Isi Leibler..
Candidly Speaking From Jerusalem..
13 March '12..
Last Friday, the IDF struck out against the Iranian controlled Popular Resistance Committees which our intelligence discovered were orchestrating another attack on the Egyptian border. Zuhair al Qaisi, the Secretary-General of the PRC (who had orchestrated the previous terror attack a few months on the Egyptian border near Eilat) and his collaborator Mahmoud Hanani, recently released in the course of the Schalit exchange, were both killed.
Gaza terror groups immediately responded and in the space of a few days over 200 rockets were launched against the South, one grad missile reaching as far as Gedera, only 40 kilometers from Tel-Aviv. Scores of Israelis throughout the South were injured. One rocket In Beer Sheva landed in an empty school courtyard, narrowly missing an apartment building. Subsequent Israeli responses destroyed numerous rocket launching cells and killed scores of terrorists.
We can take pride in the fact that our Iron Dome interceptor missiles have been extraordinarily successful and intercepted 90% of missiles directed towards the major cities. But even setting aside the immense cost of $50,000 for each intercept, at this stage Iron Dome is still far from foolproof and it only takes one missile to penetrate and cause tragic civilian casualties.
But besides that, it is outrageous to enable the terrorists from Gaza, at their discretion, to have the ability to force over a million inhabitants in the South in major cities like Beer Sheva, Ashkelon , Ashdod, and other regional councils from constantly to become hostages to their whim and obliged to disrupt their lives, effectively living for days on end underground and closing schools involving over 250,000 children.
There is no disputing that overcoming the existential threat of a nuclear Iran must remain our primary objective. And, yes, we also have sensitive issues which must concern us in relation to our Egyptian neighbors.
But it will be unconscionable for our government to enable these considerations to inhibit adequate responses to missiles being launched against its citizens. It must be willing to take drastic action to deter even a single rocket being deliberately launched. Otherwise we doom ourselves to a new war of attrition and destroy the quality of life of increasing numbers of our citizens.
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