More Israeli Leftists Embrace Self-Defense

The Kassam that landed in Ashkelon is not an escalation of violence. It is yet another rocket fired at Israel. Ashkelon is in the same boat as Sderot, which has been a target of Kassams for a whole year now. Israel lies within reach of all the weapons in the Arab world, but these countries are not firing at us. The very fact that population centers in Israel are under constant attack is a casus belli. No country in the world would stand for such a thing. Gaza must be dealt with on a trouble-spot basis, without a stopwatch in hand. We must go in and out as needed, and do whatever clean-ups need to be done. The point is not to go in there and stay.

Israel must insist that the PA take responsibility and crack down on this strange octopus-like creature that has a foreign arm and a domestic arm, a military arm and a prisoner arm, with Khaled Mashaal waving his baton over all of them and orchestrating from Damascus. Israel has no interest in making an innocent population suffer, but it must use force, properly and wisely meted out, to protect its citizens.

PA Chair Mahmoud Abbas is opposed to terror and wants diplomatic negotiations, but he operates as a tortured intellectual and a commentator, rather than as an authoritative leader. The Hamas government, which at first showed promising signs of organization and discipline, has behaved like him and shrugged its shoulders during the kidnapping crisis. The events in Gaza have once again demonstrated that the essential condition for a quiet border is a responsible finger on the trigger on the other side. The conclusion we must come to is that until the appearance of a factor that will take control of security and weapons on the West Bank - Israel will not be able to withdraw from there. Negotiations with Abbas are not sufficient, nor is an agreement with him.