It is very complicated. I have watched my beliefs go from the left to the hard right back towards the middle. Although it is probably safer to say that I swing further to the right on Israel.

I do not believe that violence will be the thing that solves the conflict, diplomacy will have to be involved.

But I think that it is going to require a combination of the two. It truly makes me sad to say it, but I think that a serious military operation is going to be needed in Gaza.

The rocket fire is not going to disappear with anything less than a strong kick in the ass. I don’t mean to sound cavalier either.

I can’t imagine having to live with that each day. And I don’t believe for a moment that most citizens in the US would either.

To be there definitely makes a difference. During my trip in August, which of course was only two more or less sheltered weeks, we did meet with a psychologist who lives and works in Sderot and we spent a few hours at Ramon AFB. Between those two visits, yes – we heard about exactly what I think you’re referring to re: the daily rockets. We had a lot of political discussions with the guy that led us who lives in Efrat and we talked about and heard a lot about the feelings, “why don’t we just bomb Gaza” versus, “we do not get orders to just bomb Gaza” and the knowledge that there will likely never be such orders to just bomb Gaza.

I had Shabbos dinner last week at the home of a friend and one of the guests was from Israel. He made aliyah in 1990 and has three children and a wife – lives somewhere near Tel Aviv. And, just as we all said while we were there, he too said – it’s a hard life.

I don’t know if that’s more common w/olim than sabras, but I feel pretty confident that few people who’ve never traveled outside the states, let alone to Israel, realize just how hard a place it is to live – and yet why so many of us would choose to live there anyway.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

It is easy to wax rhapsodic when you aren’t in danger. I don’t disagree that it would be great to do more to integrate more Israeli Arabs, but it is just one element of the situation.

Too many people fall for inaccurate cries of genocide. Too many people cry about Gaza while ignoring the daily rockets that are fired from Gaza into Sderot.

It is a very tough situation.

You would have to ask the people who are Arab who have Israeli citizenship if they consider themselves Palestinian – but my understanding, based on the Israeli Arabs I met and what I’ve read, is that they see themselves as Israeli. Surveys show that very high percentages of Israeli Arabs prefer to remain under Israeli governance.

See more here.

Is there something else you were asking?