Whenever I read or hear the statement that God is on Israel's side in these troubled times for that country and for that reason, all Jews must support Israel, I cringe with embarrassment. The justification that "God is with us" is also used by Hamas for their cause to annihilate Israel and by almost every country where theism is part of the culture in order to drum up blind faith in its people for whatever goal their leaders have in mind, whether it's honorable or dishonorable.
Instead, I stand with Israel in its confrontation with Hamas in the interest of simple fair play Israel as a nation is being held by its bashers to a ridiculous standard in its self-defense that no other country in the world is expected to follow. For example the U.N. has condemned Israel for not sharing its Iron Dome anti-missile defense system with Hamas as a war crime! WTF! What would any other nation do if it were being attacked by missiles from across its border day after day? Certainly not sit back and take it or hand over its self-protection technology to the enemy. Instead it would counter-attack until the other side is incapable of further aggression. Pardon the pun but that's not rocket science. And in this case, if Israel happens to have superior firepower, which of course results in great destruction in Gaza, that will stop when Hamas does.
BTW there's no end to irrational condemnation of Israel. A United Nations official has revived a canard that blames wife beating by Palestinian men on Israel.because of the these husbands' dissatisfaction over their lives under the occupation. Never mind that such domestic violence is as normal as breathing in Arab-Islamic societies in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond.
And as I mentioned in a Facebook entry, there is the matter of the recent riots in Europe against Jews along with the destruction of Jewish owned businesses and temples there with cries of "Gas the Jews" by Palestinian and other protesters. These actions originally began with demonstrations opposing Israel's "attack" on Gaza . But when they turned into pogroms, that proved that Zionism and Israel were not the real issue. As is usually the case, that was just a pretext. At the end of the day, the real reason is just plain out and out Jew hatred. So how in the world can Israel ever be expected to negotiate with the likes of Hamas and its ilk who not only want to wipe out Israeli Jews but Jews everywhere.
At this writing, Israel has pulled its troops from Gaza, and has entered into a 72-hour ceasefire with Hamas. Whether this cessation will hold and lead to a more lasting armistice is anybody's guess, but based on Hamas' past violations of such temporary truces, I wouldn't bet on it. However, I hope that I'm wrong about this as I, like many others, am tired of the bloodshed. But there can never be permanent peace between Israel and Hamas until the latter revokes its destructive charter and sincerely accepts the existence of Israel once and for all.
