The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens. But Israel has lost the will to do even that.

Hundreds of thousands more Israeli citizens than in the past could be at risk from rocket attacks, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Israel’s fifth-largest city, Ashdod, and the smaller town of Kiryat Malachi could now be at risk from rockets fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip.

Thus far, rockets from Gaza have reached only as far north as Ashkelon, 10 miles north of the Gaza border. But it is feared that Hamas has significantly increased the range of its rockets to 19 miles.

Ashdod’s port controls 60 percent of all Israeli imports and houses over 207,000 residents. What, then, is Israel’s response to this serious threat to one of its most important cities?

It is handing out leaflets.

The Home Front Command has handed out over 30,000 leaflets to residents of Ashdod explaining how to deal with a missile attack. A Home Front Command official said that “the bulletins were distributed due to our assumption that proper preparedness will be helpful when the need arises.”

There is nothing wrong with taking precautions, of course, but surely the more secure thing to do would be to go after the people firing the rockets—not try to find some way to live with death.

This chronic lack of will has completely infected Israel’s society. The problem is not just in Gaza.

Iran is being allowed to develop a nuclear bomb. Once Iran has a nuclear weapon, even if it were never used, it would cripple Israel. Instead of emigrating to Israel, Jews would flee the country, and Israel’s economy would be ruined. Iran has also been expanding its arsenal of conventional missiles. So far this year it has tripled the number of missiles it has capable of hitting Israel. According to Israeli Channel 10, Iran possessed 30 such missiles at the start of the year. Now it has over 100.

Just as Israel lacks the will to defend its citizens from an Iranian-backed Hamas in Gaza, it lacks the will to confront Iran.

It was Israel’s surrender of the Gaza Strip in 2005 that allowed Hamas to take over in the first place.

To find out more about where this tragic lack of will is leading, see our article “Israel’s ‘Will to Withdraw.’”