Commentary: Lethal Attacks Continue, as does the Policy of Restraint

Predictable, if anything was: a Kassam rocket fired yesterday landed near a “strategic installation” in the Industrial Zone of Ashkelon. Then, last night, a rocket fired at Sderot critically wounded a 13-year old boy.

And the prime minister speaks of restraint?

“Enough!” cried our defense establishment. As one high level IDF official said: “The government is holding us back from responding and makes us look weak and vulnerable… ” Indeed. Not to mention that besides making us look vulnerable, it truly does render us vulnerable.

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The latest word I have is that the IDF is now going to be allowed to do pinpoint targeting of launching cells. Other than that, we will continue to honor the “ceasefire.”

Did I warn that I was dealing with insanity? Olmert is positively paranoid about our not being the ones to “break” the “ceasefire.” One unnamed gov’t official has said that this policy of restraint has earned us a great deal of credit abroad, especially in Europe. I’m sure the family of the young boy who came near to dying last night is very impressed.

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Add to this the report by senior defense officials that the Palestinians in Gaza have been utilizing the “ceasefire” to strengthen its forces and prepare for war with us. Hamas’s army training never stops, nor does the smuggling of weaponry. How much easier we’ve made it for them. Are the Europeans going to come help us when we finally get hit hard? Don’t think so. Don’t even want them to. Just want them to keep their mouths shut when we finally hit these guys hard. But what is also predictable is that whatever our restraint now, in the end we will, once again, be charged with “using excessive force” and “violations of human rights” and all the rest.

Nothing makes sense but to go in there now, with maximum military power, and to take out the terrorists and their caches of weapons in a preemptive operation, before we get hit. Today Aaron Lerner of WorldNetDaily reports al-Aksa leader Abu Ahmed as saying that, “It’s only a matter of a small period until Gaza is ready for war.” Abu Ahmed says they are planning to hit Israel with many Katyushas, just as Hezbollah did, and is utilizing reinforced bunkers for storing these weapons, just as Hezbollah did. Please note, al-Aksa is a branch of Fatah, the party we’re supposed to strengthen so that we can have moderation.

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Meanwhile, the Palestinians are charging that if we target Kassam cells in Gaza, this will represent a violation of the “ceasefire” and bring it to a conclusion. You see, it will be our fault, as these things always are.

Abbas is also suggesting that Israel and the PA do “backdoor” negotiations, using unofficial channels, to resolve major issues such as Jerusalem and borders. I’d like to send both Abbas and Olmert out the back door.

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see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info