Raining Cats 'n Dogs

So it's been about ten months since I posted here. So sue me, I've been very, very busy launching a hi-tech start-up. Very difficult to shift from one mode of thinking to the other, at least for me. That said, the last few weeks have provided inspiration and plenty of fodder for this space.

So earlier this week I posted something on Facebook that really should have been here. It started as a short "we're all ok" mini-post after sirens went off in our town and it quickly metastasized into something else. It does paint a picture though, and should explain something about Israel and Israelis.  So here goes:

You've heard the expression "herding cats?" How about "raining cats and dogs?" Picture the following scenario as though it were happening to you.

You are home with a sore throat, and then all kinds of crap break loose:

A siren- loud, so loud. Going up and down. Unused as you are to something like that it takes you a second or two to recognize it for what it is: this is your wake-up call, your ps

ychotic neighbors to the south are trying to kill you and you have only a few seconds to get to the bomb shelter in your basement.

The mother of all adrenalin rushes hits you.
1. Get wife moving towards the basement.
2. Get kid home from school with a sore throat moving towards the basement.
3. Argue with wife, briefly, whether we really can afford the time to take the cat and the dog to the basement with us.
4. Lose the argument.
5. Find said cat and dog are sitting just outside the front door, looking a little shook up.
6. Herd said cat and dog to the basement. Easier said than done, the very large dog has never been to the basement and is distinctly disinclined to go down, hence the "herding" part.
7. Physically shove cat and dog down the stairs. Wife and kid are, thankfully, already there. Said shoved cat and dog more or less fall on family, like rain.
8. Wait in the basement for about 15 seconds. Feel, more than hear two strong booms.
9. Ask one another "is that it? Can we leave now?"
10. Check with the two other kids whether everyone is ok.
11. Get the shakes from the post-adrenalin rush.
12. Rest.
13. Post experience to Facebook in the hope that this will paint a picture for our friends abroad.
14. Go have lunch.

File under: Different jackal bites man

Three different people, all of them Israeli, have taken the trouble to point out that it was the Islamic Jihad that took responsibility for the recent rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. It is possible from reading the previous entry of this blog to mistakenly assume that it was Hamas that launched the rockets.  It was not, let that be clear.

It doesn't make the least bit of difference.

It is important not to fall for the trick that the fact that it was Islamic Jihad somehow absolves Hamas of culpability, it doesn't. Hamas rules Gaza, they are responsible for what happens there. There's a reason that Hamas hasn't held democratic elections in Gaza and it all goes to the same point. They rule by force and fear, and they simply did not exercise that force to cow Islamic Jihad into behaving like civilized human beings.

So the whole convoluted 'logic' of this situation is as follows:

1. Israel releases prisoners after reaching an agreement with Hamas;
2. The exchange strengthens Hamas at the expense of the Palestinian Authority and Islamic Jihad.
3. Islamic Jihad, feeling their masculinity threatened, come to the conclusion that they must do something to enhance their street cred; and what better way is there to show how courageous, valiant, gallant, and noble they are than to shoot rockets at civilians?
4. Hamas quite obviously doesn't feel obligated to prevent such attacks and pretty much allows Islamic Jihad to do as it pleases, as long as it's directed at Israelis.
5. Palestinians from Gaza shoot rockets at Israeli civilian populations resulting in dead, wounded, and quite a bit of damage.

Put another way, Islamic Jihad and Hamas are in a contest to see who has got the biggest... rocket launcher, and the way to keep score is by dead and wounded Israelis.

Mmmmh, that makes perfect sense, don't it?

File under: Jackal bites man

Over a thousand Palestinians convicted of terrorism were released just a few days ago in return for Gilad Shalit. Last night rockets were fired at Israeli population centers in the south of the country killing one and wounding several. (link)

There is a logical fallacy that goes by the Latin name of "cum hoc, ergo propter hoc." Or in simpler words, correlation does not imply causality.  This is all to say that I shouldn't jump to conclusions just because the attack on civilians in Israel closely followed the release of the Palestinian convicts. I really shouldn't, but it's hard not to.

One would think that releasing over one thousand prisoners would qualify in anyone's mind as a "confidence building gesture."  A gesture that maybe would inspire the Hamas leadership to seek some sort of understanding with Israel. Apparently not.

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In related news: the sun will set tonight in the west and rise tomorrow morning in the east.