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.

Israel has some defensive measures in place, like the Iron Dome. But this is not enough when Hamas and other terrorists launch 50+ rockets at a time.

In the picture above, the IDF soldiers in charge of the Iron Dome successfully fired a missile intercepting a Kassam rocket.

Israel has been targeting in the past week with pinpoint accuracy Hamas and Islamic Jihad top commanders, Hamas infrastructure and rocket launchers. However, those terrorists hide among civilians and there has been casualties there. Let me repeat it, those casualties are the result of the terrorists hiding among civilians. Israel is trying to avoid this, but it’s becoming increasingly harder thanks to the terrorists themselves.

Israel has recalled over 50000 reservists to be ready in case of a ground incursion.

Israel is ready to defend itself against an enemy that hides among the very people it is supposedly trying to represent. An enemy that doesn’t recognize the State of Israel, doesn’t respect human lives and periodically execute women and children because they stated an opinion.

Having served in the IDF and having seen first hand the horrors these people are capable of, horrors that go unnoticed by the world sue to the media biased opinion of Israel, I can’t help it but to say it was time already to do something.

I just hope the casualties on the IDF and the innocent Palestinians