My trip to Israel

I left for Israel the day after Christmas. The news of impending war in the region surrounded my departure, but instead of debating the cancelation of my travel plans, I was trying to decide which coat to bring.

While the thought of rockets and mortars being shot into the very country I was visiting may frighten some, I experienced no trepidation as I climbed in the Golan Heights and walked the cobbled streets of Jerusalem.

Other than the occasional sonic boom passing overhead, I would not have realized there was even a war going on.

But while the fighting might not have affected me as a tourist, it certainly hit close to home with the citizens of the country. Service in the Israeli Defense Force is mandatory for women and men after they graduate high school, and having the entire population on reserve helps explain how the army can maneuver so effectively in a crisis.

That, however, does not justify why it must exercise the power that it has. Even with my Jewish upbringing and Zionist beliefs, it took some time before I could understand why Israel would use such brute force against the Gaza Strip. The conclusions that I came to were not ones of pride, but of necessity to preserve one’s way of life.

In any conflict, there are root causes for why certain decisions must be made. The IDF has a long history of protecting not only its people, but its very right to exist. While in America we may fight for foreign interests and political ideology, every war Israel engages in is a fight for its survival. In a region where surrounding countries don’t recognize their statehood and foreign leaders call for its destruction, Israel must respond with force to any attack on its sovereignty. If it does not, no one else will.

Hamas – a terrorist organization – of course understands this, and that is why the war has unfolded the way it has. By manipulating the IDF into making questionable attacks in Gaza, the terrorist group has been able to glean good press from the conflict.

Their operations are carried out in mosques, schools and hospitals, specifically chosen to put the blood of the innocent on the hands of the Israeli army. So while Israel’s response to Hamas’ incessant but negligibly damaging rocket fire may seem extreme, it is in fact the only course of action for the country if it wishes to maintain its livelihood.

It is for this reason that I could stand before the Western Wall a week ago while missiles and gunfire were being shot 60 miles away and not feel their effect. Israel does everything it must to continue a semblance of normality even under the most dire of circumstances.

As a country perpetually under attack, Israel must not only carry a big stick, but use it as well.