Israel under fire

COMMUNAL leaders expressed their concern this week at the latest round of violence on Israel’s southern border.

Despite reports of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire after four days of rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes, at least seven missiles and mortar shells fired from Gaza exploded in Israel on Tuesday.

“We are still following the situation in the south and we need to see how it develops and whether the [rocket] firing really stops,” Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel Benny Gantz said. “It’s not over until it’s over. Quiet will be answered with quiet, and fire will be answered with fire.”

The barrage of more than 200 rockets began last Friday after Israel assassinated Zuhair al-Qaisi, secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza. According to the IDF, he was planning a terrorist strike in Israel.

At least 26 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old and three other civilians, were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza. According to the IDF, the majority of those killed were terrorists, including 14 from Islamic Jihad. At least seven Israelis and foreign workers in Israel have been wounded, two seriously, while dozens were treated for shock.

For the third day in a row, schools located up to 25 miles from the Gaza border were shut affecting about 200,000 children. College and university classes were also cancelled.

Israeli authorities said Iron Dome had intercepted 90 per cent of the long-range missiles targeting major Israeli cities such as Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon.

“This latest major flare-up of ­violence around Gaza, the fourth in a year, is yet another sign that the enclave will remain a clear and present danger to Israel as long as Hamas remains in control and dedicated to Israel’s destruction,” said executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council Dr Colin Rubenstein.

“Sadly, with a viable peace process looking farther away than ever given Mahmoud Abbas’s refusal to negotiate and pursuit of reconciliation with Hamas, it is hard to see the situation improving in the near future.

“Happily, the Israel technical achievement of Iron Dome is at least helping to make the Gaza threat more manageable.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Philip Chester told The AJN that “Israel is entitled and, in fact, obligated to defend its citizens from incessant missile attacks that have paralysed the population in the south.

“What happened here is that Israel thwarted planned terrorist actions. The tragedy is that the terrorists in Gaza are not interested in improving the quality of life of Gazans, but rather continuing to wage war,” Chester added.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Dr Danny Lamm criticised the poor quality of much of the Western media’s reporting. “We hear that the violence was sparked by the killing of al-Qaisi, but we are seldom informed that he was a terrorist leader reported to be in the process of orchestrating another major terrorist attack,” Dr Lamm said.

“He was also reportedly behind the funding of last year’s major infiltration by a group of terrorists into Israel in which eight Israelis were killed north of Eilat, and oversaw the transfer of funds from Hezbollah in Lebanon to other extremist groups in Gaza. Al-Qaisi boasted publicly of his key role in the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit.”