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Hamas Will Never Achieve a Palestinian State While Killing Israeli Civilians
(Sydney Morning Herald-Australia) Gerard Henderson - On Friday, Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, said that her government ''condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip and calls on Hamas to cease these immediately.'' Last Thursday the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, commented that ''Israel has every right to defend itself.'' The consciously indiscriminate attacks from Gaza are deliberately aimed at terrorizing and, where possible, killing and wounding the civilian population of Israel. The most recent attacks have seen some shells fall on Tel Aviv and even the outskirts of Jerusalem. This means that close to half the Israeli population is now threatened by missiles based in Gaza. In 2010 some in Australia condemned Israel's interdiction of the Turkish ship the M.V. Mavi Marmara, where there was loss of life among those attempting to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. It is now clear what Israel was on about. Namely stopping the importation of larger and more effective rockets to such terrorist entities as Hamas and Islamist Jihad for use against Israeli cities - including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The writer is executive director of The Sydney Institute.