The first barrage of seven Code Red air raid siren alerts woke me at 6:59 am when approximately 28 mortars were fired from Gaza into Israel. The sirens went off again an hour later and another 1 1/2 hours after that. By the end of this morning, 57 missiles were fired into Israeli civilian communities. Most were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome Missile Defense system. Yet, some missiles and mortars managed to get through, such as the one that sprayed the walls of a kindergarten with shrapnel just before school was to begin. Most injuries of Israelis were caused by shrapnel. Without the Iron Dome to protect Israelis, the number of casualties would have been devastating.
After a five hour “siesta” of down time for the Palestinians, the next series of missile and mortar attacks began again from 2:40 and continued until 5 pm. During that time, the Code Red air raid sirens sounded 26 times on my mobile phone. I have an application on my phone to alert me whenever a Code Red alert goes off in Israel. And then again after a quick break for dinner, more Code Red raid sirens sounded once again and continue to blare as I write. The sirens, combined with the sounds of the constant takeoffs and landings of the Israeli jets retaliating, made for a very noisy day so far.
And just last night heavy machine gun fire from Gaza hit homes and vehicles in an Israeli community located near the border between Israel and Gaza. This is the same border where Palestinians planted explosive charges along the security fence dividing Israel from Gaza. This is the same border that hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and Gazans have been trying to storm the fence with their self-proclaimed “peaceful” marches and riots. And considering the very definition of a riot is “a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd”, a peaceful riot is an oxymoron.
Yet, no one cares that there have been daily fires caused by Palestinian terrorists lobbing fire-kites, fire balloons, and Molotov cocktails into Israel over that border fence. No one cares that these terrorists have tried to infiltrate Israel from the terror tunnels they dug under the border fence. No one cares that they sent a drone from Gaza armed with explosive devices into Israel. No one cares that thousands of Israeli citizens have been threatened and had to scramble to find bomb shelters and safe rooms with less than a minute to do so. And no one cares that these Palestinian riots, demonstrations, and storming of the security fence are for the sole purpose of violently overthrowing the State of Israel. In fact, their very charter calls for the destruction of Israel. However, credit must be given to the Czech Republic Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky who equates the storming of the security fence with that of terrorism.
And it is not happening just along the Gaza border. In Hebron, weapons such as sub-machine guns were discovered and confiscated. An Israeli army post was targeted with explosive charges near Nablus on Sunday night. Suspicious vehicles in the West Bank were found with firebombs in their trunks. In Jenin Israeli soldiers were attacked by Palestinians throwing rocks and boulders, and even a heavy marble platter from the roof of a home. And just last week a 20 year old soldier from my town was killed by another heavy marble stone slab thrown at him from the third story of a building in Ramallah. Although he was wearing a helmet and heavy protective gear, they were not enough to protect him and prevent his death. Rocks, stones, boulders, marble slabs. and stone objects kill and maim, but the world does not care. The world considers them acceptable for “peaceful resistance”.
Today is noted for the largest number of missile and mortar attacks in the last four years. However, since 2005 when Israel evacuated Gaza in the disastrous “land for peace” initiative, more than 15,000 rockets, missiles, and mortars have been fired from Gaza into Israel. Obviously Palestinians have a different definition of “peace” than Israelis do.
