Ron Nehring writing in the American Spectator:
British Airways flight 164 paused on the tarmac at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. The Boeing 777 awaited final clearance for takeoff when the alert came over the phone. The “Red Alert” app screams with an alarm whenever Israel detects a rocket launched from Gaza. The alert read: “Rockets Launched: Tel Aviv.”
Just a week earlier, a similar rocket was allowed to land near an open field near the country’s only international airport, prompting the American Federal Aviation Administration to order U.S. carriers to halt all flights.
A few minutes after the latest rocket warning, BA 164 took off as planned. There would be no closing of the airport this time. The Iron Dome defense system worked. Not long after, however, another rocket was fired into the city of Kiryat Gat. This time, it got through. A house was destroyed and a civilian killed.
For the residents of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, incoming rocket attacks are something they mainly read about, but have rarely experienced. The crude rockets in the Hamas arsenal are shorter range, threatening the cities and towns of southern Israel, but rarely reaching the larger cities to the north. The rocket attacks into Southern Israel are so commonplace they rarely made their way into western news reports until Israel launched Operation Protective Edge a month ago.
I traveled to Israel together with other supporters on a solidarity mission organized by the Jewish National Fund, a charitable organization mainly concerned with building civilian infrastructure in the country. I joined the mission because now is the time when American leaders must speak with absolute clarity in support of our allies such as Israel, and in equally clear opposition to terrorist groups such as Hamas.
Read the complete article in the American Spectator
British Airways flight 164 paused on the tarmac at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. The Boeing 777 awaited final clearance for takeoff when the alert came over the phone. The “Red Alert” app screams with an alarm whenever Israel detects a rocket launched from Gaza. The alert read: “Rockets Launched: Tel Aviv.”
Just a week earlier, a similar rocket was allowed to land near an open field near the country’s only international airport, prompting the American Federal Aviation Administration to order U.S. carriers to halt all flights.
A few minutes after the latest rocket warning, BA 164 took off as planned. There would be no closing of the airport this time. The Iron Dome defense system worked. Not long after, however, another rocket was fired into the city of Kiryat Gat. This time, it got through. A house was destroyed and a civilian killed.
For the residents of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, incoming rocket attacks are something they mainly read about, but have rarely experienced. The crude rockets in the Hamas arsenal are shorter range, threatening the cities and towns of southern Israel, but rarely reaching the larger cities to the north. The rocket attacks into Southern Israel are so commonplace they rarely made their way into western news reports until Israel launched Operation Protective Edge a month ago.
I traveled to Israel together with other supporters on a solidarity mission organized by the Jewish National Fund, a charitable organization mainly concerned with building civilian infrastructure in the country. I joined the mission because now is the time when American leaders must speak with absolute clarity in support of our allies such as Israel, and in equally clear opposition to terrorist groups such as Hamas.
Read the complete article in the American Spectator