Web Letters: Bomb a Ghetto, Raise a Cheer

In the Israeli paper Ha'aretz, the Shin Bet reported that since the rockets and mortars began in the year 2000, nineteen people were killed by rockets killed and another eighteen by mortar shells. Some 1,272 people have been wounded by rockets and shells since the beginning of the war on Gaza eighteen days ago. This report was dated 1/13/09.

Until the Gaza operation, Israel was being subjected to harassing fire, which was intended to disrupt normal life in Israel and not kill large numbers of people. Even though these rockets are not effective "weapons," the disruptions they caused in the lives of the general population made them more effective than suicide bombers who could kill more people in one attack. Terrorism is something that occasionally happens to "other people," but the harassing fire effected everyone in range of those rockets. Hezbollah imitated Hamas in 2006 with their rocket attacks in the north.

This is particularly ironic considering the money wasted on the Arrow Missile Defense System, which is intended to "defend" Israel from an Iranian missile attack. These crude rockets may force Israel to the peace table?

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA