…Yesterday Israel’s national insurance institute agreed to recognize PTSD among the hundreds of thousands of Jews affected by these months of rocket attacks, clouds of smoke, no productivity, little sleep, hours beating down the flames with primitive giant rubber swatters.

The people under attack, and that is what it is, civilians in homes, bedrooms, kitchens, terrorized by air raid loudspeakers that send them racing for what we call a security room what might as well be called a bomb shelter in the apartment. How’s that for something uniquely Jewish in our time? Not only are there public shelters in all schools and hospitals, but the building code requires a bomb shelter in every dwelling.

And again, I express hope for a swift end to Israel’s paralysis and look forward to a good explanation for letting this happen. Those rockets and mortars launched from Gaza are weapons of war, and that they are so miniscule in military does allow us to avoid the truth that Israeli citizens under artillery fire in their homes by the enemy and Israel is doing nothing visible to bring end to this episode that is a direct insult to the Zionism of the pioneers for whom the spine of Israel is the army and something unique in history. In the Exile when the goyim came at us with murder in their eyes, we had no weapons, no army to defend. It is an idea that the prime minister frequently raises in his speeches. Being a free and independent Jewish state means the right and rightness of fighting back when attacked. And here in this celebratory year, we are letting this happen. No good…