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Written by Danny Neren
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 On December 20th 2008 a cease- fire ran out. The next day rockets rained down on southern Israel; a fight had begun. The nation of Israel sits on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean ocean, and though small in size, is one of the most important countries in the world. Israel was created as a homeland for the Jewish people after WWII. Since then the country has endured several attacks by neighboring Arab countries and years of terrorism and violence. Israel is much like the United States; a society based in Judeo-Christian values, bustling cities, crowded beaches and most importantly a democracy with the same freedoms we have in America. Israel has long battled terrorism and many have died in bombings and terror attacks similar to the ones of 9/11. The Gaza strip is a small plot of land inside Israel that is controlled by Hamas (a terrorist organization). This last December a six-month cease-fire ran out. Hamas once again began to fire rockets at civilian targets in southern Israel. Israel blockaded the Gaza strip and demanded the rockets stop. The rockets didn’t stop. Israel warned Hamas that they would use military force to stop the rockets. The rockets didn’t stop; soon after Israel attacked with extreme force. The international community was in an uproar. Reports showed that hundreds of civilians had been injured. The international community demanded that Israel stop the offensive.
Israel was responding to continued terrorist attacks on its civilians and the international community wanted Israel to stop. This is absurd. When we were attacked on 9/11 we responded, and other nations joined us. If England was continuously attacked by Belgium, they would definitely invade Belgium. Israel was only trying to protect its people, but the world saw it as an act of aggression. That is because the terrorists had won. Enough pictures of little kids injured were shown on TV to convince the people of the world that Israel was doing wrong. Yes, it is terrible that innocent people were hurt, and of course Israel didn’t intentionally try to kill innocents, but that is war. Innocents are killed in Iraq, innocents are killed in Afghanistan; innocents are always killed in war. Israel even gave Hamas warning that they would attack, but Hamas persisted. Many Israeli women and children have been killed in attacks over the years, but when Israel tries to stop rockets from hitting its major cities it suddenly is the aggressive one? If terrorist groups can turn the international community against a nation of democracy and freedom then a cooperative war against terror seems impossible.
Israel launched an offensive to kill terrorists who were firing rockets into their country. This seems like an acceptable and normal thing for a nation to do; protect its people and insure its security. I don’t know why the world turned against Israel; nevertheless, it is a sad and unnerving truth. Israel is a democratic ally of the United States, but yet it was painted as a nation of ruthlessness and excessive military force. Israel is not any of those things. It is simply a country with people who want to live in peace, but who will respond if that peace is threatened. The world needs to take a second look at what happened in Israel this last January and realize that it can never happen again. Terrorists can never again coax the world into sympathy for their cause and the world can never again turn on a nation that is fighting a just and honorable fight. If we have any hope at all of destroying terrorism and achieving peace what happened in Israel can never happen again.
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