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(Modern) Israel Celebrates 60 Years
Israel's celebrates 60 years of renewed independence, a triumph of faith and spirit in spite of harsh realities, of singing in spite of mourning, of success in the face of terrorism and of moral strength in spite of the degradation of war. This is true victory!
60th anniversary: A triumphant year-long celebration
Beginning with ceremonies attended by international celebrities, the year-long festivities will bring islands of light and joy in the midst of a sea of constant stress to which Israelis have become accustomed.
Israel, a country with one of the world's strongest military machines, limits its use even in defense of her own civilians in order to avoid harm to enemy civilians. Though attempting to embargo materials that strengthen the enemy, Israel provides aid, necessary fuel, electricity and emergency health care, in an attempt to avoid a humanitarian disaster – for the very same population that elected and supports the terrorists who attack her! Israel is a country that provides wounded terrorists with the best of medical care in a hospital room which is often next to that of his victims, their relatives waiting side-by-side in the waiting room. This is her moral victory.
Military and political sparring continues between Israel’s leftist government and the terrorists from two borders and from within. It is a deadly practice that daily includes rockets and missiles aimed at schools, factories and homes in several southern cities followed by limited Israeli responses – on the northern border, sometimes escalating into war. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert plays a losing hand with alternative offers of sacrifice and threats, opening and closing the Gaza crossings while exerting pressure on Egyptian Arabs to support their own in Gaza. Days after a murderous attack on the very fuel depot which supplies Gaza, Israel began again to deliver fuel. In truth, it is probable that this humanitarian approach only extends the suffering of all. In preventing all-out war with those who would turn Israel into a ‘Lebanese chaos’, it is for now counted as a victory, though bitter-sweet and uncertain.
However, in spite of bombs, shootings, rockets and missiles and threats of war, the factories, universities and research startups continue to develop products to better the world we all live in.
...a tiny camera inside a pill, tunneling through the human body like an intrepid reporter, shines some light on the trading floors ...a suit made from recycled plastic bottles and wool hits the shelves in major retail markets this Father's Day in the US ...Nurit: the flower with cells shaped as a Star of David -- 'How to cope with stressful life in Israel.' It could be that when it comes to survival, our own Nurit has something to teach the plants of the world."
In order to assure the calm, the army re-established several security checkpoints around PA areas that had been taken down to please Rice. This temporarily eased the threat of attack during Passover. However, these checkpoints will undoubtedly be dismantled again prior to Bush’s arrival for Independence Day.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Hamas Leader Khaled Mashal [Isracast.com] Carter, Egypt, Damascus, Hamas and Jerusalem and Washington create a virtual world made up of media headlines – some fact with just the right mix of propaganda – while in real life, Hamas fires rockets and missiles on Israeli towns and the Israeli army chases after the ones who light the fuses. Even as Carter stood in Sderot decrying the Gaza attacks against civilians, a rocket landed in a field nearby. Then he went to Ramallah and Egypt to decry Israeli oppression and lay a wreath on the grave of the terrorist who began all the bloodshed! 
Now that the pressure is on Israel to give in once again to any "offer" the Hamas or Hezbollah may make, certain interests have found it beneficial to use a new 'old' scandal in order to weaken Israel. The same propaganda machines that keep Jonathan Pollard in solitary confinement hide the fact that he provided (approved) critical photos and intelligence to Israel in the 1980's, the very information which enabled Israel to destroy Saddam Hussein's Iraqi nuclear facility! Pollard and Israel should have been given a medal for saving the world from a nuclear war! This was a hidden victory, slow to be recognized even by those whom Saddam would have targeted.
And once again, it is Israel who recently had the courage to destroy the dirty bomb facility that Syria and North Korea had built in northern Syria....as little as a few weeks remained before production would have begun! With the bomb in terrorist hands, Israel would not have been the only victim. Indeed, it has been grudgingly declared a courageous victory by emasculated world democracies.
Who will neutralize the Iranian Bomb? Israel watches while Iran micro-manages Syria, Lebanon (Hezbollah), Sunni and Shiite responses to the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Arab nations are busy trying to cut a deal with Iran to keep the nukes from shattering their little kingdoms. And they all think they will win the war of wits, each one more sly than the other, but if all-out war begins, there will be no winners, only suffering – then there will be a true international humanitarian disaster of unimaginable proportions. Will it fall once again on Israel to take action alone to ensure her existence? Perhaps that is a victory that God will provide?
Israel has survived thousands of years, pogroms, inquisitions, the Holocaust and widespread anti-Semitism. The restored nation-state of Israel has survived 60 years against all odds and against all who thought they could destroy her or support those who did. Israel has been about building a new society, a respected economy, and world-class nation through God's blessings and miracles. The hands at her national helm have not always been strong and sometimes have even been unworthy to lead her, but Israel's people are strong-hearted and under inexplicable divine protection.
With that in mind, Israel will celebrate. Her hope for true peace and prosperity will remain strong and Israel will yet fulfill her destiny as a blessing to all nations. That will indeed be the ultimate victory!
Eight Students Dead in Terrorist Attack
