Was Olmert pandering to the ‘We want a strong leader against terrorism’ vote by capturing Ze’evi’s killers? Of course he was. Has he proven that he will be a strong leader against terrorism? Obviously he hasn’t.

If Olmert was a strong leader against terrorism then the Rotenberg Power Facility in Ashkelon would not be issuing directives to their employees to avoid congregating in groups to evade being killed in large numbers by the frequent Kassam missile attacks that have hit the sensitive site since the disengagement (already causing an explosion in a building).

Nor would Kibbutz Nir Am be planning a lottery to determine which 11 of their 80 families deserve to be protected from terrorism, as they are not being given enough Kassam shelters to protect everyone from the frequent rain of missiles in their area (as opposed to stopping the missiles at the source), as it is too expensive!

Disengagement was and is a failure, and the continued inaction against the sources of terrorism just keeps deteriorating Israel’s deterrence even further as we can see up North.

And yet Olmert wants more disengagements and ineffective but highly visible operations that don’t make anyone safer.

The polls say that Kadima jumped up after the Jericho action. If nothing else, it means that Israelis want their leaders to fight terrorism, but unfortunately, Israelis are also very quick to ignore escalations of terrorism once the escalation becomes routine. So Kassam missiles, knifings (still not as many as secular Israelis do to each other in the bars), and other miscellaneous attacks (like suicide bombers) don’t really rock the boat after a while. And if the leaders don’t really fight it, well that’s OK, because it’s apathy that rules in Israel (hopefully Kadima voters will be so apathetic they'll stay home on election day).

I keep saying this, and I’ll keep on saying this…

The truth is, and everyone knows it, the only way to stop the Kassam missiles is to send in ground troops, and once that is done, then everyone knows that disengagement was a failure and a mistake from the start.

So why is apparently everyone for more disengagements you ask? Why is Kadima riding high?

Because everyone knows that Israel won’t fight terrorism for real because it means that nearly all its policies have been wrong; because the Left have managed to infiltrate and inculcate an attitude of defeatism, resignation, and despair into this country. As Olmert has said (properly influenced by his far left wife and children), he’s tired of fighting, he’s tired of winning. All Israelis know that the option of properly devastating the terrorist infrastructure is out of the question with all our potential leaders, so instead they run towards the (far distant) second option, which is useless, but at least provides them with a warm fuzzy feeling like they’re doing something (despite the actual facts on the ground).

And in response to my favorite is the typical Leftist comment, how many Israelis have been killed and injured since the disengagement as opposed to before?

I could simply answer with 'how many people suddenly find themselves running for bomb shelters every night which they never had to do before the disengagement?' And 'how often did the Electric Company have to tell their employees to not congregate to avoid being killed in large numbers?' but that would be cynical of me.

(It's the same way that Israel doesn't react to suicide bombers unless a lot of people actually got killed).

But unfortunately, the answer will only be given after (G/d forbid) the disengagement missiles hit the Rotenberg’s various fuel facilities head on and wipes out an x mile radius (I'm sure they're adding on thicker layers of concrete even as you read this).

Hopefully it will never come to that, but that is what the Palestinians are trying to do, and that is what Olmert won’t block with ground troops, after all that would mean that there is a military solution to terrorism and disengagement was a failure and a mistake.