Little Green Footballs is reporting the following story from the Jerusalem Post, about the Israeli response to today’s Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem.
Reacting to the bombing, Justice Minister Yosef Lapid (Shinui) said: “The game is over. The PA can no longer hide behind the word ‘hudna’ without taking strong measures against the terrorist organizations. Abu Mazen [PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas] and [PA Security Minister Muhammad] Dahlan must decide if they want peace with us or peace with the terrorists.“After this terror attack, Israel will not continue to appease the PA so long as it does not fulfill its responsibilities under the road map.”
Health Minister Danny Naveh said the transfer of cities must be immediately halted and that the attack again illustrates that the PA “does not want, or cannot, fight terror.”Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zevulun Orlev (NRP) said, “Israel should give Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and PA Security Minister Muhammad Dahlan a 24-hour ultimatum: start dismantling terrorist organizations or Israel will have to do it.” Israeli lives can not be left in the hands of Abbas and Dahlan, Orlev said.
Science Minister Eliezer Sandberg (Shinui) said the attack proves how disconnected Abbas is from reality. He accused Abbas and his government of acting only as diplomats and failing to take the steps laid out for them under the road map.
Members of the Central Likud Committee, following a telephone vote, said that if the prime minister does not respond harshly, Central Committee members will convene a meeting urging Sharon’s dismissal as head of the party and will ask MKs to call for a no-confidence vote in the Knesset.
This is potentially very good news.
Israel is a semi-free repbulic based on the partial recognition of individual rights (the most recognition by far in the area). The Israeli military has one purpose: to protect its citizens from the initiation of force.
There are only two kinds of force: the initiation of force (which means an entity beginning the force) and the retaliatory use of force against those who initiate force. Every human being, by their very nature, constantly chooses between two or more alternatives in action through the use of their own mind. The initiation of force entails the physical compulsion of another individual from being able to make a choice between two or more alternatives. The initiators of force attempt to forbid an individual from making a choice by dictating to that individual what action they must take in some given area. The retaliatory use of force is the response to those who initiate the use of force. This entails doing whatever is necessary in order to stop those who have initiated force.
The Palestinian terrorist groups have one mission: the destruction of Israel. The Palestinian terrorist groups initiate force against innocent civilians by suicide bombing them in the attempt to destroy Israel.
The proper course of action for the Israeli military is to ruthlessly eliminate all Palestinian terrorist organizations and all other organizations which threaten them in order to protect their citizens from the initiation of force. It appears that they may be closer to doing so. I sincerely hope that they are.
