No need to over-analyse here. Israel was attacked by an enemy state. Therefore it should invade and destroy the attacking state (Gaza). No further analysis required

What abject nonsense from this pundit. Yes, I agree only that Israel should wait until Bush leaves, then it's all out warfare. Israel has the ability but not the chutspah to use it's vast army against a mediocre adversary at best (Hamas and Islamic JIhad, no matter). A few sweeps of Phantom 2,000 and F15s and F16s, combined with some bunker busters and Popeye Missiles should send the right message to Hamas's strategy of slowly picking Israel apart, thanks to it's weak current gov't. Bush said peace is not about one person, he is right. But Israel's survival depends upon one person, Olmert. Colin Powell was right., a govt should use absolute force against it's enemy (s). Until Israel wakes up, more rockets will hit..maybe next time from the north into Tel Aviv or Haifa..or Dimona or Netanya or Acco. Israel is reacting..still. It hasn't learned anything from Oslo, or Lebanon it appears., stalling for time, hoping for a miracle or Hashem's intervention. Don't bet on it.

This sounds just like Lebanon. Send Israeli kids to die for nothing without any long term plan or strategy and accomplish nothing.

What a pathetic joke. Still waiting for the response for the murder of the the yeshiva students. Still waiting for the response for the hundreds of rockets & mortars launched at Sderot. Restraint my a**. The time has long passed for Israel to take off the gloves & Israeli citizens are paying the price (not the govt, just the people in the south)

Let's face it, the suffering of the common Jew doesn't enter into the equation, not for Olmert and not for reporters writing editorials. Ashkeon is aout to become another write off, just like Sderot and Gush Katif. Millions will be set aside in aid, and none of it will reach the civil\ians. It will get abosorbed by Israel's wonderful beuracracy as it trickles down. Or to quote Israel's great president "Grad, shmad"

IT DIDN'T HAPPEN! IT COULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED! Reporting this alleged Katyusha attack on Ashkelon is utterly outrageous! Consider: when our glorious and beloved Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (PBUH, Friend of the Children and Protector of the Weak) and his beautiful friend and partner Yasser Arafat signed the blessed and holy Oslo Peace Accords in 1993, the peace-hating fanatics and Zionists of the Likud warned that ultimately, Katyushas fired from Gaza would hit Ashkelon. Two years later, in summer 1995, our glorious and beloved Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin (PBUH) gave a powerful speech in which he reminded the nation of this absurd suggestion, and explained how the Likud and other opponents of his prophetic vision of peace were simply terrified at the very thought of peace. Fast-forward to late 2004/early 2005, with the Disengagement Plan advancing from a speech to actualisation. Again, the Zionists who opposed Disengagement used the same scare-mongering tactics, bleating that Dugit, Shirat ha-Yam, Neve Dekalim and all the other settlements would become rocket-launching bases. But the sane ones among us - meaning the left-wing peace-loving Palestinian-embracing pro-PLO moderates - realised how absurd that scare-mongering was. Now we had always considered ynet to be somewhat responsible. But now, you report that a Katyusha rocket launched from Dugit has inflicted serious damage on Ashkelon; and the implication is that there will be more yet to come. Understand that reporting this is the height of irresponsibility. Readers might begin to think that our glorious and beloved Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin (PBUH) was mistaken, that the Zionists and right-wing peace-hating fanatics were right, and that the sane ones among us were wrong to embrace the saints like our beloved Yasser Arafat, the beautiful peace-loving Abu Abbas, and others whom Zionists call "terrorists". Can you not exercise some self-censorship, some creative historical revisionism, for the sake of peace? Did you really have to report this alleged Katyusha attack? Because by reporting the facts as they are, you start to imply that the Zionists had it right all along. As I said - OUTRAGEOUS!

The blood can no longer be on Hamas hands. Not when Olmert can stop it, yet he does nothing. Perhaps he is waiting for "enough" Jews to die in a single blast, to act. If so, he is immoral and should be tried in court for negligence. The blood of the future innocents, that will die, is on Olmert and Shas.

and the reasons why journalists should be limited to non-media work. there is no strategy vs tactics only the imperative to end the terror attack on israel's south immediately.

They must be hit hard without mercy until they cry for real peace and disarm or they can retreat to Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iran, Iraq or one of the other Muslims country. We must not the let the Arabs (palestinians) occupy Eretz Yisroel and claim that they are the rightful owners. Malchut Yisroel will rise as the State of Israel (run by the Erev Rav) proves that they are unable or don't care to provide a secure environment for the Jews to live in.

I should Ask mr Ben yishia who wrote this Article.... Why do you have to Occupy Palestine? . What do you Expect from a People whom you have Occupied for 60 Yrs? Do you think they sill sit back and close thier Arms... That is Rediculous....... I hope they will be able to Make more accurate and powerful Bombs and Rockets... because of thier Secutiry not Aggression..

You should be writing for Haaretz - the might not even notice the satire since they write like this in all seriousness. But sad to say, all we can expect in way of response to the Ashkelon attack is a bunch of speeches, just empty words, empty threats. In a few days, the incident will be forgotten by the general public anyway. Until the next attack. Sure, the IDF will make a few retaliatory strikes - low value targets of little importance. These will be blown out of proportion by the media, a make-believe response by a make-believe leadership. We're just drifting along, a kind of national paralysis. Our will to survive has been buried by the people you parody in your witty talkback.

Over sixty-five percent of Arabs in Gaza support continued suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, according to a report released Monday by the Arab Jerusalem Media and Communication Center. Sixty-nine percent are "pessimistic" or "very pessimistic" about reaching any peaceful settlement with Israel. More at : http://xrl.us/bjoje

WE PROUDLY PROCLAIMED "NEVER AGAIN"!...BUT OUR MISERABLE RESPONSE TO OUR PRESENT SAD HISTORY OF S'DEROT AND ASHKELON PERMITS OUR ENEMIES TO REPEAT OUR DESTRUCTION "AGAIN AND AGAIN"WITH INCREASING VIGOUR AND APPETITE..I THINK WE HAVE DEVELOPED A COWARDLY INFERIORITY COMPLEX,AND ARE PARALYSED TO MAKE AN END TO THE GAZAN CONFLICT ONCE AND FOR ALL.WE HAVE THE WEAPONS,BUT OUR ARMED FORCES ARE NOT THE SAME AS THEY WERE IN FORMER DAYS.WHAT IS NEEDED IS ANOTHER "ORDE WINGATE"WHO CAN INVIGORATE THE ARMY WITH GRIT AND DETERMINATION TO GET ON WITH THE JOB.AS WE CELEBRATE ISRAEL'S SIXTY YEARS,THE FUTURE FOR PEACE IS LEFT TO THE "ACADEMICS"AND THEIR ESPOUSAL OF THINK TANKS. IT IS CONSIDERED THAT AS MUCH INSTRUCTION SHOULD BE GIVEN TO MENTAL ABILITY,AS TO PHYSICAL ABILITY.WE HAVE HEARD ENOUGH ABOUT "THINK"TANKS,NOW IS THE TIME FOR "ACTION"TANKS.PUT THE BOOT IN,AND SEND IN THE ARMY,WITH NO HOLDS BARRED...MR PRIME MINISTER AND MR.GENERAL ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

and do some real killing. To act with restraint is the real crime.