Damn Damn Damn Statistics

Whichever way you look at it, today’s news is pretty grim:

“Hizbullah guerrillas shot down an Israel Air Force helicopter over southern Lebanon.

Seven soldiers were killed and eleven others were seriously wounded in clashes with Hizbullah operatives throughout southern Lebanon.

One soldier from Brigade 7 was killed after an anti-tank missile hit his tank in the village of Kantara in the eastern sector.

One soldier was killed and five seriously wounded during clashes between a force from the Nahal Brigade's Battalion 931 and Hizbullah gunmen in the village of Randuyia in the western sector. In the same village two other soldiers were killed- one from the Nahal and the other from Armoured Brigade 401 - during clashes with guerrillas.

Two other soldiers were killed and one more was seriously wounded when a tank reversed into the soldiers from Battalion 51 of the Golani Brigade in the village of Hadta in the central sector. In the same village, one Golani soldier, from Batallion 12, was killed during clashes with Hizbullah gunmen.

Another soldier was seriously wounded after his D9 armoured bulldozer drove over a large explosive device in the village of Atiri in the central sector. An officer from Brigade 401 was also seriously wounded and three were lightly wounded after an anti-tank missile hit their tank in the village of Dir Sirin in the western sector.

Meanwhile, on the ground, over 70 soldiers were wounded, as violent clashes continued between IDF troops and Hizbullah gunmen.”

We read the numbers and weep because each of these guys could be one of our sons or daughters. They are not terrorists; they are simply kids who are fighting to protect their and our brethren in Israel. To hear that terrorists are now downing helicopters with missiles is no less heartbreaking than reading about young men being accidentally crushed by a tank.

It might give the Hezbollah great pleasure and satisfaction to hear of the deaths, but we must not fall into the trap of just accepting the dead as ‘casualties of war’. Anyone who weeps for the civilians of Lebanon, if they have any feeling at all, must also cry when they hear about 19 year old boys whose lives have been cut short, defending their fellow citizens.

Mothers will be burying their children over the next few days.

Jewish, Muslim and Christian mothers.

Damn the Hezbollah.
Damn them to hell for what they are doing to my people.
Damn them to hell for they are doing to the Lebanese.

And damn them to hell for their miserable, evil presence in our world.

Damn them all.