Ground Invasion of Gaza
Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman
January 3, 2009
Shalom chaverim,
If you've been following the news, you know that Israel has begun the next stage of this war against the terrorist organization Hamas. Ground forces have entered Gaza--some two years after the "disengagement." Israel pulled out then, in the hope of bringing peace--or at least a semblance of it--to the residents of southern Israel. Again, in a look back in time, nearly 8000 rockets had been launched at these cities and towns by Hamas in the past 7 years. Almost half of these were launched since the "disengagement."
It would be easy to say "we told you so," and I am sure many are saying exactly that at this moment. But that's not the point. Israel has done everything in its power to stop the launching of rockets indiscriminately at civilian targets. Hamas, on the other hand, has sworn to stop at nothing short of the complete destruction of Israel. Even the current operation, "Cast Lead," has failed to stop them. It seems now that the terrorists are bent on suicide while letting Gaza burn. The leaders of the terrorists would rather see their own people suffer "to the last drop of blood" than admit that their violent policies are ineffective.
Hamas and Hizbollah up in Lebanon are strongholds of Iran. All our prayers right now are that 1) our soldiers in Gaza suffer minimal losses and injuries; and, 2) Hizbollah won't initiate the firing of rockets into northern Israel. It is pretty certain that Iran is urging Hizbollah to do exactly that. Perhaps the lessons of the Second Lebanon War of a year and a half ago will be enough of a deterrent to bring them to some sort of rational conclusion not to open a second front. But it's hard to figure the mind of a people who are so given to obeying orders as though these orders came straight from God. "Inshallah" does not mean merely God willing. It means, if God wants it, who are we to disobey? That's why the imams--the radical Moslem clerics--have such sway over the people. It's a perfect example of how religion can be abused--not used, but abused--to control people, to lead them, to teach them to sanctify death and not life.
I am sure every Israeli is staying up late tonight. Many of them have sons and daughters who are in Gaza at this moment. Tens of thousands of reservists have been called up. It's with a heavy heart that we watch and listen to the news tonight. Our hearts are with our soldiers. Our compassion and pity goes out to the civilians, the innocent victims, the many children in Gaza. Our prayers are that rational minds will prevail and that hostilities will end soon. All we want is to live free of the threat of rockets and suicide bombers. It's not too much, I hope.
Boaz D. Heilman is the Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Torah in Sudbury, Massachusetts. He was in Israel visiting relatives when the Israel-Gaza situation erupted and the ground invasion began.