Interior Minister Eli Yishai, in a moment of disturbing candor, revealed what is for many in Netanyahu's government the ultimate goal of its escalating military campaign on Gaza:

"The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages. Only then will Israel be calm for forty years."

Now, part of Yishai's bombast comes from the fact that, as a known racist and head of the ultra-orthodox Shas party, he'd feel much more comfortable in the Middle Ages himself.