Question About the recent Hizbullah attack on Nazareth..

[UndertheOcean]

The media seems to say that there isn't any sirens or warning system or even shelters in Nazareth , while the Jewish town next to it called Illit-Nazareth have all those..

First , is this really the case ?
And if so , How do Israelis and Israeli policy apologists justify this ?

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. If this is the case, perhaps it's because they don't expect

palestinians to be shelling palestinian towns?

Ya think?

[UndertheOcean]

3. But Nazareth is an Israeli town ? aren't its residents Israeli Arab ?

n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. My error, meant to say didn't expect palestinians to shell

arab towns.

As evidenced by the quote in a later post, below.

It wouldn't seem like a very high priority target - if you're trying to kill jews, you shell the town the jews occupy, leave the others alone.

[Scurrilous]

4. Nazareth is not a Palestinian town...

..it is in Israel. The residents are Israeli citizens.

Nazareth: No one told us, the Arabs, to take shelter

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278550,00.html

Following the fatal rocket barrage that struck Nazareth Monday, residents accused the government of failing to warn the mostly Arab population to take cover in bomb shelters when the Katyushas started flying. “If they had instructed us to enter protected areas, as they did in the Jewish towns, the tragedy might have been prevented,” Nazareth resident Tarek Kubati told Ynet, referring to the deaths of two brothers , 3 and 9, who were playing outside when the rockets hit Wednesday.

[cali]

8. The same thing evidently

happened in Haifa: A siren failed to go off.

I don't know if the Israeli powers to be are lax re security in Nazareth, but I wouldn't just assume it. It's a big tourist destination, has a Christian population, and is home to iconic religious sites. If it was simply a poor arab village, i'd find it more believable that there's a lack of shelters and warning systems.

[atreides1]

7. If this is the case, perhaps it's because

The concern for Arab-Israelis isn't as high as it is for Jewish-Israelis?

Here's a factoid:
The majority of Nazarenes are Israeli Arabs, about 35-40% of whom are Christians and the rest Muslims.

[atreides1]

2. It could be true

But even if it is, do you really think those people you refer too, won't come up with a justification?

[UndertheOcean]

5. Everyone has a justification for everything..human nature ...one can only

ask questions and hope the debate and balances the extremes

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Funny how people are so willing

to rationalize and justify anything the 'good' guys do, yet there is total condemnation when the 'bad' guys do the same thing?

[oberliner]

6. Israeli Arabs feeling angry, vulnerable after rocket deaths

Here is an article from the Chicago Tribune discussing this question:

Excerpts:

NAZARETH, Israel -- Rabiah and Mahmoud Talussi never heard a siren warning of the killer rocket. They had no chance to find a bomb shelter. The tiny Israeli Arab brothers were among the sorriest victims lost in furious border battles this week between Hezbollah and Israel.

They were citizens of Israel, born in a city never fully protected from or considered vulnerable to outside Arab attacks. Their hometown Nazareth, like some other Arab-majority communities in Israel, had no state-funded alarm that, in time of war, could warn citizens of enemy rockets or missiles.

<cut>

"Really, they weren't considered at risk," Knesset member Dov Hanin said after meeting with the mayor about the Arabs who are Israeli citizens. "It's a general problem in the Arab towns: We thought Arabs weren't threatened. Now we know: They're in the north. Like Jews, they need protection."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0607210167jul21,1,1654453.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed