for the moment, comment on Israel's incursion into Gaza is relatively muted. Alas, this is unlikely to be because the world's media have suddenly realised that firing rockets into Israel from Gaza is beyond the pale. It's more likely that its efforts are currently focused upon using the turmoil in Iraq to hound out Tony Blair and willing John Kerry to beat President Bush. But never fear -- we can always rely on the BBC to keep the flag of malice and moral bankruptcy proudly flying. On the BBC radio news on Saturday, I listened to Mathew Price observing that the Israeli action was 'making Israelis streets safer, perhaps, certainly making life miserable and intolerable for the Palestinians of northern Gaza'. Ah yes, those innocent Gazans who just happen to be firing rockets into Israel and killing children. The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, itself no slough when it comes to putting the boot into Israel, soberly records:

'Using precise fire and its intelligence supremacy, the IDF is striving to increase the number of fatalities among the Hamas men, more than 40 of whom have been killed until now. The number of civilian fatalities is estimated at around 10. Despite this, the Hamas infrastructure continues to manufacture Qassam rockets and sustain itself, with assessments saying that the organization is still in possession of 100-200 rockets with a range of some eight kilometers.'

But hey, what's all that when set against 'making life intolerable' for the Palestinians?