The Action in Gaza
By David Verveer
I am not going to tell you about the bloody fight going on since yesterday in, about and around the Gaza Strip, a strip of land, housing more than 1.5million of Palestinians, and run by the terrorist organization of Hamas.
I won't explain why now, and why our Government did not have any other choice than a punitive action against the missile shooting terrorists, terrorizing the civilian Israeli citizens living in the border area on the side of this God forsaken center of International Islamic terror, as if you do not realize until now, of Israel's right to defend itself, please don't bother in reading his post, as I will be wasting your time, trying to convince you that even Jewish Israelis have the basic human right to live in peace.
Having said this, of course I realize that also our Palestinian neighbors have the same rights and should be respected by all sides, however, not we, the Israelis endanger their existence, the ones who endanger them are their masters, the Hamas, who use them as shields, sacrificing those poor people, in order to allow them to continue their terrorist crimes. And, irrelevant on which side your sympathies are, war is a dirty business, and innocent people suffer, nobody found yet to conduct wars without sacrifices.
But the real reason I am writing this post is my incomprehension of the talk-backs of world opinion reacting on the war. I understand that in Western societies the poor Palestinian underdogs get all the sympathies, specially if the clever Jews are on the other side, but surely, the stupidity and peculiar (rather racist) comments, blaming Israel for everything, and making the Hamas, holy soldiers, are shocking me more than I was prepared to admit. I am not talking about careful wording by World Governments, they have to stay neutral, objective and vague, especially with their own Muslim population, but I am talking about the main stream population, writing their comments on Internet after reading a news story about the fighting in Gaza.
How come, they don't comprehend the fact that for 8 years, the Hamas punks hurled missiles on the civilians living on the other side of the border? For 8 years children were terrorized by those criminals, and on the day before yesterday, they managed to fire more than 80 missiles in one day. How would you react if somebody was shooting at you, would you sit back, smile and present your other cheek?
I don't think so; you would require your Government to protect you with all the might they can produce. How can those humanistic writers of letters justify their stupidity, by blaming Israel of aggression? You must be blind and really mentally retarded in accusing Israel of any wrong doing, even though every one knows that any war is dirty, the way Israel tries to minimize hurting innocent bystanders, did they not hear our warnings that this could not continue, we had to take a strong action.
Than there are those who wrote about Israeli exaggeration, that we reacted too strong, that we put in too much power, which is of course bull shit, we are fighting not a fair game but a bloody war, and we need to punish those terrorists with all the strength we have, to make it as effective and short as possible. The days of talking are gone, now is the time for action, don't preach us, try to think what your Government would have done if this happened in your country. I apologize for sounding angry, as reading those civilized reactions, I am again happy that I live here, and not there.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
my shrinking clothes
My shrinking clothes
By David Verveer
Finally I gave in to the continues remarks by my wife, that I have outgrown most of my wardrobe, and the time has come that I throw (give) away, dispose of, or any of those nasty expressions, which mean to part of my soul, of those which have served me so well over the last 40 years. The remarks by my spouse that I am a "Smattekeeper" which means collector of old clothes, is of course exaggerated, so is also the false accusation that I still have my pajama's from my Bar Mitzvah is of course a imagination of a jealous women, incapable of enjoying possessions, not that it is true, as I never in my live, wore pajama's, which I think is old fashioned, and uncomfortable. Of course I will not discuss here my bed habits; we won't make this a blue story.
Funny anough, I noticed that most trousers seem to have shrunk around my belly section, probably bad tailors, but what do you want, most of these trousers and jackets served me well n my hungry and slim days, and did not adopt themselves for better times and especially better food. Not that I got fat, but the expression of pleasantly plumb might be more suiting.
But tell me, why in heavens name, I had to try on every pair of trousers and decide on its fate to go or stay waiting in my dressing wardrobe, for the day when I finally will start with dieting and sport, and my body-weight will be reduced to my former belt size, something I am planning already for months, but due to chronic complains of laziness, which effects me every time I get near the excise bike. My dear wife tells me that the sport of "FreeCell" (a card-game on the computer) won't help me to reduce, she simply has negative thoughts.
There is an expression saying "clothes make the man", throwing clothes away is thus "unmanly". Look in which a mess I got, having now, at my age to proof my manliness.
My wife, is on a continuous diet recycling course, every time she has lost weight needs to change her wardrobe and throw her last one away, complaining that she has nothing to wear, a few months later, the new clothes won't fit her because she has gained weight again, and again the wardrobe has to go.
I remember when we got married, she had such pretty clothes, where have they gone, and don't give me those stupid arguments as fashion changes, we don't live in the Riviera, we don't have to show off.
