Gilad's home!

Gilad’s home!
But at what cost?

His freedom’s worth the cost – whatever the fullness of time shows that cost to be.

P.S. The graphic is from the Jerusalem Post website.

The UK and Israel: saline or not?

Today’s ‘Positive and Optimistic Sunday’. David Cameron (pictured) [1] has been the UK’s Prime Minister since last May. A few days ago the UK Jewish News published the first exclusive interview Cameron, as PM, has given to a Jewish media outlet. Here’s the full interview [2] and a précis [3].

Regarding Iran’s (delusional) protest that the 2012 Olympic Games emblem spells the word ‘Zion’) [4, 5], Cameron said: 'It's completely paranoid. If the Iranians don't want to come, don't come, we won't miss you.’ He added that athletes unwilling to compete against Israelis wouldn’t be welcome at the Games.

He said it was ‘absolutely appalling" that IDF soldier Gilad Shalit has been captive by Hamas for nearly five years…[and]…He should be released unconditionally’.

Asked whether Britain would recognize a unilaterally-proclaimed Palestinian state if there was no other solution by September, he replied with a resounding ‘No’.

And so on.

I’m old enough to know that politicians aren’t above the odd bit of lying. Or at least the odd bit of truth bending. Indeed as a breed they’re partial to it. When it suits them to do it. Which usually depends on whose company they’re in at the time. So perhaps Cameron’s Jewish News interview should be taken with a grain of salt [6]. But at this time in history when Israel’s increasingly isolated and beleaguered, she and her supporters must grasp at every straw, including this one, and declare: How positive and optimistic is that.

Do what you have to do - for Gilad

Days of Our Lives [1]. It’s a marathon US TV soapie. It began in 1965, and it’s still going. I can’t recall seeing even one episode of it, but I must have because its sombre opening voiceover’s imprinted in my memory: ‘Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives’ [2]. Indeed. It’s easy to forget that for each of us the sand runs down; and once down it doesn’t go back up. Absorbed in the hurly-burly hustle of whatever it is we do, it often takes birthdays, anniversaries and other life milestones to bring us back to reality. To make us realise what’s important. The coming Saturday is Gilad Shalit’s 24th birthday [3]. When he was kidnapped by Hamas 1,523 days ago, on 25 June 2006, he was aged 19. So this is his fifth birthday in captivity. For every single one of these 1,523 days Hamas has held him incommunicado. Totally illegally. Inhumanely. Abhorrently. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations has launched a global campaign asking people to send Gilad greetings for his 24th birthday. The greetings will be presented to the International Committee of the Red Cross for delivery to Gilad [4]. I normally avoid online campaigns. But this one’s exceptional. If you also identify with Gilad, click here [5] and do what you have to do. None of us knows how much sand’s left to run through our hourglass. Gilad knows even less of his.

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. and indeed yesterday marked four years that Hamas has illegally held Gilad Shalit incommunicado after kidnapping him [1]. And still the world tolerates the Hamas terrorists and denies Israel its legitimate right of self-defence against them. Shame.

2. the BMJ published research showing no association between the risk of early childhood cancers and mothers’ exposure to mobile phone base stations during pregnancy [2]. Hmmm. Interesting.

3. the Invasive Species Council told us that in the Concord woods made famous by Thoreau, weeds are responding to climate change faster than native plants [3]. Ho hum.

4. another warning was published about the hearing effects of listening to risk to MP3 players [4]. Not one study’s shown that listening to MP3 players improves hearing.

5. treehugger put out a ranked list of Australia’s most sustainable cities [5]. Does anyone care?

6. I came across this compendium of pet care and welfare topics [6]. I’ll read some when I have time.

7. I read this Grammar Girl piece about when to use ‘which’ versus ‘that’ [7]. It’s something that’s always puzzled me.

8. the Media Department of Daylesford Organics triumphed again [8]. Oh, that photograph!

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

farmdoc's blog post number 454

I’m not a nocturnal soul. That is, I don’t go walking in the bush at night. So I don’t know what happens to the wombats I’ve released on our property. I’d love to know how far and wide they roam, where their burrows are, and who’s shacked up with whom. Last year I enquired about tracking devices, but they’re way beyond my price range. Not so the Victorian government’s, apparently. The government was outed last Monday when this Age article exposed its secret plan to track staff movement around the new Royal Children's Hospital using radio tags. Doctors and unions have attacked this ‘comprehensive patient and staff radio frequency identification [RFID] tracking system’. I agree with them. But what about Gilad Shalit? For over three years he’s been secreted somewhere in Gaza, and Israel can’t find him. Emboldened, Hamas and Hezbollah are intent on kidnapping more Israeli soldiers. If a tiny tracking device was implanted internally in each soldier, it’d simplify pinpointing that soldier’s whereabouts. Tight legal safeguards are definitely needed. And no doubt there are some technical problems, e.g. it must be undetectable by x-ray, and not jammable. But they should be solvable by Israel’s tech geniuses. Given the massive expenditure on the search and negotiation aspects in the Shalit case, an RFID programme would be cost effective if, heaven forbid, future kidnappings occur. And if they don’t, it’ll be excellent insurance.

