In the last several days, there has been a dramatic surge in attacks on Southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday, there were 54 mortar shells, there have been several Grad rockets fired at Be’er Sheva, Ashdod, and Ashkelon, another 7 mortars today, and, although not from Gaza, there was a bombing in Jerusalem.

Hamas and their allies (Islamic Jihad, etc.) claim that this is retaliation for Israeli attacks against Gaza, but the only attacks that have occurred recently against Gaza have come in the wake of this surge of violence emanating from Gaza.

In one of the attacks by Israel, the IDF lobbed mortar shells at the source of an attack.  Several children were killed.  Of course, Hamas and the world instantly condemned Israel.  Never mind that the Hamas mortar team was firing from within a densely populated area in order to entice Israel to retaliate or fire preemptively, in the hope that civilians would be killed, since that is their ticket to world sympathy.

Never mind that what they are doing is clearly in the realm of war crimes, since they are using civilians as “shields”.

It is, as always, curious that the left and most of the world don’t seem to care about that.

The question is, what can and will Israel do if this escalation of attacks does not cease?

Regardless of who fired first, who fired last, or who was or wasn’t justified, the fact remains that Hamas is deliberately targeting the civilian population of Southern Israeli towns and cities.  DELIBERATELY.  This is also certainly a war crime, yet most of the world media doesn’t even report on it unless Israel retaliates.

After the barrage of 54 mortar shells on Saturday, Avigdor Lieberman, the Foreign Minister of Israel, directed Israel’s ambassador to the UN to lodge a formal complaint against Hamas.

Unfortunately, that is unlikely to arouse any sympathy in the world.  After all, the popular justification goes, “The Jews” are oppressing the Palestinians.  They’re blockading Gaza.  They are legitimate targets, obviously.

Never mind that the blockade was proven last week when the Israeli Navy confiscated over 50 tons of advanced weapons bound for Gaza.  What more does Israel have to do to show the world that the blockade is justified?

So, let’s move to the “prediction of things to come” that I promised in my headline.

1.  The Israeli complaint and any other, subsequent complaints about indiscriminate, deliberate shelling of Israeli civilians will fall on deaf ears at the UN.  There will be no resolutions proposed or passed (or supported) by more than a handful of countries.  The General Assembly will turn the complaint around to blame Israel for the shelling of Israeli citizens.

2.  The shelling will continue, and will increase.  Hamas has taken heart from the recent events in Egypt and their perception that Egypt, with the Muslim Brotherhood soon to be part of the government, will support them and their cause.  I believe this to be true.

3.  Israel will continue to complain to the world, but the complaints will fall on deaf ears.  The Left will cheer gleefully as Israelis are shelled, ranting that they deserve it.

4.  Eventually, after exhausting any legal complaints, Israel will launch a ground offensive in Gaza.  They will have no choice, since there is no country on Earth that would endure what Israel endures on a daily basis.  It will start with significant bombing of tunnels and Hamas command structures, and will be followed by an intense infantry battle, in which Israel will end up going house to house, building to building, until they have taken the entire Gaza Strip.  There is no middle ground that can be taken.

As part of this assault, they will have to very carefully, and probably at great cost of Israeli lives, enter places like Mosques and the underground bunkers under Gaza hospitals where the Hamas leadership hid during Cast Lead.

They will need to fully conquer Gaza, collect or destroy all the weapons, destroy all the tunnels, and arrest the Hamas leadership.

I am fully aware that a great deal of my prediction is “wishful thinking”.  It is more likely that as soon as they attack, the world will start to cry crocodile tears for the poor Palestinians in Gaza, and Israel will probably have to stop (again!) before finishing the job.  But, it is a job that needs to be done.

The alternative is simply bombarding Gaza, but the world won’t stand for that.

It’s ironic, given the bombardment of Libya, supported by most of the world.  Libya, in spite of Gadhafi’s overt support of terror, is much more benign than Hamas and Gaza, and is no more oppressive to his people than Hamas is to theirs.

Were the world logical, there would have been a coalition a long time ago to force Hamas to cease and desist with their attacks on Israeli population centers, but unfortunately, the world is insane, believing that an autocratic, Islamo-fascist government which suppresses its own people is somehow preferable to or better than Israel, with its clearly democratic society.