Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Sderot residents that the government cannot completely protect the town in a speech last week.

“Life in Israel involves some risks,” Olmert told the Israel Democracy Forum on June 28. However, he explained, “the risks we face here are far less serious than the ones threatening Jews around the world.”

For the small city of Sderot, located next to the Gaza Strip, Olmert’s words are hard to swallow. The city of over 20,000 Israelis is a frequent target of rocket attacks from Gaza. In May, two Israelis were killed and 22 injured in Sderot, according to a Human Rights Watch report. Since mid-May, Sderot residents have suffered from 351 rocket attacks.

Olmert has rejected recommendations to launch a major military operation to destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. Prime Minister Olmert told the conference that “A country cannot protect itself ad infinitum, because there would be no end to it.”

Olmert essentially told Sderot residents to keep living with rocket attacks, saying he “expects the leaders of our communities and the media to be responsible and not to encourage demands any self-respecting government couldn’t possibly act on.”

Such hopeless, defeatist statements demonstrate just how weak Israel’s leadership is. Self-respecting governments take action to defend their citizens. A government that doesn’t—and even worse, one that downplays such casualties—is a government asking to be attacked.

Until aggressive action is taken against the terrorists, Olmert is right: There will be no end to the attacks. For more analysis on the events surrounding the Gaza Strip, read “Iran’s Victory in the Gaza Strip.”