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Report from Judy Lash Balant a journalist from Jerusalem
Mike FryerThe following is a report from Judy Lash Balint, Jerusalem regarding the effect the murder of 3 bus passengers and the injury to 44 others in Jaffa road Jerusalem today Wednesday 2nd July.
My fellow bus riders and I generally spend our time at the bus stop
grumbling about the #13 bus that's the only line that serves our
neighborhood going to the center of town. The schedule is erratic;
drivers are sometimes surly and the Egged bus company keeps on sending
us the old-style purple and white buses that were pulled off most
lines years ago.
Today all we can do is stare in shock at the images of our #13 purple
and white bus lying on its side on Jaffa Road after an Arab from
eastern Jerusalem bulldozed the bus and dozens of cars and pedestrians
in a deadly terror attack that claimed the lives of three Israelis.
Assaf Nadav, the driver of the #13 bus, and all the passengers
reportedly managed to escape with varying degrees of injuries--no one
was killed. Later this afternoon when the downtown roads are reopened,
we'll be back waiting at the bus stop to go to do our pre-Shabbat
shopping at Machane Yehudah, the market a few blocks away from where
the bulldozer careened to a halt when the terrorist was overpowered.
The crowded market may well have been his target.
In an "only in Jerusalem" scenario, the soldier who jumped on the
bulldozer and killed today's terrorist was the brother-in-law of the
guy who managed to eliminate the Mercaz Harav shooter last February.
This is the second Jerusalem terror attack in six months to be
perpetrated by an Israeli ID-carrying Arab. Today's 30 year-old
terrorist is apparently from Sur Baher (the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva
carnage was carried out by the son of a well-to-do family from the
Jabel Mukaber neighborhood). Both areas are Arab villages within
Jerusalem's municipal boundaries, on the Israeli side of the security
barrier. Residents of both villages work in Jerusalem's hotels,
restaurants, hospitals, building sites and in every city department.
Would today's terrorist have been deterred if we would have destroyed
the family home of the Mercaz Harav murderer and taken away all their
financial and social benefits?
Is there any kind of effective deterrent against those educated to
pure hatred who live in our midst?
Difficult questions that my fellow passengers will no doubt be
debating as we ride the #13 bus in the coming days.
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Reader Comments (1)
God bless you Mike for the reports you write. You demonstrate how important it is to keep our eyes on Jesus as we assess the anti Israel propoganda machine that goes under the title 'World Media'.
Hatred has such a capacity to depress and deflate the heart that we have to drink constanly of the Holy Spirit and feed unceasingly on God's word.
Only with the certainty of the Fathers promises and authority over all things can we stand and, like Daniel,intercede on behalf of a world who, just like God's word foretold, have found Israel a constant stumbling block and a 'cup' of drunkenness.
It seems that people just cannot believe that the smoke the press and the intellectual establishments point at and blame Isreal for, is, when it's not imaginary, coming from the fire of blind hatred started by her enemies.
The truth is that even among those reporters who would proclaim that they are not partisan on the question of 'Palestine' the suffering of Jewish people is not even considered to be worth reporting.
Such is the blindness caused by anti semitism that even the most basic fundamentals of common human experience cannot be considered. The oft toted phrase 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter' typifies the illogical and inane mindset of the press these days. Calling the likes of Hamas and Hezbolah 'militants' and 'freedom fighters' is like putting a label saying 'lemonade' on a bottle of arsenic.
During the Yom Kippur war, as an example, the vast gulf that seperates the attitudes of Israel and those who hate her was clearly seen. One downed Syrian pilot, like a number of his colleagues, was rescued by Israelis inspite of being shot at by the pilots own side!
Whilst awaiting rescue he wrote on his parachute, in his own blood, 'If this is how we treat our own people then Allah help us'. I do not know if the man ever realised that it wasn't Allah but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who brought him salvation. When asked about the loss of his troops the Egyptian leader said that he didn't care if it cost the lives of thousands of men just as long they erased Israel. In contrast Golda Meir said that even if it cost only the life of one Israeli boy it was one life too many.
We see this same stark difference now. Israel tries to send aid into the Gaza strip and Hamas attacks the crossings.The press blame Israel of course.
When I was in Israel only a few years ago a scheduled evacuation of critically ill babies from Gaza to a Tel Aviv hospital for unique life saving operations was prevented by Terrorists attacking the border crossing as soon as it was opened. We were told that the mothers of these children risked being beaten or killed as traitors if the terrorists had discovered their desperate attempts to save their children.
The significance of the recent so called 'prisoner swap' just doesn't seem to reach the minds of the press at all. The fact that Israel is prepared to give four murderers in order that two dead Israeli soldiers can be returned shows how much loss of life matters to the Jewish heart.When did you ever hear of Israeli's treating terrorists the way that 'Palestinians' treated two Israeli soldiers. They were beaten to death whilst in 'Police custody' and then passed out to be publically mutilated by a baying mob. The film appeared on news programmes allover the world but the comments once again referred to the 'bitter frustration caused by the 'occupation'. The familiar atempts to justify the unjustifiable.
The sickness is vast and it is deeply rooted into this fallen world but thank God for Yeshua, and the wonderful plan of salvation.Satan can never quench or destroy the light of God's truth. The body of the serpent may cause damage as it writhes but the head, thanks to Adonai, is crushed. The sickness will one day be finished when the Lion of Judah returns. Until then lets continue to stand in the Fathers House and by the power of the Holy Spirit of Adonai proclaim His truth and Torah. Let us continue to pray for the Spirit of God to burn away the veil of darkness and hatred and for the church to truly become a body that feeds on the pure, unleavened bread of the Word,with a heart and mind that is one with it's Head, our Lord and Saviour, Yeshua ha Mascheach. Amen