The rocket attack Wednesday by Palestinian terrorists on an Israeli city where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was appearing at an election campaign event is just the latest example of how the Gaza Strip has become a base for anti-Semitic murderers out to kill as many Jews as possible.

Fortunately, Israel’s Iron Dome defense system – supplied by the United States – destroyed the terrorist rocket in midair, before it could kill or injure anyone in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Thanks to President Trump and his strong support of Israel’s right to self-defense, the Jewish state can count on America as its most powerful and reliable friend.

Netanyahu was rushed offstage and into a bomb shelter when the incoming rocket was detected. This was the second time he had to be rushed to a bomb shelter while campaigning, following an earlier incident in September.

NETANYAHU RUSHED TO BOMB SHELTER AFTER ROCKET ATTACK ON SOUTHERN ISRAEL

Israel responded forcefully and justifiably to the unprovoked rocket fired from Gaza. Israeli Defense Forces fighter jets and helicopters attacked targets used by the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza, including the group’s military complexes.

Let’s imagine for a moment what the reaction of the United States would be – under any leader who takes the security of Americans seriously – if a rocket attack was launched toward a campaign event being held by a presidential candidate.

What would America or any other nation do? I think it is fair to say that the reaction to such an attack would be quick, decisive and punishing.

Yet no matter what Israel does, and no matter the extraordinary lengths it goes to avoid civilian casualties, its critics in other nations – including some Democratic politicians here in the U.S. – hold it to an impossible and discriminatory standard.

One of those leveling the harshest, most absurd and most frequent attacks on Israel is self-proclaimed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

At the debate of Democratic presidential candidates held last week, Sanders said that as president he would change U.S. foreign policy so it is “not just being pro-Israel. We must be pro-Palestinian, as well.”

Sanders added that “right now, Israel is under the leadership of Netanyahu, who has recently been indicted for bribery, who in my view, is a racist.”

This slur on the leader of Israel echoes the anti-Semitic claims of Israel’s enemies, who falsely argue that Zionism itself – the movement supporting a Jewish homeland where Judaism was born more than 3,000 years ago – is a racist philosophy,

This past November, at the annual J Street conference, Sanders threatened Israel by saying: “You get $3.8 billion every year. If you want military aid, you’re going to have to fundamentally change your relationship to the people of Gaza. . . . In fact, I think it is fair to say that some of that should go right now into humanitarian aid in Gaza.”

The sheer absurdity of this statement shows just how far left and how anti-Israel some in the Democratic Party have gone. It also shows a complete lack of recognition that the state of Israel is one of the greatest allies of the United States.

The plain truth is that Israel’s stability and security is essential to the security of numerous Arab countries in the region, as well as to the United States. If not for Israel and the U.S., the fanatical anti-American dictatorship that rules Iran would pose an even greater threat to all its neighbors and to the U.S.

The anti-Israel views of Sanders and some other Democrats irrationally promote rewarding Hamas and its partner in crime Palestinian Islamic Jihad for their acts of terror against Israelis, and for the tremendous suffering they inflict on Palestinians victimized by Hamas’ brutal rule of Gaza.

The Sanders position also falsely suggests that humanitarian aid can fix the tragedy that is Gaza. For years now, well-meaning countries and international organizations have tried to help the people of Gaza. Yet year after year, nothing changes.

Most people not blinded by hostility to Israel recognize that no meaningful help can come to the Palestinians in Gaza unless dramatic changes occur within Gaza and within Palestinian politics.

The claim by Sanders and other critics of Israel that Palestinians in Gaza are suffering is correct. But the suffering is not caused by Israel – it is caused by the Palestinian terrorists who rule Gaza as despots, depriving Palestinians of the legal rights and human rights all Arabs living in Israel receive.

The truth is that Israel is doing its best to manage an almost impossible situation of trying to keep its own citizens safe while, to the extent possible, avoiding harming Palestinians in Gaza.

Many Israel-bashers around the world have protested about how Israel is blockading Gaza. But few have discussed the underlying reasons for Israel restricting the entry into Gaza of goods and material that are repurposed by terrorists and radical thugs into weapons of war to murder and maim Israelis.

Even fewer people speak about the truckloads of aid that Israel allows into Gaza in an effort to alleviate suffering caused to the Palestinians by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

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Anyone interested in bettering Palestinian lives and working toward peace must acknowledge that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are interested in nothing short of the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel and the murder of the Jews living there.

Israel must continue to defend itself. It must defend its citizens and its prime minister, its democracy, and all that it stands for. It must defend itself against the Jew-hatred of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and all other evil individuals and groups that work relentlessly to destroy it.

Israel defends itself with the friendship and support of President Trump and the Trump administration. The president and his administration have stood up for Israel to the degree that perhaps no other president or American administration have. The contrast between Sen. Sanders and some of the other Democratic candidates for president as compared to President Trump could not be starker.

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The time has come for people to understand that the state of Israel can, will and must defend itself against its enemies wherever and whenever they arise.

And the time has come to recognize that Palestinians will continue to lag behind and peace will be unlikely to be achieved until terrorists who hate Israel more than they love their own people remain in power.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE BY JASON GREENBLATT