A New Dawn for Israel Public Diplomacy

#Israel Diplomacy, #Media Advocacy, #Hasbara, #Gaza, #Iran, #Hamas, #Sderot Media Center, #Public Affairs, #Minister of Public affairs and Diaspora, #Yuli Edelstein #Operation Cast Lead, #terrorism, #Jihad,


By; Anav Silverman
Sderot Media Center
www.SderotMedia.org.il

18.11.09, Sderot, Israel: For the first time since Operation Cast Lead, senior government officials and Minister of Public Affairs and Diaspora, Yuli Edelstein, gathered together in Sderot to discuss the efficacy of Israel's current public diplomacy in a media forum organized by Sderot Media
Center.



Noam Bedein opened the conference by stating that the primary weak point during Operation Cast Lead was the lack of coordination between advocacy bodies to present the Israeli perspective with on-ground information at an official level.

International Media Advisor to the Deputy Foreign Minister, Ashley Perry, commented that advocacy bodies must think not only of tactics in the public diplomacy battle.

"Having a unified strategy in presenting Israel's case is critical. The other side has been working on delegitimizing the Jewish state of Israel for years with a well-thought out strategy especially in terms of the Internet," Perry said.


"When prominent people from all over the world believe that Sderot is a settlement somewhere and has no idea of the context of the Gaza conflict, we cannot assume that people outside of Israel know the basics," Perry added.





Minister of Foreign Affairs Deputy Spokesman, Andy David commented on the positive effect of Sderot Media Center as a grassroots organization. "SMC has the power to communicate the voices of Sderot residents in a way that the Foreign Ministry, a formal government body, cannot. Sderot Media Center's work in social networking, cultural projects and presentations to student groups are like diamonds in this advocacy field that need to be advanced further."



Government Press Office Director, Danny Seaman, agreed. Seaman stated that Sderot Media Center's Community Treatment Theater project "has been the best piece of hasbara that Israel has seen in a long time."

"Only girls who have actually grown up under rocket fire can perform a play about Qassam rockets as realistically as these high school actresses do.”

Sderot Mayor, David Buskila and and Director of the IDF Public Relations Branch, Lieutenant, Asaf Liberty also participated in the panel discussion.


Knesset Minister, Yuli Edelstein, thanked Sderot Media Center for organizing the media forum and for their advocacy work on behalf of Sderot residents. "SMC does a great job portraying the human side of Sderot and getting basic facts out to the world."

Bedein gave an overall summary of Sderot Media Center’s work during and since Operation Cast Lead.






"Our work here, as a grassroots media organization, is unique because of our close interaction with the residents here. Most of the SMC staff live in Sderot and have experienced the rocket attacks and alarms, as well as the relative ceasefires, along with the rest of the community. We are the only information source available here in the western Negev dealing directly with the rocket reality and its impact on Israeli civilians."

"During Operation Cast Lead and after, SMC has worked with hundreds of foreign journalists, political figures and college student groups, to communicate the situation of Sderot residents. When we visit the UN, Capitol Hill, the Australian Parliament and other governments and international organizations, we directly represent the people of Sderot,” said Bedein.


"The goal of this forum tonight is to find a way to utilize our work, our documentation of Sderot and Negev life under this rocket reality, in preparation for the next rocket war and media battle," Bedein concluded to the press.
“Tonight is a stepping point for public advocacy bodies to meet and find ways to cooperate towards a new dawn for Israel public diplomacy.”

Photos: Roy Borovski
Video: Tal Avitan

Support Sderot Treatment Theater, Therapy Balancing Gaza Story

#Theater, #Therapy, #Rockets, #Hamas, #Gaza, #Sderot Media Center, #Jihad, #Trauma, #PTSD,#terroism, #War crimes, #Goldstone report, #Iran,




"The positive impact of the theater therapy process clearly showed in the way these girls performed tonight--full of confidence and assurance."
Dalia Yosef, Former Director of the Sderot Resiliency Center for Sderot children and parents (Sderot performance, October 16, 2009)


In order for Sderot Media Center to continue the operation of the Sderot Community Treatment Theater, the project is in need of immediate financial assistance to advance its therapy services for traumatized Sderot girls.
We welcome you to view this short documentary of the year long drama-therapy process that has helped revitalize Sderot high school girls.

Watch the video from the show in Sderot

value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mE3S1BmnTr8&hl=en&fs=1&">

"Once the girls began to express their feelings of the fear and loneliness, they began to realize that they were not alone--there were others like them who were experienced the same trauma and panic induced by constant strain of living in a rocket environment."
Debbie Gross, Jerusalem psychologist who worked with the Sderot theater girls. (Sderot performance, October 14, 2009)


"It was fantastic. The girls' ability to weave humor within their personal stories, and then deliver the punch lines was amazing. No government official could tell the story of Sderot the way these actresses did tonight."
Danny Seaman, Director of the Israel Government Press Office (Jerusalem performance, October 26, 2009)


Over the next six months, Sderot Media Center plans to have 12 performances in different cities and communities across Israel and the Knesset.

In this project the Sderot Media Center's goal is to promote the concept of providing residents with self-expressing media tools that work to treat the traumatized population, while using the product to advocate the Israeli prospective through the human story of Sderot.



With the diverse audience members and plethora of media coverage, this theater project will impact public opinion not only on the Israel-Gaza conflict but also on how the world views the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.
Theater Project Media Coverage:
YNetNews , Jpost Video, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Channel 1+2, weekend edition of H'aaretz, Frontpage magazine, Jewish policy Center


*Articles about the performances:

"SMC Theater therapy program changes lives of Sderot's traumatized girls"

"Jerusalem Audience Awed by Sderot Girls' Treatment Theater Performance"




Recognized by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Israel Government Press Office, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Israel Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (IICC), SMC represents the daily threat of missile attack that now 1 million Israelis live under.

THE THEATER THERAPY PROJECT IS FUNDED SOLELY BY PRIVATE DONATIONS
Your contributions help continue our work

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Contact SMC for information

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Contact Us - www.sderotmedia.org.il , info@sderotmedia.com

As Goldstone sleeps, Sderot dreams of a safe, new year!

#Goldstone report, #UN, #Israel, #Gaza, #Hamas, #Sderot, #Sderot Media Center
www.SderotMedia.org.il


Dear Friends of Sderot Media Center,

Sderot Media Center Impacts Global Media with Response to Goldstone Report

Sderot Media Center’s director, Noam Bedein, who testified before the Goldstone Commission in Geneva this past July, blasted the UN Commision's report , calling it a ‘sham’ which served to legitimize acts of terror committed against Israel by terror-organizations like Hamas. International news outlets that carried Sderot Media Center’s press release in response to the UN report included China , India , Japan , Ireland , Thailand and South Africa . Israel's Jerusalem Post, Israel National News, Israel Radio, YNet News and Ha'aretz also carried Bedein's response.

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As Sderot and Negev residents enter their ninth year of life under the threat and fire of Gaza rockets, Sderot Media Center is preparing to meet those upcoming challenges. The financial struggles of the past year have not deterred SMC from conducting an intense awareness campaign successfully placing Sderot on the international map.

The information services of Sderot Media Center were internationally recognized when the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict requested that the center provide a full-length report explaining the impact of rockets on Israelis in Sderot and the south. I had the opportunity to speak before the UN commission in Geneva on behalf of Sderot this past June.

SMC representatives have toured Capitol Hill, Australia, Manitoba, Norway, England, and the US college campuses, Jewish and Christian communities, providing world audiences with accounts and media documentation of Sderot life. In the past year, SMC has hosted the British Ambassador to Israel, US governors and congressmen, parliamentarians, diplomats and other official policy-makers as well as an array of international media.

This begs the question: When most of the world knows about the situation in Sderot, what makes Sderot Media Center's work so important at this time?

The recent 'Gaza War' has affected the entire world, with multi-million dollar media campaigns and PR invested in portraying the scenes in Gaza. Almost every Jewish community in the world saw massive demonstrations against Israel during and after Operation Cast Lead.
This imbalance of media coverage has naturally given more legitimacy for Hamas, which has become a ‘household’ word internationally. This sort of legitimacy for terrorism and terrorist leaders poses a dangerous threat to regional peace and to the Jewish state’s existence.

