Killing: A “Golden Opportunity”

While the battles rage on in Lebanon, Israel has a golden opportunity to rid itself of the Palestinian terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank. In fact, Israel seems to be doing just that, with nearly 200 terrorists dead in the past few weeks since the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit. That’s a huge accomplishment, especially considering that it is being done without much fanfare……. Israel should seize the day and lift all restraints on eliminating the rank and file of the Palestinian terror machine. It’s not every day that Israel gets such an opportunity.

This is the view of the head-fanatic at Israel Forum, a certain Michael Rand.
My first thought was; is anyone stupid enough to put their real name to an incitement to murder like this one? Maybe Michael Rand is real, who knows, all I know is that this is a sentiment that appears to reflect the reality of the situation.

Standard Forum practice is to invoke loaded terminology to hide the hideous reality of what they espouse. In this case it's their all-time favourite – terrorists. Those killed are terrorists, “200 dead terrorists”. The formula is that any dead Palestinian was a terrorist. It's some kind of magical transformation that is very convenient. But is it true?

Lets take a peek behind the façade and see who are these people Israel has “rid itself of”. Rand’s rant was on the 14th, so let's look back at the reports, starting from that day.

Israeli bombing hit a group of farmers near the town's agricultural school. Medical sources at the Kamal 'Odwan Hospital said that Othman Hassan Alba, 55, Zuhair Shehada Al Kafarneh, 50 and Ahmad Ashour Al Kafarneh, 17 were killed in the Israeli air strike.-Aug 14

16-year-old Palestinian Nahed Shinbari, killed when a tank shell struck near his home-Aug 12

Palestinian medical sources and eyewitnesses report that Wednesday night Israeli warplanes fired missiles in northern Gaza City, killing a two year old girl, two Palestinian armed resistance members and injuring three more Palestinians- Aug 10
Two missiles hit the center for Humanitarian Affairs of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement "Fatah", killing a Palestinian refugee and wounding six others- Aug 9

An Israeli tank shell hit a house in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip early yesterday, injuring a three-month-old Palestinian baby and a 25-year-old man, hospital officials said.-Aug 9

Israeli settlers opened fire on 48 year old Husein Mardawi and his 19 year old son Dean. The settlers killed the father and injured his son.-Aug 7

Israeli air strikes killed five Palestinians, including two militants, in southern Gaza on Saturday –Aug 5

Israeli troops have raided southern Gaza, killing 7 Palestinians, including a child, in the latest stage of their month-long offensive-Aug 3

An Israeli tank shell has killed a 16-yr-old Palestinian civilian in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, Palestinian emergency services said-July 31

at approximately 1:00am, tens of IOF tanks entered the northern Gaza Strip under helicopter cover, and stationed themselves near a petrol situation, subsequently moving to the southern districts and reaching Sha'af Street, where they began to shell houses with tank missiles. 11 Palestinians were killed during this offensive, including: Mohammed Adas, 22 Yaser Banat, 23 Salama Al So'ody, 45 Sabah Habib, 3 Yehia Al So'ody, 30 Husam Al So'ody, 25 Saleh Hasanein, 23 Hamed Herzallah, 25. The 3 others killed in the attack remain unidentified. 55 Palestinians were wounded, including Ibrahim Al Atla, a photojournalist for Palestine Satellite TV.- July 26

But all this isn't enough to satisfy the blood-lust at IsraelForum. Rand says Israel should "sieze the day" and loosen its, far from obvious, "restraints".

Afterall, it's a “golden opportunity” to slaughter with impunity.