hotair

I really do get the picture here. You see something that you do not like, and your first response is that it must be somebodys fault. You want someone to blame. That is you, not me. It is my experience that witch hunts are a complete waste of time, and effort. As a result I have no use for witch hunts, in any form.

Still, you need someone to blame. That is fine by me! All I ask, is that you try to blame the right people for the right things. Blaming the wrong people for something, just because you can, only makes matters worse in the end. If you would think about it for a moment, you might see what I am talking about. How would you feel, if everyone kept blaming you for something that I did? I can assure you that it would not bother me at all. It fact it would only encourage me to keep doing what I do, since I know that you will get blamed for it.

Take the crack-down in the West Bank for example (since it has been brought up already). The crack-down is causing many people some hardship, according to the news services. True enough. However, despite what you think, the purpose of the crack-down is not to cause these hardships.

While it is true that the crack-down is causing problems, that is not all that it is doing.

Lets take a look at the three major things that the crack-down is actually doing:
First: Lets look at these hardships first. The hardships are effecting both Israelis, and Arabs alike. True . . . The overall economy of Israel is stronger than the Arab economies, so that the impact on the Israeli economy is not as noticeably. But it is still there, non-the-less. Certain segments of the Israeli economy are heavily dependent on cheap Arab labor. These segments of the Israeli economy are devastated by the crack-down. So these hardships, are not all one sided, as has been suggested!

Second: The crack-down is doing what it is suppose to do. It is stopping the bombings (suicide, and others)! Terrorist attacks on Israelis (from the PLO, and Hamas) are at all time lows. For the first time in years, Israelis (most, though not all) are able to live normal lives. (For those Israelis who are not living normal lives right now, they are demanding the same security for themselves that everyone else is enjoying. And their patience is running out fast!)

Most people agree that the peace alone, is worth the price of the crack-down. No one is murdering Israelis, and as a result no Arabs are dying in retaliatory raids. In short: The crack-down is saving lives, every day! Both Israeli, and Arab!!!

Third: The cost! Maintaining the check-points, and roadblocks are costing the Israeli taxpayers a small fortune, every single day that they are in operation. The cost of the crack-down is actually threatening to bankrupt the Israeli government. Which is why the government is building the wall. Even at a multi-billion dollar price tag, the wall is cheaper than the cost of maintaining the check-points, and roadblocks. When the wall is finished, it will pay for itself within the first year.

What is not readily measured, is the total impact on the overall Israeli economy, that this crack-down is having. Because so much money is being spent to pay for the crack-down, the government does not have the money for paying for other things. Such as the last little skirmish with Hezbollah a few years ago. Even after all of these years since the war, the Israeli government still has not even started to pay for that war yet. The government just does not have the money, because it is forced to spend it all in the West Bank.

This is from a news story from last year. It is applicable here, because in a very few weeks (if not days) there is going to be another story just like. There is another strike being called for, and for the same reasons. It is becoming an annual thing in Israel.

“General strike threatens to paralyze Israel
The Associated Press
Published: March 21, 2007

JERUSALEM: An Israeli public service strike ended Wednesday after just eight hours, when the government agreed to pay local workers all their back wages.

The open-ended strike was expected to shut down most services including Israeli airports and seaports, but from the morning, as the two sides kept in contact, it appeared that it would not last long enough to do significant damage.

An indication that the strike was not as harsh as expected came from Israel's airport, a traditional target of work stoppages. Most planes took off and landed more or less on schedule as an "exceptions committee" approved many flights.

General strikes in Israel encompass a wide array of services, and much of the country was paralyzed. Government offices were shuttered, and state-run utilities operated on skeleton staffs, carrying out no repairs. A Histadrut spokesman said as many as 150,000 workers throughout the country walked off the job.

After marathon talks with the government, the strike was settled. "I am happy to announce that all the salaries will be paid today or tomorrow," Union boss Ofer Eini announced. "After all our demands were met I can announce the end of the general strike in Israel."

Many bankrupt Israeli cities and towns have failed to pay their workers for months. The labor union has threatened strikes several times in the past, backing down after promises from the government to cover the bills. . . . “

The article goes on to talk about the expenses of the war with Hezbollah, and how some Israelis feel that the government is ‘mishandling’ the money that was raised by American charities to pay for rebuilding the towns damaged in the war.

However: I should point out that things have not improved any in Israel since this article was published, and as I have said earlier, there will be another article just like it again very soon.


Still you want to blame someone for it. All you see is the damage that it is doing to the Arabs, mostly because that is all that you want to see. If you want your witch-hunt, that is fine by me. Just try to look at the entire picture before you start burning any witches at the stake. OOPS does not cut it, like it used to!

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So long, and thanks for all of the fish!!!