School Days in Israel and Gaza

Israel seems to be contemplating a decision which will be a very serious political error:  They must not hold back due to US/Europe or Arab world pressures. Even those who publically condemn Israel want Hamas shut down. Israel must continue forward full force whatever the consequences. Otherwise, the perception will be that Hamas wins and this will encourage further terrorist activity -- NOT ONLY from Gaza against Israel. Hamas is providing a perfect illustration of how to sacrifice their own civilian populations and in this way bring western armies to their knees. They must NOT be allowed to succeed; the consequences for the non-Muslim and even the secular Muslim world are horrible to imagine. 

Those Israeli leaders who would capitulate to world opinion don't seem to understand that there is no way for Israel to win international approval. Israel will be blamed either way.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)  school bombing no matter the truth of it has held the top level of the  news for several days: never mind that the total killed has been exaggerated. We can all agree that one child killed is one too many.  It IS important to know: were missiles fired from in or in front of the school?  Were there Hamas operatives inside? 

Jerusalem Post:  "The United Nations agency that administers a school in Gaza where dozens of civilians were killed by Israeli mortar fire last week has admitted to employing terrorists to work at its Palestinian schools in the past, has no system in place to keep members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad off its payroll, and provides textbooks to children that contain hate speech and other incendiary information."

Was the school even run by Hamas terrorists? We have read differing versions, of course, and we await the proof that will probably only be available after the war ends.  However, international law is clear about endangering civilians in order to wage war: For the full article including references and quotations from the Geneva Convention see

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)

However, has anyone noted among the many missiles hitting private apartments, streets and public buildings, how many schools in Israel have been hit by missiles fired from Gaza -- both BEFORE and during the Israel response?  Had the schools not been closed in an effort to protect the children, Israel would have more dead and injured children than were in the UNHRA school!

When one searches for articles on Israeli schools bombed, one only finds the articles on the UN school in Gaza.  One title says, "Would anyone bomb a school?"  The answer is yes, for number of schools damaged by missiles, Hamas holds the prize.  But who cares?

Eight Schools Damaged
Education Ministry officials reported Monday that eight daycare centers and schools had sustained damage in rocket attacks in recent days. Two daycare centers were hit in Ashdod, a daycare center and high school were damaged in Be'er Sheva, a high school and elementary school were damaged in Ashkelon, a rocket landed next to an elementary school in Sderot and caused damage, and a structure was damaged in Shaar HaNegev.

No injuries were caused by any of the attacks, as students were not in school. In wake of the attacks, the Homefront Command has ordered schools and daycare centers to close until further notice.  [Israel National News]

One blogger writes about one damaged school in BeerSheva.  By God's grace there were no students inside. 

Even the best intentioned most moral army in the world will cause civilian deaths in such circumstances.  Any country who judges the others in this circumstance, should look in the mirror.  In every world war and local 'conflict' civilians have been killed, in some cases perhaps avoidable, by some armies, intentional and/or careless, but  in many instances in the current terror and propaganda wars, the civilians are 'set up' by one side to entrap the other.

FATAH and Hamas have been setting up Israeli forces with great success for many years.  The world knows now about Pallywood, the 'professional' faking of videos going on since the time of the first intifada, but again ignores it. Schools are booby-trapped so that the enemy will trigger the fatal explosions.

The Geneva Convention explicitly states that the use of Human Shields is illegal and the responsibility for civilian deaths is with those who do so.  The Israel Foreign Ministry has prepared a video with photos of the use of civilians by Hamas terrorists.

Loading hospital basements with explosives, running the war from it's offices and using ambulances and for transportation and impersonating medical staff have all been standard operations from the day Arafat first stepped foot in Israel. Instead of castigation, he got the Nobel prize (maybe for his success in fooling the masses of liberal intellectuals?)  Not to be outdone, Hamas literally grabs little children off the streets for use as human shields and the Israeli side is often forced to make choices which may cost the lives of soldiers or of Israeli children behind the lines.

Again, a Google search for the 8-year ordeal of running from Hamas missiles of ever-increasing power and in number is very difficult to find. One has to sift through hundreds -- if not thousands -- of condemnations of Israel, even if the search says 'Israeli School' or 'Hamas missiles'.  

It is a truly amazing phenomenon that so many people have been so blinded to the face of pure evil. When it arrives to their own door, will they recognize it?