June 13, 2006
From Maurice Ostroff
Sir, – Our countermeasures against rockets fired from Gaza would be better understood internationally if the Foreign Ministry were to flood the UN Security Council with formal protests every time a hostile rocket is fired at Israel, whether or not it causes damage. After all, the Palestinians file such protests regularly, accompanied by effective publicity.
There is no difference in intent between a rocket which falls harmlessly and another which, God forbid, causes fatalities. Yet our spokespeople and media seem to treat the hundreds of rockets fired at us as commonplace events, issuing standard stale statements about protecting our citizens.
In the circumstances it is unsurprising that foreign media confuse cause and effect, giving more prominence to our counterattacks than to the rockets that provoke them (“Gissin says Israeli media playing into Palestinian hands,” June 12).
