I’m heading on down to Sderot early this morning, to interview a French Holocaust survivor who’s opened a candle factory in that much-beleaguered village.

If you think that sounds like a pretty darn good Chanukah story, you’re right – the light of Chanukah, coming from Sderot, started by a survivor of the worst darkness the world ever knew.

All that said, I still get a few butterflies when I set off for Sderot. Yes, yes, I know very well I could get hit by a truck here – crosswalk or not. But most of the world now thinks that things are quiet in Sderot, and unfortunately that’s not true. Sderot is still under bombardment.

Since January of 2009 – when the Arab terrorists agreed to a “ceasefire” (that’s ‘you cease, we fire’ in Arab parlance), there have been 771 Kassam rockets, mortar shells and Grad missiles fired into Israel, most but not all near the Aza border, which means Sderot.

Do the math, and that come to just a fraction over two rockets a day, on average. Are things better, since Israel retaliated with last year’s Chanukah war? Yes, certainly. But two a day is still significant. All it takes is one.

On Friday, the IDF retaliated and attacked a group of terrorists on their way to fire rockets. This terrorist group is relatively new – they belonged to the Jaljalatt terror organization, a Salafist movement working within Aza, and getting their support from Al- Qaeda.

The terrorists were killed, the rocket launching pad was destroyed, and we know one thing for sure: those terrorists won’t be bedeviling Israel any more.

Israel dealt with these terrorists exactly as they deserved – and precisely as was required for our own safety and security.

Israel was smart enough not to bring them into Jerusalem to stand trial.

As the new book, “Start-up Nation” says, Israel is a country on the upswing – we’re moving from a socialistic state into a free market economy. Our economy is relatively good. We're cutting taxes and privatizing formerly government owned businesses. Some of it is painful, but it's working to free up capitol for investment. Not only that, but we’re dealing with our terrorists as terrorists.

My ‘Old Country’ – the US – much to its everlasting shame, is doing precisely the opposite, on all counts.

That's terrible. It makes me both sad and furious. But what can any of us do?