Above: Bug-free greenhouse in Gush Katif (Gaza) before all the Jews were expelled.
At the very moment one might hope 2008 goes out with a whimper, it goes out with a bang—Israel attacks Gaza to diminish Hamas, the terrorist group committed to the destruction of the Jewish State. The reaction in the world press regurgitates the condemnation in previous Middle East conflicts: Is Israel's response “disproportionate”? Are civilians in danger? Why did Israel attack at this time? Also flashing back to previous Middle East wars—histrionic exhortations from the United Nations and others: Hostilities must stop now!
The casual observer may understandably be perplexed by the current attack on Gaza. Several years ago Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey did a bit on “Weekend Update.” Reacting to the hostilities of the day with comic frustration, she epitomized a naïve pacifism with humorous grunts and groans: “Uhh...Israel!, Ughh, Why'd ya have ta! Uh. Come on now! Uhhh! Israel! Aughhh! UH!
Sure Tina, Israel should simply stop defending herself, then everything would be hunky dory, you betcha.
Israel's successful strike against a fanatical terrorist group—which trumpets a religious obligation to kill Jews and destroy Israel—reinvigorates the anti-Israel lobby worldwide, including here in St. Louis. Protestors recently invaded Senator Bond's local office, demanding he support an immediate ceasefire. Of course these same pacific protestors are nowhere to be found when Israelis suffer daily rocket and mortar attacks, or when Jews are randomly killed after dismantling an army checkpoint and attempt to resume normal civilian life.
No one knows exactly why Ariel Sharon forcibly removed 8000 Jews from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Was he reacting to international censure? Did President Bush and Secretary Rice pressure him? Was he simply and honorably trying to save lives? Did he honestly think that removing every Jew from Gaza would bring peace to the region? Does anyone really think that rendering an area of the world “Judenrein” (a Nazi term meaning Jew-free) would bring peace and mutual understanding?
Before I hear one more superficial comment criticizing Israel, let's clear up a few things. Jews living in Gaza developed thriving communities and a greenhouse business that employed hundreds of Arabs, exporting over $100 million of produce each year. When the Jewish farmers were removed from their land, these greenhouses were purchased by Bill Gates' Foundation and other philanthropists for $14 million, and donated to the Arabs of Gaza. They were looted of everything valuable and rendered useless by the Gazan beneficiaries.
Since 2005 thousands of rockets and mortars have been launched from Gaza into southern Israel. Military supplies are routinely smuggled into Gaza from Egypt, and the young soldier Gilad Shalit has been held captive for over 2 years. Please note the land upon which these missiles explode is undisputed Israeli territory. I can hear the anti-Israel crowd scoffing now: “But these are just small missiles and tiny mortars, nothing like the F-16's and Apache Helicopters the Israelis use.” Tell that to the schoolchildren of Sderot, the Israeli town most often targeted by Hamas. These kids have only a few seconds to react to the air-raid warning, and this has been going on for over three years.
Instead of Sderot, imagine a missile or a mortar round landing in Soulard every day and night, and imagine that we all knew they were coming from Belleville. How long do you think we would suffer the attacks traumatizing our children, disrupting daily life, our businesses, blues bars? It would not be very long before the good people of Soulard gather up their pitchforks and beer steins and march to defend their lives, liberty and property. Wouldn't you?
