It was heartening to see Augusta’s Adas Yeshurun Synagogue packed with local residents of many different faiths praying and showing solidarity with the people of Israel.
In America, it would be unthinkable that a family might head out to the Georgia-Carolina Fair and be met with armed paratroopers descending from the skies above the ferris wheel. Yet, this is exactly what happened to the young people attending the “Peace and Love Festival” in Israel.
Now, pictures are emerging showing young women going grocery shopping holding a baby in one arm and an AR-15 slung over their shoulders.
This is the reality the Israelis live with every day.
Prior to September 11, 2001, most Americans could not conceive such an idea that the hatred in some peoples’ hearts would drive them to fly airplanes into buildings. But they did.
The people of Augusta have long supported our Jewish brethren even before the modern state of Israel was recognized. In 1944, young men from Augusta were among those that stormed the beaches of Normandy and eventually exposed the inhumanity of the Nazis.
The situation is very different today, in that the Israelis do not have a conquering army slaughtering them and placing them in concentration camps; no, the enemy is within, hiding in tunnels, protected by human shields. They attack and massacre and then fade back into the shadows.
Just when it seems that Israel is gaining the upper hand, a brand new generation of militants are being reared.
Over the decades, Israeli leaders have shown restraint, and whether this last wave of attacks will spark a wider war remains to be seen. However, the best, and really the only, thing we can do is show our Jewish neighbors love and compassion as this terrible fight continues.
