The Jerusalem Post highlights the Israeli government’s incursion into the Gaza strip, most notably reflecting on the lengthy amount of time Olmert took to make the call to invade and Barak’s measured expectations:
And after eight years in which the home front, untenably, became the southern front line, on Saturday night the IDF was finally ordered to assert its obligation: to fight a vicious enemy and to safeguard the people of Israel.
For Israelis, and for all those who recognize the threat to freedom everywhere posed by the death-cult Islamist extremism of which Hamas is only a part, it now remains to hope that the IDF’s actions in the coming days restore peace to the South, and restore the tranquility that all civilians have the right to expect.
Barak’s tone has been quite different than the tone of Israeli leaders during the 2006 invasion of Southern Lebanon. In contrast, while Barak has been neasured, the IDF has been wildly successful on the ground thus far.
War is an extension of politics, and what was not achieved at the negotiating table (if Hamas dared to actually sit with the Israelis) will now be concluded by force of arms.
The families of Sderot, having lived under the terror of Hamas rockets without the concern or sympathy of the world press for years, will at least sleep easier knowing the battle has been carried elsewhere.
UPDATE: Just to show you what the Israelis in Sderot were living through:
Look at those, and compare the reaction of the press and so-called humanitarian organizations to the Gaza incursion today with the months and months of terror inflicted by Hamas on southern Israel.
UPDATE x2: Or perhaps, it’s not Hamas after all… but the al-Asqa Martyr Brigades seeking to destablize Hamas?
(h/t to the UK Guardian)