I have a little advice for Israel: Stop caring about what others think of you. Muslims will never stop hating you because you are infidels. Leftists and international liberals will never stop hating you because you are Jewish. Europe will never stop hating you because you are a reminder of their moral failings. That is reality. Accept it. You will never, short of national suicide, be able to get most people to agree that you have a right to defend yourselves. Do it anyway.

Stop trying to minimize Palestinian casualties. The Palestinian people voted for Hamas knowing full well the Hamas charter calls for the extermination of all Jews in Israel. Stop sending food, electricity, fuel, water and medicine to people who train their children to become suicide bombers. Stop radioing warnings to people who love death. Trying to minimize suffering only makes the Palestinians think they can wage war as much as they want and stop whenever they please. Begging for peace simply makes the Palestinians treat you with contempt.

You want the children of Sderot, Ashkelon, and all the other places that are rocket shooting galleries of Hamas to live without fear? Very well, here is what you have to do. Take a lesson from the Russians in Grozny. When they had to fight the Chechens, they did not send them electricity, food and medicine. They leveled Grozny with artillery and killed tens of thousands of Muslims. And you know what? No one protested, no one condemned them in the UN, in short, no one did anything. Why? Because the Russians made it clear they had the power to defend themselves, the will to use it and the self-respect not to be ashamed of doing so. Plus the self-confidence not to care what the rest of the world thinks of them.

It is quite true that the world never even heard of Sderot hitherto to the Israeli military strike in Gaza. No one possessed knowledge of the incessant rocket attacks on this beleaguered town or of personal stories of its emotionally traumatized residents. No one ever heard of the fact that organizations are collecting funds to build a “subterranean” playground for Sderot’s children because they can’t play in the light of day as other children do. No one ever heard of the 15 second warning siren that arouses residents out of their beds at night to alert them of an impending rocket attack, while they feverishly rush into cold, barren bomb shelters.

But the truth is, this is not a new story. The public relations nightmare is thus a symptom of a horrific disease plaguing the Jewish people and the land of Israel. Israel is always portrayed as the aggressor, simply for one reason. According to the world’s standards, Jews are not permitted to defend themselves. Why so? Why does the world allow for every other nation to defend itself and not Israel? We must look to ourselves. Because Jews have always had a guilt complex about standing up for themselves, thus, the world manipulates us and plays upon our fears and insecurities.

If the Jewish people and the nation of Israel would have projected the belief that we are “entitled” to defend ourselves as does the rest of the world, behaving as though it is a given, without guilt or apologies then I believe the world would be treating us a lot differently. People don’t change. Their behavior towards us only changes when WE change.

Tragically, the Leftist Jews that Dr. Chesler mentions here may never learn that lesson because of the guilt they possess about being a Jew. “We are morally obligated to care about everyone else, even and especially our hard core enemies”!!, they cry out in indignation.

Their warped and distorted perception of being a Jew is to morph in to a self- loathing masochist, sans a modicum of self-pride or dignity. While it is incumbent upon the Jewish people to show compassion to our neighbors, to strive with all of our intestinal fortitude to achieve “peace” at all costs, to make painful compromises to attain this lofty goal, there are no moral guidelines that enjoin us to endure abuse and suffering.

At the end of the day, so to speak, the bottom line is we’d rather be hated by the whole world than to have another Auschwitz that’s loved by it.

Thank you for this perspective. Hopefully it will awaken those still sleeping.

It angers me that any nation would call or Israel to cease fire! They wouldn’t if it had been thier country which was attacked over and over and over! ENOUGH!

Israel has the GOD given right to protect herself and her people! May God be with these young men and woman and guide them as another generation steps forth to protect what God promised and gave to Israel.

If I were younger…I too, would stand with Israel and defend her with all my strength!

May God be with all.