Meanwhile ....

Meanwhile … 

Over 7,000 acres of Israeli farmland have been burned. Over 10,000 tires are on fire at the border fence with prevailing winds heading across the border into Israel. Terrorist snipers exchange gunfire with Israeli troops through the border fence. Hundreds of Gazan residents, children included, with terrorists among them (urging them, perhaps threatening them), storm the border fence, attempting to knock it down to gain access to Israeli territory. A member of Doctors without Borders, armed with explosive devices and a semi-automatic weapon, attempts to break through the border fence while firing on Israeli troops. Hamas, an acknowledged international terror organization, sends its soldiers to the border area to coordinate attacks on the border fence with the intent on sending Hamas terrorists into Israel if the border fence is breached. All  this occurred in the past month. 

Gazans have lost their lives during these terrorist attacks. Israelis have lost their lives during these terrorist attacks. Since 2005, when Israel unilaterally removed all Israelis from the Gaza strip, there have been terror attacks from within Gaza aimed at civilian and military locations within Israel. Communities in Israel near the border fence have been subjected to rocket attacks almost daily. Hamas, who took control of Gaza in 2007, immediately established a terror network in Gaza, violently destroying any semblance of community or government, which the Palestinian Authority (PA) had begun to establish. Granted, even the PA developed rockets that were fired into Israel almost immediately after Israel vacated the area. Hamas, though, being even more militant, killed many PA  members in 2007 when Hamas took control. 

One of the Hamas' leaders in Gaza said that many of the rocket attacks into Israeli cities are timed for the morning hours, “when children head to school” to increase likelihood of more fatalities. Hamas places rocket launchers on the roofs of hospitals and schools in Gaza. Weapons are stored in homes in Gaza, in densely populated civilian areas. The goal, as stated by a Hamas leader, is to increase civilian deaths in Gaza so the press can accuse Israel of committing war crimes. 

The press is no longer infatuated with the stories at the border, until something sensational occurs, usually from the Israeli side. The press uses words like ‘peaceful protestors’ and ‘activists demonstrating the occupation’ to describe hundreds of people, some armed, lighting kites on fire to send over the border to burn Israeli land; hundreds, if not more, running toward the internationally recognized border of a sovereign nation with explosive devices, wire cutters, semi-automatic weapons, with the intent of entering Israel and killing Israelis. This doesn’t get news. Not newsworthy enough. Same old same old. If it is reported, it’s categorized as more protests against the occupation. 

An Israeli soldier kills a heavily armed person (with weaponry and explosive devices) as that person approaches the border fence, firing at the Israeli soldiers; that gets headline news because the terrorist turns out to be a nurse from Doctors without Borders. Something dramatic. It is reported that this nurse acted alone. Sure. He just decided to somehow acquire explosive devices, semi-automatic weapons and ammunition, and made his way to the border fence, unaided, and began to cut his way through, unaided, and at the same time began firing his weapon and throwing his explosive devices toward Israeli soldiers. Unaided. Alone. Press reports do not explain this. He was a medic, cut down by Israeli soldiers while he was demonstrating. 

Suicide bombers, terrorists who die while attacking and killing Israelis know that their families will receive payments from Hamas for their heroism, their martyrdom. I’m sure this terrorist knew this. Was this terrorist told of this? Was this terrorist encouraged? Hamas is engaged in a battle for the hearts and minds of the weak minded. Weak Arabs, whose lives in Gaza are made worse through the heartless way that Hamas ‘leads’ the government in Gaza. Weak others, who read the press reports and believe that Hamas’ aim is to provide relief to oppressed peoples by attacking the big powerful Israel. Weak minded people everywhere who do not understand. Hamas uses terror on their own people, they use children to hide behind, they manipulate their own press (which is picked up by the mainstream media as truth) and Hamas’ aim is to destroy Israel, “from the river to the sea” (the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea - check google map and see what country lies there - Israel). 

While much of the world is overwhelmed with political intrigue in the United States, and much of the front page news focuses on tweets and ridiculously absurd statements made by the US President, Israel continues to endure violent, constant rocket attacks from Gaza. While the people eat up the ridiculous ‘reality show’ that is American politics, the terror campaign from Gaza intensifies, with nary a sound bite on the TV, or a brief article in the press. 

Meanwhile, Israelis do what is needed to protect their land, protect their sovereignty, protect their people. 

