by Ronnie Cohen
Moriel Ministries
Israel

I think we've finally reached the crossroad. Do we just sit down and take it as one of the norms of life like a road accident or neighborhood fire? - ‚   Because that's how the world sees it. So what if a couple of rockets fly into southern Israel every once in a while from Hamas controlled Gaza, they hardly hit anything and, in the rare occasion they do, there's really not much damage and only a few people will get hurt and if they're lucky...get killed. This is what's been going on sporadically for eight years and nearly daily for the last three. Now remember, Israel pulled out and dismantled all settlements in the Gaza Strip area in 2005. Gaza is not "occupied" anymore. What is their problem? Israel has been turning its cheek for too long. How long would any normal country put up with this?

Three years ago the fanatical Islamic group Hamas took control over Gaza from the Palestinian Authority, has been backed by every radical Moslem regime in the world from Iran to Hezbollah and, since the Egyptians closed the border crossing from southern Gaza into Egypt, Hamas has dug a network of tunnels into Egypt and has been smuggling weapons, explosives and rockets into Gaza. Now that's another story altogether. Egypt is a sovereign nation, where in the world does Hamas get weapons from? The Egyptians are not selling them (or are they) Just where do they come from? Is there a "Guns R Us" in the Sinai?

Two weeks ago, the Israeli Government has been giving out numerous warnings not just to Hamas in Gaza but also to the European Community, the United States, and yes, the Arab world, that Israel was about to retaliate. Even a live interview was held by PM Olmert on an Arab network warning Hamas that there will be a lot of blood and destruction in Gaza if the rockets don't cease. Hamas basically said "Bring it on". So, that's what the Israelis did. I had a feeling something would happen soon when my daughter's leave was cut short by a phone call. She serves in the Air force as part of the ground crew for F16 fighter planes. What a job for a 19-year-old girl. The Israel Air Force went in swift and hard. With pinpoint accuracy, they hit many Hamas related targets trying to keep in mind and avoid civilian casualties. Unfortunately, Hamas knows that Israelis avoid civilian areas and intentionally place their weapons in densely populated areas or basements of schools, Mosques and even hospitals.

The air and ground attack is still going. Hundreds of armed Hamas terrorists have been killed and, at least 100 captured. Munitions storage areas have been destroyed, smuggling tunnels bombed but, of course, all the film footage coming out of Gaza is of woman and children casualties. The world is upside-down in demanding that Israel stop the "atrocities" and "genocide". They tend to forget that the purpose of Hamas rocket attacks into Israeli towns and cities is to intentionally kill as many innocent Jews as possible.

Bradley Burston, a writer for Haaretz newspaper in Israel has written an analogy, an analogy that's probably been going through many people's minds. This is basically, what he's written:

A fanatical religious party wins an election in a county of northern Mexico fights a civil war against the Federal government and takes control of the area.

They now demand the return of all occupied territory taken by the United States - California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado.

They fire homemade rockets and more sophisticated rockets smuggled in from Iran and China into U.S. major cities of the southwest putting 1/7th of the population of the entire United States in danger. All schools are forced to shut down and when people hear "Code Red" on the radio and town loudspeakers they have 15 seconds to find shelter. This goes on several times a day shutting down businesses, ruining the economy and basically living in fear.

This has now become reality in southern Israel. Now you tell me...what nation would put up with this?

OH NO!! CODE RED! CODE RED! ‚   You now have 15 seconds to run for shelter!

Have a nice day,
Ronnie Cohen