We all know that Israel has the most powerful military in the Middle East. We all know that Israel has the military power to destroy its enemies. We all know that a State that does not protect its citizens is a failed State.
But yet, since the advent of the so-called "Peace Process" Israel seems incapable of taking the necessary actions to stop her enemies from destroying Israel.
Centuries ago, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes observed that a State that does not protect its citizens is a State that has broken the very basic social contract with its people. If Hobbes were alive today he would undoubtedly declare Israel a State that is failing in its most basic responsibility: Protecting its people.
Thousands of rockets have fallen on Israel and response of the State has been (to put it mildly) tepid. This week on a single day over 50 rockets hit Israel's territory. These barrages have brought death and injury.
In the last few weeks there has been a stirring among the Israeli populace. Recently, residents of Sderot, a frequent target of Palestinian rockets, took to the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to express their demand that the State of Israel protect them.
Today, the residents of Ashkelon publicly demonstrated their anger against the failure to protect them. They tried to protest at the home of Interior Security Minister Avi Dichter. Only police force stopped them.
These public demonstrations by Israeli citizens is a clear sign that Israeli society is entering into a pitched battle with its own people. A battle that can end in several ways. Hopefully the outcome will be Israel taking the military action necessary to protect its people.
Today there has been some military action and there is talk that a full scale offensive by Israel. This is good news but one brief campaign is not the answer to this problem. Israel's leaders must re-establish a policy of instilling fear into their enemies. Israel must once again become the avenger of the innocents who are killed or injured by the enemy. This is not an easy task but a necessary one.
Powerline has long post by Dan Diker about Iran's infiltration of Gaza.
This war between Israel and the Gazans and those Palestinians living in the West Bank is a relatively new war in terms of Jewish history. Nevertheless, it is a war that will not go away; and it is a war that Israel must not neglect. Up until now, Israel has somehow been reticent to defend its citizenry. Weakness is inexcusable in the Middle East as it is inexcusable in the rest of the world as well. Every sovereign country has the right to defend its citizenry. Every sovereign country has the right to protect its territory. And so much more for the Jewish people. Israel was bequeathed to the Israelites, the ancestors of the Jewish people, by HaShem. No other people in history ever received such a gift: no other people in history have this special relationship with HaShem. Deniers of Jewish history, such as Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Maashal, when they compare the Holocaust of 60 years ago to today's military maneuvers in Gaza, only obfuscate the reality one finds on Israel's border with Gaza and the murderous missiles and rockets emanating from Palestinian territory in deliberate efforts to murder civilians living in southern Israel. Now with the more sophisticated missiles targeting Ashkelon in addition to Sderot and other communities in the Negev, Israel must defend herself. This time she must stop the Palestinians' escalation in order to save innocent men, women, and children inside Israel's borders. Since the Palestinians do not recognize the Jewish State of Israel and aim to cause devastation within Israel's sovereign borders, Israel must show the Palestinian leadership once and for all that Israel is both willing and capable of doing whatever it takes to stop Palestinian aggression. Talk is cheap: Israel must act. Now!
Posted by: Yoel Nitzarim at March 1, 2008 9:42 PM
