The beautiful, sunny country of Israel has always welcomed millions of tourists throughout the year. From the southern to the northern coastline, magnificent sandy beaches, hospitable people, and historical land have attracted vacationers from all over the world. Israel is a country of three seas – in Eilat, the Red Sea, which Israel shares with Egypt, the Dead Sea, which we share with Jordan, and the rest of the coastline – the beautiful azure Mediterranean Sea.
In our small country, there are 7 climatic zones: there is a terrible hot desert in the South, and a ski resort in the North. As we say: in Israel, there is everything, only small. In the 75 years
of Israel’s new history, part of the desert has already been turned into forests and blooming gardens. Over these years, Israelis have planted 280 million trees!!! And they don’t plan to stop there.
And all this beauty is constantly under threat. Neighbors don’t live peacefully. On October 7, 2023, the terrorist organization Hamas committed a barbaric act of terrorism unparalleled in history.
It was the last day of the bright holiday of Sukkot, which is dedicated to the fact that the world is beautiful and very fragile, and it needs to be preserved. On this day, people gathered to sing and dance, to celebrate the holiday, which lasted several days. And it was also Saturday, Shabbat, a day off when all Israelis, both civilian and military, try to be at home with their families.
At 06:29, a massive rocket barrage began across the entire territory of Israel. 400 rockets were flying per minute. And simultaneously, about 2,000 terrorists infiltrated the country’s territory,
breaking through defensive structures on the border. They killed everyone indiscriminately: women, children, the elderly, soldiers, Jews, Bedouins, Druze – everyone they saw and could find. A separate nightmare occurred at a youth music festival, where there were young people from all over the world. The terrorists were shooting at everyone. The atrocities they committed defy description and comprehension of any normal person. At the same time, they recorded all their “heroics” on cameras, so they could brag and report to their leadership, and to those who support them in the world. And unfortunately, there are many of those. The wave of antisemitism and support for Hamas that has swept around the world causes not so much surprise as horror. How can one not shudder at the recorded telephone conversation by the terrorists themselves:
Dad, I’ve already killed 10 Jews.
Well done, son, keep going!
Unfortunately, not everyone in the world understands that anyone can be next. For radical Islam, everyone else is an infidel! Nowadays, many openly talk with undisguised pleasure about the failure of the invincible Israeli army and the world’s best intelligence. But we will tell these people that there is nothing to rejoice about. Yes, there was a tragic confluence of circumstances, tactical mistakes were made, but 4-5 hours after October 7, the army and police were already acting as they should. Hamas declared war, and within two days, over three hundred thousand reservists had joined the Israeli army. Even those who were not called up came. People flew from all over the world to defend their country.
In fact, the conflict between radical Islam and the Jewish state has lasted as long as the new Israel itself. When in 1948, after the horrors of the Holocaust and the end of World War II,
the UN decided to create a Jewish state on the historical lands of Israel, part of the Arab population took this decision “to heart.”
The War of Independence began the next day, as radicals decided to defend their disagreement with weapons in hand. Trucks with loudspeakers drove around the territory allocated to Israel on its own historical lands of Palestine, urging the Arab population to stay in their homes and villages and live together in the new state. Those who decided to stay and their descendants / two million Arabs / still live in Israel, are its citizens, and feel perfectly fine. Those who did not want to live in peace immediately took up arms and have not stopped to this day.
By the way, a small historical background for those who may not know. Palestine is not a country, not a state, and has never been one. It is simply the name of a locality, like the Urals or Altai in Russia, or Arizona or California in America. And in this very Palestine in prehistoric times and two thousand years ago, when a Jewish boy named Jesus was born in Bethlehem, mostly Jews lived. And many tried to seize these lands even then – from the Greeks to the Romans. In the time of Herod the Great and Roman rule, these lands were called Roman Palestine. As is known, there were no Muslims then, as there was no such religion that appeared 6-7 centuries after Christianity, which was one of the new directions of Judaism, and “attached” the New Testament to the Old Testament. Many Jews, not wishing to live under Roman rule and other claimants to the lands of Palestine, scattered around the world: from Africa to Europe. In the 11th century, Turkish Seljuks and Arabs came to these lands, the very Saracens against whom the Crusades rose. Christian knights went to Palestine to save the Holy Sepulcher from Muslims. We will not delve further into medieval quarrels; the picture is already clear who and when appeared in Palestine. We just want to note one little interesting detail: in the ancient city of Acre in northern Israel in the 12th century, the castle was liberated from Arab invaders by Richard the Lionheart himself. And this is not a fairy tale, but a fact…
But let’s return to the present difficult time. At present, when Israel is in a great war for independence, which has almost never stopped in these 75 years. Very short periods of time Israel lived in relative peace with its neighbors. Terrorist acts, shelling, diversions from all sides have accompanied the history of new Israel throughout
these years.
