7 of the Fifth Month 5768
This afternoon at around 12 noon, a white, Subaru hatchback, lic. #674 - 1567, was spotted driving around K'far Tapu'ah.
The driver appeared to be in his 50's, with long graying hair pulled back in a ponytail, with a significant bald patch on the crown of his head. He was wearing glasses as well.
The car was seen moving up one street, making a U-turn, and backtracking. He would then repeat the pattern.
A camera was mounted on its dashboard.
The ravsha"tz (town security chief) was approached, and he explained that the driver claims to be mapping the yishuv (town) for a GPS (global positioning system) service.
Commentary:
1. Now, assuming that the driver was, indeed, mapping the yishuv for a GPS, then why? It's a small town. Why do people need to know the details of a small town? If you visit a small town, whether in Israel, the U. S., France, or Brazil, and you're looking for someone's house, you ask for directions.
2. Why is it necessary for a town at risk for Arab infiltration, and in fact has been infiltrated, to allow a map to be made public for all Arabs and leftists and anarchists to see and to study? We went through this already with a British newspaper publishing a map of Tapu'ah, and recommending weak spots for possible entry in secret.
In addition, the Israeli government has put restrictions on services such as Google Earth, for security reasons.
3. And, lastly, the verdict is still out. We still don't have confirmation as to what he was really doing here, if was mapping out the yishuv for a GPS service, or a Shalom Akhshav (Peace Now) self-hating, Eruv Rav, nut job.
4. If you see such a vehicle roaming around your town, report it. At the very least, residents have a right to decide to have their town added to such a data base.
5. Do we get to see into Arab towns, too? Doubt it.
"Josh" asked me to post the following:
ReplyDeleteIt's possible. I saw a GMC van on kvish5 (near Petach Tikva) with what seemed like cameras on all sides. I had seen this in England last year, but that van had many more cameras and signage saying that it was filming the streets for some internet site.
There are few secrets anymore and this is Hashem's way of showing us the futility of belief in fences and 'security' (not that we don't have to be reckless though). Tapuach and all villages are located on emap, google map, earth, and of course, beautiful high-res aerial pictures on the criminal Peace Now website. (Honestly, the pictures are really great!)
GPS positioning for Tapuach might be a sign of the times; Tapuch is just a regular village in Israel.
Be'ezrat Hashem, new neighbourhoods will be built, and the need for GPS to get around inside Tapuach will be real.
Doesn't sound good.
ReplyDeleteI thought the title was more humorous, that you saw me in Tapuach yesterday...