The latest rash of suicide bombings in Israel has spurred the Israeli military into an all-out onslaught on the Palestinian government and people. Troops are searching door-to-door for Palestinian militants and caches of weapons. People are dying. An 11-year-old boy was killed while playing near the market in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. “Almost everyone we get is dead – not wounded, but shot dead on the spot,” said an emergency doctor Mohammed Butrawi.
Things are horrific over there, and they’re getting worse.
Which leaves only one reasonable question: is anyone really surprised?
Militant Palestinians and their suicide bombings have been breeding fear and uncertainty in Israel for months now. They’re cheap, scary, terrorist attacks on civilians. When people live in fear, they lash out. It’s not the most reasonable reaction. It’s not the best reaction. It may even be the worst reaction. But it’s the most common reaction, and the most instinctual.
Israel is sick of watching civilians die at the hands of wingnuts. While negotiations and cease-fires have never stopped being an option, Israel is sick of holding to each renewed cease-fire only long enough to watch another caf