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Israel's Gaza Offensive: The Country Had Little Choice after Hamas Rejected a Cease-Fire
(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - Israeli ground forces moved into the Gaza Strip Thursday, and it's hard to see what other choices the country's leadership had to defend its citizens from the terror group Hamas' unrelenting missile attack. Israel agreed Tuesday to a cease-fire proposal from Egypt and held its fire for six hours. Hamas kept firing throughout the day, while raising its demands. "We will continue to bomb until our conditions are met," said a Hamas spokesman. This time Israel should stay the course until it achieves its strategic objective of neutralizing Hamas' missile attacks. Two previous bouts of fighting in 2009 and 2012 failed to do this. This does not require a full occupation of Gaza. But it does mean seizing a zone to prevent the underground smuggling from Egypt of munitions and longer-range rockets into Gaza. It also means targeting Hamas' military and political leadership. Hamas won't stop its rocket and other attacks until it concludes that the military and political price it is paying is too high. Until that happens, a democracy like Israel is obliged to take the steps necessary to defend itself.