There have been many questions bouncing around in the media this week. Why is Israel at war? Why are there so many Hamas militia dead? Why are Hamas firing rockets at Israel? A war of resistance, some say. Israel is holding a siege against Gaza. Palestinians are starving and suffering.

For those who seek objective answers to those questions, it is crucial to understand the impact that Palestinian rocket terror has had on Sderot and the western Negev in the past eight years.

During this time period, an estimated 8,000-10,000 Palestinian rockets have been fired at Sderot and the western Negev from the Gaza Strip. Hamas has targeted the civilian population of Israel for far too long, and the toll it has exacted on Sderot and the western Negev has been devastating.

Hundreds of Israelis homes and properties have been destroyed, over 700 Israelis wounded, and thousands psychologically traumatized by Palestinian rocket fire. Periodically, schools in Sderot and the western Negev have been forced to close during periods of intensive rocket attacks. Normal life has cruelly transformed into a marathon of 15 seconds, (the number of seconds one has to escape to shelter when the Tzeva Adom, or Red Color alert is set off by an impending Palestinian rocket).

Sderot and western Negev residents have been forced to sit and endure Palestinian rocket terror to the point that there is now a generation of eight year old Sderot children who are showing signs of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as early as age three.

In a recent report in the major Israeli newspaper, Ma’ariv, Yaron Sasson writes of children in Sderot being born into a period of siren alerts, or Tzeva Adoms and the sound of Qassam explosions. These sounds of war have become part of the psychological makeup of Sderot children. It is not surprising then that psychological research conducted among Sderot residents has produced some very disturbing findings.

According to research done by Sderot’s Hosen Center, a treatment center that offers support and counseling to Sderot residents during times of emergency, there is major problem appearing in young Sderot children, the generation born into Qassams.

Clinical psychologists working at the center discovered that many Sderot children are not developing speaking skills at a rate appropriate to their age. A normal child learns to speak around the age of one. But many children in Sderot have not even begun to speak by the age of three or even four. Those who are able to speak, stutter and cannot complete words.

Dalia Yosef, director of the Sderot Hosen Center, explains that the constant rocket fire upon Sderot has created a state of stress and panic that has dramatically impacted the development of young Sderot children.

Yosef and the clinical psychologists who work with her, counsel Sderot children from the ages of one to 18, offering treatment for a wide variety of issues.

“It is important to note,” says Yosef, “that these Sderot children have been born into a reality of constant rocket fire. The world, as it appears to them, is unsafe and scary, full of insecurity and chaos. Their sense of security has been shattered by the continuous rocket attacks.”

“These children develop symptoms of PTSD early on, suffering from sleeping disorders, nightmares and anxiety attacks. Many experience regression, going back to wetting their beds,” says Yosef.

Those children whose parents suffer from signs of post traumatic stress disorder, have even more complicated issues. According to Yosef, children of parents diagnosed with PTSD sense that their parents cannot protect them. “These kids’ problems are even more severe than kids whose parents are more psychologically stable,” says Youssef. In Sderot, 30% of adults have been diagnosed with PTSD.

Yosef that explains that a young child hears the rapid breathing of his parent, when the Tzeva Adom sound and understands that his parent is frightened. “Once the child understands this, then he perceives that the world is unsafe and that his parent is unable to properly protect him,” adds Yosef. “The parent feels threatened and so does the child. Later on, this feeling of insecurity and stress affects the child in areas like speech, hindering normal speech development.”

Younger children go back to the bottle, to the pacifier, and have extreme difficulty separating from the parents. “Kids are scared to go to the bathroom or to the shower by themselves, because of the fear of a rocket strike,” says Yosef. “The situation has created unhealthy relationships within the family unit. Children as old as 12 sleep with their parents.”

Even during the recent ceasefire or days where Qassams don’t fall regularly on Sderot, the trauma and stress continue because people continue to anticipate rocket attacks. “Only a permanent long term quiet will help these children and their parents recover,” says Yosef. “The moment there is a siren alert and a rocket explosion, all the progress we have made in the treatment is destroyed.”

The Sderot Hosen Center offers treatment for children and parents together. “We give parents the tools and skills need to maintain a sense of calm in situations of terror,” explains Yosef. “Because parents are the authority figures in the family, we focus on them and try to identify ways in which they can be more relaxed in this tense environment.”

Livnat Shaubi, a lifelong resident of Sderot and the oldest in a family of 11 children, recently spent an entire day with her younger siblings, helping them find ways to cope with the Hamas war on southern Israel. After spending four days at home, exhausting Lego, board games, and playing balls, the Shaubi boy–Hananel, David, and Yehuda, ages 5, 7 and 11, respectively, created Qassam rockets from plastic bottles they found lying in the house.

