Gilad Shalit

So here I am, reluctantly returning to my blog, after spending all morning reading articles and reports on the march that Gilad Shalit’s family has created in Israel.

My heart breaks for this family. I am crazy for my kids. I have three children. Two are in Israel. My daughter, 17 this august, is with me here in the states, but she drives. I am crazy for the safety of my kids. Even with prayers constantly asking the Almighty for His protection, I still worry constantly about them, about my boys in Israel, about my daughter driving . I am obsessed about their safety: has she really put her cell phone away in the car? does she remember about my no texting rule? and for my boys: do they know to be extra careful when walking in Jerusalem (Israel ranks very high in automobile accidents, G-d forbid) and where are they going for Shabbos … is the area safe?

I can’t even imagine Gilad’s family’s pain, not knowing where their son is, not knowing what he has had to endure the past four years at the hands of those demons… if he has been hurt, if he is still alive….

To prevent myself for becoming a further annoyance on the many news reports I visited, and through the many comments I posted, I am reluctantly using my blog to vent. Maybe I should have done this in the first place.

The first comment I posted was that we should give Hamas two months to give us back Gilad, at which time we would transport all the Arabs in Israel to Gaza if he wasn’t returned as a healthy young man:

“these people only know how to play dirty .... like (their demands for) hundreds of Palestinian terrorist prisoners in exchange for one IDF soldier... i don't even know what their specific demands are now .... but even hundreds to one is bizarre .... why doesn't Israel call the shots first ... like return Shalit in good health immediately or we are throwing all the Arabs out of Israel... period.. give them a time frame ...like two months …. Let them squirm …. Israel has lots of soldiers, but they have forgotten how to fight ….Let the fact that Gilad Shalit has not been returned yet make them suffer …. evict all of the Arabs in Israel to Gaza …. An additional million-plus Arabs crammed into Gaza within the next two months? … that should do it…Let them really feel it…”

… but then the urgency of this made me realize that this is a young man’s life at stake here …. Two months can be an eternity for him and his family. So I changed it to two weeks:

“Hamas only knows how to play dirty .... like hundreds of Palestinian terrorists in exchange for one Israeli soldier?... i don't even know what their specific demands are now .... but even hundreds to one is bizarre .... why doesn't Israel call the shots first ... like return Gilad Shalit in good health immediately or we are throwing all the Arabs out of Israel and into Gaza.... period .... give them a time frame ...like two weeks …. Let them squirm …. Israel has lots of soldiers, but they have forgotten how to fight ….Let the fact that Shalit has not been returned yet make them suffer …. evict all of the Arabs in Israel and cram them into Gaza …. How about an additional million-plus Arabs crammed into Gaza within the next two weeks? … that should do it…Let them really feel it….”

And that is how I feel. I don’t want the Israeli government to hate me. I hope to make aliyah within the next two years (please G-d). I don’t want to criticize what they are doing. But there comes a time when you have to stop responding with kindness to evil. These Hamas people are evil. They are pure evil. And the Israeli government has given them nothing but kindness throughout all these years. So I feel enough is enough. I don’t want the Israeli government to think I am an instigator or something like that. I don’t believe in war. I know that there are Palestinian mothers who love their children and don’t want anything bad to happen to them ... just like Jewish mothers love their children and don’t want anything bad to happen. But there comes a time when it’s either them or us. When we can’t continue swallowing all this dirt. Hamas is responsible for the people in Gaza. They have appointed themselves as the spokespeople for the Palestinians. So there it is. If they have put their people in danger, what can we do? We cannot have our young men captured just to avoid retaliation. We have to take a stand.

I feel that since they have made such an issue of Gaza (they cleared out all the Jews in 2005 so it could be the beginning of their ‘Palestine ’) we should park all the Palestinians there… let it be theirs …. All theirs…just as there is no Jew in Gaza …. Israel should give them back what they’ve given us …. give them all their Palestinians back to Gaza … prisoners, homeowners, students, mothers, fathers…..everyone who is Palestinian …. Give them all back …. If they don’t give us back our soldiers ….we can’t keep returning kindness for evil…Let them get everyone they ever wanted …. Right back in Gaza… totally…..