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Thursday, May 01, 2008

Don't feel sorry for Gaza

On Haaretz's op-ed page, one of their token right-wing columnists - Yisrael Harel - has a great column on why instead of making a 'cease fire' with Hamas in Gaza, we should be conducting 'offensive operations' (i.e. invading).
Every expression of solidarity with them bolsters the Palestinians' morale and increases their hope that those who identify with them will succeed in weakening further the Jews' will to fight for their state's existence. The Palestinians have plenty of proof that the subversive actions by those in solidarity with them are successful. Among other things, there is the considerable decline in the desire to enlist in the army among society's elites, emigration from Israel, the frenzy to acquire foreign passports, the weakness that took hold of many residents of the North during the Second Lebanon War, the battlefield fiascoes, and the Israelis' fear of launching a comprehensive offensive in Gaza.

Even those not infected with the "mea culpa" disease are not exempt from responsibility. We have dilly-dallied for years in the battle aimed at putting an end to terror in Gaza. If it were not for our dilly-dallying, there would be no need for shelling from tanks or bombing from the air - actions that sometimes cause results that tug at your heart. In Judea and Samaria, where we got up the guts, such measures are not necessary.

Six years ago, Israel broke its restraint in the face of the murder of its citizens - more than 100 people were murdered in terrorist attacks in a single month, March 2002. We vowed to wage war on the bastions of terror in Judea and Samaria, and we broke their back. Since then, the IDF has been able to limit sharply the number of suicide terrorists and the attempts to bomb population centers in central Israel, nearly without resorting to tanks and planes. That is also why there have been no tragic occurrences in Judea and Samaria of the sort that occurred in Beit Hanun this week.

That, therefore, is the recipe. In order to follow it, we do not need a cease-fire in Gaza, but rather an offensive operation along the lines of Operation Defensive Shield. As you may recall, we embarked on Defensive Shield despite warnings of heavy casualties from politicians, military commentators, and even high-ranking officers on active duty. A handful of those same individuals of little understanding and faith remain to this day in important positions in politics, the media and the army.
Read it all.

2 Comments:

At 3:07 PM, Blogger What is "Occupation" said...

There is ONLY one way to have peace with those who feel it's a legal and moral right to murder our children....

Kill them.

Sorry to be so blunt, but it's a fact...

 
At 9:25 PM, Blogger NormanF said...

The point that the Palestinians can be defeated and the IDF is able and willing to fight. What's standing in the way are not military considerations but purely political ones stemming from a government in political survival mode that fears a repetition of its bungled conduct of the Second Lebanon War. No one in Israel should for a monent, feel sorry at all for Gaza.

 

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