Than you get those famous arguments, my friend (my neighbor, my co-workers), wear everyday a new suit, dress, shoes, hairdo, and so on, their husbands appreciate their wives, they care how they look. You wouldn’t mind if I go in rags to work, arguments which repeat themselves on a daily base, but seem to be a part of the marriage relations, not that I ever interfered with my wife's renewing her collection, knowing that this is extremely dangerous terrain.
Didn't Shakespeare, our Jewish lard, say the following: " Thou villain base, Know'st me not by my clothes? No, nor thy tailor, rascal, who is thy grandfather. He made those clothes, which, as it seems, make thee." I have no idea what he intended to say, but it looks very educated to finish with a quotation of Shakespeare.
By David Verveer
Finally I gave in to the continues remarks by my wife, that I have outgrown most of my wardrobe, and the time has come that I throw (give) away, dispose of, or any of those nasty expressions, which mean to part of my soul, of those which have served me so well over the last 40 years. The remarks by my spouse that I am a "Smattekeeper" which means collector of old clothes, is of course exaggerated, so is also the false accusation that I still have my pajama's from my Bar Mitzvah is of course a imagination of a jealous women, incapable of enjoying possessions, not that it is true, as I never in my live, wore pajama's, which I think is old fashioned, and uncomfortable. Of course I will not discuss here my bed habits; we won't make this a blue story.
Funny anough, I noticed that most trousers seem to have shrunk around my belly section, probably bad tailors, but what do you want, most of these trousers and jackets served me well n my hungry and slim days, and did not adopt themselves for better times and especially better food. Not that I got fat, but the expression of pleasantly plumb might be more suiting.
But tell me, why in heavens name, I had to try on every pair of trousers and decide on its fate to go or stay waiting in my dressing wardrobe, for the day when I finally will start with dieting and sport, and my body-weight will be reduced to my former belt size, something I am planning already for months, but due to chronic complains of laziness, which effects me every time I get near the excise bike. My dear wife tells me that the sport of "FreeCell" (a card-game on the computer) won't help me to reduce, she simply has negative thoughts.
There is an expression saying "clothes make the man", throwing clothes away is thus "unmanly". Look in which a mess I got, having now, at my age to proof my manliness.
My wife, is on a continuous diet recycling course, every time she has lost weight needs to change her wardrobe and throw her last one away, complaining that she has nothing to wear, a few months later, the new clothes won't fit her because she has gained weight again, and again the wardrobe has to go.
I remember when we got married, she had such pretty clothes, where have they gone, and don't give me those stupid arguments as fashion changes, we don't live in the Riviera, we don't have to show off.
Than you get those famous arguments, my friend (my neighbor, my co-workers), wear everyday a new suit, dress, shoes, hairdo, and so on, their husbands appreciate their wives, they care how they look. You wouldn’t mind if I go in rags to work, arguments which repeat themselves on a daily base, but seem to be a part of the marriage relations, not that I ever interfered with my wife's renewing her collection, knowing that this is extremely dangerous terrain.
Didn't Shakespeare, our Jewish lard, say the following: " Thou villain base, Know'st me not by my clothes? No, nor thy tailor, rascal, who is thy grandfather. He made those clothes, which, as it seems, make thee." I have no idea what he intended to say, but it looks very educated to finish with a quotation of Shakespeare.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
the people we meet
The People we meet.
By David Verveer
The loud lady:
It was late in the morning, the doctors and nurses had finished their rounds, and the patients were left alone to rest and recuperate. The visitors sat in the chairs by the beds, and more or less joint in the slumber party, suddenly we heard a rather monotone voice of a lady, reading to someone the head lines of the daily newspaper. She read a few sentences and then explained it to somebody near her. Of course, we did not see her only heard her from the corridor or room next door. The item she read, dealt with a tragedy of a women, who after given birth to a twin suddenly died (apparently from an inner bleeding). You could hear from the way she read it and explained that she was very experienced in the task of reading the news to the person near her. The problem was that her monotone loud voice and the explanation of the text were irritating the patients of the floor, who did not want to hear somebody else's problems, and preferred to deal with their own lot, which had landed them in hospital.
Eventually a mother visiting her daughter after an operation, got fed up, and went to the reading lady to tell her to shut up, which she did by apologizing and indeed for the next half an hour it was quiet on the floor.
