About to get worse...

What you need to know: Over the weekend a Palestinian militant group raided an Israeli Defense Force outpost on the Gaza border near Egypt. It was a complicated raid accomplished via a freshly-dug 300 yard underground tunnel, which allowed the Palestinians to surprise the four-person IDF team, killing two soldiers, wounding one, and kidnapping 19 year old Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

It was that last part where the Palestinians' otherwise well-executed raid became a HUGE mistake. Mourning the death of a soldier killed in battle is one thing, reacting to the torture and murder of a 19 year old will be quite another. If I had to name one of the few things that will make otherwise stoic Jews completely lose their shit it's this very circumstance: combining the willful and malicious treatment of one of their children with virulent anti-semitism.

"This is not a matter of negotiations, this is not a matter of bargaining," Olmert said in a speech to a Jewish Agency gathering in Jerusalem.

Even Hamas recognizes the danger of provoking Israel beyond the "proportional response" which has been the status quo for several years. They are calling upon whomever is holding Cpl. Shalit to treat him well.

The U.S. is continuing to play its traditional role by expecting Israel to use restraint, which I suspect Israel will do as long as Cpl. Shalit remains alive and in one-piece. But should anything unfortunate happen to him, and especially if that unfortunate thing should be televised on Al-Jazeera, then I think you'll see a very rare display of Jews killing for revenge. And I think you'll see the end of Hamas as a political party in Palestine.

Outside the Kerem Shalom gate that separates Israel from Gaza, the army was busy positioning tanks, ground troops and artillery, waiting for the green light from political leaders to proceed -- Al Jazeera