For the first time since the establishment of the Olmert government nearly two months ago, the mini-security cabinet will discuss the phenomenon of Kassam rockets against Israel, as well as Israel's response. So ordered Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this morning. Ministers had expressed criticism of Olmert for not having brought these matters up for government debate until now.
Palestinian Arab terror groups have launched over 140 Kassam rockets at Israel since the beginning of this month.
Ex-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, currently the opposition leader in the Knesset, told the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem last night that just as the withdrawal from Gaza led to Kassams on Sderot, a similar retreat from most of Judea and Samaria would lead to "Kassams all over the country."
Netanyahu noted that Hamas must know that if the Kassams continue, Israel's response "must be based on a policy of attack, including hitting Hamas leaders," that would lead to the end of the Hamas regime.
Netanyahu said that when he was Prime Minister, he responded to Hizbullah shelling by bombing Beirut and "turning the lights off" there." He did not specify that this occurred after he lost the 1999 election and headed a lame-duck government.
Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) has moved his office equipment to Sderot, and will begin work there on Sunday. The opening of his office in the Kassam-besieged city is his way of showing solidarity with the citizens "during their difficult hours."
Col. (ret.) Dudu Marciano says that the only solution to the Kassams is to gather the strength to set a red line from which we do not budge, and if the line is crossed, show the other side that it is not worth it for them to engage in firing Kassams. Speaking with Ynet, the former Combat Means Department chief in IDF Ground Force Operations did not specify, however, how exactly Israel must respond if the red line is crossed. He said that Israel must not try to find a technological solution, as it would cost 100 times more than what the Palestinians have invested in the "cheap, stupid" Kassams.
"If the red line is crossed," Marciano said, "we must be able to carry out whatever was determined, while dealing with the international pressure. In this way we can form the deterrence. But what is happening now is the opposite; there is a constant retreat from the red lines, and this will not lead to a solution."
Palestinian Arab terror groups have launched over 140 Kassam rockets at Israel since the beginning of this month.
Ex-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, currently the opposition leader in the Knesset, told the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem last night that just as the withdrawal from Gaza led to Kassams on Sderot, a similar retreat from most of Judea and Samaria would lead to "Kassams all over the country."
Netanyahu noted that Hamas must know that if the Kassams continue, Israel's response "must be based on a policy of attack, including hitting Hamas leaders," that would lead to the end of the Hamas regime.
Netanyahu said that when he was Prime Minister, he responded to Hizbullah shelling by bombing Beirut and "turning the lights off" there." He did not specify that this occurred after he lost the 1999 election and headed a lame-duck government.
Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) has moved his office equipment to Sderot, and will begin work there on Sunday. The opening of his office in the Kassam-besieged city is his way of showing solidarity with the citizens "during their difficult hours."
Col. (ret.) Dudu Marciano says that the only solution to the Kassams is to gather the strength to set a red line from which we do not budge, and if the line is crossed, show the other side that it is not worth it for them to engage in firing Kassams. Speaking with Ynet, the former Combat Means Department chief in IDF Ground Force Operations did not specify, however, how exactly Israel must respond if the red line is crossed. He said that Israel must not try to find a technological solution, as it would cost 100 times more than what the Palestinians have invested in the "cheap, stupid" Kassams.
"If the red line is crossed," Marciano said, "we must be able to carry out whatever was determined, while dealing with the international pressure. In this way we can form the deterrence. But what is happening now is the opposite; there is a constant retreat from the red lines, and this will not lead to a solution."