Targeted IDF attack
Photo: IDF Spokesman
Say no to surgical strikes
Op-ed: Assassinating senior terrorists is morally right, but paralyzes much of the country
Just like Zuhir Qaisi,
assassinated in Gaza on Friday, his three predecessors were killed as well. In purely moralistic terms, a person who openly heads an organization called Popular Resistance Committees and dedicates his life to firing rockets
at civil population centers should not live to old age.
Those who engage in methodical efforts to harm innocent civilians - while openly walking the streets and not bothering to hide underground like Hezbollah Secretary General Nasrallah – are the worst kind of terrorists, and must pay the heaviest price for their actions.
Rocket Terror
Shaul Rosenfeld
Op-ed: Israel should use Gaza’s language, which is different than language of Western logic
On the other hand, we must ask a practical question: If Israel realizes that assassinating the latest secretary general will push the entire region into yet another round of fighting and in essence paralyze the entire country south of Ashdod, what’s the point?
After all, the latest assassination target failed to cause great damage to the State of Israel during his life, and we could have kept him alive, under surveillance, knowing that his replacement would be no better.
It is precisely through his death that we grant Qaisi and the organization he headed a boost and more vitality: Finally they have something to “resist” and an opportunity to prove their masters in Tehran how active and creative they are.
Think about Sderot boy
Qaisi and his ilk are bogus leaders: They lack a true message or a vision. In the absence of a positive message to their countrymen, the only political practice they know is premised on violent “resistance” to the Israeli occupation. This is the wellspring radical Islam draws its strength from.
Even though we must fight it, we must keep in mind that every assassination merely serves to recharge it, as it feeds off on the blood and hatred for years to come. By the way, it’s scary to think in this context about the kind of boost an Israeli strike on Iran would grant this “resistance.”
The desire to punish terrorists like Qaisi is instinctive, and when an opportunity arises, it’s hard to blame those who decide to get rid of them. Yet next time, we better not think about justice, but rather, also about the young couple forced to call off their wedding in Beersheba or the boy from Sderot who will again be spending a week in a bomb shelter instead of at school.