Neal Elyakin

Ann Arbor, MI

August 31, 2018 

Gaza ... again

Gaza … again.
So it goes.
Back and forth, back and forth. Who’s to blame? Who started it? Which side has more responsibility for whatever is happening now?
In 2005, under intense pressure from many in Israel not to, Ariel Sharon, at the time the Prime Minister of Israel, disengaged from Gaza and removed every single Israeli Jew, vacated every single settlement and village that Israel built in Gaza. Over 8,000 Israeli Jews left (some forcibly) over 21 settlements, leaving behind an infrastructure that was earning tens of millions of dollars (greenhouses that produced exportable fruits, vegetables and flowers). At the time, the hope was that the Palestinians would take this on and build on the existing infrastructure that would help them build a nation. On August 22, 2005, the last Israeli Jew left Gaza.
On September 23, 2005, just a month after the disengagement, missiles were fired from Gaza into Israel. It was determined that the missiles originated from a school in Gaza City - the roof of the school building had been converted into a rocket launch pad.
The hope for the future of the Palestinians, the greenhouses, were looted and destroyed; metal parts taken to build rockets.
For the next thirteen years, to today, Gaza has been the source of violent expressions of terror aimed at Israel. Tunnels that went under the border fence (a border fence that predated the 1967 war, a border established in 1947) were dug to ferry terrorists into Israel with the aim to kill and kidnap Jews.
Gaza fell into the hands of Hamas, an internationally described terrorist organization, with the clearly stated aim of killing all the Jews in Israel and wiping Israel off the map. This became the ‘government’ of Gaza. Hamas accused Israel of war crimes, of keeping the residents of Gaza in poverty, oppressing the residents of Gaza with hardships, ignoring the humanity needs of the million plus people living there. Photos of the hardship were published, ruined buildings, destroyed schools and hospitals, little working infrastructure.
Other images also surfaced; those of modern malls, with Beverly Hills type stores and restaurants, large private homes with fancy cars. Israel claimed, as did many European countries, that millions of dollars were being funneled into Gaza to help the population but instead ended up with the Hamas leadership, not with the people. Hundreds of trucks, every day, arrive at the border control checkpoints into Gaza with medical supplies, building supplies, food, and other goods, transferring these goods to trucks belonging to Hamas; goods that disappeared from the people. Tunnels were discovered under the border to Israel. In those tunnels, Israel discovered much of the building supplies were used to support the tunnel construction. Medicine and medical supplies never made it to the hospitals in the refugee camps (yes, Gaza maintains refugee camps; that’s another story) but the clinics next to the fancy malls and homes were well stocked.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
In 1995, the US Congress authorized the US Government to move the United States Embassy from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Act, passed by the US Congress, affirms that every sovereign nation has the right to designate its capital. Israel did so in declaring Jerusalem its capital back in 1948.
Every President since 1995 has signed a waiver, delaying the move on National Security grounds. In February, 2018, the current President of the US declared that the US would open its embassy in Jerusalem by May 14, 2018.
For several months, there was little response from anywhere. Some began, in February and March, to voice opposition to the move, arguing that the move would not move peace negotiations forward between the Palestinian Authority (the Palestinian government in the West Bank) and Israel.
On March 30, the Hamas leadership began what they described as the great march of return, which is meant to demonstrate and force Israel to acknowledge and accept returning Palestinians to return to their former homes, homes they either left or were displaced from in 1947 and/or in 1967. On March 30, large demonstrations were held near the Gaza border fence. Thousands gathered in tents and marched toward the border. Tires were burned by the thousands, creating thick smoke which hid terrorists who fired into Israel at soldiers on the other side of the fence. Others attempted to breach the area near the fence, throwing explosive devices toward the fence, attempting to blow holes in the fence. Others began rushing toward the fence. Violence continued. Every day since the end of April, violence erupted from the camps set up near various locations along the border fences.
Hamas displays daily the names of those killed as innocent protestors. Israel publishes names of terrorists killed attempting to break through the border fence. Hamas claims indiscriminate shooting from Israelis result in dozens of innocent protestors killed or wounded. Israel publishes video accounts showing terrorists shooting from behind groups of people standing near the fence. Independent investigations have established that Hamas members regularly force citizens into buses they arrange, bring them to the border area and walk behind them toward the fence. Many children, according to these sources, are brought to the border area and told to run toward the fence area.
Israel counters the arguments against deadly use with the argument that it has no choice but to defend its sovereignty, as would any nation facing thousands of people attempting to forcibly break through an established border fence; especially a group (Hamas) whose literal mission is to kill Israelis and drive Israel into the sea.
Is the new violence a reaction to the US embassy being moved to Jerusalem? Is Hamas trying a new strategy, using massive numbers of people, burning tires, and daily demonstrations to mask their efforts to breach the border in order to gain access to Israel to once again, carry out their mission to kill Jews? The response by Israel will be to protect its borders, its people, from a terrorist organization, regardless of whether that organization is the recognized ‘government’ in place.
There’s an old saying that “the Arab nations can lose many wars against Israel but Israel cannot lose even one war against the Arab world.” Another one goes something like this; if the Arab countries put down their weapons and recognize Israel, there will be peace. If Israel puts down its weapons, there will no longer be Israel.
Back and forth. Who’s right? Who owns the problem? We all do.
Until and unless both sides recognize that Israel exists and Israel welcomes a Palestinian nation next door, with secure and peaceful borders, we will live blaming each other for the continued violence. Can Israel survive like this? It has no choice. Hamas gives Israel no choice but to defend its borders, its citizens, from an invasion meant to kill Israelis and destroy the nation.

