An editorial in Ma\'ariv today stated, \"Israel is now at war with the Palestinian Authority… At this point there is no difference between the various terrorist gangs and the official Palestinian Authority. Even their reactions yesterday, in which all the spokesmen justified the attack, were the same.\"
Ehud Yatom, a former GSS leader and a leader in Ariel Sharon\'s election campaign, told Arutz-7 today,
\"I am against collective punishment - but I do think that there must be an increase in our selective offensive actions, in order to restore our power of deterrence, and to deeply penetrate the enemy, both in intelligence and offensively. There are no red lines in the war against terrorism. Those who are leading the attacks against us must not have a moment\'s peace without worrying about their own personal safety…\"
Yatom said that he agrees with Sharon that the PA leaders such as Dahlan not be attacked, \"because they are our partners. Instead, the ones who actually lead the attacks in the field must be hit. I don\'t accept the claim that this will cause them to react with more violence, because the terrorism has always continued no matter what... It is good that the [bus driver] terrorist came out alive [yesterday], so that we can interrogate him, in order to find out if someone sent him to perpetrate the act; if so, we will deal with that element appropriately. And if someone did not send him, then we have to figure out what it is that causes a man with a family and a job in Israel to all of a sudden do this - it\'s actually as if he *was* sent, because he went home to Gaza every day and heard the preachers and watched TV and was filled with this hatred and Jihad against Jews from the time he was a baby - so it\'s as if he was sent by all the incitement and hatred that he imbibed, and we must deal with this matter...\"
Ehud Yatom, a former GSS leader and a leader in Ariel Sharon\'s election campaign, told Arutz-7 today,
\"I am against collective punishment - but I do think that there must be an increase in our selective offensive actions, in order to restore our power of deterrence, and to deeply penetrate the enemy, both in intelligence and offensively. There are no red lines in the war against terrorism. Those who are leading the attacks against us must not have a moment\'s peace without worrying about their own personal safety…\"
Yatom said that he agrees with Sharon that the PA leaders such as Dahlan not be attacked, \"because they are our partners. Instead, the ones who actually lead the attacks in the field must be hit. I don\'t accept the claim that this will cause them to react with more violence, because the terrorism has always continued no matter what... It is good that the [bus driver] terrorist came out alive [yesterday], so that we can interrogate him, in order to find out if someone sent him to perpetrate the act; if so, we will deal with that element appropriately. And if someone did not send him, then we have to figure out what it is that causes a man with a family and a job in Israel to all of a sudden do this - it\'s actually as if he *was* sent, because he went home to Gaza every day and heard the preachers and watched TV and was filled with this hatred and Jihad against Jews from the time he was a baby - so it\'s as if he was sent by all the incitement and hatred that he imbibed, and we must deal with this matter...\"