Israel

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Off Topic But WTF?

October 16, 2023 by 4 Comments

I read this morning that the US Department of State is finally getting around to evacuating American citizens stranded in Israel. They have chartered the Royal Caribbean ship Rhapsody of the Seas. American citizens will be taken from the port of Haifa to Limmasol, Cyprus. From there, they must make their own arrangements to get home to the United States. They are reported sailing today.

Given other such as Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL), TV host Glenn Beck, and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) have already chartered planes to return Americans to our shores, I guess it is better late than never. As Emily Miller wrote in her blog, private rescue groups learned their lessons from their experiences in Afghanistan two years ago.

Not only is the State Department slow to act but they have the unmitigated gall to expect evacuees to sign promissory notes agreeing to pay for their evacuation to Cyprus.

As Cdr Salamander wrote:

I would really like to know what requires the State Dept. to ask for a promissory note in order to be evacuated from a war zone. I mean, really. All the taxes you pay – and all the BS junk DOS spends money on, you are running ways from 7th Century rapists and child murderers – and they want you to fill out this?

He goes on to add that he hoped a US destroyer or two would accompany the cruise ship on it way to Limmasol along with having a company of Marines on board the cruise ship. We would not want another Achille Lauro, now would we?

Getting back to the promissory note, I have to say WTF! We spend boatloads of money to house, feed, and provide medical aid to illegal aliens who cross our Southern border. Taxpayers are subsidizing small businesses in Ukraine. Yet we expect Grandma and Grandpa who were visiting the Holy Land with their church group and who are now stuck because US airlines don’t want to fly into a war zone to sign this promissory note. This is just disgusting.

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Operation Gideon’s Trumpet

October 13, 2023 by 6 Comments

Tragedies can bring out the best and worst in people. I won’t go into the worst because it is all too common. However, the best can be there. Following the attack on the LGBTQ community in the Pulse Nightclub massacre, the firearms community stepped up to offer firearms instruction and familiarization to those in the LGBTQ community. It became what is now Operation Blazing Sword.

Our guest on the Polite Society Podcast this week was the Pew Pew Jew, Yehuda Remer. You can listen to his interview here starting at about the 8:40 mark. One of the things that Yehuda is doing in the aftermath of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel is to offer both training and advice to those in the Jewish community who are thinking it is time to consider being armed. After our interview with him, Yehuda was hosting a Zoom call with 18 participants to give them advice on what to consider when searching for their first firearm.

Yehuda’s outreach got me to thinking. Why can’t the rest of us in the gun culture, Jew or Gentile, step up and do the same for our friends and neighbors in the Jewish community?

Since the name Operation Blazing Sword is already taken, I would propose something like Operation Gideon’s Trumpet. I am far from a biblical scholar so if you can find a better example from the Old Testament, go for it.

So reach out to your Jewish friends, work colleagues, neighbors, etc. and make the offer. You don’t have to be pushy about it. You could just say If they just want to know more about becoming armed you would be happy to help. It could start out with just going with them on a visit to a gun store. Alternatively, you could take them to them range and let them shoot your guns and ammo.

I don’t know if this will go anywhere but we will never know if we don’t try.

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You Are On Your Own

October 9, 2023 by 4 Comments

Michael Bane constantly reminds his listeners that in times of unrest or natural disasters that “you are on your own.” Reliance on police or emergency services to save you can be futile. Many Israeli civilians have just learned that fact. The Times of Israel estimates that the death toll from the Hamas terror attacks this weekend has reached 800 with many more wounded. If you were to scale that number up in the United States like blogger Cdr Salamander did, the number would approach 25,000 in a day.

IDF soldier next to dead civilians [Tsafrir Abayov/AP Photo] from Al Jezeera

We often think that Israel is an armed country. We have all seen the pictures of off-duty IDF women carrying their issued M-16s. The reality is much different. It is estimated that only 2.5% of Israeli civilians have gun permits. Those permits allow them one firearm and 50 cartridges.

As Stephen Gutowski of The Reload reports, this crisis has forced the government to relax the requirements.

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Sunday he has ordered officials responsible for issuing gun licenses to broaden its standards. As the death toll inflicted by terror group Hamas grew to over 600, Ben-Gvir said he wants more Israelis to be able to legally arm themselves.

“Today I directed the Firearms Licensing Division to go on an emergency operation in order to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves,” he posted, according to a Google translation. “The plan will take effect within 24 hours.”

Ben-Gvir also increased the amount of ammo that one can have from 50 rounds to 100 rounds. To my mind, both amounts are insignificant when faced with terrorists armed with full-auto AK-47s.

Tom Gresham on his Sunday Gun Talk Radio broadcast devoted time to the attack on Israel and its people by suggesting an “imagination exercise”.

While there is no magazine in my ready AR-15, this is what is next to the AR along with a ready bag with more filled magazines and a first aid kit. In retrospect, I think I need to add a set of shooting muffs to the setup.

I can’t say my idea is original. I got it from author Matt Bracken who first wrote about how to make duplexed magazines in 2010. I modified mine a bit from his in that I used a piece of dowel instead of a pencil for the spreader and I didn’t fill the space in between with silicone caulk. If you decide to make your own, use GI-type metal magazines. I think mine were either C-Products or D&H. P-Mags just won’t work for this. You could just get the 60-round drum mag from Magpul but the duplexed mag is a lot cheaper and works just as well.

I don’t expect to be attacked by Hamas, Hezbollah, or Mexican drug cartels. But then again neither did most of the Israeli citizens who were killed or kidnapped this past weekend. That said, home invasions with multiple attackers are on the rise. Being prepared doesn’t mean you are paranoid. It just means you are prepared for something you hope will never happen. If you are prepared, then it will be one less thing to have to worry about.

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#15seconds

November 18, 2012 by 1 Comment

The Israel Defense Forces have put out a YouTube video entitled #15seconds. 15 seconds is about the amount of warning Israelis living near the Gaza Strip get as they seek shelter from the Katyusha rockets being fired on them by Hamas.

I’d say this is a pretty powerful video that gets the message across very effectively. It is a shame that those on the Left and within the Obama Administration lean more towards the terrorists than towards the citizens of the only real democracy in the Middle East.

I anticipate it will only get worse given the continued diplomatic failures of the Obama Administration and the State Department led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.