Fascism on Display 

Seventy two years ago, the Second World War ended. Surrounded and trapped, Adolf Hitler took the coward’s way out and killed himself. The Allied forces were victorious, after over 5 years of war, incurring countless deaths, unimaginable suffering and devastation, and the horrendous crimes against humanity that the nazi war machine, under the direction of Hitler, committed. 

Some estimates say that over 60 million people were killed during the war, which in 1940 terms, represented 3% of the world’s population. The fascists lost. The nazis lost. The Japanese lost. As a result of the war, it is estimated that the USSR lost about 26 million people during the war (soldiers and civilians), estimated to be about 13% of the 1940 USSR population. 

The world also lost over 55% of the world wide Jewish population; the Jews were specifically targeted by the nazis for complete extermination. A goal of the nazi machine, besides creating a thousand year ‘reich’ or empire, was to eliminate the sub-human race of Jews. Racism, specifically antisemitism, was the central feature of the nazi regime under Hitler. The master race, the thousand year empire, lasted 12 years. Those 12 years witnessed the worst world wide devastation ever. To this day, no monuments were erected anywhere to memorialize any of the nazi leaders.

In the United States, 1865 saw the end of the bloodiest war our young democracy had ever seen; a war fought over slavery. Southern states wanted to keep their way of life, which included owning slaves, and the government of the United States (the northern states) was against slavery, under the leadership of President Lincoln. Between April 2, 1861 and April 9, 1865, about 700,000 people died, split almost equally, depending on what resources you use, between the two opposing sides. For the next 40 years, no monuments were erected anywhere in the healing United States memorializing any of the Confederate leaders. There were a few statues built in the late 1890s in places liked Alabama and South Carolina. 

Suddenly, beginning in 1906, a spate of monuments, privately paid for, sprung up throughout the south. By the 1920s and 30s, more monuments honoring Confederate leaders were installed in places like Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee and North Carolina, just to name a few. The bulk of monuments erected were funded by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Most were erected between 1909 and 1930. 

The United Daughters of the Confederacy was established in 1896. It promoted the ideals of the KKK in its early years for its heroic accomplishments toward anglo-saxon supremacy. These monuments were not erected as a post-war remembrance honoring heroes. For 40 years after the end of the war, no statues or monuments were erected anywhere. It is curious, perhaps not so curious, that the spate of monuments and statues started at the same time that ‘Jim Crow’ laws began to be enacted in southern states. For reference, in 1896, there was a landmark US Supreme Court decision (Plessy v Ferguson) which essentially allowed individual states to enact brutal segregationist laws. Between 1896 and 1910, ten of the eleven former Confederate states passed new constitutions or amendments that effectively disenfranchised most blacks. So, starting in 1896, and continuing for decades after, southern states began limiting blacks in all sorts of ways, which precipitated a mass exodus of blacks to northern states. 

