Israel and Gaza

Steve Sheffey — December 29, 2008 – 2:07 pm | Israel Comments (0) Add a comment

Israel’s actions against Gaza are fully justified. Hamas has fired thousands of rockets into Israel from Gaza as a protest against…as a protest against what? Israel does not “occupy” Gaza at all. There are no “settlements” in Gaza.  But rather than live in peace with Israel, Hamas has chosen to fire rockets into pre-1967 Israel. The issue for Hamas is not the “occupation,” but the right of Israel to exist within any borders as a Jewish state. No other country would tolerate this daily terror from across the border, and Israel should not be expected to tolerate it either.

 

As Amos Oz, the noted Israeli novelist and peace activist recently stated, the systematic bombing of the citizens in Israel's towns and cities is a war crime and a crime against humanity. The State of Israel must defend its citizens. It is obvious to everyone that the Israeli government does not wish to enter Gaza; the government would rather continue the ceasefire that Hamas violated and finally revoked. But the suffering of the citizens surrounding Gaza cannot go on.

Already we are hearing from the international community about “disproportionate” responses. What would be a “proportionate” response? Randomly firing rockets into Gaza schools every day? Hamas deliberately attempts to kill civilians. Israel attacks legitimate military targets and tries to avoid the loss of innocent life. Hamas uses its own people as human shields, both to protect Hamas leaders and to create international sympathy for its cause. No one wants to see innocent blood shed, but as Amos Oz explains, “Hamas' calculation is simple, cynical and evil: If innocent Israelis are killed - good. If innocent Palestinians are killed - even better.”

We are also hearing cries for a cease-fire. The time for the international community to apply pressure for a cease-fire was when Hamas was firing any one of the more than 7,000 rockets it has fired into Israel. For the international community to press for a cease-fire only when Israel responds to Hamas aggression and terror is nothing but hypocrisy. As Americans, we must stand up for our only democratic ally in the Middle East and allow Israel, not a biased international community, to determine when and under what circumstances a cease-fire is appropriate.

As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert explained, Israel’s quarrel is not with the Palestinian people, but with the Hamas terrorists. Indeed, Israel has endorsed a two-state solution and consistently proposed peaceful solutions, even willingness to trade land won in defensive wars for a promise of peace, only to be rebuffed by intransigent Palestinian leadership.

But even as Israel strives for peace with its Arab neighbors, it cannot be expected to forsake the primary duty of any state: to protect the safety and security of its citizens. We would expect no less from our government if our children were subjected to daily rocket attacks at home and at school. Can you imagine? Israelis have only seconds of warning to race to the nearest bomb shelter, and if kids are in different rooms, that means a split-second decision regarding which kid to grab and which kid to hope makes it to the shelter on her own. No government can permit its citizens to live that way.

Israel is a vibrant democracy, and no matter what the government or what the policy, there will be internal opposition. Israel has proven that a state can vigorously respond to terror and still maintain its democratic character. We must remember that while there are some within Israel who love Israel but oppose military strikes against Hamas in Gaza, the broad mainstream of Israel’s political leadership—from Labor to Kadima to Likud—supports Israel’s actions in Gaza. It would be the epitome of chutzpah for us, living in the safety and security of Highland Park and Deerfield, to tell the democratically elected government of Israel how to make peace and how to safeguard the security of those who live within rocket range and whose children may die defending the innocent from the terrorists.

Olmert is right: For the last seven years, the Hamas and other terrorist organizations were attacking innocent Israelis in the south part of the country and threatened the lives of many thousands of Israelis that wanted to live peacefully in their homes and to carry on their lives in a comfortable and normal way.  Israel did everything in its power to try to cooperate with the principles of a ceasefire in order to bring relaxation to this part.  Unfortunately, the efforts that we made were met by continuous attacks and violations of the basic understandings that were reached by the assistance of Egypt.  No country in the world can accept or acquiesce with this approach.

 

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