There Is an Eternal Core in Israel's Fight to Exist and She Will Succeed

THE GAZA BORDER ESCALATION GOES ON. There has been little news in the US about the current clash on the Gaza - Israel border, but it is important and we should be paying attention. Fox News explains : "Monday's attack by Hamas and Israel's counter-attack came 10 days after rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel's densely populated commercial capital of Tel Aviv. The Israeli military at the time struck back and the sides appeared to be hurtling toward another confrontation. But, Gaza's Hamas leaders said the rocket was fired accidentally and calm was quickly restored." • • • CALM RETURNS TO SOUTHERN ISRAEL AFTER LATEST ESCALATION WITH HAMAS. That was the headline for the Jerusalem Post report on Tuesday afternoon. Anna Aronheim reported : "The IDF began lifting roadblocks, and trains resumed their service in southern Israel, as a shaky ceasefire seemed to hold Tuesday, a day after heavy rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded communities. Earlier in the day, a senior Israeli security official denied reports of a ceasefire with Hamas and that Israel was planning further strikes. 'There is no agreement regarding a ceasefire; we are prepared to strike with even harder blows,' the source was quoted by Ynet News as saying. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who landed back in Israel after he cut short his trip to Washington, 'has been updated on the latest developments during the flight and was in constant contact with the IDF chief of staff.' The source added that, 'the instruction was to continue the strikes; the last word has to remain with Israel. Hamas has made various proposals for a ceasefire through intermediaries, and even offered to stop the clashes on the Gaza border.' Netanyahu met with senior security officials at the Kirya Military Headquarters in Tel Aviv shortly after he landed, and addressed the AIPAC Policy Conference via a satellite connection. 'We responded with great force,' he said. 'In the last 24 hours, the IDF destroyed major Hamas terrorist installations on a scale not seen since the end of the military operation in Gaza four years ago.' ” • Aronheim said : "The latest escalation between Hamas and Israel began Monday morning when a long-range J-80 missile that was launched from Rafiah in the southern Gaza Strip struck and destroyed a civilian home some 120 km. away in the central Israeli community of Mishmeret, injuring seven members of one family and a neighbor. Militants fired over 60 rockets into southern Israel, and the Israeli military carried out hundreds of strikes in the Gaza Strip overnight." • One Hamas barrage of rockets at Israeli civilians Monday night was released by the Israel Defense Force and is available at < pic.twitter.com/iUrD9LxXBx >. According to Aronheim : "IDF fighter jets, combat helicopters, tanks and naval vehicles struck on Tuesday morning, attacking additional terrorist targets in a military compound belonging to Hamas in Dir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, as well as a military compound belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Beit Lahiya, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said. IDF tanks, attack helicopters and naval vessels also targeted several Hamas military posts. 'The Hamas terrorist organization is responsible for all the goings on in and out of the Gaza Strip. The IDF is determined to carry out the task of protecting the citizens of Israel, and is prepared for various scenarios and intensifying its operations as necessary,' the IDF said. Incoming rocket sirens blasted throughout communities in Sderot, and the regional councils of Eshkol, Hof Ashkelon and Shaar HaNegev, as at least 30 rockets were fired towards Israel between 10 p.m. and 3.15 a.m., AFTER Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that would have began at 10 p.m. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Israeli army radio on Tuesday morning that 'rumors of a ceasefire are incorrect' and that Israel 'will continue to exact a very heavy price from Hamas for its attacks on Israeli citizens.' The military said the majority of the projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system while the rest fell in open territory." • Aronheim reported : "The Home Front Command published updated guidelines for residents in the Gaza border region Tuesday morning, restricting gatherings of more than 300 people in closed spaces across the Gaza border communities. Schools in the region as well as in Ashkelon, Ofakim, Netivot and the regional councils of Bnei Shimon, Merhavim and Hof Ashkelon had also been cancelled. Israel began it’s retaliatory strikes at around 5.20 p.m., striking Hamas targets in Shati, Beit Hanoun, Saja'iya and other locations throughout the Gaza Strip. The targets included military compounds, tunnel shafts that were used to transport weapons, military positions and rocket launching positions. Another target struck by Israeli jets was the offices of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Rimal neighborhood of the northern Gaza Strip, as well as a building that served as an office for military meetings and as the headquarters of Hamas’s internal security forces. