Editor’s Note: This article was submitted before a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on Wednesday.
Today, after more than seven years of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in exchange for peace, we stand faced with increased rocket fire from Hamas, an organization on the United States State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
In the past 12 years, more than 12,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel.
In the past year, more than 800 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel.
In the past few days, more than 1,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel.
I propose a simple question with a complex answer: When is it enough?
On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States.
Within days and with overwhelming support, the United States government declared the “War on Terror.”
American officials did not wait until further attacks or further terror to guarantee the safety and protection of its citizens.
Why is Israel held to a different standard?
Hamas, labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, the EU and Israel, fired countless rockets into Israel last week, as they have done historically.
This is unequivocally an act of terror by a terrorist organization.
To clarify media misconceptions, the current situation between Gaza and Israel is not a matter of the Israeli government versus the Palestinian leadership; it is a conflict of increased terrorist activity, spurred by Hamas and backed by Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, onto the citizens of Israel.
“There is no moral symmetry; there is no moral equivalence, between Israel and the terrorist organizations in Gaza,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hamas has made it clear through its charter that its main goal is the destruction of the people and the state of Israel by any means necessary.
“The terrorists are committing a double-war crime. They fire at Israeli civilians, and they hide behind Palestinian civilians,” said Netanyahu.
The Israeli Defense Forces strategically targets infrastructure, including weapons stockpiles, in Gaza and has taken extraordinary steps to minimize Palestinian casualties.
The Israeli Defense Forces go as far as to send out thousands of leaflets, phone calls, text messages and radio signals, warning civilians to leave Hamas areas.
Despite the conflict, Israel continues to send food, water, electricity and medical supplies into Gaza.
Israel, as a sovereign nation, has every right to protect itself from Hamas, a terrorist organization, just like the U.S. had every right to protect itself from Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization, 11 years ago.
I ask again.
When is it enough?
It is enough now.
The terror has to stop now.
The bombs have to stop now.
The sirens have to stop now.
We need peace now.
The first female prime minister of Israel, Golda Meir, put it perfectly:
“Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
I know where I stand today.
I stand for peace.
I stand for prosperity.
I stand for security.
I stand with America.
I stand with our allies.
I stand with Israel.
I stand with Israel, today, tomorrow and always.
Am Yisrael Chai.
The people of Israel live.
Nicole Krassner is the president of Gators for Israel and a political science and business senior at UF. You can contact her via opinions@alligator.org.
