How Many Times Is Enough?

By RABBI MARVIN HIER

Tuesday July 22, 2014

The more I listen to the 'band aid solutions' proposed bysome world leaders and diplomats reacting to Israel's incursion into Gaza, the more convinced I am that some of the ideas have been lifted right from the "Wise Men of Chelm."

For the third time in a decade Israel wasforced to call up tens of thousands of reserves to re-enter Gaza, the place they unilaterally withdrew from in 2005, to again respond to the hundreds of rockets being fired by Hamas' terroristsat their major population centers.

No sooner did the operation begin than achorus of voices combining leaders of the European Union, the Arab World, and editorials in the leading newspapers like the New York Times began sounding the familiar alarm warningIsrael of massive civilian casualties.

Even the United States, England, and France who unequivocallysupport Israel's right to defend its citizens against rocket attacks, insist that the Israeli incursion into Gaza must be very limited in scope to avoid civilian collateraldamage.

But now is the time to ask the uncomfortablequestion, even of our friends who support us. Why is there such a double standard when it comes to Israel? Why is it that world leaders never miss an opportunity to set their alarms and ask for awake up call only when Israel hits back at the Hamas terrorists?

Where were those moral voices and wake upcalls when it came to taking steps and adapting measures to prevent Hamas from stockpiling 10,000 rockets? Why didn't UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, Secretary of State John Kerry and theForeign Ministers of the EU rush to Israel to convene a conference on how to tighten the borders and close the tunnels in order to prevent the terrorists from smuggling arms and weapons into Gazaand to demand that no foreign aid ever be dispersed into neighborhoods housing any Hamas military personnel? Why is there never an emergency Security Council meeting on how to excise themalignancy and finally end Hamas' rule of terror in Gaza? Why do they only shuttle to the region to find a way to reign in the defenders and never on how to stop the perpetrators and theirfunders like Iran and Qatar?

Of course it's horrible to see the images ofinnocent children killed as a result of the incursion. But whose fault is it, if not the sick Hamas ideology of loving death and martyrdom and deliberately placing children in harms way. Now,once again, they may have taken a missing Israeli soldier hostage who is either dead or still alive to use as a bargaining chip in an attempt to force Israel to again release hundreds ofterrorists with blood on their hands.

The legendary town of Chelm is famous inJewish history for its collection of simpletons whose ideas never came close to solving the problem. Located on a mountaintop, the town faced a terrible dilemma when its citizens began fallingoff the mountaintop. Responding to the crisis, the city convened its 'Wise Men' and came up with a 'perfect Chelm solution - they would build a hospital at the bottom of themountain!

That is precisely what world leaders are againdoing in Gaza. They are waxing their moral credentials at the terrorists and their constituencies while abandoning their friends with phony band aid solutions that they all know can't workwhile forcing Israel to relive the same nightmare every few years. No country in the world is subjected to such treatment that only strengthens and props up terrorists and makes greater theprice we will all have to pay.

Meanwhile, while the world leaders shuttle toJerusalem to end the incursion, 40 meters below the ground somewhere in Gaza, the Hamas terrorist leaders, confident as always, are already plotting how many civilian airlines they will be ableto bring down when they take delivery of their first SA-11 surface to air missile.

Rabbi Hier is the Founder andDean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center