Amid the worst Palestinian rocket strike so far this year, Jewish residents endure school closings and flee to bomb shelters, while the Israeli government offers hope in the form of its Iron Dome missile defense system.
With Israel still facing Hamas rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip following the end of the army\’s limited ground operation there, the Israeli government is considering stronger follow-up measures.
Vitolda Nahshonov, 15, is one of 10 teens brought to Los Angeles from Sderot by the Israeli Leadership Club and the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles to share her story of what it\’s like to live under constant attack from Qassam rockets. What follows is an edited version of our conversation.
If Israel relaunches its invasion of Gaza, no one should blame it. A country must do everything it can to protect its citizens from constant attack. I know it\’s been said, but it bears repeating: No other country in the world would countenance even a single missile crossing its borders and landing on its citizens. Much less 7,000 missiles.\n
After a Qassam rocket attack seriously injured two brothers in the Israeli border town of Sderot, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert again came under intense pressure to launch a major military strike against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Just as the IDF works constantly to keep a small patch within Gaza clear of terrorists, so, too, Hamas makes efforts every day to get through, over or under the fence — and to engage the IDF. Hamas\’ success rate has been minimal, he says, and their casualties significant, \”but they\’re still coming, still trying, every day.\”
It is called the Six-Day War because it was over in six days. Yeah, right. The war is not over. The truth is, not even the battlefields are silent.
With no end in sight to Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli civilians near the border with Gaza, the Israeli government is preparing for a long struggle against radical, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.