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated that another target was a three-story building that served as a 'secret headquarters' of Hamas where militants belonging to the security and intelligence divisions of the organization were located. The Palestinian News agency WAFA reported that three Palestinians were wounded in the Israeli strikes and had been transported to al-Shifa Hospital for medical treatment." • Fox News reported on Monday : " 'Israel will not tolerate this. I will not tolerate this,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared earlier Monday during a White House meeting with President Trump. 'Israel is responding forcefully to this wanton aggression,' he said. 'We will do whatever we must do to defend our people and defend our state.'....Ahead of the Israeli airstrikes, Hamas' leadership went into hiding. In both blasts, Israel fired warning shots to evacuate the buildings....Anticipating a strong Israeli response, Gaza's Hamas leaders have apparently gone underground. Witnesses reported seeing Hamas evacuating its personnel from government premises. Hamas also announced its Gaza chief, Yehiya Sinwar, had canceled a scheduled public speech. Israel also shut down its main crossings into Gaza and imposed restrictions on fishing off the Gazan coast." • • • THE BORDER ESCALATION BEGAN WITH A HAMAS ROCKET ATTACK. Haaretz published at 5 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon an article that explained that it was Hamas that fired the first rockets that began the current border escalation : "Tuesday, 4:33 P.M. The UN Mideast envoy is urging the Security Council to condemn the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Gaza's Hamas rulers toward Israel, saying this dramatically increases the risk of escalation and a new conflict....Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said that the [first] rocket, which struck a home in the community of Mishmeret in the early hours of the morning, was fired from a Hamas position near Rafah in the southern Strip, some 120 kilometers away. The military said the rocket was manufactured by the group. The military sent two infantry brigades and armored forces to southern Israel and is preparing to call up thousands of reservists, including some from the Air Defense Command, the Intelligence Corps and the Home Front Command. The military has not issued the usual formal orders for an immediate reserve call-up, but is instead telling reservists to prepare for a call to duty in the event of a significant escalation. This is the first time in years that the IDF is taking such a step. Israel also closed the Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossings into the Gaza Strip. Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East process, said...Monday that the UN is 'working intensely with Egypt and all sides' to reduce tensions. Islamic Jihad warned the 'Zionist enemy against attacking the Strip,' saying they would 'respond with force' to any attack. A statement on behalf of the armed groups in Gaza said that if Israel strikes the Strip, 'all Israeli targets will be in the range of fire.' The rocket attack on central Israel left a 60-year-old woman in moderate condition, with her husband sustaining light wounds; a man and woman, both 30, were lightly wounded along with their 3-year-old and 6-month-old; and a 12-year-old neighbor was also lightly wounded. The 12-year-old, 6-month-old and 30-year-old woman remain hospitalized, while the others have been released. The army confirmed that the Iron Dome defense system had not been activated Monday morning when the rocket hit because rocket fire toward the center of the country was not expected at the time." • • • HAMAS LEADERS IN HIDING AS GAZA RESIDENTS ARE THREATENED WITH TREASON FOR CONTACTING ISRAEL. Israel Hayom reported on Tuesday that : "Prior to reports of a ceasefire, Monday night, the Hamas terrorist organization threatened to escalate its response to IDF airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. In the late evening hours, the group announced that 'the resistance would expand its missile range as long as the Zionist enemy's attacks continued.' Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri threatened, 'We will respond with force to the criminal Zionist onslaught. Red lines have been crossed, and we will not remain silent.' Ahead of the Israeli strikes on the coastal enclave in response to a rocket launched from Gaza that struck a home in the central Israeli moshav Mishmeret, injuring seven, Islamic Jihad head Ziad al-Nakhla had warned that 'an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip will result in a forceful response.' In a joint statement, Monday, armed Gazan factions said talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire with Egyptian mediators had failed and that they were now preparing for a confrontation. According to reports coming out of the terrorist enclave, the rocket