Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Another Cop Shooting

I had posted recently about a cop shooting someone, and how the media and other watch groups seem to be automatically ganging up on the officer. Meaning that the officer should NOT have shot the person, and it was a bad cop the whole way.

I went on to say that I was glad that I wasn't a cop, and I was glad that I had talked my son out of being a cop. It's got to be one of the toughest jobs to be had, and to me, at least, the negatives make it a job that just isn't worth it.

Because once again in the news, there's a story about another cop shooting, and once again, the media is making it sound like it was a bad cop, a tragic shooting, and all the cop's fault. Now, as I said the last time, I wasn't there, and I have no clue as to how it all came down. Maybe it was a bad cop. Maybe both times, it was a bad cop, and it was all the cop's fault. And if you go by the news report, that's exactly how it was in both cases.

But that's the news report. To me, at least, there's another side to the story. The cop's side, and both times, the media gives no hint to that side of the story. It's all about how the cop was quick to take someone's life, as if the cop was actually looking forward to killing someone. Actually hoping to kill someone. As if cops become cops so that they could kill someone. Really, that's just how the news reports make it sound.

I know there are people that want to kill people. Murderers are in no short supply, and that's one of the reasons I wrote Killer of Killers. But I just refuse to believe that murderers are wearing police uniforms. I just don't buy it. Policemen are themselves often targeted by murderers, and it's a situation that is not enviable by any stretch of the imagination. That, plus the fact that society and the media seems quick to take the side of the law-breakers, makes me firm in the belief that being a cop is one of the most difficult jobs out there. Period.

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