Israel Matzav

Comrade Peretz Orders an Investigation

For those of you who thought that we withdrew expelled all the Jews from Gaza so that we would have freedom of action and be able to go after the terrorists in an unrestrained manner, think again.

Last night, the air force knocked off one Mohammed Dadouh, was responsible for numerous ongoing Katyusha rocket attacks on Israeli communities. Unfortunately, because Mr. Dadouh was hiding among civilians in violation of the Geneva Convention, three civilians were killed and three more were wounded in the operation. This morning comes the news that Comrade Amir Peretz, the Chief Thug of the Histadrut defense minister, has ordered an 'investigation' into Dadouh's killing. It's not clear to me what results Comrade Peretz hopes to achieve from the 'investigation,' but if what he hopes to achieve is that from now on we can only shoot when we see the whites of their eyes, we will have no chance of winning the war on terror.

Last week, I linked an article by Edward Bernard Glick, which had the following blunt statement:

Israel has a stated policy of doing everything possible to limit Palestinian civilian casualties. But the trouble with that policy is that it provides no incentive to non-terrorist Palestinians to stop tolerating Hamas or other terrorist groups. The non-terrorist Palestinians, the Israeli Arabs who are pro-Palestinian the Arabs in the wider Middle East, the Iranians and the other non-Arab Muslims, those Americans and Europeans who hide their anti-Semitism behind anti-Israelism do not hate the Jewish state less because it has allowed its fear of causing Palestinian casualties to cloud both its military judgment and the proven principles of psychological warfare.

Comrade Peretz's 'investigation' will continue to ensure that the non-terrorist 'Palestinians' (if there are any) will have no incentive to stop tolerating Hamas or other terrorist groups (in this case Islamic Jihad).

The Jerusalem Post notes:

The army said that in addition to several other attacks against Israeli targets, Dadouh was personally involved in the firing of a Grad-type Katyusha rocket that fell near a Netiv Ha'asara farm last Tuesday, killing 30 chickens. That attack was the third time Gaza terrorists fired a Katyusha.

Security officials estimated that terrorists have between 10 and 20 of the Russian-made rockets, supplied by Iran and smuggled into Gaza via Sinai.

On Tuesday, the army played down the most recent attack, saying it was not an escalation in the conflict. However, security officials admitted the longer range of the rockets (up to 20 kilometers) and larger warhead capacity constitute a greater strategic threat than Kassam rockets.

If the army cannot go after the Kassam and Katyusha firers with an unfettered hand, the attacks will escalate and eventually the terrorists will hit something significant. They came awfully close this morning.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:36 AM