Pillar of Defence ~ A Week of War!!!!

"Then the angel of HaShem, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel".    ~  Bamidbar 14.19+20 ~

The midrash on this section ~ which is cited by Rashi ~  is that they [the Egyptians] shot arrows and catapult stones at them, but the angel and cloud caught them.  For a campaign intended to halt the barrage of rockets rained down on Southern Israel in the last week, “Pillar of Cloud” is thus a particularly apt title. Just as the cloud protected B'nei Yisrael from Egyptian projectiles, so to does the IDF protect Israel’s citizens from the Rockets of the philishti.  However, a literal translation of עמוד ענן ~  “Pillar of Cloud” ~ fails to convey fully the meaning of the allusion with total clarity to an audience not well versed in Torah. As such, the IDF chose “Pillar of Defence” as the campaign’s English designation, a conceptual translation which makes clear the intended meaning of the Hebrew.  And we KNOW in our hearts as Jews that it is HaShem who is our protection today, as always, B"H!!

"And Ha'Shem went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light,  that they might go by day and by night ...." 
~  Shemot 13.21 ~

During this week of war I actually posted a great deal,  mostly posters & pictures with brief comments just not here on my blog which I have somewhat neglected.  For that I apologise & I aim to rectify this weekend with an amalgam of those postings in this as a start to a series of blogs portraying Israel's Week at War!

On November 14th,  in response to incessant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense.  The operation opened when the IDF surgically targeted Ahmed Jabri, the head of Hamas' military wing, in the Gaza Strip. Jabri was a senior Hamas operative who served in the upper echelon of the Hamas' command and was directly responsible for executing terror attacks against Israel in the past,  most notable perhaps being commanding the operation to Kidnap & detain Sgt. Gilad Shalit in a Gaza dungeon for five years.  It was successful as you can see in the footage below, B"H!

Since Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007, the terrorist group has turned the coastal area into a forward base for showering the South of Israel with Rocket Fire.  But the Missiles didn't start then  ..... In fact, Hamas has been targeting the Israeli Home Front since 2001, and firing rockets on a near-daily basis for years. The number of rocket attacks coming from the Gaza Strip, since 2001, has been put at 7,882, with an estimated 4,890 mortar attacks, for a total of 12,791 attacks. The rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip are responsible for approximately 60 Israeli deaths and 1,650 Israelis injured in that time.  The media has failed to show the seriousness of what living under such bombardment means. How terrifying and traumatising it actually is!!!  

I have blogged it before ....  Tzeva Adom .... Israel Under Fire!!!     and  Rocket Rain Requires Retribution!!!    and   A September Sunday in Sderot!!!   and in many more blogs over the past two years.  

Would you live like this and then be branded as the Agressor??????  

For no matter what Israel does, nor how moral or defensive her actions, harsh international condemnation persists unabated.  The IAF & the IDF are the Most Moral Fighting Force in the History of Warfare itself ....  Calling Off Airstrikes when Civilians are seen near Target areas,  Mass leafletting of warning of impending airstrikes in the area and advising civilians on how best to stay safe.  Thousands of telephone calls and Text messages were made to civilians.  A far cry from considering civilians and children as the 'Human Shields' Hamas considers them to be.  Yet, Biased Broadcasting, Hostility and Outright Lies have persisted throughout this defensive operation in a disgraceful show of anti semitism. 


I shall take up that question separately as it is deserving of a blog to itself.  I have dozens of photographs which tell the tale of the toll of this war  ...... Images of Israel will be posted next!!

And I will send fire into the wall of Gaza, and it shall consume its Palaces
~ Amos 1.7 ~

Could Ha'Shem get any Clearer????