as the fires and smoke fill the gaza sky, the world turns it’s eyes to us. to the israeli warriors.
the pages of human history are full of eyes turned to warriors and leaders, praising them, blaming them for the battles waged and casualties inflicted.
greek history tells of the spartan kong, leonidas, who took 300 of his men to defend his city against the evil army of xerxes, the persian “godking”. though scorned both at home and in his peers’ eyes, he led a valant battle that resounded through history and inspired free nations to stand against oppressors.
we cheered leonidas while watching the movie 300. we were inspired by him.
he is legend.
in israel, through times immortal we build our warrior legends time and again. and it seems we are forced to do so yet again.
we did not want this war in gaza. we left gaza to it’s population so they could build there own state, so they too could live as free men. but we were deceived. instead of a peaceful neighbour we found an enemy at our doorstep.
an enemy fueled by hatred, religious fanaticism and oil money spilling in from syria, iran and their allies. an enemy as dark and evil as xerxes ever was, using poverty and religion to create suicide bombers. an enemy that never hesitates even during times of truce to bombard our cities with deadly missiles. an enemy that takes innocent children as human shields against the backlash of our warriors. an enemy that wants nothing less than to watch us burn.
and so regrettably our men don battle fatigues and set forward into the fray. we battle on the same land we’ve battled on for over 3000 years. we step on the same stones that king david stepped, we watch our enemies from the same mountain tops the maccabis watched the romans, we pray to the same god king solomon prayed, we rest on the same dirt that jesus rested on.
just as in biblical times, the israeli women send their sons, fathers, husbands, brothers, lovers, into the battle. praying to the same god they’ve prayed to for over 6000 years, with the same plea: “please, bring him back to me”.
but we are no longer just 300.
our enemies trembled at the sight of samson. they fell to the few score of king david’s men. so now let them tremble at tens of thousands of israeli warriors armed to the teeth with the best weaponry in the world and eyes blazing for revenge against the terrorists.
let them tremble as every missile they launch brings down a rain of fire on terrorist headquarters.
you turn your eyes and tell us to stop this madness.
they break the peace. they shell fire endlessly on our cities. they kill mercilessly innocent women and children. they bring war to our very doorstep.
you call what we do madness? this is not madness.
THIS. IS. ISRAEL