Some cease fire: Rockets in Ashkelon, mortars in southern Israel

How many rockets have to land in Israel before the “cease fire” is recognized for what it is: A return to the status quo, which is Hamas firing rockets and mortars at Israel, and Israel responding with pinprick strikes that do nothing to deter Hamas.

A Grad rocket landed between buildings in a residential neighborhood in the city center as residents were making their way to school and to work. Three people suffered shock, several cars were damaged and windowpanes were shattered.

The AP noted the rocket hitting Ashkelon, but didn’t seem to be able to blame Hamas for breaking the cease fire. Watch for it to add “threatening the fragile cease fire” after whatever Israel does to retaliate. Here’s the lead. Not a single word about Hamas violating the cease fire.

Medium-range rocket from Gaza hits Israeli city
A medium-range rocket from Gaza landed in the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Tuesday as delegates from the territory’s militant Islamic Hamas rulers met in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials striving to mediate a long-term truce with Israel.

The Grad rocket was the first of its kind to be fired at the city of 122,000 since informal cease-fires were declared separately by Israel and Hamas two weeks ago at the end of Israel’s bruising three-week-long offensive in Gaza. The rocket landed in an open space in the middle of the city and no one was injured, police said. The Grad is distinctive from the home-made projectiles more commonly used by Hamas and smaller militant groups, as it is manufactured abroad, has greater reach and carries a more powerful payload.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak pledged that if Hamas held its fire Israel would do likewise, while violence would be met by violence.

The New York Times has noticed that Israelis aren’t satisfied with the status quo. But they’re spinning it as politics. Because gee, politicians are just thrilled to be able to use the incidents of their citizens being rocketed as a campaign platform. It’s like Israeli politicians want war, or something. (Of course, in the eyes of the media, some Israeli parties do. Guess which ones.)

Resumed rocket fire from Gaza presents a particular challenge to the centrist-led Israeli government before elections on Feb. 10.

Israel’s leaders said a central aim of the 22-day military offensive was to deter the militants from firing rockets. But many Israelis said they felt the military operation did not go far enough, a sentiment that has so far benefited the political hawks.

“The fact that there are still rockets means that the operation did not succeed,” Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States and a candidate of the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, told foreign reporters here on Sunday. The party has climbed to third place behind the right-wing Likud and centrist Kadima parties, overtaking the once-dominant, center-left Labor Party in several recent polls.

Reuters focuses on the important angle of Hamas launching a Grad rocket at Ashkelon: Israeli threats of reprisal.

Gaza rocket on Israeli city draws reprisal threats
A rocket launched from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip struck the Israeli port city of Ashkelon on Tuesday, officials said, causing no casualties but prompting Israel to threaten retaliation with “great force.”

And Reuters can’t figure out who fired the rocket.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack from Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip, still reeling from a 22-day Israeli offensive that the Jewish state said was aimed at ending rocket salvoes.

Hey, let’s see if you can figure out who’s behind it from this quote:

Mashaal, who heads the Hamas leadership-in-exile in Syria, said Iran played a “big role” in helping Hamas with money and moral support during Israel’s assault.

“God made us victorious in Gaza, and we, the Hamas movement, came to say thank you to Iran, which stood with us,” he said in a speech at Tehran University. “You are our partners in the victory in Gaza,” he added, addressing the Iranian people. He the specifically thanked Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.

“Thank you for all the financial, political and popular support which you have given to us. The Palestinian people will not forget.”

You know what I think? I think every time a Grad rocket lands in an Israeli city, Israel should launch rockets at cities in Iran.

That would stop the rockets.

Not that it would happen. But it should. You want to go to the source? Go to Iran.