Playing roulette with civilians

Another rocket barrage hit Sderot reports Ynet News and the Israeli government seems to lack the political will to do anything meaningful about it.

A barrage of 13 Qassams was fired by Palestinians in north Gaza on the western Negev region Thursday morning. So far nine rocket falls have been located in Sderot and the vicinity. Most of the rockets landed in open fields. No injuries were reported in the attack, but slight damage was done.

Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees' Salah al-Din Brigades claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.

Hamas’ control of the Gaza Strip is pretty well absolute and without the full cooperation of the Hamas; today's barrage would not have happened.Yesterday the Israeli government released a video showing showing Gaza terrorists launching a kassam strike from Gaza school building. Ynet carries the footage here.

If the Israeli government gives the green light to actively target these groups in real time the potential for civilian causalities is high and the international political fallout takes on a catastrophe of biblical proportions. If the Israeli government fails to act it plays roulette with the lives of her civilians and it loses the rationale for its continued existence. Then there are the unintended consequences of the Israeli government’s failure to act decisively. The Jerusalem Post reports Fatah wants in on the act:

The Aqsa Martyrs Brigades threatened Thursday morning to fire hundreds of rockets at Israel. (…)The group announced that they have commenced "Operation Gaza Autumn," which would include, among other things, firing rockets at Israel. In a flyer distributed Thursday morning they said they have not tired of the resistance, and will continue with the military operation, Walla reported. "Autumn 2007 is arriving without a national unity government. We hear talk of summits here and there. We are marking 90 years since the evil Balfour Declaration, continuing IDF operations into Gaza, killing of Palestinians and destruction of houses."

Forty Kassams have been fired at Israel since the beginning of the week.

Stop for a moment and try to put yourself in the civilian shoes of the people of Sderot. What if it was your town? What if it was your children running for cover in the schoolyard when the alarm went off? What if it was your mother and daughter who were watching television in the living room when the mortor round came through the roof?

It is long past the time, that we, in the international community, remove all political cover from these groups and stop trying to rationalize these intentional acts of evil.