In 2005 there were some 9000 Jews living in more than 20 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
These settlements were under constant attacks by the neighboring 1.5 million Arabs who were determined to wipe out Jewish life from the area.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came up with a “wonderful” idea. He thought that if 9000 Jews were a bone in the throat of these Palestinians, then let’s uproot them and peace will come to the region.
He was willing to pay the price for the sake of peace by destroying a blossoming area that produced 25% of Israel’s agricultural export and had been home to almost 10,000 Jews, most of them Orthodox Religious Zionists, since 1968.
The professional security advisers predicted that Gaza would surely become the Singapore of the Middle East. As a person who has visited Singapore, I can assure you that they do not resemble each other in any aspect.
It is ironically true that since this disengagement operation, the areas that once were the Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip have not even been bombed once but, tragically, all the cities from Tel Aviv and south have been targeted by rocket attacks countless times.
Yesterday, the people of Israel woke up to an unprecedented reality.
Unsurprisingly, we see from this that giving in to terror does not reduce violence and suffering but, rather, encourages the evil actors to continue and even increase their efforts.
Yesterday, videos showed scenes of Hamas terrorists inside Israel, attacking civilians. Their evil targeted the elderly, children, the disabled, and women. They were targeted for one reason: just because they are Jewish.
We must learn this lesson very carefully- terror increases its appetite when it identifies weakness. The only way to overcome terrorism is by defeating it.
We must learn from the “collapsing of this conception” not to think for a moment of neglecting Judea, Samaria, or Zion – His Holy Mountain.
Only when those who hate Israel are convinced that we have no plans on going anywhere else, when we show them that we are going to protect ourselves without an ounce of weakness, will they get used to the fact that we are part of the natural view of this land and are here for good!
