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Why Israel Matters

(Des Moines Register) Matt Strawn - Imagine living under the threat that, at any moment, a terrorist rocket could be launched toward your community. Would you send your children to school? Would you go to work? Would life as you and your family know it grind to a halt? During a visit to Israel earlier this month under the threat of terrorist-launched rockets from Gaza, that is exactly the scenario I began to contemplate. I spoke with a woman whose family and community lives along the Gaza border. She described how families in her village have 15 seconds to seek shelter during rocket attacks, how an attack hit their community that very morning, and the psychological trauma to children brought on by these constant threats. I heard the stories of children who go to bed fully clothed and literally sleep with one foot on the floor so as to not lose a precious second if the rocket sirens wail. I spoke with an exasperated Palestinian human rights activist about the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid confiscated by Hamas to build a vast infrastructure of terror. When I commented on the resolute nature of the nation's citizens, one Israeli responded: "It is easy to find moral clarity when rockets are falling on your kindergartens." The writer is a founding board member of Iowans Supporting Israel.
2014-08-22 00:00:00
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