Amiram's Observations » War

Give Us Some Good Old Antisemitism. Please.

admin — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:57:01 +0000

A Swedish reporter is accusing the Israeli military of capturing Palestinians for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs (more).

To my dear friends in Sweden. You may have the wrong perception. My ancestors did not use children blood for religious rituals. In fact, one could claim that my ancestors blood was used for some rituals, religious or not. And my military, sure as hell, didn’t capture Palestinians in order to harvest their organs. The accusation is ridiculous as much as it is despicable. Like most blood libels are. Nobody cares to provide proof, and proving it false is impossible. But Israelis would never badmouth the Swedes. After all, they make real good cars, and after all many Swedish girls made Israel their home. I, personally, feel sorry for them. After all living such boring life, surrounded by more than reasonable neighbors, with strong economy, and lots of blond women, does not provide a people with the mental skills to understand or relate to the environment we live in.

I hope that in the future, their reality changes enough to help them develop these skills.

Anarchy – Are We There Yet III

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:30:14 +0000

It was late at night. I was driving back from Washington DC to Long Island New York where I was going to school at the time. It was year 1987 and I was driving a 1980 Oldsmobile Delta 88, converted diesel to gas engine (in short a young clunker). It was dark, I was by myself driving north on route 95, I felt my steering wheel pulling to the right, I managed to stop on the shoulder to realize that I was one tire short. The doughnut (a ridiculously small spare tire, placed in great American cars, which is good for 50 miles only) was out of air. I was stuck. The only two positive things I remember from that night was the huge statue of Virgin Mary, “Our Lady of the Highways”, and the policemen who helped.

Mind you, just in case you were wondering what happened to cellular phones, AAA or any other roadside service – the year was 1987. No cellular phone was available to poor students. Such as myself.

Five minutes after I pulled over, a Highway Patrol car pulled over as well. There were two officers inside. I saw them fiddling with some radios, then I was instructed over a loud speaker in a very strict voice: “keep your hands on the steering wheel please”. The driving officer then left his vehicle and slowly stepped over to mine. He was holding a flashlight, and was hand was gently touching the holstered gun. He signed for me to roll down the window. “Slowly” he said, “slowly”. I complied. Of course. Big car, with dark colors. The flashing red and blue lights. The stick, the uniform, the hat, the look. The climate was very clear: “do as you are told”. I did. With the window rolled, the officer said: “good evening sir, what seems to be the problem?”. I described the situation, and the climate changed immediately. He became all smiles, and willing to help. To make a long story short, the cop radioed in a request for a tow truck. A few minutes later, I was towed to a near auto shop.

My first experience with US police was intimidating at first, but in the end, they helped me. I concluded that they actually mean it when they state that their mission is to “protect and serve”.

Years later, in Tucson Arizona, I was driving to work one morning. I was listening to loud music, enjoying the early hours of the desert morning. When I looked in the rearview mirror, I saw the police car so close to me, I almost freaked out. I pulled over right away. The approach procedure was repeated. I must have been so anxious, that the policeman actually asked me to relax, explained that he was pacing me, that I was speeding, that he was going to give me a ticket, that I should take it easy and refrain from speeding in the future. I was thankful. Indeed, the $50.00 ticket was a poor way to spend hard earned money, but the lesson was priceless. I paid it gladly.

The reason was simple. I wanted to believe that the intimidation is practiced on all. And that by practicing it, it helps protecting me and my family as well. I liked the “bad policeman” concept. Particularly since it was also helpful, and it helped me to feel protected.

If you have the unhappy experience of being pulled over by Israeli police, you will have a different experience altogether. For starters, you will be asked to step out of the car and walk over to the cop, sitting comfortably in the plain looking blue and white police car. Begging will not help, explanation won’t either. The cop will not try to help you. The citation will be written, the window rolled up, and off you go back to your car. Not an intimidating or educational experience.

And then it strikes you. The cop is not intimidating to you, nor he is to all the potential rapists and murderers walking the streets. I’d rather have Israeli police in big bad cars, wearing dark uniform with mandatory hats. The Israeli cop should walk over to your car (not vice versa). The Israeli policeman should at least make you believe that he protects you, and possibly even serves you. But in all honesty, I wish for only one thing. It’s in my head, of course, and I don’t think the police can change it. I wish that when I see something wrong, like a crime in progress, some juvenile delinquents misbehaving, some drunk driving, I wish that the first thought in my mind would be: “call the police, they will be here shortly, and they will take care of the situation”. Instead, all I can think about is: “don’t bother calling the police, they will not come, and even if they do, they can do nothing to take care of the situation”.

