Showing posts with label Hamas breaks cease-fire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hamas breaks cease-fire. Show all posts

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog BREAKING: Israel and Gaza moving towards full-blown war. Hamas breaks cease-fire. 150+ rockets fired at Israel overnight.

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New post on Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

BREAKING: Israel and Gaza moving towards full-blown war. Hamas breaks cease-fire. 150+ rockets fired at Israel overnight. 17 Israeli civilians injured. Palestinians in Gaza suffering. Prime Minister convenes security cabinet. Here’s the latest. #PleasePray

by joelcrosenberg
(Jerusalem, Israel) -- Pray it doesn't happen. Pray that civilians on both sides of the border are spared the horror. But all signs suggest a major new war is about to erupt between Israel and Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza.
It has been exactly four years since the last full-scale war between Israel and the terrorists of the Gaza Strip. In August of 2014 (the month my family and I moved to Israel), some 4,594 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at civilians in the Jewish State by Hamas and its allies. The Israeli military retaliated fiercely, bombarding the Strip with hundreds of strikes on terrorist facilities. IDF ground forces made numerous incursions into the Strip. In the end, Israeli chose not to launch a complete invasion and occupation of the Strip, but many on both sides of the border suffered and great damage was caused during the conflict.
Since then, a shaky truce has persisted. The Egyptian government of President el-Sisi deserves credit for actively working behind the scenes to persuade Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups to stand down. 
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Yet in 2018, there has been a dramatic escalation:
So far, Israeli officials have chosen not to mobilize reservists and launch a full-scale ground and air operation against Gaza. But Hamas and their terror allies are clearly trying to provoke such a war. 
Why? That's anyone's guess. These evil leaders are determined to rob, kill and destroy. They have trapped -- enslaved, really -- the people of Gaza in a brutish environment. But it doesn't have to be this way.
The Palestinians people of Gaza have priceless beachfront property along the Mediterranean. They have smart, industrious people. They have natural gas reserves right off the coast that foreign petroleum companies are willing to help them develop if there only was peace. Israel, it should be noted, has not occupied the Strip since August 2005. Thus, for the last thirteen years the people of Gaza could have been building a free and thriving and prosperous society. Instead, they find themselves suffering under a wicked tyranny that is engaging in hundreds of war crimes (i.e., shooting at innocent civilians in Israel from schools, hospitals, playgrounds and other civilian centers in Gaza.) Hamas can't provide enough food or cooking fuel. They only provide a few hours of electricity every day. That means even people with air conditioners suffer in blazing desert heat most days without being use them. 
Israel has a right to defend her people. But these terror attacks and this humanitarian disaster cannot go on.
The people of Gaza need help. They are people created in the image of a God -- a God who loves them. They deserve so much better. Let us pray for quiet and calm on the border, to be sure. Let us pray war that war will be averted. But let's not stop there. Let's pray for more -- for the complete political, economic and spiritual liberation of the Palestinians of Gaza. It cannot come too soon.
joelcrosenberg | August 9, 2018 at 3:00 am | Categories: Epicenter | URL: https://wp.me/piWZ7-8HV