A View of Gaza From Jerusalem, by Naomi Ragen
Excerpts;
First, a clarification is necessary. Last week, the official military arm of the democratically elected government in Gaza, headed by Hamas, which is on the official list of international terror groups recognized by the US and its allies, crossed the internationally recognized border, entering the sovereign State of Israel by tunneling under a fence, and attacked an IDF military outpost with explosives and machine guns. Two soldiers were killed, others were injured and one, Gilad Shalit, was forcibly abducted.
This unprovoked attack followed months of missiles fired into Israel towns, which Israel has ignored. Here is the list of the number of Kassam rockets that landed in the western Negev by month (from an article by Ami Isseroff): 12 in September 2005; 8 in October 2005; 4 in November 2005; 16 in December 2005; 1 in February 2006; 49 in March 2006; 64 in April 2006; 46 in May 2006; and 89 in June 2006.
According to all international conventions, these are continuing, escalating acts of war.
The current conflict is not about the release of an Israeli soldier, may God protect him and watch over him and return him safely. It is about acts of war. Even should Gilad Shalit be returned, God willing, two soldiers will never return. This act of war must be met with a declaration of war and an all-out offensive that will destroy the enemy.
Israeli air force chief Major General Eliezer Shkedy told the Jerusalem Post:
If we know that [the terrorist] is holding his son’s hand, we do not fire. Even if the terrorist is in the midst of firing a Kassam, and the Kassam is aimed to kill. We do not fire. You should know that. And that’s a fearsome thing.
The Palestinian people, like the German people in War War II, will no doubt be faced with additional casualties and additional suffering as a direct result of their active support for, and participation in, creating a terrorist state, which continues to attempt to murder its innocent next door neighbors. While our human sympathy goes out to the child whose father chooses to hold his hand as he fires a Kassam rocket at other people’s children, war is by its very nature a collective punishment; just as rockets landing on schools and apartment houses are a collective punishment.
… Ask the government of Israel to respond to this act of war by declaring war, and putting an end to the conflict by military means once and for all, given that all diplomatic attempts at a solution have failed. Hamas is not a trustworthy negotiating partner – having negotiated the release of a young Israeli kidnap victim the day after they’d already murdered him.
To read the entire article, click A View of Gaza From Jerusalem