Of course, visitors can not sit near their relatives without sometimes to get up and walk around in the corridor, or going to the coffee shop outside, and during such escapade we met the reading lady in question. She was extremely slim, in my eyes rather old (but according her story only in the early sixties), brought to the hospital by the emergency health services, due to an enlarged liver). Het husband, who was illiterate (cleaning the streets of our fair city) accompagnied her, as he was totally incapable of looking after himself. She told me, the last time they put her in hospital, he stayed home alone, and because it was Sabbath and he is religious, he walked by foot some ten kilometers, till he reached the hospital, where he waited near the gate as he did know how to find her, Of course, nobody gave him anything to eat, and in the end he fainted, which saved him from dyeing in the lobby of the hospital.
This time, she insisted that they took her husband as well, or else she would not go into the ambulance. The husband, totally depended on his wife, not only for information, or maintenance, but incapable to take care of him self, to prepare a cup of coffee or a sandwich, follows her around like a dog. I hope, the hospital can take care of the poor woman, as the man is a simpleton in the worst grade of stupidity, and the woman, a saint, and I am a little bid embarrassed that her explaining the news from the daily to her husband somehow irritated me.
It is true, that we do not notice the simple people around us, sweeping the street, or becoming politicians as an elected member of parliament, we know, those people exist, but never really have contact with them, unless you are confronted with them, in public places like the hospital floor. They say, we should know our enemy, but in fact, we don't know anybody who is not member of our selected surroundings, and who is outside our circle of acquaintances, and if you realize that in practically, a person is capable only to know a very limited amount of people good, it is no wonder that we do not see the people on the edges.
The Arab family
Apparently the mother was hospitalized for observation, and her daughter and son, with wife and grandson came to visit her. The child, around one year old, most of the time slept in his wagon. It was obvious that the family were Muslims, as the girls and mother wore veils to cover their hair. Their conversation was in Arabic, but like all Arabs in Israel, they throw into their conversation many Israeli words and expressions, and the result in a mixture of both languages.
They were carrying mobile phones, and I was curious in what language the phone was arranged, as here in Israel you can choose between Hebrew, English, Arabic, Russian, French or German. However, they replied that their interface was in Hebrew, I asked the why they had chosen Hebrew instead of Arabic, and it seems that the Arabic they speak is unlike the written Arabic, and even their SMS's they send in their spoken Arabic with Hebrew letters.
There are several Arab television stations available in our area, but mostly the local families look at the popular Israeli stations, without much interest in political issues. Surrounding the town Kfar Saba, were I live are large concentrations of Israeli Arab towns and villages, with most of the families having relations on the other side of the Green line (the border between Israel and the Palestinians), created in 1948 and later the border between the occupied territories and Israel and more or less the route of the Separation Wall. The Palestinians on the other side of the border are not permitted entering Israel without special permit, nor are allowed to work here. Of course, our Israeli Arabs, who were lucky anough to remain inside our jurisdiction, have full Israeli citizenship with all rights and duties as the Jews.
I won't say that there is no discrimination in Israel, because that is untrue, most of it is caused by the peoples behavior, as the laws try to wipe out as much as possible, the differences between the people. Funny enough, the Israeli Arabs discriminate against there own kin, and even though, complain about the Israelis, they refuse to be seen as Palestinian Palestinians, the are Israeli, and do not want to endanger their status.. The interaction between our Arabs and those of the Palestinians is relatively cool, and if they would not have had such stupid politicians, they would have been totally integrated into the society. And we, the Israeli, we keep to our own, we know not many people outside our caste, we look upon the popular television game, "the big brother", as games for the lower classes, we are snobs, playing on an entire different level, and are surprised when once in the 2 to 4 years, we lose the elections to precisely those people, getting so popular in "the big brother".
Also our Arabs look at "the big brother" and had even a (Christian) Arab girl participating, who was outvoted as she wanted to leave, getting fed up with the low politically popularity games played by the participants and the television management.
Now remains only one question, why did I write all this? I wanted to bring to your attention that irrelevant where you live, who are or were your parents, what color you have, you will have to live your own kind of life, don't envy the other, as also the fortunate people can die of cancer, suffer and find that nobody cares for them, if they are not out of the same nest.
By David Verveer
The loud lady:
It was late in the morning, the doctors and nurses had finished their rounds, and the patients were left alone to rest and recuperate. The visitors sat in the chairs by the beds, and more or less joint in the slumber party, suddenly we heard a rather monotone voice of a lady, reading to someone the head lines of the daily newspaper. She read a few sentences and then explained it to somebody near her. Of course, we did not see her only heard her from the corridor or room next door. The item she read, dealt with a tragedy of a women, who after given birth to a twin suddenly died (apparently from an inner bleeding). You could hear from the way she read it and explained that she was very experienced in the task of reading the news to the person near her. The problem was that her monotone loud voice and the explanation of the text were irritating the patients of the floor, who did not want to hear somebody else's problems, and preferred to deal with their own lot, which had landed them in hospital.
