Israel Matzav

IDF 'arrests' sixty top Hamas members: Is this a police action or a war?

Either the operation going on in Gaza has been very secretive or there have been no casualties. Quite frankly, if there are no casualties on the 'Palestinian' side, that's a problem. This is supposed to be a war. But I'll get to that....

The Israeli government has apparently decided not to treat this as a war. They are treating it as a police action. And so we have reports this morning in all the Israeli media that the IDF has 'arrested' sixty top Hamas members in Judea and Samaria. Some of those arrested include Finance Minister Omar Abdel Azek, Labor Minister Mohammed Barghouti, Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser al-Shaer, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Khaled Abu Arfa, Minister for Wakf Affairs Nayef Rajoub, and parliament members Mohammed Abu Teir, Wael al-Husseini and Ahmed a-Tun were arrested, along with many other top officials. You may recall that the latter three had their Jerusalem residency rights revoked last month. The Hamas-appointed mayor of Qalqilya, who was released from an Israeli prison last month, was also apprehended along with his deputy. Most of the Palestinian Legislative Council members on Hamas’ behalf were also detained in various cities in Judea and Samaria.

By the way, the Al-AP headline on this is a doozer: Hamas leaders arrested; Israeli executed. You can't make this stuff up.

PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh convened an emergency meeting of government members in Gaza early Thursday morning (apparently in hiding, since reports say they have gone underground). An unofficial response said that, "Israel is targeting Hamas' political wing, which wasn't involved in the kidnapping [of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit]." As if there's a difference between Hamas' 'political wing' and its 'military wing.'

And remember all those reports about buildings being surrounded in Ramallah yesterday? This is from YNet:

Palestinian sources said IDF forces surrounded a Ramallah building in which all Hamas parliament members, including Parliament Speaker Abdel Aziz Dweik, were convening and called on the lawmakers to give themselves up. Forces also encircled the Ramallah homes of senior Hamas council members, including that of Parliament Secretary Mahmoud Al-Ramahi.

So what's my problem? My problem is that this isn't supposed to be a police action. These people are murderers and they openly admit it. What are you going to do with them? Trade them in a prisoner exchange for Gilad Shalit's body? Return them as 'heroes' so the 'Palestinian people' can elect them again? This is exactly what the US got itself into when it 'arrested' Saddam Hussein. They 'arrested' a mass murdering terrorist, a genocidist. They had to give him a show trial. And now what? If he's not executed, he'll spend the rest of his life in jail at US expense. We didn't need a trial to tell us that Saddam was guilty - there were hundreds of witnesses. We don't need a trial to tell us that any of the Hamas murderers are guilty either. It's time to bring out the helicopters and prepare the car swarms.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:29 AM