Sderot Media Center is the only information source daily counterbalancing the Gaza narrative with the human story of Sderot and southern Israel. During the relative calm of the ceasefire, thousands of Sderot residents are still reeling from the post-traumatic effects and economic devastation brought on by years of rocket attacks.

SMC has developed a model to share the voices of local residents and expose the psychological impact of rocket terror on civilians. Two SMC projects for the coming year were conceived to more effectively present the Israeli perspective of the Gaza conflict.

Sderot Community Treatment Theater

Sderot Media’s Information Center

At Sderot Media Center, we would like to thank you for your generous support and your continuing belief in our work.

May this New Year bring peace and security to the residents of Sderot and all of Israel.


Shana Tova,



Noam Bedein, SMC Director

British Ambassador Visits SMC and Sderot Trauma Facilities

#British Ambassador, #Tom Phillips, #trauma center, #sderot media center, #Gaza, #humanitarian crises, #Hamas, #Sderot, #rockets, #qassam

By: Anav Silverman
Sderot Media Center
www.SderotMedia.org.il

Ambassador Tom Phillips visits Sderot trauma facilities on verge of financial collapse

In light of the financial collapse facing Sderot’s trauma facilities, Sderot Media Center invited British Ambassador Tom Phillips to visit with Sderot psychologists on Thursday, June 4 to receive an in-depth overview of the crisis.

The Ambassador first visited Sderot Media Center to learn more of the organization’s ‘citizen journalism’ and its social media activities on behalf of the Sderot community. Following the visit to the media center, Ambassador Phillips met with the heads of the Sderot Trauma Center and the Shock Treatment Center where he learned of the vital role that the trauma facilities play in rehabilitating the residents of the rocket-torn community.



As much of the world tuned into US Barack Obama’s monumental speech in Cairo, Ambassador Phillips heard the impassioned speeches of Sderot Trauma Center’s director, Dalia Yosef and the head of Shock Treatment Center, Dr. Adrianna Katz.
The directors of the trauma facilities reported that lack of funding will force both trauma centers to close down by December 2009.

Dr. Katz explained that the Shock Treatment Center was opened three years ago to provide immediate treatment to Sderot victims who experience shock after a Qassam attack. Inside the shock center, the Ambassador viewed the small room where shock patients are treated, which must cram as many as fifty patients at a time.

When told of the recent rocket that struck a Sderot residential neighborhood and sent eight people into shock, the Ambassador asked how PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) victims could be treated in an environment where there was no post to the rocket attacks.

"It is a big problem and a question that we have yet to answer," responded Dr. Katz. "Following the recent rocket attack in May, there have been over 60 new requests for treatment at the Sderot Mental Health Center." Dr. Katz, who also directs the Sderot Mental Health Center, said that out of the 6,000 patient files, over half involve post trauma cases.

"The closing of the shock center will mean that Sderot shock victims will have to be transported 20 minutes away to Ashkelon’s Barzilai, which was the standard procedure before the Sderot center was opened three years ago," Dr. Katz added.


At the Sderot Trauma Center, Ambassador Phillips met with the director, Dalia Yosef, who explained that the trauma center, also known as the Merkaz Hosen is the only facility in Sderot which offers treatment for children. "We have 1,000 patient files, and over 80 percent of our cases our children suffering from symptoms of PTSD. Eight years of Qassam rocket fire has produced a generation of ‘Qassam children’ who have no concept of normal life," said Yosef.

"We try to offer Sderot children and their parents the tools needed to deal with stress and shock." "Only this week, I had a mother break down, when she told me that the new bomb shelter in her home was complete. Although most Sderot parents have been reassured by the new bomb shelters, it was an unpleasant reality check for this particular mom. "




Yosef has a staff of 18 psychologists and social workers, all of whom she will be forced to fire once the funding for center runs out at the end of the year. Yosef explained that 50 percent of the center’s funding comes from NGOs, while Knesset ministries provide the other half.

"Until recently, The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews had provided 50 percent of the funding to the trauma and shock center. Now the organization can no longer provide that funding," said Yosef.

Sderot Media Center has been pressuring Knesset members to secure further funding for the trauma facilities, alongside Dr. Katz and Dalia Yosef. Out of the NIS 6 million needed to keep five trauma centers in Sderot and the western Negev open, the Knesset has thus far provided NIS 1.5 million which will keep the centers going until December.

Ambassador Phillips, noticeably moved by his visit, stated to Yosef that he was impressed with the dedication that she and other Sderot psychologists have shown to the community even under the intensity of the rocket attacks. Later the Ambassador spoke at Sapir College outside of Sderot, where he stated to students:
"I am conscious that I stand here today to meet with you students, just a few kilometres from the Gaza Strip, just a few kilometres from where Gilad Shalit was kidnapped almost three years ago. Thousands of rockets and mortars have rained down on Sderot and the surrounding areas since 2001, taking innocent lives and causing thousands of Israelis to live daily with fear, panic and dread."



The Ambassador’s visit to Sderot was spurred by a letter correspondence with SMC’s Anav Silverman. Silverman had written a letter to European Union ambassadors, pointing out that although the EU nations had graciously allocated funds for Palestinians who suffered the humanitarian consequences in the Gaza war, those living on the Israeli side and impacted by the war had received nothing. Silverman pointed out that both sides of the border deserved humanitarian aid.

Three embassies including Spain, the Netherlands and Britain responded to the letter, with the British Embassy following up in an on-site visit to Sderot. British Ambassador Phillips indicated at the end of the visit that he would bring the Sderot trauma facilities funding crisis to the attention of relevant international NGOs coordinating humanitarian aid.

The letter sent by Anav, to the EU-

To read Anav Silverman's letter to the European Union member countries: click here:
http://sderotmedia.org.il/bin/content.cgi?ID=428&q=3

To read the British Embassy's coverage of Ambassador Phillips' visit to Sderot, click here:
http://ukinisrael.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/?view=PressR&id=18889861

Sderot residents left to battle rockets and PTSD alone

#Sderot, #Mental health center, #PTSD, #Qassam rockets, #Trauma center, #shock center, #Gaza, #Hamas, #Sderot Media Center

By; Anav Silverman
Sderot Media Center
http://www.sderotmedia.com/

Sderot trauma facilities in danger of closing due to budget cuts.

Imagine that you are 18-years-old. You have just completed high school and in a few months you will enter the army. In the meantime, you spend your time going out with friends and working to save some money-- like any other typical teenager in Israel.

One afternoon, you come home exhausted from work and collapse into bed for a nap. Suddenly, in the middle of your nap you find yourself waking up to the sound of your window exploding above your bed. Shards of glass lie everywhere. It takes you a moment to realize that a rocket has slammed a few feet away from your home.
Welcome to a moment in the life of Ilan Dahan, a Sderot 18-year-old who slept through the Color Red siren-- only to wake up to a Gaza rocket exploding in his backyard last Tuesday evening, May 19.
“It’s a miracle that all I got was this scratch,” Ilan says, dazedly pointing to a red mark on his back, where a piece of glass cut through.
Ilan’s family stands around in shock. His mother Shula looks at her son tearfully. “I never expected this to happen to us during the ceasefire,” she says.

The back of the Dahan’s home is covered in debris and glass, while rocket shrapnel marks the walls and ceiling of the home. An evening breeze blows through the windowless windows. Ilan’s father, Avi, stands by his son. “I was terrified that something had happened to him,” Avi says in a quiet voice.
Now imagine that after such a rocket attack, the kind of therapy needed to get shock victims back on track, is no longer available. Due to significant budget cuts, trauma therapy facilities in Sderot, which have played a valuable role in rehabilitating residents of the rocket-torn community, are now in danger of closing down.

Those who will be affected most by this recent development are Sderot‘s children, as the Sderot Trauma Center, which caters mostly to Sderot children and teenagers - ages 17 and below - is on its way out.
Fifty percent of the center’s funding comes from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, or Keren LeYedidut. The organization can no longer provide the funds to keep the center going.



