Fundamentally Freund

The Power of Prayer

Israelis yesterday received a miraculous, if somewhat frightening, reminder of just how much our lives are entirely in the hands of G-d.

Palestinian terrorists in northern Gaza continued their daily rocket assaults against southern Israel, firing a couple of Qassam rockets at the town of Sderot. One of the explosive projectiles struck a classroom at a yeshiva high school, but thankfully none of the students was inside at the time.

As a person who arrived on the scene told Arutz-7: "The students were on their way to the classroom after finishing morning prayers and the classroom was still locked. Some students were waiting outside, and the teacher was on his way up - and that's when all of a sudden the rocket crashed in, hitting the teacher's chair. The teacher was very emotional, seeing that it had crashed exactly where he would have been sitting minutes later."

One of the reasons why the teacher and some of the students were not yet there was because he had kept them after morning prayers for a few extra minutes to give them a schmooze – a short speech on a Torah-related subject.
"By miracle," a local woman told Arutz-7, "no one was hurt - but how long can we rely on these miracles, merely because of our leaders' foolish decisions enabling the terrorists to shoot at us? Today and Tuesday are market days here in Sderot, just two blocks away from the school, and the hesder yeshiva is two blocks to the other side - it could have landed anywhere and killed people. How long can this go on?"

Indeed – an excellent question. But an even better one is: why is this still going on? And the answer to that is really quite simple: because Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government has failed to take the necessary steps to stop it.

But for all of us watching this sorry series of events unfold, we should make sure not to overlook what this incident can teach us. After all, those students in Sderot yesterday were saved because they had been saying their prayers and learning G-d’s Torah.

However terrifying it may have been for them, for the rest of us it should serve as a timely reminder of the power of prayer – not only to change our lives, but to save them, too.

A Bit of British Humbug

Talk about good ol’ fashioned British hypocrisy.

Later this month, educators in the UK are planning to debate a proposal aimed at imposing an academic boycott on Israel because of its policies in the so-called “occupied territories”.

On May 27-29, the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will convene to discuss this weighty subject.

But if the learned British instructors are truly concerned about issues such as expansionism, occupation and colonialism, they might consider looking a little closer to home.

After all, which country is it that refuses to yield sovereignty over Northern Ireland? Who is it that is stubbornly hanging on to control over Gibraltar? And who waged a bloody war to uphold their occupation of the Falkland Islands two decades ago?

And they want to preach to us?

All one can say, as a Dickens character might have put it, is: “Bah humbug.”

Those who celebrate death

The death this past Sunday of young Daniel Wultz, a 16-year old American Jew who was badly wounded in last month’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, was tragic and heartrending news.

After fighting for his life for several weeks, Wultz succumbed to his injuries, and yet another precious Jewish soul was snuffed out by the merciless cruelty of Palestinian terrorists.

For anyone out there who may have thought that perhaps the terrorists didn’t mean to murder someone so young, or that maybe they are beset by guilt over the horrific results of their actions – think again.

Here is what Abu Nasser, a leader of the Al-Aksa Martyrs’ Brigades, which is aligned with PA President Abu Mazen’s Fatah faction, had to say about young Daniel Wultz’s death in an interview with WorldNetDaily:

"This is a gift from Allah. We wish this young dog will go directly with no transit to hell… (Wultz) was part of the American support machine that helps our enemy. All these young American Jews come here to support the occupation, they build and live in the settlements... I imagine him as one of these Nazis who live here (in the settlements). There is no difference between him and them."

Such rhetoric is not only despicable – it is also inhuman. It reveals once again the depths of savagery to which the terrorists have sunk.

They celebrate death and rejoice in it, and promise only more. It is time for Israel to put an end to this travesty, and to eliminate the Palestinian terrorist threat once and for all.

We must never forget the nature of those confronting us, nor allow the media to gloss over their evil. Palestinian terrorists are neither “freedom-fighters” nor “militants” – they are ruthless thugs and killers who must be defeated. May it happen soon.

May Daniel Wurtz’s memory be for a blessing for the Land of Israel and for the entire Jewish people.

Yawn - it's just another rocket attack

Ho hum. It has been just another day of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, and it seems as if no one really cares.

One after another, in broad daylight, four Qassam rockets were fired this morning by Palestinian terrorists aiming in the direction of the city of Ashkelon.

The projectiles landed in open fields near Kibbutz Karmiya and Kibbutz Zikim. Thankfully, no one was killed or injured in the assaults.

Needless to say, the ongoing attacks, which have only intensified since Israel withdrew from Gaza, have disrupted life in the Western Negev for untold thousands of Israelis.

Indeed, just yesterday, parents and children from Kibbutz Yad Mordechai held a demonstration to protest the fact that the Government has yet to reinforce the community’s school against rockets, even though it has already been hit several times in the past.

The rally came after the “Red Dawn” early warning system went off, signaling that rockets had been launched in the vicinity of the kibbutz.

One of the parents who took part in the demonstration told Yediot Aharonot that “there was great panic in the classrooms. Unfortunately, the kids have nowhere to escape to in the case of a Qassam attack. We call on the government and the defense establishment again to urgently fortify the classrooms."

So there you have it – not only has the Government failed to halt the rocket barrages, it has not even bothered to provide the most elementary of protection to its citizens who are being bombarded on a daily basis.

Sorry if we are boring you, Prime Minister Olmert, but isn't it time you did something about this?

A Memorable Anniversary

Talk about an inauspicious start.

Ehud Olmert’s new government was sworn into office on Thursday, pledging to divide the Land of Israel and turn over still more territory to the Palestinians.

Yet hardly anyone appears to have noticed that Thursday also marked precisely 12 years since the infamous signing of the May 4, 1994 Gaza-Jericho Accords, when Israel agreed to pull out of those areas and transfer their control to Yasser Arafat.

That ceremony, you might remember, rapidly dissolved into an embarrassing comedy of errors when Arafat refused to sign one of the maps, prompting a great deal of diplomatic discomfiture that was broadcast live around the world. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was host of the Cairo-based event, turned to Arafat and exploded in anger, shouting at him "Ya kalb!" ("You dog!"). Eventually, Arafat relented and signed the deal, paving the way for years of intensified Palestinian terror and additional Israeli withdrawals.

Now, here we are, a dozen years later, and has any of this really changed? The Palestinians still don’t want peace with Israel, even as the Government in Jerusalem pushes forward with plans for still more concessions.

I’d like to think that the timing is merely a coincidence, that it isn’t a sign of some sort or an ominous omen that portends further retreats for our beleaguered country.

But deep down, I fear, that is where things may be headed, because despite all that has happened here over the past decade, our political leaders refuse to learn from their mistakes.

Hopefully, Mr. Olmert will take a moment or two to consider the past - and maybe, just maybe, the anniversary of Israel's previous error in Cairo will somehow illuminate his path.