Comments by "Deborah Freedman" (@deborahfreedman333) on "travelingisrael.com" channel.

  1. There was ethnic cleansing in Shimon Hatzadik. In 1948, the Jordanian army swept though Yudea and Shomron, killing or imprisoning any Jews they found. That is how it became a Muslim neighborhood. The people occupying that neighborhood were Jordanians, with Jordanian passports. When Israel liberated east Jerusalem, they allowed those occupying Jewish homes to remain, but only if they paid the owners a very nominal rent. Any tenant, who did not pay rent for over 20 years would be evicted. Only in Shimon Hatzadik is that a problem.
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  2. While they are the ones actually committing those crimes. Such hypocritical victim blaming.
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  3. I've always felt sorrow for what happened to your people. So many fled to India, only to have the horror follow them there.
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  4.  GrumpX  Some do, some don't. The kurds seem especially warm to Israel.
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  5.  @paulandhisguitars  Israel gave up the Jewish land of Aza, to the Arab invaders. They controlled it. If the place is a pit, that is because that is what the Arab occupiers turned it into. If people are mistreated, that is because other Arabs mistreat them. Stop blaming Israel for what the Arab occupiers. do.
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  6.  @Thegrandiosedelusion  No, the Falestinians are much more recent to the area. And genetic testing shows they originated in Arabia, not Israel.
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  7. Thanks for the information. My Israeli friends are mostly Sephardi, and gave me a different view. I'm sort of surprised you were a tankist. My Moroccan friends were all tankists, and while they loved their tanks, they said kibbutz elites got nicer postings. (They said loader was the worst position a tankist could have.) But, I do have a Mitzrachi friend, Lebanese, who isn't particularly bright, but was put in intelligence, probably because he spoke Arabic and French.
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  8.  @DrumHead23  Azerbaijan is a good ally against Iran. One of the best, and most reliable, that Israel has. It would be moronic to antagonize them.
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  9.  @anyawaleofondo  You must be describing yourself, because Oren is always correct.
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  10. According to a UK ex-muslim, they come to developed countries because they cannot afford multiple wives in their home countries. But, the move to the UK (Australia, Sweden, etc.) and get a council house for each wife from the state. The women just don't tell the officials that they are married, so get the money any single woman with no means of support would get.
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  11. Free both banks of the Jordan river, from Arab occupation.
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  12.  @johndiraimo1444  His need to post the same lie, over and over, is so sad. He knows his death loving culture is inferior, so deflects his people's crimes on their victims.
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  13.  @babhag5481  Most of the Arab occupiers, killed during the brave rescue of hostages, were shot by other Arab occupiers shooting at the hostages and rescuers. As to the ones the IDF were forced to kill, don't commit war crimes, like holding innocent hostages.
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  14.  @cropcircle5693  Yes, The practice of allowing the Arab occupiers, to continue squatting on Israeli land, must be ended.
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  15. People also ignore the fact there were already two states, as Jordan was carved out of 70% of ancient Israel.
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  16. If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, you can buy the same bamba, in different packaging, for half the price.
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  17.  @solschwarz5169  Think of how much better off Israel would be today, if Dayan had driven out all those squatting in Jewish homes, fields, vineyards and orchards. People forget the Jordanian army ethnically cleansed the parts of Judea and Samaria they occupied.
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  18.  @anthonygreen6444  What you were told was false. While there are some black Jews, the majority was never black. And if those, transported into slavery, returned home with some genetics of those who enslaved them, it is the fault of the enslavers, not the Jews.
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  19. It already was. Jordan occupies 70% of ancient Israel.
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  20.  @mmm-mq3zr  A lot of Arabs are very light skinned. So what?
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  21. Persecuted, not prosecuted, otherwise great comment.
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  22. Well said, except one caveat. Israelis don't just have to go to shelters several times a year. In the south, especially near Gaza, there is a red alert nearly daily. I lived in Kiryat Gat last year, and every Shabbat, just as we lit our candles, we had to go to our mamad. And then there is the danger of taking a bus, being mowed down by an Arab just sitting at the bus stop. That seemed to happen once a week or more.
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  23. What is the point of making that false comment? And only the people who originated in the area were called palestinians, the Jews, and they prefer Israeli. Arabs are arabs, they are from somewhere else, and to refer to them as palestinians is false.
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  24. Even in Kiryat Gat or Ashqelon, you can't even touch a 2 bedroom apartment (which would be listed as a 3 room apartment, as the salon counts as a room) for a million shekels. Forget about a house. Even a tiny cottage, in Kiryat Gat, is five million. Although I did see a couple of cottages in Beer Sheva, for about 2.5 shekels, but they were in a crummier part of the city, and had been divided up for student rentals.
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  25. When Jews were forced from their homes, in Gush Katif, by a government bent on appeasement, a thriving economy existed in Gaza. There were many greenhouses, which were used to grow flowers for export. A lot of the Arabs, who had infiltrated from Egypt, were employed by Jews, in those greenhouses. What was the first thing the Arabs did, after the people who had developed Gaza were forced out of their communities? They tore those greenhouses down. Too many did not want "improved economic conditions".
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  26. Type the search in Hebrew, and there are several YouTube links: שמוליק קראוס בית הערבה
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  27.  @louiskendagor3807  Why has Egypt closed their crossing? Why don't they let the Egyptians, who occupied Gaza, return home? Stop blaming Israel for what Egypt did.
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  28.  @Sulayman.786  Hasbara is merely spreading the truth, to counter the lies racists tell.
