It isn't possible to overemphasize the importance of having good neighbours. The lefties in our country like to make a lot of jabs at the US but, at the end of the day, they trade with us and offer us protection and friendship. Israel should be so lucky as to have an ally like that bordering them. Instead of commerce and increased physical security, Israel gets rocket-propelled explosives penetrating ever deeper into their country while a number of their neighbours denounce the Israeli state as illegitimate and seek to wipe it off the map.
Yahoo! News has the scoop:
Israel's deputy defense minister warned on Friday of a disaster in the Gaza Strip after Israel activated an air raid system to protect a major city from increasingly threatening Palestinian rocket barrages.
As Israeli troops, tanks and aircraft went after Palestinian rocket operations, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio that Israel had "no other choice" but to launch a massive military operation in Gaza.
"As the rocket fire grows, and the range increases ... they are bringing upon themselves a greater 'shoah' because we will use all our strength in every way we deem appropriate, whether in airstrikes or on the ground," Vilnai told Army Radio.
...
Israel evacuated its troops and settlers from Gaza in late 2005, but the rocket fire has persisted and this week became more ominous as Iranian-made rockets slammed into a major city.
Communities right over the Gaza border have taken the overwhelming brunt of the rocket attacks from Gaza, but militants firing longer-range Iranian rockets struck hit the town of Ashkelon several times on Thursday. One sliced through the roof of an apartment building and three floors below, and another landed near a school, wounding a 17-year-old girl.
Ashkelon, a beach town 11 miles north of Gaza, had been sporadically targeted in the past but never suffered direct hits or significant damage. Aside from its relatively large population of 120,000, the city is also home to a hospital, a power station, hotels and the European force that used to monitor a major Gaza-Israel crossing before Islamic Hamas militants violently seized control of Gaza in June.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday that the assaults on Ashkelon "demand an Israeli retaliation." Barak, who has warned repeatedly of a large-scale operation in Gaza, blamed Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers for the escalation in violence and said the militant movement would "suffer the consequences."
Emphasis mine.
According to officials, Israel won't launch the invasion for a few weeks since they prefer to wait for better weather conditions. One way or another, the general consensus seems to be that "it's on." Israel had better watch out though because the Pioneers of Tomorrow, lead by martyr-wannabe Assud the Jew-Eating Rabbit, have been jonesing for some action lately. They're probably strapping on their stylish suicide-belts as we speak.
Labels: Palestine, Israel, Invasion, Suicide Bombers, Terrorism, Assud, Pioneers of Tomorrow, Gaza, Iran, Hamas, Ehud Barak, Islamic Extremism
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