The firing of two rockets on Tel Aviv on March 14, a bit after 9 p.m., caught the Israeli defense apparatus by surprise. At that moment, senior Hamas members were meeting with an Egyptian delegation in Gaza; they were exchanging messages and opinions about Israel’s elections, and also agreed to continue to receive Qatari assistance. Simultaneously, Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman was in Cairo. He presented Egyptian intelligence officers with the views of the Israeli political echelon regarding a Gaza arrangement in the near future, as well as temporary solutions for the Strip until after the Israeli elections on April 9, when its political system will stabilize.
Who pushed the button that launched the rockets? Who sidestepped instructions from the Hamas leadership and dared, especially at this critical time, to launch missiles at Tel Aviv? Those who claim there is no difference between rocket fire on the Gaza envelope communities and fire on Tel Aviv are fooling themselves. In the distorted rules of the game, vis-a-vis Hamas, to which Israel gave its stammering, tacit approval, firing at populations in the south is called “escalation,” while long-range missile fire at Tel Aviv is no less than a declaration of war.
This is evidently why Israel immediately, and understandingly, accepted the Hamas message that the firing was caused by a “technical glitch.” It is evidently also the reason why the Israeli response was limited to bombing unmanned targets in the Strip. The important thing was to go through the motions for the Israeli public.
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