It's been a long time...
... since I could say that I'm really proud of my government. In fact, I'm not sure it's ever happened -- here, or in America.
But today, right now, at 9:15 in the evening on 7 January, 2009/12 Tevet, 5769, I say it -- and I mean it. For a moment, anyway.
So far, Israel is standing up against the outsiders who are trying to create a one-sided cease fire. So far, Israel is fighting the fairest, most moral fight possible under the circumstances. I may not personally agree with the three-hour cease fire used to transport "humanitarian aid" this afternoon, but I respect the belief behind it.
For the record, as far as I'm concerned, I would approve of the humanitarian aid, if I thought it were actually going to the people who need it, and those people weren't terrorists or terrorist supporters. It's fairly clear that Hamas gets first dibs on everything that comes in, and they have no problems taking the medical supplies and food for their fighters. They also get to use the three-hour reprieve to restock their weapons, food and medical supplies, while we spend the three hours watching over the supply caravans.
More than anything at the moment, I respect the fact that when the IDF fired on a UN school, where allegedly 30-40 people were killed, my government did NOT immediately start apologizing and backing away from the war.
Instead, they produced proof that Hamas has fired rockets from such schools in the past. There are witnesses who allege that it happened this time, too -- I don't know what kind of proof the IDF has, but as it's been proven repeatedly that Hamas cares more about destroying Israel than about protecting its own citizens, I have confidence that such proof exists.
Golda Meir once said something that still remains true today. To paraphrase: When peace comes, we may be able to forgive them for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. She also said that peace will come when they love their children more than they hate us.
She was a pretty crappy prime minister, but she was right on with those sentiments.
I read a pretty good op-ed today. He pretty much says everything else I have to say today.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167265397&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
In short, it's the sentiments above, plus the following:
During the "cease fire," Hamas still shot almost 600 rockets into Israel -- it's an average of 7 per DAY.
During the "cease fire," we hoped Hamas might actually spend time and energy trying to build its people up, instead of building its weapons caches to try and fight us.
At the end of the "cease fire," Israel still scrambled for diplomatic options, while Hamas started the rocket barrages.
The idea now of a "proportionate" versus "disproportionate" response is irrelevant. We were not responding proportionately for the last eight years while they were raining rockets down upon is -- we sat back and sucked it up. We left a beautiful piece of Eretz Yisrael in hopes they would stop shooting at us. We barely closed the crossings, even when we knew they were smuggling terrorists and weapons through them.
So if it's a bit loud and dangerous in Gaza right now, I am not going to apologize. Yes, with the very core of my being I feel bad for the mothers who are losing their children, for the children who are losing their parents, for everyone who is living every day terrified for their lives.
But I do not apologize. While letting our own citizens be terrorized and killed for years, my government tried the diplomatic options.
They didn't work.
So now it's time for us to protect the tiny sliver of land we were given.
G-d bless our soldiers and their families, as well as all of our citizens who continue to live under the threat of attack. And G-d bless the civilians in Gaza. Amen.
But today, right now, at 9:15 in the evening on 7 January, 2009/12 Tevet, 5769, I say it -- and I mean it. For a moment, anyway.
So far, Israel is standing up against the outsiders who are trying to create a one-sided cease fire. So far, Israel is fighting the fairest, most moral fight possible under the circumstances. I may not personally agree with the three-hour cease fire used to transport "humanitarian aid" this afternoon, but I respect the belief behind it.
For the record, as far as I'm concerned, I would approve of the humanitarian aid, if I thought it were actually going to the people who need it, and those people weren't terrorists or terrorist supporters. It's fairly clear that Hamas gets first dibs on everything that comes in, and they have no problems taking the medical supplies and food for their fighters. They also get to use the three-hour reprieve to restock their weapons, food and medical supplies, while we spend the three hours watching over the supply caravans.
More than anything at the moment, I respect the fact that when the IDF fired on a UN school, where allegedly 30-40 people were killed, my government did NOT immediately start apologizing and backing away from the war.
Instead, they produced proof that Hamas has fired rockets from such schools in the past. There are witnesses who allege that it happened this time, too -- I don't know what kind of proof the IDF has, but as it's been proven repeatedly that Hamas cares more about destroying Israel than about protecting its own citizens, I have confidence that such proof exists.
Golda Meir once said something that still remains true today. To paraphrase: When peace comes, we may be able to forgive them for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. She also said that peace will come when they love their children more than they hate us.
She was a pretty crappy prime minister, but she was right on with those sentiments.
I read a pretty good op-ed today. He pretty much says everything else I have to say today.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167265397&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
In short, it's the sentiments above, plus the following:
During the "cease fire," Hamas still shot almost 600 rockets into Israel -- it's an average of 7 per DAY.
During the "cease fire," we hoped Hamas might actually spend time and energy trying to build its people up, instead of building its weapons caches to try and fight us.
At the end of the "cease fire," Israel still scrambled for diplomatic options, while Hamas started the rocket barrages.
The idea now of a "proportionate" versus "disproportionate" response is irrelevant. We were not responding proportionately for the last eight years while they were raining rockets down upon is -- we sat back and sucked it up. We left a beautiful piece of Eretz Yisrael in hopes they would stop shooting at us. We barely closed the crossings, even when we knew they were smuggling terrorists and weapons through them.
So if it's a bit loud and dangerous in Gaza right now, I am not going to apologize. Yes, with the very core of my being I feel bad for the mothers who are losing their children, for the children who are losing their parents, for everyone who is living every day terrified for their lives.
But I do not apologize. While letting our own citizens be terrorized and killed for years, my government tried the diplomatic options.
They didn't work.
So now it's time for us to protect the tiny sliver of land we were given.
G-d bless our soldiers and their families, as well as all of our citizens who continue to live under the threat of attack. And G-d bless the civilians in Gaza. Amen.
posted by M at 21:13
1 Comments:
I pray every day for the people of Gaza to rise up against their leaders and denounce them for bringing this destruction down on them.
I also hear people here denouncing Israel for "causing Hamas to have to retaliate" as they are. I jump on them with the question of what would they expect to happen if the "country" of Massachusetts were firing rockets on our "country" of Connecticut.
Sorry folks, the Federal government is non-existent in this equation; New York, Rhode Island and New Jersey re on Massachusett's side in this; what are you going to do?
Blessings to you and Israel.
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