Israel will continue until justice reached

It is so easy to blame Israel for all the problems going on in the Middle East. Much too easy.

The Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission recently sent a letter to Arshad Yousufi, head of the Muslim community in Colorado Springs.

Here is the letter: "Dear Arshad, I am deeply grieved over the relentless Israeli assault upon the already beleaguered residents of Gaza with, alas, American made weapons.

Please accept my heartfelt apologies and extend them to the rest of the Colorado Springs Islamic community."

I guess I and the other rabbis in town must have missed the Justice and Peace Commission's letter to us expressing grief and sorrow over Jewish families having to suffer through random nightly bombings from Gaza. Kids having to escape to their bomb shelters in the middle of the night, not knowing whether or not they would wake up in the morning. Elderly women and men, some of them barely able to walk, getting a mere 20 seconds warning before the next bomb arrives compliments of their Gaza neighbors.

When Israel is attacked, no one seems to lose too much sleep. Or write letters of grief and sorrow.

But when Israel fights back as you or I would absolutely do if our next-door neighbors lobbed rockets into our homes and targeted our kids, all of a sudden Israel is the aggressor, and the world is in an uproar. Stop the killing! Immediate cease-fire!

Nothing like a double standard, is there? But sadly, we Jews have gotten used to that.

The fact of the matter is, and deep down we all know this to be true, Israel has already taken an unbelievable amount of abuse from her Arab neighbors, who, ever since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, have publicly committed themselves to her destruction.

We should believe them when they say they want Israel destroyed. After all, they wrote it in their Covenant.

Why do we get so upset when Israel defends herself? Perhaps because we would like to think that it is possible to live in a world where both justice and peace can co-exist, side-by-side; where all our political and territorial disagreements can amicably be discussed and resolved in a spirit of comraderie and compromise, and where we can end every day sitting around the world's campfire roasting marshmallows and singing "Kumbaya," filled with love from all our caring neighbors.

Are you laughing yet? Well I'm crying, because that is the false and shameless vision of too many folks in this town, and throughout the so-called civilized world. Sorry, that vision cannot happen as long as we have to deal with savages who will not allow kids to sleep at night.

I believe peace can only come to this world if it is based on justice, and not the other way around. First we need justice, with its rules, expectations and personal responsibility, and only then will the world be safe enough for peace.

Peace without justice, however, only invites the world's bullies to continue their vile behavior. Peace first means that he who yells the loudest, wins. And that is not just. Or, indeed, even peaceful.

Israel is not the aggressor, she is the victim. I hope Israel takes as long as she needs, to do the job that needs to be done to provide breathing space between her and the Gaza rockets.

The ceasefire will eventually come, but not until Israeli kids in Sderot and Ashkelon can sleep safely in their own beds each night, not until Gaza stops firing its rockets at civilians. and not until Israel's neighbors get over themselves and realize that Israel, the Jewish State, is here to stay.

The lives of Israeli kids are well worth the wait.

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Glazer is a rabbi in Colorado Springs.