(Unherd) Giles Fraser - Once the sirens start wailing, we have 90 seconds to make it to the bomb shelter in the public park 500 yards behind the house. If the boys are asleep in bed, that means we have 90 seconds to get them up and carry them to the shelter. When the sirens go, you just run. Or choose to stay in bed and console yourself with the statistical improbability of a hit, or cower in the corridor and hope for the best. Of course, I inwardly weep for the children of Gaza who have been killed in this latest exchange. But it is estimated that in the last few days, more of Gaza's children have been killed by the clowns of Islamic Jihad and their misfiring rockets than by Israeli action. Islamic Jihad has never been interested in peace. They seek the violent eradication of Israel, insisting on "the jihad solution and the martyrdom style as the only choice for liberation." Their modus operandi is to deliberately target civilians rather than military targets - on public buses, in restaurants. Islamic Jihad exists to kill Jews. And Israel, which exists to protect Jews, has absolutely every moral right to defend itself against them. Attacking their leadership - the people planning to kill Jews - is what protecting Jews means in practice. The writer is rector at the south London church of St Mary's, Newington.
2022-08-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive