Israel Matzav

IDF wants ground operation in Gaza

The IDF wants to undertake a ground operation in Gaza to rid the Strip of the Kassam missiles and the terrorists.

Defense officials said Monday's Kassam barrage on Sderot demonstrated the need for a large-scale operation inside the Gaza Strip to weaken Hamas and prevent future attacks.

"It does not appear that the Palestinians will stop the rocket attacks on their own," one official said. "Therefore, it is probably only a matter of time before we will need to launch a large-scale operation."

OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant has for several months been calling for a large operation in Gaza and has warned that if such an incursion was not carried out in the coming year, the IDF might lose its "window of opportunity" in defeating Hamas in Gaza.

Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert doesn't want to do that. He wants to target Islamic Jihad's leadership (as if now Islamic Jihad are the 'bad terrorists' and Hamas are the 'good terrorists'?).

Islamic Jihad will likely bear the brunt of Israel's military response to the Kassam rockets that hit the western Negev on the second day of the school year, including one that slammed into a day care center's courtyard, government officials said Monday night.

Islamic Jihad was responsible for all nine of the Kassam attacks, the officials said. The rockets were timed to hit when parents were taking their children to school, defense officials said.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that Israel would not "live with the situation and carry on as usual."

Olmert, at a press conference with visiting Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, said the IDF and security services had standing orders "to destroy every rocket launcher and hit everyone who is involved in the rocket fire."

Then why aren't they doing it? Obviously, because they have no such orders. And besides, it's not just Islamic Jihad that is responsible:

While Islamic Jihad fired the rockets, they did benefit from logistical assistance from Hamas, Defense Ministry officials said, and the Islamist group was doing nothing to stop the attacks.

And we still have 'government officials' who are foolish enough to buy into Hamas' military wing/political wing split:

Other government officials said Hamas's political wing opposed attacks at this time, while the organization's military wing wanted to see them continue.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Feigele Livni wants to cut off Gaza's electricity, which was a great idea two years ago when it was first proposed, but is probably too little too late now unless Israel is willing to shut it off and keep it off and unless it's willing to destroy Gaza's own power plants from the air. That's not what Livni has in mind.

"One cannot accept a situation where Sderot children are living under threat while those in Gaza continue with their daily routine," she said at a press conference with visiting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "We must use additional means apart from military ones, to make clear to Gaza residents that their way of life is dependent on Israel," she said.

In recent days, Livni has reportedly advocated measures such as temporarily cutting off electricity to the Strip as a way of bringing down the number of attacks.

'Temporarily' isn't going to cut it and 'bringing down' the number of attacks isn't going to be enough. They have to be stopped.

Maybe we can get Olmert to ask Aliza's permission to send the IDF into Gaza?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:38 AM