“Like other Sderot kids, my mom cannot allow my younger siblings to play outside during these periods of rocket attacks. We stay inside in the bomb shelter, but my brothers are desparate for things to do. These plastic Qassam rockets simply reflect the reality they’ve been born into.”

Shaubi told Sderot Media Center that the first words her five-year-old brother, Hananel learned to say, along with Daddy and Mommy, were ‘Tzeva Adom’ (Red Color, the name for the siren alert).

“These kids know war,” she adds. “Soon it will be the children in Be’er Sheva, Ashkelon and Ashdod, who will join them.”

And this is exactly why Israel is currently engaged in this war–to prevent the tragedy of Sderot from spreading to one million other Israelis–who are currently experiencing for their first time the impact of Palestinian rocket attacks in major Israeli cities. Israel’s children and Gaza’s children deserve a quiet future, one with normal childhood experiences, where threats in the form of Palestinian rockets are finally laid to rest.

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• Dvir ben Laya – seriously injured;
• Noam ben Aliza – one leg amputated; doctors fighting to save the other;
• Li’el Hoshea ben Miriam – serious head injury;
• Neriya ben Rivka – serious head injury;
• Yitzchak ben Navah – moderate shoulder injury;
• Netanel ben Navah – moderate shrapnel wounds to a lower extremity;
• Maxim ben Olga – light lower extremity injury;
• Yisrael ben Ilana – light shrapnel injury to an ear;
• Yo’ad Ido ben Frieda Rivka – light shrapnel injuries;
• Idan ben Liora – light shrapnel injuries;
• Nadav ben Miriam – light shrapnel injuries

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This week, Israeli warplanes pounded Hamas strongholds in the Gaza Strip. The goal of the operation is to strike a major blow to Hamas’s terror infrastructure and the ability of Hamas and its allied organizations to launch missiles and mortar shells at Israeli citizens and execute terror attacks of various kinds, such as kidnapping Israeli civilians.

As casualties mount, media coverage of the fighting will form public opinion, ultimately determining Israel’s ability to complete the necessary operation. Following is a quick guide to some of the big issues.

Why is Israel bombing Gaza when innocent civilians are being killed?

Israel never targets civilians. The death of innocent civilians is regrettable under any circumstances and every effort is made to avoid civilian casualties. That imperative must be balanced with the need to protect Israeli civilians, who suffer from ongoing attacks from Gaza. But while the Palestinians fire Kassam rockets indiscriminately into Israeli territory, Israel launches pinpoint strikes at Hamas infrastructure. Prior to launching any large-scale attacks, Israel spent many months identifying Hamas’ strongholds and training facilities. The Israeli Air Force also managed to hit “secret” targets such as underground missile launchers and arms catches — a testament to Israel’s great effort to ensure that air strikes weaken Hamas without harming innocent Palestinians.

Israel does not want a humanitarian crisis, and Hamas is the cause of the suffering and distress of the population there.

Unfortunately, Hamas has never shown the same level of concern for either Israeli or Palestinian civilians. On one hand, Hamas has fired thousands of missiles into Israeli territory, killing and wounding hundreds.

On the other hand, rather than seeking the well-being of the Palestinians under its control in Gaza, Hamas has exploited its civilian population — and Israel’s reluctance to cause civilian casualties — by placing non-combatants in and around areas likely to be targeted by Israel. Hamas brings women and children up to the roofs of buildings housing terrorist activity in an attempt to prevent air strikes; it sends civilians to the line of fire; it works out of schools and mosques; it fires rockets out of crowded population centers; and it sends Palestinian mothers to murder Israeli children in suicide attacks.

In addition, many of Hamas’ arms smuggling tunnels are hidden beneath the homes of Palestinian civilians.

This cynical use of human shields is illegal under international law and the cause of many needless Palestinian deaths. Therefore, the responsibility for Palestinian civilian casualties lies with Hamas, not Israel.

The number of Palestinians casualties is much higher. Isn’t that proof of Israeli wrongdoing?

The reason that Israel suffers less casualties is because it has a superior army, and has spent millions of dollars on civil defense infrastructure (neighborhood bomb shelters, reinforced concrete playgrounds for children, etc.).

