Another Qassam Rocket, Another War Crime

You won't see it on the front page of The New York Times or The Washington Post or the online home page of Haaretz (no printed newspapers are published in Israel on Saturdays), but last night another Qassam rocket was fired into Israel's agricultural Eshkol Regional Council. Fortunately, the rocket fell in an open field, and there were no casualties or damage, but the terror continues. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are constantly adapting the level of rocket fire to determine what frequency of rockets will not cause reprisals or awaken the press corps to what is an ongoing war crime, although it is never represented as such by international correspondents or "leading" opinion piece writers from around the globe, who, like Maureen Dowd, prefer to label Netanyahu as "trigger-happy."

Islamic Jihad also warned yesterday that their missiles can reach Tel Aviv (see: http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=262142). Yes, it's true. If their Grad missiles, carrying some six kilograms (13 pounds) of explosives, can reach Beesheba from Gaza, they can also reach Tel Aviv, which is the same distance, i.e. 60 kilometers (37 miles), away. In addition, the Iranian manufactured Fajr missiles, which have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip and carry about 45 kilograms (100 pounds) of explosives can reach the northern suburbs of Tel Aviv, i.e. Herzliya, where many foreign ambassadors reside. However, for whatever the reason, Tel Aviv constitutes a "red line," and if Islamic Jihad were to cross it, Israeli ground forces would be swarming into the Gaza Strip within hours.