The trauma center treats 620 trauma patients, of whom 80% are children, says Daliah Yosef, the trauma center’s director.



“I’ve already handed out dismissal letters to the staff at the center,” Yosef told Sderot Media Center last Thursday, May 21 two days after the rocket attack.
The other 50% of the trauma center‘s funding is provided by the Israeli Government Ministries of Health, Revenue, and Seniors - not nearly enough to keep the center open.
“The harshest part of this reality is that hundreds of Sderot children will be left with no place to go for treatment,” says Yosef.

Ilan is fortunate that he is 18 and can therefore receive treatment at the Sderot Mental Health Center, which ministers to adult victims from ages 18 and up. However, Sderot's Mental Health Center’s director, Dr. Adrianna Katz, says that although her center is in no danger of closing, she does not have enough staff to deal with over 6,000 trauma victim files --which continue to grow every day. In fact, since the recent rocket attack on Sderot, over 60 people from the residential neighborhood where the rocket landed, have sought treatment at the Sderot Mental Health Center.

In addition to Yosef’s Trauma Center, the Sderot Shock Treatment Center which operates under the trauma center, is also in danger of shutting down.
Photo: Anav SilvermanThe Shock Treatment Center opened three years ago, alongside the trauma center, to provide immediate treatment to shock victims after rocket attacks. Before then, Sderot residents had to be transported 20 minutes away to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital or to Be’er Sheva’s Soroka Hospital.

“When the Shock Treatment Center opened in Sderot, it made treatment for Sderot residents much more efficient and easier, as they received help on the spot” said Dr. Katz, who also heads the shock center. “Sderot residents feel more at home being treated at the center.”
“Going back to the original way--transporting Sderot trauma victims by ambulance to hospitals outside the area is absolutely ridiculous,” Dr. Katz told Sderot Media Center. “The cost of transporting patients is more expensive and many times there are not enough ambulances to transport all victims, especially during episodes when there are a series of rocket attacks on the city.”

Indeed in the recent rocket attack, the Sderot Shock Treatment Center treated all eight victims of shock including a woman injured by rocket shrapnel.
Sderot’s trauma facilities remain a vital part of the Sderot community, which for eight years has been under Gaza rocket attack. As the city’s residents continue to live under the range of Qassam fire, it is the therapy and care that Dr. Katz and Dalia Yosef provide which helps residents return to a semblance of normal life.
In the meantime, Ilan Dahan continues to hope that someday he can wake up to a rocket-free sky.

The Significance of Memory in Israel: Sderot Remembers its Qassam Victims

#Sderot Qassam victims, #Israel rememberance day, # #Collective Memory, #Jewish History, #Gaza, #Iran,


By; Noam Bedein
Director
Sderot media Center
http://www.sderotmedia.com/

"Today we are in the midst of the third cease fire in the last two years. During each of these periods, hundreds of rockets have been fired towards Israel. Iran has become part of the equation in the Gaza-Sderot conflict and is very close to home - right in Sderot’s back yard. When we do not remember, our consciousness is the recipient of the routine reality, a routine that provides legitimization for terror, and raises the question of our basic right to live as Jews and Israelis freely in our country."

The 10 Sderot victims of the Qassam rocket attacks have become insignificant statistics when comparing the numbers of those killed in Gaza. Oshry Oz, Shirel Friedman, Afik Ochaion-Zehavi, Yosifov Michael, Kas’houn Yuval, Binsah Dorit-Gento, Ella Abukasis, Yaakov Yaakobov, Fa’ina Slozker, and Roni Yechiye, were all killed in the past eight years by indiscriminate rockets launched from Gaza. Here in Sderot, these people are not forgotten.



The eve of Israel’s Memorial Day 2009, as opposed to previous years, is deeply significant to the unique character of this nation’s collective memory. In a remembrance ceremony that took place in Sderot in marking those who fell in the various battles in Israel and those killed in terrorist acts including Qassam attacks, one can understand the importance of memorials. Sderot resident, Chanan Yaakobov, a mature 15 year old, spoke in the ceremony of his father who was killed by a Qassam rocket that exploded in a chicken factory just one week before the first cease fire in November 2006.



“I barely remember you...” Chanan says of his father to the audience. “Days have gone by and I am growing up without a father, I barely remember what you look like, and it is only the photographs that remind me of my childhood with my father, and that is why we have a memorial day in order to remember, and not to forget...”



The children of Sderot understand the importance of memories and their special significance. In the Memorial Day ceremony that took place in the Alon Science School, the children asked in their naiveté, “Is the siren that will be sounded in the city on Memorial Day the same siren as the red alert?” How can one expect a nine year old child that is born into the reality of rocket fire and doesn’t know any other reality to understand that the siren for Israel‘s Memorial Day is different from the Color Red siren warning of rocket attacks.



There was an exemplary silence during the Memorial Day siren- the children stood at steadfast attention; no voice was heard; there was no chirping or giggling.
Leora Fima, the school principal, related later on that “the children in first grade today understand that the deaths in Sderot and of those soldiers killed in Israel’s wars emphasize the importance of life in our country in general and life in Sderot in particular.”



The critical significance of the holidays in the past month is the basis of the fundamental collective memory in the various periods of Jewish history: Passover, where we remember the Exodus from Egypt, the Exodus from slavery to freedom; Holocaust day, with the memory of millions of Jews that were killed for merely being Jewish; Memorial Day, for the victims of Israel’s battles, who with their heroism enabled us to go on in the state. In their merit we live today in the state of Israel.



The words “freedom,“ “liberty,“ and “national Jewish and Israeli pride” take on a special meaning here in Sderot, where for over eight years rockets have terrorized a civilian population. In a reality that would be regarded unacceptable in any other part of the world, these words hold great meaning for the residents of Sderot, the western Negev and approximately a million citizens that live in the south of Israel.



The last time that the city of Sderot looked like a city that celebrated Independence Day was during the period of Operation Cast Lead that began on the 27th of December and continued until January 18. The entire city-- every alley, street and neighborhood was decorated with Israeli flags. Except for the fact that the streets were empty, parks dormant, and people remained inside in bomb shelters, it felt that the residents of Sderot were celebrating Independence Day early.



Dr. Adrianna Katz, the director of the Mental Health Center in Sderot, diagnosed hundreds of trauma victims during the battle period in Gaza and assigned a “new” syndrome to Sderot victims of PTSD- “optimistic anxiety”. The optimistic anxiety victims were diagnosed as having no anger. Dr. Katz explained that this was the first time in eight years that the residents of Sderot felt as if they were part of the state of Israel. They were beginning to experienced the feeling of potential independence from eight years of rocket shooting.“There was finally a feeling of euphoria - for the first time the residents saw the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Katz. This feeling continued for three weeks - during the entire time of the battle.



Tonight the State of Israel celebrates 61 years since its founding. Four months have passed since the fighting in Gaza where more than 200 rockets have been shot at Israel; hundreds of tons of ammunition and weapons have been smuggled into Gaza through underground caves; Gilad Shalit has not been released and the legitimization of the Hamas terror has increased worldwide. As a result, the feeling of independence as a national autonomous and legitimate state today carries a question mark.



Our conscious memory of the Sderot and western Negev rocket reality, as Israelis living outside of Sderot, is almost non-existent. Because there is relative “quiet”, with only some individual deaths, we have forgotten the fact that we disengaged from Gaza based on the formula of “land for peace”. Yet, since that day, more than 7000 Qassam rockets have been fired at Israel. At least once a week since the ceasefire, Sderot residents experience the Color Red siren.



Today we are in the midst of the third cease fire in the last two years. During each of these periods, hundreds of rockets have been fired towards Israel. Iran has become part of the equation in the Gaza-Sderot conflict and is very close to home - right in Sderot’s back yard. When we do not remember, our consciousness is the recipient of the routine reality, a routine that provides legitimization for terror, and raises the question of our basic right to live as Jews and Israelis freely in our country.

UNRWA, where is the money going?

