07/11/2023
Dear friend I want to personally express my support for peace. I am dedicated to peace and will always choose the path of peace. Every household I know in Israel desires peace and values life immensely. I'm deeply sorry for the innocent civilians who have been hurt in this war, whether they are Palestinian children, Israeli children, women, or men suffering from Hamas.
Unfortunately, we witnessed a tragic paradox: the very settlements where a terrible massacre occurred were inhabited by peaceful, liberal people who were actively contributing money for medicine and rights to improve the lives and conditions of Palestinians living in Gaza under the rule of Hamas, a choice they made. Good and innocent peace-loving people in the settlements surrounding Gaza were murdered, tortured, and kidnapped. Many of them, in their naive innocence, welcomed Palestinian Hamas members into their homes, offered them jobs, donated money, food, clothes, and medicine. In return, Palestinian Hamas terrorists committed a massacre, torturing and murdering them, ra**ng them, beheading them, and committing mass and cruel murders. They kidnapped babies, children, women, men, and the elderly. With whom can we discuss peace? With terrorists who do not recognize our right to exist and live in our country?
Considering the horrors we experienced just three weeks ago, the brutal and unimaginable violence inflicted upon us surpasses what one can find even in horror movies. Unfortunately, in Gaza, they celebrated the suffering and cruelty they imposed on us.
The ongoing war, which is likely to continue for a long time, challenges two fundamental principles formed after the Holocaust:
1. The need to survive compels us to strike with force to protect ourselves.
2. The need to remain moral people, even when conditions are immoral, urges us to try to save as many human lives as we can.
Our moral test is not conducted under laboratory conditions. In the last few weeks, it has occurred during fierce fighting, with thousands of missiles fired at our citizens and armed terrorists emerging from terror tunnels near our kindergartens with the aim of murdering and kidnapping our children. Anyone who has Criticizes over us should ask themselves one question: What would you do if someone came to your child's kindergarten with a gun and started shooting everywhere?
Hamas, unlike us, seeks to kill Jews. Children or adults, women or men, soldiers or civilians, for them, there is no difference. We are Jews, and that is reason enough for them to want to kill us.
Our moral test is to continue, even under these conditions, to distinguish between enemies and innocents, although we know, beyond any doubt, that our enemies do not make this distinction. It breaks my heart every time children die in Gaza because they are not Hamas; they are not the enemy; they are first and foremost children.
Israel is the first country in military history to inform its enemies in advance where and when it will bomb to avoid harming innocents. It is the only country that delivers food and medicine to its enemies while the fighting continues. It is the only country where pilots halt bombing sorties because they spot civilians on the ground. Yet, children die, and children are not supposed to die in the wars of adults.
In the US ,Europe and other parts of the world, people sit in their air-conditioned living rooms, watching the news, and tell us that we fail the test. Why? Because they believe that the suffering in Gaza is greater. They do not understand or do not want to understand that the suffering of Gaza is the main weapon of evil. When we explain that Hamas uses the children of Gaza as human shields, deliberately placing them in the line of fire to ensure their deaths, they refuse to believe it. Why? Because they cannot fathom that humans who look and sound like them are capable of such behavior. Good people often refuse to acknowledge the existence of evil until it is too late.
Repeatedly, we ask ourselves why many in the world prefer to blame Israel , even though the facts say otherwise. Throughout the world, Muslims are slaughtering other Muslims, with more children killed every week in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Nigeria than in Gaza in ten years. Every week, women are r***d, homosexuals are hanged from telephone poles, and Christians are murdered for refusing to convert. The world watches, expresses polite sorrow, and obsessively condemns Israel for fighting for its life.
Part of the criticism stems from anti-Semitism, which has resurfaced. The days when Jews fled from you are over. Israel will not remain silent in the face of any manifestation of anti-Semitism anywhere in the world,
I wish all governments in all countries to stand with us, shoulder to shoulder, in the fight against these past demons that threaten to return to our lives.
Other critics, who consider themselves more enlightened, prefer to blame only us for what is happening in Gaza simply because they know we are the only ones listening. They prefer to be angry with us precisely because we are committed to the same values that Hamas despises: compassion for the weak, human decency, the protection of homosexuals, women, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech.
Let's not deceive ourselves; evil is here. It surrounds us and seeks to harm us. Fundamentalist Islam is the ultimate evil, and like the evil before it, it has learned to use all our tools against us. I’ve seen it in my own eyes. Its weapons include our television cameras, international institutions, commissions of inquiry, and our legal system. Just as it uses rockets and su***de bombers, it exploits the fact that we refuse to believe someone is capable of sacrificing the children of their people for a good headline or photo.
This is the evil we are dealing with, and Israel is the frontline in the war against this evil. Europe and the US should know that if they get past us, they will get to you.
We must do everything to prevent the suffering and death of innocents. Listen to the stories of people who fled from there and came to live in Israel.
The more Israel offered in terms of territory and aid, the more terrorism we received in return. We hoped that by providing help and support, they would develop and embrace peace and positivity. The world has poured billions of dollars to improve their lives, develop medical facilities, schools, agriculture, public parks, and infrastructure for a better life. However, they chose to introduce hatred into their kindergartens and schools and promote the idea that whoever kills a Jew goes to heaven. They built an underground city of terror tunnels and armed themselves with deadly weapons to harm us. When we react to protect ourselves, they hide under hospitals and houses in the network of tunnels they have built for years, for themselves, and preventing children and civilians from escaping to show their suffering to the world, resulting in international condemnation and hatred for Jews and Israel.
It is important to know that we are fighting for our lives. My daughters grew up in the United States in a home that advocates and teaches values for peace. When they moved to Israel and began to experience daily life in Israel, including terrorist attacks and rocket fire, they didn't cry and shout in the media that Israel is constantly being bombarded, and they've adapted to this harsh reality.
Their resilience is a testament to the security provided by our soldiers and civilians who have served in the military, as well as the advanced technology, like the 'Iron Dome,' which intercepts incoming rockets. This is precisely why my daughter Tamar decided to join the army, to help protect our homeland. Unfortunately, that day has arrived.
I want to stress that the Israeli army is a defensive force, not an aggressor. Every day, I find myself seeking shelter due to the ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. Oddly, this aspect is rarely discussed. It's because our military has developed the ability to protect us by intercepting these missiles in mid-air. I witness this technology in action daily. Without it, if those rockets had hit me, my family, and my friends, we might not be here today, and Israel's situation would be as dire as Gaza, if not worse. We're fortunate to have developed this technology and protection, allowing the people of Israel to live with a relative sense of security.
As much as I want peace ☮️
So how exactly and with whom will we make peace?
What we experience in October 7 💔is the epitome of the shepherd incarnate.
🙏 Roni Yaari 🙏
