An email from Israel...
It is 8AM and I just returned from a walk on the beautiful beach near Ramat HaSharon. As usual on a Friday morning, it was full of walkers getting their dose of exercise before the sun gets really hot.Gives you an idea of what it's like to be staring down the throat of the enemy...
During my walk, my thoughts went to the situation in which we find ourselves. I will talk about the war in a bit but what was uppermost in my mind was the reaction of the world to our plight. That we are hated by some of our neighbors, I have long ago accepted. I really can't understand the irrational hatred spewed forth by the Iranians and even their denial of the Holocaust but, I have chalked it up to their ignorance, jealousy and irrational extremism. But, I cannot and I guess I will never understand the actions of the so called reasonable and cultured developed countries of the world. It was only through another veto of the United States in the UN that we were not condemned for responding excessively to what has been happening in Gaza. France has condemned our actions [Ed, thanks for your letter concerning anti-Semitism in France] as have various representatives of Western European countries and even the whore Putin with his record in Chechnya has the gall to condemn us. I am on the left side of the political spectrum and can assure all that the vast majority of my fellow Israelis want peace with our neighbors and we are willing to give up a lot in order to obtain that peace. We really have nobody with whom to talk. We really have no option but to respond as we have to the killing and kidnapping of our soldiers and to the rain of missiles that are sent over our borders aimed at our civilian populations.
Now what about the war in which we find ourselves? Hamas is clearly being run by Mashal whose headquarters are located in Damascus with the approval of the Syrian regime. He is in coordination with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and they both are armed, funded and take their directions from Iran. The big question in my mind is how far up the food chain do we go and are we able to go. In Gaza, we must deal with Hamas and I am sure that the way that we will do it will be to take out both the military and some of the political leadership. We are now handicapped in our efforts to do so since were we to do so now and especially if we were to go after Mashal or other leaders they would probably kill our kidnapped soldier.
In Lebanon, we must go after the leadership of Hezbollah and again we have to be concerned about the welfare of our kidnapped soldiers there. We also have to rid ourselves of the situation of having the Hezbollah sitting right on our northern border. There is no question in my mind that we have the ability to do all of this and we have to do it quickly before the world limits our ability to do so. The big question is what to do about Iran. Not only do they call the shots in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza but they, with their missiles, present a direct threat to us. The world looks like they will do nothing more than talk about it. Just look at N. Korea which is analogous to the problem of Iran. The N. Koreans have the missile and will soon have the bomb. The countries most threatened by all of this- S. Korea, China and Japan will do nothing. And the United States cannot be expected to take the lead since it is so tied down in Iraq.
Yes, we have some momentous decisions to make and we must make them soon and act on them quickly. I have full confidence that our leaders will make the right decision [despite my lack of confidence in our Minister of Defense] and that our military with be able to deliver. My concern, as always, is the price to be paid by our youth. It is they who will carry the bulk of the burden and it is they who will pay with their lives for me to be able to continue to enjoy my walks along the beach.
(Filed under Religion of Peace?)
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