By the early years of the 20th century, those northern states were struggling to absorb all these people, and the black population, along with many white supporters and leaders in government, looked to ways to help. It is interesting to note that in 1909, when hundreds of statues and monuments were put up (almost all paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (the NAACP) was established (on February 12, 1909 to be precise - the centennial birthday of Abraham Lincoln). It is also interesting that in 1910, the National Urban League was established, created to help black families who were flocking north (called the ‘Black Migrations’ at the time) integrate into the cities and towns of the northern states. 

The south continued to be free to segregate and demonize the black population living there. The KKK and white supremacists had almost free rein to persecute, and kill, blacks for almost no reason at all. Indeed, between 1900-1910, at least 790 blacks were lynched or burned alive in the US; almost 600 people are lynched or burned alive during the next decade. Almost all of these murders took place in southern states. 

It is estimated that over 1,500 statues and monuments exist honoring Confederate leaders and soldiers. Almost all of the them were erected as a political response to a cultural shift that went toward helping blacks integrate into America. The Daughters of the Confederacy, who supported and gave honor to the KKK, were less interested in placing statues in the central square than they were in showing the population who had the power. Those statues and monuments were erected as a political message to educate the white folk of those towns and cities to know that the Confederacy lived, that blacks had no power. 

In a convoluted way, the pro-Confederacy supporters melded with the white power and the nazi folk (through the KKK) to create a new master race nazi machine, one that believes the slavery is okay, killing blacks is okay, killing Jews is okay. This machine believes that the focus of the Confederacy and the focus of Hitler align. This is why the images and videos coming out of Virginia show flags of the Confederacy along side nazi flags. This is why the images and videos of the people marching chanting “Jews will not replace us” and “you will not replace us” as they taunt blacks and stand opposite synagogues in full militia garb, carrying automatic weapons, and chanting that they will ‘burn it down’ (referring to the synagogue). 

This is why, when a deranged nazi drove his car into a crowd and murdered an innocent peaceful ant-fascist marcher, other nazis saluted the murder as necessary and correct. 

Being labeled an anti-fascist should not be a separate stand alone description. A normal state should be defined as being against fascism, being against supremacist movements, being against racial profiling, being against nazis. I’ve read descriptions of white power supremacists clashing with anti-fascists. Shouldn’t that description be that the white power supremacists were clashing with people? “The good people of Charlottesville confronted the Nazi marchers.” “The citizens of Charlottesville marched against the white supremacists.” 

This is not an argument about who’s right, who started it, who had weapons, who had a permit (although I’ve learned that the anti-fascist marchers did indeed have a permit to march on that Saturday). It’s about right and wrong. It’s right to stand up to hate, bigotry, fascism, supremacists, nazis. We fought a war against these people, a big war, a world war. The world determined that nazis and the master race mentality should not get any oxygen for survival. We won. The good guys won. The nazis lost. The white power guys lost. 

Supporting and giving comfort to these degenerates, these dangerous bigots, should be called out. We cannot be silent. Elie Weisel (a Holocaust survivor) said “the opposite of love is not hate. It’s indifference.” When the leadership of our own country, the country that went through the horrors of a civil war, and engaged an enemy as terrible as Hitler; when those people who have the responsibility of presiding over this great nation stand silent, or worse, give support to the white power supremacists, the nazis, the fascists by saying they are “fine people” and that there is a moral equivalence between those people and the citizens who stand and march against them; when that happens, we have a responsibility to act. Stand up for our democracy. Stand up for our freedoms. Take a stand. Make a comment; do something. Our president, Donald John Trump, supports racism. His words and inaction prove he supports the white supremacy movement. This cannot continue. 

Neal Elyakin
August 20, 2017
Ann Arbor, MI 

A Mountain of Temples 

I used to go to the Temple Mount when I lived in Israel. There were guards, of course. There were always guards. Israeli guards and Waqf guards. I went not to pray, not to disrupt others’ prayers and not to create disturbances. i went to honor the religion of Islam, and to sight-see one of the most spectacular sites in Jerusalem. As I entered the Dome of the Rock Mosque, I followed the appropriate customs as outlined in the pamphlets I had and the instructions outside. 

The inside of the Mosque was beautiful. People milling around respectfully, some trying to take furtive pictures of the people praying or the ornaments and artwork inside. I went almost every time I visited Jerusalem during those years. My memories of those visits are strong and vivid. The beauty of the colors of the inside walls and ceiling. the pillars, carpeting, tile floors, tiled artwork in the ceiling. A masterpiece of art, sculpture and architecture. 

