That's one thing about being Jewish -- you always know that it could be worse.
I should be getting more work done but I spend so much time jumping from my FB feed to the news stations that I'm falling behind. One of the most frustrating things is the amount of commentaries that appear on my screen, with introductory messages from friends that say things like "if you only read one thing about the conflict, read this" or "not to be missed" or the lure "you won't believe what _______ said/did/showed." I try to ignore most of them, just for my sanity, but I do get drawn in, way too much."
So here are my thoughts. Bear with me.
Hamas had dozens of tunnels that they'd dug well into Israeli territory, some of them right under Israeli kibbutzim and other border communities.
According to Israeli intelligence, Hamas planned to send thousands of their operatives into these tunnels on Rosh Hashana, to break into the communities and slaughter the residents as well as to take many of them hostage back into Gaza. Not only that, but we now know that Hamas has Israeli uniforms -- if they would have come through in uniform, it would have been unimaginable chaos.
Rosh Hashana is 2 months away. If Hamas has just sat tight for another 2 months, they would have gotten away with this massive attack. Israel evidently had no idea, and the army would have been ill-equipped to deal with the attack when it took place. So all they had to do was to wait quietly and -- 9/11 would have paled in comparison.
But in June three young boys were kidnapped by Hamas operatives in the West Bank. Israel clamped down on Hamas in the West Bank which encouraged Hamas in the Gaza Strip to start firing rockets. The ceaseless rocket firings caused Israel to enter Gaza, locate the tunnels and learn about the planned attack.
The kidnapping and murder of the three boys was terrible, but perhaps there was a different Plan from above. Perhaps, by sacrificing their lives, they saved the lives of thousands of Israelis.