Hamas’s march to victory

It's only fair to share...Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Email this to someone
email

George Orwell once quipped, "The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."

Since Tuesday it has become clear that the Olmert-Livni-Barak government has decided to end the war with Iran's Hamas proxy army in Gaza as quickly as possible. That is, the government has decided to lose the war.

Most Israelis are unaware of this state of affairs. In an obvious attempt to bolster the popularity of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak ahead of the February 10 general elections, the local media have spent the six days since the government launched Operation Cast Lead praising the government's competence and wisdom, and declaring victory over Hamas after every IAF sortie in Gaza.

What the media have declined to notice is that the outcome of the war will not be determined by the number of Hamas buildings the IAF destroys. The outcome of this war – like the outcome of all wars – will be determined by one factor only: Which side will achieve the goals it set out for itself at the outset of the conflict and which side will concede its goals?

Depressingly, the current machinations of the Olmert-Livni-Barak government demonstrate that when the fighting is over, Hamas and not Israel will be able to declare that it accomplished its goals.

Hamas reinstated its attacks against southern Israel on December 19. It did so after a six-month hiatus that it used to restock its arsenals and strengthen its military forces. As it resumed its terror offensive against Israeli cities, Hamas announced that it will continue its current round of terror war until it wins full control over Gaza's land and sea borders.

Israel, for its part, has been less clear in stating its operational goals. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Livni and Barak have said that the goal of Operation Cast Lead is to compel Hamas to end its attacks against Israel, but they haven't said how they intend to affect that outcome. They have rejected Hamas's demand for control over Gaza's land and sea borders and in turn demanded that Hamas end its weapons smuggling operations across the Egyptian border.

Somewhat disconnectedly, the Olmert-Livni-Barak government has demanded that in the event it reaches some sort of mediated accord with Hamas, an international monitoring force must be deployed to Gaza to enforce its terms. Since Wednesday, this appears to have become Israel's main demand in relation to any mediated cease-fire talks with Hamas.

As for cease-fire talks, as the IAF finds fewer and fewer targets to hit, those hypothetical talks have become the government's new focus. On Monday and Tuesday, Turkey, Egypt and the EU all began offering various truce arrangements between Israel and Hamas. On Tuesday, Israel opted to pursue the European track. On Thursday, Livni travelled to Paris to discuss it with French President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of his trip to the region on Monday.

Apparently the government's decision to go with Europe is based on aesthetics. The Europeans have been more polite to Israel than Turkey or Egypt have. But the fact is that there is little substantive difference between any of the cease-fire offers now being bandied about.

Hamas, for its part, has accepted all of the proposals on the table, and this makes sense. The Europeans, the Egyptians and the Turks have all adopted Hamas's demand for control of its land and sea borders as a starting point. None has included any demands for Hamas to disarm, end its weapons trafficking or commit itself to a permanent cease-fire.

In an apparent bow to Israel, the EU's draft that Livni is now negotiating also speaks of the EU's willingness to deploy monitoring forces to Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt, and presumably to its coast. The EU foresees the deployment of monitors following the model developed by the EU monitors who were deployed at the Rafah terminal two months after Israel withdrew from the zone in September 2005, and who fled in June 2007 after Hamas took over Gaza.

According to its draft cease-fire proposal, the EU has agreed to return European monitors to Rafah, and is "willing to examine the possibility of extending its assistance to other crossing points."

BEFORE THE Olmert-Livni-Barak government accepts the EU cease-fire, it is worth noting three strategic problems with what they are doing. Taken together and separately, all three will lead Israel to defeat in this confrontation with Hamas.

The first problem with the EU proposal is that it takes for granted that all of Hamas's demands must be met in full. That is, Israel is beginning these negotiations from a point of weakness whereby it has already effectively accepted Hamas's demands and conceded its own.

The second problem with the decision to accept EU mediation is that by doing so, the government is compelled to ignore and indeed justify the EU's underlying and deep-seated hostility toward Israel. The very fact that the EU accepted Hamas's demands from the outset demonstrates clearly that the EU cannot be an honest broker between the warring factions.

Here it is important to recall just what Hamas is. Hamas is an illegal terrorist organization and an Iranian proxy that is conducting an illegal terror war against Israel. The EU is arguably committing a war crime by accepting Hamas as a legitimate side to a dispute. In turn, by accepting the EU as a legitimate interlocutor, Israel itself gives credence to the view that Hamas is a legitimate actor.

On a practical level, by accepting the EU's authority to mediate under these conditions, Israel has effectively foregone from the outset any chance of achieving its own cease-fire demands. After all, to reach a cease-fire with Hamas that includes Israel's demands that Hamas end its weapons smuggling operations, forgo control over international borders and end its missile offensive against Israel, the EU would have to throw out the draft it just voted to accept. And it would have to reverse its political direction and abandon Hamas in favor of Israel. The chance that this will happen is quite close to zero.

The third strategic failure inherent in Israel's decision to negotiate a truce is Israel's demand for an international monitoring force to verify compliance with the cease-fire agreement. This demand is self-defeating because such a force will only harm Israel's national interests. This is the clear lesson of both the EU's past monitoring mission at the Rafah terminal and of UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon.

