By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
A little over 10 days ago, Hamas launched a rocket offensive from Gaza against Israel. Without going into great detail, the entire affair can be summed up by King Solomon’s timeless words, “There is nothing new under the sun.” Once again a terrorist group has attacked Israel, and it is a terrorist group which has in the preamble of its charter the following:
“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”
And, should there be any confusion with regard to Hamas’ take on diplomacy and peace treaties, their charter also indicates:
“[Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement… Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam… There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.”
No surprises so far. Hamas knows to hide multiple aspects of its offensives in buildings that are occupied by Arab civilians so when Israel takes out, say, an operation that is in a tunnel under the Associated Press, (which by the testimony of reporters there claimed that Hamas had operated out of their office as well for years and no one did anything about it) it does a good job of creating bad press. Use of civilian human shields? Check. Four thousand rockets fired to date? Check. Refusal to acknowledge that the houses in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood were purchased long ago by Jewish settlers before 1948 and, therefore, there must be a riot to prove a point? Check. Abbas choosing to cancel elections and then blame Israel for it? Check. The usual handwringing in Congress by the usual suspects? (As in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib) Check. House Democrats voting unanimously against Israel and House Republicans voting unanimously for Israel? Check.
Bibi Netanyahu has steadfastly stated that he will continue to see to it that Israel shall continue to defend itself, and really, the only surprise is that President Biden has agreed that he has the right to do that, at least as of this writing. But think of this: If you were the President of the United States, and Canada launched 4,000 rockets at your country, how meaningful would it be for the President of Mexico to say something along the lines of “I agree, you have the right to defend yourself, but I expect you to draw down and get to a ceasefire within the next few days”? Behind closed doors, would you just laugh? Who could blame you?
As is always the case, despotic leaders of state-sponsored terrorists make ridiculous claims, and here is my current favorite:
“Today we are witnessing the birth of a new Palestine… fighting with missiles,” Major General Hossein Salami said at a pro-Palestinian rally in central Tehran’s Imam Hossein Square.
“A new Israel has also emerged, one that is broken, frustrated, downcast, that has lost confidence in itself,” said Salami.
Broken? Frustrated? Downcast? The IDF just used Twitter to signal to international news agencies that Israel had started a ground war so that Hamas would flood the extensive tunnel system they built after the last war, and then the Israeli Air Force bombed the bazotts out of the tunnels. That sounds like a successful head fake to me, and in addition, the Iron Dome all in all is holding well.
So, what is different this time? I think for me it was the detailed record kept by the IDF of the time stamp of incoming rockets. They were coming in every few minutes, and have been relentless. With technology, the precise record of what has been taking place is easy to prove, not the least of which are the videos of the attacks that have been filmed by civilians. Even with all of it, I do have hope. You see, I have “read the Book,” and I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Hamas will fail, and until then, may the Guardians of the Wall continue to hold fast. And, it never hurts to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
April 19, 2024
