http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/13/report-from-an-asymmetrical-wa
Once again, Iran’s proxies in Gaza set off an early sign of something much bigger.
The moral asymmetry between Israel and its enemies has been strikingly on display in the latest flare-up between Gaza terror groups and Israeli forces.
By Monday afternoon the Israeli air force had reportedly killed 19 terrorists in pinpoint strikes on Gaza targets — mostly rocket-launching crews — and two Palestinian civilians as collateral damage, a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy. According to UN data cited by Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, the typical ratio when armies fight terror groups is 3:1 — three civilians killed per every terrorist killed by the military forces.
By contrast, the over 200 rockets fired from Gaza at Israel since Friday have been aimed solely at civilian targets. Most have been lobbed at cities — Ashkelon, Ashdod, and (my own) Beersheva — in the hope of killing and maiming as many men, women, and children as possible.
The far larger of the two groups doing the firing, Islamic Jihad, is, as noted by the Israeli army spokesman, “an arm of the Iranians. It is completely funded and supported by Tehran when it comes to weapons and resources.” A senior officer said Iran was directly encouraging Islamic Jihad to keep up the shelling.