Haifa - My City Under Attack
Some of you are wondering what does the city look like when it's not getting bombed. So here are some photos from past couple of years. 
My parents live behind the tall building at the top left of this photo:
My parents live behind the tall building at the top left of this photo:
The view from the top of Mt. Carmel:
This is the view I grew up with. I miss it SO MUCH!
More photos of Haifa uploaded on flicker. Click on the right. Sorry about the quality. Bad camera. Really.
posted at
7/23/2006 09:30:00 AM
8 Comments:
I don't think it is right that you live a life of American luxury while your poor mother has live behind a building. The least you could do for your family is get them an apartment. Jeez!
By
Anonymous, at 9:30 PM, July 23, 2006
mtrain, thanks for making me laugh again. Been searching for a laugh recently.
By
Mybrid, at 9:36 AM, July 24, 2006
The photos of Haifa show a sophisticated, lovely and civilized city. It would be a shame to have it smashed by Arabs who apparently know how to do nothing else. Funny how my impression of Israel is mostly sand and rock, when I know from my own experience, Jews don't much like sand and rock.
mtrain
By
Anonymous, at 2:44 PM, July 24, 2006
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By
The Hard-working Slacker, at 10:46 AM, July 25, 2006
Hey Mybrid,
Just thought I'd add my two pence to this here on-going discussion over the recent attacks in Lebanon. First of all (and you're gonna hate me for this) Israel's reaction to Hizbullah (if it is indeed fighting Hizbullah and not the general population - the two have become blurred from the looks of things) is plainly overkill. Second of all, compared to what the Lebanese are going through, I'd say Israelis in Haifa have got it made!
Sure you could go on about the numbers of people on either side getting obliterated but that’s missing the point. After visiting an obviously anti-Israeli site (http://www.fromisrael2lebanon.info/) my ideas of what humanity should consist of were promptly thrown out the window. It doesn’t matter what the source of these pictures are, the end result is the same. When Israeli kids are writing notes to their enemies on artillery shells and Palestinians are accused of bring their kids up to hate Israel, I ask you this: A vastly militarily-superior country than its neighbours cannot go around abusing its strength on the one hand and give out sanctimonious sound bites to the press along the lines of 'we're just defending ourselves' on the other. The sad thing is that Israel lacks maturity in handling the situation as the obvious 'super-power' in the region. But with super-power status comes super responsibility, Israel could have really got through to the grassroots of Palestinian society amongst others if it went out on a limb and oh I don't know...sent government representatives (without ulterior motives) to sit down and talk with everyday Palestinians about their problems instead of talking about peace to the press on the one hand and going ahead with destroying Palestinian and now Lebanese homes and infrastructure on the other.
The reason Hizbullah and the Palestinians have captured your soldiers is simple (apart from the whole occupying land issue), they want their prisoners back in exchange for your 3 soldiers, and if those prisoners have done things that are wrong, let them be tried in their own countries.
I know the Israeli response to that would be that the release of the prisoners would only encourage more of Israel’s enemies to attack in the future. I would say that you would be creating goodwill amongst your neighbours showing them that yes you are strong and powerful and yet you have the ability to be compassionate and understanding and get back to a more civilized and most of all honest discourse with them.
Duplicity isn't a good trait to have especially when you're so powerful. This isn’t a war over territory, it’s a war about justice, if you really really really dig deep and try and understand how history brought about the State of Israel you’d know it was done in an unjust way by people who understandably wanted a country of their own but went about creating it by dubious means.
I know this is a long message but I think it needs to be said here EVEN if you have heard this argument already. If you can still stomach more of this then check out www.nkusa.org. I’m sorry if I’ve offended you or anyone of your readers and hope your parents are safe in Haifa but you’ve got to know that this is what the untold majority of the world (regardless of religion) feel, you just don’t get to see or hear much about it in the mainstream press and even then its shown in a negative light.
By
The Hard-working Slacker, at 10:53 AM, July 25, 2006
3mr@n, the "prisoners" you want Israel to release are TERRORISTS! Israel does not release terrorists just so they could come back and kill some more innocent civilians. Don't buy into the ridiculous Arab propoganda that these are innocent prisoners. They are TERRORISTS caught planning terrorist attacks on Israelis. They deserve to die for all I care! Definitely not to be released.
The other thing is - Israel does not negotiate with terrorists. As simple as that.
It's our right as a country. Many other countries have this rule about negotiations, so don't be surprised about it.
The Hizbullah are defined as terrorists by the Western world. Negotiations are out of the question.
And this false understanding that Israel is a super power, is very flawed and borders the myth. Count the weapons of each Arab country surrounding us as well as the NUMBERS of the people willing to eradicate us - we're WAY outnumbered and do not stand a chance if these nations decide to use all their weapons on us.
By
Mybrid, at 4:46 PM, July 25, 2006
These terrorists are also human and have genuine gripes against Israel and the West. The very fact that you choose to recognize them as non-human entities to begin with (i.e. blood-thirsty terrorists who have no respect for human life etc) creates further resentment towards you from them and their next generation. Here's a rather simple example (pardon my naivety): If a close friend of yours decides to stop seeing you because he/she decides that you're not worthy of interaction at least on a human level, how would you feel? Now multiply your feelings to much larger scale and hopefully you'll have some kind of answer.
I don't expect to get an agreeable answer but I do urge you to not just jump to a predetermined almost knee-jerk conclusion as soon as you hear any kind of questioning on how Israel handles itself. I don't claim to have answers to the conflict, all I seek for is the unadulterated truth from all sides but I'm guessing that’s too much to ask for in the present climate.
And yes Israel's neighbours are pretty well equipped but we all know they won't make much of a move on Israel now more than ever lest Rupert Murdoch and his ilk bring about lean times in Washington and other pro-Israeli organizations to 'do something about it', and we all know what 'IT' is. I'm talking US-led bombing campaigns and mass-assassinations if nothing else. So sure, Israel may be ill-equipped if it came to all out war with its neighbours but Israel's biggest ally certainly isn't.
Again I don't expect an agreeable answer and so this is the last I'll speak of the subject because I consider you a really great friend Mybrid and I wouldn't want to lose that over this.
By
The Hard-working Slacker, at 6:30 PM, July 25, 2006
3mr@n, one thing you need to learn about true friends - they remain friends beyond a disagreement of opinions. If someone stops talking to you because of a disagreement - they weren't really your friend to begin with.
And if I stopped talking to anyone who disagreed with my opinion, not only would I not be married for 13 years but I'd be all alone in the world without a single friend. Because if it ain't politics I'm arguing about, and it ain't religion, then it's artistic taste, food, drinks, medicine, books, movies, travel, Bill Gates, fashion or your choice of a cellphone! :-)
Stick around, I'm sure I can find a topic we agree on sooner or later.
By
Mybrid, at 9:19 PM, July 25, 2006
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