Netanya attack

I felt the concussion as soon as I stepped outside our building at around
11.30 am. I assumed it was a bomb, but it could have been a distant plane
going thru the sound barrier. When we were in the concert half an hour
later (our regular Monday noon concert) the Rabbi announced that there had
been a "piguah" (incident) with a suicide bomber at the entrance to the
Netanya Mall (about 15 mins walk from our home). This is the third or
fourth time they have struck there. Although there is good security there,
and a terrorist can't get inside, there is always a crowd waiting outside to
get in and that's where he exploded himself. At present there are 5 dead
and about 50 wounded.
I was very worried about Naomi since she was shopping and might have gone to
visit her mother who lives in the old age home adjacent to the Mall. But,
Naomi came to the concert and was OK. She heard the explosion as she was
down Herzl Street, and she called her mother who didn't hear it from her
room.
Just yesterday Israel announced that they were opening the borders to a
further 7,000 Palestinian workers. Whenever the borders are opened the
terrorists take advantage of it and someone infiltrates. Usually the IDF
detects and stops them, but there is always one who gets through. The media
are reporting that the "calm" has been broken, but the calm was illusory,
because first Islamic Jihad, who claimed this attack, never accepted any
calm or ceasefire, and second they have been trying all the time. Every day
infiltration attempts are thwarted, Palestinians are arrested at roadblocks
with explosives, or there are explosions or shootings that don't kill
anyone, so you don't hear about them.
The suicide bomber (may he rot in hell) was Lufti Amin abu Salem from a
small village near Jenin. There are two problems, the PA under Pres. Abbas
has done literally nothing to interfere with or impede these terrorist
attacks, whatever he says about opposing them, and second we are back to
square one where they want to negotiate while terrorism continues. I hope
this rump Government under Sharon and any future one will not fall into this
trap again. According to the US/Quartet Road Map the PA must stop terrorism
and destroy the terrorist infrastructure before negotiations can proceed.
Pres. Abbas wants to do it slowly, so slowly that Israelis will continue to
be killed in the interim. This is unacceptable. I hope Israel closes the
borders permanently until there is a peace agreement, and responds with
strong military force. Hitting empty buildings as happened two days ago,
and firing artillery into open fields from where rockets were fired is a
waste of time and money. It fools no-one and shows these murderous thugs
that we are not really serious about fighting and killing them. It would be
like telling a terrorist who decapitated someone with a penknife that he
should stop doing that because it's not nice! Its like telling someone who
blows up an underground train, we understand your frustration. If you are
in a war, whether you like it or not, and have an expensive army, its the
least you can do to try to use it effectively.