Q: Why can’t Israel show restraint, and not bomb Gaza? Especially when they have the Iron Dome to intercept most rockets?
Imagine you were sitting in your home with your children, and someone would begin shooting bullets into your home, killing one of your children, wounding another one, and murdering an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor. Do you think the correct thing is to show restraint and allow all your children to die? Or should you stop the killers?
Hamas sent more than 3000 rockets raining down on Israeli cities, with the singular intention of murdering as many Jews as possible. Should Israel just say: Send some more; we are fine if Jews die; or should Israel try to crush the terrorists?
If not for the Iron Dome, Israel would have been reduced to rubble, and thousands would have been killed. Even with the Iron Dome, there are gruesome casualties and millions of Israelis are living in dread. When a siren goes off in the middle of the night, they have ten seconds to rush all the children into a shelter. Should Israel just accept this?
Q: Instead of firing back at Hamas, why does Israel not concede to Hamas’ demands so they would stop firing rockets?
A: Hamas openly calls and aims for the death of every Jew in Israel, as clearly stated in their charter (which you can read online). Should Israel concede to this demand? Should we murder every Jew in Israel and then there will be no more rockets?
Hamas and Islamic Jihad are genocidal terrorist organizations that want to wipe Israel, a country the size of New Jersey with 6.6 million Jewish residents, off the map. Last week a senior Hamas official sent out a video clip asking Palestinians to go out and buy five-shekel knives to chop off Jewish heads.
Q: Why do you say it is about genocide? Maybe it is just about occupation? Israel is occupying Gaza and has created a siege around it, so in desperation, the Gazans need to shoot rockets to fight the injustice?
A: I believe Hamas. They state clearly in their charter and all their message that the goal here is the eradication of the Jewish people. That is the core obstacle to peace.
If someone just hates Jews and Israel with no rationale, there is little to be said in defense of truth. But if someone is looking for some truth, here it is:
In August of 2005, Israel expelled ten thousand Jews from their homes in Gaza, their communities demolished by the Israel Defense Forces. Not a single Jew or Israeli soldier was left in Gaza. Israel gave its Arab neighbors the opportunity to create an independent Palestinian State in Gaza with a flourishing society, the “Singapore of the Middle East.”
Alas, the day following the forced Jewish expulsion, rockets came pouring down on Israeli cities, targeting civilians in homes and in the streets. Instead of waking up to the deadly consequences of the Gaza withdrawal and re-entering Gaza, Israel showed restraint. The results? Hamas built a terror state. Since then, tens of thousands of rockets were sent from Gaza to murder as many civilian Jews as possible.
The siege Israel created is not to block any essentials, but only to stop weaponry from being smuggled into Gaza to be used against Jews in Israel. Had Gaza been a neighbor to Israel like Canada is to the US, Israel would not even look at what goes into Gaza. But when you have a neighbor who wants all your children to die, should you not inspect what goes into his country? The siege is not the reason for the rockets; the rockets are the reason for the siege.
Q: Why not just withdraw to the pre-1967 lines, create a Palestinian State, and all will be fine?
A: Israel did just that with Gaza! Gaza was the first Palestinian State, created back in 2005, and it became a center of terror. It became instantly clear that the demand for a Palestinian State was not to live side by side with Israel but to replace Israel. One can only shudder to think what would happen if a Palestinian State would be created in the heart of Israeli society? Do you think Israel should commit national suicide?
Following the Oslo Accords, when Israel gave autonomy to Palestinians in the West Bank, Israel saw the worst terror attacks against its citizens. Conceding territory, sadly, is an invitation for war, not peace.
Q: How can Israel justify killing civilians if their intent is to destroy Hamas?
A: The death of every innocent human being is horrific. But what is the reason for all these tragic casualties? Because Hamas places its fighters among the civilian population and launches its rockets from schools, hospitals, and homes. The Palestinian people are being held hostage by Hamas. A civilian who is killed while being used by a terrorist as a human shield is a victim of the terrorist, not the Israeli army, who does not target innocent civilians.
Why does Hamas do this? Because it knows that the world will blame Israel instead of Hamas. Hamas knows that so many in the West will buy into their sadistic and cynical tactic of making sure that as many children as possible are killed in Gaza. Israel does everything to minimize casualties, not only of its own people but of Gazans. Hamas does everything to increase casualties, not only of Israelis but of its own children—and the world lets them get away with it.
If Hamas would not be shooting rockets into Israel would even one child in Gaza die? Never. So why are we blaming Israel for deaths caused by Hamas?
Many German civilians died during World War Two. Who do we blame for their deaths? Hitler or Churchill? What Nazi Germany was to England, Hamas is to Israel. Literally.
Q: But Israel is shooting rockets into Gaza and killing these innocent people?
A: If someone declared a war on your country, and it is waging the war from amidst its civilian population, do you try to defeat your enemy or do you just allow your people to die?
Still, there has never been an army in the history of warfare that had tried so hard to minimize civilization casualties the way Israel does. Sadly, they are not always successful due to the deliberate and criminal aim of Hamas to ensure the greatest possible deaths of their own children for which they can blame Israel.
Consider the following fact. Before bombing a residential building used to launch rockets against Israel, the Israeli military phones the residents warning them to leave, even though that gives ample time for the terrorists to flee as well. Does anyone even expect Hamas to phone Israeli residents before sending a rocket to their homes? What does this tell you about the difference between Hamas and Israel? One is trying to murder as many innocent people as possible; the other is trying to protect as many innocent people as possible.
If you really care about the safety and future of Palestinian children, you should embrace Israel and combat Hamas. If only Hamas would love their own children a little more than they hate Israeli children, there would be peace.
Q: Many more deaths have been reported from Gaza than from Israel. Clearly, Israel is the more dangerous aggressor.
A: During the Second World War, there were millions of more civilian deaths in Germany than in Britain. Does this make England wrong, and Nazi Germany right?
(thanks Felicia!)