Rafah - A Lesson for Gazans; A Lesson for the World

 I want to show you a picture...but first I want to tell you something - how the picture makes me feel.

I grew up in a liberal American Conservative Jewish home where the Democrats were right and the Republicans were wrong; where all men (and women) were created equal...oh, not in practice, of course, but in the theoretical world of that time.

When I moved to Israel, at first it was hard for me to drive easily through a checkpoint with a quick nod from a cute young soldier while the car next to me, behind me or in front of me, was stopped. The Arab in the car was asked to show identification, to open his trunk.

It was then the image of human rights began to shift in my mind. And when I heard Arnold Roth, father of Malka, who was murdered in the Sbarro terror attack in 2001, answer a question...I found an answer.

A rather stupid journalist asked Arnold whether he was concerned about the quality of life of Palestinians who were living behind the security fence/wall that Israel had built. A fence/wall that cut terror attacks in Israel down by 90% and to this day is credited with saving thousands and thousands of lives.

Arnold's answer was, "don't speak to me about the quality of their lives, when my daughter has no life". Her life was stolen when she was only 15-years-old, where she went to join her friends for pizza on a beautiful, sunny August day.

This picture. This is Rafah. Where Biden demanded Israel not enter. Where Israel rescued some hostages and found traces of many others. Rafah is where Hersh Goldberg Polin was found, executed with 5 other Israeli hostages.

Rafah, where Sinwar was hiding and was ultimately killed. The young American that I was would be horrified by this picture. The Israeli that I am now thinks that this is a picture the world should see.

This is what happens when you mess with Israel, when you attack our children, rape our daughters. This is what happens when you burn our people alive, kidnap our people.

The best thing about this picture is that it was all so unnecessary, so easy to avoid. Don't attack Israel - build your cities; attack us - wallow in the rubble.
This picture is a message. We're done worrying about the world's opinion. We're going to get condemned anyway, right? So what that means is that the only moral obligation we have, is to follow our moral code.

We do not kill innocents. We do not rape women. We do not burn people alive. We do not target civilians.

We do not, have not, will not commit genocide. Believe us? Don't believe us?

Truth is - we don't care anymore. This picture is a promise to anyone foolish enough to think there will ever be another October 7.

Because if there is, if you do this, this is what your city will look like.

Does that bother you? Good. Wonderful.

We can live with that. We will live with that.