When I started this blog one of my earliest posts was about joining the Navy. I mentioned that I had wanted to visit Israel, but my local draft board made it difficult. The redult was that I planned to go to Israel when I finished my initial required active service. The plan was a bit … More A regular student at Hebrew University
Yesterday a 16 year old Arab boy from the village of Yata, several miles South of where we live, took a large kitchen knife and traveled North, He came to the shopping center at Gush Etzion Center. That’s where we do our regular weekly grocery shopping and often visit other stores in the complex. The … More Teen age Terrorist in the Neighborhood
I did not get along well with the Captain of the Nantahala. There were probably a few others who also suffered as I did. But I thought that he reserved his worst for me because I was Jewish. This is an example from when we were assigned to the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. The … More Because I Say So.
When a naval officer is transferred to a new ship or station there is a social protocol for making a formal call on the captain and the next senior officer in the chain of command. It is a formality, but it has roots in a very practical approach to making the newly arrived officer and … More Formal Calls – made and returned
UNRWA just lost financial support from the US. That decision was obviously reached only after some careful consideration, UNRWA clinics and schools are often the only source of education and medical care for a very large number of people. The humanitarian impact could be considerable. But several European countries and also other Arab states that … More UNRWA defunded!?
The Hamas and Jihad Islami organizations in Gaza decided to take a step toward escalation yesterday. Possibly because they were getting little media coverage of their kite and balloon offensive outside of Israel. In any case, they fired some 200 rockets at Jewish towns and villages in the area. One rocket hit the living room … More Gaza – last night
I applied for graduate school to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I was accepted. But classes started only in June so I had almost 6 months to wait. The Student Zionist organization, of which I had been a member , was looking for a regional director for the Middle Atlantic States area. I got the … More A Busy Summer – 1966
My maternal grandparents escaped from Ukraine, then part of Czarist Russia, in 1905. At some point after arrival they, along with many other Jewish families, applied for a land grant under the provisions of the homestead act of 1862. The Bureau of Land Management records show that Harry Weisman was granted a 160 acre farm … More A Piece of Paper + A Piece of Land = A Piece of History
The news media keeps reporting about the Syrian Army, with Russian support, is recapturing the area near the borders with Israel and Jordan. The pictures show a lot of urban destruction. Well, we just spent the last weekend in some little cottages in the Israeli side of the Southern Golan Heights. I want to tell … More Surprise – 50
The first hundred years war was an intermittent conflict that took place between England and France from 1336 to 1453. The new one is happening now. It is becoming a religious war, because one side is not willing to make an agreement or treaty to put an end to it. Yes, I’m writing about the … More The New Hundred Years War
Wetherhorn 