Once again Israel is fighting a war on two very different fronts.
On the one hand men, women and children in cities, towns and villages from the north to the south are being indiscriminately bombarded with rockets, missiles and heaven knows what else, mainly but not only, from the Gaza Strip.
For those living close to the Strip, even in Ashkelon and Ashdod, this is nothing new. It has been happening for months, in small doses. But for Tel Avivians and others living further away this is a new experience. First the deafening wails of the sirens and then a rush to find a shelter.
And what happens when there is no shelter close by? Yesterday while I was on the train during an alert people were crouched on the floor or on their seats with heads down, unhesitatingly following the instructions of the Home Front Command. Thanks to this obedience there have been very few injuries from shrapnel.
The main threat of course is the rockets – some made in Iran and smuggled into the Gaza Strip via the tunnels, others locally made in the Strip. More than 90% of them do not reach their targets thanks to the Iron Dome, an Israeli brainchild which no one, including US Army generals, thought was doable. Without the Iron Dome our losses in life and property would have been incalculable.
And that is where our second front opens. Not enemy fire but friendly, and not so friendly, calls for “proportionality”. The number of Palestinians killed in this battle cannot be larger than the number of Israelis. The fact that Palestinians are killed because they are told to serve as human shields seems to be irrelevant.
“We call on our Palestinian people, particularly the residents of northwest Gaza, not to obey what is written in the pamphlets distributed by the Israeli occupation army. We call on them to remain in their homes and disregard the demands to leave, however serious the threat may be.”
“Proportionality” is also demanded from us because we have a sophisticated defense system and army while the Palestinians only have inferior rockets! Israel has spent millions to develop a system to protect its citizens while the Palestinians have spent the millions that have received in donations from all over the world to purchase and develop rockets to kill Israelis. Instead of using the cement they have received to build homes they have built tunnels and bunkers to store their rockets rather than shelters for their people.
No country in the world would be expected to stand by and not retaliate while their towns were being attacked from across their border.
And here we come to the Point to Ponder. Why is it not only expected from Israel, it is demanded of her?
Beryl