And until Israeli police fixes my perception (and the perceptions of millions of other Israeli citizens), I expect nothing.

Anarchy – Are We There Yet II

admin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:24:50 +0000

A few days ago, I was writing about anarchy in Israel. I though we were making headways. I had no idea how close we were. In answer to my own question from last week: “Anarchy, Are We There Yet?”, I will have to categorically answer, yes we are.

Sometimes, a single event indicates a change of direction, for better or for worse. Last Friday, something so significant, so terrible, happened in Tel Aviv, that I can only conclude that yes, anarchy is here. A middle aged person, accompanies by his wife and daughter, went for a walk along the beach next to a quiet and affluent Tel Aviv neighborhood called Tel Baruch. After walking for a while, the small family sat down on a park bench to rest. A gang of eight young guys and a couple of girls started to tease the couple’s daughter. The father asked for them to stop. They killed him. They beat the crap out of him, and then dumped his lifeless body in the Mediterranean Sea. His wife was injured, but both wife and daughter made it. The gang was drinking beforehand, and when the arrest took place, they still were.

I must make a disclaimer here. I don’t know what went down at 12:00 midnight near the sleepy neighborhood of Tel Baruch. The police is investigating, the victims know what they went through, and the youngsters with the alcohol vapored brains may have some recollection of it. But as one of the police officers stated, the police had received an F in the outcome test. In the same sentence, that officer also stated that “the police can’t be everywhere all the time”. And I wanted to comment on this statement.

But first, let me offer my sincere condolences to the family of the deceased. In a way, many of us Israelis, were there on the boardwalk that night. We were all walking down the path with our own families, and we were all attacked viciously. In a way, many of us died last Friday. Why? Because it could happen to each and every one of us. And if nothing changes and quickly, it will.

Second, let me voice my disgust, shock, and yes, fear. I am going through the realization that we live in a country with law and order, with no respect, with not a lot of hope. If a person can meet his death trying to protect his family in the most fundamental way, then we live in the jungle. And in the jungle, a different set of rules apply. In the jungle, in order to survive, you need to have sharper and longer teeth, larger claws, and you should be able to run. Run like hell.

Back to the police.

The police in Israel knows one song. It sings the song all the time, without deviation. Lyrics and tune are identical every year. The lead singer changes, but the song remains the same. Budget. The police’s song is about budget. “If”, they sing, “we had more budget, we could put more cops on the streets”. “If we had more budget, we could buy more police cruisers, protect more battered wives, lower the rates of car crashes. Budget is always missing, and when something really bad happens, the budget is always there to point to. And I say bull.

Lets take traffic police for example, or the armed forces of the Ministry of Finance. Their job, as opposed to what most people think, is not to make sure that drivers comply with traffic laws. Their job is to collect easy money for the police. The traffic police set radars along the expressways, where traffic conditions are near perfect, where the speed limit is artificial at best, and this is where they get you. However, if they had two unmarked police cars driving back and forth on the expressways, citing offenders on the spot, it could create awareness. Drivers may get the impression that someone is watching and paying attention. Overhead cameras on major highways are another (cheaper) way to do the exact same. And please don’t irritate the hell out of me with privacy bullshit. Nobody’s privacy is more important than road safety. In other words, try to explain to a widow, that her husband died in a car crash because we were concerned about privacy.

Lets take alcohol as another example. People who drink are much more likely to be engaged in criminal activity . We must choose. Fun over car crashes and dead people all around? Freedom of drinking over the right to live? People who want to drink themselves to oblivion, should do so in the privacy of their home or in a club. Following the alcohol binge, they should be hauled home at their own expense (but certainly not at their own hands). The streets should be alcohol free. Think about it: we fought for smoke free environment – so we can breathe freely. We should fight for alcohol free environment – so we can live to see tomorrow.

And empower parents too. Parents and teachers are already stripped of all instruments to educate and discipline. That must change and very quickly. A parent MUST have the instruments for preventing their children from associating with bad company, for engaging in criminal activity. Educators must be able to have some disciplinary instruments. Otherwise, the next thing we know will be chaos. We’re almost there.