A few days ago, I turned on the TV to catch the day's news. The story shaking the nation: "[MK Esterina] Tartman doesn't have a master's degree," contrary to what was listed at her party's website. Seven minutes were dedicated to the report. Seven seconds were dedicated to five rockets fired from Gaza at Sderot and Ashkelon.
Since the beginning of the ceasefire on November 26 three months ago, over 160 rockets were fired towards Sderot and the Western Negev. Since the Mecca Agreement, the average is 1.8 rocket attacks per day. Last Tuesday, Hamas "Foreign Minister" Khaled Mashaal visited Moscow and promised to cease the Kassam firing. Since then, seven rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.
Bernard Lewis, a leading expert on Islam, says: "Our situation today is worse than it was in 1940... In 1940 we knew who our enemies were, and we knew who we were... Today, on the other hand, we don't know who our enemies are, and who we are."
The main headline of the Ma'ariv newspaper's weekend edition, after last summer's Lebanon war, read: "This war has no symbol." The widespread feeling is that people don't know who they're fighting for, and for what reason. What solution can be given to the Russian Roulette reality, which includes the firing of over 6,000 rockets into Israel for the last six years? The country has accepted the fact that rockets are being fired at it, and has to decide what 900 million shekels ($220 million) should be invested in: Should Israel invest the money in protecting the houses of the 8,000 Western Negev residents, or should the money be invested in a anti short-range rocket system, which will take approximately two years to develop?
What other western democratic country in the world would have allowed a reality like ours to persist?
On February 7, the Sderot Parents Association went to the Supreme Court and demanded the protection of all classrooms, in all 24 educational institutions in the town. The country, for its part, agrees to protect only the first to third grades, claiming that the other classes can settle for protected areas outside, and which children can get to on their own.
There is no neighborhood, no street, no family, no child in Sderot, who has not experienced a rocket attack somewhere nearby.
Is there a parent that can imagine the feeling of sending an 8-year-old boy to study in an unprotected classroom, while an average of 1.8 rockets are fired daily from Gaza towards Sderot and the Western Negev, even during days of "ceasefire"? And on standard days, when approximately 3.2 rockets are fired? No one can expect an 8-year-old boy to run through the school corridors along with 70 other children and reach the safe areas outside in less than 15 seconds, after hearing the tzeva adom (color red) alarm. What should one tell an 8-year-old boy who wants to go back to third grade because the classroom there is protected?
As a resident of Sderot, who has lived in this town for the past half year, I realize that it makes no difference whether the rockets hit an open area or the town itself. When that alarm goes off, you realize that you have 15 seconds to take cover. No one takes risks today; no one can say, "It won't happen to me."
During a visit to the security officer's office in Sderot, I noticed that the town's map was hanging on the wall, and that there were dots marking the rockets' landing points. The security officer explained that he had stopped marking dots on the map two years ago, because if he had continued, it would have been impossible to tell that the map was of Sderot.
There is no neighborhood, no street, no family, no child in Sderot, who has not experienced a rocket attack somewhere nearby. Over 3,600 trauma cases have been opened, from the rocket attacks alone.
The media neglects to mention that rockets are being launched at Sderot and Ashkelon from areas in the northern Gaza Strip that Israel evacuated during the Disengagement.
The website of Izadeen Al-Qassam Brigades, a branch of Hamas, makes it clear that from its point of view, all Israeli communities are "settlements": "In response to the occupation forces' attack on the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian resistance declared that it fired two rockets towards the Zionist Sderot settlement. Hamas' military wing generously offered to stop firing Kassam rockets in return for the evacuation of Sderot."
When the usual report is broadcast over the radio or television, saying, "Two Kassam rockets hit an open area nearby Sderot. No one was injured, there was no damage, a trauma victim was evacuated, and now the weather report," can the meaning of "anxiety" or "trauma" be grasped?
The news media dedicate seven seconds to the constant rocket firing towards Israel, and seven minutes to the lies of a Knesset Member.
That is the bubble of Israeli radio, TV and newspapers, the bubble in which most Israelis live. In Sderot, that bubble burst long ago.
(13) Roddy, December 5, 2012 4:55 AM
Predictable news media
And now, here we are in 2012 and nothing has changed. Sderot has slowly depopulated due to constant terrorism, and nobody hears about it. Perhaps all news journalists are anti-semites? Or perhaps only the publishers are anti-semites, and their employees are too scared to speak up? Either way, someone who cares needs to get a job at one of these newspapers, and then blow the whistle on them.
(12) michelle ferguson-cohen, March 23, 2007 12:33 PM
thank you for your article on sderot! after travelling to israel i was shocked at how this reality had been censored by the western media.
i'm disgusted that the UN and western nations believe it is somehow "peaceful" to murder isrealis.
