Gaza Gaza

One question seems unbelievably simple to answer: Is Israel justified in its invasion of Gaza?

That the question is even posed is based on the fact that when we were vacationing the other day, in a university community, there were protesters on the sidewalk, saying Israel had to leave Gaza and that the U.S. should stop giving so much money to Israel, based on the latter's conduct in Gaza.

I believe that there should be a Palestinian state. I believe that Israel has done some incredibly stupid things with regard to the achievement of peace and relations with their neighbors.

But this time they're right.

The Palestinian apologists are saying that Israel caused the problem by a number of acts, including an economic blockade of Gaza. OK, maybe that blockade is a terrible thing.

But that doesn't justify dropping rockets on civilian targets in Israel. It's clearly a response by Israel to those rocket attacks that generated the bombings and now the invasion. It's a fairly understandable rule: you drop rockets on me and I could get angry and retaliate.

That Hamas situates itself and its rocket launchers amid civilians is without question. That's a tactic to make its adversary look unreasonable. They know that if they locate themselves where women and children live, when Israel attacks them where they are, innocent lives will be lost and the bodies will be shown on the evening news in the U.S.

Some have said that the rocket attacks only killed "x" number of Israelis and Israel's response is therefore disproportionate. For starters, I have to admit that I like disproportionate responses. If you push me and I just push you back, the odds are good that you'll push me again or escalate by hitting me in the face. If you start by pushing me and I slam you on the head with a baseball bat, you may be either unable or unlikely to push me or otherwise try to harm me again.

Aside from that, however, the response is in proportion.

When rockets are falling on roofs in your neighborhood, life is unbearable. If you can get at the source of those rockets, and stop them from raining on your block, you've done a great service.

And that's what Israel is trying to do. All other comments on Israel being an interloper in the Middle East or anything else, are nonsense. It's all about stopping the rockets.

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