Terrorists Continue Firing Rockets and Mortars In Israel Day After Deadly Jerusalem Bombing

Terrorists in Gaza have not let up in their efforts to fire rockets and mortars with the purpose of maiming and murdering Israelis or causing significant property damage in Israel. An incessant stream of rockets have hit Israel, and have been at an increasing pace since the beginning of January. That comes a day after a deadly bombing in Jerusalem when a suitcase filled with explosives detonated next to a bus stop killing an Israeli woman and wounding more than 50 people. The Israeli ambassador to the US says that the Gaza mortar and kassam attacks are unrelated to the bombing, which would suggest that the group behind the bus bombing may not be Hamas or Islamic Jihad. That would point the finger at Fatah, al Qaeda, or a splinter group from one of any number of other terror groups.

As a result, Israel has fired back against the terrorist infrastructure - hitting suspected smuggling tunnels and Hamas ammo dumps and weapons factories.

IDF tanks shot into Gaza on Thursday, injuring one man, according to Palestinian sources, following five rockets launched from Gaza into Israel.

The strike came after the IAF struck four targets in Gaza Strip in the early morning, after Palestinians fired about a dozen rockets and mortars across the border, striking deep into Israel.

The tanks were aimed at a Hamas facility in Gaza City, which reportedly burst into flames.

Earlier Thursday, the IAF bombed terrorists that were attempting to shoot rockets into Israel.

Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Thursday that Israel "will not be tolerant of any escalation."

Speaking in the US, Ya'alon said that Israel will not tolerate "terrorist attacks or shooting rockets at our citizens."

He said that the war against terror "requires a long battle, but it will not stop us from taking care of whoever shoots at Israel, as they have in the last few days or sends terrorists to the center of cities."

"Whoever does this will not be immune to a decisive attack," Ya'alon said. "Hamas is responsible for everything that is shot out of Gaza and if it does not take responsibility, it will pay the price."

Since Thursday morning, three Kassam rockets, one Grad missile and a mortar shell were shot into Israel from Gaza. Grad missiles landed in Ashdod and south of Rishon Lezion.

The rocket attacks hitting Ashdod have injured several Israelis, but that gets short shrift in the international press, which instead focuses on Israeli airstrikes and the casualties they inflict.

All the while, the only reason Israel would be carrying out those airstrikes is because Gazan terrorists, including the ruling Hamas, are incessantly attacking Israel at every opportunity and such actions would never be tolerated by any other country on the planet.

At the same time, while the UN and other Palestinian flacks claim that Israel is blocking Gazan and Palestinian educational opportunities because of the blockade, they ignore that Palestinian terrorists routinely target Israeli schools, preschools, and that has forced many to build bomb shelters and attendance has grown sparse because of worries that such schools would again be targeted.

And again, but for Palestinian terror, Israel would not need to enforce a security fence, checkpoints, or a blockade to prevent Hamas and other terror groups from arming themselves for a conflict with Israel with the intention of destroying Israel.

UPDATE:
Reuters attempts to analyze the situation and claims that the latest surge in violence is the result of an internal dispute between factions in Hamas that spilled over and enabled other like-minded terror groups to attack Israel. It supposes that factions within Hamas didn't want to engage in reconciliation talks with Fatah, and a proposed meeting with Fatah's Abbas could be derailed if a judicious use of force against Israel could provoke a limited military response that adversely affected security in Gaza to the point of canceling the meeting.

That kind of pretzel logic is worthy of Rube Goldberg. It is also insightful into how the Palestinians deal with any kind of political challenge - they resort to attacking Israel.

Hamas' problem is that once they took credit, other terror groups began with their own assaults on Israel and that is likely to spiral out of their control. And for Reuters to claim that things have been relatively quiet is factually wrong. Hundreds of rockets and mortars were fired into Israel from Gaza in 2010 - one a day - every day - for 2010. 2011 is shaping up to have even more. Several people were killed and dozens were injured in those attacks.

That's not quiet - not by a long shot.

It's quiet only in that Israel has been restrained in its retaliations for such provocations. The terrorists engage in their triangle offense to avoid retaliation all while perpetuating terror attacks and spreading the anti-Israel ideology.

That should not last.