Show HN: I'm a teen in Israel - built this to show what life is like here | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I'm a teen in Israel - built this to show what life is like here

lifeunderfire.com

23 pointsbenjlang40 comments

THREAD MOVED: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4801403

This is really well made propaganda to portray Israelis as victims. They are not victims. The world needs to pressure Israel to end their special brand of apartheid. Some may say the Palestinians have their own state so it isn't apartheid. But they do not have a state in the normal sense of the word. For example, Israel dictates what planes and ships can land.

I personally support human rights and religious freedom.

"This is really well made propaganda to portray Israelis as victims. They are not victims."

Why can't both sides be victims?

I don't really equate Israel and Hamas (and think it's a mistake to do so), but I certainly believe there are plenty of victims on both sides of this.

"I personally support human rights and religious freedom."

Many people do, on both 'sides' of this issue. And most of them are not evil or stupid, so you should consider whether stating so really accomplishes anything.

The moderator should change the title.

"I'm a teen" is not quite the same as "Right now I’m living in Tel Aviv, Israel and serving in the Israeli army."

http://benjaminlang.com/about-2/

Teens in Israel have to serve in the military. It is mandatory. What exactly is your point?

I'm still a teen and this I made at home...

Such self righteousness. The only reason Israel attacks military targets in Gaza is because it has to defend itself. There is no point in getting into a "who started it first" argument.

It baffles me that the world is so ignorant towards the fact that Israel has been tolerant to decades of daily attack from Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

No one protests, no one shouts, nothing. But the moment Israel decides to defend itself it becomes the target of demonizing propaganda (for example: the picture of the injured Israeli baby, with a caption that says it is a Palestinian baby injured by the IDF. Or the picture of the dead Syrian child, with the same caption).

Israeli citizens ARE victims. Who are you to say they're not? They are not the only victims - war is messy and full of mistakes, but the IDF does everything in its power to not hurt innocent Gaza civillians (phone calls, pamphlets, canceling attacks altogether, etc.)

I also find it interesting that many started calling Hamas terrorists Hamas "militants". It's like someone would start calling terrorists Al Qaeda militants and scold the U.S. for defending itself. Hamas is a terrorist organization and it always has been. Back in 2004 it even recognized itself as such.

My point is - who are you to say that Israelis are not victims? I bet you're sitting very comfortable very far away from any missiles while you type these void remarks. Israel has a right to defend itself.

Call it propaganda, but I still have missiles being fired at me and family and friends every day. Hamas is specifically trying to hit civilians. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be in my place.

The odd assassination aside, Israel is a democracy. You are responsible for your government just like I am for mine.

Make a real peace with the Palestinians and end these horrors!

The issue is quite difficult so I will put in "believe" in here: I believe one of the problems with peace treaties with the Palestinians is that they do not accept Israel as a state. Feel free to correct me.

Have you made a web page about the cluster bombs the IDF dropped on civilian areas (a war crime)?

No, but I would MUCH MUCH rather be an Israeli than a Palestinian in Gaza.

Try finding a Jew in Gaza and then tell me about apartheid and religious freedom.

I don't think that proves much. Conditions in Gaza are bad, and most Jews don't have any reason to go there.

Just reason not to go: they'd get badly hurt or murdered if they even made it in.

"Hamas says that if only Jews still were in Gaza, it would be able to stage peaceful protests. Without them, the only choice is violence." http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151386

Okay, so Jews should go in now.

All planes and ships can land 2 miles from Gaza in Egypt and pass their civil cargo to Gaza. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop all kind of rockets to enter Gaza strip. Any other example, pls?

To be fair, they should have made a version from the Palestinian perspective, as well.

Something tells me the Palestinians don't have 15 seconds of air raid warnings. The missiles and strike craft probably don't give much lead time at all. Maybe a few moments of odd whirring before something randomly explodes near them, and people die.

So the Palestinian version should start on 00:02 instead of 00:15...

The joys of American-made, American-taxpayer funded advanced strike weapons.

Not only are the weapons USA made & designed, they are given to Israel in the form of defense aid. The USA gives Israel a $2 billion dollar credit every year to buy our weapons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_aid

I'm not a huge fan of foreign aid, but if you're going to give money, at least give it to a country that shares our values and has a transparent democratic process for electing government. Outside of Poland, Israel is the only country that qualifies on that list.

> Something tells me the Palestinians don't have 15 seconds of air raid warnings.

You're right. They have hours. Israel frequently text-messages civilians and asks them to vacate the area.

Israel attacks military targets, not civilians. Military targets aren't as mobile as civilians.

Wow, you should read some news.

Palestinian medics: At least 11 civilians killed in Israeli airstrike in ... Minneapolis Star Tribune-1 hour ago At least 10 civilians killed in Israeli airstrike, Palestinian officials say Fox News-3 hours ago 5 women, 4 children killed in Gaza strike International -Ynetnews-1 hour ago

> They have hours. Israel frequently text-messages civilians and asks them to vacate the area.

