Shalom chaverim (friends),
Twenty days have passed since
the current conflict between Israel and Hamas began. There have been several developments—some
surprising, some less so. At the moment what
we’re seeing is cease-fire games. I call
them games because what is actually going on is a stare-down: Who will stop firing first. It isn’t enough to declare a cease-fire, one
has to abide by it. In the past 48
hours, Hamas has agreed to five of these, but so far has broken each one by
continuing to launch rockets. The most
recent casualty is an elderly woman who couldn’t make it to her shelter in the
15 seconds the Red Alert siren gave her.
Luckily, her injury is considered “only” light-to-moderate.
What is not surprising in
this conflict is the sheer chutzpah of Hamas. The terrorist organization whose declared
intent is the total destruction of Israel has been taunting Israel for
years. But I have to admit that it’s
hard to understand the logic of an organization that provokes one of the best
and strongest armies in the world.
The current chain of events
began on June 12 with the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers and the
subsequent search for their murderers in the West Bank. Israel’s suspicion that this heinous act was carried
out by Hamas operatives was confirmed as Hamas began firing rockets from
Gaza. As more and more terrorist sleeper
cells in and around Hebron were exposed, Hamas’s political leader, Khaled
Mashaal—from his safe and luxurious home in Qatar—ordered an escalation of the
rocket fire.
The day following the
discovery of the bodies of the murdered teens, an Arab teenager was murdered by
members of a Jewish family of petty criminals.
This horrific act was cause for extreme reaction all over the world,
including the firing of hundreds of rockets from Gaza. Israel responded by ordering strategic air
attacks pinpointing rocket launchers, many of which were located in schools,
mosques, cemeteries, homes and—as it turned out later—even in one of the Gaza
hospitals.
The rocket fire did not
diminish, however, and in fact intensified, reaching Tel Aviv and even as far
north as Haifa.
It was at that point that
Israel decided to launch a ground offensive.
Here is where the surprise
that Hamas prepared for us became apparent.
Following a failed attack by
sea commandoes and an explosive-laden drone, on the fourth night of the
conflict 13 Hamas terrorists emerged from a hidden tunnel that opened inside
Israel. Headed towards a kibbutz, Sufa,
they were detected by an alert IDF lookout who called for an air strike. Several of the terrorists were killed and
others retreated quickly into the tunnel.
As the IDF ground offensive
progressed into Shuja’iah, a peripheral area of Gaza City where the largest
number of rocket launchers was concentrated, no one was surprised to find that
Hamas has been using the civilian population of Gaza as human shields. No one was surprised to realize that entire
blocks of apartment buildings were used as arms warehouses. In several cases, a single bullet fired into
an apartment window from which RPG’s (rocket propelled grenades) were fired
caused the entire building to explode in one huge fireball. Again, no one was surprised to find that
scores of houses were booby-trapped, geared to explode at the turning of a door
handle, at the tripping of a hidden wire or hidden in baby cribs.
What did astonish everyone
was the discovery of scores of tunnels, forming an entire system that was
dubbed the Gaza Underground. Hundreds of
shafts opened from inside homes, hospitals and mosques, reaching deep into a subterranean
network of burrows, lairs and passageways where weapons were stored, where
terrorists could (and did) hide for shorter or longer periods of time, from
which they emerged in the hope of killing or kidnapping Israeli soldiers and
which—most terrifyingly—extended deep into Israel itself. Each tunnel was built with cement supplied by
Israel, at the cost of millions of dollars provided by international
governments and NGO’s (at the expense of the Gazan population, the majority of
which remains unemployed and impoverished).
Israel was aware of the many
tunnels Gazans had previously dug into Egypt.
For years, weapons and other supplies flowed freely through this
system. What Israel didn’t know became
apparent only after 150 Hamas terrorists surrendered and began to provide
information about the extent, range and real purpose of new tunnels constructed
only in the past two years.
Immediately following the
discovery of the first tunnel, the one leading into Kibbutz Sufa, Israel discovered
half a dozen more. Now, in light of the information
gathered from the captured terrorists, Israel discovered 30 more. The demonic plan that emerged was of a mega
terror attack, planned for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The satanic plan called for hundreds of
terrorists to emerge simultaneously inside Jewish homes and kibbutz dining
halls, there to murder men, women and children and possibly kidnap many others.
This nightmarish scenario is
what Hamas prepared for Israel—and nearly accomplished. This is why Hamas felt strong enough to taunt
and provoke Israel. The terrorist
organization was hoping for a situation where a large number of Israeli
casualties, combined with a huge toll of killed Gaza citizens and a surge of
negative world opinion would combine to force Israel to agree to unthinkable
conditions: The lifting of the siege on
Gaza. If this were to happen, Hamas
would be free to arm itself not only with the primitive (yet deadly) rockets it
has accumulated thus far, but also with the most sophisticated weapons system
it could and would acquire from Iran and Korea, with funds supplied by Saudi
Arabia and super-rich Qatar and with the political protection promised by
Turkey.
Such a “victory” would make
Hamas the de-facto leader of all the anti-Israel factions, outstripping the
PLO, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda. Its power
would be unlimited.
In the larger picture, it may
just be that the kidnapping of Gil-ad Sha’er, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach,
the three teenage boys whose murder precipitated Operation Defensive Edge, was
the “miracle” that saved Israel. Maybe
that’s why Hamas was quick to deny responsibility—despite all evidence—for the
horrendous act. The precipitous murder
of the boys caused Hamas to fear that their entire plan might be exposed. In retrospect, they were right.
The sinister plan collapsed,
thank God, due to the ingenuity, motivation and strength of the Israel Defense
Force. Almost the entire Israeli population has come out in support of the IDF,
sending in tons (literally) of pizzas, gallons and gallons of water, Coke and
other soft drinks, thousands of pairs of underwear, socks, toiletries and
candies, showering the soldiers with love and care.
Anti-Israel protests all over
the world (including Israel) have shown the true face of Israel’s enemies. The hatred does not limit itself to Israel or
the IDF. Calls for Jews to return to
Treblinka, declaring that Hitler was right, that Jews are all bloodsuckers, all
show the depth and depravity of the anti-Semitic sentiments held by many of the
protesters.
There is no doubt that hundreds
of innocent people were killed in this conflict. War opens hell’s gates and lets loose all
sorts of evil. But Israel and its
soldiers showed the maximum restraint, the maximum discretion, the maximum
compassion it could for a population that was hijacked by its own leaders. But our first obligation is to defend and
protect Israel and Israelis.
Even if and when a cease-fire
will be agreed on, Israel will continue its work of demolishing the many
tunnels it has uncovered. What else
might happen—how long Hamas will stay in power or what organization might
replace it if it falls—remains for the future to tell. Hopefully, reason will prevail and peace will
return. Will true peace ever come to the
region? I, for one, am never at a loss
for a prayer or even a smidgeon of hope.
Certainly everyone here is tired of the situation, of the suffering, of
the deep sadness that weighs so heavily on all of us.
But how sad that so much
blood was shed yet again in this war that doesn’t seem to end. How sad that, once again, families are
burying their loved ones. How sad that
yet again the flower of a whole generation is nipped in the bud. How sad that the future appears darker
tonight than it did just a month ago.
How sad for Israel and for all humanity.
Looking forward to a brighter
day that will yet dawn,
Boaz
(c) 2014 by Boaz D. Heilman
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