Tomato vs Qassam?

It looks like a beginning of a new era in Israel - Hamas relationship. For years, the pro-Palestinian crowd was complaining, decrying and otherwise yakking about the lack of proportion in Israeli response to the unending bombardment of Israel by the "homemade" Qassams. No matter how deadly a few of the Qassams have proven to be and how much destruction and shock they sow in Sderot, kibbutz and moshav settlements around Gaza - the same slogan of "disproportional response" was pulled out at any retaliation by IDF.

So a few enterprising young men from Tel-Aviv that got tired by our government and our army sitting on their collective thumbs, have decided to launch (no pun intended) a new response to the Qassams that even the most demanding critics will not find "disproportional".


The group, led by Yigal Tzur and Yaron Ben-Nun arrived with a few friends to Sderot. After purchasing enough tomatoes and eggs, they have relocated to a parking spot that has a view of the Gaza strip and in a few minutes prepared their armory. And a massive bombardment of Gaza went ahead.

The group used a projectile-launcher built by Yahav Michaeli - a stunts and pyrotechnics expert - to lob organic eggs and vegetables towards Beit Hanoun.

"As a response to inactivity of our government, we have decided to take an action and to react", explained Zur, "We have arrived here to bombard Beit Hanun by eggs and tomatoes, because there is nothing more humiliating than this".

I am not sure who is humiliated more in this situation - the rocket scientists of Hamas or our government and IDF, but it is hard to find two more deserving parties. I only hope the new kind of war will make an impact somewhere. If in the process some egg will grace the faces of Ismail Haniyeh and/or Ehud Olmert - it will certainly be a bonus. In fact the first effect of the action was already detected:

IDF sources who heard of the missile launcher hurried worriedly to the launch site. They were greeted by group member Yigal Tzur, who told them, "we mean to shoot at Gaza." The officer responsible for the region informed him that shooting was prohibited in area and requested he stop. Upon being informed that the group was shooting eggs and vegetables, he allowed them to continue.

So - I wish the best of luck to the Tel-Aviv entrepreneurs. And the fair citizenry of Sderot could take heed and start doing something in this venue - not necessarily with eggs and tomatoes, though. Remember Davidka?

A few side remarks:

• I am breathlessly expecting a fury in some Arab media outfits regarding Aids-infected tomatoes and eggs being freely distributed by the cowardly Zionists.
• This post is about more than meets the eye, it will be interesting to see its readings by people with opposing views of the whole shebang.
• If anyone is interested in the technology of the tomato gun, I can send him/her the translation.
  

And to round up the post - another picture from a Maariv article (paper).


An update: Three Qassam rockets were fired into the western Negev. Two landed in Sderot, where one of them caused some damage to homes. The other landed in a kibbutz, and did not cause any damage.

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