had been even close to being achieved first tiem around they would not be planning on another "Barak failure"- Cast Lead MK 2

What a failure!

A defenseless opponent does not provoke a stronger opponent, except he has a killer and wicked mind.

Hamas and all residents of Gaza must be told in no uncertain terms that if they do not stop their rocket attacks and attacks against civilians, then at some point the IDF will react and Gaza will be no more and if Egypt keeps cooperating with Hamas, then the Suez will belong to Israel.

Was it to destroy Hamas or just put the fear in them so rocket fire would ebb to near nothing? Barak deliberately chose a lower goal and barely reached that because of his ineptness. Hamas will never be routed out because despotic racist ideologies rarely are. Rather, make this a seasonal affair. When Hamas reaches a threshold of type and/or amount of weapons, let the IDF go in, heavily target all depots and training centers, and nail half of the top echelon of the terrorist groups. Then go home. When they build up again to that threshold, knock 'em down in the same fashion.

The Gazan terrorists with anti-tank rockets and explosives, or the Israeli child in the school bus?

Who's the "defensless opponent" Albrecht?

Are they try to fool our people...it was a losing war people. It's good to admit the truth...

the palestinian terrorists never ever had such a loyal defense minister working for them ,and on top of it he is not even on their payroll

"Almost" defenseless opponent? For one thing, if they fired 10,000 missiles into Israel -- and they have -- they are hardly defenseless. Secondly, "almost" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Shut up. You are a fool.

Sins Hamas got elected, Israel has done nothing else than to provoke Hamas. I’m even suppressed how much Hamas has grown up and I’m even more suppressed how Israel act more and more like a U.S . spoiled brat. Have you read the news? It’s even on respected Israeli news agencies: Hamas has gone to great lengths to have other militant factions stop firing at Israel (unless fired upon). What has Israel done recently to promote peace? I’m sure you know that but will say it again: Israel starts to provoke Gaza with air raids, Gaza retaliates in self defense then Israel starts another massacre as a pretext. It’s starting to sound like a broken record.

Defenceless?? what do you call all the thousands of missiles, rockets & quasams your friends have been sending southern Israel for the last 9 years? Balloons maybe? or maybe you think the defenceless pallies are trying to entertain us?

so herr Adolf say to the opponent please sit quiet if u don`t want to be harmed.cause u ain`t got any chance.

Cry me a river...... not all of us are fooled by your lobby

You obviously like to make absurd comments.There are plenty of info on how "defenseless"Hamas is-all free to read and see on your computer.But with a name like Albrecht you are blind to the truth.A fool is a good description of you.

Israel takes out terror cells before they can fire. Its offensive defense. Idiot.

I guess the people traveling on the bus in Israel along the border with Egypt had to be killed in "self-defense". They sure were a threat to the people of Gaza, those civilians. Your point is without merit and without any intelligence. Go back to smoking crack.

chris, you are "suppressed" because your brayne is clawged with bee ess. By the way, new IDF tactic: fire at the kisser peeking out from behind the burka

Frist comes the rockets from Gaza then the air raids from Israel Nothing goes on in Gaza that Hamas doesn't know about We have your informers who keep us in the know, when a potential attack is in the works, who is planning it, he becomes a target to prevent him carrying out his intended mission to kill us. Hamas uses the pretense of other groups doing the firing, while they encourage it Cast Lead wasn't a massacre, if it had been,not a single building would have remained standiing in all of Gaza Your guys fired more than 10,000 rockets into Israel, they were told repeatedly to cease and desist, they turned a deaf ear The result was Cast Lead Tell your relatives in Gaza to have their umbrellas handy, there's a rain of hellfire about to come their way if the situation stays the way it is

Have you been smoking those "funny" cigarettes ? You are oblivion of the facts, and are preset with your anti Israeli opinion

Israeli youth, study, proactive, military service, advance, advance, advance, Gaza youth. 60% Under age 30. mostly unemployed. Education to be fanatics and hate Israel. Some get jobs learning rockets usage, building tunnels. Rest of the time idle. Time goes by, Gaza's people go backwards and backwards and backwards. Their own people despise them. They live from the charity of the UN , USA , Europe . The future is not there. I wonder how a Gazan youth thinks and feels. Sooner or later their leaders will have to answer, and Israel will no longer be the excuse of their tzores. Sooner or later.

Albrecht at #3 makes a completely valid point. The Gaza Strip is completely defenseless. Israel can bomb with F-16s and unmanned planes, it shells with tanks and other artilerry. It throws one ton bomb on civilian targets.. Against all this military might the Gaza Strip is completely defenseless. Hamas does not have one piece of sofisticated artillery, let alone tanks, airplanes and other modern and leathal weaponry. "Cast Lead", this series of war crimes, was the prime example of how defenseless the Gaza Strip was. Albrecht's remark was to the point and the only thing you can do is respond with a crude insult. Intelligent people read Albrecht's post and then your's and draw their conclusions.

So when hamas killers enter a jewish home and stab to death a whole family that's not a massacre. Only when Israel retaliates and kills the murderers then Israel commits a massacre. Newsflash: Israel is the protector of the Jews and will continue to defend itself, even with preemtive attacks to prevent more loss of Israeli lives.

The Goldstone report said that Israel was criminal because she tried to protect her civilians from an unprovoked attack. In the world of the UN, Goldstone, Fatah, Hamas and the Leftists, Jews are not human and so do not have the right of self defense.

Everyone knew that it would be a total failuer and of course it was. Max force at the outset. Not pandering to world opinion which would be treated with the contempt to Israel it deserves

Gaza had the equipment and wherewithal to fire more than 10,000 rockets into Israel, that's far from being defenseless There would have been no reason for Israel to retaliate if Gaza hadn't initiated the cycle of killing in the first place Cast Lead, since you mention it, was a result of the 10,000 rockets and the Israeli warnings to cut it out or else War Crimes, you must be referring to all that Hamas rocket fire that was directed at Israeli civilian complexes, not at military bases Let's not forget how you targeted a clearly marked school bus I don't know why you're still in Bangor, you ought to be in Gaza, manning the barricades