Friday cartoon from Israel

Today, you will see a telling cartoon from Israel. 

The cartoon comes from Israel Hayom. It  tells us something about the Gaza fence riots, which have worried Israel for something like the last 70 days ("At Gaza border tensions sky-high ahead of latest mass protests", timesofisrael, June 8, 2018, 12:00 pm). Indeed, as I write this for you, thousands of Palestinians gather at the Gaza fence for another 'Friday riot'. 

They're burning tires. They're forming into groups. They act as if they're waiting for word to start attacking the border fence. 

Already, 4pm Israel time, 100 Gazans have been reported injured. The rioters appear to be just warming up.

We'll see. The IDF expects trouble. They'e ready for it.

 As the title of the above news item suggests, Israel is very worried about what might happen at today's fence riots. One of the IDF's main concerns today is the Gazan fire-kite, hundreds of which have been setting fires in Israel. 

Approximately 60 percent of Israel's landmass is desert. Israel is, in other words, a particularly dry country under even the best of weather conditions. 

The months of May and June are not part of Israel's rainy season. They're part of our annual dry season--what we call 'summer' here. Right now, much of Israel, particularly in the south, near Gaza, is tinder-dry. 

These days, fires are easy to start. They can be difficult to put out. They can quickly become out-of-control killers.

The IDF has claimed that, using drones and other means, it has already brought down some 500 fire-kites (here,timesofisrael). By my unscientific counting, most of the  fire-kites have been lofted on perhaps 40 of the last 70 days. This suggests that the IDF has brought down some 12-13 fire-kites a day (on the 40 days the kites were sent airborne). 

Bringing down 500 fire-kites is good. But the IDF has also said that as many as 250 other kites have 'gotten through'. These kites, the IDF says, have started more than 200 fires (ibid). 

These fires have burned somewhere between 4,500 (ibid) acres and more than 6,200 acres (here)  [up to June 2, 2018]. 

Israel is a small country. With so much of its land mass already desert, this much scorched earth in the farming districts near Gaza is serious. 

The fire-kites--and the related fence riots that often shield the kite-fliers --aren't just 'peaceful resistance', as so many believe. They are part of the Palestinian effort to destroy Israel. In fact, if you think about it, burning Israel's farmland is a very good way to work at destroying Israel because, so far, there has been little to no cost to Hamas for doing so. 

It looks like a cheap and effective way to drive out the Jews. But there is another side to this story. This second side is what will happen to Hamas if it continues to fire Israel's land.

Everyone in Israel knows how the Arab-Israel war here works. An enemy can and often does take advantage of Israel. The enemy attacks using new tactics, new killing techniques. 

It happens all the time.Our enemies attack and even get away with whatever they're doing--for awhile.

We saw this with the suicide-bombings of 20-25 years ago. We saw it with the 3 wars Hamas has fought with us. We saw it with the knife intifada, the child intifada and the car intifida of a few years ago. Each took its toll on us.  

But everyone in Israel also knows something else: our enemies never get away with their attacks for very long. They attack us, all right. Then, they get hammered. 

The price our enemies pay for these attacks is far greater then the damage they do to Israel. These fire-kite attacks are no different.

Here's today's Friday cartoon. As stated above, it's from israelhayom, from cartoonist Shlomo Cohen. It comes from earlier this week. It reminds us of what, exactly, Hamas is really doing with its fire-kite strategy:

The Arab war to destroy Israel is far from over. Hamas sees to that. 

Hamas truly believes it can win this war. But the  truth is, every hostile act Hamas has ever committed against Israel has caused more harm and pain to Hamas than to Israel.  

This fire-kite business is no different. Hamas won't win by egging on its civilians and children to burn the Jews out of Israel, acre by acre. It may look today like a good idea. But Hamas will pay dearly for these acts of aggression. 

In the end, Hamas will lose. It always does. As the cartoon suggests, Hamas will start fires. Then it will lose its proverbial shirt--and more.