Eventually a mother visiting her daughter after an operation, got fed up, and went to the reading lady to tell her to shut up, which she did by apologizing and indeed for the next half an hour it was quiet on the floor.
Of course, visitors can not sit near their relatives without sometimes to get up and walk around in the corridor, or going to the coffee shop outside, and during such escapade we met the reading lady in question. She was extremely slim, in my eyes rather old (but according her story only in the early sixties), brought to the hospital by the emergency health services, due to an enlarged liver). Het husband, who was illiterate (cleaning the streets of our fair city) accompagnied her, as he was totally incapable of looking after himself. She told me, the last time they put her in hospital, he stayed home alone, and because it was Sabbath and he is religious, he walked by foot some ten kilometers, till he reached the hospital, where he waited near the gate as he did know how to find her, Of course, nobody gave him anything to eat, and in the end he fainted, which saved him from dyeing in the lobby of the hospital.
This time, she insisted that they took her husband as well, or else she would not go into the ambulance. The husband, totally depended on his wife, not only for information, or maintenance, but incapable to take care of him self, to prepare a cup of coffee or a sandwich, follows her around like a dog. I hope, the hospital can take care of the poor woman, as the man is a simpleton in the worst grade of stupidity, and the woman, a saint, and I am a little bid embarrassed that her explaining the news from the daily to her husband somehow irritated me.
It is true, that we do not notice the simple people around us, sweeping the street, or becoming politicians as an elected member of parliament, we know, those people exist, but never really have contact with them, unless you are confronted with them, in public places like the hospital floor. They say, we should know our enemy, but in fact, we don't know anybody who is not member of our selected surroundings, and who is outside our circle of acquaintances, and if you realize that in practically, a person is capable only to know a very limited amount of people good, it is no wonder that we do not see the people on the edges.
The Arab family
Apparently the mother was hospitalized for observation, and her daughter and son, with wife and grandson came to visit her. The child, around one year old, most of the time slept in his wagon. It was obvious that the family were Muslims, as the girls and mother wore veils to cover their hair. Their conversation was in Arabic, but like all Arabs in Israel, they throw into their conversation many Israeli words and expressions, and the result in a mixture of both languages.
They were carrying mobile phones, and I was curious in what language the phone was arranged, as here in Israel you can choose between Hebrew, English, Arabic, Russian, French or German. However, they replied that their interface was in Hebrew, I asked the why they had chosen Hebrew instead of Arabic, and it seems that the Arabic they speak is unlike the written Arabic, and even their SMS's they send in their spoken Arabic with Hebrew letters.
There are several Arab television stations available in our area, but mostly the local families look at the popular Israeli stations, without much interest in political issues. Surrounding the town Kfar Saba, were I live are large concentrations of Israeli Arab towns and villages, with most of the families having relations on the other side of the Green line (the border between Israel and the Palestinians), created in 1948 and later the border between the occupied territories and Israel and more or less the route of the Separation Wall. The Palestinians on the other side of the border are not permitted entering Israel without special permit, nor are allowed to work here. Of course, our Israeli Arabs, who were lucky anough to remain inside our jurisdiction, have full Israeli citizenship with all rights and duties as the Jews.
I won't say that there is no discrimination in Israel, because that is untrue, most of it is caused by the peoples behavior, as the laws try to wipe out as much as possible, the differences between the people. Funny enough, the Israeli Arabs discriminate against there own kin, and even though, complain about the Israelis, they refuse to be seen as Palestinian Palestinians, the are Israeli, and do not want to endanger their status.. The interaction between our Arabs and those of the Palestinians is relatively cool, and if they would not have had such stupid politicians, they would have been totally integrated into the society. And we, the Israeli, we keep to our own, we know not many people outside our caste, we look upon the popular television game, "the big brother", as games for the lower classes, we are snobs, playing on an entire different level, and are surprised when once in the 2 to 4 years, we lose the elections to precisely those people, getting so popular in "the big brother".
Also our Arabs look at "the big brother" and had even a (Christian) Arab girl participating, who was outvoted as she wanted to leave, getting fed up with the low politically popularity games played by the participants and the television management.
Now remains only one question, why did I write all this? I wanted to bring to your attention that irrelevant where you live, who are or were your parents, what color you have, you will have to live your own kind of life, don't envy the other, as also the fortunate people can die of cancer, suffer and find that nobody cares for them, if they are not out of the same nest.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)