17-Jul-06: Dvarim Sh'ro'im Misham Lo Ro'im Mikan

This is the not the first missile war we've endured. After years of military build-up and months of explicit threats, an egotistical, nationalistic, power-drunk despot living in our near-neighbourhood opened up with barrages of missiles in mid-January 1991. His weaponry was not directed at Israeli military or strategic targets but, like the actions of a petulant child throwing a tantrum with his dinner food, were simply flung at any reachable part of the other party's territory.

We sat in our sealed rooms here in Jerusalem, gas-masks jammed onto our faces (very unpleasant but bearable) and onto our children's faces (simply unbearable for us parents). Fifteen years later, the memory of it still elicits a shudder.

Saddam Hussein is behind bars these days and on trial for his life. Hassan Nasrallah, however, is at the very peak of his powers in a bomb-proof bunker deep inside devastated Beirut. To judge from last night's television news footage, Nasrallah is simply thrilled to bits with how the war he single-handedly provoked is going. He's literally glowing: anyone who has seen the video clips knows what we mean.

Like the Butcher of Baghdad and some other prominent Jihadist personalities, Hezbullah's fuehrer has a way with words. He's direct, frank, unambiguous and perfectly willing to telegraph his intentions day or night. And unlike the political leaders we're more familiar with, this one means exactly what he says and does what he threatens to do. By way of illustration (and there are plenty more where this came from) here is part of a Nasrallah speech delivered to a cheering throng two months ago:

"A year ago today I said in Bint Jbeil that the resistance has more than 12,000 missiles. When I say "More than 12,000 missiles", it doesn't mean 13,000... I acknowledge that for many years - since 1992, to be precise - the resistance has had a significant and respectable missile capability, both in quantity and quality. Therefore, I can tell you that the north of occupied Palestine is entirely within the range of the missiles of the Lebanese resistance. This, of course, is the minimum. As for reaching beyond the north - the less said the better. We have no reason to say whether or not we have such capabilities. Let's keep quiet about this. Today the north is within the range of the missiles of the resistance - their ports, their bases, their factories, everything... This creates a balance between the north of Palestine and the south of Lebanon and Lebanon in its entirety... I say to the people of the settlements in the north of occupied Palestine: On behalf of Hizbullah, I recommend that you go down to the bomb shelters within two hours..."

There it is, from the horse's mouth, and you don't need fluent Arabic to comprehend it: the war front, opened up a week ago right across the north of Israel, has been fourteen years in the preparing.

What does this tell us about the prospects for a negotiated settlement? About the value of bringing in yet another international observer force? About the good sense of the BBC's editors and journalists who choose to wrap up the violent events of the past week this way:

"Israel launched operations in Lebanon after Hezbollah seized two of its soldiers and killed eight others in a border raid last Wednesday."

Really? And has nothing else happened that might explain Israeli forces firing on Lebanon? Go now to the BBC's news page on this war and you'll see a report which manages to give you all the information that Bush House wants you to know about this war: no mention of Israeli losses, no mention of damage to Israeli homes, towns and lives; not even a hint of a reference to half of Israel's population being under fire at this very moment. Not one word.

From conversations with other Israelis who lived through the 1991 Iraqi missile attacks, we know that the memories of those difficult, uncertain and not-so-distant days still cast a dark shadow. We shared a sense of all being in this together. All of us at risk, equally. And all of us equally frustrated.

Why frustrated? Because we hadn't done anything to bring this on ourselves. It wasn't about Israeli aggression, Israeli colonialism, Israeli racism, Israeli occupation, Israeli anything. We were dragged shouting and waving our arms into a shooting war engineered by bad neighbors.

Frustrated also because Israeli forces, at the insistence of the US administration, sat that war out from beginning to end. Missiles were destroying houses and apartment buildings in Tel-Aviv and Haifa, and the Likud government was keeping its forces firmly on the leash and out of the battle. Not a single Israeli bullet was fired back at the Iraqis. The IDF's involvement was limited to rescuing Israelis buried in the ruins of their homes and explaining the strategic situation to us on television and radio. And though the war did go America's way, US forces somehow found themselves fighting the same war twelve years later... all of which conveyed some lessons that Israelis won't forget in a hurry .
The sedation of the nation had other elements as well, including music. Among the soothing tunes that pre-cable Israel television and radio broadcast into our sealed rooms, we remember a Matti Caspi/Yehudit Ravitz song whose key line, repeated over and again, translates into English this way: "Things that you see from over there, we don't see them here." That captured a significant part of what went through the nation's consciousness, and perhaps still does.

Things that you see there - on the front pages of your mainstream media newspapers, in the lead stories of your national news programs - look very different when viewed from here.

The frustration of 1991 has another aspect, one we've encountered in visits outside Israel. "What's the big deal? Only a handful of Israelis were killed. You're making a big deal for no reason." So here's the scoop: it's true. It's no big deal at all when missiles fall on Israel, when families are obliged to lock themselves into air-raid shelters, when bombs fall onto open fields and occasionally on top of the odd house or apartment building or school. Really, no big deal. Truly nothing to break into a sweat about.

Unless you live there. Unless there is an existential danger to you and your wife and children. Then things tend to look altogether different.

Allow us to share with you how things look from here, today, Tuesday afternoon. Just a few snippets from among many:

• A powerful terrorist bomb was found a couple of hours ago in the bag of a suspicious-looking young Palestinian Arab right at the doorstep of the City Hall in the nation's capital. Where they found the courage to do so is beyond us, but some alert police on foot patrol in the heart of Jerusalem, just a few minutes walk from where our daughter was murdered five years earlier by another young man who was not intercepted, told him to stop. A 5kg explosive was in his bag, and he quickly admitted to being en route to his 72 virgins. 5kg is enough to blow away a dozen people and destroy several buildings. Did this make it into your local news?
• IDF forces in Nablus, engaged in apprehending an Al-Aksa (Fatah) terrorist, came under fire. 3 soldiers were wounded, one was killed, by an explosion. "Dozens of residents gathered around the soldier's body and burst into shouts of happiness in front of the Arab media's television cameras… A senior member of the Brigades tells Ynet that his people hold part of the killed soldier's body…" Holding onto a body part. Words don't do justice to the revulsion but be sure this report will go nowhere outside this country.
• 20 Qassam rockets were fired into Israel's southern towns - Sderot, Nahal Oz and Ashkelon - during this past night.
• Katyusha missiles struck Haifa (in the picture above), Carmiel, Tiberias and Safed earlier this afternoon, and another attack on Haifa is happening as we write these lines. Also today, Hezbollah missiles struck the southern Golan Heights, Kiryat Shmona, Acre (including a direct hit on a house landing just a few meters away from a couple as they slept and injuring 3 family members), Talal, Julis, Abu Snan, Kafr Yassif and other towns across the north. A barrage of rockets landed in Afula, Upper Nazareth, Migdal Ha'emek and Givat Ela late last night.
• Fifty Katyusha missiles have struck towns and cities across northern Israel in the past three hours. (It's now 3.45pm)

We fantasize about those pundits, politicians and prelates who declare Israeli anti-terror actions disproportionate being obliged to listen to the melodious Yehudit Ravitz. Things that you see from your distant vantage point in safe, far-away London, Washington or Melbourne tend to look very different from here at Ground Zero.

But since that's not going to happen, we offer a different suggestion especially for the journalists and editors reading these lines. Before their views are allowed out into the world of newsworthy ideas, those declaring Israel's actions disproportionate - no matter how prominent their public profiles - should be required to define what would be proportionate. Which Israeli actions, coming after unprovoked waves of missiles fired on exclusively civilian targets, would be fine in your eyes? 

And if that's too challenging, then give us some practical advice for how we stop Nasrallah and his Hizbollah hordes from their murderous crusade and their tens of thousands of missiles, accumulated over 14 years of meticulous planning. One condition: the advice has to be delivered in person, here in Israel. Nahariya might be a nice location for the hand-over. Or maybe Haifa. And please feel free to bring the wife/husband and child/children.

But know that if you don't have an answer, your complaints about disproportion simply lack credibility and good sense. Things are different when you view them from here.