Why Is It A Crime for Israel to Defend Itself?

First of all, the carnage going on in the Middle East between Israel and the Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable.  Secondly, it seems like many people are of the opinion that Israel is an aggressor that should not be doing what it is doing in this occurrence of a familiar war.  I have some friends on Facebook who feel that Israel could be bought up on war crimes.  As an observer, who lives in a community that is sometimes beset by gun violence, I feel that Israel is within its rights to defend itself from constant missile attacks from an enemy that is fighting from a heavily populated area.

I had to complete research on Israel to better understand the origins of its right to exist.  Israel was formed on May 12th, 1948 when David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of a Jewish state.  It is the world's only Jewish majority state.  The country is bordered on the north by Lebanon, on the east by Jordan, on the northeast by Syria and on the west by Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip.  It is a country of 8 million people.  Seventy five percent are Israeli and the rest are comprised of Arabs, Black Hebrew Israelites, sub-Saharan Africans, Armenians and others.  It has the highest standard of living and the highest life expectancy
among its peers in the Middle East.

I found an interesting piece on Wikipedia.com:

Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations by majority vote on 11 May 1949.[96] In the early years of the state, the Labor Zionist movement led by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion dominated Israeli politics.[97][98] One such policy, the One Million Plan, led to an an influx of Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab and Muslim lands, many of whom faced persecution and expulsion from their original countries.[99] Consequently, the population of Israel rose from 800,000 to two million between 1948 and 1958.[100]

The land where Israel exists now is historical and tied in many ways to Biblical history.  Many writers prophesied of a Jewish state.  After the horror of the Holocaust, who could blame the Founders of the country of Israel, formally known as the State of Israel, for wanting to defend its sovereign right to exist.  I cannot begin to point fingers at any of the combatants.  I just feel that if any country fires missiles at another country that it should expect some form of retaliation.  If it wasn't for the Iron Dome missile defense system, the casualties in Israel would be tremendous.  Palestinians are suffering a great number of losses but the cease fires are being broken by missiles fired from inside their borders.



Israel benefits from a large amount of American aid.  Along with Egypt, these countries are major American allies.  I read this morning that it is trying to defend itself against a network of tunnels that have been dug by the Hamas combatants.  It takes about two years to build a tunnel that is forty-five feet underground.  Besides transporting contraband what else could these tunnels be used for.  I heard that there are some similar tunnels coming from Mexico into the U.S. now.  They are used to transport drugs.  In Israel, militants have staged attacks against Israeli citizens from these tunnels.

It seems as though the murder of three Israeli teens was the impetus for this conflagration.  There was a horrific revenge murder of a Palestinian teen also.  Can a true cease fire ever last when the enmity between these two countries goes back centuries?  War has decided the boundaries of many countries that exist today.  Some of the countries that were annexed when the Soviet Union was a super power are trying to re-establish themselves as sovereign nations.  The Ukraine and its large Russian speaking population is an example.  I don't think Czechoslovakia exists anymore.  I just hope that the current bloodshed will end and that Israel can be allowed to exist like any other country recognized by the United Nations. 

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