A terrorist bomb exploded at a bus stop in one of the busiest parts of Jerusalem last week. It was detonated as children were on their way home from school. A Scottish evangelical Christian was killed in the blast. More than 30 people were injured, some seriously, including some children.During the past two weeks there has been an increase in the number of rockets and mortar bombs fired from Gaza at towns and cities in southern Israel, with 50 mortar shells fired in a period of about 15 minutes one morning.
Israeli ministers warned that Israel must retaliate soon.
Why do Palestinians fire rockets from Gaza at civilian centres in Israel knowing that Israel will retaliate? Because it's good publicity for the Palestinians. When Palestinians fire rockets into Israel, the Western media don't report it. When Israel retaliates, the story is all over the Western media and Israel appears to be the aggressor.
Which brings to my mind an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu broadcast by the BBC two years ago, the last time Israel responded to thousands of rockets fired into Israel with a major military incursion into Gaza.
The interview went as follows.
Interviewer: How come so many more Palestinians have been killed in the conflict than Israelis?
Netanyahu: Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction?
Interviewer: Why not?
Netanyahu: Because in World War II more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined, but there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the war was caused by Germany's aggression. And in response to the German blitz on London, the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden, burning to death more German civilians than the number of people killed in Hiroshima. Moreover, I could remind you that in 1944, when the RAF tried to bomb the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, some of the bombs missed their target and fell on a Danish children's hospital, killing 83 little children. Perhaps you have another question?