that struck Israel's central Sharon region was likely launched from the vicinity of Rafah, in southern Gaza. Nevertheless, senior Hamas officials told the Al Arabiya news channel and Al Jazeera network that the rocket's launch had been the result of 'human error.' Hamas' national security mechanism, on Monday, issued a message according to which 'residents of the [Gaza] strip must not relay information over the internet or by telephone of the location of Hamas activists, the launching areas, the movement of forces and activists in the strip.' According to the report, Hamas said that 'those who violate the emergency regulations are expected to face serious charges, up to and including treason.' The assessment in Gaza is that senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials will head underground out of concern of targeted assassinations. It has also been reported that Hamas and the armed factions in Gaza have ordered the evacuation of command centers and bases. In addition, armed Palestinian factions convened in a joint operations room, Monday. Unlike previous instances, no information was given as to where and when the meeting was held." • • • NETANYAHU DEPARTED THE US EARLY TO LEAD ISRAEL'S RESPONSE.. Fox News reported on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short his Washington trip to return to Jerusalem as the IDF mobilized the Israeli military after a Gaza rocket attack wounded seven Israelis. Fox News said : "Netanyahu, who was in the US capital to meet President Trump and give a since-scuttled speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference [later given by satellite from Israel], called the Monday morning rocket launch in the agricultural community of Mishmeret a 'criminal attack' and vowed to strike back hard. In a brief address alongside Trump at the White House on Monday, the prime minister said 'miraculously' no one was killed in the attack. He said the Jewish state’s military has started striking Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. 'Israel will not tolerate this. I will not tolerate this, and as we speak, Israel is responding forcefully to this wanted aggression to this wanton aggression...I have a simple message to Israel’s enemies : we will do whatever we must do to defend our people and defend our state.' " President Trump offered his condolences to the people of Israel for the "horrific” Hamas attack : “Our prayers are with our friends in Israel as they carry out an incredible way of life in the face of great terror. The United States recognizes Israel’s absolute right to defend itself. The despicable attack this morning demonstrates the security challenges that Israel faces every single day.” • Hamas pleaded 'misfire' after the first rocket attack on Tel Aviv ten days ago, but the latest rocket attacks cannot be explained that way again. • • • THE HAMAS ATTACKS ARE NOT NEW. As Fox News notes : "Gaza is controlled by Hamas, an Islamic militant Palestinian group that seeks Israel's destruction and possesses a large arsenal of rockets and missiles capable of striking deep inside Israel. The territory is home to other Palestinian militant groups, including Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed armed organization that also has a formidable rocket arsenal. Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies and have fought three wars since the group seized power in the strip in 2007. Smaller flare-ups have occurred sporadically since Israel and Hamas fought their last war in 2014. Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for all fire coming out of the coastal territory. An Israel-Egyptian blockade, combined with sanctions by the rival Palestinian Authority and mismanagement by the Hamas government have fueled an economic crisis. The territory's residents have little desire for another war with Israel. Instead of a full-fledged conflict, Hamas has tried to end the blockade through a violent weekly protest movement along the Israel-Gaza border fence that it launched a year ago. It too has largely failed. About 190 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have been killed during the weekly rallies. Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations are trying to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas but that effort has yet to bring about an agreement. At the same time, there has been an uptick in violence in the West Bank over the past week, with a stabbing and shooting attack that left two Israelis dead near a West Bank settlement and Israel's killing of two Palestinians it said attacked troops." • • • THE GOLAN HEIGHTS. On Monday, after his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which reverses more than a half-century of US policy. Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war but its sovereignty over the territory is not recognized by the international community. Israel Hayom reported on Tuesday that : "US President Donald Trump signed a historic proclamation on Monday recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Standing alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Trump made formal a move he announced in a surprise tweet last week. The President said it was time for the US to take the step after 52 years of Israeli control of the strategic highlands on the border with Syria. The US is the first country to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan, which the rest of the international community regards as Israeli-occupied. Syria and neighboring Lebanon denounced the move, and at least two NATO members, Canada and Turkey, said they would not follow suit. Trump said his decision would cement the Jewish state's ability to defend itself from regional threats should a broad Arab-Israeli peace deal ever be reached. Trump's action also likely gives Netanyahu a political boost ahead of what's expected to be a close Israeli election....Israel has long argued that the strategically important area has, for all practical purposes, been fully integrated into Israel since it was captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and that control of the strategic plateau is needed as protection from Iran and its allies in Syria. 'Today, aggressive acts by Iran and terrorist groups, including Hezbollah in southern Syria continue to make the Golan Heights a potential launching ground for attacks on Israel,' Trump said in the proclamation. The proclamation noted the 'unique circumstances' presented by the Golan, language that appeared to be aimed at countering criticism that the recognition would be used by other countries to justify control of disputed territory, such as Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. But criticism was speedy and intense. Syria slammed the US step as 'blatant aggression' on its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The foreign ministry said Trump's move represented the 'highest level of contempt for international legitimacy' and showed that Washington was 'the main enemy' of Arabs. Lebanon, which Secretary of State Mike Pence visited over the past weekend, said that the Golan Heights is 'Syrian Arab' territory and that 'no country can falsify history by transferring' land from one country to another. Saudi Arabia denounced US President Donald Trump's recognition of Israel's 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights, a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency said early on Tuesday. 'Attempts to impose fait accompli do not change the facts,' the statement said. It said the Golan Heights was an 'occupied Syrian Arab land in accordance with the relevant international resolutions. It will have significant negative effects on the peace process in the Middle East and the security and stability of the region,' it said....Kuwait and Bahrain said they regretted the decision while Qatar called on Israel to end its occupation of the Golan Heights and comply with international resolutions....And, at the United Nations, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said U.N. chief António Guterres adheres to Security Council resolutions that Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights is 'null and void and without international legal effect.' " • In a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) earlier Monday, US Vice President Mike Pence said the rocket attack "proves that Hamas is not a partner for peace." Pence told AIPAC "Hamas is a terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of Israel, and the United States will never negotiate with terrorist Hamas." • • • IS THERE A CEASEFIRE IN PLACE. The Times of Israel wrote on Tuesday that Hamas "told Egyptian intelligence officials that they would not escalate tensions with Israel as long as Israeli security forces halt their air raids on the coastal enclave, Qatar-based news outlet Al-Jazeera reported Tuesday morning, citing a Palestinian source. The report came after residents in southern Israel and Gaza woke to a tense but relatively quiet morning, following a night in which terror groups in the Strip launched approximately 60 rockets at the Jewish state and the IDF struck dozens of Gazan targets. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum announced late Monday night that Egypt had succeeded in brokering a ceasefire between the terror groups and Israel. However, the two sides continued to exchange fire until the early hours of Tuesday." • BUT, according to the Times of Israel : "Israeli politicians on Tuesday pushed back against Hamas’s claim that a ceasefire was concluded. Israel did not agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, and is ready to continue its airstrikes on targets in the Gaza Strip, a senior official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entourage to Washington said Tuesday afternoon, minutes before the delegation’s plane landed in Tel Aviv." • The Times of Israel, in a separate Tuesday report, said : "Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, who is serving as temporary acting prime minister until Benjamin Netanyahu returns from the United States, on Tuesday defended the government against charges it wasn’t taking strong enough action against terror emanating from the Gaza Strip. 