#UNRWA, #Gaza, #humanitarian aid, #Hamas, #Palestinian refugee camps, #billions dollars


By • Anav Silverman
Sderot Media Center
Thu Mar 25 2009 05:48:29
http://www.sderotmedia.com/



In the past three years, billions of dollars have poured into the PA and UNRWA.

In recent years, billions of dollars have poured into Gaza from hundreds of countries and international organizations. How much of that money has actually reached Palestinian civilians, effectively improving their quality of life and economy, has yet to be completely determined thanks to vague audits and on-line information.


Only recently, with a relatively silent international press, have there been questions from top political leaders, primarily from US, about the way in which the donor money will be transferred into Gaza.

At an Egyptian donor’s conference organized by Norway and Egypt in early March, more than 75 international donors and organizations met to announce their financial support of the reconstruction in Gaza. Over $5.2 billion were pledged at the conference, surprising the Palestinian Authority who originally called for $2.8 billion needed to build-up Gaza.
In light of the US pledge of $900 million, the second largest following Saudi Arabia‘s $1 billion at the conference, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton stated that no US funds earmarked for Gaza would end up in the “wrong hands.”

By wrong hands, Clinton meant Hamas, the militant Islamist Palestinian party in complete control of the Gaza Strip. Over $300 million dollars of the US pledge money will be going to Gaza reconstruction, while the rest of the $600 million has been earmarked to Palestinian Authority‘s Mahmoud Abbas.

However, there is another set of “wrong hands” in this scenario through which the transfer of funds may very well pass through, hands that are not considered a neutral player in the Arab-Israeli conflict. US State department spokesman, Gordon Duguid stated that Gaza support would be provided through USAID, in coordination with UN agencies that will most likely include UNRWA.
UNRWA, the United Nations Relief Works Agency, established in 1949 to aid Palestinian refugees, has shown dangerous partiality to Hamas terrorists.

In 2004, former UNRWA commissioner-General Peter Hansen revealed to the Canadian Broadcasting Company that UNRWA may very well employ Hamas members. “I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don’t see that as crime,” Hansen infamously stated. He further added, that “We do not do political vetting and exclude people from one persuasion as against another.”
UNRWA has employed several high profile terrorists which include top Islamic Jihad rocket maker, Awad Al-Qiq who was killed in an Israeli air strike last May 2008. Al-Qiq was the headmaster and science instructor at an UNRWA school in Rafah, Gaza. Another terrorist, Hamas’s interior minister and head of the Executive Force, Said Siyam, was a teacher for over two decades in UNRWA schools.


Mortar Bombs Shot from UN School in Gaza 29 Oct. 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmXXUOs27lI


Fox News recently reported that UNRWA does not ask its employees whether they are members of, or affiliated with, a terrorist organization such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad. UNRWA also offers no formal screening to ensure that its employees are not affiliated with terrorist organizations.
During Operation Cast Lead, UNRWA officials accused Israel of firing into an UNRWA school, killing dozens of Palestinian civilians seeking refuge. Israel maintained that Palestinian rocket launchers locate next to the school had fired mortars on IDF soldiers, which prompted the army's response. Later, UN official Maxwell Gaylord, reversed the UN’s stance stating that the shelling and fatalities had actually taken place outside of the school. But the media damage to Israel had already been done.

Jonathan Halevi, a former IDF intelligence officer who specializes in Palestinian terrorist organizations, recently told Fox News that he estimates that 60 percent of homicide bombers are educated in UNRWA schools. Past UNRWA textbooks blatantly deny the Jewish connection to Israel and are filled with anti-Semitic remarks.

In any case, the United States remains UNRWA’s largest sponsor, providing the organization with over 75% of its initial budget according to UNRWA‘s former senior legal advisor, James Lindsay. Lindsay, who served as an attorney for the US Justice Department for two decades asserts in his publication for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy which came out on January 29 that UNRWA is providing services to those who are actually not in need of them.
Almost the 2 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan have Jordanian citizenship and are fully eligible for government services, but are continuing to receive UNRWA assistance as the agency regards them as refugees, according to Lindsay‘s report.

Michael Danby, a longstanding legislator in the Australian Parliament has also accused UNRWA of being “notoriously corrupt. “ Since 2007, Australia has provided $30 million in funding for the Palestinians through the UNRWA agency, which Danby accused of diverting funds to “arms purchase, terrorist operations, and anti-Israel incitement as well as into the pockets of the PA leadership.“
“It is a betrayal of that generosity [by Australians] for this money to be wasted, stolen, or misspent on rockets, guns, and terrorism,” Danby said one month ago to the Australian Federal Parliament on February 26.
Other countries actively fundraising for Gaza include France, who hosted a Paris donors conference for Palestinian Authority‘s President Mahmoud Abbas in December 2007. The conference raised over 7.4 billion dollars in Palestinian aid (for a three year period: 2008-2010) from over 90 countries and international organizations that attended. During 2008, over 3 billion dollars pledged at the conference were distributed through the PA.



But that’s not all. By mid-January 2009, TV stations across the Arab world collected over half a billion dollars in a telethon for Gaza, according to Johan Eriksson, a spokesperson for the U.N.
As the Gaza Strip soon teems with money, world donors and leaders must ask the following question: Who will monitor the transfer of these funds and account that they are indeed effectively used for Gaza reconstruction and not for restoring the Hamas terrorist infrastructure?

Has Life in Sderot Changed?

#Sderot Media Center, #Gaza, #Hamas, #qassam, #Israel, #rockets

A Personal Reflection on Current Life in Sderot

Sderot Media Center

www.SderotMedia.com

By: Anav Silverman

"All the world's a stage," says a famous Shakespeare phrase. I recall this expression from Shakespeare's As You Like It as I travel down to Sderot, to begin another week working at our Sderot Media Center office. Sderot, a small Israeli city located less than a mile away from Gaza, is in its own right--a stage--for weekly rocket attacks, post trauma victims and visiting politicians. And the recent ceasefire, which began on January 18, 2009 has not changed anything. Sderot residents are still entering bomb shelters weekly, with the siren alert known as Tzeva Adom or Color Red going off, and rockets exploding across the western Negev. The unilateral ceasefire with Hamas has brought thus far, over 120 rockets raining against Israel-- and not a peep of condemnation from any international actor or the UN. As I sit on the bus, thinking of everything that has come to pass in the recent months, I overhear a Sderot mother speaking to her babysitter back home. It's 10:30 at night and a rocket has apparently been fired at Sderot. "There was a siren??" the mom anxiously exclaims. "Are the kids ok? Are they in bed?" She speaks nervously. "I'm so afraid to leave the house with the kids home, and finally when I do, this has to happen," says the mom despondently almost to herself. It's a Tuesday night in March and the rockets are continuing to strike the hearts of Sderot parents and children. The possibility of a Qassam rocket landing anywhere, destroying any home or building, is just as probable now as it was during the war two months ago. WHEN I first began working in Sderot almost two years ago, I was innocent to the meaning of terror. I had never personally experienced a suicide attack or a bus bombing in Jerusalem. When the media center director interviewed me for the job, he asked me how I deal with terrorist attacks. I told him I had no idea. I can write that I now have unfortunately a very firm idea of what terror is and what it can do to you both physically and psychologically. In the past few months, I have witnessed rocket terror attacks that remain imprinted in my mind. Back in December 2008, the Color Red alarm had gone off one day during work, part of the routine day warning of an impending rocket. Our center had no available bomb shelter at that time, so the staff and I would simply leave the computer stations and crowd in the center of the office, away from the windows. This time around, I didn't feel like getting up, for whatever reason, but Eliran, our technician forced me to and I joined everyone else. And then we all heard it together--the shriek of the rocket as it sailed over our center and slammed with a tremendous explosion about 50 meters away. I felt the air stir as the rocket landed, and heard people crying out. We were all in shock. I remember just standing there, my mind blank. Inside I was shaking, but then I began working in media mode. The only thing that we can do when this happens is snap photos, film and document the attack. Miraculously, the rocket did not slam into a building or physically injure anyone. It had found itself an isolated corner, and was buried deep in the ground. However, the impact of the explosion had caused all the office windows in the area to completely shatter. I entered a barbershop, a travel agency, a computer repair shop--crude pieces of broken glass and debris littered the desks and floors. The barber stood in shock. A woman outside was convulsing--trembling to the point that she had no control of her body. Ambulances arrived. Everyone had made it in time to the shelter within the 15 seconds of the siren sounding and the rocket exploding. Had anyone remained standing near a window, the exploding glass would have caused some very serious injuries. I lost my appetite that day. After that attack, it was very difficult for me to return to work. Each time I entered Sderot, I did so, only by pushing my rational thoughts aside. I began to think that rockets would fall anywhere and that I could very well be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I remember waking up one morning to the sound of the siren and then realizing that I was sleeping in Jerusalem. There was no alarm-- it was just in my head. I call this abnormal. It is abnormal that I have to be afraid. It is abnormal that I find myself racing to a bomb shelter several times a week when I'm in Sderot. It is abnormal that today close to 1 million Israelis in the southern area of the country are now threatened by Hamas rockets. TWO weeks ago, two US congressmen came to visit Sderot for an hour, after spending an entire day in Gaza. Representatives Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) and Brian Baird (D-Washington) toured the city, visiting area bomb shelters, protected schools and the Amar family, whom President Obama also visited during his campaign last year after their home was destroyed by a direct rocket hit. At the police station, against the backdrop of Qassam rockets stored away, the Congressmen asked many questions. As I was the translator, I had the opportunity to get a first hand impression of the visitors. At one point, Congressman Ellison, picked up a Qassam rocket and pointed out how heavy it was. "I could work out with this," he joked. On the surface, I wondered if the Congressmen truly understood the kind of impact that eight years of Gaza rocket fire has on a civilian population. After all, it took me two years to completely understand the meaning behind rocket terror. In any case, in their press release on their visit to the Middle East, Rep. Baird and Ellison spoke primarily on Gaza, barely mentioning Sderot or southern Israel. I only hope that the world does not ignore the major role that Hamas continues to play on this stage of Middle East Conflict. As rocket fire continues, and Hamas once again rebuilds its military infrastructure and rocket supply, Sderot and Palestinian civilians can only wonder if peace will ever make a permanent appearance in this region.

