Re “A History Lesson from  Israel While Under Fire”

[Editor’s Note: As Hamas terrorists continue firing rockets into Israel, sending frightened residents underground, our correspondent resumes her daily update.]

Dateline Jerusalem – The month of Av, the saddest on the Hebrew calendar, began yesterday.  It started quietly, an occasional Code Red Alert siren blaring. But it was the last day of the Islamic religious month of Ramadan. Increased rocket fire was expected from Gaza as the day wore on.  I should be immune to the sirens, alarms, booms, thuds by now. I am not.

Although the U.N.'s Ban Ki-Moon called for another ceasefire, Bibi Netanyahu finally said “no,” not until Gaza is demilitarized and the U.N. addresses Israel's security needs. Until now, the U.N. only has referred to the needs of the Palestinians. Further, Israel unilaterally has been complying with the several ceasefires while Hamas deliberately has violated them by firing rockets and missiles into Israeli cities.  However, what can be expected of the U.N. when the U.N. has been complicit in allowing its schools to hide Hamas rockets, feigning surprise of their existence, then returning the rockets to Hamas.

During the first nine days of Av for Jews, there is a heightened mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples in Jerusalem.  The 9th of Tammuz was when the walls of Jerusalem were breached. On the 9th of Av, the First Holy Temple was destroyed in 587 BCE, Before the Common Era.  The fires continued to burn on the 10th of Av.  On the 17th of Tammuz, the walls again were breached. On the 9th of Av, the rebuilt Second Holy Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, the Common Era.  Interesting to note that Hamas, the Hebrew word meaning “violence,” first mentioned in Genesis in the Torah, began its war against Israel on the 9th of Tammuz almost one month ago. 

The first nine days of Av have been a time throughout Jewish history of disastrous things happening to Jews. The fact we are engaged in a war with the Palestinians during this ominous time makes it so important that we join together, whether in prayer or in actual combat, for the very existence of the State of Israel is at stake.

Landmark Dates

Some of the events that occurred during the month of Av include the commencement of the First Crusade that killed 10,000 Jews in its first month and destroyed Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland in 1096.  More than one million Jews were killed in this crusade that began on the 9th of Av.  Other events on the 9th of Av included the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290, the expulsion of Jews from France in 1306, the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492.  It was also the day German SS commander Heinrich Himler got approval for the Final Solution during the Holocaust where six million Jews were murdered, and the day the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka concentration camp began. On the 10th of Av, the Jewish Community Center in Argentina was bombed in 1994. 

What I find of extreme significance is that on the 10th of Av in 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from Gaza.  This giving of “land for peace” to the Palestinians has been a disaster in our time. On the very day Israel pulled out of Gaza, the Palestinians launched mortars, rockets and missiles at Israel's civilian population.  The rocket fire has not ceased. Land, no peace.

Islamists believe that they are G-d's chosen people, that Islam is the perfect religion that will overtake all religions, formed from the failures of Judaism and Christianity.  This is one of the reasons they feel threatened by the Jews returning to Israel, Jerusalem in particular.  By G-d returning the Jews here after the Holocaust, the legitimacy of Islam is in question.  Therefore, the Palestinians have said the only way they will have peace with us is if there is no Israel.

In addition to our already frazzled nerves over rockets, missiles, riots, tear gas, suicide bombs, and plans for breaching the borders of Israel via terror tunnels, we are especially cognizant of the fact that these nine days are extremely perilous to Jews even when we aren't at war. Now, even more so.

L'hitraot.  Shachar