Lies, Pretexts and Actual Motives

LIES AND PRETEXTS

"Security"
[N]o Israelis were killed or seriously injured in the recent [Palestinian] attacks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/world/middleeast/28mideast.html?_r=1&hp

Who is the Real Victim Here?
By contrast, Israel has terrorized 1.5 million Gazans, locked them inside their awfully narrow borders, throttled their economy, and killed and seriously wounded thousands of them.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111687765&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

ACTUAL MOTIVES

Zionist Electioneering
Leadership credentials will be built on spilling Palestinian blood.
http://counterpunch.org/amiri12262008.html

Breaking Palestinian Resistance
Israel wasn't willing to live and let live with Hamas - it was intent on making them cry uncle or, ideally, on getting rid of Hamas altogether by turning Gaza's population against them.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111687765&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Coup d'etat
Gaza's final and unpardonable sin was, in a completely fair election, to elect a party that displeased Israel and the US. Elliott Abrams of Iran-Contra infamy helped the reprisal along by engineering civil war between Hamas and Fatah (see Vanity Fair, April, 2008.)
http://counterpunch.org/cantarow12262008.html