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The Heritage Foundation‘s James Carafano hits another one out of the park. He wrote a piece for Fox News about President-elect Barack Obama’s stand on missile defense: tough talk and no action.

This week Carafano writes about the Israel/Hamas conflict in a web memo on Heritage.org: “Conflict in Gaza: Another Case for Directed Energy Defenses.”

Israel initiated an offensive against Hamas to protect its citizens and destroy the group’s launching sites and stores of weapons. The fighting between Israel and the Islamic Hamas has been going on for about 10 days. What’s missing is a way for Israel to shoot down rockets and mortars, which likely would bring an end to the fighting and loss of life.

“Directed-energy weapons (such as lasers) provide a proven capacity to interdict rockets, artillery, and mortars,” Carafano writes. “Together the United States and Israel have the technologies necessary to field these weapons. Fielding defenses now would lessen the potential for future armed conflicts. The Pentagon should aggressively press forward in deploying prototype systems that can protect populations and devalue and deter threats such as those posed by Hamas.”

Carafano points out that Hamas has been building its military infrastructure and violating a truce between the two countries negotiated last summer. Consequently, Israel’s actions are fully justified. Developing a strong and reliable laser defense system would give the country more protection against Hamas and other rogue groups and nations.

“The new Administration has opportunity to introduce a ‘game changer’ in the current Middle East conflict by helping speed the fielding of prototype defenses that can devalue the threat of terrorist missile and artillery arsenals,” Carafano writes. “Building these new weapons may be one of the most powerful contributions to peace in the Middle East that the United States could make in the near future.”

Late last month, Israel launched air strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza in response to Hamas rocket attacks in Israel. For the past nine days, Israel and the Islamic group have traded fire. Israel commenced ground attacks last week, which were criticized by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, among others.

The U.S. State Department called for a ceasefire this week between Israel and Hamas.

“We would like an immediate ceasefire, absolutely,” said spokesman Sean McCormack. “An immediate ceasefire that is durable, sustainable and not time-limited.”

The State Department has sent Secretary Condoleezza Rice to the United Nations to discuss the ceasefire. The U.N. and “Arab diplomats” have also called for an end to the fighting between the two forces. The U.N. estimates over 500 Palestinians have been killed, as well as a “handful” of Israelis. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose party was ousted from Gaza in 2007, visited the U.N. this week.

According to Newsday, the U.S. blocked the U.N. Security Council from issuing a ceasefire statement.

President-elect Barack Obama has finally spoken out on the conflict. He said “the loss of civilian life in Gaza and in Israel is a source of deep concern for me…After Jan. 20 I’m going to have plenty to say about the issue, and I am not backing away at all from what I said during the campaign, that starting at the beginning of our administration, we are going to be engaged effectively and consistently in trying to resolve the conflict in the Middle East. That’s something I am committed to.”

(Sources: Newsday and Reuters)