Mahmood says…

I haven’t thanked people nearly enough for the kind comments and messages of support. They are all…well, almost all…very dear to me and when Elie comes home, I’m going to make him sit down (after he eats and sleeps) and listen to how many people around the world are praying for him.

Then, there’s Mahmood.

Now, I have to admit, I don’t get many comments from people named Mahmood, so I had a feeling that I might not like what he was going to say. But, hey, I’m a blogger, not a soldier at a checkpoint, so I have no justification for ethnic profiling. It is possible, unlikely my brain answered, but possible, my hope-filled heart argued, that Mahmood might actually be writing to wish Elie well, to pray, as we all do, that Hamas will stop firing rockets (2 more in Ashkelon, 2 more in Beersheva, another in Askhelon – at least 9 people treated for shock since this morning’s post).

Maybe Mahmood sees a direct correlation between Hamas‘ rocket fire and Israel’s actions…maybe….

So here is Mahmood’s comment:

I wish your cute son find a good girl,

Amen, Mahmood. Thank you.

make a happy family,

A mother couldn’t wish for more. Thank you again.

and stop killing innocent people.

Drat. You were on a roll, Mahmood. I guess you should have stopped while you were ahead…

Dear Mahmood, my beloved son, who is cute and should find a girl and make a happy family, isn’t killing innocent people. I pray, really pray, he isn’t actually killing anyone, but even if he is, there is no question they are not innocent.

Innocent people don’t fire rockets at 700,000 people.

Innocent people don’t leave their wives and children in a building where they store explosives and rockets with which they hope to kill as many of those 700,000 people (and more) as possible.

Innocent people don’t send their children to commit suicide with the hope of murdering truly innocent women and children. Israel had asked, begged, the innocent people of Gaza to distance themselves from those who are shooting rockets, from places where weapons and explosives are being stored.

And finally, Mahmood, if innocents do die in Gaza there are several important distinctions that must be made.

One, is that if the Egyptians were to open the border and allow the civilians to escape the war zone, they would not be caught in the middle between their own government that targets our citizens, and the Israeli government, which seeks to protect its own.

Two, Israel, and you can read here my son Elie, his unit, and all of our soldiers, are not targeting the innocents. People die in war. That’s why it is such a horrible thing for all sides. No one wins a war and people die on both sides. We have many injured, many in hospitals, and we have buried too many. But the huge truth here is that each of the people hurt in Israel was targeted by Hamas. They shot their rockets AT OUR CITIES, not at arsenals, at military bases, at training camps. Israel has hit over 1000 targets – each carefully researched and selected.

Elie does not fire a rocket and then run for cover. He calculates, he pinpoints, he targets known terrorist facilities and with the grace of God and his experience, innocent people will not die.

When Elie hits his target, the innocents of Gaza live. When Hamas hits their target, the innocents of Israel die. And there, Mahmood, is the difference between Israel and its neighbors and the reason why soldiers at our checkpoints, and apparently blogging mothers, must sometimes exercise ethnic profiling.

So I’ll take your well wishes for the future of my son and have no fear, Mahmood, the army of Israel does not target innocents. Now if only Hamas could say the same.

12 Comments

  1. I am a friend of Beloved Mama and have found your site through hers. I live a very different life from you being an American. I know not your experiences and can’t even fathom what you are living through right now. I have read through your blog, even back to your earliest entries and as a mother my heart aches for you. I promise to pray for you, your son, your country. What is happening is beyond terrible. Peace comes at horrific costs. I pray it comes soon. Blessings to you and yours.

  2. Regarding the killing of innocent people, there is an interesting story I recently found:

    http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20091117737115874.html

    The IDF posted a video of a truck full of missiles being blown up. However, Palestinians claim those were not missiles but gas canisters. Israeli war crime? I don’t think so.

    Would you while war rages around you start loading explosive gas canisters on a truck? I wouldn’t.

    Well, not unless I know absolutely sure that the airplanes above me are doing their utmost not to kill innocent civilians. In that case I may be so reckless to take this chance.

  3. I wanted to encourage you and know that your son is in my thoughts and prayers.

    My husband is currently deployed to the Gulf of Oman with a US Naval aircraft carrier. So in between the rare phonecalls,and daily emails…I’ve sent him snipits of your blog.

    As I Catholic I went to Israel in ’99,and it absolutely changed my life. I had the great chance of going to the Israeli Embassy here in Washington,D.C. for briefings of all sorts after visiting.

    Please,keep blogging and let us know how your son is doing. I have every faith in all the branches of the IDF,and know they are well trained. I haven’t read one piece of news through the usual here in the States…they paint my family’s friends,and my husband’s coworkers as murderous war mongering thugs.I can only imagine how they are painting the IDF.

    May Elie stay safe and be protected along with the rest of the IDF.

  4. We keep a candle lit each night for the safety of our own US military…know that we light one for the IDF also and keep them all in our prayers.

  5. The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

    No other nation on earth seeks to get along with its neighbors more than yours, surrounded by unimaginable hostility on all sides. What other nation in the midst of a war makes sure humanitarian aid continues even while rockets are still reigning down. I am a committed Zionist and I pray for you, your family, the peace of your country and those who protect it. Kelly

  6. I pray for your son and for all Israeli soldiers. It is your right and duty to defend yourself against this terrorist threat. (Jan, Pretoria, South Africa)

  7. I, as an true American, do not agree with what the Israelis are doing. There is something very ugly about the way people are being bullied right now. But as a mother, I hope nothing but the best for your son. I would hate to see my son in harms way. Maybe as mothers we only can think of our own sons and daughters…we need to remember that everyone is someones son or daughter regardless of their religion or beliefs.

  8. I am also a ure American and I also do not agree with what the Israelis are doing… They should have taken the garbage out a long time ago. Wish what you want but the sad fact is that Hamas/Iran and the lot will never want peace. they want to kill us all. Wake up already.

    I will pray for Elie to return to your lovin arms… Hamas only prays for death to all that do not bow down to their death cult.

  9. It frustrates me to see how twisted the bias is against Israel. I was just sent an email with the heading “the difference between a Hamas soldier and an Israeli soldier. The Hamas soldier is aiming at the Israeli soldier with a baby carriage shielding him. The Israeli soldier is pointing his rifle back at the Hamas soldier while shielding a baby carriage.

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