I have a bit of mixed feelings about publishing the English version of my new book Kelilah: Deadly Embrace. Today is the day the book is available on the Amazon and Kobo platforms.
This means that you, dear readers, from the US, Sweden, UK and Israel can now read the book in English on your desktop, tablet or phone (Kindle / ePUB).
Of course I am very happy with this! I put a lot of work into the book and its translation. Four marketing campaigns will now also start on Facebook and Instagram and this has also cost a lot of money and preparation.
The other side of the story, of course, is that since last week Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah have started a war against Israel. The horrific images of more than a thousand rockets hitting Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other smaller cities from the Gaza Strip will send shivers down your body. As if that wasn't bad enough, you see on television many pro-Palestinian demonstrations in European cities shoot up like mushrooms. As if they are victims of this terror.
In the Netherlands there was even a poet, Ramsey Nasr, half "Palestinian", who called our Prime Minister Mark Rutte a scoundrel, because he thought that Mark Rutten's statement was too one-sided. Mark Rutte said it is unacceptable that Hamas fires arbitrary missiles at the civilian population and that Israel has the right to defend itself within the limits of proportionality.
That was not enough for Nasr. According to him, Rutte was downplaying ethnic cleansing. You wonder where this poet has lived in recent decades. It is exactly the same rhetoric that always follows when Israel retaliates (on very specific military targets and Hamas members) after another explosion of violence on the Palestinian side.
The IDF (the Israeli army) is the most morally high-quality army in the world. It is always aimed at preventing innocent victims. In contrast to Hamas, Iran and Hezbollah. They are always aimed at killing innocent victims as much as possible.
What would have happened if Israel had really responded proportionately? If Israel had randomly returned the same number of missiles to Gaza?
The photo from this blog is exactly the heart of the conflict. Whatever Israel does, it will always come out worse in the media than Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.
Golda Meir was right: it is better to be alive with a bad image than dead and pitiful.
Perhaps that is also the underlying and symbolic theme of my new book "Kelilah: Deadly Embrace". Israel is constantly working to prevent and combat the deadly embrace of terror. Things will only change when funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran stops and public opinion changes in Israel's favor.
Order the book here:
English/ePub on boekenbestellen.com
Dutch/English/Paperback/ePub on boeken bestellen.nl
English 
Nederlands