical and Biblical truth about whose land this is , that's been handled very well by others before me in this thread.

I have friends in Israel that are Jewish, Christian Arab, and there are a  few muslims that I thought were at least friendly accquiantances if not friends. I reference the muslims that way because after 9/11 I had a rude awakening about certain people that I was at least friendly with if not actually 'friends' with. The Israelis wept with the Americans for what we had suffered at the hands of the terrorists because they understand it so very well themselves. The muslims danced in the streets and rejoiced at our suffering - including giving each other chocolates and other sweets. I know this for a FACT because I experienced both sides personally.

As for Christian Arabs being pushed out of their homes by the Israelis, well that's absurd !!!

I have a friend who is a Christian Arab from Bethlehem and she married a friend of ours from Jerusalem (he is an Armenian Christian). I asked her if all the Christians were in fact leaving Bethlehem like we had heard. She said yes and no. Yes , because anyone who could afford to leave had already left and no, because some were not able to leave but they wanted to. I asked her why they were leaving - was it the Israelis forcing them out and she said absolutly NOT !! She said it was the muslims and in particular the terrorists that were doing this. She said that in Bethlehem if you are not a muslim you must live very carefully to protect your property and lives. She said if her family were to all leave their home at the same time (even to go to a wedding) that while they were gone their entire home would be destroyed when they came home. Not only would all their belongings be stolen even the toilets , but the very tiles would be stolen from the floor. She said her parents were so happy that she had gotten married and moved to Jerusalem so that she would be safer.

The muslims in the Bethlehem region went into Beit Jalla (a Christian Arab village) , drove Christians from their homes with the threat to leave or die, and also took over an ancient church in the village. They did this so that they could shoot at The Israelis from the church with the hope that the Israelis would retaliate and find themselves in a PR nightmare when the main stream media would then report that the imperiallistic Israelis were shooting at a defenseless Christian village and worse yet at a church !  I know this because at the time I was living in the neighborhood that the terrorists were shooting at - Gilo.

This is just a tiny portion of the massive amount of things I saw and experienced while living in Israel.

God will not be mocked - He said I will bless them that bless Israel and will curse them that curse Israel. I think I'll choose God's side, He hasn't lost yet !!

Shalom,

Sandy

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is nice to get some perpective from someone who lives in the Land. You know, my psychology professor in college was Palestinian. He and his family are from Gaza, and have been living here for over 10 years. He moved here after his uncle was killed by Arafat for refusing to sell the building his business was in to the PLO, and/or pay them "protection" money. He was killed as a "collaborator" with Israel. They had to sneek out of Gaza and move to the US to save their lives.

[Guest shiloh357]

There are stories all over the internet about Israeli's bulldozing Palestinian homes and farmland, to make room for Jewish Settlements. Are they all lies?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If not lies, they are distortions and half truths, with important facts conveniently left out.

I have noticed that media coming out of the UK and Europe and the sites that are decidedly pro-Palestinian seem to have a problem where accuracy is concerned. The following are three glaring examples of how the European/Liberal media as a real problem with honesty in reporting where Israel is concerned.

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Every media outlet in the UK, France etc. jumped on the band wagon after the Battle Of Jenin during Israel's "Operation: Defensive Shield," and claimed Israel had massacred, and buried in mass graves, 500 innocent Palestinian citizens. The UK and European media outlets showed pictures and tried to make it look as if the entire city was demolished by Israel, and that Israeli tanks and bulldozers basically destroyed the entire city. In fact, only a small portion of Jenin was damaged in the fight. Israel entered and fought where the terrorists were hold up. Israel did not go in and destroy the entire city as the media tried to make it appear.

Before any investigation was conducted, Israel was tried and convicted in the media, and Kofi Anan condemned Israel decided that war crimes had been committed by Israel was going to send in a team to report and document these "war crimes." That is, until a few really smart American journalists asked to see the mass graves. All of a sudden Ereb Erakat could not remember where he had earlier said the mass graves were. They could not produce any hard evidence of a massacre.

It turned out that only 50 Palestinians died and many of them died by their bombs and booby traps meant to kill Israeli soldiers. Many of the buildings Israel had supposedly destroyed were actually empty buildings rigged to collapse on Israeli soldiers. Of course these important facts were left out of Palestinian and European media outlets.

