Rallying for Sderot

Last night, more than 2,000 Jews and Christian Zionists rallied in Toronto for Sderot.  Tonight in Los Angeles the “Live for Sderot” concert will take place (tickets are available here).  This morning, Bret Stephens analyzes “The Sderot Calculus” in the Wall Street Journal:

It is no stretch to say that life in Sderot has become unendurable. Palestinians and their chorus of supporters — including the 118 countries of the so-called Non-Aligned Movement, much of Europe, and the panoply of international aid organizations from the World Bank to the United Nations — typically reply that life in the Gaza Strip is also unendurable, and that Palestinian casualties greatly exceed Israeli ones. But this argument is fatuous: Conditions in Gaza, in so far as they are shaped by Israel, are a function of conditions in Sderot. No Palestinian Kassams (or other forms of terrorism), no Israeli "siege."

Those who urge a “proportionate” Israeli response never define what would be “proportionate.”  Nor do they ever say what their own country would do if one of its own cities was under constant rocket attack.  Stephens makes it clear that the “proportionate” argument is beyond fatuous:

Should Israel pick off Hamas leaders who are ordering the rocket attacks? The European Parliament last week passed a resolution denouncing the practice of targeted assassinations. Should Israel adopt purely economic measures to punish Hamas for the Kassams? The same resolution denounced what it called Israel‘s "collective punishment" of Palestinians. Should Israel seek to dismantle the Kassams through limited military incursions? This, too, has the unpardonable effect of resulting in too many Palestinian casualties, which are said to be "disproportionate" to the number of Israelis injured by the Kassams.

By these lights, Israel‘s presumptive right to self-defense has no practical application as far as Gaza is concerned.

Stephens ends by addressing “the moral torpor of Western policy makers and commentators who, on balance, find more to blame in Israel‘s behavior than in Hamas’s:”

Prudence is an important consideration of statesmanship, but self-respect is vital. And no self-respecting nation can allow the situation in Sderot to continue much longer, a point it is in every civilized country’s interest to understand.

Yesterday in Sderot, a 10 year old boy, Yossi Haimov, was severely wounded by a rocket attack while playing in a park.  His arm may be amputated.  Israeli television showed the boy writhing while his sister was beside him in agony. 

If you were the leader of a self-respecting nation, what would you do?

An Israeli medic evacuates a woman from the scene of a rocket attack in the southern Israeli town of Sderot February 25, 2008. . . . [A] cross-border rocket attack wounded a child in Sderot, medical officials said.  REUTERS/Amir Cohen