De Fence matters – On Israel’s Security and Barriers

Hanoch Ne’eman, Jerusalem 8 Iyar 5782

The Israeli government recently, in April, allocated more money toward what is called the security barrier. This it seems was a response to the visit of the State Ombudsman to parts of the fence, after recent terror attacks, where he reported there were dozens of holes in the fence, including holes one could drive through. 

An MK said that the holes have long been known to the defense establishment. So why did they let the holes go unaddressed? Because that’s the way normal life works. Most people are thankfully not terrorists, and people have to get places, and they don’t like waiting in lines to do so. 

It’s a similar reason why the US Mexican border is not such a success. People like using cheap Mexican labor in the United States, particularly in the Southwest close to Mexico. 

The Old City of Jerusalem has a wall around it built some 450 years ago. And now today, in a comic tragic way, parts of modern, expanded Jerusalem also have a wall around them, as well as many other areas of the country. 

I think people have to think of what they want this country to look like long term. Do you want separate enclaves, separated by walls and guarded gates? Or do you want an integrated society, with Jews and Arabs living in all areas of the country, under Israeli sovereignty? With Israeli Army and Police forces responsible for security? I myself want the second option. 

The good people are not going to feel loved or wanted if they are barricaded behind a wall. And the bad people are still going to find the ways to attack you. 

So how, without a wall, do you deter terrorism? As I said, by the normal means of Police and Security Services. What encourages terrorism? When the terrorists are rewarded. Which is what has been going on since the Palestinian Authority was created over a quarter century ago. 

If a terrorist knows his family will be rewarded for his act of terrorism, he will be more likely to commit it. If he knows they will not, he will be less likely to commit it. 

Therefore, perhaps the way to build a safe society in Israel, is not to pour more money into fences, but to end the Palestinian Authority, and rise to the occasion of governing all of Israel properly.   

I am moving out to Tekoa soon, and I am distraught when I travel there I pass entrances to Arab areas where large red signs say it is dangerous and forbidden for Israelis to enter. That is not our dream for a Jewish homeland. My dream, at least, as I said, is a country under full Israeli control, where anyone can live or travel anywhere in the country. Is that not what a free country is about?  

Some people may respond and say, yes, in retrospect it was a mistake to create the Palestinian Authority, but now that we did, what can we do? The only way to dismantle it would be by force, against strong opposition, i.e. war. 

To which I would make several responses. One, consider someone who wants to drive from Jerusalem to Bnei Brak. Part way there he asks someone along the road how much more to Bnei Brak, and is told one hour. Two hours later, he is still not there, and stops again to ask how much further. Three hours. How can that be, he asks? Two hours ago they said it was an hour away? You must have made a wrong turn he is told, you are now passing the Ramon Crater in the Negev. 

This driver, although further away from his destination, is at least in one respect better off than he was two hours ago, because now at least he is traveling in the right direction and will eventually reach his goal. 

And secondly, you don’t have to start a war to stop the Palestinian Authority. Just stop funding them. Let them temporarily import their goods duty free, don’t collect the duties and then don’t transfer them to them, and they won’t have any money. They have no system of taxation like we do. Then they will have have no money to pay terrorists’ families, or to pay their employees. It will disintegrate like the bad dream it is. At the same time we should also stop collecting import duties on all imports to Israel, because if we don’t, then the Palestinian Authority will import things cheaper than Israelis, and sell them to Israelis at a cheaper price, like is happening now with the added tax on disposable cutlery and dishes, which is only in Israel and not in the Palestinian Authority. 

Photo credit: James McGrath, patheos.com

Still Paying for the PA

Hanoch Ne’eman 30 Tishrei 5782 Yerushalayim 

Our Brothers’ Blood

On the sixth day of Sukkot this year (5782), which was the first day of the week, IDF soldiers carried out arrests of suspected terrorists in Yehuda and Shomron. In one of three operations, they were fired upon. and two soldiers were wounded. One was struck by nine bullets. It seems hopefully, he will survive, though one of his lungs was damaged and lost! Another near miracle that took place was that a grenade he was carrying was hit by a bullet, but it did not explode, because it was a special type of grenade made by Israel which does not explode when hit by bullets. 

The bravery of these soldiers is what, with help from Above, keeps us safe from our enemies within our borders. The ridiculous thing is, that when our soldiers go into these areas, they are operating in the Palestinian Authority. That is part of the Oslo Accords, that Israel has “overall security responsibility” for these areas. Which means, in practice, that when we feel we need to, we go into these areas to try to make arrests, etc. But when we do, oftentimes, the locals resist. That is what happened last year when a soldier was killed by a block dropped from a roof on soldiers operating in a town in the territories. The PA legacy, bequeathed to us from the 2nd Rabin Government, gives us the worst of both worlds. We have overall security responsibility, meaning we are defending them for free, but they feel they are somehow in control of their areas, so we have to work to keep order there at great risk and difficulty. 

The same day our brave brothers were carrying out these arrests, Arabs throughout Israel were doing things to protest our protecting ourselves. I mean violent things. I was out in Gush Eztion, walking across a crosswalk with my companion near Kfar Etzion, and a white utility vehicle with PA plates sped up toward us to scare us. We jumped out of the road. 

The junction there at the Gush Junction is manned by armed soldiers, helmets on their heads, because of all the stabbing and driving attacks which take place there. 

Creating the PA was a mistake we pay for every day. 

Palestinian Authority

Hanoch Ne’eman 24 Tishri 5781 Yerushalayim 

News item: HaModia 16 Tammuz 5780 (July 8th):

Israel transfers some $190 million a month to the Palestinian Authority. This money stems from duties on imports that reach the Palestinian controlled areas in Yehuda, Shomron, and Gaza (Yesha) via Israeli ports.

Last month the PA snubbed the taxes because of annexation talk. 

PA Finance Minister Shukri Bishera said many of the PA’s 132,000 employees would see their wages cut by half.

Comments:

First of all, it would be interesting to know what those 132,000 employees do. If anyone has any info on that, please let me know. I am not saying they are not doing anything, just that I would like to know what. 

Secondly, and much more importantly, look at this reality: All the money the PA has (except from donations from other countries), comes from Israel! They are not collecting their own taxes, as far as I know. This is part of the absurd situation Israel created from the Oslo Accord. A normal government, even a state government like in the fifty states of America, raises its own tax money. That is not an easy thing to do. As the IRS or the Israel Tax Authoriy. But the PA, this monster we ourselves created, doesn’t even do that. Israel is collecting these import duties and giving them to the PA. Which is sort of ridiculous too, because Israel is protecting these areas from outside invasion, so the residents there should pay some taxes or duties to Israel. 

The Palestinian Authority, in my humble opinion, is a charade, which we ourselves are enabling. 

Haifa Port. photo: cruisemappers.com