SAMPLE TALKING POINTS FOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OR OP EDS…

Sample talking points for letters to the editor or op eds:

• 
  Israel gave up all of Gaza more than two years ago in the hopes of peace, evacuating 9,000 Israeli civilians from this territory. What has Israel gotten in return? More than 4,000 rockets shot towards Israel – rockets that are aimed at kindergartens and other civilians.
• While Israel is working for a peaceful solution with Palestinian leader Abbas. However, Hamas controls Gaza and Abbas is either unable or unwilling to stop the rockets to date.
• Now the rockets firing at Israel are increasing in both number and range. This puts all the families in the town of Sderot and all of the 120,000 people in Ashkelon at risk.
• Rockets from Iran-backed terrorists in Gaza are hitting Israeli living rooms, kindergartens and playgrounds. Children in towns near Gaza, many having spent now two years sleeping in bomb shelters, are growing up traumatized. Indeed, 74% of children in Sderot aged 7-12 suffer from post-traumatic anxiety.
• In all, thirteen civilians in Israel have been killed by the rocket and mortar fire and more than 300 have been injured.
• In response to the daily targeting and killing of its civilians, Israel is trying to target terrorists and terrorist infrastructure only, and doing its utmost to avoid harming any Palestinian civilian. Sadly, however, Iran-backed terrorists in Gaza deliberately hide in highly dense civilian areas – putting Palestinian civilians at risk.
• Iran-backed Hamas has generated a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip, firing more than 220 Qassam rockets at Israeli children in more than 4 days and forcing Israeli authorities to take measures to protect its population, and thus reducing fuel shipment to Gaza.
• While the Gaza strip is still receiving three quarters of its electricity supply from Israel and Egypt, Hamas terrorists deliberately decided to cut off the only power plant in Gaza, letting 5 Palestinians in the hospital die as a direct result of their actions. Hamas was still able to provide all the electricity necessary for the launching of rockets into Israel.
• As the civilian population from Gaza finds themselves prisoners of the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hamas, Israel decided to make a humanitarian gesture and renewed today its shipments of fuel into the Gaza Strip.
• Hamas terrorists are receiving very large sums of money from Iran, but instead of using this money to help their population, they use it to fire more Qassam rockets on Israeli children (according to the Israeli General Security Services, on Jan. 13 Hamas had managed to smuggle $100 million into the Gaza Strip).
• Given the onslaught of rockets into Israel from Gaza, what is Israel to do to protect their citizens? When will Arab and Iran-backed terrorists stop the rockets so that both Israelis and Palestinians can have a better future?