What would Obama do? What would your leader do if?

This post by no means condones killing innocent civilians. We all mourn together any loss of life.

But please stop for a moment and think. How would your leaders react if your peaceful towns (with no military installations whatsoever) would be under a barrage of missiles for years.? How would you feel?

Barak to MKs: Obama said he would do all to prevent rocket fire on his own home

By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

Facing catcalls from Arab lawmakers, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told a stormy Knesset session on Monday that the operation in Gaza will be "widened and deepened as is necessary."

Barak also cited a comment made by President-elect Barack Obama, who visited Sderot during his election campaign earlier this year.

"Obama said that if rockets were being fired at his home while his two daughters were sleeping, he would do everything he could to prevent it," Barack told the plenum.

Israel's defense minister says the country is engaged in a "war to the bitter end" against Hamas in Gaza.

Barak said the massive air assault Israel launched beginning Saturday is aimed not at Gaza's residents but at the territory's Hamas rulers. He said the operation's goal is to force Hamas to stop its hostile actions directed at Israeli civilians.

Barak said Israel quit all of Gaza three years ago to give a chance for a new reality on the ground, but that Hamas had used the territory as a terrorist haven.

"Hamas is responsible for everything that happens in Gaza and which emanates from it," the defense minister said. "This operation will be widened, deepened as we see fit."

Barak told the assembled lawmakers that the defense establishment spent months preparing for the Gaza operation.

Likud chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Arab protests while calling on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to fire minister Raleb Majadele, the lone Arab serving in the cabinet.

Arab MKs repeatedly accused the government of waging a war for electioneering purposes and the defense minister of intentionally killing children. MK Avigdor Lieberman proposed that the Arab lawmakers relocate to Gaza and not return. The Arab MKs retorted by calling him a "Fascist," and insisted that he should return to the country where he came from.

"There are those who are counting bodies and at the same time counting Knesset seats," Tibi said. "Bodies for votes - this is done primarily by the Labor Party."

"There are those who are profiting from Palestinian blood in order to get elected," Hadash chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh said. Barakeh and MK Taleb a-Sana were subsequently evicted from the plenum.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni lashed out at Hamas in her remarks, imploring foreign leaders to not judge Israel solely on the images broadcast on television screens.

"Israel is acting against Hamas and not against the population," Livni said. "We are once again making clear that whoever has complaints over the state of the population should take them to those who have responsibility over the situation there - Hamas."

Livni also made reference to Hani al-Mahdi, the 27-year-old man from Ar'ur, who was killed by a Palestinian rocket in Ashkelon on Monday. "A state must defend all of its citizens," she told the plenum. "I heard on the way here that Hamas announced that the man killed by the rocket in Ashkelon was one of the Zionists, even though he is an Israeli-Arab. They do not make this distinction."