Dear Rafael, Jonathan, and Jeremy,
I would like to thank you and extend an open invitation for you to come visit Sderot, Israel so we can thank you in person for opposing the United Nations’ institutionalized anti-Semitism and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s diabolical diatribes.
We here in Sderot and southern Israel are living under the execution of the ideas Iranian President Ahmadinejad professes. It is no secret that Iran supplies and largely finances the terror that the world has been witnessing in southern Israel for over eight years now but Iranian President is still invited to promote his beliefs on America’s university campuses and United Nations conferences on human rights. Dressed as clowns to object to Ahmadinejad and the Durban conference itself you demonstrated exactly what countless objectors around the world believe- it’s a joke and a circus.
Yesterday I took a group around Sderot to give them a sense of what it is like to live under the daily threat of missile attacks from the Gaza Strip. I took them to see the remnants of grad missiles that Iran directly supplies and Qassam rockets that Iran finances to help plague the city. We then went atop a hill next to Kibbutz Nir Am, right outside Sderot, to a viewpoint of the Gaza Strip less than a mile away. In clear view of the Gaza Strip cities of Beit Hanun and Jabalya from which missiles are fired, one can see how southern Israelis are not living hundreds of miles away from Iran but living with Iran right in our backyard.
After work yesterday evening I rode to the coastal city of Ashqelon, about 20 minutes northwest of Sderot, to sit on the beach and enjoy the sunset. As my buddies from the Sderot Media Center and I sat on the sand watching the peaceful sun lower over the calm water, we couldn’t help but discuss where we would run for shelter if the Tzeva Adom (Color Red) alarm sounded warning us of an incoming missile attack. The grad missiles that have a capability of over 40 km and have tormented the city of Ashqelon which sits just over 20 km from the Gaza Strip have been and are still provided directly from Iran.
You three were kicked out of the United Nations conference on Human Rights for what UN human rights spokesperson Rupert Colville described as “unacceptable behavior.” The UN seems to be quite confused and mistaken on what is unacceptable. What is unacceptable when discussing human rights is that Israeli civilians have been targeted for over eight years by this terrorizing missile fire. What is unacceptable is that the President of the country which funds and supplies the over 10,000 missiles that have been fired at Israel is continually invited by the United Nations to promote the beliefs that we in southern Israel witness him carrying out. What is unacceptable is an entire generation of Jewish youth like you growing up having 15 seconds to run for their lives in this daily reality, not knowing life other than with these missiles. What is unacceptable is that the UN did not invite anyone from cities in southern Israel like Sderot and Ashqelon to speak about the over eight years of human rights abuses involved in the firing of these missiles at innocent civilians.
This past week we honored Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, believing in the slogan “Never Again.” In Sderot I watched online as Ahmadinejad made his case to the world against this popular slogan. By depicting how this UN Human Rights Conference is a circus giving the floor to someone who works to wipe the Jewish people off any map, you three truly stood up and said “Never Again.”
I would be overjoyed if you would visit Sderot so you can see how more of your Jewish people live day-to-day with human rights abuses that the United Nations ignores. I thank you again and am sure if you were to visit Sderot more people here would love to personally thank you.
Never Again,
Jacob Shrybman
