While many nations turn their backs on Israel, the United States remains a beacon of steadfast support for the Jewish State. This past week Israel experienced the wrath of those who seek to destroy her, yet in those dark hours helping hands extended in the light of true friendship reassured our people we have a powerful and strong ally in the United States. Over the past week, as rockets from Gaza hammered Southern Israel, a delegation of American lawmakers (the last of three bipartisan delegations this month) toured Israel in an unmistakable show of allegiance to America’s greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel.

Last Thursday’s series of terrorist attacks revealed Israel’s lesser known yet very powerful enemies. The Western media is all too familiar with the Hamas organization and its terroristic tendencies, but now we face smaller individual groups such as Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) as well. The Popular Resistance Committees is a small terrorist organization with extensive operational capabilities. Several years ago it split into three factions, two of which collaborate with Hamas and in effect operate under its aegis. The third faction, called the Army of Islam, is affiliated with the global jihad, and carries out terrorist attacks independently, occasionally challenging Hamas and its “restrained” attack policy.

Israel remains a military might in the region (owing much of that to the $301BN in aid we receive from the United States annually), but our enemies grow stronger. Over the past month weapons smuggling into Gaza has increased. Looters are continuing to exploit the turmoil in Libya by raiding army storehouses and smuggling scored arms and ammunition into Gaza through the Gaza-Egypt border. This fresh stock of arms comes in addition to the usual loads smuggled into Gaza by Iran via Sudan.

While Israel faces staunch enemies a stones throw away, she will prevail. In the passing week the Iron Dome System, purchased with funds from the U.S., intercepted a dozen rockets fired into Southern Israel. I thank all those friends of Israel in the Southeast for their moral, political and sometimes even monetary show of support.