Can you provide a reference for this claim?

kind of non-technical / political for HN, no?

FWIW, number of Israelis killed by rockets in 2012: 0

here's number of total deaths by year

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html

even if there was an upsurge in nonlethal rockets seems like slim military justification for aerial/ground retaliation given the casualties and risks involved... hard not to conclude it's for political gain.

I wish people wouldn't upvote this. This is a javascript timer with some audio. People made this stuff in the 90s, probably even before that.

You're on Hackernews, not the frontpage of Reddit.

This might as well be titled I'm a teen in Gaza. Which Israel is bombing as I type. With bombs paid for with my US tax dollars. I consider you more fortunate - you have the capability to post somewhere like here, Gaza has been under siege for five years. Zionists have the ability to play for sympathy while they're starving Gazans with a food blockade, and building settlements in the West Bank.

Ignorance must be bliss, there is no religious freedom in Gaza under Hamas.Whereas Gay pride marches, Christian churches, Muslim Judges and Parliament members in Israel, Druze villages in Israel, Muslims and Druze serve proudly in the IDF. The missiles being fired on Israel of greater range are smuggled in from Iran and hidden under mosques, schools and hospitals. Israel drops pamphlets, SMS's, uses radio and TV to warn citizens of Gaza hours before any airstrike. Oh and as for US aid well not one weapon supplied doesn't rely on Israeli technology (but all are made in concert with Israel keeping those jobs in America), not unlike the medical tech, supplies, food and electricity supplied to Gaza. Israel chose to build Iron Dome over US CWIS technology so as not to endanger Gaza residents with automated 22mm Vulcan cannon. All this at a greater cost to Israeli life and economy, why? Because Israel values life and unlike Hamas will never use human shields be they Gazan residents, foreign journalists or diplomats. It's sad how misinformed and sold on Hamas terror propaganda so many otherwise bright people on this list are. Wake up and smell the coffee.

The IDF sends down pamphlets hours before doing a raid on an area. That's a decent lead time for a heads up. The IDF also doesn't aim for innocent civilians, which are the target of Hamas.

The innocent deaths are a tragedy on both sides. However, only one side aims to kill civilians. Intent matters. There is a difference.

The Israeli policy of Palestinian suppression is to blame. Suppression and violence breeds terrorism and insurgency, and the civilian population of Israel (just like the civilian population of Gaza) suffers for it.

Change your policies. Violence breeds violence, civilian or otherwise.

I suppose a Gazan could make a similar site, but it wouldn't have a countdown or a siren so the effect wouldn't be quite the same.

When I tried it the air raid siren seems to only come on at around the 5 second mark. Is that an accurate depiction of what happens?

No it's 15 seconds for 1 million citizens in the South. The site starts at 5 seconds because we don't want people to hear it the second they log on to the site.

For Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel it's longer than 15 seconds thankfully.

I'm guessing that's for illustrative purposes. In actuality, you have 15 seconds from the sound of the first siren until you must get into a shelter.

By the way, this is dependent on where you are in Israel (how far you are from Gaza). Here in Tel Aviv, we have 2 minutes from the siren til the rocket hits.

Out of pure curiosity do Palestinians or individuals living in Gaza have any type of warning for impending air strikes from Israel?

Some facts:

1. IDF has dropped leaflets in general areas that are to be attacked 2. IDF is calling the houses in building that need to be attacked because of stashed ammo etc. 3. IDF just now fired warning shots (no harm done) near homes.

If people are still there, it's usually because Hamas is holding them hostages as human shields, as Hamas is bound to do.

Also, IDF NEVER intends to harm civilians. As an Israeli I'm deeply sorry to see casualties, but I know there is no army that does so much to prevent it, and certainly when the enemy is boasting injuring civilians (Official Hamas tweet from earlier today https://t.co/jpB5SHWJ )

I believe the IDF sends out warnings to the areas they target. A big difference is also that the IDF targets military targets and civilian deaths are accidental, while the Hamas targets civilian targets.

Also, even if only a few Israelis die from the bombs that doesn't mean the bombs are OK.

Did the population of Gaza elect Hamas a government that hides behind it's children after shooting rockets to hit civilians in Israel?

Well, considering half of the population is under the age of 18, I would say no, the "population" did not elect Hamas.

FYI: Also built Iron Dome Count

https://www.facebook.com/IronDomeCount

https://twitter.com/irondomecount

The guys on the other side don't even get a 15 seconds heads up.

Look into using theora instead of an mp3.

Searching 'HTML5 audio' OR 'audio HTML tag' will be a good start

Great use of technology, to get a point across.

Good idea, thanks.

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