The only thing raining down faster than rockets into Israel from Gaza are the protests and hypocritical condemnation aimed at Israel throughout the world demanding Israel stop abusing and killing poor innocent Palestinians.
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The headlines are horrific, no one wants to read about any deaths, much less that of children. According to the BBC,
At least 26 people were reported to have been killed in Gaza by Israeli bombardments on Sunday. Of those, at least 14 were women and children, Gaza health officials said.
This brought the death toll in Gaza since Israel launched its Operation Pillar of Defence on Wednesday to 72, the officials said.
Maybe people ought to consider the numbers here. Israel has flown over 1000 sorties since the beginning of “Operation Pillar of Defense”, that’s over 1000 hits on Hamas targets and that doesn’t even begin to account for the Israeli Navy shelling.
Simple math, if Israel were trying to kill people then they have the absolute worst aim and kill record of any military in the world. But reading the headlines, looking at the pictures and listening to those protesting against Israel, you would think that the Gazans are nothing more than fish in a barrel.
As I said, no one wants to hear that people are being killed, but for some reason that doesn’t seem to work both ways when Israel is involved. Not counting this latest round of rockets, since January of this year over 800 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into Israel, all aimed at civilians and usually timed for when children are on their way home from school. That was never reported by any news agency outside of Israel.
No country in the world would put up with rockets being fired at their people and show the amount of restraint that Israel has. I can guarantee that if this were happening in America and Mexico were firing rockets into Arizona it would take less than one hour for America to put an end to it.
Unlike Israel who attempts to avoid any civilian casualties, Hamas is aiming for them. Let’s not forget that Hamas uses its people as “human shields” by manufacturing, storing and even firing its rockets from homes, apartments, schools, hospitals and Mosques. Yet, just under 100 have died because Israel assures that few civilians are in the area before it attacks, or it doesn’t attack at all.
Before Israel began its strikes on Gaza it dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets in Arabic,
“Important announcement for the residents of the Gaza Strip:
For your own safety, take responsibility for yourselves and avoid being present in the vicinity of Hamas operatives and facilities and those of other terror organizations that pose a risk to your safety.
Hamas is once again dragging the region to violence and bloodshed. The IDF is determined to defend the residents of the State of Israel. This announcement is valid until quiet is restored to the region.
Israel Defense Forces Command.”
How many other countries have ever sent warnings prior to bombing a target? Only one, Israel, during the “Operation Cast Lead” in 2008/2009. But the news continues calling the Palestinians “prisoners” with nowhere to go and now they are even blaming the upcoming Israeli elections, as reported by the Daily Beast,
They say when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But when you are a politician and all you have is a hammer, you must convince voters every problem looks like a nail. This is the only thinking that can explain Israel’s behavior in escalating bombardment of Gaza.
Here’s what gets me, all these media outlets and protesters refer to those in Gaza as being “occupied” by Israel. Really? Israel left Gaza in 2005 and that, like every other time Israel leaves an area, was supposed to bring “peace”.
According to a Washington Post article of August 10, 2005,
In announcing the "Disengagement Plan" in December 2003, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the withdrawal was to increase security of residents of Israel, relieve pressure on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and reduce friction between Israelis and Palestinians. Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, claims that the withdrawal is the result of violent Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.
Starting Aug. 15, tens of thousands of Israeli troops will oversee the evacuation of the settlers from 21 different communities in Gaza and four smaller settlements in the West Bank. They will assist settlers with moving their belongings as well. Some Palestinian security forces will also participate. On Aug. 17, settlers who have not voluntarily left will be forcibly removed and may lose personal property, according to IDF commanders. Israeli soldiers will then demolish settlers'' homes.
Those settlements were evacuated and many were forcibly removed, removed by the same government that asked them to live there. Many of them still to this day live in trailers, but again, that is not reported outside of Israel. The Palestinian answer for Israel’s disengagement, Rockets being fired indiscriminately into Israel.
Israel’s last “boots on the ground” incursion into Gaza was “Operation Cast Lead”, the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) were in Gaza from January 3, 2009 to January 21, 2009. From the moment Israel withdrew from Gaza on 1/21/09, not one week, not one has gone by without a rocket attack from Gaza into Israel.
Since January 2011, approximately 1,300 rockets and 400 mortar shells fired from Gaza have hit Israeli civilian areas. But again, when Israel responds after 1 million of their civilians have been terrorized, the world blames Israel for being the aggressor.
