Paula Stern says we've reached the point of no return. No holds barred. No mercy.
This morning just after dawn, 8 Palestinians attacked an army base in Keren Shalom. As military strategy goes, it was a successful operation in which 2 of the enemy were killed, 6 others wounded, and best of all, the infiltrators were able to steal back across the border after kidnapping an Israeli soldier. All our past mistakes will be as nothing if we do not make the ground shake today, if we do not act without mercy, as they have done.
This was not a terrorist attack against innocents. In this one case, we cannot bemoan the lack of decency or mercy that is so common in most terror attacks. This was a military incursion and must be answered in kind. The left wing who called for disengagement promised that any military action would be answered with the full strength of our army against an "invading" enemy. More than one left-wing friend told me that our withdrawing from Gaza would strengthen our right to defend ourselves. The right wing, the Orange People who saw the surrender for what it was, knew that this was all a lie. We knew rockets would fall on Askhelon and bombs would explode in Netanya and Tel Aviv. We knew that Hamas would celebrate their victory and more would die.
That the attackers and kidnappers will likely choose to hide their prize among Palestinian civilians is not our problem and we must now show the same lack of mercy that was shown to us. They choose how to begin this war and it is our obligation to see it through until the end, until our sons are brought home.
