Israel Matzav

Four Kassams fired st Sderot - direct hit on Jewish home

Four Kassam rockets were fired by Palestinian terrorists from Northern Gaza at the Negev city of Sderot just before 6:00 this morning. One rocket hit an apartment building near Comrade Peretz's home, sending two residents of the apartment building to the hospital in shock. A second rocket hit a home send shrapnel flying at a gas canister which (fortunately - very fortunately) did not explode. A third caused damage in nearby Kibbutz Or Ha'Ner, while a fourth landed in an open area. Islamic Jihad took credit.

The IDF responded by shelling against "areas in northern Gaza from where the Kassams were launched." In plain English, that means that they bombed a bunch of empty fields again.

In an interview with Israel Radio, Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal asserted that "Our luck is that the Palestinians don't know how to aim precisely. The solution to the Kassams is not occasional military activity, but rather "either decimating the area from which the launches take place, or controlling the area."

Moyal stated that "only war, face-to-face" will solve the problem, not security rooms or government funding. Would we need a war if we hadn't 'withdrawn' from Gaza? What did we gain by expelling all the Jews from Gaza and fleeing?

Citing the United States activity in Afghanistan, as well as French and British precedents, Moyal insisted that "No sane country would stand for its sovereignty being violated ten times a day, while it strikes against open areas." True. No sane country would give territory away to terrorists either. But we all know that Israel is not a sane country. We are a country afflicted by guilt over our existence. Our morality is misplaced. As the Rabbis tell us, one who has mercy for the cruel will end up being cruel to the merciful. That describes the actions of our governments over the last thirteen years, and especially over the last six years, to a tee.

The Jerusalem Post reports that a Southern Command senior officer said Wednesday that "new technology would soon be introduced to the IDF which will allow for a quicker and more accurate response against Kasssam rocket launching cells." In other words, we're going to hit the right spots in those open fields from now on, when what's needed is a Dresden-type bombing of places like Beit Lahiya, from which Kassams are constantly fired. That's what any normal country would do.

HaAretz reports that the Israel Defense Forces planned to step up ground operations by special forces in the northern Gaza Strip. In other words, we're going to send our soldiers to risk their lives to make sure that only the terrorists get killed, and not the 'civilian' population among whom they hide that shields them and approves of their actions, in violation of the Geneva Convention. And then we will be accused of a civilian massacre anyway, as we were in Jenin in 2002.

YNet has video from Sderot. YNet also interviewed the homeowner whose gas tank was hit:

“Luckily the rocket struck the concrete part of the roof, which slowed it down a bit,” Sderot homeowner Moti Ashkenazi said.

Ashkenazi, who was alone in his house during the attack, added that “I heard a blast and flew off the bed; part of the ceiling landed on me. A big miracle took place here because shrapnel from the rocket hit the gas tanks inside the house. I am still trying to fathom what happened to us this morning.

If I sound a bit disgusted, I am. I'm tired of the Kassams falling daily and empathize with those of our brethren who live in constant fear of a direct hit. I'm disgusted at the weak 'leaders' we elected. I'm disgusted at our misplaced 'humaneness' towards the 'Palestinians.' At some point, morality dictates that you defend yourself and don't wait for the other side to kill you. The Talmud says that if someone comes to kill you, you should rise up and kill him first. Unfortunately, our 'leaders' have long since abandoned God and His Torah, including the Talmud. We are all suffering the consequences.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:31 AM