Non-operational role? How about next time we send the soldiers out with one hand tied behind their back? That will CERTAINLY endear us to the world. Except we are not in the business of endearing ourselves to the world. We are in the business of protecting and defending Israel against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Heavy emphasis on "domestic." I know that Israelis are tired of living in a perpetual state of siege. Then, do the logical thing -- Arabs out, and nail the borders shut. Then perhaps we'll have the luxury of being warm and fuzzy and playing pretend-nice with the rest of the world. Ever occur to anyone that an Israel that is perceived as weak or unwilling to do the job endangers Jewish populations in the Diaspora? We need to stand our ground. Machiavelli had it about right -- fear is better than love. You can never compel anyone to love you, but you can damned well make sure they fear you. That, in and of itself, guarantees peace; even if it is a cold peace.

I wouldn't put it past them to have shot the two dead pals in hopes of more free publicity and to garner sympathy for pal terrorists. (FYI Sympathy in between shit and syphilis in Websters.) The pals aren't worth the powder to blow them to hell. KEEP BUILDING ISRAEL FOR JEWS ONLY !!!

The IDF is changing its story by the hour. This one of a soldier borrowing a rifle to shoot at a wall is surrealistic

What are you going to do with the 21% of non Jews like me who are Israelis like yourself?

Umm .... let's see .... I suppose we could do with you precisely what non-Jews such as yourself have done to Jews for two millennia. You probably wouldn't like it, but it does have a certain poetic justice, doesn't it? I think we'd draw the line at blood libel, massacres, pogroms and gas chambers, though. You all are barbaric; we are not. Simple expulsion will do. Do you think you deserve better? Why? Is there a reason why the Jewish people should not subject you to the fate to which you subjected us for two thousand years? Don't worry; we have no intention of exterminating you; we're better than that; better than you. We just don't want you in our midst. Does that offend you? It shouldn't. We'll even let you leave with all your property, or give you fair market price for that which you cannot take. Which is far more than you have ever done for us. And you are not an Israeli citizen; stop pretending that you are. Did you serve in the IDF? Did you perform some sort of national service? No? Really? Why not? Take your Arab boy-toy and get out of the Jewish state. You contribute nothing and spend a considerable amount of time biting the hand that feeds you and succors you. That really does need to come to an end.

Of course the "Palestinians" killed their own. That's Pallywood 101. Remember Mohammed al Durrah? I don't know why anyone would be particularly surprised. These are people with a long and storied history of selling their children to be suicide bombers -- well documented, in fact. At the height of suicide bombing, before Israel built the security fence (no wonder the "Palestinians" hate it so much; not because it fences them from land which they do not own and do not farm, but rather because it makes it so much harder to kill Jews), Arab countries would hold telethons to raise money to pay bounties to "Palestinian" families for giving up a child as a suicide bomber. Great way to thin the herd -- one "Palestinian" wearing a suicide vest who was stopped at a checkpoint revealed during interrogation that he was told to board a very crowded bus, press this switch -- and when he came back, he would get a new Gameboy. A lot of defective "Palestinians" -- you cannot keep marrying great-uncle Ahmed and first cousin Fatmeh and expect anything else, you know? The sad fact is that they kill their own with no more thought than one would give to swatting a fly. And if that isn't gory enough, they are not above using pictures of the carnage in Syria and passing them off as having been taken in Gaza. I figure the next step will be to blow up a "Palestinian" girls school. They are, after all, getting desperate, and what's a girl but an expense and a dowry? Too much money, and it's not exactly as if anyone would miss her when she's gone. Nauseating. The only thing more nauseating is that we actually allow people with that mind-set to live amongst us. That has to end. It's like living in a cesspool of human filth.