I am sitting here in the center of the maelstrom that has once again hit my little country, drowning in the blah-blah of hypocritical world leaders and my own confused government and military.

First, a clarification is necessary. Last week, the official military arm of the democratically elected government in Gaza, headed by Hamas, which is on the official list of international terror groups recognized by the US and its allies, crossed the internationally recognized border, entering the sovereign State of Israel by tunneling under a fence, and attacked an IDF military outpost with explosives and machine guns. Two soldiers were killed, others were injured and one, Gilad Shalit, was forcibly abducted.

This unprovoked attack followed months of missiles fired into Israel towns, which Israel has ignored. Here is the list of the number of Kassam rockets that landed in the western Negev by month (from an article by Ami Isseroff): 12 in September 2005; 8 in October 2005; 4 in November 2005; 16 in December 2005; 1 in February 2006; 49 in March 2006; 64 in April 2006; 46 in May 2006; and 89 in June 2006.

According to all international conventions, these are continuing, escalating acts of war.

The current conflict is not about the release of an Israeli soldier, may God protect him and watch over him and return him safely. It is about acts of war. Even should Gilad Shalit be returned, God willing, two soldiers will never return. This act of war must be met with a declaration of war and an all-out offensive that will destroy the enemy.

Media outlets like the BBC play it both ways, saying Shalit was "captured", not "kidnapped." If they wish to confer legitimacy on the gangsters of Hamas, then they cannot use the argument that this attack was not an act of war, to which Israel must not respond in kind.

The US saw fit to enter Afghanistan and Iraq following a terrorist attack by Saudi nationals that killed thousands of Americans in New York and Washington. American forces bombed cities and killed civilians who were not directly involved, who have no border with the US and who have not formally declared their intention of destroying the US. Nevertheless, the US administration now sees fit to suggest to Israel that it exercise "restraint" when its borders are violated by those who publicly declare their intention to wipe Israel off the map.

The foreign ministry of Switzerland was silent in the face of death and injury to thousands of innocent Israeli civilians at the hands of Palestinian suicide bombers during the last five years - in direct violation of the Geneva Convention on Human Rights. Yet, the Swiss saw fit to declare on July 3 that Israel is in violation of the Geneva Convention in responding to the Gazan act of war with its reasonable, most circumspect and, so far, overly cautious and highly ineffective campaign in Gaza.

Israeli air force chief Major General Eliezer Shkedy told the Jerusalem Post:

If we know that [the terrorist] is holding his son's hand, we do not fire. Even if the terrorist is in the midst of firing a Kassam, and the Kassam is aimed to kill. We do not fire. You should know that. And that's a fearsome thing.

The Palestinian people, like the German people in War War II, will no doubt be faced with additional casualties and additional suffering as a direct result of their active support for, and participation in, creating a terrorist state, which continues to attempt to murder its innocent next door neighbors. While our human sympathy goes out to the child whose father chooses to hold his hand as he fires a Kassam rocket at other people's children, war is by its very nature a collective punishment; just as rockets landing on schools and apartment houses are a collective punishment.

However, the joy in Gaza reported by Arab newspapers belies the idea that the people are not in complete agreement with their elected government. In an article by Ami Isseroff, quoted by IMRA (and which can be found at www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000142.html), he writes: "Al-Quds Al-Arab newspaper of June 26 told the truth, not for Western ears and eyes:

Sources in the Gaza Strip confirmed yesterday that there was... happiness in the ranks of the population, due to the quality operation carried out by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam, which claimed the lives of two Israeli soldiers and two men from the resistance, and resulted in the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier. Eyewitnesses said yesterday that joy was obvious on the faces of hundreds of people in Rafah, after they heard about the operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance. They indicated that hundreds of people congratulated one another and some distributed sweets to the citizens to express their joy.

We would like to hear international protests concerning this before anybody who wishes to interfere can be taken seriously as a broker in this conflict.

I, as an Israeli citizen, ask the government of Israel to respond to this act of war by declaring war, and putting an end to the conflict by military means once and for all, given that all diplomatic attempts at a solution have failed. Hamas is not a trustworthy negotiating partner - having negotiated the release of a young Israeli kidnap victim the day after they'd already murdered him.

As for releasing prisoners, the 1,500 prisoners Hamas want released in exchange for Gilad are not political prisoners. They are terrorist scum, tried and convicted of crimes of murder, attempted murder, etc. The last time Israel released hundreds of terrorists to secure the return of the bodies of three Israeli soldiers and the release of an Israeli drug dealer and double agent, 34 Israelis were subsequently murdered by those set free.

My prayers are with the family of Gilad Shalit. May God rescue him.

Copyright Naomi Ragen June 2006 All rights reserved. May be republished only with permission.