For more than two years Hamas has been launching rockets into the south of Israel with little to no response.? Can you imagine hearing a siren and having until about the count of ten before a rocket lands on your home?? This happens multiple times a day in some Israeli towns.? The problem with Israeli politics today is politics.? The Likud and Kadima parties are both lock step in the new polls for Prime Minister; Labor is a distant second.? They are all making a power play?and flexing their muscles.? Ehud Barak, the one time Labor Prime Minister and now Defense Minister is taking a hard line.? His more stern approach to this conflict is definitely politically motivated, intended to prove that Labor is in fact a serious and strong military party and power.? Israel should have been responding to these attacks?since the beginning.? There has never really been a true cease fire in place, Hamas has consistently been attacking Israel since the disengagement.? Saudi Arabia and Egypt have even chimed in to say that Hamas has to stop the rocket fire (Granted they also have politic motivations as Hamas in the region strengthens Syria and Iran).?

The Israelis allowed day after day rockets to fall until they reached the end of their rope.? Now, they are responding in a very strong way (with the political motivations discussed above in mind) and whatever the motivation, they need to do this now as Hamas has had years to build up both their weaponry and infrastructure.? The problem with this middle east dispute is that it continues to be a propaganda war.? If you were to ask Joe Palestinian in Gaza who started this most recent conflict, they would reject the fact that rockets are being fired almost daily into Israel by Hamas (or they wouldn’t care).? They would most?certainly blame Israel and most would say that Israel?targets civilians when attacking.? They are taught this in their schools, read it in their newspapers and watch it on their television sets.? It is passed down from generation to generation and the hate in the younger generation is stronger than ever.? People are misinformed there and?because of that, they went ahead and democratically elected Hamas to lead them in the equivalent of their Congress.? Hamas situates themselves in large civilian areas in order to maximize the death toll when Israel strikes.? The more Palestinian civilians that die, the more martyrs and the larger the victory for Hamas in the public relations war.? Israel goes out of their way to minimize civilian casualties.? They recently sent thousands of text messages to civilians alerting them hours before they were going to attack some weapon stockpiles in a Gaza neighborhood.? They risked having an unsuccessful mission in order to warn people to get out.? The Israeli government needs to do whatever they need to do to stop the daily rocket and missile fire into their country.? The Obama administration has been quiet thus far, respecting the precedent that they shouldn’t discuss their take on?such a hot button?issue as they are not yet in power.? However,?if this ground war goes on past the next few weeks, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are going to have their hands full with yet another problem.