Kofi Anan cancelled the investigation after he discovered that he had been lied to. The Palestinian and European media outlets embarrassed the United Nations and everyone who condemned Israel based upon faulty, unprofessional media reporting.

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In another situation, the Europeans jumped on a story about about a 12 year-old young man named Mohammed Al-Dura who was supposedly killed in a fire fight between Palestinian terrorists and Israeli soldiers on Sept 30th 2000. A French Television station claimed to capture the whole thing on video. Subsequent investigations revealed that the whole thing had been staged, including Al-Dura's "death."

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In October 2000, the New York Times ran an story and showed graphic pictures of a young man badly beaten with his entire head covered in blood and a rather irate Israeli soldier behind him in the background holding a police baton. The caption read "A Palestinian and an Israeli soldier on the Temple Mount." The implication was that the young Palestinian man had been beaten and bloodied by the Israeli soldier. It was meant to be further proof of Israeli brutality against the Palestinians. Every media outlet in Europe ran this picture as well, as did the Palestinian and Arab media outlets.

Turns out the picture was not at all what the media claimed it to be. The young man in the foreground was not a Palestinian, but an American Jewish college student named Tuvia Grossman who had come to Israel to attend Yeshiva. The picture has a sign in the background written in Hebrew. It was a sign for a gas station. So, it did not happen on the Temple mount as the caption said. Tuvia was not beaten by an Israeli soldier. The Israeli soldier in the picture was rushing to his aid because Tuvia had just been assaulted by a pack of Palestinian murderers, who had already murdered Tuvia's friends, and he had just managed to escape and make it to the gas station where some soldiers had stopped to refuel their vehicles. Neither the New York Times or the other media outlets would apologize publicly. When the New York Times under extreme pressure finally agreed to correct the caption in the picture, They reprinted the picture and it read "An Israeli soldier and an American college student." They refused to admit the student was a Jewish victim of Palestinian terrorism, they refused to admit that they got the story wrong. Most of the British/European media outlets refused to run the picture with the new caption.

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So Jim, you can run all the media outlets you want from Europe and such. They have a history of inaccurate reporting where Israel is concerned. They have shown a penchant for any story as long as it bashes Israel. It doesn't have to be accurate, it just has to be anti-Israel.

I am sure the Al-Jezeera message board would also find your perspectives refreshing.

[Guest Bro David™]

[sandy]

Shiloh357,

I was living in Israel when the incidents you spoke of happened and I can back up what you are saying 100% !! In fact even before I read your post I was thinking about the Mohhammed Al-Dura

story and the vicious way it was misrepresented through the media to the world. I can remember how in the Old City many shop keepers had a picture of this young boy hanging in their store with very anti-Israel things written below the pic. This specific incident was used early in the intifada to fuel the fire of hatred for Israel. First of all why did that father go home, get his son, and then deliberately take him to a place that was in an uproar? Those riots by the Palestinians were not spontaneous they were well planned and the men in the towns knew they were going to happen, so I conclude that Mohammed Al-Dura's father knew exactly what was going on in that place on that day.

He chose to put his son in harm's way. Secondly, after an extensive investigation , it was proven that it was NOT possible that this young boy was killed by the IDF. The IDF would have had to have magic bullets for them to traverse the course needed to kill the boy. The innocence of the IDF was known by the French camaraman who shot the scene and he chose to keep quiet and allow the world to believe the worst about Israel, because reporting the story their way was much more inciteful therefore creating more incidents to report on. Back to the idea that these situations were planned out.... it is a fact that the major news reporters would be approached in resturants and bars, while they were relaxing, and given flyers telling them at a certain place and at a specific time there was going to be an incident and that the reporters should be there early enough to get a good spot to report from. Often in these riots you would see the red cresent ambulances screeching to a halt in the midst of the rioters to 'supposdedly'

retrieve an injured Palestinian when in fact frequently these ambulances carried fresh Jihadists to the front line and extra weapons for all. If the Israelis did not allow the ambulances through they were accused of human rights violations and of being the worst kind of evil for not allowing the injured to be picked up. If they did let them through they were attacked by the new warriors with renewed vigor and were faced with even more fire power. There was no choice that wouldn't turn out bad for the Israelis.

