Just an American Sharing Some Thoughts: the day before the escalation

I am an American Professor now living in Netanya Israel for most of each
year. I work with a local College, delivering lectures, writing research
papers, interacting with the youth-Jews and Arabs alike. Together with my
mate we also own a successful store, we employ both Jews and Arabs. This
Friday evening we are taking 12 of our friends and family to our favorite
Arab restaurant where we shall be treated with respect and dignity. The
service is the best we have ever experienced, anywhere in the world. I also
do volunteer work with the Israeli Defense Forces aka the military. I have
been in the sea off Gaza, traveled in Judea and Samaria and I have stood
watch at selected checkpoints. I am not Jewish-I have been accepted by this
country and its peoples.

I mention all of this to provide some background for my next comments. Today
we begin the major escalation of the war that none of us want. We have
called up 40,000 reservists and they are in respective staging areas as I
write, early Thursday morning. These men are doctors, lawyers, business
owners, students working on Ph.D.s, blue collar workers from all types of
work, clerks in stores, farmers, energy workers and high tech personnel.
This is comparable to calling up 2.2 million American reservists-imagine the
impact this would have upon your economy, imagine what it is about to do to
ours.

The war has cost us over 1 billion dollars for the last 30 days of
fighting-this is the direct cost of running the army. We have had to do
this-we did not ask for this war. Thirty two days ago we were all sitting
with our families, at the parks, by the sea, in our homes, or even in our
favorite coffee cafes. Our economy had turned the corner, our northern
border was absolutely quiet, our thoughts were directed to simple daily life
concerns such as can I now afford the new television or how about finally
upgrading our home computer system? We also had thoughts about the summer
holiday we were about to take; the first one in 7 years (last Intifada was
over, so we thought).

We were hopeful that the world was beginning to better understand what the
turmoil in the Middle East is really all about-we were reading and watching
some encouraging news. We sat peacefully 32 days ago-we had a signed
agreement, ratified by the United Nations-the border between Lebanon and
Israel was legally defined and honored-it has been for over 2 years. Those
farms that are making the news today had been properly identified as
belonging perhaps to Syria but captured by Israel way back in 1967 and if
anything, this would be settled when Syria decided it wanted to make peace
with us. Kofi Annan even declared all of the preceding complete-signed,
sealed and delivered. He did this over 2 years ago.

We knew that Hezzbollah had spent the last 6 years building under-gound
bunkers, storing munitions and rockets (delivered by Syria but provided by
Iran)-we did not realize how extensive all this was-for some reason our
previous governments did not alarm us. Of course, the
rationale/justification for Hezzbollah to exist was to fight Israel and
force it out of Lebanese territory-it was developed for this one purpose, so
we thought, so we were told. Thus, you can imagine the upset when the
reason for their existence no longer existed and they began to kill Israels.
For all intensive purposes, they had completed their mission and reason
for existing.

If truth be told, some of us tried to tell a different story about the
Hezzbollah-it appears now that our stories were accurate but the media, the
governments and certain political groups within Israel choose to look away,
bury their heads in the sand and to fail to see that the “emperor had no
clothes on”.

We awoke 30 days ago to the start of a war. We were attacked; the enemy
crossed over into sovereign Israel, killed several soldiers, kidnapped two,
simultaneously firing hundreds of rockets into our towns and communities in
the north. Out of nowhere the rockets rained down killing, maiming and
destroying people and buildings. When the first news rang across the Israeli
TV and radio stations, I was on my way to my daily walk along the sea
expecting to return to have a coffee on my patio. Life changed abruptly for
all of us that morning!

You know the rest-we have completed 30 days of war. Over 3 thousand three
hundred rockets have been fired on Israel proper. Dozens upon dozens have
been killed; thousands have been injured and maimed for life. Travel into
Israel is down nearly 17%; tourism is hurt again. Virtually all businesses
up north have been closed for over 3 weeks. Thousands of acres of valuable
forest have been burned; the animals and vegetation could not be saved. Our
North has been ravaged by fire. Trees and plants that many Americans
actually helped plant-all are gone, all gone. Over one million of our
citizens spend the entire day or parts of days inside safety bunkers and
have done so for nearly 4 weeks. Estimated cost to business in Israel is
approaching 6 billion dollars. Families across Israel suffer this pain, they
do not celebrate anyone’s death, especially our enemy.

However, the pain of public opinion disturbs all of us, left, right, middle,
secular and religious. The operative word is disturbs. We do not appreciate
a world which acts with hypocrisy towards us; we do not enjoy the false
stories and photographs that have been divulged. We do not enjoy the double
standard you hold us to let alone the unwillingness to learn. It is not
Israel who began this war. We did not provoke it, yet to hear the media,
the pundits and most of the world leaders you would think we were the
scourges of the planet. We do not take kindly to this response. Explain to
us when in the history of the modern world has a country that has been
attacked been given a time line to defend herself? Our military “rules of
engagement” are the direct opposite of Hezzbollahs: they intentionally
target civilians; we are brought up on military charges if we do the same.
What gets under our skins is we know that you know this. We know that it is
the enemy’s strategy to ‘play the world’s opinion” and you are falling for
it-again! If there was ever moral clarity between the two warring groups, it
is now-Israel stands tall and is acting ethically-not so for Hezzbollah,
Syria and Iran.

We are fighting your proxy war against Iran-you know it and we do so because
our survival depends upon it. You are able to sleep peacefully tonight,
enjoy a coffee at your favorite café, watch your sons and daughters
participate in youth soccer programs. What annoys me most is the audacious
behavior of those who live far away, safe in your own lives because we in
Israel are guarding the gate. We do so first for us and second for you. We
have identified the real enemy-it is not the Palestinians or even
Hezzbollah. This is definitely NOT about occupation. This is not a war on
terror. Terror is the tactic the enemy uses with our populous and on the
battlefield. It is time to properly identify the enemy so the correct
strategies can be developed and implemented. Although disturbed, we are not
tired or worn out. Quite the contrary, we are motivated beyond belief. We
use the lies, the revisionist history, the doctored photos and stories to
energize ourselves. The enemy’s PR strategy does not work, on us! It has
the opposite impact-we are responding with renewed vigor. I only ask that
you gather your courage and stand up for what is right in this world-you
know what is, no one has to tell you. The courageous act is to stand up now,
acknowledge what we face and what you face. I thank those of you who “get
it” and who are standing tall while “protecting our back.”