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Cry to those using babies
By Naomi Ragen
My son is in the army. He is not the type at all, believe me. Quiet,
studious, a writer, a lover of Jewish history, Talmud, ethics. He spent
two years in a pre-army program in the Galilee called Karmei Hayil. He
made many good friends there from all over the country, and now he and
all his friends are in the army.
One of them I know well. A bit chubby, with payot (sidelocks) and a
great laugh. He and my son have become like brothers. While both of them
tried out for the elite paratroopers unit, only his friend made it in.
He and his unit are the ones in Lebanon. They were there over a week,
fighting under horrific conditions, running out of food and water. Even
though the Israel Air Force dropped tons of leaflets warning civilians
to flee because they were in terrorist territory and likely to be
injured, they still encountered civilians.
"The village looked empty, and then we heard noises coming from one of
the houses, so we opened fire. But when we went inside, we found two
women and a child huddled in the corner of the room. We were so relieved
we hadn't hurt them. We took up base in one of the empty houses. And
then all of a sudden, we came under intense fire. Three rockets were
fired at the house we were in. Only one managed to destroy a wall, which
fell on one of us, covering him in white dust, but otherwise not hurting
him.
"I spent the whole time feeding bullets to my friend who was shooting
nonstop. We managed to kill 26 terrorists. Not one of us was hurt. Our
commanding officer kept walking around, touching everybody on the
shoulder, smiling and encouraging us: 'We're are better than they are.
Don't worry.' It calmed us all down. And really, we were much better
than them. They are a lousy army. They only win when they hide behind
baby carriages."
Please remember this when you hear about the "atrocity" of the Israeli
bomb that killed many civilians in Kafr Qana, a place from which
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel. Unlike previous
administrations, Mr. Olmert has my respect when he says: "They were
warned to leave. It is the responsibility of Hezbollah for firing
rockets amid civilians."
Terrorists and their supporters have lost the right to complain about
civilian casualties, since all they have is one goal: this entire war is
to target civilians. Every single one of the more than 2,500 rockets
launched into Israel, is launched into populated towns filled with women
and children. Just today, another explosive belt meant to kill civilians
in Israel was detonated harmlessly by our forces in Nablus. So don't
cry to me about civilian casualties. Cry to those using babies and wives
and mothers; cry to those who store weapons in mosques, ambulances,
hospitals and private homes. Cry to those launching deadly rockets from
the backyards of kindergartens and schools. Cry to the heartless men who
love death, and however many of their troops or civilians die, consider
themselves victorious as long as they can keep on firing rockets at our
women and children.
Save your sympathy for the mothers and sisters and girlfriends of our
young soldiers who would rather be sitting in study halls learning
Torah, but have no choice but to risk their precious lives full of hope,
goodness and endless potential, to wipe out the cancerous terrorist
cells that threaten their people and all mankind. Make your choice, and
save your tears.
That terrorists have been unsuccessful in killing more of our women and
children is due to our army, God and prayers, not to any lack of
motivation or intention on their part. If you hide behind your baby to
shoot at my baby, you are responsible for getting children killed. You
and you alone.
The writer is an American-born novelist and playwright who lives in
Jerusalem.
For more articles,please visit my Web page at: http://www.naomiragen.com
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