Fighting Terrorism with a Wood Stove
December 11, 2009
Guy Felixbrodt
As we traveled to Israel during the summer of 2006, I assured friends and relatives that we were safe mostly staying in Haifa. Boy, was I wrong! Two days after we landed, my beloved hometown became a destination for mortar rockets from Lebanon, which turned it into a ghost town. The funny thing was that our plan to go to Jerusalem was the best move we could have made, since Jerusalem became one of the safest places in Israel. Needless to say, our long-awaited trip was ruined. We reluctantly left Israel to visit some relatives in England, and I was shocked to see a whole other picture than the one I just watched in Israel presented in the British news. The media coverage in England portrayed a whole other war, and in this one, Israel was the aggressor. There was virtually no coverage of the attacks on Israel which led to the escalation of violence. Adding to my amazement was seeing yet again a completely different story on the news back in the U.S. This whole experience saddened me deeply and made me ask many questions: How accurate is media coverage? Why was this war going on? And most importantly, what could I DO about it??? I realized that most of Israel’s enemies were literally fueled by Iran’s oil. I decided that by consuming less oil, I could help reduce the funding of guns, bombs, and other resources aimed against Israel! Naïve, you may say, but I am now heating my home by wood stoves only. It takes a lot of work and I realize not everyone can do it, but we can all have an impact on international events by consuming less oil. Care to try? We might just see some more peace in our world at the same time as we improve our environment!
Guy Felixbrodt, a native Israeli and former Israeli Naval Officer, is currently working as BJ’s Community Initiatives Coordinator.
The “Focus on Israel” column is edited by Robin Fleischner, a Vice President of BJ’s Board of Trustees and Co-Chair of BJ’s Israel Steering Committee.