And who can ever forget the two reservists who got turned around while driving and ended up in Ramallah? They were treated in a manner that goes beyond barbaric !!! They were beaten to death in the police station by a mob and aided by the police. Does anyone remember the one terrorist standing in the window holding up his bloody hands for the crowd below to see? While they were beating and killing these men one of the reservists cell phone rang. A member of the mob answered it , it was the soldiers wife on the phone looking for her husband, the Palestinian laughingly told her that they were killing her husband at that very moment and that she would never see him alive again. Then they tied the bodies of the men to the back of a car and pulled them through the streets of town - so mutilating their bodies that identification had to made through dental records and dna.

Once I actually saw a report on tv about a man who the Israelis had 'supposedly' killed in a riot. This man was being carried out of the hospital on a stretcher (with the obligatory mob), as they came through the door the stretcher was being jostled and slightly tipped, I saw the DEAD man reach out his hand and grab the door jamb to keep from sliding off the stretcher. That one was so outrageous that I had to laugh. I was sure that the truth was so obvious that the reporters would say something, but no they proceeded to tell the story of this man's heroic last days and his martrys death ! Unbelievable !!!

Oh, and when the truth about Mohammed Al-Dura's death became a known fact why wasn't there the same level of reporting the truth as there had been reporting a lie?

These are just a small portion of many many such situations.

I am not saying that all Palestinians are bad terrorists or even that they all have the mob mentality. It would be wrong to generalize to that extent. However, it is dangerous for a Palestinian to have a differing viewpoint than the PA - hamas -islamic jihad- al-aksa martyrs brigade - etc.. thinking differently can get them killed for being an Israeli collaborator. This is the situation that Shiloh's professor found himself in ( escape or die ). I'm glad that he and his family were able to escape. Let's remember though that they needed to escape from the PA and not the Israelis.

While we lived there we worked with a ministry that helped the poor. This ministry has the largest food bank in Jerusalem, giving away over 2 tons of food per Day ! The majority of our food distribution is to Jewish orgnizations and individuals. However, before the intifada started we gave food to some places in Bethlehem and other Palestinian areas. When the intifada started the people in charge of these areas began to confiscate the food and divert it to the terrorists and away from the orphans, blind students, and other Christian Arabs that we were helping. Then they finally told us to not bring food, but to give them the equivilant value in cash. Being a benevolent organization does not mean we are stupid and so we declined the offer to be fleeced !! This situation made it clear once again that these terrorists not only hate the Jews and Christians, but they don't even have a sense of loyalty to their own fellow Palestinians.

It is indeed a spiritual battle and it rages day and night. We must interceed diligently for the region and pray faithfully as we are taught in the Word --- Pray for the peace of Jerusalem !! We are not talking about a false peace or a phoney peace dictated by the world , EU, UN , but the peace of Yeshua that is perfect !!

[nebula]

Welcome to the Boards, Sandy!

Thank you for your insight and words!

Praise the Lord He preserved your life!

[sandy]

Thank you Nebula for your kind words ! I am grateful for God's protection. All of these experiences taught me to be more faithful in my prayer life !!

[sandy]

Yod,

I just realized that I didn't answer your question. I do not know Roni Netzer. Sorry. My sister and her husband still live in Gilo. They've been there for several years. I'll try to remember to ask them if they know Roni next time I talk to them.

[Guest yod]

It's not a big deal, sandy....just wondering. He is the best tour guide in all of Israel though...

There are stories all over the internet about Israeli's bulldozing Palestinian homes and farmland, to make room for Jewish Settlements. Are they all lies?

Nah....only 99.9999% of them

I have a few Palestinian friends. All of them will tell you that they left home because of PALESTINIAN oppression.

I've told the story of Wajheed and Mohammed a couple times here before. They came to America after the Oslo agreements were signed...made a lot of money...decided to go home (Bethlehem) and help their people.

Mohammed was kidnapped by Arafat's henchmen for extortion money. When he didn't give them enough cash they broke every rib in his body until he died. Wajheed still cries when he hears the name Arafat.

He loves the jewish people because they have always treated him kindly.

But you won't find that in the BBC or CNN because it doesn't sell

[sandy]

Yod,

If Roni is a tour guide then I'm sure my brother-in-law will know him as he is also a tour guide.