The article in the globally renowned Wikipedia describes the Arab-Israeli conflict as follows: “a confrontation between a number of Arab countries, as well as Arab militarized radical groups supported by part of the indigenous Arab population of the Palestinian territories controlled by Israel, on one side, and the Zionist movement, and then the State of Israel, on the other. Although the State of Israel was created only in 1948, in fact, the history of the conflict spans about a century, starting from the end of the 19th century when the political Zionist movement was created, which initiated the struggle of Jews for their own state.
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire as a result of its defeat in World War I I, the conflict between Zionist Jews and the Arab population of Palestine was mainly about territorial claims by both sides to the mandate of Palestine.In 1948 neighboring Arab countries declared war on the newly created Jewish state. Thus, the conflict went beyond Palestine and grew into a conflict between Israel and all other Arab states in the region.With the signing of peace agreements with Egypt (in 1979) and Jordan (in 1994) the number of states hostile to Israel decreased.”
For reference – a mandated territory is when a foreign state has a mandate to govern a territory that is not its own. After World War II, the mandate to govern Palestine was held by Britain. And secondly: as it turned out in the course of history, Zionists are not an insult, but people who wanted to bring Jews back home, to their historical homeland, symbolically gather them around Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
The Zionist movement sees Palestine as the historical homeland of the Jewish people and asserts that these people have the right to their own sovereign state. This assertion is based on several basic principles:
Principle of equality of peoples: like other peoples who have their own sovereign state, Jews also have the right to live in their own country and govern it.
Principle of the necessity to protect Jews from anti-Semitismafter the Holocaust and further manifestations of anti-Semitism in the world, Jews are forced to organize themselves for self-defense and arrange a territory that would serve as a refuge in case of a recurrence of the catastrophe. This is only possible with the creation of a Jewish state.
"Principle of historical homeland: as numerous anthropological and archaeological studies show, Jewish tribes lived in the territory of Palestine starting from the 13th century BC, in the 11th–6th, 2nd–1st centuries BC there were Jewish states. The predominant presence of Jews in this territory persisted even after the conquest of the ancient Jewish state, Judea, by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, over the following centuries with land changing hands, and up to the Bar Kokhba uprising in 132 AD, after which a significant number of Jews were expelled by the Romans from the country. But even after this expulsion until the 5th century AD, there was a Jewish majority in Galilee. In Judaism, this territory is called "Eretz Yisrael," which translates to "Land of Israel." According to the Bible, it was promised to Jacob (Israel) by God as the Promised Land, which he designates for the Jews. Since the emergence of the Jewish people, one of the fundamental ideas preached by Judaism is the connection of this people with the land of Israel." (Wikipedia)
Of course, only independent historians and theologians can thoroughly understand the history and causes of the conflict. We only provide a superficial picture for general understanding of what is happening and do not claim to be the “truth in the last instance.” We will provide statistical information on the number of wars and conflicts to make the picture absolutely concrete, supported by the language of numbers.
1948—1970s — mass exodus of Jews from Arab countries as a result of pogroms and persecutions, influx of population into Israel
1949—1955 — “partisan war” against Israel from territories occupied by Egypt, Jordan, and Syria[13][14][15]
1972—1982 – international terrorism by Palestinian radical organizations and attacks on Israel from Lebanon
1979 — Camp David Accords and Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty
1987—1991 — First Palestinian Intifada
1993, 1995 — Oslo Accords
1994 — Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty. Establishment of the Palestinian Authority.
2000 — withdrawal of troops from South Lebanon
2000 — start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada
2005 — unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
2008—2009 — Operation “Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip
2012 — Operation “Pillar of Defense” in the Gaza Strip
2014 — Operation “Protective Edge” in the Gaza Strip
2019 — Operation “Black Belt” in the Gaza Strip
2021 — Israeli-Palestinian crisis
2023—present — Hamas invasion of Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza
We won’t delve into each item of this grim table, although there are pleasant lines about peace treaties and agreements. The picture is clear enough. And those who want to understand in detail can find all the information independently in various sources. It is only worth noting that out of all the wars, only Israel initiated the Six-Day War. A preemptive strike had to be made because the Egyptian and Syrian armies, with the help of other states, were already at Israeli borders. The Egyptians alone had a 100,000-strong army, and on the other side was Syria.
"In mid-May to early June, A. Nasser reiterated the calls of the mid-50s and urged Arab countries to attack Israel and 'drive the Jews into the sea', destroying them as a nation," and the chairman of the PLO, A. Shukeiri, stated that in case of their victory, "the surviving Jews will be helped to return to their countries of birth." "But I think no one will survive," he added." (Wikipedia)
That’s when Israel attacked first and defeated all these armies in 6 days. But peace didn’t last long.
Despite all these unfavorable conditions, Israel continues to live and develop. Of course, if it weren’t for these endless wars, there would have been paradise on earth long ago. Wars take away a huge amount of resources and strength. But Israelis are optimists. And they continue to wait for and welcome guests from all over the world.