Belief about the religious significance of this place is fascinatingly coincidental. 

Historically, this place once held the Jewish holy temples, the first one built in 957 BCE by King Solomon, destroyed and then rebuilt as the second temple in 165 BCE. It was then destroyed again in 70 CE by the Romans. The Romans then built their own temple, the Jupiter Capitolinus. Fast forward to 691 CE, when the caliph 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan built the Dome of the Rock on the exact same site, originally built not as a mosque but as a ‘mashhad’ - a shrine for pilgrims. 

Jewish belief holds that this site is where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his only son to God, the place where the Jewish Temples were eventually built. Islam holds that this is the exact spot, called Haram al-Sharif, where the Prophet Muhammad began his night journey to heaven. Christianity believes that this is the site where Jesus first argued against the perceived corruption of the temple, an act that led to his death and the beginning of Christianity. Thus, the Dome of the Rock, the Temple Mount, Haram al-Sharif, sits on a piece of land worshipped, adored, and loved by Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Truly an historic and remarkable piece of real estate. 

I haven’t been inside the Temple Mount since the late 1970s. I’ve been to religious buildings all over Jerusalem; Mosques, Churches, Synagogues. I’ve visited dozens of historical buildings and campuses all over Israel. The beauty of the architecture, the art, the historical significance, the spirituality of the members within - it takes my breath away. 

The utter sadness I feel about the situation in Jerusalem shakes me to my core. Not because I have any religious devotion to the sites, buildings, parcels of land. Not because I think Israel is right, Islam is right, the Waqf is right, or anyone is right, or wrong. I am sad because so many cannot marvel in the majesty of that place. So many cannot walk along the stones and feel the history, enter the holy buildings and breathe in the memories of so many generations, going back thousands of years. Each time I go to Israel, I visit the Western Wall, the remnant of the exterior wall of the Jewish temple. I touch the stones and let my mind wander to what it must have been like to have lived then, to have been part of such history. I feel the same sense of awe of majesty in the ornate churches, mosques and other shrines throughout Israel. 

It is not right. It has never been right, what is going on with the Temple Mount. We have come to a place recently in Israel … and I mean over the past 5o years, where spirituality and religious belief are no longer of the people. They are weapons to use against ‘the other’ - they are instruments of politics. Israel handed over the authority of the Temple Mount to the Waqf in 1967, immediately after taking control of all of Jerusalem in a war. Israel decided that this place, this holy place, should be looked after by those who know about it, those who care about. The Jordanian Waqf, who administered the site prior to the 1967 war, was invited to continue their tasks. Moshe Dayan argued, successfully, that Israel was not interested in changing or destroying the mosques. Indeed, Dayan went against some of the Israeli leaders and prevailed in keeping the Haram al-Sharif completely under the administration of the Waqf. To this day, the Waqf administers the site; of course, Israeli guards stand at all the entrances - but the Waqf controls the site. 

Recently, there has been violence on the Temple Mount. Someone shot and killed two Israeli policemen on the grounds, outside the Dome of the Rock. Israel’s response was to place metal detectors by each of the entrances to the holy site. When I heard this, my immediate response was, wait, aren’t there already metal detectors there? There are metal detectors everywhere in Israel. You must go through a metal detector when you go to the movies, the supermarket, a cafe. At every holy site, there are security systems. It seemed incomprehensible that there weren’t metal detectors at the entrances to one of the most holy sites in Islam, and Judaism. When the outrage started, I began to realize that this was not about security. This was not about protecting pilgrims, guests, tourists, and mosque goers. 

Religion is … excuse me, should be, for all people. The artifacts of belief, the products of passion, the results of hundreds and thousands of years of belief should be something to behold, something to cherish, something to share. In all other places, we look to ensure the safety of the guests, the members, the prayerful. This mountain of temples, where the history of religion began, has been transformed to an ugly, dangerous place where the tiniest spark can create a fire of enormous proportions. What Moshe Dayan did was to give the religious authorities control over sacred places. What has happened since dishonors the religion. It dishonors all who believe and cherish the beauty. My sadness is great. 

Neal Elyakin

Ann Arbor, MI 

August 4, 2017 

Who Owns The Gaza Problem?

