Sean Patrick Maloney: “until you actually spend time in Israel, it is hard to truly understand what it is like to live with the daily reality…”

“until you actually spend time in Israel, it is hard to truly understand what it is like to live with the daily reality of terrorism. The horrific explosion this weekend makes it hard to remember that this summer was a time of relative quiet. People on both sides of the conflict were able to venture out of their houses. Palestinians went to the beach for the first time in years. Israeli cafes and restaurants were crowded. Tourism was up. But, unfortunately, in many ways that quiet was more illusion than reality. During the Hudna, 27 civilians were killed, and 133 were injured. Over 180 terrorist attacks, including 120 shooting attacks, were launched against Israeli citizens. At the same time, Israeli security forces prevented more than 40 attacks, including suicide bombers. Given the volume of attacks, perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised that during our brief one week visit this summer our lives were touched by two separate terrorist incidents. But, we believed in the ceasefire and the possibilities it seemed to offer. One incident occurred after we visited an area along the border between Israel and Lebanon. The very next day, a sixteen year old boy was murdered by a missile fired over the Lebanese border, close to the place we had strolled the previous day. A day earlier, a few yards in a different direction and the missile could just as easily have hit one of us.”