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<\/a>Israel Lives<\/p><\/div>\n
Yesterday morning my country awoke to the news headlines screaming in big bold letters, \u201c13 killed as Israel hit UN Gaza school\u201d. I cringed. Because I know exactly which horrific images such a headline evokes: 13 little Palestinian children in pink or light blue maimed beyond recognition. Cruelly put, I know. But honestly, what else did the folks over at the newspapers want its readers to think? The truth is a bit different. Let me add a bit of common sense to the emotional sensationalism. Firstly, it\u2019s summer vacation here. Which means empty school buildings. And even if it wasn\u2019t. Its war. Parents keep their children at home where they can keep an eye on them during wartime. None of the schools are open. Thing is though, it\u2019s highly probable that the school building was used for something far more sinister than educational purposes. Since the UN already found rockets hidden in two other schools in Gaza, I\u2019d say it\u2019s close to a foregone conclusion. Which brings me back to the headline. Which should have read something like, \u201c13 killed as Israel hit UN Gaza school building which Hamas uses to store weapons in and launch attacks from.\u201d Details, I know\u2026<\/p>\n
And then the afternoon rolled around. With new, sensational news to share, \u201cBloody mayhem as Israel hit Gaza market.\u201d The article was equally gory. The comments made by the public even worse. \u201cWhat will Israel use as an excuse this time? That they sold rockets at the market?\u201d Yes! I wanted to say. If rockets are found hidden in schools, hospitals and mosques, I\u2019d say the chances of rockets in a market are extremely high. \u201cHow dare Israel fire on a public place full of civilians,\u201d demanded another. To me, that was the last straw.<\/p>\n
Because where were the outraged comments when Hamas fired on Jerusalem while I was in the park with Bella the basset hound. The protests when Hamas hit a nursery school down south? The public outcry when Hamas fired on beaches, malls, markets, homes and restaurants. All of these are public places. Filled with civilians. And I, as one of the civilians in the public places, take that seriously.<\/p>\n
But here is the difference. We survived. They didn\u2019t. And that, believe it if you will, is the problem. Oh we survive because of some pretty amazing reasons. Israel pulled out of Gaza 9 years ago. She has used that time and a significant chunk of cash to make sure that her people are safe. The Iron Dome has a 90% success rate. Think about it for a second\u2026 The large majority of rockets aimed this way do not hit. But if they did\u2026 The death toll amongst Israeli civilians would have skyrocketed. Believe it. It\u2019s that bad. Every house, every public building has a bomb shelter. Israel\u2019s civilians can get out of the way. Fast. So that when the rockets do hit, people are out of harm\u2019s way. Israel used the 9 years well. She invested it in the lives of her people.<\/p>\n
Hamas also had 9 years. And they\u2019ve been busy too. Instead of building their country, using the land they received and the resources they were given, they bred hate, terror and an infrastructure aimed at one goal: destroying Israel. All the grants, the funds, the building material meant to provide homes, shelter and education for the people of Gaza went into constructing terror tunnels to infiltrate Israel, into buying weapons to kill Israelis. In these 9 years, Israel prepared its people to live. While Hamas prepared its people to die.<\/p>\n
The Israeli population is surviving. Without guilt, without apology. My friend Joshua has some choice words on this matter. He is 90 years old. Born in Germany. He survived that. When Joshua speaks, I listen. \u201cDo they want us to say, \u201cSorry that you couldn\u2019t kill us. Better luck next time?\u201d What exactly does the world want us to do? Hoard a bunch of people into an open area and paint a large bull\u2019s eye? Give the Iron Dome a rest for a day or two? Would dead Israeli civilians convince the world that we are dealing with a very real, very dangerous enemy?\u201d Sadly, I think it probably would.<\/p>\n
Because the alternative is a complete delusion about Hamas, its intentions and its capabilities. The rockets they shoot at us are not glorified fireworks. They weren\u2019t manufactured out in the garden shed by someone trying out a new hobby after work. They are not homemade efforts falling in an open field. Their weapons are supplied by guys who know exactly what they are doing and have the skills, capability and resources to do it very well. Hamas\u2019s weapons are state of the art, highly sophisticated and extremely deadly. Their missiles can reach Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa. It\u2019s no joke. It\u2019s not a provocation or an attempt to annoy. It\u2019s an attempt to kill. En masse. Just because it doesn\u2019t succeed is not an indication of how incapable Hamas\u2019s weapons are. Oh no. The fact that it doesn\u2019t succeed is a miracle.<\/p>\n
Hamas is no small band of brothers in arms lashing out yet incapable of inflicting much damage. The last three weeks, the lives lost and the infrastructure discovered in Gaza proves it. Hamas has been preparing, organising, stockpiling. Their network of underground tunnels took a long time and a lot of money to build. It is well equipped with weapons and IDF uniforms. It reaches right into Israel. Its purpose? Allowing Hamas easy access to pop up unexpectedly in Israeli kibbutzim, communities, schools and homes. We are not talking about one or two tunnels here. We\u2019re talking a multitude. Its scope and reach would have enabled Hamas to launch a large scale terror attack on Israel.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been 9 years since Israel left Gaza, giving away land in a desperate attempt for peace. In those years, both Israel and Hamas have been busy. The fruit of those 9 years of labour is visible today.<\/p>\n
The people of Israel will continue to survive. Without guilt and without apology to the ones seeking her destruction.<\/p>\n
Am Yisrael chai! The people of Israel live. Because the God of Israel is alive.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Elisabeth Hinze Yesterday morning my country awoke to the news headlines screaming in big bold letters, \u201c13 killed as Israel hit UN Gaza school\u201d. I cringed. Because I know exactly which horrific images such a headline evokes: 13 little Palestinian children in pink or light blue maimed beyond recognition. Cruelly put, I know. But more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[336,625,125,295],"class_list":{"0":"post-1924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorial","8":"tag-israel-lives","9":"tag-israeli-news","10":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","11":"tag-operation-protective-edge","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1924"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1926,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924\/revisions\/1926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}