Dateline Jerusalem – As the capital of Israel, Jerusalem often is l defined as rhe City of Peace, so named by King David. In Hebrew, “Yeru” is translated as “Ir” meaning city, and Shalem is translated as “Shalom” meaning peace. Yet in a spiritual definition, Yeru also is the word for fear, as in the fear of Heaven or fear of G-d. Shalem means to complete or to perfect, from the word L’hashalim. So Jerusalem means a complete fear or overwhelming awe of G-d. Yet this week the City of Peace became a City of Fear, but not spiritual fear. Instead, it became a city of physical fear as Palestinians have started to bomb buses as they did during the previous Intifada and dig terror tunnels from Gaza into Israel. In one day there was the discovery of a terror tunnel in the morning and a bus bombing in the afternoon. Have no fear, though. G-d and Israeli inventions are here.
With G-d’s Help
The good news is that G-d continuously is watching over His people. The bus bombing miraculously had no deaths so far, although there were several Israeli civilians seriously injured. Some had limbs amputated and a teenage girl was so badly burned that she needs to breathe via a ventilator. The bomb explosion caused a major fire. Victims were badly burned, and also injured by nails and bolts exploding with the bomb. The Palestinians always try to inflict the worst damage and injury. In Palestinian areas in both Gaza and Judea and Samaria (West Bank), Palestinians passed out candy to celebrate the terror against Jews. CNN referred to the bombing as a “bus fire,” avoiding the topic of terror.
Once again, with G-d’s help and the invention of a brilliant underground Iron Dome tunnel detection system, Palestinian terror tunnels hopefully may become obsolete. Two summers ago during a war with the Palestinians, Israeli civilians were terrorized with 50 days of rockets and missiles launched from Gaza into Israel. For days I had to find shelter at all hours when the screeching blare of sirens went off during Code Red alerts. They notified us of the imminent danger of rocket fire aimed at my neighborhood. I had one minute to find shelter. Others, in areas closer to Gaza, had less than 15 seconds to seek safety! With the help of G-d’s miracles and Israeli intelligence, technology and ingenuity, the Iron Dome was invented to shoot down rockets and missiles raining down on Israeli cities, thus limiting the number of Israeli casualties.
Tunnel Vision Perfected
In 2014, Israel destroyed more than 30 Palestinian terror tunnels. Due to overwhelming political pressure from the U.S., Europe, and the U.N., Israel entered into a “cease fire” with the Palestinians. I put those words in quotes since initially only Israel ceased fire. So instead of eliminating threats from them, Israel was forced into the cease fire, despite Hamas vowing to continue their murderous efforts to infiltrate Israel with death squads via their terror tunnels. Israelis knew that it was just a matter of time before the terror against Israel would begin anew, that the cease fire was just a means to re-arm and rebuild tunnels. Almost immediately after the cease fire, Palestinians continued to dig these tunnels, using them to store weapons, rockets and missiles, and explosives, and to hide terrorists while planning future incursions into Israel for the purpose of kidnapping and murdering Israeli civilians. Although Israeli residents near the Gaza Strip expressed concerns about hearing digging sounds under their homes, it seemed as though no one took notice.
The most recent discovery of another terror tunnel this week was of a tunnel over several hundred yards long and 30 yards deep underground. It was “lined with cement and outfitted with electricity, ventilation and rail tracks to cart away dirt from digging.” In addition, there have been 19 tunnel collapses recently, killing their Palestinian diggers. The latest was this week on the Sinai-Gaza border. Egypt has made it a priority to do away with the terror tunnels by flooding them. It is estimated that most of the tunnels destroyed two summers ago have been rebuilt.
Why so much violence and anti-Israel sentiment? Why won’t Abbas and the Palestinian Authority sit down for peace talks? Why does Hamas use building materials and aid for gathering arms and digging tunnels instead of giving it to their people, for whom it is intended? There are so many “whys” when it comes to Palestinians and Israelis. Answers are not brain teasers. To this day, the Palestinians incite violence and reward terrorists as heroes because Europe, the E.U., the U.S. State Dept. and Obama administration, and the U.N. condemn Israel for defending itself, threaten Israel with sanctions, threaten Israel’s safety and very existence, make outrageous claims as to Israeli sovereignty over its land and biblical holy sites. Why should the Palestinians try to resolve their differences with Israel when all their demands are given to them on a silver platter?
Disproportionate? Please
When Israel retaliates against terror and protects its citizens, Israel’s actions are labeled as “disproportionate.” What about the disproportionate number of Palestinian women and children used as human shields by their own people? What about the disproportionate number of Israeli women and children terrorized on a daily basis by knife-wielding, rock-throwing, Molotov cocktail fire bombing, and bus bombing Palestinians?
As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”
L’hitraot. Shachar