A ground operation had to be launched. Hamas rockets were being fired on a regular basis at Israeli kindergartens and homes. The Hamas charter makes perfectly clear what that organization aims for: The utter destruction of Israel and the Jews who inhabit the Jewish state and the replacement of Israel with an Islamic caliphate.

The Hamas charter is clear about its methodology- Hamas' methodology not peaceful:

Article 7 of the Charter, entitled 'The Universality of Hamas' ends with these words:

"Hamas is one of the links in the Chain of Jihad in the confrontation with the Zionist invasion. It links up with the setting out of the Martyr Izz a-din al-Qassam and his brothers in the Muslim Brotherhood who fought the Holy War in 1936; it further relates to another link of the Palestinian Jihad and the Jihad and efforts of the Muslim Brothers during the 1948 War, and to the Jihad operations of the Muslim Brothers in 1968 and thereafter. But even if the links have become distant from each other, and even if the obstacles erected by those who revolve in the Zionist orbit, aiming at obstructing the road before the Jihad fighters, have rendered the pursuance of Jihad impossible; nevertheless, the Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree (cited by Bukhari and Muslim)."

Note the clear reference to 1936 - A before the modern, sovereign state of Israel existed.

See also:

"Article Thirteen: Peaceful Solutions, [Peace] Initiatives and International Conferences

[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion; the nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its faith, the movement educates its members to adhere to its principles and to raise the banner of Allah over their homeland as they fight their Jihad:"

As we are so often reminded, Hamas was chosen by Gazans in a democratic election -overwhelmingly- as the leadership of Gaza. There have been no protests in Gaza against Hamas' targeting of Israeli civilians. Recent polls (March 2008) have shown that the vast majority of Palestinians were in favor of 'operations' such as the murder of yeshiva students at Merkaz HaRav.

Hamas has never moderated its agenda. No amount of reasoning will change Hamas' strategy or its tactics.

For Hamas, the war against Jews - and not merely Israel, is a global one. Hamas' charter enshrines the most vicious lies of classic anti-Semitic literature such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion: See Article 22, for instance: "The enemies have been scheming for a long time, and they have consolidated their schemes, in order to achieve what they have achieved. They took advantage of key elements in unfolding events, and accumulated a huge and influential material wealth which they put to the service of implementing their dream. This wealth [permitted them to] take over control of the world media such as news agencies, the press, publication houses, broadcasting and the like. [They also used this] wealth to stir revolutions in various parts of the globe in order to fulfill their interests and pick the fruits. They stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions and behind most of the revolutions we hear about here and there. They also used the money to establish clandestine organizations which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests. Such organizations are: the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, B’nai B’rith and the like. All of them are destructive spying organizations. They also used the money to take over control of the Imperialist states and made them colonize many countries in order to exploit the wealth of those countries and spread their corruption therein. As regards local and world wars, it has come to pass and no one objects, that they stood behind World War I, so as to wipe out the Islamic Caliphate. They collected material gains and took control of many sources of wealth. They obtained the Balfour Declaration and established the League of Nations in order to rule the world by means of that organization. They also stood behind World War II, where they collected immense benefits from trading with war materials and prepared for the establishment of their state. They inspired the establishment of the United Nations and the Security Council to replace the League of Nations, in order to rule the world by their intermediary. There was no war that broke out anywhere without their fingerprints on it: “…"

Those who would defend Hamas and its ideology under the banner of liberal values are naive at best and disingenuous at worst.

Hamas chose not to renew the cease-fire with Israel and to launch rockets solely at civilian targets. Hamas chose to use the cease-fire to arm itself in preparation for a war of annihilation against the Jewish state and any Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian or Atheist who refuses to submit to Islam as Hamas interprets it. That is a shame, because Hamas left Israel with no choice but to defend her citizens, in full accordance with International law.

No nation besides Israel has been asked to suffer the threatening presence of such an enemy at its doorstep and refrain from defending her citizens when attacked. No nation aside from Israel has actually called the homes of enemy civilians to warn them before attacks during a counteroffensive, so that the civilians might find safe haven. No nation beside Israel has imported tons of humanitarian supplies in the midst of a war to a population that supports its mortal enemies. No other nation has opened its hospitals without any charge to that same population, in the midst of hostilities.

Pray for Israel's safety and a quick end to this offensive, with as few civilian deaths as possible and an overdue realization by Hamas that they will gain nothing by attacking Israel's citizens.

When I see a "peace" demonostration where there's even one sign that tells Hamas to stop its' rocket attacks, then I won't call you hypocrites.

But the facts are the facts and what you do speaks louder than what you say.

I notice the poster at the very top that equates the Jewish Star of David with the Swastika...

Way to go...

That shows the true colors of the protestors...black and brown...

Very disrespectful to a religious symbol...

If people think that the protestors are simply anti-Israel...just look at that poster...