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.

Three Grad Missiles Fired from Gaza at Southern Israel

This morning, two Grad missiles were fired from Gaza at Israel's seventh largest city, Beersheba, and a third Grad missile was fired at the Israeli city of Ofakim. Two of the Grads were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-rocket system, while the third landed in an open field. Islamic Jihad, Iran's proxy in Gaza, has denied any involvement in the missile fire.

In short, we are witnessing a return to "normalcy," i.e. several rockets and mortar shells fired every day at civilian targets in southern Israel, which go ignored by pundits such as the Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, who recently portrayed Netanyahu as "trigger-happy" (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/opinion/dowd-liz-cheney-desist.html?ref=opinion).

Iran is intent upon provoking a Israeli ground operation against Gaza, which would deflect world opinion from its ongoing efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Thus far, however, even Islamic Jihad has avoided rocket fire on Tel Aviv, which is well within range of the Fajr missiles that have been smuggled into Gaza.

Interested in preserving its "militant" reputation vis-a-vis Fatah, Hamas has yet to rein in Islamic Jihad. The question today is whether Israel will accept a return to the preexisting status quo, i.e. daily rocket and mortar fire into southern Israel.

This is not over.