Such was the interview Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On gave to Israel Radio this morning (February 11). Zehava Gal-On has long been one of the more eloquent and respectable parliamentarians on the Israeli far-left. She led the left-wing part of the campaign to have Olmert resign in the wake of the Second Lebanon War, on the grounds that his leadership is ineffective to protect the people of Israel. Beyond our opposite political philosophies, I found myself cheering her on in her campaign against Olmert and in her demand to force the Winograd Committee to publish the evidence it heard from national leaders.
Over the weekend, many Israelis experienced another stage in the national process of finally waking up to what is happening in Sderot. The residents of Sderot are the heroes of modern-day Israel. They have been under constant attack for seven years. In 2007, an average of 5 rockets a day landed in the city, and so far in 2008, that number is higher. Yet these people continue to live, to shop, to go to school, to go to work, to do all that they need to do. For the most part, they live on working-class salaries, have medium-to-large families, and are steeped in a fierce pride of all they have achieved and all they represent. They have a determined loyalty to their history, their country and their people.
Yet Sderot is a city of 25,000 very frightened people. They are under constant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip – half a mile away – and are as a whole a traumatized community.
What Israelis are finally starting to realize is that the city of Sderot represents the entire State of Israel. When Rami and Osher Twito were seriously injured in a Kassam attack on Saturday night – with 8-year-old Osher losing a leg – they represented all of the people of Israel, and the people of Israel have taken notice. And just as the people of Sderot are not being defended and protected at all by the government of Israel, the residents of the rest of the country can count on the same level of protection.
The story of Rami and Osher Twito has been headline news for the past two days in Israel. And when Zehava Gal-On gave her interview this morning, she began by agreeing with "only one thing" that her predecessor had said – that the people of Sderot are heroes who are suffering due to the incompetence of our leaders. But Gal-On then went on to say that what is needed is a new idea that hasn't been tried before. She didn't suggest a military offensive to finally clean out the northern Gaza Strip and bring quiet to Sderot and its region, however refreshing such an idea would be.
Instead, she reminded everyone that Gilad Shalit is still in captivity in Gaza, and that what Israel should do is involve a third party as a negotiating broker with Hamas, and that in order to protect the Sderot area, we should ask for a multi-national military force to serve as a buffer. And here is the kicker. When the interviewer said that no European soldier would want to come here to die to protect us, she said that she wants to see a multi-national force made up of soldiers from Arab League countries positioned in Gaza to protect Israel from Palestinian rocketeers.
Does Gal-On honestly believe that by bringing more Arab soldiers into the Gaza Strip we will reach a situation where our southern boundaries become safe from Arab attack? Does she honestly believe that such a force would act to stop Hamas, Fatah and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza from attacking Israel? The UNIFIL forces in Lebanon, made up mostly of European soldiers from countries at peace with Israel, has been actively aiding and abetting Hizbullah for decades in their attempts to attack Israel. The Hizbullah attack that initiated the Second Lebanon War was carried out in full view of UNIFIL troops who did nothing to stop it. Missiles were even fired at Israel by Hizbullah terrorists positioned within UNIFIL bases, while any Israeli response over the years has met with UNIFIL interference. And Gal-On believes that soldiers from Arab countries will be better suited to protecting Israel than UNIFIL forces?
Gilad Shalit is in captivity because Palestinian terrorists feel that the kidnapping of one Israeli soldier is enough to protect the entire Gaza Strip from Israel. Shalit was kidnapped while he was serving to protect our country as only a Jewish soldier can. Now, his mere presence in Gaza serves to protect terrorists from Israeli attack. In Zehava Gal-On's mind – and apparently those of our national leadership – this is legitimate. While 25,000 people live under constant bombardment, one Israeli is protecting 1.5 million Palestinians and solidifying our own government's complete incompetence in protecting our citizens.
So here's an idea. Why not arrange a prisoner exchange with Hamas. They can return the heroic Gilad Shalit to Israel, where he can carry on his mission of protecting his country and his people through his service. Perhaps he can become the Mayor of Sderot and bring hope to the heroic people of that city. In return we can give Hamas Zehava Gal-On in his place. Then she can continue spouting her cowardly nonsense, and by her mere presence, serve far more efficiently to protect Hamas. In the same move, Gal-On would also be serving Israel's interests, which is after all her job.
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission of the author only.
