Israel's critics love to portray the Palestinians as victims, and Israelis as occupiers and colonialists. Nothing could be further from the truth. Israel, under PM Ariel Sharon, pulled 9,000 Israeli settlers out of 25 settlements in Gaza - in an effort to give the PA the authority total control over the area. Within days, the Palestinians were shooting missiles at Israel. Because of continued missile attacks, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) had to seal off smuggling routes whether by sea or land - leaving the Rafah border with Egypt as the only open access in and out of Gaza.
Despite Israel's attempts to prevent Hamas from acquiring rockets, the wholesale firing of missiles - from civilian areas in Gaza continued. Israel fought limited wars in Gaza in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021. The only reason I used the term "limited wars" is because Israel kept the wars on Gaza turf, and the Israelis had learned to live with missiles being fired from Gaza. Israel spent decades building bomb shelters, and sophisticated missile defense systems like the Arrow-2, Arrow-3, David's sling, and Iron Dome that could knock incoming missiles out of the sky before they hit a populated area. Over 20,000 missiles were fired at Israel between 2005 and 2022.
Since the "Black Sabbath" of October 7th, 2023, over 12,000 missiles have been fired into Israel. Aside from the 1,200 civilians (women, children and the elderly) who were brutally slaughtered that fateful day, over 50 Israelis civilians have been killed by Palestinian rockets and hundreds injured. If Israel did not have bomb shelters and missile defense systems, there would have been thousands of Israelis killed, and tens of thousands injured.
Bomb shelters and missile defense systems, however, did not save the close to 2000 Israelis who have died since 10/7/23. 10/7/23 changed the previous Israeli military doctrine of "containment" of the festering problem with Gaza. Israel can not survive as a country if her borders and civilians are constantly under threat. There is no country in the world that would tolerate this type of aggression. Israel has to change the calculus on a number of levels. First and foremost, Israel has to absolutely defeat and humiliate her enemies in Gaza and Lebanon. If the outcome is that Israel determines that they need a "buffer zone" on enemy soil, then that is what it will take - and the U.N. troops will NEVER again police a buffer between Israel and her enemies. The U.N. forces in Lebanon were ineffective at best, at worst - they were colluding with Hezbollah. Five wars are four too many. Israel should be allowed to win the war against her enemies.
I am sure the press will continue to show pictures of war from a Palestinian perspective, and that people who get their news from TikTok will continue to rail on Israel with nonsensical slogans about apartheid and colonialism. Israel would like to be loved, but they like living better. This war between Israel and the Palestinians illustrates why the Jews need a country - so that they can protect themselves - by themselves.
