[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem – I like to consider myself an excellent Scrabble player, especially since I am continuously challenged by those who thought they were great until playing with me.
My specialty is knowing all the two-letter words without having to play with a “cheat sheet.” Having worked crossword puzzles since I was a child also helps my game. I compare myself to the tired old gunfighter from the days of the Wild West. He never could rest because he was always being challenged to a duel by the young gunslinger trying to make a reputation for himself. When it comes to Perquackey, no one scores higher than me. Word Scramble is another favorite of mine. All those word game skills, being a voracious reader and having studied Latin and German, from which most English words are derived, once made me believe I had a decent vocabulary. Until this week when I learned from news media a different definition of the word “attack” as it pertains to Israel.
Where Shall We Begin?
According to the dictionary, the word “attack” is a verb meaning “to launch a physical assault against.” When it relates to Israel, I tend to think of the rockets, missiles and mortars shot into Israel by the Palestinians in Gaza. I think of innocent sleeping women and children murdered in their beds by knife-wielding Palestinians. I think of the several wars Israel was forced to fight when its Arab neighbor nations tried to annihilate this tiny country. I think of the recent assaults on American embassies by terrorists. These are perfect examples of what it actually means to be attacked. Never in a million years would I define an unusually peaceful demonstration of a few people carrying posters as an attack. Yet that is exactly how the news media portrayed a small group of Israeli Arabs, not Israeli Jews, protesting outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Israel is a democracy. Freedom of speech is one of our basic rights, even speech that is subversive and damaging. Every Israeli always has at least two opinions on a subject. Therefore, it is not usual for Israeli Arabs and/or Israeli Jews to be seen peacefully protesting something in Israel. Furthermore, the Israeli government never would allow the U.S. Embassy to be attacked. Even the American Ambassador, Dan Shapiro, said that the American Embassy was not threatened, and he was confident of the Israeli security around the American Embassy. Therefore, I was shocked to see that the news media listed Israel among the countries where mobs have attempted to/or succeeded in breaking into U.S. embassies, physically assaulting or murdering U.S. citizens. To associate Israel with violent, angry Muslims who actually attacked the U.S. embassies abroad is a gross and outrageous slander and libel of Israel by the biased media. Let me make it perfectly clear: The US embassy in Tel Aviv never was attacked. When will the world press stop blaming Israel?
Global Acclaim
Often I receive comments regarding the articles and emails I write about Israel. I am thanked for telling what the mainstream media fails to report or explaining what really is happening here when the reporting is less than truthful. Since I made aliyah five years ago, my mailing list has grown daily due to friends and relatives sending my writing to their friends and relatives with requests from strangers wanting to receive some of my pieces directly in their email mailbox. It has snowballed to the extent that I have been writing my weekly column “Our Eyes in Israel” by Shachar for the newspaper thefrontpageonline.com in California for over four years, thanks to a friend who told the editor about my writing. Soon some of the pieces I write under my nom de plume of Shachar (Shachar means Dawn in Hebrew, the name I am known by in Israel) will be translated into Hungarian for a friend's blog that has readers from all over the world.
Therefore, it is I who should be thanking those of you who have encouraged and supported me.
L'hitraot. Shachar