I was in Gaza back in 1978. I visited some friends, Israeli friends, who were staying there temporarily. Gaza in 1978 was not much to look at. The residents I encountered were nice enough; shopkeepers, restaurateurs, people on the street. If there was anger toward Jews or Israelis then, it simmered in the background. The people of Gaza went about their lives, perhaps in a state of quiet desperation, perhaps quietly waiting for their ‘time’ to come. 

It came, first with violence in the streets, attacks on the Israeli communities in Gaza; then with terror from the air (the rockets), a ‘war’ (although many would not use the quotation marks I just used) that killed many people from Gaza, as well as Israelis. It continued and escalated when Israel exited from the entire region. Gaza had the opportunity then to re-imagine itself, released from the choke hold that Israel had on it since 1967. I use the phrase choke hold intentionally; the Israeli government felt that controlling the Gaza region was the only way to ensure safety for its citizens - for Israelis. The people of Gaza were second on the priority list. 

Gaza had the opportunity to build a society, a community. The raw materials were there. The people, the human resources, were there. Of course, Israel continued to control most of the borders (remember, Egypt also controlled one border). Of course, Israel maintained a very close eye on everything, even without physically being there. Israel controlled water, electricity, fuel, materials, medicine, food, etc. through border controls. Even with these controls, millions of tons of supplies entered Gaza regularly though the Israeli borders. What happened to those supplies once they entered Gaza was not under Israeli control. That was under the authority of the PA, the Palestinian Authority. The PA was the government in Gaza (and the West Bank). The PA had the opportunity to work with Israel to ensure that their citizens, now free of Israeli control, could build a nation, build a community, build infrastructure, schools, hospitals, homes, roads, businesses. Had they done that, had the PA struck out to re-imagine their world, the world would have cheered them, supported them, partnered with them. Israel was ready to do the same. 

In 2005, Israel completely withdrew from Gaza; dismantling the Israeli communities, removing all the Israelis, some by force. In 2005, the PA had the unique opportunity to create a new nation, to become a middle-eastern Singapore. There was hope. Then Hamas won an election in Gaza in 2006, and in 2007, violently threw the PA out of Gaza (sometimes literally throwing PA officials out of buildings to their death), establishing a Hamas power structure, intent on destroying Israel. Gone was the chance to create a new Gaza. Gone was the chance to invent a middle-eastern Singapore. Instead, Hamas created a middle-eastern Somalia. Israel responded as it needed to respond; to protect its citizens, to protect itself, it tightened controls on Gaza. Hamas didn’t and doesn’t care about building a nation; it didn’t build roads, schools, hospitals, infrastructure. Actually, it did build infrastructure. It built terror tunnels, it built rocket launchers and placed them in schools, hospitals, apartment buildings. Tunnels (using concrete meant for building schools and hospitals) under the border with Egypt to smuggle in arms, explosives, rocket parts, terrorists. Tunnels under the borders with Israel, to sneak into Israel to kill and/or kidnap Jews. 

I recently read someone write that their heart goes out to the people of Gaza. I recently read that we, the civilized world, must care for the welfare of people in Gaza, while at the same time, hold Israel accountable for their role in the suffering of the people in Gaza. I recently read that, while Israel has the right to defend itself, Israel must acknowledge and do something about the suffering of the people in Gaza, that the world has an obligation to hold Israel to account for the way Israel treated and continues to treat the people of Gaza. 

Israel holds itself to account for the harm it causes. But make no mistake, Israel does cause harm to others to live another day. Israel cannot afford to lose a war. Israel cannot lower its guard. Israel does not hesitate when it comes to the safety and security of the State of Israel. There are those in Israel, and elsewhere, who could care less about the suffering of the people of Gaza, of the people of the West Bank. There are, though, many who care. There are many who act to help. There are many who work with the government, with the service agencies, with the PA, to help alleviate the suffering. 

If only. If only we had partners on both sides willing agree to live side by side. If only the Palestinian people threw out the terrorists, elected real leaders who reject terror and accept political compromise, and work to build a just and peaceful society in a Palestine that exists next door to Israel. The narrative that Israel is solely responsible for the suffering in Gaza is incomplete. The problem is that the narrative that is best consumed by the public is one that places the other side in the wrong and their side as the victims being wronged. There’s enough facts and fictions being thrown around by all sides blaming others. If only we all could get over the blame game, accept the fact of Israel’s existence, and accept the need for a Palestine to exist. Unless and until we get there, the problem of Gaza will continue. 

