More and more Cabinet ministers are demanding that the government allow the IDF to do what has to be done to stop the rocket siege that threatens to come closer to Tel Aviv.
The "Kitchen Cabinet" met Wednesday morning shortly after Gaza-based terrorists fired a rocket that exploded next to a kibbutz in the western
One defense ministry source told Voice of Israel government radio that the latest rocket and mortar attacks are being carried out by smuggling tunnel operators who want
One of the government's considerations may be the fate of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been languishing in an unknown location for more than two years since he was kidnapped in a terrorist attack at a
He is believed to be alive, but his fate is not known. Prime Minister Olmert has promised several times that he would bring him back home alive and at one point declared he would not meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas until Shalit was freed.
The crossing where Shalit was abducted is one of several that have been closed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak as a retaliatory measure against rocket attacks.
He announced Tuesday night that the crossings would be re-opened for humanitarian aid because 24 hours had passed without an attack. Several hours later, mortars struck and another round of shelling hit Wednesday morning at the Nahal Oz fuel crossing after the first shipment of fuel passed into
As more ministers spoke louder for action, Defense Minister Ehud Barak called for fewer discussions. "I suggest everyone stop talking," he said. "The political discussion is unnecessary, and we will strike at the right time and in the right way."
Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made similar pronouncements yesterday during a visit to Sderot, when he expressed deep feelings for children and adults who now are in their ninth year of the rocket siege.
While Israeli media showed him hugging a small child, he repeated a three-year-old discourse that has concluded with vows that "we will not tolerate rocket attacks" and that "we know how to react."
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Olmert's successor as leader of the Kadima party, who visited Sderot at the same time and also was photographed holding a small child, demanded Wednesday morning's meeting.
Her calls for "fire against fire" come at the same time that polls show her party stuck in second place in the polls while the Likud leads. "Whoever calls this a 'calm' does not what he is talking about," she said, referring to the June 19 ceasefire that never was fully honored by
Housing Minister Zev Boim (Kadima) joined her in the demand for an attack on
The Home Front Command earlier this week added Kiryat Malachi, located only a few miles south of Rehovot, to the list of cities that have received printed information warning them of the possibility of rocket strikes.
"I warned that this would happen," said Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima). "I warned that Hamas would stockpile weapons during the calm and develop more lethal weapons. The range of Hamas rockets is liable to endanger half a million people. We have to stop this policy of not retaliating. We have to stop dragging our feet."
Industry Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) called for "a surgical counterterrorist action" against the Hamas leadership and urged the government to cut off all electricity, gas and water to the
Vice Prime Minister Chaim Ramon (Kadima) has made similar demands for more than a year.
However, Barak's Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai (Labor) echoed the official policy. "In the end there will be a strike on the head of Hamas, but we will act when we should," he stated.