Israel Matzav

Israel stopped too soon again

Last week, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman took the government to task for agreeing to a cease fire with Hamas. In Thursday's Haaretz, military analyst Israel Harel rips the government for violating a rule of war in agreeing to the cease fire.

In the middle of a counter-attack against Hamas' men and infrastructure, Israel has blinked, and agreed to a ceasefire. The government, which is full of ministers with military backgrounds, ignored one of the most basic rules of managing a battle: Take advantage of success (if it had not been a success, Hamas would not have begged for a truce ) until the fight is won.

Even though residents in the south would have had to suffer enemy missiles for some time, they also have trouble grasping the government's strange logic. The enemy will now recover, just as it did after Operation Cast Lead, another military operation which drew to a halt before its completion; Hamas will arm itself for another, even more lethal, round of fighting. Who knows how many yellow school buses will be attacked as a result of the decision-makers' weak will?

And he's spot-on and withering with this:

The Iron Dome system can intercept some of them. But this use of Iron Dome is the start of a process in which Israel runs away from the fight without attaining victory. And it gives a terror organization an opportunity to assault our defense budget by firing cheap rockets (which it has in abundance ) and forcing Israel to use extremely expensive anti-missile missiles to intercept them.

Ahead of the Passover holiday, Hamas received, in addition to the ceasefire, an unexpected gain. A number of Israel's "former" security officials joined forces in calling on the government to surrender to Hamas' demands and release about 1,000 terrorists, in exchange for Gilad Shalit. The wisdom of this demand and its perfect timing shows just how we got ourselves to this low point: There is now an inability to bring an end to terror activity of organizations which kill Israeli citizens, fire thousands of missiles, kidnap civilians and soldiers, and dictate terms of surrender for the release of these hostages. These "former" security officials headed unsuccessful struggles against Hamas, Hezbollah and other, similar groups. What gives them the moral right to demand such a capitulation? Now we are slaves -, to borrow a phrase from the Haggadah - to cowardice, to erroneous conceptions and delusions. Next year, let us be free, and accomplish the worthy goals of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Iron Dome

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:55 AM