Meanwhile …
Over 7,000 acres of Israeli farmland have been burned. Over 10,000 tires are on fire at the border fence with prevailing winds heading across the border into Israel. Terrorist snipers exchange gunfire with Israeli troops through the border fence. Hundreds of Gazan residents, children included, with terrorists among them (urging them, perhaps threatening them), storm the border fence, attempting to knock it down to gain access to Israeli territory. A member of Doctors without Borders, armed with explosive devices and a semi-automatic weapon, attempts to break through the border fence while firing on Israeli troops. Hamas, an acknowledged international terror organization, sends its soldiers to the border area to coordinate attacks on the border fence with the intent on sending Hamas terrorists into Israel if the border fence is breached. All this occurred in the past month.
Gazans have lost their lives during these terrorist attacks. Israelis have lost their lives during these terrorist attacks. Since 2005, when Israel unilaterally removed all Israelis from the Gaza strip, there have been terror attacks from within Gaza aimed at civilian and military locations within Israel. Communities in Israel near the border fence have been subjected to rocket attacks almost daily. Hamas, who took control of Gaza in 2007, immediately established a terror network in Gaza, violently destroying any semblance of community or government, which the Palestinian Authority (PA) had begun to establish. Granted, even the PA developed rockets that were fired into Israel almost immediately after Israel vacated the area. Hamas, though, being even more militant, killed many PA members in 2007 when Hamas took control.
One of the Hamas' leaders in Gaza said that many of the rocket attacks into Israeli cities are timed for the morning hours, “when children head to school” to increase likelihood of more fatalities. Hamas places rocket launchers on the roofs of hospitals and schools in Gaza. Weapons are stored in homes in Gaza, in densely populated civilian areas. The goal, as stated by a Hamas leader, is to increase civilian deaths in Gaza so the press can accuse Israel of committing war crimes.
The press is no longer infatuated with the stories at the border, until something sensational occurs, usually from the Israeli side. The press uses words like ‘peaceful protestors’ and ‘activists demonstrating the occupation’ to describe hundreds of people, some armed, lighting kites on fire to send over the border to burn Israeli land; hundreds, if not more, running toward the internationally recognized border of a sovereign nation with explosive devices, wire cutters, semi-automatic weapons, with the intent of entering Israel and killing Israelis. This doesn’t get news. Not newsworthy enough. Same old same old. If it is reported, it’s categorized as more protests against the occupation.
An Israeli soldier kills a heavily armed person (with weaponry and explosive devices) as that person approaches the border fence, firing at the Israeli soldiers; that gets headline news because the terrorist turns out to be a nurse from Doctors without Borders. Something dramatic. It is reported that this nurse acted alone. Sure. He just decided to somehow acquire explosive devices, semi-automatic weapons and ammunition, and made his way to the border fence, unaided, and began to cut his way through, unaided, and at the same time began firing his weapon and throwing his explosive devices toward Israeli soldiers. Unaided. Alone. Press reports do not explain this. He was a medic, cut down by Israeli soldiers while he was demonstrating.
Suicide bombers, terrorists who die while attacking and killing Israelis know that their families will receive payments from Hamas for their heroism, their martyrdom. I’m sure this terrorist knew this. Was this terrorist told of this? Was this terrorist encouraged? Hamas is engaged in a battle for the hearts and minds of the weak minded. Weak Arabs, whose lives in Gaza are made worse through the heartless way that Hamas ‘leads’ the government in Gaza. Weak others, who read the press reports and believe that Hamas’ aim is to provide relief to oppressed peoples by attacking the big powerful Israel. Weak minded people everywhere who do not understand. Hamas uses terror on their own people, they use children to hide behind, they manipulate their own press (which is picked up by the mainstream media as truth) and Hamas’ aim is to destroy Israel, “from the river to the sea” (the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea - check google map and see what country lies there - Israel).
While much of the world is overwhelmed with political intrigue in the United States, and much of the front page news focuses on tweets and ridiculously absurd statements made by the US President, Israel continues to endure violent, constant rocket attacks from Gaza. While the people eat up the ridiculous ‘reality show’ that is American politics, the terror campaign from Gaza intensifies, with nary a sound bite on the TV, or a brief article in the press.
Meanwhile, Israelis do what is needed to protect their land, protect their sovereignty, protect their people.
Neal Elyakin
Ann Arbor, MI
August 31, 2018
