It was another day of “peace” in Israel: more bombs, more bloodshed, more innocent Israelis slaughtered in the streets, more lives destroyed while our government twiddles its thumbs rather than engaging the enemy.

Today’s suicide bombing in Netanya killed 3 Israelis and injured 89 others, while a car bomb attack in Shavei Shomron just 40 minutes beforehand miraculously failed to cause any injuries.

Ariel Sharon’s government reacted by vowing to respond harshly – vows we have heard so many times before and so few of which have ever been kept. The only promise that Sharon seems intent on keeping is to withdraw, to retreat, to run away from the problem instead of confronting it.

How much longer can this go on? How is it possible for so many people to delude themselves over and over again and to think that pulling out of territory will satisfy the appetite of our foes?

For the past 12 years, Israel has tried the path of concessions, and it has only brought the country an unprecedented wave of death and destruction in its wake.

Under normal circumstances, the people would have (and should have) taken to the streets long ago, and brought down this hapless, ineffective and incompetent regime. Instead, we plunge forward, as though nothing has happened, as if three precious Jewish lives were not cruelly taken today, as if all were quiet on the western front.

We can, and we do, deserve better. The sooner this government is sent packing, the safer Israel will be.