Thursday, November 15, 2012
ND
1100 W. 42 ST. #240 INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46208 317.926.2935 WWW.INDYJCRC.ORG TODD MAURER
PRESIDENT
SHELBY ANDERSON
The Jewish Community of Greater Indianapolis proudly stands in support of the citizens and the State of Israel at this critical time. We strongly condemn the continued, unrelenting barrage of rockets that have been fired from Gaza into Israel. We unequivocally defend Israel’s right and moral obligation to protect herself and her citizens from further, continued harm. We mourn the deaths of three Israeli citizens on Thursday morning, when a missile from Gaza hit an apartment in Kiryat Malachi, killing a father, a young woman, and a pregnant mother of three, while injuring several others, including two infants.
VICE PRESIDENT
ASAF GOLDSTEIN
VICE PRESIDENT
JUDY FAILER PH.D.
SECRETARY
STEVE KLAPPER
TREASURER
LINDSEY B. MINTZ
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
DAVID SKLAR
DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS: AMIT WOMEN BUREAU OF JEWISH EDUCATION CONGREGATION BETH-EL ZEDECK CONGREGATION SHAAREY TEFILLA ETZ CHAIM CONGREGATION HADASSAH HASTEN HEBREW ACADEMY OF INDIANAPOLIS HOOVERWOOD INDIANAPOLIS HEBREW CONGREGATION JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN CONSTITUENT AGENCY OF: JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS MEMBER OF: JEWISH COUNCIL FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS
The State of Israel launched “Operation Pillar of Defense” on Wednesday in response to the growing frequency and reach of missile attacks on the citizens of Southern Israel. In the last 18 months, more than 1,400 rockets have been launched by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, with nearly 300 missiles fired in just the past three days, injuring over 40 civilians, causing extensive damage to homes and businesses, closing schools, and forcing nearly one million Israeli citizens to remain 15 seconds from shelters and safe rooms. Last Saturday, terrorists in Gaza fired a missile that directly hit an Israeli military vehicle inside the Israeli border, seriously injuring four IDF soldiers. Through surgical strikes, Operation “Pillar of Defense” has removed Hamas’ top military commander (responsible for a decade of anti-Israel terror activity from Gaza, including the abduction and captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit), as well as significantly reduced the long-range missile capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to reach not only Israel’s south, but also Tel-Aviv and the country’s north. It is important to recognize the following: The majority of weapons in Gaza are stored in civilian residential buildings. Israel continually drops leaflets urging residents to, “take responsibility and avoid being in the vicinity of Hamas facilities that pose a risk to your safety.” Hamas is publicizing pictures of civilians injured in Syria’s civil war claiming they are images from Israeli Defense Forces airstrikes. Israeli hospitals continue to treat residents of the Gaza Strip, including over a dozen on Thursday alone. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are purposely targeting Israeli civilian population centers. Israel is targeting the military launching sites and weapons stockpiles in order to reduce the number of rockets coming from Gaza. On Thursday evening, warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv for the first time in over 20 years. Even with Israel’s Iron Dome systems having downed more than 100 rockets in the prior 24 hours, missiles successfully reached the city of Rishon L’tzion and town of Holon on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. These communities are 7 and 4 miles (respectively) from downtown Tel Aviv’s one million residents. Just to bring that into perspective for Central Indiana readers: the distance from south Carmel to Monument Circle is 9 miles. Israeli citizens in the South have been living in a constant state of fear for months. No other state would acquiesce to live in a reality whereby civilians are continuously threatened by rockets fired by terrorists. We all remember what then Senator Barak Obama said of the Qassam rocket fired at city of S’derot in the summer of 2008: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing." Todd Maurer, President, Indianapolis JCRC Asaf Goldstein, Chair, JCRC Israel Committee Lindsey Mintz, Executive Director, JCRC