Imagine you and your kids are walking on a busy street. You promised them ice cream and they are smiling and enjoying life. It’s a beautiful day. All the sudden the alarm sounds. You know what’s coming. You have less than 30 second to find shelter, any shelter. It’s not enough time. You kit the ground and embrace your kids, praying that if a rocket falls anywhere near you the shrapnel hits you and not your kids.

That’s been the reality of Israel for the past 12 plus years.

From the north and from the south, Iran’s proxies (Hamas in the Gaza and Hizballah in Lebanon) threaten civilian populations in cities and towns across Israel.  For years Hamas has been gathering rockets and has fired more than 400 at schools and playgrounds in the past year alone.

The current israeli offensive into Gaza, named Defensive Pillar, is the result of an escalation on the amount of rockets launched by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad from Gaza into Israel.  The media around the world, but especially in the United States and Europe do not report this. They would tell you that Israel, in its apartheid-like state, decided out of the blue to bomb the poor people in gaza.

Hamas and most terrorists in the middle east like to stash their weapons and rockets inside schools, mosques and houses belonging to the same people they “supposedly” represent and want to free. They know Israel will not fire against those targets and the hide behind those “human shields” (kids and women) in order to prevent being killed with pinpoint accuracy.

Israel has the right to defend itself. No other country in the world would allow this to go on for such a long time. Imagine is Mexico or Canada would launch rockets into the United States, falling in cities in Michigan, New York, Colorado, Maine and others. What would you do? Israel has shown incredible restrain when dealing with this, and while its own population suffered as a result, they saw this a necessary evil in order to avoid unneeded casualties on the side of the Palestinians.

Yes, their own people hurt the Palestinians more than the IDF.