02 March 2008

Destroy Hamas, And Gaza If Necessary

The AP titles this story, Palestinians halt talks, killings mount, but if you read down to the tenth paragraph, you see that it's the continuous rocket attacks from Hamas-run Gaza is what is inciting the Israelis to strike back at targets in Gaza.

Israel's response to incessant Palestinian rocket fire at southern Israeli communities drew hard international condemnation. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon accused Israel of "disproportionate and excessive use of force."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected the criticism and vowed to press on with the Gaza offensive.

"With all due respect, nothing will prevent us from continuing operations to protect our citizens," he told his Cabinet.

Olmert's defense minister, Ehud Barak, said an even broader Gaza operation was in the cards, aimed at crushing militant rocket squads but also to "weaken the Hamas rule, in the right circumstances, even to bring it down."

Israel regularly clashes with Gaza rocket squads, but intensified its operations after militants fired salvos last week into Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 closer to Israel's heartland than previous targets. By striking Ashkelon, some 11 miles north of Gaza, Hamas added pressure on Israeli leaders to exact a high price for the increasing sense of insecurity felt in southern Israel.

The onslaught failed however to stop rockets from battering southern Israel. Nine were fired at southern Israel by midday Sunday, including one that struck a house in the rocket-scarred town of Sderot less than a mile from Gaza, the military said. One rocket lightly wounded four Sderot residents, Israeli rescue services said.

About 50 rockets and mortars were fired Saturday, injuring six Israelis.
Honestly, I think that the Israelis should allow unidentified Israeli "militants" to do what the unidentified Gazan "militants" are doing; firing rockets indiscriminately into Gaza. There doesn't even need to be a military target when the Israeli "militants" act, since the Gazan "militants" take the same un-condemned action daily. If it's okay for the Gazans, why wouldn't it be okay for the Israelis?

The U.N. needs to take a long walk off of a short pier, too. When Ban Ki-Moon accuses the Israeli government of "disproportionate and excessive use of force," while not condemning the illegal rocket attacks on Israel against civilian areas, there is no chance of a fair discussion of the matter. Do you think that if South Korea took a military response against North Korean targets after "incessant [North Korean] rocket fire at [South Korean] communities," Ban Ki-Moon would be condemning the South Korean government?

Hamas needs to be crushed, and if the residents of Gaza want to continue supporting Hamas, then I won't shed a tear if they are crushed with them. Hamas was voted into power by these people in 2006, and they can now reap the whirlwind of that choice.

USMC 9971 OUT

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