Sir, - Having not been invited to sit in at the deliberations of the 'Security Eight', in a sense I am rather thankful for being spared from what must be the excessive verbosity and the apparent inability to decide on a meaningful course of action. I was prompted to write my opening sentence after seeing the headline of The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, June 24th, which reads ,"IDF: Quiet, violence to be met in kind, as cease-fire goes into effect."
To be an accurate description of the IDF's operations in Gaza, the headline should read "Quiet and violence will be met by quiet" as 23 rockets were launched into Israel as the so called cease-fire was to go into effect. These rockets of course, did not come as a total surprise to our astute military decision makers, as they were a continuation of the 150 rockets that have been launched all over southern Israel since Monday.
Netanyahu has been reported as saying that "Israel does not want to be dragged into a widescale conflict in Gaza at a time not of its own choosing." It is quite clear to me, that this is exactly the trap that Israel seems almost eager to fall into by its weak-kneed response to the ongoing threat from Gaza against the lives and well-being of our citizens.
Why is it that the rocket launchers get to decide when to disrupt our lives and when to stop, rather than we making the decision, that the first rocket fired into Israel will be met by a response that would clearly demonstrate the non-desirability to do so again? Why is it that we have not eliminated the tunnels that enable the smuggling of formidable weaponry into Gaza? The location of these tunnels are precisely known, and there destruction would certainly help limit the recurring rocket threat.
Our citizens deserve much less talk and much more decisive action against those seek our destruction!
ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva
[Image credit: Natan Flayer]
