Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza attacked the Western Negev with a rocket Saturday night, and the IDF continued its “proportionate retaliation” policy by bombing a “terror training base” and weapons depot.
No injuries were reported in both strikes.
The missile attack on Israel exploded near a Lag B’Omer celebration, prompting military officials to temporarily shut the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The Air Force Sunday morning bombed the terrorist sites, and military spokesmen issued the routine notice, “The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians, and will not allow for the reality before Pillar of Defense to take place again and threaten Israeli civilians. The Hamas terror organization is solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.”
The reality actually is the opposite.
The government indeed does tolerate the rocket attacks. Terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula attacked the Eilat area last with rockets. The government retaliated by wagging its finger and tongue. It does not want to upset the Muslim Brotherhood establishment in Cairo.
Israel has a little more leeway with Hamas in Gaza but still “tolerates” them, so long as no one gets killed.
At least half a dozen rocket attacks from Gaza have taken place in the last month following several weeks of relative quiet after another “ceasefire.”
Officials in Jerusalem know full well that if it lashes Gaza with a powerful blow to stop the attacks, it will be thoroughly denounced for a “disproportionate” response.
The pawns in this Israeli version of “Negev Roulette” are the residents of the mostly rural area in the Western Negev and in the small towns of Netivot and Sderot.
The Kassam rocket has no guidance system. It usually falls in open areas, causing no apparent damage. Sometimes it hits a chicken barn. In any case, it keeps southern Israeli’s residents in a constant stage of trauma.
And sometimes a “primitive” rocket explodes smack in the middle of a populated area, such as a kindergarten. Or, if Hamas sees it has a political advantage to escalate the war, it has plenty of laser-guided missiles that can inflict heavy damage and casualties on Israel.
When that happens, God forbid, then the government gives the IDF to pulverize Gaza, knowing that the most the United nations and European Union can say in such a case is that “both sides should stop the escalation” and, of course, must lift the “siege,” which is the legal maritime blockade to prevent explosives, terrorists and weapons from being smuggled into Gaza by sea.