Pillar of Defense--One Year Later

Following is an update from our partner, Operation Lifeshield. To make a donation to our Bomb Shelter campaign, please click here.

It's been one year since the Pillar of Defense campaign shook Southern Israel. The incessant rocket attacks from Hamas in Gaza was reaching intense levels of frequency and destruction. I recall visiting Ashkelon last November, and driving close to the Gaza Belt area the day before the war, and hearing the sirens and exploding Grad rockets around me. It was raining hard that day, and the "joke" people told was,  "what do you mean by the word 'raining' -  the rain of water, or the rain of the rockets bursting?" Israel exercised her right to self-defense, and Hamas jumped on the opportunity to unleash it's massive fire power. For an informative summary of events from Pillar of Defense, please read the IDF blog here.

Well, here we are one year later, and while the frequency of rocket attacks is less (remember when it was every 3 days?!) the threat from Gaza has not changed much. According to Amos Harel, a respected Israeli military analyst and newspaper columnist, Israel must be vigilant and realistic regarding the continued violence from Gaza. Mr. Harel warns that missile interceptors (Iron Dome and David's Sling) are not 100% helpful, either. "For Israel, no such solution for steep-trajectory weapons is viable. No matter how many missile-interceptor batteries of whatever range Israel may have, the country will never be hermetically protected against them." (Haaretz, Nov. 21, 2013)

In recent military parades in Gaza, homemade rockets were on display alongside mobile launchers that can fire 36 rockets at a time. This does not indicate that the IDF campaign one year ago wiped out our enemy, nor created a region of peace and tranquility.

Operation Lifeshield is first and foremost a philanthropic humanitarian organization. We have a strategy for protecting Israelis in this uncertain and unstable environment - giving shelter to those threatened by rocket attacks - the primary weapon of Hamas terrorists. Please watch the video about my visit to the Eden Center last week, and how you can help save lives in Israel.

Blessings from Israel.

Shmuel Bowman, Executive Director

Operation Lifeshield