{"id":1957,"date":"2014-08-09T21:24:01","date_gmt":"2014-08-09T21:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/?p=1957"},"modified":"2014-08-16T02:27:14","modified_gmt":"2014-08-16T02:27:14","slug":"shomer-yisrael-watchman-of-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/shomer-yisrael-watchman-of-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Shomer Yisrael (Watchman of Israel)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Elisabeth Hinze
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\nI often think about the evening of 7 July 2014. I was huddled under a blanket on the roof of my house in central Jerusalem. Mid-summer in Jerusalem still brings some chilly evenings. Down below the streets were teaming. Groups have started gathering on Zion Square carrying placards and chanting slogans. Some asked for talks. Others demanded action. The pain of three murdered Israeli teenagers found in the West Bank was fresh. The shock and disbelief about the Palestinian teenager murdered in apparent revenge equally raw. Rockets from Gaza had been raining down on the south of Israel in a steady barrage. Prime Minister Netanyahu asked Hamas nicely to stop. They didn\u2019t. He asked again, less nicely this time. The rockets increased. Then came the warning, \u201cStop. Or we will stop you.\u201d Just after 8pm that evening, Hamas launched 60 rockets from Gaza on Israel in 30 minutes. <\/p>\n

As I stood on the roof peering down on the mass of humanity below, the emotions were palpable. Anger, resolve, fear, a steely resignation to what was about to happen. Because something was about to happen. I knew it. Everybody in the street knew it. And Hamas knew it. Had probably been preparing for it.<\/p>\n

Right after 1am on 8 July 2014, the IDF Spokesperson announced the start of Operation Protective Edge. It would be over quickly, I thought, just like the previous one. Over before it really started. And I would watch all the soldiers pouring from train and bus stations as they returned home from the front without setting foot in Gaza, without having to fight and without dying. <\/p>\n

But I was wrong. Operation Protective Edge was different. It\u2019s lasted 29 fierce, bloody days. It also turned into the costliest operation in nearly a decade. And the saddest. 64 soldiers died defending Israel. 11 of them on Israeli soil, as terrorists emerged shooting from the Gaza terror tunnels. 3 civilians were killed. <\/p>\n

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