(First published in the Vallejo Times-Herald) 

The Internet has opened a whole new territory from which Islamic terrorists are attacking Israel, and, by extension, the West. It’s a reality Israel has been too slow to recognize.

After years of quietly enduring constant rocket fire from Gaza, which Israel left in 2005 amid warnings that proved prophetic, that quitting the territory wouldn’t still the terrorists’ missiles, the Jews have finally had enough and are striking back.

They warned the Palestinians, and anyone else who would listen, that like any other sovereign nation, Israel would protect its people. They warned the world, which was suspiciously complacent about the suffering of Israel’s Jewish civilians, that if the Arabs couldn’t get a handle on their so-called militants, Israel would. Now they are, and they plan to keep at it until they’ve created a situation with which the Israelis can live.

About time, I say.

However, worldwide public opinion, whether driven by ignorance, anti-Semitism or something else, is causing international leaders to apply pressure on Israel to stop as always seems to happen — though Israeli officials say they won’t leave the job half finished.

Good. Leaving the job in Iraq unfinished in the first Gulf War is what set the United States up for the disastrous quagmire in which it finds itself today.

Of course, Israel is succeeding in inflicting terrible damage to Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure and has killed hundreds of its operatives, though there have been some civilian casualties also, despite pin-point bombing and the military’s having sent out warnings to civilians in harm’s way.

Needless to say, those warnings are a typical Jewish concession to civilized behavior even in war not afforded the Jews targeted by Palestinian rockets or suicide killers.

Israel’s response to years of attacks has, naturally, touched off protests across the Islamic world, where, in Iran for instance, fundamentalist students are reportedly volunteering as suicide bombers to attack Israel.

Also naturally, calls for an immediate cease-fire have come from the European Union, the U.N., the U.S. and Russia, which, when faced with their own difficulties, tend not to fold under anyone’s pressure, including each other’s.

Israel’s military has recently taken to uploading images of its efforts to the Web, having finally realized the country is way behind the curve on the propaganda front of the war against the Jews and Western culture.

Israel reportedly posted video of its attacks on militants firing rockets over the past few days on a new YouTube channel to try to show the world the threat against it. YouTube reportedly temporarily yanked the clips after Hamas supporters flagged them as objectionable and asked that they be removed. They were restored a few hours later, labeled inappropriate for minors.

Hamas supporters, who have much more practice at this, meanwhile have posted shots of the Israeli offensive, uploading images of carnage and suffering. They’ve been engaged on this battlefield for years, and some of what’s been posted, broadcast and published in the past has been proven to be “Paliwood” manipulations, though that’s not yet been suggested here.

Some Israeli officials figure the only rational explanation for the world’s fairly universal condemnation of Jewish self-defense, is that the world doesn’t know or understand what the Jewish state is facing.

They think it will make a difference if people know that weapons imported from China and Iran and smuggled into Gaza through underground tunnels along the border with Egypt, can now reach deep into Israel, putting more than a tenth of the country’s population at risk.

I think “they” already know and don’t care, but that’s just me.

Stubbornly refusing to die, Israel is targeting the tunnels, and an Egyptian official reportedly said some 120 of the more than 200 tunnels that existed before the aerial campaign began have been destroyed.

And despite fighting for its life against Gaza, Israel is allowing thousands of tons of food and medical supplies into the strip, and several dozen chronically ill and wounded Gazans were also reportedly allowed into Israel for treatment. Anyone who says they can imagine the reverse happening, is delusional.

Some experts reportedly suspect that the unwillingness of Hamas to cede Israel’s right to exist, and its constantly increasing threat, is imperiling the possibility of Israelis agreeing to exchange any more land for peace. So far, such exchanges have succeeded only in providing Israel’s enemies more territory from which to attack it.

Besides the one-tenth of the Israel’s 7 million citizens who are now in range of Gaza’s missiles, millions more live within reach of Hezbollah rockets from Lebanon.

Missiles hitting cities deep inside Israel are reportedly making many Israelis feel like there’s no safe place anymore. And though they mean inside their own country, the reality may be worse still, as evidenced by the shooting of two young Israelis in a Denmark mall on Wednesday.

Though Danish police are not yet saying the victims — guys in their 20s selling hair care products — were targeted because they were Israeli, the men had reported being harassed by a group of youths in recent days. Also, witnesses reportedly said the shooter shouted something in another language just before opening fire.

Inside Israel, civilians all over are preparing bomb shelters. Newspapers and TV stations are displaying color-coded maps informing Israelis that they have 15, 30 or 45 seconds to reach cover after a warning siren sounds.

But “the world,” mostly, is left cold by this, and is instead wringing its hands over the fate of Hamas terrorists. So, having learned from experience that it is alone in the world, Israel is developing an ant-missile system called “Iron Dome,” though completion is years away.

Meanwhile, some suggest that international criticism of Israel’s response to constant attacks against its people, are likely to “compound Israelis’ reluctance” to support further withdrawals from territory the Palestinians want for an independent state. And who could blame them, since this has become a recurring Israeli nightmare?

So far, every withdrawal has brought Israel’s enemies closer — the Oslo accords of the 1990s turned parts of the West Bank into suicide bomber breeding grounds and the 2000 pullout from south Lebanon brought Hezbollah to Israel’s gates. Israeli intelligence believes that Iranian-backed terror group now has rockets that can reach 125 miles, putting the vast majority of Israelis in range.

What country would sit back and put up with that?

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