Neal Elyakin

July 20, 2017

Ann Arbor Michigan 

A Flag By Any Other Name

A Flag By Any Other Name

What interests me about flags is that, when we want them to mean something, somehow we can ignore all other facts in favor of our own beliefs. Flags have been a flash point for thousands of years; “rally around the flag” is yelled to inspire nationalism, patriotism, and the ‘fighting spirit.” “Showing the colors” instills pride, a sense of belonging, a call to arms. Even pirates use the “Jolly Roger” flag to inspire their nefarious fellows; a bad guys’ nationalism. 

I had an interesting experience recently about flags. At my home, I proudly fly two flags. I have an American flag positioned under my central window, hanging day and night (some times, like during these days leading up to the fourth of July, I stick little flags in the ground along the driveway as well). The other flag I proudly fly is the flag of the State of Israel. This flag is off to the side, near the garage. It is clearly visible to all who pass by. AS a matter of fact, I use the flag to help people find my house (“it’s the house with the Israeli flag by the garage”) - as there are many homes with American flags, but I’m the only house with an Israeli flag in my immediate neighborhood.  

I have had many guests in my home. I have held parties for friends, fundraising events for political candidates, and meetings of groups that I belong to. In so many years, only a few people ever mentioned the Israeli flag. To be fair, while I was running for local elected office, a particular member of the community who didn’t care for me (because I flew the Israeli flag) brought it up in public forums that I was a Pro-Israeli Zionist and the flag proved it. Well, of course I’m a Pro-Israeli Zionist; I care deeply about the State of Israel and as a Zionist, I support the State of Israel, having lived there for several years. 

Well, after all these years of displaying my flags, a comment was recently made that raised several flags (pardon the pun) for me. I was hosting a political event for a candidate recently, and I invited many neighbors and friends. There was a very nice turnout with over 30 people from the neighborhood and some other friends who attended. Many of these neighbors had never been to my house before. After the candidate spoke and after the Q&A, one of my neighbors approached me and asked to speak with me privately. 

“I have to talk about something that is uncomfortable” my neighbor said. I was interested, as this neighbor is known to me and I consider him a friend, even though we don’t know each other very well. He supported my own candidacy, I support his efforts in the community, and we’ve met and talked at various times over the past several years. He told me that when he and his wife approached my home that day, his wife told him that she would not “enter the house because of the flag” and she promptly turned around and went home. He did attend the event primarily because he had some things he wanted to say to the candidate and this was a good opportunity. I asked him about this, I asked him why his wife didn’t come in, and that I would have been happy to talk with her about my reasons for flying the flag. He said that his wife was “part Palestinian” and seeing the flag was disturbing to her, that it offended her. 

He offered no other reasons for her refusal to enter my home. Was she so offended at the sight of the Star of David that she was repelled enough to turn away? Did she believe that inside the home she would be assaulted with Pro-Israeli rhetoric? This was a political event for a candidate, and this was a flag of a legitimate nation, recognized by the world body. I am a Jew. I lived in Israel. I support the existence of the State of Israel and I choose to demonstrate that with a flag of that nation. Do not people of German descent fly the German flag? Although I know what happened in Germany many years ago, I would not hesitate to enter a home that displays the German national flag. 

It is now I who am offended; does this woman believe that Israel's national flag, recognized by the world body as a legitimate nation with all the rights of any other nation, and the flag is the recognized symbol of that nation. Does she believe that by entering my home, she is making a statement recognizing the legitimacy of the State of Israel, and by refusing to enter my home, she is making a statement that she refuses to accept the legitimacy of this recognized nation of the world? I can think of no other reason why someone would refuse to enter a home simply because of a flag flying outside a home. 

A US flag, a symbol of our nation, flies outside my home. I honor the flag, light it, take care of it, and replace it when it gets old and tattered. I am a proud American, proud of the nation into which I was born, proud of the global work by our country to advance freedom and peace in the world. I do not always agree with policies and actions of the United States, but I still fly the flag. 

I also fly the flag of my ancestral home. I honor that flag as well. I take care of that flag, replacing it when it gets tattered and old. I am proud of Israel, proud of the nation of my historical roots, proud of the global work done by Israel to advance freedom and peace in the world. I do not always agree with the policies and actions of Israel, but I still fly the flag. 