Arab News reported on Saturday,
In Cairo, several thousand protesters gathered outside Al-Azhar mosque after weekly Muslim prayers and chanted “We will go to Gaza in our millions,” swearing to “sacrifice ourselves for you, Palestine.”
All the Arab Nations are saying that they would help the people of Gaza, from Turkey to Lebanon, there have been protests, but interestingly the one country that could do something, Egypt, hasn’t.
Israel may be the one blamed for Gaza, but the so called “refugee camp” of Gaza was started by Egypt.On May 14, 1948 the "Palestinian Jews" declared their own State of Israel and became "Israelis." The next day, seven Arab armies... Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen invaded Israel. Most Arabs living in Israel were told to leave by the invading Arab armies. Approximately 140,000 Arabs fled from Israel to Gaza (Egypt) and became “refugees”.
David Ben Gurion, in Israel’s declaration of independence asked Arabs to stay and help build the new state. He guaranteed them the same freedoms Jewish Israelis would enjoy and those that stayed have more rights in Israel than those in any Arab country.
After the war of Independence, Egypt controlled Gaza and it became a prison. Al Jazeera, certainly no fan of Israel, wrote in an article back in 2009 on how poorly Egypt treated the Arabs in Gaza,
Unlike the West Bank, which was effectively annexed by Jordan in 1950 and its population offered Jordanian citizenship, Egypt maintained Gaza under military rule until a legislative council was elected in 1957. Moreover, unlike Jordan, Egypt had little ties with or concern for Gaza, and thus the Strip received little attention or investment in infrastructure between 1948 and 1967.
That’s interesting, between 1948 and 1967 Gaza “received little attention or investment in infrastructure”. That would be the years that Gaza was not under any Israeli control.
For those 19 years Egypt could have given their Arab cousins the State they wanted, just as Jordan could have with the West Bank, but the media never reports how these refugees, or the camps they lived in came to be.
Now, the new President of Egypt, Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood is siding with those in Gaza. He stated on Friday,
“We are in contact with the people of Gaza and with Palestinians and we stand by them until we stop the aggression and we do not accept under any circumstances the continuation of this aggression on the Strip”.
“The Israelis must realize that this aggression is unacceptable and would only lead to instability in the region and would negatively and greatly impact the security of the region”.
CBS News reported on Sunday how even Morsi will still not open the border between Egypt and Gaza,
Both Israel and Egypt''s new leader have eased access to the territory since 2007, but many restrictions remain. But even Morsi — who is sympathetic to Hamas as a fellow member of the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood — has resisted Hamas calls for open trade between Gaza and Egypt.
But of course even though Egypt started the refugee camps in Gaza after encouraging the Arabs to leave Israel in 1948 and never did a thing to help them for the 19 years leading up to the 1967 Six-Day War, they refuse to open the borders now. Yet they claim to “Stand by them”.
Hamas was voted in by the people of Gaza, as I have stated more times than I care to remember, here are their principles and part of the Hamas Charter,
“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).
“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”
As usual the world and the UN blame Israel. The U.N Chief, Ban Ki-moon, stated through his spokesperson on Friday that,
“He urgently appeals to all concerned to do everything under their command to stop this dangerous escalation and restore calm. Rocket attacks are unacceptable and must stop at once. Israel must exercise maximum restraint”
Two things in Ban Ki-moons statement that is beyond humorous. “Israel must exercise maximum restraint” and “restore calm”.
What calm is he referring to, the calm we have seen since Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005 or the calm since the end of Operation Cast Lead in 2008?
Maximum restraint? That is exactly what Israel has shown by not retaliating each and every time a rocket was fired in to her citizens.
There will never be a peace with a group who is bent on the destruction and death of Israel and the Jewish people, it is really that simple.
After Israel attacks Hamas or goes in to Gaza there is a lull in the rockets for a short time. A very short time that never lasts. Israel must eliminate the threat just as any other nation would if they were attacked.
Otherwise in the near future this will just be another déjà vu and the words “déjà vu” and “Gaza” should never be in the same sentence.
Gadi Adelman is a freelance writer and lecturer on the history of terrorism and counterterrorism. He grew up in Israel, studying terrorism and Islam for 35 years after surviving a terrorist bomb in Jerusalem in which 7 children were killed. Since returning to the U. S., Gadi teaches and lectures to law enforcement agencies as well as high schools and colleges. His articles have appeared in The Jerusalem Post, Frontpage Mag, Family Security Matters and dozens of other sites. He can be heard every Thursday night at 8PM est. on his own radio show “American Akbar” on Blog Talk Radio. He can be reached through his website gadiadelman.com.