--
Anav Silverman
Sderot Media Center
International Correspondent
Cell: 0528607696
e-mail: anav.sderot@gmail.com
http://www.sderotmedia.com/

Gilad Shalit Supporters Wait for Hillary Clinton's Reply

#Gilad Shalit, #Hillary Clinton, #900 million, #Hamas, #Gaza, #Sderot Media Center, #Capitol Hill

Published By: Sderot Media Center March 16, 2009

www.SderotMedia.com

Photo: Anav Silverman

By ANAV SILVERMAN

Sderot Media Center

In their final effort to pressure the Olmert government to secure the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, the Shalit family has stationed itself in a protest tent across the Prime Minister's Residence for more than a week now. Rain or shine, the family gathers together each day as reporters, cameramen and thousands of supporters mill around, amid the sad faces of Gilad's parents, Noam and Aviva, and older brother, Yoel.

"We are cautiously waiting to see what will happen," said Noam Shalit on a rainy Sunday standing outside the tent and speaking with Sderot Media Center and press. The family believes that these last few days are critical during the final attempts to negotiate a release deal with Hamas but continue to remain wary. "I am not at all optimistic. If I were optimistic, I wouldn't be here. I would be at home," Noam Shalit said.

A sign at the protest tent lists the number of days that Gilad has been held captive by Hamas–this Saturday it will be 1,000 days. Palestinian terrorists captured Gilad at the Erez border crossing almost three years ago, when Hamas won control of the Gaza Strip. He has since been denied Red Cross visitations or communication with his family and the outside world.

In a country where the military plays a pivotal role and everyone knows someone in service, the Gilad Shalit capture has touched the hearts of Israelis across the nation, making him a national symbol. Posters, photos and flags of Gilad, a typical looking nineteen year-old in glasses, can be found plastered on cars, malls, and homes throughout the country.

Recently, however, the continuing storm in Israel surrounding Gilad's capture made some small waves in the U.S. Congress.

Following a briefing by Sderot Media Center director, Noam Bedein to U.S. congressmen and staffers on Capitol Hill, in an EMET sponsored Policy Forum at Capitol Hill, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev) drafted a letter to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. In the letter, Congresswoman Berkley, who is a member of the Middle East Subcommittee of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, asked that conditions be placed on the $900 million that the U.S. recently pledged to Gaza.

Berkley stated that she is concerned that the $900 million recently pledged by the United States to the Palestinian people in Gaza will end up in the hands of Hamas, and asked that the money be withheld until the following conditions are met: 1) Hamas recognizes Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, 2) the launching of Qassam rocket missiles on Israel stops, 3) captured soldier Galid Shalit is returned (http://www.emetonline.org ).

On Sunday, March 15, Noam Bedein visited the Shalit family at the Jerusalem protest tent to personally hand a copy of the Berkley letter to Noam Shalit and explain the significance of the petition. Family spokesperson, Shimshon Libman told Sderot Media Center, that every effort including U.S. pressure, would contribute to the family's efforts to bring Gilad home.

The Organization for the Release of Gilad Shalit, released an official statement warmly welcoming the initiative. "For many days, we have demanded that elements that can be used to influence some kind of deal–from transfer of money and goods to prisoners, will make Hamas understand that this is a mutual affair. Our true friends in the U.S. again reveal their understanding of the game rules played in this region. This is the language of action needed. We hope that representatives of other contributing nations (to Gaza) will act in a similar fashion."

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley is still awaiting a response from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to her letter.

Noam Bedein and Noam Shalit, Photo: Anav Silverman

The Shalit family will unfortunately also continue to wait for Gilad's release–indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Cairo failed to advance Gilad's release in exchange for hundreds of freed Palestinian prisoners. Knesset Minister, Eli Yishai stated on Tuesday that Gilad's release will be up to the next government. During the negotiations, Hamas demanded the release of up to 1,400 prisoners. Of that number, 450 were Palestinian terrorists known to have been involved in terror attacks that killed Israelis.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Ayman Taha, a Hamas spokesman stated that the two sides had yet to resolve a number of differences regarding the proposed deal.

"It will take a few days before we know if there is an agreement," Taha stated. "Hamas has presented its demands to the Egyptian mediators, who relayed them to the Israelis. We hope that the Zionist enemy will accept our demands in the coming days."

At any rate, rocket fire continued against Israel again this week, as a Palestinian rocket fired at the western Negev on Monday struck an open area across a kibbutz in the Eshkol Regional Council. Over 160 Palestinian rockets and mortars have slammed into Israel since the unilateral ceasefire began on January 18.

Anav Silverman is a journalist at Sderot Media Center, www.sderotmedia.com, which is on the front lines Palestinian rocket fire.

Link to the video - http://www.sderotmedia.com/bin/videos.cgi?q=watch&id=2389

--
Anav Silverman
Sderot Media Center
International Correspondent
Cell: 0528607696
e-mail: anav.sderot@gmail.com
www.SderotMedia.com

Letter sent by U.S. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

#U.S. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley,#US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, #Gaza, #900 million dollars, #Hamas, #Noam Bedein , #Gilad Shalit, #Rockets, #terrorism



http://www.sderotmedia.com/


March 11,2009 U.S. congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-Nev), a member of the Middle East Subcommittee of the US House Foreign Affairs Commttee, has sent a letter to US Secretary of State Clinton in which she demands that the American government condition $900 million in Gaza aid for Palestinians on ending Gazan rocket fire on Israel and release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.


U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged that $900 million during a conference in Egypt last week, which sought to raise money for rebuilding Gaza after Israel's three-week incursion into Gaza, which was aimed at halting Gaza rocket fire on southern communities.
Shalit has been held as a hostage by the Gaza regime Gaza since a cross-border raid in June 2006.

