Just another week in the 62-year old siege of the Jewish state

It is worthwhile to step back and notice the events of the week:

A rocket was fired into Israel from Gaza, hitting a rehabilitation center. (Another attempted firing of a rocket exploded prematurely.)

Five or six rockets were fired from the Sinai towards Israel, killing a Jordanian.

And snipers from the Lebanese Army killed an Israeli officer and wounded another.

All of these attacks were unprovoked. All of them were intended to kill Israelis.

In other words, here was just another week when Israel was fired upon from all directions. Not a terribly atypical week, either.

With all of the insults that are hurled at the State of Israel every hour of every day permeating the media, it is easy to forget that Israel really is a nation surrounded by hundreds of millions of people who want to see it disappear; and some of them are motivated to actually do something to help that process along.

The question isn't how can Israel act as bad as people say it does - the question is how come it doesn't! How can a tiny nation, literally surrounded by enemies, manage to keep its collective sanity and morality? How come there isn't martial law? How come Egypt has been in an official state of emergency for almost the entire time since 1967, and Israel isn't? How can Israel remain an oasis of Western values and of liberal standards when in such a constant state of alert against attacks from all directions?

Some people don't believe in miracles. But it is hard to look at Israel and think it is anything but.