No nation is perfect. No nation does everything correctly. Every nation trips, just like each one of us. But to deny the existence of a recognized sovereign nation is wrong. My friend's wife is wrong. Regardless of her politics, she is wrong. I am Pro-Israel, I am Pro-Peace, I am Pro-Palestine. I want to see two nations existing side by side in peace and cooperation. Can my friend's wife say the same? if she does, why then would she refuse to enter my home? I would wager that she doesn't. It is disturbing to me that my flag elicits such hatred in her. Then again, at least I know where this woman stands; she stands against the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Israel and her neighbors in the Palestinian Authority. Perhaps I can talk with her, convince her of my argument that one can be Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestine and Pro-Peace, in spite of the fact that I fly the Israeli flag outside my home. Then again, maybe not.

June 17, 2014

Neal Elyakin 

The NRA has made public their response to the massacre of 20 first graders along with 6 school employees. The NRA wants every school building in America to employ an armed guard. This is the answer to gun violence in schools; insert more guns into the schools. 

It is not surprising that the NRA would make such a suggestion. What is surprising is the lack of outrage; no leaders in front of the cameras exclaiming the ridiculousness of the suggestion. The best the President could muster is appointing his Vice President to look into the matter. 

The United States is one of the most violent countries on the planet. Over 30,000 people are killed with firearms in this country each year. Over half of those shot to death are suicides (some of the suicides are the mass killers who take their own lives after snuffing out the lives of others first). But even given that horrific fact, that still leaves the US with about 15,000 people killed by firearms each year. 

So far this year alone, the US has had seven mass killings. Since the Sandy Hook massacre, there have already been over 100 additional deaths attributed to handguns in the US. 

There are over 300 million people who live in the US, there are an estimated 270 million privately owned firearms; the US is rated number one in privately owned firearms in the world. In the US, there is no federal regulation that requires a privately sold gun to be registered nor to require the buyer of such a weapon to pass any checks at all. Individual states can legislate/control guns; indeed, states with stricter gun control laws have fewer deaths from gun-related violence. 

In poll after poll, the citizens of the US say over and over again that regulations on the sale and ownership of weapons is needed; by an overwhelming margin, background checks for all gun sales, requiring gun registration for all gun sales (there’s a strong advocacy for a national gun ownership database). Almost 60% want to ban assault type semi-automatic weapons and over 60% want to ban any type of high capacity clips, like the one used recently in Sandy Hook. Of course, almost everyone agrees that mentally ill people and felons should not have access to guns. The problem with that is if there is no regulation on personally sold weapons, who’s to know? 

There are those who say that more guns in the hands of our citizens will result in less crime; well, the research doesn’t hold up ... the Harvard Injury Control Research Center studied guns and homicide in the US and the results are startling. They found that gun availability increases homicide rates. They studied states with more gun ownership and found the homicide rate higher in those states than in states with more regulations and less guns. 

Wayne LaPierre, the NRA representative who called for armed guards in schools, mentioned Israel as his model. Unfortunately, he didn’t do his research well; he said that Israel placed those guards to respond to school shootings. That’s not true. In 1974, Palestinian terrorists attacked a school killing 22 children. In 2007, a Palestinian killed 8 in a religious seminary. Those two incidents reflect the sum total of mass killings in schools in Israel. The Israeli response to armed guards at schools (and by the way at restaurants, movie houses, parking lots, train stations, etc.) is due to a terrorist issue. Israel’s private gun ownership regulations are very strict; a citizen must pass many tests to own a gun privately, and all such guns are registered by the government. 

We need to get the guns off the street. We don’t need to eliminate all legally sold and held weapons, but we don’t need military style weapons sold privately, we don’t need assault weapons at all in private hands, and we certainly don’t need high-capacity clips, armor piercing rounds, or other military grade weapons. Gun enthusiasts can collect rifles for hunting and handguns all they want ... with proper checks and registrations. 

The answer won’t come from Washington, as much as we would like it to. The answer needs to come from us. We need a Candy Lightner for gun control. We need someone to step up, someone like Ms. Lightner, who started MADD, to rouse the indignation in all of us that guns need to be minimized in this country. We need to create the grassroots effort that affects legislation, both at a state level and especially at the Federal level, to enact gun control policy that will get the crazy weapons off the street.