Rep. Berkley's letter to Clinton followed a meeting on Capitol Hill last Tuesday with the Sderot Media Center, (www.SderotMedia.com ) who briefed Congress about what life is like in rocket-battered Sderot in a meeting intiated by EMET 's President, Sarah Stern. Sderot Media Center brought Congress a series of first hand audiovisual reports of the 120 rocket attacks that have been launched from Gaza since Israel ceased its military incursion into Gaza on Jan. 18, two days before President Obama was inaugurated.

After the briefing with the Sderot Media Center, Rep. Shelley Berkley dispatched a strong letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which demanded that the aid be delayed as long as the Gaza rocket fire continues and so long as Shalit remains captive.
EMET (Endownment for Middle East Truth) was established two years ago with the purpose of battling Islamic extremism and terrorism through information dessimination, policy forums, congressional luncheons, seminars and many other venues. Video of Sderot Media Center presentation on Cap. Hill: (takes a few minutes to download)

http://conjostudios.com/clients/EMET
=======================Here is the text of the letter.


March 5, 2009 Photo: Carrie Devorah/WENN

The Honorable Hillary Clinton Secretary of State2201 C Street NWWashington, DC 20520

"Dear Madam Secretary:
I write to you today regarding the situation in the Middle East. In the wake of Hamas’ attacks on Israel, and Israel’s defensive operations, I understand the U.S. government has pledged to grant $900 million for the rebuilding of Gaza and for assisting the Palestinian Authority. I am concerned that this money will end up helping Hamas and hurting the very Palestinian people we intend to help.

For years, the U.S. has infused money into the Palestinian Authority (PA), with very little to show for it. Their leaders are no more ready to govern today than they were before we began our funding. After years of mismanagement, their basic institutions are in shambles and they have shown very little ability to govern in the West Bank without the presence of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Instead of helping average Palestinians, our money has lined the pockets of the Arafats and other corrupt Palestinian leaders.

I also understand our funding will not be conditioned on any reciprocal actions by Hamas or the PA. Despite Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Hamas still refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, has not stopped raining rockets on Israeli territory and still holds captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. It is essential that we condition our funding on Hamas’ reciprocating with these basic demands. Without such links, Palestinians will see the U.S. as providing aid while Hamas continues to terrorize the Israeli people, with no consequences from the U.S. government.

I am also concerned that much of the funding will be directed through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Unfortunately, UNRWA has proven itself to be a biased agency, with very little oversight. During the most recent violence in Gaza, UNRWA issued numerous statements attacking Israel for their self-defense actions, while failing to criticize Hamas for launching missiles at innocent Israeli citizens.
Much of UNWRA’s money and services end up in the hands of people who are wealthy enough not to need the assistance, or worse, with members of terrorist organizations. UNRWA officials have even admitted that they cannot guarantee their money does not go to Hamas. I believe helping UNRWA does not further the cause of peace."

Noam Bedein on Cap Hill: New Cong. initiative: Stop funds to Gaza unless Shalit

#900 million dollars, #captiol hill, #noam bedein, #Gaza, #Shelley Berkley, #Hamas, #gilad Shalit, # petition, #US congress

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1069109.html
www.SderotMedia.com

* Results of Noam Bedein's March 3 appearance on Capitol Hill:New Congressional initiative: Stop funds to Gaza unless Shalit handed over & unless Gaza shelling of Israel stops:



WASHINGTON - U.S. congressmen are seeking to condition $900 million in aid for the Palestinians on ending Gazan rocket fire on Israel and the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged the $900 million during a conference in Egypt this week, which sought to raise money for rebuilding Gaza after Israel's three-week Operation Cast Lead.The offensive was aimed at halting rocket fire on southern communities. Shalit has been held captive in Gaza since a cross-border raid in June 2006.










The proposal followed a meeting on Capitol Hill between Noam Bedein, the director of the media center in Qassam-battered Sderot and several congressmen and their advisors. After the meeting, Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada drafted a petition to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which demanded that the aid be delayed as long as the rocket fire continues and Shalit remains captive. Berkley, a Jewish politician well-known for her support of Israel, backed the Israeli operation in Gaza during December and January, and even told Haaretz that Israel may have been too tolerant.

Over 100 rocket attacks from Gaza to southern Israel

#Rockets, #cease fire, #Hamas, #Israel, #Missiles, # Iran, #Gaza
By Anav Silverman

http://www.sderotmedia.com/

Since the end of Operation Cast Lead, over 100 Palestinian rockets including Grads, Qassams and mortar rockets, have struck Israel according to the IDF Spokesperson's Office.

For the second time this week, Qassam rockets targeted the western Negev town of Sderot. On Thursday morning, February 26, a Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists in northern Gaza exploded in the backyard of a Sderot home. A mother and her son were treated for shock as were a number of other civilians in the neighborhood where the rocket struck. No injuries were reported. The Qassam rocket caused damages to two Sderot homes when it exploded. It was a miracle that no one was hurt according to bystanders.

Watch video- http://sderotmedia.com/bin/videos.cgi?q=watch&id=2312

The rocket attack took place around 8:30 am, a few seconds after the Tzeva Adom (Color Red) siren had blared throughout Sderot and surrounding communities. Another rocket landed in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, causing no damages or injuries.Video:Noam BedeinOn Wednesday morning, February 25, two rockets were fired at the western Negev region as well, hitting the Eshkol region.

On Monday, February 23, Palestinian rockets slammed into open fields outside of Sderot. The Tzeva Adom siren alert, set off twice by impending Gaza rockets, had Sderot residents racing for cover two times on Monday.

Photo: Noam Bedein

US Congressmen Brian Baird and Keith Ellison Visit Gaza and Sderot

#US congressmen #Brian Baird, #Keith Ellison, #Gaza, #Sderot, #Israel, #President Obama

By Anav Silverman

www.SderotMedia.com

Following a day tour in Gaza, members of Congress, Brian Baird (D-Washington) and Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) spent an hour in Sderot touring the city with Sderot Media Center director, Noam Bedein and staff on Friday, February 20.

In Sderot, the Congressmen met with the Amar family whose home was destroyed in a Palestinian rocket attack in December 2007. Both US President Obama and Senator John McCain had visited the Amars during their tour of Sderot last year.

Photo: Chen Shwartzman

The Congressmen asked many questions during the visit and showed interest in understanding the full impact of rocket fire on Israeli civilians-- including children-- living in Sderot.

Dr. Adrianna Katz of the Sderot Mental Health Center spoke with the Congressmen at the Sderot Police Station, where hundreds of exploded rockets have been stored away. Representative Baird, a licensed clinical psychologist, was particularly interested in the psychological impact of the rocket fire. Dr. Katz explained that there is a ‘Qassam generation’ of Sderot children who have been born into the rocket fire.

“These kids, who experienced rocket attacks since 2001, know no other reality other than exploding rockets and ‘Tzeva Adom’ (Color Red) alert sirens. Their sense of peace and security has been shattered,” said Dr. Katz.

“The rocket fire has impacted the economic situation, family relationships-- all aspects of life here in Sderot. People live in constant fear and terror that a rocket may strike at any moment. Over 5,000 residents have been forced to leave and relocate elsewhere.”

“Israelis living in Ashkelon, Be’er Sheva and Ashdod are now experiencing that same terror for the first time, ” added Dr. Katz.

Accompanying the Congressmen on their visit, were Dr. Nick Palarino and Dr. Catherine Salsman.

Holding a Hamas-fired rocket at the Sderot Police Station, US Representative Ellison, the first Muslim elected to US Congress, commented on its heaviness. “A rocket explosion can impact up to 300 feet,” explained SMC director, Noam Bedein. “The models become more sophisticated and pack more explosives with each passing year."

Bedein also pointed out that the Grad-model Katyusha rockets come directly from Iran. "Iran supplies Hamas with the rockets that target major Israeli cities. The rockets were smuggled through the tunnels dug between the Egyptian-Gaza border or by ship, during the last ceasefire." During the war, the Grad rockets were able to target one million Israelis who still remain under Palestinian missile threat.

