When I first started blogging a couple of years ago the original idea was to keep family and friends overseas updated as to what was going on over here and give a picture of what life is really like for an ordinary Israeli
family. 


The blog has evolved somewhat since those early days and has surprised me at the number of people who are kind enough to take a few minutes a week to read or listen to me blithering on about politics, culture and
day-to-day happenings here in this beautiful, but crazy place. I’m grateful to all those people from around the world who follow the blog and hope you continue to find things of interest as I express my personal opinion on what I see and hear going on around me in the Holy Land.

 
I try and tell it how it is; as I see it. I don’t have a set
political agenda or a body of viewers or listeners who expect to hear a particular viewpoint (as is the case with so many major media organizations), and I’m afraid that sometimes the subject matter can be very serious as it is
in this week’s update. So much is going on in this part of the world at the moment, so I’ll dash through the main points that need to be raised.

 
First of all, (and following on from my last blog where I warned of the likelihood of a national strike and general discord within Israel), the protests about housing costs have gathered momentum and there are now tented  cities in major gardens and public parks across the country. There is an extraordinarily high level of consensus on this issue with an alliance never before seen of pressure groups coming together to try and force the government to change their housing policies, to force prices down and give young people a chance to get on the ladder and find a starter home of their own.

 
Who would have imagined even a month ago that students, doctors, the Gay Pride movement, the ultra-orthodox Haredim, mothers with babies, and public servants, would all band together on any issue. But housing, together with the fight for better wages for professionals in the medical fraternity (and doubtless very soon the teaching profession), is an issue that appears to have hit home for all sections of society, and even PM Netanyahu’s half-hearted  attempts to take the heat out of the situation by making concessions on  releasing land for development and the freezing of a scheduled further rise in fuel prices, has failed to pacify the objectors. Israel is in for a very lively few months of public demonstrations and people power.

 
Externally however, matters are even more serious. The trial of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak for treason for selling oil to Israel in a deal legitimately brokered with international approval during the original
peace negotiations in 1979, is an indication of the direction in which our former partner-in-peace is heading. Add to this the unchecked freedom of  movement of goods through the Egyptian side of the Gaza border and the reported massive arsenal of weapons that is being prepared for an all out war with  Israel by Hamas, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we could be in  for a very tough time in the near future. Masses of weapons have reportedly arrived in the fundamentalist Islamic enclave from Iran and the Yemen via the Egyptian border crossing, and only yesterday missiles from Gaza fell close to Ashkelon and Kiryat Gat as well as in open land in the Negev. 

 
I am no war monger, but Israel has to move fast and decisively to neutralise an arsenal that is set to be unleashed on our population centres in the south and possibly further afield, in the near future. It came as no
surprise to learn that last night the Israel Air Force (IAF) launched a series of strikes on weapons dumps in Gaza around Khan Younis, the first (I believe) of a series of raids that must be carried out to  remove as much ammo from Hamas’ hands as possible. A spokesman for the IAF however insisted that this does not signal an escalation on the Gazan front in the near future. We’ll wait and see.


Across Israel’s north-eastern border matters in Syria and getting worse by the day with more than 200 people killed yesterday by Assad’s army in the town of Hama. Syria is on the verge of all out civil war and Assad is determined to go down fighting. I believe that the only weapon left to him that can possibly re-unite his abused and unfortunate people behind their evil dictator, is if he declares war on Israel and returns to the old chestnut of  demanding the return of the Golan Heights. All indications are that an escalation in tensions in the north is simply a matter of time.

 
Ask yourself this question. If Assad has no qualms at all about murdering thousands of his own citizens in cold blood whilst he still has a significant amount of control over the internal situation in his vast country, what would he try and do to Israel if he realised he had nothing left to lose but to declare all-out war on his old enemy in a last-ditch attempt to regain his lost popular support? The feeble response of the international community in Libya has looked positively robust in comparison to their muted objections and all-too-late censure of Syria for the murder of so many innocent men, women and children, whilst the statement of the Lebanese representative at the UN yesterday in condemning the motion to increase sanctions on Syria, only serves to demonstrate how Syria still calls all the shots in their neighbouring country through their hugely powerful militia, Hezbollah.

 
If and when Assad goes, his departure will most likely further destabilise Lebanon, offering a vacuum for Hezbollah to strengthen their grip on the country and very likely begin their own conflict in the north.

 
As the sun beats down on us and tourist numbers reach all-time highs, as the Israeli economy (relative to most others in the world) booms, and on the surface all seems hunky dory, I genuinely fear that we could be on the
verge of a very, very difficult period ahead. Despite these fears, I am confident though that Israel will overcome whatever challenges we may face us
just around the corner.

The simple truth is that we have no other option but to
succeed.