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  29.  @GaryZellman  This is just proof that humanities degree are good for toilet paper, and that's about it.
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  30. I usually use one of the biometric passport readers, and avoid the line at customs. So rather than have a visa handed to me, it is spat out by the machine. The instructions are in Hebrew, but it is so much faster. Last time I did this, the woman behind me kept telling me I couldn't use the machine for a US passport (in Hebrew of course). I finished and held up the visa, and said "Be'emet?"
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  31. Your opinion is obviously false, as a lot of people do care, and demonstrate that in the comments.
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  32. There is a very well respected scholar, who is fluent in Arabic, and an expert in Muslim history, Mordechai Kedar, who says much the same. The real al aqsa mosque (which really just means at the edge) is between Mecca and Medina. The mosque built on the temple mount, as a insult to the Jews, didn't exist until hundreds of years after their prophet's death. It wasn't until the 20th century, that the grand mufti, then a member of the Nazi party, invented the idea that the Jerusalem mosque was the where their prophet rode to heaven.
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  33. Yes, the Arabs robbed Jews of their land. And continue trying to take the remaining 25% even today.
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  34. שמוליק קראוס - בית הערבה https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7lWywIFyAI
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  35. When I was staying in Israel, last month, everyone had the Homefront Command app on their cell. I was shopping in a seed and nut store, in Kiryat Gat, and everyone's phone went off. Everybody checked, and it was just Ashqelon being shelled. But, since the alerts are by area, and both Ashqelon and Kiryat Gat are in Lachish, we all got warnings, then went back to our shopping. Only the newer apartments have a mamad, the older ones have a common shelter, so best not sleep in the nude, because you don't want to be that intimate with your neighbors, and there isn't time to dress, before you head down the stairs.
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  36. Usually, when I am quoted an absurd price, I haggle. Sometimes you can bargain vendors down to a sixth of the first price quoted. Since many stores in the shuk carry the same merchandize, never even engage, until you've surveyed several stores. And, starting to walk out, can often bring the price down quickly. I usually start out in English, then switch to Hebrew, as the haggling becomes more intense.
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  37. חג חנוכה שמח גם לך.
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  38. The first time I visited Israel, almost 25 years ago, my parents and I took a bicycle tour from אופניי מצוינות, much of which was through the Negev in February. It was an excellent way to see everything up close. My parents and I were more experienced cyclists, than others in the group (mostly New Yorkers), so didn't want to go as slowly as the others. We were given a list of turning in transliterations, that did not match the signs. I asked for a list of turnings with the Hebrew names, so the the next day I was given a set of instructions only in Hebrew. The guide, Chaim, thought that would shut us up, but I was able to read it, and we got to our destination two hours before the group, and had a chance to shop and eat street food. After that, each day Chaim greeted me with a big smile, and gave me a set of instructions, in handwritten Hebrew, but with annotations of interesting things to look for.
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  39. I've had the same experience, except the one time when the driver waited for almost an hour, to fill the last seat, as it was beginning to snow, and we were worried we wouldn't be able to get to Jerusalem. Finally some official made the driver go. Good thing too, because an hour later, there was a foot and half of snow, and nobody was getting in or out of Jerusalem.
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  40. Listen more carefully. He said the Jerusalem Mountains were 900 meters, or 3,000 feet high. The 10,000 meter problem was a joke, about distrust.
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  41. I've been to ,Israel over a dozen times, and never once needed coins for the restroom. You might need a five shekel coin, if you plan on going grocery shopping, to unlock the cart. And, don't worry about the wipes. Israel desalinates water, so while it is expensive, there is enough for a shower. Don't bother locking your bag, because even if you use a TSA lock, Israeli security will cut it off. Don't bring fresh fruit back to the states. As far as getting through security, just relax, they might ask you a few questions to determine if you're Jewish. No sweat. You're paying the tour group to handle any problems that might arise. Enjoy yourself.
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  42.  @delayedreleasee  What about the native people living in Yudah and Shomron? They have every right to live in their homeland. The Arab colonizers, who are trying to steal every last bit of the land, are the problem.
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  43.  @4limusic542  The only places with apartheid, in Israel, are the areas controlled by the Arab occupiers. And now those occupiers have shown exactly how evil they are, which is why their occupation of Aza must be ended, and the native people restored to their homes.
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  44. חג סוכות שמח!
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  45. Sure, some of the archeological treasures, dumped like garbage, were recovered, but they were out of context. There is a reason modern archeologists are so careful to record exactly where an artifact is found, especially depth, and what objects were near it. That data helps them reconstruct history. All that context was lost, when the remains of the ancient temple were treated like garbage.
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  46. It's very easy to get the VAT back. There is a kiosk at the airport, just go to it after you've checked in with your receipts.
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  47. ​ @SkipperDon  I looked up some of the places he passed on Google maps, and came up with Rehovot too. There is a barber near the corner of Herzl and Geula in Rehovot, right by a bus stop, so that's probably it.
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  48. Google has a timelapse video of the southern Dead Sea shrinking from 1984 to 2016.
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  49. Israel was never hostile to Palestine, as Palestine is just what the foreign invader (Rome) called Israel. However, the Arabs, who started calling themselves Falestinian, to fool people, have been committing war crime after war crime. Israel tried to treat the occupiers well, hoping kindness would reap kindness, but all it has reaped is further murder of innocents, destruction of ancient holy and archeological sites, and theft of Israeli land.
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  50. Actually, it was the Jordanian army that invaded in 1948. They ethnically cleansed the area of Jews, who had been living there forever.
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