Photo: Chen Shwartzman

Both US representatives asked Dr. Katz her view on potential peace with the Palestinians. "Is the hatred towards the Palestinians deep-seeded on the Israeli side? asked Congressman Baird. "There is no hatred for the Palestinian people," replied Dr. Katz. "Israelis here know that there is an underlying difference between the Hamas government and the average Palestinian citizen."

The two US representatives filmed the tour on their camera phones to share with relevant persons back in the US.

Congressman Ellison, who represents Minnesota, and Congressman Baird, who represents Washington state, had visited Gaza the day previously. It was the first time that anyone from the US government had entered the Gaza Strip since Hamas took power. Their visit to Gaza, according to Representative Brian Baird’s website, was not officially sanctioned by Obama Administration. However, US President Obama has stated in the past that he intends to improve ties with the Muslim world.

Indeed in a joint press release available on Congressman Baird's official government website, Congressmen Ellison and Baird spoke primarily of their visit to Gaza and their impressions of the situation there.

Golda Was Right

#Jewish State, #Golda Meir, #Israel, #Gaza, #Sderot,

By Jacob Shrybman
www.SderotMedia.com

Moments after another “Tzeva Adom” warning siren rang out in Sderot I walked around the Sderot Media Center office wondering why it is that the Jewish nation must continually justify their actions for survival. No matter the measure taken to protect its people from rockets, missiles, bombs, guns, or heavier attack Israel comes under a barrage of condemnations and negative political pressure. It is nearing the 61^st year since its establishment, so when will the Jewish state no longer have to defend its existence?

If the reason for these condemnations is because of numbers of casualties from Israel’s vital operations then where was the uproar when Arafat claimed that 10,000-20,000 were massacred in eleven days by the Jordanian army in September of 1970? These numbers, as well as other world conflict casualty statistics, overshadow the inflated number of 1,300 people that Hamas claims were killed by Israel during the three-week Operation Cast Lead.

Nonetheless, I resent the fact that the Jewish people and Israel need to constantly prove to the world that we have a right to defend ourselves and that we are not blood-thirsty monsters like often portrayed. More so I resent the fact that in order to bolster my case for Israel’s legitimacy I have to research and compare numbers of people killed by other nations versus numbers killed by the Jewish nation. Could the world truly think that Israel likes having to send its country’s youth into an extremely hostile urban combat setting where around every corner could be a booby-trapped explosive or kidnapping trap? Could the world truly think Israel’s self-centered politicians like suspending their election campaigns to handle the emergencies that come along with a military operation?

The world must understand that Israel cannot have 1 million of its citizens under the daily immediate threat of rockets.

Last week while guiding an afternoon tour of Sderot for American students Sderot resident and mother Shula Sasson showed the group of 18 year-olds how her family’s mattresses were leaning against the wall behind their couch in the first floor living room because her family hasn’t slept or lived on the second floor of their house for years because it is simply too far from their sheltered room.

When one of the students asked Shula if she was optimistic about the since there is currently a ceasefire with Hamas, she calmly but sternly replied, “Do not believe it (ceasefire).” She then emphasized to the students that their visit to Sderot was more important than a meaningless ceasefire so they can convey the situation to their schools and communities. Shula wished the students goodbye saying, “You will be the ones to save us. Not a ceasefire.”

Over the past eight years, since the rocket fire began in January 2001, Israel has attempted various methods to bring an end to these terrorist attacks in order to put off a major military operation. Even when Israel is forced to carry out the difficult task of thwarting terrorists embedded in one of the most densely populated areas in the world, it goes to unprecedented lengths to prevent loss of civilian life. It is unheard of other militaries around the world to call and text message civilians warning them of the imminent military attack.

But yet the Tzeva Adoms continue and I am sitting in Sderot agitated and on edge; in the only region in the world where civilians are consistently targeted by rockets, less than a mile a way to a territory controlled by a terrorist organization committed to the destruction of the Jewish State. So, I resent the fact that I have to defend Israel’s legitimacy for existence when it is forced to target terrorists that the world knows are using families’ home and hiding behind human shields.

As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said after the Six Day War, “When peace comes we can forgive the Arabs for killing our children but we cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill theirs.”

The Iran-Hamas Connection and President Obama

#Iran, #Hamas, #Obama, #Gaza, #Israel

http://www.sderotmedia.com/
By • Anav Silverman Fri Feb 20 2009

As US President Barack Obama makes historic overtures in attempting to foster open dialogue with Iran, the rest of world watches in optimistic anticipation. The UK's Guardian recently reported that Obama's administration drafted a letter to Iran "aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks."

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has welcomed US overtures saying that:
"The new U.S. administration announced that it's willing to bring about a number of changes and is now taking the course for dialogue. It's quite clear that the real change should be fundamental, not just tactical change, and it is quite clear that the Iranian nation will greet real changes." (CNN, February 10)

'Obama in Sderot July 2008'

Change or no change, residents of southern and northern Israel have reason to be wary of Iran, a country that continues to fund Hamas and Hezbullah terrorism operations.
Thanks to Iranian-produced Grad missiles and technology, Hamas now holds rockets that place close to 1 million Israelis within target range. During Operation Cast Lead, Hamas was able to strike Israel's fifth and sixth largest cities, Ashdod and Beersheba respectively, along with Netivot, Ofakim, Qiryat Gat, Yavneh, and Kiryat Malachi.

Hamas now has aspirations to target other Israeli cities, particularly Tel Aviv. Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV recently proclaimed on a program: "Tel Aviv, all our options are open." (Al Aqsa TV, January 10, 2009)

But it is not only the rockets which are worrying.

Although the Obama administration is keen on turning a new leaf with Iran, the fact remains that Iran is the "central banker" for Middle East terrorism, as former US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice aptly put when she spoke to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Iran's role in supporting Islamic terror in 2006.

The Iranian nation is a leading financial supporter of three terror networks; Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. Iran transfers several hundreds of million of dollars a year to Hamas, financing the movement and its military wing, Iz Al-Din-al Qassam Brigades. When Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2006, Iran awarded the regime with a $50 million bonus (BBC report April 16, 2006).

The Hamas website reported on December 11, 2006 that the Iranians had given $250 million to top Hamas official and fundraiser, Ismail Haniya, of which $100 million was used to cover the salaries of Hamas employees in the social, labor and cultural ministries for a six-month period in 2007. (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center report )

According to the IICC, Iran regards Hezbollah and Hamas as two important sources of power which Iran uses to promote its strategic goals, that of regional hegemony.
“Using Hezbollah, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, the Iranian-Syrian axis can increase its influence in the Arab and Muslim world, pose a serious challenge to Mahmoud Abbas, harm the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and export the Iranian brand of radical Islam to other Sunni countries, especially Egypt. From the Iranian point of view, its sponsorship of Hamas is considered as a means of establishing an Iranian foothold in the heart of the Sunni world.”

Iranians themselves fully identify with Hamas’s goals to destroy Israel, as most recently indicated when more than 70,000 Iranian student volunteers registered to carry out suicide bombings against Israel to support Hamas during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. (AP January 5) The rush of volunteers transpired when Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a religious decree stating that anyone who carried out an attack against Israel would be considered a martyr.

Iranian schools, like Hamas, contain children’s textbooks which teach Iranian schoolchildren to hate and fear Israel. IMPACT recently published a short volume on The War Curriculum in Iran, which exposes the way in which Iranian textbooks connect the Islamic Revolution in Iran to the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.

Children as young as eight years of age learn in Iranian history textbooks that
“God willing, the day will come when all Muslims will be united, liberate Palestine and save Jerusalem from the hands of the enemies of Islam.”
Social Studies, Grade 3 (2004) p. 56

And finally, Iran’s perception of the West is just as hostile. Iranian school books equal the United States with “the Great Satan.” Westernization receives a special label in Persian, known as Gharbzadegi, which literally means being smitten with the West in a way that corrupts the soul. “Westernization is treated as an ominous danger targeting Islamic identity.” (The War Curriculum in Iranian Schoolbooks p.162)

Is it any wonder that Iran and most of its population of 74 million residents determinedly supports the Hamas regim? After all the Iranian national education system and religious institutions for the past thirty years has indoctrinated a hate education against Israel and the West.

