Sound The Trumpet : The World is to Blame

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“The World is to Blame”
by Yehuda Poch
March 1st, 2008

For dozens of years, the world has screamed at Israel. Hundreds of resolutions have passed in the United Nations General Assembly condemning Israel for every offense imaginable. Diplomats and statesmen from every country on the globe have urged Israel in all possible terms to "withdraw", "end the occupation", uproot "settlements", and otherwise abandon Judea and Samaria ("the West Bank") and the Gaza Strip. For decades, it was assumed as part of that Great Evil, conventional wisdom, that if Israel only got itself out of the "Palestinian territories", then peace would prevail and all of the world's evils would be made right again. What hogwash!

We now see the truth of all of those claims, demands and encouragement. For in 2005, after decades of being browbeaten by the world, Israel's most powerful personality, no less than Ariel Sharon himself, uprooted 21 Jewish communities from the Gaza Strip, rendering close to 10,000 people homeless and unemployed. Thriving schools, synagogues, community centers and organizations, and all other aspects of community life were summarily destroyed and cast into the trash heap of Israeli history as the world cheered and complimented Israel's "courageous leadership."
What nonsense!

That "courage", that "leadership", that cowardice shown by Israel's bravest fighter, resulted very quickly in the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas terrorists intent on pressing their advantage. From the time Ariel Sharon announced plans to withdraw from Gaza, Palestinians from the area have been shelling the Israeli city of Sderot. Close to a dozen people have been killed in such attacks. And as the missiles have grown more sophisticated, as their range and firepower have been increased, and as the number of attacks has multiplied, the residents of Sderot and its surrounding communities have become collective victims. Babies are being born already suffering from post-traumatic stress, parents are afraid of allowing their children to go to school, just across the street, and 25,000 residents of the city leave their homes every morning never knowing whether they will arrive at their destinations - or come back home.

Over the past week, Gazan terrorists added a new element to their on-going war against Israel. Iranian-imported GRAD missiles were fired at Ashkelon. These missiles have longer ranges, increased firepower, and greater accuracy than the Kassams. And Ashkelon is not "just" a small town of 25,000 people like Sderot. Ahskelon has 120,000 residents, and is among Israel's larger cities. Ashkelon is home to a hospital which has been called on to treat many of the Kassam victims from Sderot and the other communities in the area. Ashkelon has an oil refinery and an electricity production plant that supply power to about 1/3 of Israel's population - and all of Gaza.
Ever since Israel expelled the Jewish residents of the Gaza Strip, at the world's behest, the world has been urging Israel to deal "proportionately" with the missile terrorism emanating from that area. Of course, it is completely lost on the world that "proportionate" means "of equal size or quality." And while the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip purposely target civilians, schools, hospitals and the like, we are all sure that the world did not mean that Israel should do the same.
Throughout the missile war that Israel has been facing along its border with Gaza, statesmen and diplomats around the world have been saying that they "support Israel's right to defend itself, but...." Always there has been that very small, very meaningful "but" at the end. And that "but" speaks more loudly than all the condemnations of the missile attacks and all the expressions of condolences over Israel's losses. That "but" belies the anti-Semitism that underpins all of the world's encouragements, pleadings, condemnations and other statements.

For those who doubt the veracity of these words, we must only put one and one together. The very same diplomats and statesmen who for years and years pleaded with Israel to leave the Gaza Strip finally got their wish. The Palestinians in Gaza were allowed their own self-determination, without the specter of Israeli soldiers watching their every move. They elected a government headed by Hamas, which proceeded to overthrow the Palestinian Authority much the same way that Hitler overthrew the Weimar Republic. And within two years, the Gaza Strip was turned into the world's largest base for terrorist activity.

As Israel stands by and allows a city of 25,000 people to be slowly bled to death by the terrorists next door, those very same diplomats and statesmen urge restraint. They offer two-sided condemnations that basically equate terrorist missile fire on a civilian population and the purposeful targeting of civilian infrastructure with the military response that such attacks bring about.
It is the fault of these statesmen and diplomats when an Israeli is killed by a Kassam rocket fired at Sderot or a GRAD fired at Ashkelon. The trauma and terror that these civilians live with every day of their lives is the fault of the world's diplomats and statesmen. That there is no peace in Israel or in Gaza is the fault of these same statesmen and diplomats. And it is the fault of these same diplomats and statesmen when Palestinian children are killed in IDF response attacks.
And it is these same statesmen and diplomats who show quite plainly that Israel is very much justified in ignoring the pleadings of the world and finally acting in the interests of peace and justice. It is likely no more than a pipe dream to hope that perhaps the world's statesmen and diplomats would be able to realize just how wrong they are. But it is not too much to hope - and to demand - that real statesmen stand up in Israel who are prepared to take such action. After all, when it comes down to it, that is really the only hope for peace.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13