AP Photo

Hamas warned Israel on Wednesday that it had opened the gates of hell in targeting a notorious terror chieftain Ahmed Jabari. In truth, however, a reluctant Israeli government (Israel has no desire to be drawn into prolonged military conflict with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip) plainly felt it had little choice but to launch Operation Pillar of Defense, an escalated air assault on Hamas targets.

The incident that prompted this latest drastic flare-up on Israel’s southern border saw an anti-tank missile fired at an Israeli army jeep that was traveling not on the Gaza side of the border, as was erroneously claimed in some initial reports — nor even on the very border line itself — but rather making a routine journey some 150 yards inside...