I have been reading about the present war in Gaza and watching the comments on TV. Mention has been made of the thousands of rockets launched by Hamas and others at Israel and of the casualties caused by Israel in retaliation. According to the reports, so far, most of the casualties seem to have been Palestinian. Very few Israeli casualties have been reported in comparison with Palestinian ones, and I found the tone to be one of largely anti-Israel condemnation.
I find this puzzling. During and before the 2014 Arab onslaught on Israel and the erection of the Iron Dome defence system, the number of rockets fired from Gaza at the surrounding Israeli population was estimated to have been about 14 000. In fact, it was only after that bombardment of the Jewish civilian population by the Palestinians reached 80 missiles a day that Israel sent in its army.
The present Palestinian onslaught mentions about 2 000 missiles. Some years ago, I visited the Israeli village of Sderot which is located on the border of Gaza about 5km from Gaza City after it had been hit by about 4 000 rockets from Gaza. I saw the effects of such an assault on a civilian city and its population for myself, especially on the little ones in the creche, the only bomb-proof building in the village. I also noted that Israel had destroyed some large buildings, but in the TV interviews, one of the occupants stated that they had been warned by Israel of the impending destruction of the edifices, and so evacuated before suffering any casualties.
