 |
Around 700 people attended a pro-Israel rally in Berlin on Sunday. Other rallies took place in Franfkfurt and Munich where around 1,100 people gathered. The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, addressed the crowd at Marienplatz in the city center. "Our enemies hate us more than they love their children," she said, adding: "We will not remain silent and cannot remain silent as we see how the Hamas terrorists fire missiles at Israeli children, women and old peo
|
|
|
As Israel carries out "Operation Cast Lead" to stop Iran-backed terrorists, Hamas, in Gaza from continuing to attack Israeli civilians with thousands of rockets, missiles and mortars, voices around the globe condemned Israel for the “disproportionate use of force”. Meanwhile, Arab leaders such as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have blamed Hamas for the violence in Gaza and point out Hamas as responsible.
The claim that Israel has violated the principle of proportionality is absurd and will undoubtedly not help to promote peace in the Middle East nor will the constant misperception of facts about Israel and Gaza, that is widely spread throughout the western media outlets.
First, Israel as any other sovereign country has the legal right and the moral obligation to defend its citizens.
Since Israel withdrew from all of Gaza in 2005, over 6,300 rockets and mortars were fired towards Israel, more than 3,000 were fired in 2008 alone. These rockets and mortars seriously disrupted the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of western Negev residents causing personal injury and property damage. For years, families have slept together in bomb shelters rather than bedrooms.
Let’s make it clear: No responsible Member State of the EU would sit back in silence and do nothing as its citizens and territory are under constant attack.
There should be no doubt in people’s minds that Hamas' proclaimed goal is the extermination of the State of Israel giving no chance to the two-State solution supported both by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Each truce made with the Hamas is like a break we are giving, enabling it to rearm itself.
Furthermore, an inevitable consequence of every war is that innocent people suffer. Recently, a UN report announced that 51 civilians have died in the conflict in Gaza. This is highly regrettable but one also needs to recognize that Palestinian civilians are deliberately exposed to bombs by Hamas who shroud themselves with civilian body-shields.
Israel must defend its citizens, why does Hamas intentionally place Palestinians in the line of fire? to create more “martyrs” for their cause?
Israeli officials repeatedly insist that the death of a Palestinian child is no less of a tragedy than that of the Israeli child. As a matter of fact, Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that it contacts Gazans in advance to warn them of approaching danger, urging them to leave homes. To Hamas, it would seem the contrary belief is true - the blood of Palestinians is only a little less cheap than that of Israelis as they allow their own people to be killed for the propaganda effect.
The leaders of Hamas already declared, shamelessly, that women, children and older people are used to protect Jihadists. “We used women and children as human shields […] We desire death as much as you [Israelis] desire life”, said Hamas MP in the Palestinian Authority legislative Council, Fathi Hammad, in a speech aired on Al-Aqsa TV - February 28, 2008.
This ideology is reflected as Hamas place its military installations and fighters among dense civilian areas and use this space as launching pads for the missiles that target Israel. It is this purposeful positioning by Hamas that has led to these civilian deaths and shows Hamas is taking its own Gazan population hostage. We can not ignore the facts - this is a war crime.
The truth is usually simple: Since Hamas’s raison d'être is the eradication of Israel, they believe there are only two possible outcomes: the defeat of Hamas or the extinction of Israel. Consequentially, anyone who wishes for Israeli-Palestinian peace and a democratic Palestinian State must also wish for the downfall of Iran-backed terrorists, Hamas, which clearly undermines the peace process and the stability in the Middle East.
A vast majority of both Palestinian and Israeli mothers want an end to this conflict; they want a better more peaceful future for their children. But when will the Iran-backed terrorists, Hamas, stop firing rockets from Gaza into Israel? When will Hamas stop using civilians as human shields so that both Israelis and Palestinians can have a better future?