It’s raining in Israel.  You won’t hear about it on the weather channel, though, because it’s not your typical rain.  Sadly, the fact that rockets are raining down on the Israeli town of Sderot won’t be found easily on the regular news either.  No, it is more likely you will hear about actual rainfall in Sderot than the sort that Hamas is barraging the Israelis with.

And if you do hear about the rockets, you’ll likely get a distorted view.  Likely you’ll hear about “a few” rockets “injuring” Israelis, and then, in the next breath you’ll discover all the atrocities the Israelis perpetrated retaliating or defending themselves, as though Americans or Europeans wouldn’t react the same way to a steady downpour of missiles….

This is what we always forget when we discuss Israel–how would we respond?  After 9/11 we invaded Afghanistan.  If New York or Chicago was suddenly bombarded with a daily helping of rockets and suicide bombers, you can be damn sure the American military would respond, and probably not gently.  Israel does its best to not involve civilians, but the terrorists and militants occupy buildings and areas where the civilian population is dense.  This serves two purposes: first of all, it deters Israel from striking back with full force; second, it makes Israel look bad, and gains sympathy for the militants.

The world is quick to forget the lessons of the Holocaust.  Somehow it is easier to ignore the signs than to heed them.  It is more comforting to dismiss the Iranian calls to “wipe Israel off the map” than to stand up to these statements.    Perhaps we are too quick to desire peaceful solutions to complicated problems–not that we shouldn’t wish for peace, but perhaps we should look for it in a different manner.  I think we wish that irrational people would think rationally–that hateful people will suddenly embrace love.

Waiting for Iran and the other Arab States to come to the realization that they can live in peace with their Democratic neighbor, Israel, is a pipe dream in the current set of circumstances.  It will never happen so long as Iran is ruled by the iron, theocratic fists of the mullahs and extremists.  The extremists have no desire to find a peaceful solution, because peace undermines their power.  Don’t look to Hamas for a diplomatic solution, regardless of their newfound political status as elected gunmen.

The only way to take power from the extremists and terrorists is to cripple them, take away their effectiveness, and reveal them as the cowards and criminals that they are.  When they can no longer harm Israel, then maybe their own people will realize who their true enemies are.  Israel must, of course, do this in as humanitarian a way as possible.

Perhaps someday the mainstream media will start telling the truth about Israel and the rain in Sderot.  Until then, hopefully the online community and the supporters of Israel can keep speaking the truth, and spreading information about what’s really going on in the Holy Land.  Peace can be achieved, but not by working with terrorists whose only goal is the utter destruction of Israel.

Kain's major subjects of focus at NeoConstant are international strategy; support of Israel; the failure of the international community to stop genocide; the spread of American power and democracy; historical analysis; and current events both domestically and abroad. He writes here, Newsvine and his blog, IndiePundit.