Also, Israeli hospitals are well-equipped to handle the wounded. Not just Jews, but Gazans, too! In Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital, “dozens of Gaza Arabs are being treated… at the same time terrorists are bombarding the city.” (“Israeli Hospital Cares for Sick and Injured Gaza Arabs,” by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, Israel National News, December 29, 2008)

By contrast, in the Gaza hospitals, “armed Hamas militants in civilian clothes roamed the halls” where they shot and killed other Palestinians. (“No Early End Seen to ‘All-Out War’ on Hamas in Gaza,” by Ethan Bronner and Taghreed El-Khodary, New York Times, December 29, 2008)

Shockingly, Hamas is not even allowing wounded Palestinians access to medical treatment. “We are waiting for the wounded Palestinians to cross. They are not being allowed to cross,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters. Asked who was to blame, he said: “Ask the party in control on the ground in Gaza.” (“Egypt: Hamas denying Gaza wounded treatment in Egypt,” by Alaa Shahine, Reuters, December 28, 2008)

It is absurd to assign the “moral high-ground” to he who suffers the most causalities. By this yardstick, during World War Two the Axis forces would be considered the “victims” against the Allied “aggressors.”

Isn’t Israel’s operation a violation of the Hamas truce?

Hamas is responsible for the situation, since it violated the calm, is firing against and attacking Israeli citizens, and is investing all its resources in arming itself and gathering power.

The truce brokered by Egypt was exploited by Hamas not only to employ terror against Israel’s citizens, but also to gain strength and massively arm itself with the intention of increasing their capacity for terror and expanding the range of the threat against Israeli citizens. Hamas men were being smuggled out and were being trained in Iran and Syria.

Hamas shoots harmless, homemade rockets, and Israel responds with fighter jets and precision-guided missiles. Isn’t that excessive force?

The Palestinians have long cultivated an image of victimhood to win world sympathy and demand Israeli restraint in the face of Palestinian aggression. In reality, the Palestinians’ so-called “primitive” Kassam rocket has killed and wounded hundreds of Israeli civilians. The number of casualties would be even higher without Israeli security measures such as early-warning alarms in areas under rocket threat that allow Israelis to escape into bomb shelters. Hamas has also fired medium-range Grad-type Katyusha rockets, placing more than 250,000 Israeli civilians under direct threat of rocket fire.

Given the Palestinian fire power and their willingness to use it, it is clear that the charge of “excessive force” is simply the latest incarnation of the Palestinian strategy of “victimhood.” Terror groups fire indiscriminately at innocent Israelis and then complain of excessive or disproportionate force when Israel fires back. But according to internationally accepted laws of war, Israel is permitted to respond with the force necessary to end the conflict.

It is also important to examine the intent behind the use of weapons. Palestinian terrorists do everything in their power to hurt or kill as many Israeli civilians as possible; Israel is using its advanced weaponry to protect Palestinian civilians from harm.

Isn’t Hamas entitled to defend its territory against Israeli occupation?

Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip in 2005, uprooting thousands of its own citizens in order to uphold internationally-recognized borders in Gaza. The Palestinians have no further territorial claims against Israel in Gaza. But instead of working to improve the quality of life for its citizens, Hamas has focused on improving the range and accuracy of its Kassam missiles and mortars and increasing its store of weapons. The Palestinian rockets, therefore, can only be seen as aggression against Israel with no moral basis.

Palestinians have fired more than 6,000 rockets and mortars into Israel since the Israeli withdrawal — all without provocation. The rocket fire even continued during the six-months of “calm” in the Gaza area that ended last Friday. Since then, Hamas stepped up rocket fire substantially, launching 170 rockets at Israel over eight days, an average of more than 20 rockets a day.

No country in the world would allow this type of onslaught against its citizens. As President-elect Barack Obama said during his visit to the rocket-battered town of Sderot five months ago, “If someone was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing.”

Isn’t Hamas the democratically-elected government in Gaza? Why is Israel trying to overthrow it?

Hamas promotes itself as the legitimate power in Gaza. In reality, Hamas is at its core a terrorist organization that refuses to renounce violence or recognize Israel’s right to exist. Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Hamas came to power in Gaza through a violent coup against the Palestinian Authority government. The international community continues to recognize the PA, under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, as the legitimate Palestinian government in the Palestinian territories. At the same time Israel is fighting terror, the government is deliberately and openly maintaining a political process with the Palestinian government Abbas. Hamas opposes these negotiations and any settlement with Israel, and constitutes an unstable element in the region.

Hamas steadfastly refuses to recognize Israel and continues to launch attacks on its neighbor. Since Hamas refuses to live in peace with Israel, the Israeli government has no choice but to seek Hamas’ replacement.

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Men and women are urged to attend a communal gathering for tefillah (prayer) at Congregation Ohr HaTorah, Tuesday, January 6th, at 8:00 PM.  We daven that Hashem should shield our brothers and sisters in Israel, and bring us a speedy salvation.

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See and hear the very inspirational words of Rabbi Yisroel Reisman.

Watch the video.

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