Lest it be said that The Rittenhouse Review is biased with respect to the current conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis, let us be among the first to denounce the despicable murders of four Jews and the injury of an additional seven Jews, in the West Bank "settlement" of Adora.

The alleged perpetrators: three Palestinians in Israeli army uniforms, an obfuscation that only makes the crime more heinous.

According to a report in the New York Times, "The attack was almost certain to prompt the Israeli government to consider dispatching more ground forces to this area, just as President Bush has stepped up his call for a full Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian-controlled territory."

Not surprisingly, however, "Israeli government officials said the attack proved the need for the military measures in the West Bank."

According to the Times, "Israelis strongly support the sweeping West Bank offensive, believing that it has successfully suppressed Palestinian violence." This is surely someone's idea of a sick joke. Can it be that the Jewish population of Israel is so obstuse as to not realize that the vicious warfare the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is inflicting on the Palestinian people will lead only to one thing: namely, more violence?

"There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence here," James Bennet writes in the Times.

The retaliation began quickly. "Hours after the attack, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a man Israel identified [Ed.: By whom?] as one of the gunmen [Ed.: How?], on the outskirts of Hebron, just east of [Adora]. The Israeli Army said that the man, who was not immediately identified [Ed.: Why not?], was wearing an Israeli uniform and a bullet-proof vest, and that he was carrying the standard-issue army weapon, an M-16 semiautomatic rife [sic]."

For the IDF, to provide information on the IDF's own terms is to answer any accusation. No further questions may be asked, either to the Israelis or by foreign reporters. And while we at TRR are horrified by this latest incident, we are certain that the American Punditboro will go berserk with it beginning tomorrow, deflecting -- or rather, suppressing -- any meaningful discussion of the broader ramifications and implications of this wretched attack.