(Daily Telegraph-UK) Zoe Strimpel - A month or so ago I visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Israel, a few miles from Gaza, and one of the dozens of locations where Hamas went door-to-door executing families and young people. It is an eerie scene, frozen on Saturday, 7 October. There are bikes unlocked on terraces; wind chimes, barbecues, sun loungers, flowers - gathering dust and dirt as time passes and the residents don't return, in many cases because they're dead. "We are dealing with the sons of the devil himself. We were asleep. Now we are awake," said the soft-spoken husband of a woman whose two younger brothers are still held hostage, dead or alive, in Gaza. "But you in the West, you are still blind, still asleep. When will you wake up? Your October 7 could be any day - it will be any day. You need to act now." As an Israeli old friend put it, "Once they're finished with us, what then? They'll come for you." We must get real, and fast - and Israelis are clear about how. We must stop indulging Iran and begin frightening it. We must cut all aid money to Gaza. We need to get real about aid organizations which seem to have been too soft on Hamas. And above all, we must allow Israel to continue its military operations. The vast majority of Israelis regret all harm to civilians. They also see that to get their loved ones back and, after that, to remake an Israel that its citizens feel safe in, there is only one proper outcome. "Hamas must be on its knees and beg us to stop. I don't see any other way to get them back," said a cousin of Shiri Bibas, whose two red-headed sons, including her baby who should turn one this month, are still somewhere in Gaza. Israelis do not like or want war; thousands of their children and siblings and parents have to put their lives on the line every time Israel goes into combat. But they know there is a large amount of dangerous, courageous and uncompromising work to be done before platitudes about living in peace can mean anything ever again.
2024-01-08 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive