The world is shocked and outraged at the so-called "excessive" show of force by Israel as its airforce struck Gaza city inflicting close to 300 casualties. Hamas is saying that this will lead to all out war.
But wait, let's back up a bit.
Since 2005, over 7,000 Kassam rockets have been fired into Israel, all targeting civilians. This year has seen 3,000 rockets and mortars fired into Israel. Just a week ago, the truce between Hamas and Israel expired. Without provocation, Hamas launched another 200 attacks against the civilian population of Southern Israel. None of this produced any outrage or made front page news around the world. One might be forgiven for thinking that the lack of response to date by either Israel or the world has encouraged Hamas to continue its war against Israel as if it were within its given rights.
Today that changed. Or, did it?
Israel will certainly be villified again, called upon to restrain the use of its superior military force so peace talks can "resume". By now, one would think that the Israelis would have learnt that in a world that openly questions its right to exist, it will seldom find support for even its most limited military responses to Hamas, an organisation committed to Israel's destruction.
The other problem of course is that the Palestinians know how to spin a war. They know that the world will never suffer them to be pounded into submission by the Israelis, and that by taunting Israel into another skirmish the outcome will be an increase in anti-Semitic attacks around the globe. The repeated images shown of bombed buildings burning in Gaza and Palestinian mothers crying over their sons make for high TV news ratings, and low public opinion of Israel. But, when was the last time you saw a picture on the evening news of a building on fire in Sderot after it was hit by a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza? Or a Jewish mother crying for her child whose life has just been lost in the attack? It's a sad commentary on the state of the world in which we live.
I'm reminded of Proverbs 26: 17:
But wait, let's back up a bit.
Since 2005, over 7,000 Kassam rockets have been fired into Israel, all targeting civilians. This year has seen 3,000 rockets and mortars fired into Israel. Just a week ago, the truce between Hamas and Israel expired. Without provocation, Hamas launched another 200 attacks against the civilian population of Southern Israel. None of this produced any outrage or made front page news around the world. One might be forgiven for thinking that the lack of response to date by either Israel or the world has encouraged Hamas to continue its war against Israel as if it were within its given rights.
Today that changed. Or, did it?
Israel will certainly be villified again, called upon to restrain the use of its superior military force so peace talks can "resume". By now, one would think that the Israelis would have learnt that in a world that openly questions its right to exist, it will seldom find support for even its most limited military responses to Hamas, an organisation committed to Israel's destruction.
The other problem of course is that the Palestinians know how to spin a war. They know that the world will never suffer them to be pounded into submission by the Israelis, and that by taunting Israel into another skirmish the outcome will be an increase in anti-Semitic attacks around the globe. The repeated images shown of bombed buildings burning in Gaza and Palestinian mothers crying over their sons make for high TV news ratings, and low public opinion of Israel. But, when was the last time you saw a picture on the evening news of a building on fire in Sderot after it was hit by a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza? Or a Jewish mother crying for her child whose life has just been lost in the attack? It's a sad commentary on the state of the world in which we live.
I'm reminded of Proverbs 26: 17:
"Like one who seizes a dog by the ears
is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own"
This may be a quarrel that Hamas has made its own, after the Palestinian Authority fell out of favour, but they only have themselves to thank for the carnage they have invited when they refused to letting a sleeping dog lie.
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