The borders of Israel are shut down. The airports are closed. Americans caught in the mayhem are apprehensive, according to Jim Brown, former Louisiana insurance commissioner & Secretary of State, who was in Israel on a personal religious journey, when he had a premonition to come home. Brown left. Then, Hamas struck.
Brown told Newell Normand at WWL Radio in New Orleans that a Baton Rouge couple he planned to spend time with are stuck in the region after renting a car to drive north for safety. "They have hopes of getting out in a week or so, but they're just not sure," Brown said, adding "hopefully they can get out soon."
Brown said that on his trip he traveled through many of the villages that were later bombed. He said he was staying in the Palestinian district in Jerusalem, where he picked up the mood of the area from residents and cab drivers. Brown said most of the cab drivers he encountered were Palestinian. And most of them wanted Palestine to have its own country. "If you were Palestinian you stayed in your area…I didn't see much crossover."
“Both sides want a two-state solution,” Brown said, ”but they also both want Jerusalem as part of their state,” Brown added, “so it's a stalemate. Iran and Syria are clouding it even further by pushing Hamas.”
It's a radical mix of problems with lots of killing and no easy solution. "The Jewish Israelis feel like this is their 9/11, this is their Pearl Harbor and what is happening is...it's like a replay of many of the Nazi atrocities,” said Brown. “The feeling is very bitter and very intense right now. Israel wants to go into the mosque area and in doing so they're killing a lot of Palestinian citizens who are just trying to live…they're not really part of Hamas."
Israel wants Hamas gone and they're very supportive of the military effort, Brown said. "There's an overwhelming consensus that retaliation is necessary...and I guess that's the normal reaction of people who support Israel."
Another discussion on the ground in Israel is how the country that takes great pride in its elite intelligence community failed to see this coming, Brown said.
"It's just so dumbfounding to so many Israelis."
