The best tour guide in Israel (among his many other talents) writes at the Times:
We did not want this war. We did not choose it. Quite the contrary. Following hundreds of rockets fired at Israeli towns, cities and villages, after accepting a ceasefire (twice) that was rejected by Hamas with renewed rocket launches, after two thwarted attempts by Hamas commandos to attack Israeli villages by sea and by underground tunnels, we had been left with little choice. We are faced with an evil foe. One that cares not for the lives of its own people, deliberately placing innocent civilians in harms’ way, cynically hoping and expecting them to be killed by Israeli fire. We face a cowardly foe. One that hides among women and children. Firing rockets from mosques and children’s playgrounds, that hides weapons, ammunition and rockets in schools and residential homes. (…)
That day will come when our enemies will accept, finally and unequivocally, that they will not defeat us. We are here to stay, in our Land.