(11) david, March 21, 2007 11:15 PM
This is insanity
Are you not even allowed to acquire weapons and fire back?
(10) Chaim, March 18, 2007 10:13 AM
The "peace process" is the worst thing that happened to Israel, except for dolts like Olmert assuming power
Believe it or not, a few decades ago Israel was strong and respected by friend and foe alike. No rockets fell on Israeli cities and towns. Few Israelis were murdered and maimed by terrorists, When one was, ISrael's retaliation was swift and severe. That was before the "peace process". The fraudulent "peace process" is the worst thing that ever happened to Israel, except for dolts like Olmert assuming power. No enemy, including Arafat, has done as much damage to Israel as Olmert. No enemy has destroyed Jewish towns of over 10,000. We have allowed this to happen. We must demand proud, nationalist Jewish leadership NOW! No more phony "peace process" with our mortal enemies. Israel must have victory.
(9) richard coutu, March 14, 2007 10:51 PM
No Voices
U.S. news also has failed to report the plight of these and other Israeli cities. It is no longer the issue that is discussed. Iraq and the destruction of the Bush agenda are the focal points of all U.S. media outlets except the FOX NEWS channel or CBN.
Anna Nicole Smith, Britanny Spears, Tom and Katie, Brad and Angelina have absorbed countless hours of viewers adoration while our political candidates have come to resemble a fictional cast of characters from a Steven King novel.
The truth of your plight will continue to be overlooked while the acts of the Muslim extremists will be looked at as defensive measures. In time you will realize you have no one but God to look to for your defense. I pray for this to happen soon as I love my Jewish brethren and weep for your suffering. I know it soon will spread to the U.S.because we also have failed to help you in your struggle. The Bible predicts such a scenario.
Shalom/Peace
(8) Ilse Brennecke, March 14, 2007 8:59 PM
this is the truth, but it is kept away from the people
anti-semitism at work
shame on all who are active in it
but GOD is no fool, he has the best computer of all, and won't forget who hurt his children PTL
(7) Esther Ben David, March 12, 2007 6:13 PM
American Marines love the I.D.F
After spending 4 years in Israel I returned to the U.S and found myself working right next to the largest marine base in the world. Every Marine that I spoke to (without exception)told me that the loved the I.D.F soldiers they wished they would be allowed to fight like the soldiers in Israel. Let us get back to that, let us get back to being known as the best defense force in the world, somehow we lost that and we better do it fast. With Respect Esther Ben-David
(6) Dvirah, March 12, 2007 3:28 PM
Tell It Like It Is
I live near Haifa and when my neighbors complain of the bombings they endured during the last war, I sympathize but also remind them that people in the South had been experiencing this long since - and still experience it. While of course I appreciate the support we got, I did then and still now feel how unfair it was that we got so much attention whereas Sderot and the South are largely ignored. So right on, and don't let anyone silence you!
(5) michelle, March 11, 2007 11:15 PM
Getting the news out where it matters
I am from India and I really feel for Israel. It pains me to see the bias and the total lack of concern in the media (yours, western and asian) for all things Israel. Had this to be happening to the muslims you'd see the media falling over themselves, whipping up a frenzy about the plight of those people. I pray everyday for Israel's safety but I'm also wondering that it is time for like minded people like us (ordinary citizens) to take a stand and start mailing out the correct news, and forwarding articles like these to others. Maybe if you call for "citizen journalists" to spread the news, it might become a movement dedicated to getting the news about Israel out to the rest of the world. I for one always forward these articles to my friends and ask them to pass it on.As the Bible says, "My people perish for lack of knowledge".
(4) Anonymous, March 11, 2007 9:25 PM
The media is an organ of the left, the left hates Isreal
The media is an organ of the left. The left hates Isreal.
(3) George Ingle, March 11, 2007 8:11 PM
how long
I hope Israel knocks Iran out of action
before its to late.no body else has the guts to do it,after all GOD is with Israel.GOD BLESS
(2) Ron Kilmartin, March 11, 2007 1:30 PM
Is it the press or the leadership that is ignoring the rockets?
The liberal press is clueless with respect to the Islamic threat world wide.
Israel's press - ignoring rocket attacks - seems to be at the forefront approaching a state of comatose, but the Euro press - e.g,, the "youths of Paris" - and American press - which will not ID Muslim terror perpetrators - are not far behind.
However, except for John Howard in Australia, it appears that the leaders of all these countries have meekly surrendered the bully pulpit to the Islamists and their sympathizers.
If the leaders will not lead, you cannot expect much from the press.
(1) aba nurick, March 11, 2007 9:52 AM
I too live in a kibbutz near Sderot,many Kassam rockets have fallen here on houses too.