Oleh Girl: Awake and On Edge

I couldn't have said it better:

Awake and On Edge But is anyone asleep in this region? Night-time is definitely the worst, not least because this is when the biggest things seem to happen. Those hours as the night creeps toward dawn and everyone's mind and body are at their weakest seem to be prime time for actions. Ours. Theirs. The other Theirs. The Other Other Theirs... Watching the news of course and thinking about our innocent citizens in the North crowded into bomb shelters and pacing the floors of their homes. I'm thinking of innocent people in Lebanon wondering what the hell might hit them. I'm thinking of the innocent people in Gaza who, no doubt, want to corner Meshal and Nasralla and beat them into a pulp. I'm thinking of our young soldiers, boys and girls, Jews, Arab-Israelis, Bedouins, and Druze; of our reservists pulled away from their studies, their wives, their children. I'm thinking of children in three countries who will endure lasting trauma. I'm thinking of all of those who lost innocent loved ones. I'm thinking of all these and my heart aches and feels like a stone is tied around it. I'm thinking of Hamas and Hezbollah, Syria and Iran and I'm gnashing my teeth and filled with rage. I'm thinking of 8 Palestinians who have died on the Egyptian border and nearly 3,000 more stranded there with inadequate food, water and shelter because their own government will not allow them to cross back into their territory for needed medical care. We, Israel, have been offering to let them cross, to escort them or allow the Red Cross to do so via either of two different crossings since they began arriving at the border but their government will not allow it. I'm thinking of the leaflets and flyers our forces have been dropping into the populated areas that we plan to attack --since this fiasco began -- warning civilians to please leave the area because an attack will be coming. We do this to try to avoid killing innocent civilians. We do this despite the fact that it alerts many of the terrorists we would like to target so that they also can leave beforehand. We do this despite the fact that it endangers our own troops by giving the militants a clear signal of where we will be striking and where they can thus strike our forces. I cannot think of any other country that has ever ever taken such steps to warn an opposing civilian population. Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the five million smaller terrorist groups certainly don't return the favour. No, they actively target our civilians. I am thinking of what Hamas, led by Meshal, and Hezbollah, led by Nasrallah, and both backed by Syria and Iran have done, what suffering they have caused and are causing to Israelis, yes, but to Palestinians and Lebanese too --in theory to their own people--and I am really beyond words. They do not have the interest of their people in mind. They have power and power of a very personal nature in mind. They should be very glad that we are acting with restraint. They should be very glad that we take more precautions on behalf of "their" people than they would ever deign to. I'm awake, pacing the floor and thinking. I'm watching the news.

Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East