Rocket hits Ashkelon Shopping Mall

Ynet reports:

"Several Palestinian terror groups claim sole responsibility for launching of medium-range Grad rocket against crowded shopping mall in 'message' to Israel as foreign dignitaries gather in Jerusalem, including US President Bush. Paramedics race to free wounded shoppers trapped under rubble while IDF investigates why alert sirens failed to sound."

This calls for a serious response that is more than just a verbal condemnation. Look at what Hamas says:

Senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Zahar spoke Wednesday at a Gaza Strip event marking the 60th anniversary of the Nakba – the anniversary of the 1948 events which led to the induction of the State of Israel – and promised his listeners that "the right of return is closer than ever."

The events of the Gaza pullout and the Second Lebanon War, he added, proved that the Israeli military is not beyond defeat.

"The Palestinians and the Arabs have crushed the Jews' assumption of supremacy… The Zionist legend of invincibility has been destroyed.

"Now more than ever I tell you – we will never recognize Israel… We will form the Palestinian state on all of Palestine's territories and the sun of liberty will burn the Zionists. To them I say – you will lose. You will leave and we will keep hounding you. The blood of our slain sons will haunt you forever," he said."

Fine. Let him be the recipient of a visit from an Apache. It is time rain fire down upon Gaza. They're not open to diplomacy. For right now Israel needs to pull back and say that we cannot make peace with these people, but we can re-establish deterrence.

Let them reap the just rewards of their actions. Right now they act with impunity. Israel must remove that fearlessness and remind them of what the consequences are for this behavior.