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Tamar Yonah is a creator, producer and radio show host at Israel National Radio.com. She also assists with immigrant absorption in her community, as well as in Israel at large.
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By Tamar Yonah
September 2, 2005
I don't want to be so bold as to say that the U.S. was hit with Hurricane Katrina because President Bush pressed his Road Map upon Israel, but the fact remains that his 'Vision of a New Middle East' brought about the destruction of Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron. This, to build a PLO terror state in the belly of Israel. Looking at what has happened here in Israel these last few weeks, and seeing what is happening now in America, one has to admit there are many interesting similarities in these two tragic events, difficult to dismiss as mere coincidence. Consider:
1) The obvious: 'Katrina' sounds very similar to 'Katif'.
2) According to a Russian friend of mine, 'Katrina' in Russian is equivalent to 'Katyusha'. A katyusha is the name of a rocket that has been fired frequently at Israeli towns and villages, one of which just recently hit Israel's port city of Eilat, near its airport. This katyusha rocket was fired against Israel at the same time when Jews were being expelled from Gush Katif.
3) Bush pushed for the abandonment of Israel's southern coastal region, and America's southern coastal region is now in ruins as well.
4) President Bush is from Texas, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is from Alabama. Together, they pressured Israel to uproot Gush Katif. Hurricane Katrina hit the states in between Texas and Alabama where Bush and Rice are from (Louisiana and Mississippi).
5) Many believe that U.S. President George Bush is selling out Israel to control the price of oil and keep it cheaper for Americans. Perhaps Bush thought that he could set the price for oil by appeasing the Arabs. Yet, this hurricane hit right at the oil refineries in America's Gulf Coast states, temporarily closing down these refineries, which brought UP the price of gasoline. Is G-d telling us that He, not Bush, controls the price of oil?
6) One of the plans for the removal of the Gush Katif communities was to make room for and build casinos. Katrina destroyed a whole strip of casinos and casino boats on America's gulf coast.
7) Thousands of innocent Jews were made homeless because of the Road Map. Now, perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans were made homeless.
8) We saw the destruction of beautiful quaint homes in Gush Katif that are now rubble. In New Orleans, we see once charming and quaint homes now destroyed and turned to rubble.
9) The day that Hurricane Katrina hit America, Israel was forced to do the grueling task of digging up the bodies of loved ones in Gush Katif. There are now reports that New Orleans has bodies floating around the city and some older buried corpses might also float up because of this horrible storm.
10) Four communities in the Northern Shomron (what some term the 'West Bank') were destroyed on the altar of the 'Road Map'. New Orleans also has a 'West Bank,' partially destroyed by the storm.
11) Just as the citizens of Israel were barred from entering Gush Katif, and people were only allowed to leave it, so too the U.S. Authorities have now barred its own citizens from entering the affected areas of the Gulf Coast. People will only be allowed OUT.
12) The loss of Gush Katif has cost the nation of Israel 15% of its agricultural produce, and Israel has not yet estimated the price tag of how many billions of shekels the resettling and rebuilding of communities will cost her. So too, American leaders are saying that the loss of businesses and the price of rebuilding the Gulf Coast will cost them billions, and that is estimated as just the beginning.
There are other interesting correlations here, such as people in Gush Katif climbing to rooftops to escape the threat of expulsion, and residents of the Gulf Coast climbing to their own rooftops to protect themselves from the rising murky waters.
Gush Katif refugees have had to make tent cities in Israel. Will we soon be seeing American refugees in tent cities in neighboring states?
Is there indeed a correlation between the tragedies of Katrina and Katif? If so, for the safety and well being of the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush needs to stop using a double standard when it comes to Israel. He needs to stop pressuring Israel to further weaken herself and give in to terror. Israel must retain her strong sovereignty. As U.S. President Ronald Reagan once said, "Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong."
And finally, President Bush needs to go back to reading the Bible and remind himself that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse her will be cursed.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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