War on Qassams not kosher
Ynetnews - Opinion - War on Qassams not kosher:
Aviad Kleinberg
……And what, essentially, is the idea behind this massive onslaught at the private homes of Gaza? There is no direct connection to the Qassam Rockets. Qassams are primitive rockets. They can be fired from just about anywhere, even a backyard. They are not fired from open fields, and the gunmen do not need advanced equipment or complicated logistics.
And IDF attacks almost always strike the innocent. The reason they are being fired is psychological. They are intended to give Israelis a nice feeling for the beginning of Pesach – “See, the IDF isn’t sitting on its hands. Quite the opposite, the army is using what the media admiringly calls its ‘iron fist’, and is striking painful blows to the innocent.”
But more importantly, the attacks are also intended - pay attention to the sophisticated psychology here – to put pressure on the civilian population, that will put pressure on PA authorities, that will put pressure on the Qassam gunmen to stop shooting. It’s like that song about the little goat at the end of the Pesach haggadah.
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How have thousands of women and children and old people in Gaza reacted to the shells? Its hard to know. They, apparently, are too busy putting pressure on the PA to put pressure on the gunmen, etc., and preparing for the odd shell that misses its target and kills dozens of innocents.Israel finds itself in a poor situation vis-à-vis the Qassams. It is hard to deal with a weapon that is not really an existential threat on one hand, but cannot be tolerated on the other.
It’s not easy to know what to do, but it is very easy to know what shouldn’t be done. We must not hold innocent people hostage. We must not punish them for the sins of others. Even during Pesach, there are methods that are simply not kosher.
