According to a columnist in the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv Israel's air raids on Gaza this week have been deliberately disproportionate, with the intention of sending a message that its leaders "have gone mad" as a result of suicide, car bomb and rocket attacks on its soldiers and civilians. Another writer, in Yedioth Ahronath, said Israel appears to have stopped questioning the legitimacy of its actions. "We've deteriorated to a point in which we've stopped asking questions, and those who dare raise questions are immediately branded traitors".
It is important for Israel's democratic self-respect and international reputation that such voices should be heard criticising their government's policies. In recent weeks, since the suspension of the international road map for peace, after a horrifying spate of attacks on Israeli civilians, its military has unleashed a series of utterly disproportionate retaliations, using helicopter gunships and ruthless raids on Palestinian villages.
The Prime Minister, Mr Sharon, said in his address to the Knesset's winter session this week, that after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq "the peoples of the Middle East must choose one of two paths: to continue the path of ruthless violence, while subjecting their people to the dire consequences of that choice, or choosing a new path of condemning terror, violence and incitement, and choosing peace, coexistence and co-operation instead". He insists Israel is "continuing its policy of distinguishing between civilian Palestinian population which is not involved in terror, and the terrorists, their dispatchers and those that give them aid".
On the evidence of recent weeks no such clear-cut distinction has been made by the Israeli military. At least 80 people were injured and 12 killed in Monday's attack on Gaza. The Israeli armed forces seem intent on adopting for themselves a path of ruthless violence in response to the attacks on them. Mr Sharon called once again for the Palestinian president, Mr Yasser Arafat, to be removed.
Mr Arafat himself has called for international intervention by the Quartet group sponsoring the road map, "to stop this military madness". But, aside from verbal cautions, there is precious little indication of any action to do so. Israel brushed off the UN General Assembly resolution condemning the fence it is building, largely on Palestinian territory, to deter suicide bombings. And in a reflection of the intolerance of domestic critics, ministers have taken to describing international criticism of Israeli policy as anti-Semitic. That is hitting below the intellect. It will only rebound negatively on the Israeli people if such aggressive behaviour continues in their name.