Israel Takes a Stand

Imagine yourself on a commute to work, You are standing at a bus stop in a group of people when suddenly one of those commuters explodes (an obvious suicide bomber) and kills several people standing around you. Or you're driving to work early in the morning wondering if your going to make it because there has been active snipers in reported the area of your workplace. Or worst yet,  having to worry about your children walking to school because you are afraid that they might be killed by rocket fire while walking to school. If you this this sounds far fetched, well you wrong, because it's been going on  in Israel for many years now.

Teaching our children to hate and kill
 is counter productive.

Over the last few months (and years) Israel has approached the United States in a diplomatic effort to bring the people of the U.S. to an understanding of the situation that they face. According to multiple news outlets, and by the historic record, Israel has been under siege.

In all conflicts, there are two sides to every story. It could be argued that Israel is subjecting it's neighbors to isolation and military occupation. Many people cite and/or label this activity as "Zionism"  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism Or Israel's agenda to create a "Jewish state" in the region. Whereas the Zionist movement is indeed a fact,
After almost two millennia of existence of the Jewish diaspora without a national state, the Zionist movement was founded in the late 19th century by secular Jews, largely as a response by Ashkenazi Jews to rising antisemitism in Europe, exemplified by the Dreyfus affair in France and the anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire.The political movement was formally established by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in 1897 following the publication of his book Der Judenstaat. At that time, the movement sought to encourage Jewish migration to the Ottoman Palestine.

It is also fact that the Jewish people were routed from Europe during WWII as they were rounded up and sent to death camps throughout Europe in the greatest episode of sectarian hatred and violence that the world has ever witnessed. And now we see the rising Islamic movement of Jihad has postured on the world stage and has become a worldwide threat to the safety of multiple nations throughout the world. And it has also promised that to wipe out the state of Israel in our life time The proof of this threat is in plain view. On September 11th 2003, The United States was attacked by Islamic Terrorists. The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th, or 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed almost 3,000 people and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage.

Four passenger airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists so they could be flown into buildings in suicide attacks. Two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within two hours, both towers collapsed with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the WTC complex, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense), leading to a partial collapse in its western side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was targeted at Washington, D.C.,[3] but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. In total, almost 3,000 people died in the attacks, including the 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes. It also was the deadliest incident for firefighters and for law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively.

"A man can die but once". - (Act III, Scene II). King Henry IV, Part I
From a national security and public safety stand point, it is very difficult to dismiss these threats as political folly or mere criminal activity. It is perfectly clear that when firearms, rockets, explosive devices and IED (improvised explosives) are used to forward a political agenda and they enter into the diplomatic discussion as well as threats of further violence emerge, these "tactics" are absolutely weapons of open warfare. And when warfare is hoisted up the common unarmed masses, does not become the duty of the state to protect it citizens? And let us also clarify that a "duty" is a much loftier call that a simple responsibility which rises above the common wants of a hostile intruder. If there is food on the table of the enemy, water in his glass and a way from him or her to provide for the needs of his or her family, what grounds does any aggressor have to wage war against another? Except but for want of power and wealth? It is Israel's prerogative when it comes to self defense. And it is the duty of each government to protect it's citizens against the hostile aggression of an invading neighbor.

 Israel has taken a stand. The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) has launched operations into Gaza to stem the ongoing sectarian violence that has been plaguing the region.