By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Aug 26, 2005
Unnamed Israeli security officials gave the impression Friday that Israel was passively awaiting a decision by Hamas whether the terror group would continue efforts to mass murder Jews or choose a path of non-violent political activity.
Reacting to demands voiced by some Israeli officials for a military response to Thursday?s rocket attacks on Israeli population centers, military sources told Ynet it would be an error to launch a retaliatory strike.
?Whoever thinks we are going to respond is mistaken,? they insisted.
As if such reasoning could somehow justify terrorist artillery attacks on Israeli civilians, one IDF source said that, at any rate, ?we cannot forget that the Shfaram, Shilo and Tulkarm incidents, in which 13 [Arabs] were killed [by Israelis], raise many dilemmas.?
Another source went so far as to suggest the terrorists had purposely failed to injure anyone when they fired two Kassam rockets at the Negev town of Sderot Thursday.
?When they want to aim better, they know how to do so,? the source said.
Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal Thursday slammed the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for failing to keep its word to unleash an unprecedented military response the moment the first rocket hit his town following the Gaza ?disengagement.?
Hamas views Israel's withdrawal from Gaza as a victory for its terrorist aggression, and has publicly vowed to continue and escalate attacks until the Jews are driven from all the lands west of the Jordan River.