We went to bed crying last night over news that eight students had been murdered in their Jerusalem yeshiva. The news for us got much worse today.

Walking into shul, I saw a friend with a heavy face. “You heard?” he asked. “One of the boys was from Neve Daniel.” When tragic news hits close to home, somehow the pain is ten times worse. The murdered boy’s family lives just down the street from me. Suddenly, it was painful to get through Rosh Chodesh Adar davening. I know it was the wrong thing to do, but I walked away at Hallel. I know our tradition tells us to praise Hashem in good times and in bad. But I hope he will excuse me, I’m just not at that level.

A bus came to the Yishuv, and we were on the way to Markaz HaRav, the school where the murders took place. Soon we were standing in the street, with thousands of people crowded round under the hot sun. No one had any words, there was no need.

Eight ambulances carrying eight bodies of teenagers who yesterday afternoon were looking forward to a wonderful Israeli spring weekend. Each ambulance stopped and the broken body of a young man was taken out and into the Bet Midrash.

Rabbis who had taught these kids now tried to eulogize them through the tears. Thousands of men and women joined in the crying. Just when I though the grief could not get worse, eight families were called up to tear Kria together. There was nothing to do but put your head down and let the tears slide down your face onto the pavement. I will never forget the looks of anguish on the faces of the parents of these young men. Frozen screams without much sound.

One boy was from our Yishuv and another from Efrat next door. They had siblings in my kids’ classes. How do you explain to your child that someone just murdered their friend’s brother and now crowds in Gaza are boasting about this heinous act? If you know, tell me. I haven’t a clue.

Sadness does not describe what we feel here. The feeling is closer to pain. We grieve over any tragedies, but now someone from our little Yishuv has become a statistic in Israel’s never ending war on terror – and that’s different.

I look around at all the children out playing in the sun, and I plead to G-D that we never experience another such tragedy. It hurts so much because we as a culture are in love with life. Our enemies prefer death.

I don’t know if it was the dancing crowds in Gaza or the meaningless drivel of a “condemnation” that the leader of the death eaters gave to the press, but I have come to the conclusion that nothing but an all out war will bring about peace.

Please Mr. Olmert, please, no more children growing up in bomb shelters in Sderot. No more high-schoolers murdered learning Jewish holy books, and no more tears in beautiful Neve Daniel or anywhere else in the land of Israel.

May all today’s mourners find comfort among those who mourn for Jerusalem.

Yarden Frankl, Neve Daniel

“In Gaza City, residents went out into the streets and fired rifles in celebration in the air after hearing news of the attack on the seminary.”

A few hours ago, terrorists opened fire inside Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, killing and wounded many students. One fired 600 bullets into a crowd of students. Another entered the Bet Midrash and started killing every kid he could see.* No, not firing randomly. Firing purposely. According to the Associated Press, as I sit here writing this, the party is kicking off in Gaza. Great news fellas. You must be so proud.

Tonight, parents are being informed that their children are dead. Tomorrow will be funerals for young students. Twenty-four hours from now, mothers and fathers will start saying Kaddish. Kaddish for their children.

Others are being operated on as you read this. Their families are waiting by anxiously, wondering what life will be like tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Who will walk again, who will see.

Work of an isolated madman? No such luck. The achievement of a society and culture so saturated in anti-Semitism that Hitler would be proud. The children in Gaza are being woken up right now to hear that “courageous fighters” have just struck a blow for Palestinian Freedom.

I’m not ideological. If the Palestinians behaved like Canadians, I would give them their own state in an instant. I know that’s not really the Zionist idea, but if there were any chance there would be fewer dead children, I would ask “Where do I sign?”

But that is just a philosophical discussion. We are not dealing with Canadians, we are dealing with people who are not even worthy to carry the term “human.” Celebrating massacres of students? Yossi Beilin, M.J. Rosenberg what have you to say? You think you and your kids will really be safe once we give in to the people who relish seeing our kid’s blood?

The United Nation’s Human Rights Commission demanded a moment of silence for those in Gaza who were killed by the IDF a few days ago. You guys going to pay tribute to tonight’s victims? Yeah, right.

WAKE UP WORLD. The people who dance at our kids’ death will one day dance at yours. This conflict has nothing to do with land. It’s about good and evil. If you don’t see it, your eyes are shut. Believe me, there are many times I want to shut my eyes and believe that there can be “peace” with these people.

But there is a reality staring us in the face with cruel, cold eyes. No matter how hard we Jews try to convince the world that we want peace, the Palestinians try to convince the world that they don’t.

Let’s hope for better news next week.

Shabbat Shalom from our blessed nation. Pray for tonight’s victims and those on the operating tables right now. Pray that our soldiers will finally be given permission to do what needs to be done. Once and for all.

Yarden Frankl lives in Neve Daniel. He used to be a liberal.

Thousands of Qassam rockets on display in Sderot

“I call on Israel to cease such attacks.”

Uh-oh, here we go again.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has decided to weigh in on the “situation” in the south of the country by giving us a little lecture on how much force we should use to stop rocket attacks on our citizens.

Let’s review. For a few years now (ever since the implementation of the brilliant, war-ending, peace-encouraging “disengagement” plan), Sderot and the communities of Southern Israel have been pounded by rockets, mortars, and sniper fire. For three years, Israel has made empty vows that our patience was wearing thin. Even our current government, whose desire to ever challenge anyone who is not an Israeli citizen is infinitesimal, has finally decided to act.

Their reasoning is long overdue, but warped. For the past three years, they decided to abandon Sderot – a city filled with Sephardic Jews, Ethiopians, and other people who don’t look very much like the denizens of the sidewalk cafes of Ramat Aviv. For years, residents of Sderot have had to live underground, occasionally getting praised by the Prime Minister for their bravery at staying in a city they could not afford to leave.

But now things have changed. Now that Ashkelon is under fire, Israel is fighting back and – surprisingly – ignoring international opinion (at least for the time being). Someone in the Prime Minister’s office was actually bright enough to realize that Ashkelon is not all that far from Tel Aviv. Suddenly, the same people who were content to let Sderot wither are afraid that their coffee hafuch lifestyle is about to be interrupted.

So we are now attacking no holds barred. We have killed many Palestinians and it looks like we will continue to do so. Don’t get me wrong, I consider every death of a Palestinian child to be a genuine tragedy. We should not feel anything but horror when a child dies.

But we need to understand that their lives are even bigger tragedies. Instead of going to school and playing ball like kids all over the world, Palestinian kids are programmed from birth to embrace anti-Semitism and admire terrorists. They attend schools named after suicide bombers and walk along streets covered with posters glorifying those who kill Jews. They come home from school and watch children’s TV shows where lovable Barney type characters tell them what they should do to the Jews.

Let’s face the unfortunate truth and realize that peace usually follows war, not concessions to enemies. Peace is a result of a people’s will to fight being completely broken. Peace – which can be a generous peace – comes when one side surrenders unconditionally.

So now it feels like war. The only question is if we will have the moral fortitude to ignore the preaching of those like Moon whose advice would ironically lead to a never ending list of dead Israelis and Palestinians. Or follow the common sense approach that has served every nation throughout history that has found itself under attack. Hit hard until the enemy, the one who started the fight, flies the white flag.

The left wing crowd has never understood that sometimes war actually saves lives. You just can’t declare “Peace Now” while your enemy is shooting you.

Want peace?

Stop talking and defend your citizens, all of them.

Yarden Frankl, Neve Daniel