farmdoc's blog post number 431

It’s well known that as we get older, time seems to pass faster. The explanation’s given in The Brain That Changes Itself. (Yes, I’m learning much from that book.) Essentially when we’re young and our brain memory banks are fairly empty, experiences flood in and gradually fill them up. Then as we age and our memory banks fill, there’s less free space for new memories and so (subconsciously) we’re choosier about what we remember. So to me as an old guy, the last three years have flashed by. Not so, I’m certain, for Gilad Shalit (pictured). Hamas kidnapped him three years ago today. Three years; 1,096 six days; 26,304 hours; 1,578,240 minutes; 94,694,400 seconds. I think of him often. I wonder what conditions he’s being kept under. What food he eats. What he does all day. What he thinks about. And how his parents cope. I couldn't bear not seeing any of my children for three years, let alone if they were held incommunicado by an inhuman terrorist mob. Last Thursday the Red Cross issued this statement. But to no avail, judging by this response from Hamas. However things are changing in the Middle East, e.g. Hezbollah’s unexpected Lebanese election loss; and the Iranian post-election protests. Israeli news sources believe Hamas is softening its demands for Shalit’s release. I’ve mentioned Shalit in three previous posts [1, 2, 3]. I wish and hope his next mention will be about his release. And that it’ll be soon.

farmdoc's blog post number 354

Today’s the first day of one of the most important festivals in the Jewish calendar: Passover. It’s a festival of freedom – nominally the redemption of the Hebrews from their slavery under the Pharoah. The Passover Seder, the oldest continuously observed religious ceremony in the world, tells the story of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. (Click on route map to enlarge it.) Jewish tradition says that each generation must imagine that they personally had departed from Egypt. And the sages say that each generation must tell the story in its own terms. Thus, today, the exodus from Egypt must be extrapolated to the freedom of everyone, everywhere. Someone wise once said: ‘No-one is free when others are oppressed’. So, this Passover in the Jewish year 5769, my thoughts turn yet again to Gilad Shalit (pictured), who has been cruelly and illegally deprived of his freedom since 25 June 2006. Born in August 1986, he was 19-years-old when he was kidnapped by Hamas; he’s now 22-years-old. I can’t begin to imagine the conditions he’s being held under, what indignities he’s being subjected to, the physical and psychological effects his captivity’s causing him, and the anguish of his parents and family and friends. Part of Gilad Shalit is me; and part of me is him. So this Passover I remind Hamas of Abraham Lincoln’s words: ‘Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves’.

farmdoc's blog post number 335

Looking down this list of films directed by the 72-year-old Englishman Ken Loach (pictured), I can’t say I’ve seen many. But I can say I won’t knowingly see any more. At least until Loach stops his gratuitous, misinformed and inflammatory anti-Israel rantings. Last week he said in relation to anti-semitism: ‘If there has been a rise I am not surprised. In fact, it is perfectly understandable because Israel feeds feelings of anti-Semitism.’ And about Operation Cast Lead in Gaza: ‘When history comes to be written, I think this will be seen as one of the great crimes of the past decades because of the cold blooded massacre that we witnessed’. In 2006 Loach called for a boycott of state-sponsored Israeli cultural institutions in protest against Israel’s actions in Lebanon; and he refused an invitation to the Haifa Film Festival. This pathetic bleeding heart lefty should thank his lucky stars he lives in the UK where he has the right of free speech and the right to express his sexual preference, because should he live in a totalitarian Islamic county both those rights will be denied him, and may well cost him his life. He would do well to read this speech by Rupert Murdoch. But I reckon his mind is as closed as it is narrow. And what is Gilad Shalit thinking today, this 1000th day of his captivity in contravention of international law? I don’t know, but I am thinking of him.

farmdoc's blog post number 268

A fortnight ago I wrote of Israel’s response to Hamas’s rocket fire from Gaza. The true situation on the ground there remains unclear to everyone except the senior ranks of the Israel Defence Forces and the Government of Israel. But that hasn’t stopped the media, bleeding-heart liberals, Arab apologists, and even United Nations’ staff from copious public outpourings of self-righteous indignation. I wonder how these people would react if rockets were being indiscriminately fired at them and theirs. Anyway today I write of two documents. The first is Hamas’s Charter which you can read here. Inter alia, it says ‘Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it…(and)…There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad’. And it cites the disgusting, anti-semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Hamas’s Charter speaks for itself. The second document is United Nations Security Council Resolution 1860 (2009) which you can read here. Its 10 points all sound fine. But they must be read in conjunction with the part of Hamas’s Charter that says: ‘Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors’. So good luck with your resolution, UN. Oh, one final thing: What about Gilad Shalit (pictured), who was abducted by Hamas on 25 June 2006. Why Resolution 1860 (2009) doesn’t mention him, is beyond me.