(Weekly Standard) Editorial - For Israel to rely solely on its Iron Dome to intercept rockets is to normalize the terror coming from Gaza. The missile defense system has an 86% rate of efficacy, but rockets still make it through and kill and wound civilians. In Israeli towns like Nahal Oz, Sderot, Beersheba, and Ashkelon, civilians live a fair proportion of their lives in bomb shelters. The young are raised in constant fear of rockets. Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire, but it will not last. Palestinian militants do not believe in Israel's right to exist. For them, ceasefires are strategic, not substantive, and could be broken any time. This one will be broken, too. Was not the clandestine Israeli operation inside Gaza a provocation that led to the hostilities? In reality, no. Gaza is run by militants who dream of the destruction of the Zionist entity, as they call Israel. It is worth noting the lightning-fast speed with which rockets filled the skies once Hamas gave the word. Gaza is perpetually ready to shed the blood of its neighbor's civilians. That Israel runs furtive operations inside Gaza will only shock those who think it an easy thing to protect civilian lives against the imminent threat of carnage. What the Palestinians need most is to acclimate to the reality of the neighboring Israeli state. That won't happen until the Palestinians find a leader willing to renounce the honor-cult of Jew-hatred and to seek peace and prosperity in earnest. Neither Hamas in Gaza nor Fatah in the West Bank is likely to produce such a leader.
2018-11-15 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive