900 dead,

2600 wounded,

130 kidnapped to Gaza,

These are the numbers we close this horrible day on Saturday.

And they are not final.

In 2005, when Israel withdrew from Gaza, we left everything behind. It was painful but it was a mission: houses, green houses, plants. We even trained the Palestinians how to run those greenhouses. In some cases we left them contacts to the markets in Europe to sell the flowers and the vegetables.

It didn’t take too long for Hamas to take over Gaza, to kill and wound PLO police forces. They threw them from the roofs, they tied them to motorcycles and drove around the city so everybody can see what Hamas can do to its own people.

Many of them, by the way, were treated in Israeli hospitals.

They destroyed the houses we left standing, and the green houses they dismantled and used the pipes as improvised rockets to launch over the border at the Israeli towns and villages that were hoping for peaceful neighbors. 

Ever since Hamas took over Gaza the Israeli towns and villages around Gaza could never feel safe even for one night. Children born since Hamas took over Gaza did not know one night they weren’t on alert; like trained military soldiers, they are taught to jump from bed within 7 seconds and get into the shelter. Every house in the region must have a shelter as one of the rooms.

Those children sleep so many nights in shelters, with trauma, with fear from the next rocket. Parents who send their kids to kindergarten, or school, their first concern is not the level of the school or how good is the teacher, but how close the kid is from the nearest shelter; how much protection he has on his way to and from school; where can he hide in case there’s a siren that gives him those 7 seconds to hide.

For a long time in Israel we tried to protect our citizens. So we build a higher wall, and we built more shelters. Even mobile shelters in the streets and put in towns like Sderot, Netivot and Kibutzim close to the border. Then we invented the Iron Dome, a system that is supposed to intercept the rockets coming from Gaza.

But the more defense we built, the more improved rockets Hamas used – getting knowledge, training and money from Iran and Qatar.

And yet, Israel reacted only when things got really rough, when Hamas decided to launch a large number of rockets, or sent bombs hanged on balloons, hoping children would chase the balloons and will be killed once they touch it..

But whenever Israel reacted, it tried to target only the terrorists, treating very carefully the uninvolved civilians in Gaza. So many times attacks were canceled, warfare planes turn back because they noticed children playing next to the target.

And Hamas learned from that too, and started launching the rockets from schools, from Mosques and hide their weapons and bombs in densely populated civilian neighborhoods.

Therefore, sometimes during Israel’s retaliation attacks, unfortunately uninvolved people were wounded.

While Israel has been investing most of its budget and efforts in providing protection to its civilians, Hamas is concentrating on improving the attacks on Israeli civilians.

And what about Palestinian civilians in Gaza? It seems that Israel cares about them much more than their own leadership. Whenever Israel choose to react, when life becomes unbearable due to Hamas attacks, the international community interferes and shouts one word: proportionality! The reaction is not proportionate!

How does one define what is a proportional reaction? By counting the dead, when one side puts all its efforts to protect its people and the other side puts all its efforts to kill them indiscriminately? And at the same time totally ignores the needs of its own people? Can you retaliate proportionally?

Yesterday Israel did not do a good job protecting its citizens. 

Hamas did what they always do: try to kill as many Israelis as possible.

The numbers are shocking:

900 families are going to bury their loved ones this week. Some of them Soldiers, but some were someone’s grandparents sitting in the garden of the kibutz, toddlers who were shut in their beds, teenagers who were shut in a party they attended… their sin? Unfortunate encounter with vicious terrorist from neighboring Gaza.

2600 wounded, some of them in grave condition

130 men, women, children, older people with their foreign care takers kidnapped to the unknown were no international convention will protect them…

Proportionality just struck us in the face. And painfully. Israel finally got the proportion it should use if it will go for attack instead of defense. Just like Hamas does and gets the automatic protection of the international community. Now look around you. Who would be those 3000 people you will be willing to sacrifice next time you deal with terrorists, for the right to fight back and protect your own?

*Ambassador of Israel in Albania