News item:
(IsraelNN.com) Following a weekend of over 20 mortar shells and rockets, Hamas fired a rocket Sunday afternoon that narrowly missed a busload of students in the parking lot of Sapir College in Sderot. A car was damaged.
Earlier this year, student Roni Yichye was killed by a Hamas-fired rocket in the same parking lot.
Two questions for Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak:
- What would you have done if the rocket had made a direct hit on the bus?
- Why wait for it to happen?
On Friday, Jimmy Kedoshim, 48, father of three, was killed by a Hamas mortar shell in his garden in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz close to the border. Kedoshim was a powered paragliding champion, a former paratrooper who used his skill to operate an aerial photography and advertising business. He’s shown here immediately after landing his paraglider.
He was killed for the crime of being a Jew living in Israel. How long can this be allowed to continue?
The body of Jimmy Kedoshim is removed from his home in Kfar Aza
I believe one reason there is such great hesitation about moving in to Gaza again is the awareness that it will cost many Israeli lives. And it will too not put an end to the situation and problem as we will once again be back where we don’t want to be – controlling Gaza.
i also believe there is another reason for our hesitancy. The move into Gaza may be the trigger for the larger confrontation which appears to be shaping up. Hizbollah, Syria, Iran are part of this. Such a confrontation could well mean major damage within Israel itself from rockets and missiles.
There is thus good reason to be hesitant.
But this does not mean it is right to be hesitant. It might be wiser to fight the thing to the end now and not wait longer to when the other side has greater capabilities.
I am not in a position to make the judgment as to what it is right to do. But I do understand the dilemna.
The problem is that there will be a confrontation with Hamas in Gaza and there will be one with Hezbollah. The only question is whether it will be when we want it or when they want it.
I don’t know if Israel has to keep a presence in Gaza. Go in and completely smash Hamas and get out again. It will take them a long time to recover.
But ‘completely smash’ means ‘completely smash’. And there will be Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians hurt and killed.
The main issue is whether Hamas can be destroyed before the US makes Israel withdraw?