[Reprint] Just Around the Corner - (Former Arutz 7 Radio Host Victim Of Blast)

Israel National News ^ | Jan 29, '04 / 6 Shevat 5764 | Chezi Goldberg

[yonif]

[The author, Chezi Goldberg, was murdered by a suicide bomber on Thursday, January 29, 2004. This article was originally printed on Israel National News.com's Opinion page on November 24, 2002.]

You know, when one reads the news, it is truly very difficult to understand what is going on when the stories contain names of little towns and villages that the reader is not familiar with. Case in point - El Khader. The suicide scum who blew up a Jerusalem bus last week is reported to have come from El Khader. If you are sitting in Toronto or New York, that means nothing to you.

Let me bring the point home:

Every morning I travel on buses to Jerusalem. Our bus leaves Betar, turns right, passes Husan on the left. At the first intersection, we turn left, that is El Khader. A few minutes later, after passing the security checkpoint and driving over the tunnel roads, we turn right and watch Bethlehem and the Tomb of Rachel from our windows as we head into downtown Jerusalem. That means that the bomber could very well be someone I have seen in a passing moment. That means that the Israel military is now in full operation minutes from my home, turning over every stone possible to eradicate other suicidal maniacs before they kill children on their way to school.

I know, you still cannot relate, right?

Try this:

If you live in Toronto, it is like someone from Thornhill hearing about a terrorist from Finch and Bathurst. That is close.

If you live in Flatbush, at Ocean Parkway and J, then it would be hearing about a terrorist from Avenue R and Ocean Avenue. That is close.

If you live in Los Angeles, it is like finding out that the terror cell that attacked your local town actually operated from a mosque five minutes away from your local Young Israel.

I only tell you this, because when CNN and FOX news report stories of bombings, most readers see Israel as a far away place that doesn’t really affect them. They read the story in a way that doesn’t hit home. Read the story differently my friends. When these bombs go off, it does indeed hit home. Too close to home. I thought most New Yorkers learned that lesson the hard way from 9-11. I guess I was wrong.

Tachlis (Hebrew for brass tacks):

The bombing last week in Jerusalem took place a five minute drive from the Jerusalem hospital where my son was born just weeks ago, Shaarei Zedek. The ongoing marathon of funerals took place as I wrote this article, a five-minute drive from my office in Jerusalem. Israeli soldiers are fighting to keep us all safe and sound a five-minute bus ride from where I hoped to try to catch some shut-eye. Yeah, Bethlehem and El Khader are places I pass on my way to work each and every day. And you think you have a problem understanding what is going on here?

Don’t feel so bad, my friend. I think we are in this bloody mess, because many of the politicos making life and death decisions for this country have forgotten that terror is just a five-minute ride from home, anywhere.

[yonif]

Former Arutz 7 Radio Host Victim Of Blast 00:00 Jan 30, '04 / 7 Shevat 5764

(IsraelNN.com) The Arutz 7 community lost an old and dear friend, Yechezkel Goldberg, in this morning's terrorist attack in Jerusalem. Goldberg, a 42 year old social worker from Beitar Illit, is the former host of Arutz 7's English Radio program "Youth Beat," dealing with youth in crisis. He has also been a some-time contributor to IsraelNationalNews.com Opinion page:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/author.php?id=111

Goldberg died leaving a wife and 7 children.

Published: 23:09 January 29, 2004 Last Update: 00:00 January 30, 2004

[yonif]

Ping.

[rmlew]

1. I wonder if there has been anything set up for his children.
2. May his blood be avenged.