Soccer Dad

Israel considers bulldozing house, builds cute bomb-shelter for Sderot children

According to the BBC:

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the army to prepare to demolish the home of the Palestinian who killed three Israelis in Jerusalem.

The order follows advice by Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz that the proposed demolition could create legal difficulties, but would not be illegal.

An Israeli rights group has said such a move would be collective punishment. [...]

In what I see as a related story:

The children of Sderot will soon be able to run for cover from rocket attacks, even on the playground. The new bomb shelter will look playful, however.

The city is in the final stages of building a playground that includes a tunnel for a quick escape from Kassam rocket barrages, reports the Sderot Media Center (SMC).

According to construction manager Boaz Etzion, "The idea of the park is that when there is a Color Red [incoming rocket] alarm, the children can run quickly to safety in the tunnels" [...]

The escape tunnel, at a cost of 150,000 shekels ($46,000) is being built in the shape of a centipede to make it appear to be part of the playground and not like a bomb shelter. [...]

What do these two stories have to do with each other? They illustrate that Israel operates in a sort of weird gray area between tolerating terrorism and fighting it. Instead of building cute bomb shelters for Sderot children and wondering whether or not to destroy a building, Israel should go on the offensive militarily and not stop until its enemies--Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Brigades, whoever else is foolish enough to keep fighting--are destroyed. I offer you Goodman's Law of Israel News Developments: Whenever Israel is accused of "collective punishment," it may or may not be guilty, but it is not acting in its own interests. Whenever Israel is accused of using "disproportionate force," it is acting wisely. (Hat tip: Israel Matzav)

Crossposted on Judeopundit

Posted by Judeopundit at July 4, 2008 6:37 PM | TrackBack