For 2000 years, during our horrible exile, whenever a Jew was insulted, beaten or tortured, all he could do was put down his head in shame. For 2000 years, if a Jew ever tried to defend himself, he would be confronted to a system which excluded any possible defense for him and would get punished of any attempted to defend himself. He was forced to “turn the other cheek”, even when that meant letting his relatives be maimed, raped, tortured or killed.
100 years ago, we said: “No More”. 100 years ago, we decided that we will start a movement that will bring back national pride to the Jewish people. We decided we will not be the punching bags of humanity. We decided that, for the first time in 2000 years, “Jewish blood will not be cheap anymore”. No, this was not a statement of blind racism speaking about a different DNA makeup. It was a statement which strove to bring back justice to a world which has unjustly cheapened the blood of Jews for over 2000 years. We were saying: “You will not be able to kill us without expecting a strong response from us! You will not be able to insult us without expecting us to defend our pride! You will not be able to shoot rockets at us without expecting us to exercise our right to self defense!”
Over the past few years, rockets have been constantly fired on the southern cities of Israel. The only thing these rockets could have been a response to, when they started, was the unimaginable concessions the Israeli government gave to the Palestinians by undertaking the expulsion of its own citizens from the Gaza Strip and giving away full control to the Palestinians. Not only were those rocket attacks constant and terrifying, they were joined together with other types of attacks, including, over 917 days ago, the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit who is still being held captive by Hamas. Over the past few years, 10 046 missiles fell on southern Israel. Yes, I did not mistakenly add a zero! 10 046 missiles!!
And what did we do?
In our constant, extreme, characteristic, blinding and sometimes problematic hope for peace, we did not do anything. We had a few minor operations here and there, in which we tried shooting at the launchers of the Kassam rockets, but those were never successful because by the time we could respond, the launchers of the rockets were already gone from the scene of the launch.
So, instead of responding, we kept on asking for calm. We kept on requesting a ceasefire. One day, as the limit to our unexplainable patience was obviously coming closer, and as Hamas was obviously in a need for a time of calm in order to renew its arsenal and better attack us in the future, we agreed to a ceasefire. Yes, everyone knew that a ceasefire would be detrimental to Israel because everyone knew that while we would try to use this time to plant the seeds of peace, Hamas would use it to regroup in order to better attack. Still, what can you do - we continued to hope!
After the ceasefire expired, Hamas had effectively regrouped. They refused to extend the ceasefire and started, once again, shooting rockets at Israel. Yes, the ceasefire actually gave them more strength! Some of their rockets could now hit Ashdod – one of the bigger cities of Israel!
Finally, after months – no, years!- of staying back, Israel decided it was time to defend itself. Over the weekend, Israel has started an operation in the Gaza strip. However, even after those years of attacks which make this response more than justified, there is a sense of shock at the numbers coming out of Gaza. Over 280 dead. Wow! 280 human beings were killed. For people who hate death, this is, honestly, a horrible tragedy. So, how are we to react to that?
In today’s world, there is an underlying pressure for Jews, and Zionists, to put their heads down in shame after seeing these numbers. Yes, even the strong Zionists are afraid to switch their facebook status in support of the Gaza operation. Yes, even the strong Zionists are afraid to scream their support for the State of Israel in such a time of bloodshed and conflict.
The Torah does tell us that we cannot, we are forbidden, to rejoice in our enemies’ suffering. So, we should not rejoice in their death. However, let’s make no mistake: I am not, in the slightest way, ashamed of the State of Israel. I am proud of the State of Israel for finally standing up and defending it’s citizens. Yes, every single death is a tragedy – a HUGE tragedy. I cannot express how annoyed I am that people need to die. However, the most basic moral duty of a government is to ensure it’s citizen’s safety. Finally, after many years of holding back, the State of Israel has regained its moral standing by once again ensuring the safety of its citizens. We should not rejoice in our enemy’s suffering or death but we should rejoice that the State of Israel is finally defending its citizens and that the Israelis living in the south will, hopefully, finally be able to start living a normal life again!
Let us not be blinded by the reports which have gone out in the past few days. The Israeli attacks are not an aggression – they are a legitimate response in self defense.
They are not in response to a few rocket attacks which came out in the past few days – they are in response to 10 046 missiles which have been launched on Israel in the past few years.
They are not un-proportional: Can someone tell me what the proportional response to 10 046 rockets would be? Can someone tell me what the proportional response is to years of living in fear where every few hours you must go hide under a desk because there is an alarm going off signaling an incoming rocket? Please! Let me know! What would be more moral than ensuring that the rocket attacks end!
The Israeli attacks are not targeting civilians but rather the Hamas infrastructure. While 100% of the rockets fired by Hamas have been targeting civilians, out of the 280 people who have been killed in Gaza in this past weekend, only 15 were confirmed to be civilians. Trust me, I know that 15 civilian deaths is a tragic number. It is huge. However, let us not forget to put things into perspective. Let us not forget that, as we see numbers of dead climbing in the news media, we can also rest assured that Israel is doing its best to ensure the safety of civilians while Hamas is doing its best to ensure the death of civilians.
Yes, I am shocked at the number of deaths in Gaza. Yes, I am appalled at that number. Yes, I mourn those who died innocent. Yes, I mourn the fact that those who deserved to die did not decide to live a better, more productive, more peace loving, life. However, I put the blame of every single one of those deaths on one organization – Hamas. If legitimate self defense causes death, the responsibility of that death must rest on the shoulders of the original attacker. I am angry at the number of deaths but I know, having studied the situation, that my anger must be direct towards Hamas and the other terrorist organizations who have constantly attacked the peace loving Israel.
As the attacks continue, I will not bow down my head in shame. I will raise my head up high in pride for a country who is not afraid to defend its citizens, after having tried for the longest amount of time a peaceful route. I will raise my head up high in pride for a country who is targeting the infrastructure of terrorist organizations in order to ensure the rocket attacks on Israel will finally stop. I will raise my head up high and say: “Thank You Israel, I support you!”
It is precisely in this time where moral relativism is pushing Jews to go in hiding, and hide their support for Israeli actions in shame, that we must stand up and scream with pride that we support Israel. We must stand up, and break the moral relativism, to show that there is clearly only one moral actor in this conflict between Israel and Hamas and that actor is Israel. I encourage all of you to express your support for Israel in any possible way – on blogs, on Facebook, on twitter, by email, by phone, etc…
May this conflict which we never wanted bring about the peace which we have always yearned for.
In last week’s parsha, Shemot, we read how Pharaoh ordered for all the Jewish males to be killed upon their birth. Later, he demanded that all males born, including Egyptian males, were to be killed. According to Rashi, this was because he knew Israel’s saviour was going to be born (Moshe, who would later bring them out of slavery) but he didn’t know if he’d be born to the Israelites or the Egyptians. Pharaoh was willing to kill the children of his own nation just so he could continue the enslavement of the Jews. This just doesn’t make sense; surely you put your own people first, and surely all the kids that were killed would have grown up to be excellent workers anyway. Therefore it is obvious to me that the fact that the Jews are working and building storage houses etc isn’t his main priority. The enslavement keeps them out of the Land of Israel and keeps them under his control, with the hope that they’ll perish. Thankfully, as always, Hashem made Israel even more numerous instead.
Rav Yishai Lisner is the Rosh Kollel of 
