What nation in its right mind would do nothing while bloodthirsty terrorists in a neighboring land, actively supported by the ruling government of that land, rained thousands of deadly rockets on to its citizens?
You know the answer: not a single one. Yet somehow Israel is supposed to turn the other cheek as a host of hate-filled, Gaza-based terror organizations murder, maim and terrorize Israeli citizens by day and night and with increasing ferocity.
Even Israel's own leaders seem paralyzed with inaction; they limit their incursions into Gaza, apparently afraid of the world's reaction.
As if to underline the insanity of this paralysis, on Thursday Islamic terror resulted in the murder of eight students at a Jerusalem religious school - a horrific event that brought hordes of West Bank Palestinians out into the street dancing, singing and distributing celebratory candies.
The Hamas rockets and missiles now fired daily from Gaza are not the primitive limited range, homemade gadgets they once were. These days they are kassams, katyushas and anti-tank mines — donated by Iran and Al Qaeda and smuggled in from Egypt with promises of bigger and worse weapons yet to come.
According to respected Israeli analyst and JWR contributor Caroline Glick, while 25,000 Israelis lived within Palestinian rocket and missle range just three years ago, "the number has expanded at least tenfold." These days, Palestinian rockets not only reach the tiny border town of Sderot, but have begun to fall on the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.
What are we waiting for, Tel Aviv?
Apparently. Late last month Israeli launched "Operation Hot Winter", a limited military action that brought Israeli troops back into the wretched Gaza Strip, from which they had voluntarily withdrawn in September 2005. According to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the goal was to end the rocket campaign and topple the Hamas regime sworn to Israel's total destruction.
"Hot Winter" has proved to be strictly Hot Air. As they did during the 2006 war against Hezbollah, Olmert and his coalition government miserably failed to give Israel's army the basic tools they needed. Only one IDF infantry brigade and two partial tank units were deployed — not even a division, in itself too small. Their depth of penetration was limited to a 2 mile zone, against an enemy that now shoots off missiles with a range of 3 to 15 miles.
The response from Israel's enemies was predictable: Israel "over-responded." The response from many of its best friends was lamentable, too. The Bush administration spoke of the need for "moderation and continued negotiation."
Then there are those apologists who tell us that after all, Hamas rockets are really not that efficient. Whereas Israeli retaliation affects hundreds of Palestinian civilians (whose neighborhoods are often used by terrorists as rocket launching bases), Israel has "only" lost some 20 people. Tell that to the family of 47-year-old Roni Yihyeh, who was killed by a Kassam missile at Sapir College in Sderot, or to
8-year-old Asher Tuito, whose leg was amputated after a rocket shattered his body last week.
Gaza's Islamic rocket war against Israel is a growing threat. No third party is going to send a proxy force to control Gaza ? not the U.S., not NATO.
And while there are clear dangers in the Israeli army reoccupying the Gaza Strip en force, it increasingly looks like the only way to cleanse Gaza of the terrorist slime that currently controls it.
Israel withdrew from Gaza with hopes that it might become a shining light of Palestinian independence. Instead, it's a beacon of bedlam.
Why should Israel have to supply electricity, fuel and other basics to a terror state determined to destroy it? Let Egypt and other Arab states worry about Gaza. Failing that, consider cutting a ten-mile deep trench around the benighted Gaza Strip and pushing it out to sea.
