Israel’s reality: 15 seconds to save your life
Try to imagine how horrible it feels to be under constant rocket fire and to have less than 15 seconds to run in order to save your life and that of your loved ones. What would Romanians do if such a threat came from a terrorist organization active at Romania’s borders?
In the last month, Israel has again been the target of barrage of missiles fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, reaching many of our cities and towns, among them Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. This latest round reached a peak recently, when hundreds of missiles threatened the lives of more than 3.5 million Israeli citizens, representing approximately 40% of the country’s population.
Israel cannot tolerate such a situation, and no country would accept such a threat. Therefore, the Government of Israel decided on 7 July to initiate Operation "Protective Edge", with the objective to damage Hamas’s capabilities and to destroy terror infrastructures in Gaza, in order to restore stability and peace.
The State of Israel holds the Hamas responsible for this escalation. Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization not only by Israel, but also by the European Union, the United States, and other like-minded countries around the world. Hamas is similar in its characteristics, ideology and operational methods to other extremist Islamist organizations in the Middle East and elsewhere, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah. This terrorist organisation aspires to establish an Islamist state by violating human rights and repressing women and minority groups, including Christians. Hamas' ultimate goal is the destruction of the State of Israel and the statements of its leaders, past and present, encourage shooting and abducting Israeli civilians, as indicated in its charter.
Since the Israeli withdrawal in 2005 from the Gaza Strip, approximately 9.000 rockets, missiles, and 5.000 mortar bombs have been fired at Israel. And today, Hamas possesses about 12.000 missiles of various ranges. It has the intention of killing Israelis and does not hesitate even to launch rockets from the midst of its own civilians, Palestinians, thereby using Gaza residents as human shields and civilian infrastructures, like hospitals and schools, for its terrorist activities.
Israel showed great restraint during three weeks of continuous fire from Gaza, but no more. Israel has the right of self-defense, as any other country, and it is making every effort to avoid causing harm to innocent civilians.
The State of Israel is determined to protect its people and will continue to act as necessary until security is achieved.
Dan Ben-Eliezer
Ambassador