There is a military solution to terror
In Commentary, Michael Totten argues that Operation Cast Lead shows that there is a military solution to terror (Hat Tip: Instapundit). The New York Times reports that Hamas has decided to wage a “culture war” instead of a rocket war because, as one leader put it, “the fighters needed a break and the people needed a break.”Funny. Ehud Olmert never figured that out.
Movies, plays, art exhibitions, and poems are Hamas’s new weapons. Hamas supporters, though, aren’t the only Palestinians in Gaza using art as a weapon. Said al-Bettar skewers Hamas every night at Gaza City’s Shawa cultural center in his popular play The Women of Gaza and the Patience of Job. “We were the victims of a big lie,” he says about the doctrine of armed “resistance.”
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[A] pattern has emerged that should be obvious to anybody with eyes to see, whether they’re an intelligence official or not. After Israeli soldiers withdraw from occupied territory, Israeli civilians are shot at with rockets from inside that territory. Another pattern has just been made clear. After Israelis shoot back, the rockets stop flying.
It has been years since Hezbollah has dared to fire rockets at Israel or start anything else on the border. Hamas no longer dares to fire rockets at Israel either.
Israelis remain under pressure to withdraw from the West Bank.
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It’s possible, of course, that West Bank Palestinians will never fire a significant number of rockets, if any, at Israel. They seem more sensible in general than Gazans. Hamas leaders in Gaza also talk to Hamas leaders in Ramallah, Nablus, and Hebron. I think it’s safe to say that the West Bank isn’t hearing any “divine victory” nonsense from Gaza right now.
Then again, Gazans proved themselves incapable of learning from Hezbollah’s mistakes. And the New York Times says Hamas wants to acquire longer-range missiles. So who knows?
This much, though, is all but certain: if a rocket war erupts between Israel and the West Bank, Israelis will respond as they did in Gaza and Lebanon. The jury is still out on whether the Arab world has learned the recent relevant lessons, but there shouldn’t be any doubt that Israelis have. Rocket war doesn’t work, but the military solution to rocket war does.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:18 PM
4 Comments:
"Funny. Ehud Olmert never figured that out."
He also never finished the war.
Had the IDF been allowed to finish the job, mindless international politicos might not have been so interested in courting favor with Hamas or in showering them with money.
Israel defeated two intifadas. The Palestinians haven't figured how to get Israel to defeat itself - the only way they could win.
if a rocket war erupts between Israel and the West Bank, Israelis will respond as they did in Gaza and Lebanon.
and....
....we could finally transfer all of them !!!
Norman - Israelis fight to survive. All of Israel's wars were battles to survive, often against terrible odds. No one, except the brave Israeli souls who fought tooth and nail, expected Israel to win in '48. So long as the drumbeat of victory to save the homeland pounds in the heart of every IDF fighter, we will win.
Even defeatists like Olmert and Livni couldn't take that away.
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