Emergency Bulletin

Israel is at war. I'm not sure how the events are being portrayed in your own local news stations, but there is no question – we are at war.

Things began to heat up over two weeks ago when an Israeli soldier was kidnapped against a background of increasing rocket fire from Gaza against Sderot and other towns and villages in the Negev. After months of restraint, the IDF entered Gaza and launched an attack that included air and ground capabilities. Fighting is still limited and care is being taken to avoid hitting civilian targets. But the IDF is fighting in Gaza far more seriously than before.

Then, yesterday, Katyusha missiles fell in the north, while Hizbollah fighters attacked Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two. By the end of the day, 8 Israeli soldiers had been killed, as Hizbollah attacked Israel throughout the north. The attacks spread today and Katyushas were launched well into Israel's interior, hitting targets never before reached by Lebanese fire: Zfat, HaGoshrim, Machanyim, Carmiel and just now, Haifa. The nation is in shock and we can't keep up. We listen to the news broadcasts and there are constantly new developments, new attacks not just news broadcasters rehashing stale news just to pass the time.

We are a small nation and often we behave more like a family than like a country. We argue incessantly and often those arguments have created an impression of a divisive society. The issue of the disengagement was a particularly divisive issue and the differences between us run deep. But only as deep as brotherly quarrels. And, it is at times like these, when we understand how deep our national loyalties really lie. Everyone in Israel is pulling together, doing what they can to help one another. Families in the north are leaving to spend the next few days with family and friends in the center of the country, until quiet returns. And hopefully, it will return soon. Everyone is phoning their friends and family in the north to make sure they are safe and unharmed. All of us are tuned into radio or TV for constant updates. Regular programs have been suspended – the only thing we want to know is what is happening.

This afternoon, I visited Sderot and a small community just north of Gaza called Netiv Ha'Asara. A British pastor friend staying in Sderot told me of a midnight attack which shook the home he was staying in. Today, soldiers we chatted with told us of rockets which had landed in the nearby greenhouses. Just after we left the area, rockets fell again in Sderot and in a small village nearby. Meanwhile, outside my own window in Karnei Shomron, there has been what sounds like incessant firing for hours. With one ear we are listening to the broadcasts from Haifa, Zfat and Kiryat Shmona on the television. Through the other ear, we are hearing the shooting sounds outside. We phone around and then receive the official word – the Arabs of the neighboring village of Azzun are shooting firecrackers in celebration of Israeli losses in the north.

Israel is at war, but there is nothing unique about that statement. We have been at war, in one way or another, ever since Israel was established. There isn't another country in the world which has had to defend its very right to exist ever since it came into existence. And we are the oldest nation on earth – the only nation who is still living in the land possessed by our ancestors. And we are certainly the only nation on this earth who are possessing the land that G-d specifically granted to them.

If there is one thing positive about what is happening now, it's the clarity of the situation. We know we have been at war, but it hasn't always been easy to define. When you are being bombed in your major cities, however, there is no doubt. That is war.

The only other thing I can say is we knew this would happen. And to those who supported disengagement and to those who supported the unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon without protecting ourselves from the ongoing threat of Hizbollah along our northern border, we can only say, we told you so.

But for now, we all need to pray, for peace, for safety for our friends and loved ones, and for clarity and wisdom for decision makers in our own country and all over the world. We are all engaged in the same war against terrorism and Islamist conquest. May G-d help us all.



Sondra Oster Baras
Director, Israel Office