The question is-- what will President Obama be willing to believe of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should he engage in direct talks, as Iranian financial aid and rockets continue to strengthen Hamas and Hezbollah.
And will Israel be pressured to talk to Hamas in the same fashion?

45 Palestinian Rockets Strike Israel Since Ceasefire

#Israel, #Gaza, #ceasefire, #Hamas, #palestinian, #rockets, #missiles

http://www.sderotmedia.com/

By • Anav Silverman Thu Feb 18 2009

Over 45 Palestinian rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel since the unilateral ceasefire began between Hamas and Israel on January 18. This is the third Hamas-Israel ceasefire held since November 2006.

On Wednesday, February 18, western Negev residents woke up to the sound of the Tzeva Adom, Color Red alert siren blaring at 7:40 am in the morning. A Palestinian rocket fired from Gaza slammed into the Sha'ar HaNegev kibbutz causing no reported damages or injuries.
This has been the second Palestinan rocket attack in the past five days.

On Friday, February 13, Palestinian terrorists fired three rockets at Israel, striking the Sderot area. A week before on Friday, February 6, a Palestinian rocket fired from northern Gaza struck Ashkelon at 9: 30 am morning. Another Qassam rocket hit the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council area earlier in the morning the same day.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak stated after the Ashkelon attack that Israel is not gearing up for a second offensive in the Gaza Strip.

According to YNET News, (February 6, 2009) Barak stated that:
"We have no intention of embarking on Operation Cast Lead number two. We said there would be a response (to the rocket fire) and we responded," he said, "Our deterrence is intact. Hamas is barely picking up the pieces and is looking for a lull. If we play our cards right and prevent further escalation than we have a good chance of some peace and quiet."

The IDF has responded to the attacks on Wednesday, February 18, by striking seven smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border and a Hamas security base near Khan Yunis.
Previous ceasefires with Hamas have fraught with rocket fire violations.

During the first ceasefire held with Hamas from November 11, 2006 to May 15, 2007, over 315 rockets struck Israel during the six-month ceasefire. During the second ceasefire, held between June 19 to December 19, 2008, over 538 Qassam and mortar rockets slammed into Israel.

Crossing into Gaza: SMC visits the Erez checkpoint

#Gaza, #Hamas, #Israel, #Sderot, #Terrorism

Source: http://www.sderotmedia.com/

By • Anav Silverman
Wed Feb 10 2009 00:42:01

Ten minutes away from Sderot, sits the Erez Crossing--the only crossing that serves as a pedestrian exit point for Gaza Strip residents entering Israel. The crossing is currently open to Palestinian workers holding permits and families seeking medical treatment in Israel. Large numbers of journalists and international foreign press also cross through the point.

I recently had an opportunity with Sderot Media Center to tour the Erez crossing last Thursday morning, February 4 on a visit coordinated with the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (IICC).

As we entered into the crossing, we could see that there was a new addition to the heavily guarded compound. A gleaming medical center stood before us, which had been opened two weeks ago at the start of the unilateral ceasefire between Hamas and Israel on January 18. Israel's Magen David Adom in cooperation with the Department of Health opened the center to treat wounded Gazans, with the Israel investing millions of dollars into its construction.
The new Israeli medical center can handle 30 patients per hour and is staffed by paramedics and doctors who specialize in emergency medicine, pediatrics, trauma, gynecology, orthopedics, and other fields. It is equipped with state of the art laboratories, X-ray machines, and a pharmacy.

"The only problem," tells us Shlomo Tzaban, one of the managers at the Erez Crossing, "is that the medical center is empty. No one is using it because Hamas discourages Palestinians from seeking treatment at Israeli hospitals." Indeed, Hamas controls the crossing on the Gaza end and therefore has complete authority on Palestinians seeking to enter Israel. Subsequently, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of Palestinians seeking medical treatment in Israel--down to 80-90% --says Tzaban.

Visitng the Erez terminal

"Everyone in Gaza lives under Hamas control," explains Tzaban. "Hamas uses terror and fear to rule the Palestinian people. There is no fair judiciary court system in Gaza today. "

Back in December 2008, the Hamas parliament sanctioned that Palestinian courts were to condemn offenders according to violent punitive measures under Islamic Sharia laws. Hamas punishments for Palestinian offenders include whipping, severing hands (for stealing), crucifixion and hanging. In addition, the bill also ensured that offenders who commit any activities that hurts Palestinian morale and Palestinian interests are liable to death, including people who negotiate with a foreign government.

Tzaban, a 28-year old veteran of the IDF, emphasizes that Hamas will use any means now to win support from the Palestinians after the heavy damages inflicted by the war. "The fact that Hamas police recently raided an UNRWA storehouse in order to distribute the humanitarian aid on its own accord may shock the international community but it's happened before," says Tzaban. "In order to maintain the support of the Palestinian civilian population, Hamas is trying to show that only they have the power to provide for the welfare and social needs of the Palestinian people, while at the same time waging a terror agenda against Israel."

The United Nations Relief and Work Agency accused Hamas of seizing humanitarian aid sent into Gaza from countries across the world on February 4. UNRWA stated that Hamas had seized thousands of blankets and hundreds of food packages that were meant to be delivered to hundreds of poor families in Gaza after UNRWA refused to hand over the humanitarian aid to the Hamas Ministry of Social Welfare.

TODAY the Erez compound stands practically empty, except for a couple of Palestinian families and foreign journalists, and two peace activists standing outside. The compound was built five years ago and was meant to check through around 20,000-25,000 Palestinian workers at a time. In the meantime, hundreds of foreign journalists have used the crossing to enter into Gaza.

Director of the IICC, Dr. Reuven Ehrlich with SMC staff

The director of the IICC, Reuven Ehrlich pointed out during the visit that there is a critical need for the foreign journalists to visit Sderot in order to see the devestation caused by Hamas. "Among the hundreds of international correspondents pour through the Erez crossing to visit in Gaza, how many of these journalists actually visit Sderot in order to gain a more balanced perspective? Ehrlich asked. "Sderot and the western Negev also need to be placed on the foreign press map."

The Erez compound has been frequently attacked by Palestinian terrorists. On average, there are between one to two attempted Palestinian terrorist attacks on the Erez compound on a bi-weekly basis, according to Erez, an IDF security officer at the checkpoint. In the last four years, Palestinian terror networks have targeted the Erez crossing with almost 500 mortar rockets. In May 2008, a Palestinian bomber from Gaza blew up an explosive-laden truck on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing, causing an estimated $3.5 million in damages to the Israeli checkpoint.

Along with the Erez crossing, the three other crossings between Gaza and Israel include Karnei, Kerem Shalom and Nahal Oz. The latter three, used to transport humanitarian aid and other goods into Gaza, have also been frequent targets of Palestinian mortar and sniper attacks. Last year, two Israelis were killed at the Nahal Oz fuel terminal in a Palestinian sniper attack. In May 2008, the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main crossing point for humanitarian goods was forced to close after terrorists trigged two jeeps full of explosives that caused extensive damage to the compound, which took five months to repair.

THE crossing points are part of the Gaza security buffer which was initiated in 1994 under Yitzchak Rabin's Oslo Accords as a means to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from entering Israel. Once Palestinian terror groups recognized that suicide bombers could no longer enter Israel, they began developing rockets and explosives. The first rocket attack on Sderot took place in 2001.

When Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip in 2005, rocket attacks against Sderot and the western Negev sharply increased. Today 10,000 Palestinian rockets have struck Israel, with 84 Qassams exploding in Sderot during Operation Cast Lead alone.

As we tour the silent Erez terminal, heavily fortified with concrete against explosions and suicide bombers, I can only think of Sderot located ten minutes away. With no medical center of its own, Sderot residents wounded by Qassam rockets must be transported 20 minutes away to Ashkelon to receive medical treatment.

An irony of course.

But not the only one. Despite all the monitoring equipment, special conveyor belts, and video cameras used to inspect terrorist activity at the Erez compound, Hamas rockets continue to shoot over freely, terrorizing Israelis even with a unilateral ceasefire in place.