Jonathan Medved offers a view from Israel on why this war is almost universally supported in that country.

And herein lies a great secret of why we fight, why we have gone to war after the kidnappings of Gilad Shalit in Gaza , and Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev on the Lebanese border. Why the Israeli public completely backs this war with approval ratings of over 90%. Because our army is our kids, and Jewish kids will not be kidnapped and slaughtered ever again without having hell to pay. Because we will not sit idly by while our enemies openly call for our destruction and amass the means to carry out their threats.

Everyday’s paper brings new pictures of fallen soldiers—their smiles, their backgrounds, their unbelievable stories. Major Benji Hillman, 27, an English immigrant, who died leading his troops into Ras A Maroun, only three weeks after his wedding. Major Roi Klein, 31, died by jumping on a hand grenade, thereby shielding his soldiers from certain death—he leaves a wife and two young sons. Seargeant Michael Levine, 22, a new immigrant from Pennsylvania, rushed back to his unit after visiting his family in the states, to find death fighting Hizbollah in Ayta A-Shab. These heroes will not be forgotten nor will their deaths be turned into mere casualty statistics of a war viewed by cynics as “disproportionate”.

Tonight, starts the fast of the 9th of Av, when we read the book of Lamentations as we mourn the destruction of our Temples and other calamities that have befallen the Jewish people on this day. Sitting in the moonlight on a hill across from the Temple Mount, hundreds of our neighbors and friends read together the scary verses about the tragedy that has followed our people for generations. Yet there is a quiet determination which is palpable among the mourners---a feeling that this war, our war, will ultimately be won, that redemption is finally on the way, and that our families will prevail.

May God continue to bless the Children of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob as they defend themselves against those who would kill them for believing in and living out the promises God made to their forefathers.

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