Hundreds of rockets have been fired and a million citizens are
forced to run for cover. Imagine if London suffered this bombardment.
The Telegraph
You see, as most people in
the UK were waking up this morning, and those in Europe, United States and
elsewhere around the world were going about their daily routines, here in
Israel over one million people were running for cover from a hail of rockets
being rained down by Palestinian Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
In the last 24 hours
alone, over 120 rockets have been fired on southern Israel. That’s
approximately five rockets per hour. By the time I finish this article, odds
are that count will have risen to 125 rockets.
To put things in context:
one million Israelis is roughly 13 per cent of the population. Thirteen per
cent of the UK population equates to about 8.4 million people, or the entire
population of London.
A number of Israelis have
already been injured, though thankfully without fatalities. The only reason
more have not been hurt is because Israel has invested millions of dollars in
bomb shelters and the Iron Dome defence system. Meanwhile, Hamas, whose very
raison d'être is the destruction of Israel and which is recognised as a
terrorist organisation both by the EU and UK, has invested millions of dollars
in foreign aid into more rockets.
So, where is the outrage?
Since the beginning of
this year, Gaza terrorists have fired more than 450 rockets on Israel, with
about half of them coming since mid-June, when two Hamas terrorists kidnapped
and brutally murdered three Israeli teenagers.
Why is it that a majority
of the international community only notices when Israel undertakes its
sovereign right, and obligation, to defend its citizens? Can you imagine if
even one rocket was fired on London, Washington, Paris or Moscow? This is
simply intolerable and no country can, or should, tolerate such attacks on its
people.
Where is the outrage from
the United Nations, which does not hesitate for a moment to call a
"special emergency session" on the "Question of Palestine"
or pass the umpteenth resolution blindly condemning Israel? But 24 hours after
the rocket attacks on Israel started, I am still waiting for even one syllable
of condemnation from the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly or the
Human Rights Council.
Where is the EU foreign
policy chief Catherine Ashton, who repeatedly slams Israel over settlement
building, but is yet to say a word about the Palestinians firing over 120
rockets on Israeli civilians in one day? Even 10 Downing and the Foreign Office
are yet to comment.
Where are all those
so-called enlightened liberals, who continue to call for Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions (BDS) against the Jewish State, but are silent in the face of Palestinian
terror against Jews?
Where are all the human
rights organisations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and Oxfam, who do not
waste a single opportunity to condemn Israel for human rights violations
against the Palestinians? Are the human rights of Israelis not equally
important? Or is Jewish blood really that cheap?
Where is the outrage from
the mainstream media? Instead, news organisations like the BBC, lead their
stories about the rocket attacks headlines like ‘Israel launches new air
strikes on Gaza Strip’ and not ‘Palestinian Terrorists in Gaza Rain Down Over
120 Rockets Against 1 million Israelis in 24 hours.’
Where is the outage that
Iran, which the international community is currently negotiating with over
their nuclear weapons program, and which has called for Israel to be wiped off
the map, is the primary funder and supplier of arms to Hamas?
Where is the outage that
civilians across southern Israel are being instructed not to send their kids to
school and stay in bomb shelters, or that 24 prematurely born babies and 34
newborns had to be moved last night to a protected area in Soroka Hospital in
Be’er Sheva, due to the rocket attacks from Gaza?
What sort of inhumane way
is that for children to live?
Where is the outrage that
the very same Hamas now responsible for the rocket fire against millions of
Israelis, was only a month ago welcomed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,
our so-called ‘partner for peace’ into his unity government, while the international
community, including the EU, rushed to embrace it?
As I conclude, another two
rockets were just fired from Gaza. So again, I ask: where is the outrage?
Arsen Ostrovsky is an
international human rights activist and freelance journalist living in Israel.
Update
of the situation in Israel
During Tuesday, 8
July, 146 rockets were launched from Gaza. Of these, 117 struck Israel and 29
were intercepted by the Iron Dome system.
In this 24-hour period,
residents of the following cities, towns and regions were forced to seek
shelter after the sirens sounded:
·
Jerusalem (3 rockets
hit the Jerusalem Hills).
·
Tel Aviv (targeted 3
times).
·
The southern cities
of Be'er Sheva, Ashdod and Ashkelon
·
Communities in
southern Israel, including the city of Sderot, Ofakim, Sha'ar HaNegev, Sdot
Negev, etc.
·
Cities and towns in
central Israel, including Rehovot, Herzliya, Gadera, Ramat Hasharon, Yavne,
Rishon Lezion, Hadera, Givatiyim,
There has been
property damage, including from fires caused by the rockets and shrapnel but
thankfully no serious injuries
Forty percent of the
Israeli population - approximately 3.5 million people - is currently in range
of the rockets from Gaza.
Very well written, but you forgot to give some credit for the fact that no Israelis were killed to G-d who watches over HIS people.
ReplyDeleteShmuel Shimshoni, (Hadera)