'It is clear that there is no ceasefire,' Levin told the Ynet news site, after an escalation that began with a rocket attack from Gaza that flattened a home in central Israel early Monday and injured seven people, and continued throughout Monday and into the early hours of Tuesday morning. 'We respond to every attack and certainly when there is an escalation. Fire will certainly be met with fire. We will take whatever action is necessary to ensure that the escalation we have witnessed is stopped. We are on the eve of elections and this is a sensitive period,' he added. 'Hamas leaders must understand that the price they will pay is unprecedented.' ” But, said the Times of Israel : "Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Army Radio that the elections on April 9 will not play a role in any decision over military action. 'Hamas has assessed that it will make gains before the elections, and is wrong. It is not necessary to postpone election day, but it is necessary to clarify to our enemies that it is not a consideration,' Erdan said....Recent weeks have seen escalating tensions in the Gaza Strip, as the Hamas terror group, its de facto ruler, feuds with both Israel and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. Domestically, the terror group has also faced protests and increased criticism as humanitarian conditions in the Strip continue to deteriorate." • Is there a ceasefire in place? -- the right answer likely is 'yes' until the next round of rockets from Hamas in Gaza hits Israel. • • • GAZA BREEDS CONFLICT. Israel Today's David Lazarus explained the Gaza situation on Tuesday : "This 140-square-mile stretch of land located along the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and Israel has endured decades of protest, military operations and violence. Hamas this week was again pummeling Israeli towns and even launched three long-range missiles towards Tel Aviv, Israel’s most densely populated area....On May 14, 1948, Israel officially declared independence, establishing the first sovereign Jewish nation in over 2,000 years. One day later, war broke out between Israel and five Arab countries -- Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon. During the war, tens of thousands of Palestinians fled Israel towards Egypt hoping to return to their homes thinking that Israel would be destroyed by the Arab armies. Egypt denied them entry and forced them to remain in the Gaza Strip. At the end of war Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip....Egypt controlled Gaza until the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel seized the Strip, along with Jerusalem and all the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria. This began a period of relative quiet, with the coastal enclave being placed under Israeli military governance. Israelis and Palestinians were now free to travel back and forth between Gaza and Israel-proper for work, medical services and even friendship. In 1987, the first riots of the Palestinian intifada began in the Gaza Strip one day after a traffic accident in which an Israeli truck accidentally crashed into a station wagon carrying Palestinian workers home from work in Israel. Palestinians saw the accident as a deliberate act of retaliation following the terrorist killing of an Israeli in Gaza several days before. The 1995 Oslo Peace Accords between the PLO and Israeli leaders called for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and most parts of Judea and Samaria. In 2005, the last Jews were forcibly evacuated from Gaza and their agricultural settlements were dismantled. Soon after Israel's 'disengagement' from Gaza, Hamas, an offshoot of the terrorist Moslem Brotherhood, seized control in a bloody coup against the Palestinian Authority, leading to an increase in violent attacks against Israel. Since then, Hamas has occupied Gaza and turned it into a launching site for vicious protests, bombings, terror tunnels, burning Israeli lands and other acts of terror including recent long-range missile attacks on the Jewish state's largest population centers. These rockets and bombs are smuggled into Gaza through Egypt by anti-Israeli terror groups in other countries, such as Iran." • Gatestone Institute's Majid Rafizadeh wrote on March 16 : "Iran has built, or is in the process of building, more than 10 military bases in Syria, some of which are near the Israeli border. When will the international community begin to take the Iranian's government clear verbal threats and physical aggression seriously? Or would the international community secretly like to see Israel destroyed, under Europe's Orwellian inversion of the words : "the peace process"?....While they progress toward destroying Israel, not only do Iranian leaders believe that they are inching closer to fulfilling a religious prophecy, they also see that they are gaining strategic and geopolitical victories -- in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip. The Deputy Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami, recently threatened on Iran's Channel 2 TV that Israel is 'vulnerable and bringing itself closer to death.' Salami recently made it vehemently clear the strategy of the Iranian government, stating : 'Our strategy is to erase Israel from the global political map. And, it seems that, considering the evil that Israel is doing, it is bringing itself closer to that.'