Two captured terrorists interviewed by Maariv/NRG say that Hamas was not expecting Israel’s response to the escalation in missile attacks on Israeli targets that preceded Operation Cast Lead. One of them, a 52-year-old victim of a premature detonation who had already done time in an Israeli jail, said, “Hamas took a gamble. We thought, at worst Israel will come and do something from the air - something superficial. They’ll come in and go out. We never thought that we would reach the point where fear will swallow the heart and the feet will want to flee. You [Israel] are fighting like you fought in ‘48. What got into you all of a sudden?”
While this may be the rantings of two terrorists trained to give misinformation, I firmly believe that in fact Hamas was caught totally unprepared for the assault. If so, this should have serious repercussions to the strategy that Israel employs going forward.
If Hamas wasn't necessarily looking for the war they got, Hamas is apt to fall if Israel continues to apply pressure long enough. Israel has Hamas disoriented, frustrated and scared. In warfare, you simply can't ask for a better combination in your opponent. In such a case, I would think you apply even more pressure and put your enemy away. Yet, it appears that just as the enemy is ready to be put away once and for all, the Israeli cabinet is ready to capitulate to a cease fire.
The Israeli Security Cabinet will vote Saturday night on whether to accept an Egyptian proposal for a truce to end the fighting in Gaza, an official said.
The senior government official said a decision to approve the truce would begin a phased process in which Israel stops fighting and gauges the reaction from Hamas militants. The official says that under this process, Israel would resume its offensive if the militants continue to fire rockets at Israel.
Now, I could be wrong and this truce might be long lasting. Yet, I don't see anything different between this truce and any number of prior agreements. I have no doubt that Hamas would stop firing rockets for the time being, but does Israel really believe that if they let Hamas off the hook that at some point, the rockets won't reign over their country again.
So far, Israel's military operation has been a model of military might and effective implementation of systematic strategy. Significant portions of top Hamas leadership have been killed. Gaza has been split, communication disrupted, and so far Israel has moved further and further into more populated areas with relatively little resistence. Given how effective the operation has been so far, why would they cut it off now? I can't say for sure how long before Hamas is destroyed entirely but it is weeks if not months.
Sure, the groans from the "world community" will grow louder as the operation continues. There will be calls of genocide, condemnations and demands for an immediate end to the bloodshed. So what? Wouldn't withstanding the pressure of the rest of the weak kneed world for several more months be worth it to put away this enemy once and for all. Clearly, Hamas didn't know what they were getting themselves into. Clearly, they have no answer for the military operation they are facing. Furthermore, Hamas is not much of a fighting force to begin with. Sure, they can blow themselves up around innoncent civilians. Yet, match them up with trained military and calling it a "match up" is ridiculous.
Hamas wasn't expecting what they are getting. As such, I am of the opinion that now is the time to put even more military pressure on them until they break. Yet, the Israelis are ready for yet another cease fire. We've been here before and eventually it leads to more rockets landing in Israel.
3 comments:
I couldn't agree more. Israel should finish them off an leave their memory as an example of what happens when you kill innocent Israeli's.
All of the various Palestinian terrorist groups have violated every cease fire, treaty, handshake etc that they have been involved with.
There is no precedent to them being honorable or keeping their word so Israel should finish them off.
There is significant international disapproval of the actions of Israel.
Though, of course with our pro-Israeli biased American media, the ordinary American will not be sufficiently aware of what is and has been really happening.
Let me quote some reasons for anger against Israelis.
*Because Israel is indiscriminately bombing densely crowded civilian areas with the latest high-tech weapons.
*Because Israel has maintained Gaza as a giant, open-air prison since it “ended” its occupation of Gaza in 2005.
*Because Israel and the U.S. have done everything possible since January 2005 to destroy the democratically-elected, Hamas-led government in the Occupied Territories including cutting off almost all international aid and kidnapping and jailing dozens of Hamas legislators who were elected to serve in the parliament of the Palestinian parliament.
*Because the U.S. and Israel insist on imposing human sock puppets like Mahmoud Abbas on the Palestinians as their leaders despite the fact that they have been repudiated by their own people as corrupt and ineffectual.
*Because Israel has imposed an almost medieval siege on the people of Gaza since June of 2007, reducing its 1.5 million people to a Sub-Saharan African level of poverty where 80 percent of the people are now dependent on international food aid as the Gazan economy has been brought to a standstill.
*Because anytime more moderate elements in Hamas try to establish a ceasefire or initiate peace talks Israel finds a way to provoke a new round of violence. The June 19 ceasefire that halted the rocket fire into Israel began to unravel on Nov. 4 when an Israeli raid into Gaza killed six Hamas militants.
*Because the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords were a sham in which the PLO exchanged recognition of Israel for a promise of future final peace agreement that has never materialized in 15 years (including the seven years that preceded the Second Intifada) while Israeli settlers continue to colonize the West Bank and its best land and water resources. In return for this one-sided deal, Israel was able to outsource much of the day-to-day burden of carrying out the occupation to corrupt officials from the PLO/Fatah who were ready to do the bidding of Israel and the U.S.
*Because Israel has no desire for honest peace talks that bring an end to the conflict along the lines of numerous U.N. resolutions. And why should it? It has infinitely more military power than the Palestinians, or all the other Arab nations combined for that matter, and the unlimited support of the world’s most powerful nation. As far as Israel is concerned, the only “peace talks” worth the bother are ones where they dictate the terms of a final Palestinian surrender: a few shriveled, disconnected Palestinian bantustans in the West Bank, a walled-off Gaza, a defunct Palestinian economy entirely dependent on Israel all to be supervised by Fatah security forces trained, funded and supported by Israel and the U.S.
*Because 80 percent of Gazans are people who either had to flee from the original wave of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians that accompanied the founding of Israel in 1948 or are their descendants.
*Because the State of Israel is based on an inherently racist, colonialist, apartheid ideology that legally privileges one ethnic group in every sphere of public life while dehumanizing another group. The racist nature of Israeli society is perfectly expressed in this war in which the death of the one Israeli who has been killed by a Hamas rocket this year will be avenged by the deaths of thousands of Palestinians by the time this round of fighting is finished.
Thank you for reading this.
Your little rant would be amusing if the subject matter weren't so serious.
Let's see, first, who cares what the international community thinks? The international community likes to criticize and do very little.
Second, our media is NOT pro Israel.
Let's see one side is a terrorist group that fires rockets that they themselves have can't control. They fire them at population centers, and yet, you are saying that it is Israel that fires indiscriminantly.
Israel has done everything it could to destroy Hamas since long before January 2005 and that's because it is the stated goal of Hamas to wipe Israel off the Earth. The Palestinians got what they deserved when they elected these terrorists to lead them.
The West Bank and Gaza are territories not nations and so the land is open to Israelis as much as Palestinians.
Israel has no peace partner. Hamas is not a partner for peace and frankly neither is the PA.
There are no "moderate Hamas leaders". The stated charter of Hamas is to wipe Israel off the Earth.
Take your propaganda elsewhere.
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