Autumn Drama Israelis Are Facing

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

Israel is in the middle of a neighborhood of Arab nations with its own 1.7 million Arab citizens.  Arabs have carried on wars with other Arabs for a millenia so this is not a deterrent to them.  You'd think that all these surrounding states would continue to ignore what was once the dregs of Palestine, but since Israel was created in 1948, that hasn't been the case.  Wee Israel is 650 times smaller in landmass than they are.  Israel is outnumbered in population by 56 to 1 with only 7.7 million people (6 million of which are Jews).
                                                                           

Hezbollah missile launcher

Syrian missiles pointed towards Israel

                                                                 

Tammam Salam of Lebanon; took over May 25, 2014
An incumbent, of Independent Party
Lebanon used to be the happy state ruled by minority Christians, but they were assassinated. 
Arabs used to take holidays here to relax and have fun;  this was the Paris of the Middle East. 

2016, Autumn almost upon us, and we see Lebanon overtaken by the Iranian-controlled terrorists, Hezbollah, who have more than 150,000 rockets and missiles.  Many of them are those that can strike any parts of Israel. Al Qaeda has embedded most of its artillery inside civilian towns, buffered by human shields.   Jews living in Safed has about 10 seconds to reach safety after the air-raid warning.  Haifa has 25 seconds, Nazareth has 35 seconds, Netanya has a little better than 50 seconds, Ramallah, an Arab village, and Tel Aviv have 75 seconds;  Beersheba has 120 seconds.  They have to be very very close to shelter to respond in time.
                                                                             

al-Qaeda 

Syria houses al-Qaeda and ISIS, 2 horrible terrorist groups.  Between the 2, they've taken over much of this state.  ISIS intends to take over much more territory for their Islamic State; a Caliphate. ISIS has also taken over much of Iraq.  These terrorists organize and inspire terrorism outside of Middle East as well and have had deadly attacks in Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016, San Bernardino, USA on December 2, 2015 with Mateen, the lone shooter, " Mateen swearing allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi" , Paris, Nice, Belgium and other places.  They are doing atrocities to people and incite more anti-Israel and anti-American extremism.
                                                         

ISIS on the killing field

                 

Sayyed Ali Khamenei, supreme Leader of Iran
Accepted office June 4, 1989 at age 49; now 76 years old.
In came extreme religion that replaced the Shah of Iran.   

All this suits Iran to a tee.  They are the ones causing so much chaos in this neighborhood and have interfered with the destinies of not only Syria and Iraq, but also Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain and most especially, Israel by fighting them with its terrorist proxies.  Iran has millions of dollars in which to pay off these terrorists and buy arms for them to use. This country's radical leaders have test fired long-range missiles that can carry warheads, illegally kept ten USA sailors, and stepped up their support for terrorism.  Tehran will furtheer destabilize the region with the $150 billion they receive in sanctions relief.   Iran is in possession of ballistic missiles that can carry a nuclear or chemical warhead for 1,500 miles!  Tehran is working on missiles that can go further and reach the USA.  Soon, if not already, they will have the nuclear warhead for just this purpose.  Their state is made up mostly of Shi'ites, who are at odds with the Arab Sunni population.  Though they are both Muslims of the Islamic religion, they differ in certain technicalities.
                                                                                                                       

Queen Rania al Yassin b: Kuwait
a Palestinian Arab

King Abdullah II of Jordan was born in 1962.   It was his grandfather, Abdullah I, who came from Saudi Arabia and took  land east of the Jordan River to be the Jewish Homeland for himself with the British blessing in 1948.  

Israel's neighbor, Jordan, has a pro-Western king who is also facing challenges from ISIS.  They are also suffering from financial problems because of the flood of Syrian refugees they have taken in for several years.  Whereas Syria used to have a normal population of about 22,505,000 people, Jordan used to have only 5,568,565 people.  The refugees are an extra food and water burden on their society. Jordan had experienced a BLACK SEPTEMBER in September 1970 when the Palestinian Arabs tried to take over Jordan.  Abdullah II solved many problems by marrying a Palestinian woman, now Queen Rania. He's a Sunni Muslim with one wife only and 4 children.  
                                                                                 

President Sisi of Egypt

Egypt's Sinai Peninsula  is a hotbed of militant Islamists growing in power and they are fighting against the Egyptian government while threatening Israel with attacks from there.  The head Islamist had been Morsi who was head of the Muslim Brotherhood, but General Sisi finally overcame him and took the reins of Egypt.
                                                                       

Mahmoud Abbas of PA

Judea and Samaria, so-called WEST BANK-of the Jordan River, continue with their terroristic Palestinian leaders causing incitement .  The population answers the call with more terrorist attacks against Jews.  Palestinian terrorism in recent months has killed dozens of innocent civilians and wounded more then 300 others in attacks on Israel's streets.  This is the center of BDSs origins.  They have instigated the boycotting, divesting from and sactions on Israel.                                                                      

                                                                             

Fatah and Hamas leadership, former terrorists, now making up
their unified state of Palestine on a day they came to agreement. 

Ismail Haniyeh

Gaza has been a headache for Israel ever since they departed from there and left it in the name of peace, but it was taken over from the PA by Hamas terrorists, who are the upgrade of the PLO terrorists of Arafat.
They have continually hit southern Israel with rockets, mortars and missiles.  Now they are actively rebuilding their terror positions and have stockpiled more advanced rockets.  Their forte is building tunnels, and they built new ones that reach into Israel. Israel said Hamas are digging 6 miles of tunnels each month toward Israel and they use cement and lumber meant for civilian construction to strengthen their tunnels.   Gaza's arsenal can also reach several major cities in Israel.  Hamas has rockets positioned along Israel's border.  The nearest Israelis such as Sderot,  have 6 to 10 seconds to get to safety.  Ashkelon has 10 to 12 seconds; Ashdod has between 10 to 30 seconds; Tel Aviv has 30 seconds.  Netanya, Bethlehem,  Hebron  and Jerusalem have about 50 or less seconds.  Safed, Haifa, Tiberias, Nazareth all have from 3 to 5 minutes to get to safety.  A Hamas bus bombing happened in 1996.  Then the rocket attacks came from the terrorists and killed 65 Israelis, forcing Israel to spend millions on added security.
                                                                             

School is also starting in Israel.  There, parents are not worried about the water supply in schools, or if they are painted with lead paint, worries in the USA.  There, the only thought is to have enough bomb shelters for the children.  Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur fall in October, so they will have a good start without interruption in September.
                                                                             

Borders are of utmost importance and must not be breached.  The nation of Israel sits among several failed states where terrorists roam who can attack them anytime by land, sea , air, and now from underground tunnels!
                                                                               

One protection Israel has against rockets and mortars and missiles is their IRON DOME.  Gazan terrorists had fired 4,500 rockets at Israel in the summer of 2014.  AIPAC worked with Congress for Israel to receive financial help for this.

Resource: AIPAC maps and information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_San_Bernardino_attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September