....While many of the world leaders disregard Iran's evident intentions to destroy Israel, they always seems extremely quick to criticize Israel for actually defending the safety of its citizens. After Iran's unprovoked attacks on Israel and its military build-up in Syria were dismissed by the international community, Israel had no choice but to carry out its own strikes against the Iranian military bases and infrastructure that were threatening their country. Unfortunately, some news outlets and politicians have been attempting to create a narrative to lead people to believe that the Iranian leaders' threats are just talk. Iran's leaders, however, continue to demonstrate their intentions not only with verbal threats, but with military actions as well. Since 1979, Iran has authorized firing rockets and missiles into Israel, and have also used proxies, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, to attack Israel viciously. Iran appears to have Israel solidly in its cross-hairs." • DEAR READERS, Colonel (ret.) Dr. Eran Lerman, former deputy director of the National Security Council and the vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies wrote an article for Israel Hayom on Tuesday. Dr. Lerman began be saying : "Hamas misread the map. To an observer from another planet, the conduct of Hamas' leadership would look like utter madness, akin to a visitor at a zoo entering the lion's cage -- or sending his kids inside -- with a sharp stick to poke the lions to see what happens. There's a type of 'self-racism' involved -- a demand of the world to treat the Palestinians, due to their 'suffering,' as not responsible for their actions in shooting another rocket at central Israel....In actuality, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his cohort, who believe according to their logic that stretching tensions to the brink is a rational move, will soon realize it was a critical misstep on their part. Their goal is to increase even further their leverage points in the negotiations Egypt is currently mediating, divert the attention of the local population from the recent anti-Hamas demonstrations, and lash out against the brutal pressure mechanisms being applied by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas despite the despair it is causing his people. The IDF will inevitably respond in a manner that is harsher than usual -- not because the blood of the residents of central Israel is more valuable than that of Israelis who live near Gaza but because of the emerging need to show Hamas that it has wrongly read the map....the purpose of such a response -- a combined and comprehensive military strike and threatening military posture, accompanied by an Egyptian diplomatic push to calm the situation -- must not merely encompass the prevention of additional missile fire, but reeling in the weekly border riots, provocations, incendiary balloons and explosive devices routinely thrown at IDF troops....The new IDF chief's test, therefore, will be to compile a sophisticated 'toolbox' that includes a painful blow, control over the levels of escalation, rehabilitation of our deterrence and preserving the role of the Egyptians as a key player. Only then, when the timing is more appropriate and there are clear and verifiable returns (including Hamas tightening its control of the missile arsenal in Gaza and preventing its access to Islamic Jihad and recalcitrant factions within Hamas itself), should Israel provide material rewards to alleviate the distress of Gazans and allow for a more controlled process of conflict management." • But, so long as Arab states like Qatar teach hatred of Jews and Israel in their grade schools, and so long as Iran can scrape together -- often thanks to Europe's support -- sufficient funds to build military bases in Syria unimpeded and to publicly proclaim "Death to Israel" without so much as a sneeze from the UN or the international community, not much will change. Israel will continue to defend its nation's borders. The United States will continue to support Israel's right to exist and its right to defend itself. And, the "utter madness" will go on -- rocket attack after rocket attack, fire balloon after fire balloon, tunnel after tunnel -- until Israel and the US shout "Enough !" Like "The Boxer" of Simon & Garfinkel : "In the clearing stands a boxer And a fighter by his trade And he carries the reminders Of ev'ry glove that laid him down Or cut him till he cried out In his anger and his shame 'I am leaving, I am leaving' But the fighter still remains." Israel is not weak, as The Boxer was. It is a world class military power. But, it seeks peace with that power, not domination. • There is a core so eternal in Israel's fight to exist that it will "remain" no matter who fires rockets or builds military bases. Israel will remain.