Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's decision to immediately retaliate against Syria after the accidental shelling of his country last week must have made many Israelis envy. Imagine such a response to the latest rocket attacks on Israel's southern communities. Shedding of Turkish blood will not go unanswered, said the Turkish prime minister, who hopes his aggressive foreign policy posture will one day restore the Ottoman Empire's glorious past. This was not just a small skirmish. This one stray shell prompted the Turkish parliament to hold an emergency session where it authorized the Turkish government to use military force as Erdoğan deems necessary even though Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to delineate a buffer zone along the border to prevent a repeat of the clash. The language and sentiment embodied in this decision is on par with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution the U.S. Congress passed in 1964, which granted President Lyndon Baines Johnson the authority to take military action against North Vietnam to retaliate against an attack on a U.S. destroyer in the northwestern part of the South China Sea. The Senate and House of Representatives relied on false information when they approved the measure. President Johnson wrongly accused the Communist nation of perpetrating more than one act of aggression, but he was unaware of the fact that the North Vietnamese had actually fired on the destroyer in only one such incident, and probably unintentionally. This unspecific authorization eventually helped drag the U.S. into the Vietnam War, which fragmented American society for a generation. Just imagine Erdoğan's response if the Eshkol Regional Council, which saw multiple rocket hits over the weekend, was sovereign Turkish territory? The local residents in the south sat in their Sukkah over the weekend only because they were lucky to have the Sukkah's traditional leaf-covered roof and the closed date frond in close proximity to a bomb shelter or some other protected space. They are very experienced in handling such situations, which is why they followed proper procedure. As a result, no one was hurt from the more than 50 Qassam rockets and mortar bombs fired on their homes. While the attack did not include any new weapons, the fact that Hamas claimed responsibility for the aggression sets a precedent. For quite some time Hamas has deflected criticism over rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, claiming "we have no part in this." But this time around, Hamas owned up to its actions. Anyone who wants to sustain the relative calm in the area should view this as a worrying development. Israel has honored its commitment to keep the peace. In fact, it has doubled down on it since Operation Cast Lead, some four years ago. Although Hamas and Israel have no formal cease-fire agreement, Egyptian-brokered understandings have been in place to prevent a large-scale escalation. The Palestinians have routinely strayed from this framework; Israel has not. At most, it has taken pre-emptive action against would-be perpetrators in the Gaza Strip (who, as recent events demonstrate, could actually stage attacks from Sinai), but has stopped short of launching a campaign. Palestinian rockets or mortars have been the trigger for past flare-ups, as have terrorist squads who had attempted to breach the fence along the Gaza Strip border. The rules of engagement governing the post-Cast Lead era have some flaws, because not all acts of aggression are deemed equal. The timing of a flare-up appears to be at the sole discretion of the Palestinians. Israel, for its part, has not violated the calm even during Gilad Schalit's long years in captivity. The bombardments Israelis have had to endure as of late are tough but still bearable. They are unlikely to make Israel reconsider its commitment to the truce. But the this policy runs the risk of turning Israel into a laughingstock. In fact, Israelis themselves have realized this and have pined for an Erdoğanesque approach. Only that Israel lacks the automatic backing Ankara enjoys vis-à-vis Syria. The U.N., and even Turkey's NATO allies, have not frowned upon its violation of Syrian sovereignty. The Jewish state has not been dealt such a lucky hand and therefore such a maneuver is not in the cards.
