I'm leaving the yeshiva, as I've said before, on Sunday. I could probably stick around for a while, even though I'll have an apartment starting then, but I am ready to just get on with the world. Despite this, I'll really miss the foreign kids here (foreign in relation to me). There are people from all over the world, from England, Spain, France, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico -- and Canada. There are people from other countries as well, but the British are by far the most interesting. I've been rooming with a British kid, and some of my favorite guys in my program are British and Australian. They're just great to talk to, to listen to, to joke around with, and make fun of their accents. I'll miss that, for sure! Oh, and my roommate is a ridiculous magician. If you want to know how to get my attention, it's with some card and coin tricks!
I'm sorry if my blog has lost some 'oomph'; it's largely due to the fact that I don't have my computer to take my time and craft a good post. I want to, however, write a bit about whatever the heck is going on with Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Israel.
It seems like Israel indeed blew up some type of nuclear facility in Syria. The Washington Post is saying that it was a primitive, or basic, facility created on the form of a North Korean reactor. Apparently it was years from being 'live,' but Israel decided to take out the place in advance. If you read the post I wrote on the situation before, you will see that my analysis has been coming true, slowly but surely. It's too easy to misunderstand: Israel blew up something no-no, Syria is guilty, and everyone is keeping quiet in order to avoid war.
Moreover, another report came out yesterday I believe, or the day before yesterday, claiming that Hizbullah shipped the captured Israeli soldiers over to Iran during the Lebanon War last year. I don't know if this is credible or not, I really don't have the details on any of it, but it sure sounds like a scary prospect. Supposedly a 'high ranking Israeli' said it was nonsense. But, think about this: not only is Iran threatening to "wipe Israel off the map," in addition to supplying Hizbullah every year with around $200 some million in war funds (according to a report given to the Senate), now they apparently have a direct hand in holding Israelis hostage. Making the issue even more real to us, after hearing about this report, the air over Jerusalem was filled all day long with jet fly-overs. I'm not sure if they were commercial or military, but I've never heard so many jets in one day, so I feel like it was abnormal (i.e. military).
This makes a lot of us, over here, nervous for obvious reasons. I doubt Israel is going to go to war with Iran, nor would Iran attack Israel directly, but now we have to deal with IRAN to get our soldiers back? You cannot completely realize how the national feeling is to this issue. Our brothers are being held hostage, potentially a thousand miles away, some of them known to have been wounded...and we know nothing about their status. We don't know if they are dead or alive, injured or recovered, and certainly not how they are being treated. Not even a 'sign of life' has been given. This was terrible when we thought they were probably in Gaza or the West Bank, or even Lebanon, but now to think they are at the mercy of that new Hitler, the president of Iran?
Imagine if James Martin, a good American boy, was captured in Iraq. Now, imagine if he was all of a sudden found out to be in an al Qaeda jail in, say, Iran. Over a year had passed, and we had no idea of whether he was alive or dead from his wounds. His parents appear in the news weekly, especially outcrying the apparent government inaction on getting the soldier back home. America would be outraged -- Israel is too.
Are we ever going to get these soldiers back? Are Goldwasser, Shalit, Regev, and the rest of the missing guys ever going to find their way to Israel? With all the news of potential war with Syria and Iran, or at least heightened conflict, I'm not sure we'll ever resolve this crisis.
(I wrote my senior thesis on the outcome of a potential Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. If I ever get my computer back I could send it to whoever wanted to read it, for whatever that's worth).
No comments:
Post a Comment