The newfangled “shelf agreement” concept, which served as the basis for the Olmert government’s negotiation with the Palestinians, was strategically illogical and tactically ill-considered. Israel must not again go this route.

For seven years, Sderot residents feared they had been abandoned by a feckless government and an inattentive public. They wanted to know that people cared. Mordechai Elbaz, a third generation Sderot plumber (pictured with me), had his backyard plumbing supplies warehouse blown to smithereens by a Kassam rocket a few hours before my visit.

Had Benjamin Netanyahu taken 12 cabinet posts, fired 11 diplomats, legislated a haredi army exemption, and annexed the West Bank with a government of only 30 seats – the country would have been on fire! Yet the leftist of government of the year 2000 did wildly outrageous things similar to this, and the media was silent. A worthwhile reminder for the year 2009.