Friday, January 2, 2009

Gaza Update

With Israel’s campaign in Gaza about to enter its second week, we all need to be informed , so that each of us in our own way can lend support. The name of this campaign, “Operation Cast Lead” is based on a poem about Hanukkah by the great early Zionist poet H.N. Bialik, speaking about the dreidel, of all things. The English text of that poem can be found at http://www.neshamah.net/reb_barrys_blog_neshamahn/for-hanuka-by-hn-bialik.html. The Hebrew text can be found at http://www.benyehuda.org/bialik/bia_chds52.html. See also a prayer written specifically for this moment by the Masorti movement, at http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/docs/Cast%20Lead%20prayer%20(2).pdf.

I have always been an Israel news junkie, never more than when things are difficult over there. The blogs and news sites are filled with excellent first hand accounts of what is happening there. For the latest news, of course there is Ha’aretz (http://www.haaretz.com/), the Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/) and Y-Net (http://www.ynetnews.com/). As for the blogs, check out this one by Donniel Hartman of the Hartman Institute on the pains of an Israeli father. It’s very moving: http://hartman.org.il/Opinion_C_View_Eng.asp?Article_Id=257.

Israel is (at last) getting better at fighting that other war, the one for public opinion. Ephraim Sneh’s op-ed in yesterday’s Washington Post, “Why Israel is Bombing Gaza,” lays out the case very clearly. It’s at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/31/AR2008123102772.html. Also see Alan Deshowitz's spirited discussion of "proportionality" from today's Wall Street Journal, at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123085925621747981.html.

The media blitz includes interviews with Arab-language media, almost-daily international press briefings by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and even an Israeli Army channel on YouTube, the popular video- sharing Web site. And see the Myths and Facts latest Fact Sheet: #64: Beware of Disinformation From Gaza. To get a feel for what people in southern Israel are going through, see the IDF Website with Instructions for Citizens - Updated Daily. And always helpful is the collection of news and opinion articles from around the world found in the Daily Alert Headlines of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (http://www.jcpa.org/).

Our first job is to stay informed.

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