In Israel, a close call (otherwise known as a miracle)

Someone should tell Haaretz that "there comes a time to join the side you're on" (Midge Decter). Their headline is IDF strikes kill four Hamas men, wound 3 civilians in Gaza Strip and the article is accompanied online by this al-Reuters photo of

"Palestinians reacting after the IDF killed 4 Hamas men in southern Gaza Tuesday."

If you read past the first six pro-Palestinian paragraphs, however, you come to this bit of information which might be of interest to the odd fringe minority of Jews.

... five mortar shells struck Moshav Netiv Haasara on the Israel-Gaza border, causing damage to a home but no physical injuries.

One mortar hit a house with a woman and an infant inside. Two people were treated for shock following the barrage.

Gideon Sharabi, a security officer from the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, said that "Netiv Haasara sustained five hits. Miraculously, no one was hurt. A woman and a baby were in the living room in a house that was hit. When she heard the blast, she went into the reinforced room."

The shell hit a wall and damaged the living room after the woman had exited. According to Sharabi, Netiv Haasara has seen a surge in mortar attacks over the past several weeks.

Also on Tuesday, Palestinian militants fired four Qassam rockets from Gaza, which hit open fields in the western Negev. One landed near a kibbutz in the Sedot Negev Regional Council, and caused damage to a building.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that a large-scale Israel Defense Forces operation against Palestinian rocket squads was drawing near....

We're better off - and so is our blood pressure - if we simply read Arutz Sheva instead.

And in case anyone's interested in a little history, "Moshav Netiv HaAsara was founded by those who left their homes in the Sinai after the peace agreement was made with Egypt." [source]

And if your memory is not that long range, you might still remember 22-year-old Dana Galkowicz. She was murdered in a kassam rocket attack on that same moshav in July 2005. Simply sitting on a porch, she was killed instantly.

Hamas (you know, the guys in the Haaretz headline at the top of this post) "claimed responsibility."