Quote: "The Qassams regularly fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza at Israeli towns have inflicted some casualties, but are crude, blunt instruments - rusty iron pipes welded together with engines and fins in secret workshops in Gaza. What was left of this Katyusha betrayed a sleek, professional weapon - slimmer, steelier, more lethal than its homemade brother. The Qassams mostly needle the Israelis, like pinpricks in the ankles of a giant, taunting him to stamp back with his big, US-issue army boots. The Katyushas are like poisoned arrows. They drive him mad... For the Israelis, the death of its soldiers, and the steady rain of Katyushas, is a national insult - a declaration of war. Their air attacks on Beirut, on southern Lebanon, and on the roads leading to Syria and their constant artillery shelling of what they believe are Hezbollah positions, have escalated the conflict. The giant is kicking out, then landing punch after punch on long-suffering Lebanon.

Well today, another Israeli woman was killed by these rusty iron pipes, and a body guard of Defence Minister Peretz lost both his legs. The Palestinian terrorist organizations stated that the launching was a retaliation for the "massacre" at Beit Hanoun last week. The Israeli operation in Beit Hanoun was of course carried out in response to Kassam rockets being fired at Israel from the town. Israel - it is supposed - accidentally killed 19 Palestinian civilians in efforts to put and end to the daily attacks. But Palestinian terrorists deliberately target Israeli civilians, and this latest atrocity was caused by a rocket fired from that same place...

Quote: "The organization's announcement said, "The organization's fighters carried out the firing of the two sophisticated rockets." It was reported that "the firing is part of the continued firing by the organization's fighters as an initial response to the massacre and crimes of the Israeli occupation." Sources in the IDF said that the Qassam rockets launched at Sderot were fired from the area of the cemetery next to Beit Hanoun. The sources mentioned that a large-scale operation of Qassam launching is taking place on the site.

...but according to the BBC, all this is of no consequence whatsoever. All the BBC can do is compare casualty numbers and use moral equivalence to blur the distinctions between a state that is doing everything in its power to protect its citizens from attacks, with terrorist organizations that actively target civilians, are not afraid to hide behind human shields and are bent on the destruction of Israel.

Quote: "Israel cites the threat from Qassam rockets as the main reason for its military operations in the Gaza Strip. Almost 400 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have died in such operations since late June 2006.

Source BBC, YNet News