The terrorists in Gaza mistakenly thought they had studied us closely during four rounds of fighting with Israel in 2012, 2014, 2008 and 2021. They were familiar with a country that was willing to absorb hundreds, if not thousands, of missiles and mortar shells. A country that returns fire mainly from the skies, and that is not willing to bring ground forces into the heart of Gaza, but only to the border areas.
"Once, the Jewish people were stateless. Once, the Jewish people were defenseless. No longer," PM says to nation in televised address.
In view of this murderous assault, the policymakers must decide to immediately topple the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip and to remove all terrorists and weapons from it. In a war of life and death we no longer have the luxury of adhering to the familiar standards of past operations.
Hamas' armed wing said on Monday it will begin executing an Israeli civilian captive in return for any new Israeli bombing of civilian houses without pre-warning.
Any reasonable person could see that disaster was imminent and sound the alarm. The defense minister did it and was fired (and then reinstated with street protests), and the chief of staff and the heads of security organizations did it, but the prime minister didn't want to hear.
