It would be a mistake to accept liberal media argument that Israel is acting disproportionately in it campaign to free an Israeli kidnap victim. Palestine must not profit from murder and kidnapping or other terrorist activity.
Palestine elected terrorists to government. They didn't have alternatives to terrorists in the election. The hope is that world conventions will wear the government into a shape where the individuals learn that it is profitable to behave responsibly.
Media are demonstrably incapable of being focused on the important issues, preferring violence to reason.
Hamas leader bombed
ReplyDeleteISRAEL poured tanks and troops into the central Gaza Strip early yesterday, opening a new phase in operations to free a captured soldier as air strikes on Gaza City killed at least four.
A Palestinian policeman was shot dead as Israeli troops moved deeper into the Gaza Strip, pursuing a deadly offensive that has killed more than 50 Palestinians in a week.
Four Palestinians were killed, including two children, when an F-16 jet bombed and demolished a house belonging to a leader of the Islamic movement Hamas, Nabil Abu Salenyehin Sheik Redwan, north of the city.
Around 30 people were wounded in the attack, with reports saying an important political or military leader from the ruling Hamas faction was in the three-storey house at the time, a Palestinian security source said.
Rescue teams were trying to find other victims under the rubble. Three other nearby houses were seriously damaged.
As ambulances evacuated victims, Apache helicopter gunships attacked a car, wounding or killing several passengers, the source said.
The air strikes were preceded by a large-scale incursion into the central Gaza Strip, east of the Deir el-Ballah refugee camp, penetrating up to 1km inside the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has flatly refused to negotiate with Hamas or free Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 19-year-old Corporal Gilad Shalit, vowing the assault will continue "in places, in time, in measures" at Israel's convenience.
Mr Olmert has defended the scale of the operation, aimed at securing Cpl Shalit's release and halting rocket attacks, despite international criticism that force has been disproportionate.
At least 56 Palestinians have been killed in the operation, on top of one Israeli soldier killed by friendly fire.