Is It Too Much To Ask That We Somehow Try To Avoid Having 20 Percent Of Our City Council Wiped Out By A Qassam Rocket?

Will this teach them not to participate in junkets abroad? Probably not:

In the middle of a trip to Israel, a group of New York City Council members got a scare when a Kassam rocket hit a kibbutz a mile away yesterday afternoon — just as they were discussing such attacks with the mayor of Sderot.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said yesterday that the attack, which some said reminded them of when Councilman James Davis was shot and killed several years ago in the council chamber at City Hall, confirmed her belief that Israel has a right to defend itself.

“It is fear-provoking,” she said in a telephone conference call.

Quinn and 10 other members arrived Sunday for a trip sponsored by a pro-Israel group, Jewish Community Relations Council.

As Mayor Michael Bloomberg did last week, the group visited Sderot, population 20,000, a frequent target of Palestinian rocket fire due to its proximity to the Gaza Strip. A 17-year-old girl was killed two years ago in an attack.

The Council speaker said Sderot officials were telling the visitors how frequently the town gets hit when everyone was told to get up and leave. She said they were told: “A rocket is coming. We have to go.”