Itongadol.- Opposition and coalition lawmakers were united in calls to hit Hamas hard after it renewed rocket fire at the end of a 72-hour ceasefire Friday.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said "this is a test of Israel\’s deterrence in the coming years, and the response must be tough." Bennett added that Operation Protective Edge is not over.
"Hamas has yet to be defeated and the residents of Israel need to be strong and alert as we prepare to continue," he stated.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor), who is in Prague, told Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek that he thinks Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas should control Gaza.
At the same time, Herzog added, "Israel will continue to respond with strength to any shooting from Gaza that threatens the Israeli public." "You can\’t complain about Israel when Hamas continues to shoot and won\’t accept the ceasefire proposed in Egypt. There can\’t be a double standard here where, on the one hand, there is support for Israel\’s right to defend itself and on the other, Israel is attacked the minute it defends itself," the opposition leader said.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Ze\’ev Elkin (Likud) called on the government to immediately respond to the rocket fire.
"Apparently, the only language Hamas understands is that of the IDF. There is no point in continuing talks in Cairo. Blackmailers and terrorists only understand strength and the time has come that we take that simple truth seriously," Elkin stated.
Knesset Finance Committee chairman Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi) said that if Israel allows Hamas to shoot rockets without a significant response, it will lose its deterrence and encourage more shooting.
Similarly, Knesset Interior Committee chairwoman Miri Regev (Likud) said "Israel must destroy Hamas. Hamas is not an organization with which we can reach agreements, and that was proven throughout this war." Regev said Gaza must be "demilitarized and dismembered" because "this is a war on our home and it is us or them, so they must be defeated without compromise." The Likud MK added that that Israelis will not have normal lives as long as Hamas is in Gaza.
Similarly, Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely said "the reality in which Israel is held hostage as Hamas threatens and shoots is intolerable." "A government\’s basic responsibility is to provide security to its citizens and it must do everything to bring quiet to the residents of the south," she stated.
In the opposition, Labor MK Erel Margalit tweeted in English: "There is no partial victory in fighting terror and partial victory is unacceptable when lives of our people are at stake." MK Omer Bar-Lev (Labor) called for the IDF to respond more quickly and determinedly.
"In order to reach the minimal goal of a ceasefire, we ned to respond…in a way that will show the terrorist organizations, the Arab world and the international community that Israel will not hesitate to defend its citizens and take aggressive military action," he wrote on Facebook.
Knesset Subcommittee for Home Front Preparedness chairman Eli Yishai (Shas) said there is no such thing as a proportional response to rockets being shot at Israeli citizens.
"The IAF and Israeli Navy must be given freedom to shell any place in Gaza where there is shooting toward Israel," he said. "Only a massive, immediate response at the sources of shooting in Gaza will be able to strengthen the deterrence reached in recent weeks."
Unlike other lawmakers, MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) called for caution, saying that returning to ground operations in Gaza may not be the solution and that there is no instant solution to the problems in Gaza.
"We have no interest in getting into a ground-based confrontation in Gaza that could lead us to lose more than we would gain. It\’s not a matter of right or left, it\’s the right way to reach our national goals," she stated. "We must provide full and consistent defense to residents of the south and have a strong IDF on the border…that may require a \’security strip\’ within Gaza."
At the same time, Lavie said there is no reason to push for a ceasefire with Hamas or give in to the terrorist organization\’s extortion.