A note from an Israeli

Yesterday I had the following forwarded to me.  It was written by an unnamed Israeli about current events here in Israel a few days ago and I though it might be a good read for you.

At the funeral for a religious Jewish boy recently kidnapped and murdered by Palestinian terrorists who have not been found, his courageous mother announced publicly that "there is no difference between Arab and Jewish blood. Murder is murder". Equally publicly she sent her sympathies to the Palestinian mother of a boy who was  shamefully  murdered, probably in that instance in revenge; the latter related suspects are already in the process of being tried in the democratic Israeli court system.

There is a difference in regional attitudes to the sanctity of human life. So far there have been 1,780 rockets since July 8th  - coming north into Israel with déjà vu familiarity and  air raid sirens . Those of us who can run for the shelters, a maximum 15 seconds if you live in the south. Those who can't wait for the earth-reverberating thud under stairways or doorways. The rockets have not just been coming out of Gaza. They have been coming out of (UNWRA) schools and hospitals in the knowledge that the Israelis won't fire back on such peopled sites. Israel is using missile defence to protect its human beings. Hamas is using Gazan human beings to protect its missiles.

A mid-Israel family went north last weekend to rest from the turmoil. Their zimmer/bed and breakfast was 3 kilometres short of Israel's northern border. They couldn't sleep there either. The noise of Syrians killing Syrians was too close. A Palestinian Beir Ziet University professor took Palestinian undergraduates to Auschwitz  to acquaint them with the ultimate annihilation of any respect for human life. The uproar against his trip throughout the Palestinian Authority was such that he has resigned.

How many countries  continue to send help into an enemy country that is attacking them? The average number of daily aid trucks going into Gaza until 10 days ago was over 140. For 4 days this was then halved because of the Hamas security threat. Even on heavy fighting Shabbat/Saturday two days ago 100 tons of medicine and medical equipment went into Gaza from Israel. Israeli teams have continued to go into Gaza to repair electricity, water supply, sewage and communication. They have had to ensure the safety of the workers in spite of intense Hamas activity.

Since 8 o'clock pm 2 days ago Israel has had a working field hospital in position next to the Erez crossing. The hospital is treating sick and wounded Gazans alongside injured Israeli soldiers.

Dry Bones is one of Israel's venerated cartoons. This week it observed: "Gaza, under Hamas, has developed two major exports: missiles of death sent to Israel and messages of hate sent to the streets of western countries. In the good old days Gaza produced flowers and oranges…….." HEZ