Israel Matzav

Yaakov Yaakovov HY"D

Yaakov Yaakovov, who was critically wounded in this morning's Kassam attack on Sderot died this evening. Yaakovov is the second fatality in a Kassam attack in less than a week. But the government is still not willing to act:

Earlier Tuesday, as Kassams continued to pound Sderot and the western Negev, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said that recapturing the Gaza Strip was "not a preferred solution" to the ongoing rocket attacks.

Speaking to Channel 1, he emphasized that "the solution is more complex" than dialogue alone, and that only a combination of military, economic, and other considerations would bring about the weakening of terror groups in Gaza.

Sneh said that without diplomatic prospects, there was no chance of defeating Hamas; however, he called the war on terror a "military issue" and said it was in the defense minister's jurisdiction.

Regarding criticism leveled by a range of MKs at Defense Minister Amir Peretz over his Sunday phone call to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Sneh said simply that each government minister should do his or her own job and let others do theirs.

He added, however, that no minister was authorized to hold diplomatic talks on their own.

Earlier, Sneh announced that Israel would decide within weeks what anti-rocket defense system to erect in the Israeli communities bordering the Gaza Strip.

Sneh said that the government was examining four different systems produced both in Israel and abroad, but that their efficiency was as yet unproven.

Within weeks? How many more Israelis will die during those weeks and what can be done to get the government to stop dithering? Chief stock trader of Staff Dan Halutz agrees with his assistant boss:

A range of alternatives would need to be exhausted before launching a major incursion into Gaza to combat terrorist activity. Escalated force was "not the first choice," Halutz added.

"It is very easy to make this proposal, but the world is not just built on acts of strength," Halutz said. "There are other layers of legitimacy for an operation, and we need to ask ourselves what will the consequences of such an operation be and what will happen the day after the operation."

And Israel continues to burn....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:03 AM