Terrorists in Gaza, armed and financed by Iran, fired an anti-tank weapon at an Israeli school bus today, seriously injuring a 16-year-old and the driver. By a miracle, most of the students who had been on the bus minutes before, had disembarked — otherwise we would be mourning a major tragedy right now. Photos show the interior of the bus entirely destroyed.
There are several points to make about this attack: the target was a yellow bus, internationally known as a symbol of a vehicle used specifically to carry children. And the terrorists must have seen their target because the range of an anti-tank weapon is relatively short. We should recall that the Hamas Charter calls for the destruction of Israel and urges followers to kill Jews whenever possible.
Terrorists have already fired over 200 rockets and mortars at Israel this year from Gaza, compared to 238 for all of last year. It is only a matter of time until they cause major carnage. Yet Israel withdrew completely from Gaza in 2005.
The world needs to understand that Israel has the right and duty to defend its citizens. Yet when Israel tried to suppress rocket fire and destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza in December 2008, it was met with international condemnation and the biased, hate-filled Goldstone Report. Judge Goldstone himself now admits his report was fatally flawed.
The last few weeks have seen a new upsurge in deadly terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.
In Jerusalem, a bomb set in the busiest part of the city killed a 59-year-old woman and injured dozens more. Terrorists butchered a family of five including three children in the West Bank community of Itamar.
There is no chance for peace in the Middle East as long as organizations such as Hamas exist and as long as they are teaching hate and preaching violence and destruction.
