A LETTER TO WORLD LEADERS

This was written by an Israeli journalist, Ben Caspit, of the Ma'ariv newspaper - this'll give 'em somethin' to think about - maybe............................


An Israeli Defense – A Letter to the Leaders of the World



Ladies and Gentlemen, leaders of the world. I carry these words from Jerusalem, as a response
to the difficult scenes displayed from Kana. Every human heart contracts when viewing these
scenes. There are no words powerful enough to provide comfort with this type of a disaster. And
still, I look you straight in the eye and say loud and clear: Israel will continue its military
operation in Lebanon.


The Israeli Defense Forces will continue to attack targets from which missiles and Katyusha
rockets are being fired at hospitals, old-age homes, and kindergartens in Israel. The IDF has
been instructed to continue to hunt down Katyusha reserves, launching pads, and gun barrels
through which these savages bomb and attack Israel.


We will not hesitate, we will not apologize, and we will not be weakened. If Katyushas continue
to be launched into Israel from Kana, we will continue to bomb Kana. Today, tomorrow, and the
following day. Here, there, and everywhere. The children of Kana could have been sleeping
peacefully in their homes, uninterrupted, had the demonic messengers not taken over their land
and turned our children’s lives into hell on earth.


Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time you understand: The Israeli State will not longer be stomped
on. We will no longer allow anyone to take advantage of highly-populated areas as a front to
bomb our citizens. No man will be able to hide behind women and children with the sole
purpose of murdering our women and children any longer. This anarchy and irresponsibility is
over. You can denounce us, you can boycott us, you can stop traveling to Israel, and if it will be
necessary we will stop traveling to your country.


I am the voice of six million Israeli citizens who are being bombed, symbolic of the six million
Jews who were exterminated and cremated into ashes and dust by savages in Europe. In both
cases, those responsible for these atrocious and sinful acts were barbarians lacking in any
human decency who had one simple goal: To obliterate the Jewish race off the face of the
earth, in the words of Adolf Hitler, or to erase the State of Israel off the world map, in the words
of Mahmud Ahmadinijad.


And just like you didn’t take things seriously then, you are ignoring them now. That, Ladies and
Gentlemen, leaders of the world, will not happen. Never again. We will never again wait for the
world to rescue us from the gas chambers. We will never again wait for a salvation that will not
come. We now have our own air force. Israel can now stand up to those who want to kill us.
They will no longer be able to hide behind their women and children. They will no longer be
absolved of all responsibilities.


Every place from which missiles are fired into the State of Israel will be a legitimate target for
our attacks. It needs to be said clearly, one time, to the entire world. You are welcome to judge
us, ostracize us, boycott us, and defame us. But kill us? Absolutely not.
Four months ago, Ehud Olmert was elected by hundreds of thousands of citizens to the post of
Prime Minister, based on his plan to unilaterally withdraw from 90% of the occupied territories,
which are part of the heart and soul of the Jewish people, with the sole purpose of ending most
of the occupation and allowing the Palestinian people to turn over a new leaf and pacify the
tensions until the conditions for a permanent settlement between us would be ready.


Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip to the
internationally recognized border and gave the Palestinians an opportunity to build themselves a
new reality. His predecessor, Edud Barak, ended the long-term Israeli presence in Lebanon and
withdrew the IDF to international lines, allowing Lebanon to flourish, develop, and base itself as
a democratic country with a strong economy.


What did the State of Israel receive in return for these? Did we have one moment of peace and
quiet? Was our outstretched hand greeted with an encouraging handshake? Ehud Barak’s
peace initiative at Camp David released upon us a wave of suicide bombers who shattered and
blew up more than 1,000 citizens, women and children, into pieces. I don’t remember any of you
this enraged back then. Could it be because we didn’t allow close-ups of the dismembered
teenagers at the Dolphinarium? Or the broken lives of those celebrating Passover who were
butchered at Park Hotel in Netanya? There’s nothing we can do, that’s how it is here. We don’t
display dead bodies in front of TV cameras. We mourn quietly.


We don’t dance on the rooftops when the children of our enemies are killed. We express true
sorrow and remorse. All these are the animalistic rituals of our enemies. Today they are our
enemies. Tomorrow, they will be yours. You’re already acquainted with the murderous flavor of
this terror. You’ve tasted it. You will taste it again.


And look at Ariel Sharon’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip. What we get for it? A shower of
Kasam missiles on otherwise-peaceful towns, suicide bombings and attacks, and the
kidnapping of a soldier. I don’t remember you reacting with such panic and fear at that time
either. And here, for the past six years the withdrawal from Lebanon has been struck with the
words and crimes of a dangerous Iranian messenger; an extremist who has taken over an entire
country in the name of religious fanaticism and is trying to take Israel hostage on his way to
Jerusalem and ultimately Paris and London.


An enormous infrastructure of terror has been established by Iran on our borders, threatening
our citizens, getting stronger in front of our eyes, waiting for the moment when Iran becomes a
nuclear stronghold, waiting to bring us to our knees. Don’t get me wrong: we are not going down
alone. You, the leaders of the free world, the enlightened world, are going down with us.
So today I would like to put an end to this hypocrisy. I can’t remember such a reaction to 100
citizens being killed each day in Iraq. Sunnis killing Shi’ites who kill Sunnis, all of whom are
killing Americans, and the world is silent. And I am having a difficult time remembering a similar
reaction when the Russians wiped out entire villages and set fire to large cities in order to
depress the mutiny in Chechnya. And when NATO bombed Kosovo for nearly 3 months, and
crushed a civilian population, you all looked away. What is it about us, the Jews, the few, the
persecuted, that awakens all of this cosmic justice? What is it that we have that the others
don’t?


I stand here before you today, loud and clear, with my head held high, looking you straight in the
eye, not apologizing. Not giving in. Not whining. This struggle is for our freedom. For our image.
For our right to have a normal life within our recognized and legitimate borders. This is also your
struggle. I pray and believe that you will understand it now. Because if you don’t, you might
regret it later. When it is too late.



*** This letter was written by Ma’ariv journalist Ben Caspit.