In the case of the EU monitors at Rafah, as The Jerusalem Post recalled in an editorial on Wednesday, during the period when they were deployed at the terminal, the EU monitors turned a blind eye to the very terror traffic they were supposed to be preventing. At the same time, they condemned Israel for taking any action to defend itself and downplayed the threat Hamas constitutes for Israel. In short, the EU monitors sided with Hamas against Israel at every turn.

The situation is much the same with UNIFIL forces in Lebanon. UNIFIL routinely condemns the IAF for carrying out reconnaissance flights over Lebanon aimed at keeping tabs on Hizbullah arms smuggling operations that UNIFIL does nothing to prevent. They also demand that Israel surrender the town of Ghajar to Lebanon despite the fact that it is part of sovereign Israel. Beyond that, UNIFIL forces have sat back and allowed Hizbullah to rearm and reassert control over some 130 villages along the Israeli border. Far from enforcing the UN-mediated cease-fire, UNIFIL acts as a shield behind which Hizbullah prepares for its next round of war against Israel.

IN LIGHT of all of this, it is apparent that today the Olmert-Livni-Barak government is conducting cease-fire negotiations from a position of great weakness. It has accepted the mediation of a hostile interlocutor. And its primary demand in those negotiations is antithetical to the national interest.

The fact of the matte
r is that negotiating with Hamas is a fool's game. There are only two ways for a state to impact its enemy's behavior. It can take away its desire to attack, or it can deny its enemy the ability to attack it.

In the case at hand, Livni, Barak and Olmert claim that the IAF strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza have been so successful that the Islamist group is now compelled to reassess its desire to attack Israel, and that this is why it makes sense to negotiate a cease-fire today. But the facts on the ground do not back this assertion.

By maintaining its demand for control over the borders, Hamas has made clear that it has not changed its calculations of its interests. And this makes sense. Israel's air attacks have not degraded Hamas's ability to maintain control over Gaza in any significant way. IAF attacks have only destroyed between five and 10 percent of Hamas's smuggling tunnels, and so Hamas can still restock its arsenals. The IAF has caused no significant damage to Hamas's 20,000-man army, which went to ground before the operation began. Hamas's military and political leaders are also all safely in hiding.

Moreover, Israel's willingness to begin negotiations based on a draft that favors Hamas shows Hamas that far from losing this war, it is winning. So why would it reconsider its desire to attack Israel?

In truth, given Hamas's commitment to Israel's destruction at all costs and its indifference to the lives of its Palestinian subjects, there is only one way for Israel to secure its territory from Hamas attack. It must destroy Hamas's ability to wage war. The only way Israel can achieve its aim is by conquering Gaza, overthrowing Hamas's regime and destroying its military forces. Since the Olmert-Livni-Barak government has already stated that it will not launch such an attack, it is obvious that Hamas will end this war with its ability to attack Israel more or less intact.

All of this leads us to a very nasty conclusion. The Olmert-Livni-Barak government now leading Israel in its war against Hamas is no different from the Olmert-Livni-Peretz government that led Israel in the 2006 war against Hizbullah. Our leaders have learned nothing from their prior failure. Indeed they are reenacting it in Gaza today.

The only thing the public can hope for, and indeed demand at this stage, is for Olmert, Livni and Barak to forego any ground operation in Gaza. There is no reason for our soldiers to place their lives in jeopardy in a campaign that the government that has already decided to lose.

Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.

It's only fair to share...Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Email this to someone
email

25 Comments

  • Marcel Cousineau 01/02/2009 at 15:38

    The growing pressure to save Hamas is not just coming from the EU.
    They did such a good job saving Hizbollah from defeat that it’s on again.
    It’s not hard to see that the west works together and overtime to make sure Israel never again defeat an Arab army.
    The weaklings Olmert,livni,Peres can’t handle the pressure and always capitulate.
    The phone has been ringing from President Bush to pressure Israel for an exit strategy after less than a week in Gaza.(See CNN link below)
    Israle’s problem is that there is no one with a backbone to say NO to their diabolical ‘friend’.
    CFR liar and globalist Robert Pastor work’s behind the scenes as does CNN and their Government media manipulators.
    The CFR saturated U.S. Government work behind the scenes to make sure Israel does not defeat Hamas.
    The CNN vidoe is classic U.S. Government, CFR ,stacked with their members saying that Israel can’t possibly defeat Hamas.
    Of course they can’t with your behind the scenes threats and interference.
    The taken over by evil forces U.S. Government has been across the earth in Afghanistan and Iraq taking it’s time in dealing with Islamic terrorists (7 years in Afghanistan and almost 6 in Iraq)but Israel is held to another standard with an enemy next door fireing rockets into Israeli cities.
    In a matter of a week the pressure on Israel to stop grows from this phony ally who stealthily works behind the scene for Israel’s Islamic enemies.
    What’s the rush that you have to always interfere in Israel’s sovereignty and keep them from defeating those intent on it’s destruction ?
    How will God repay America Babylon for it’s evil manipulation and control,it’s pressure and restraint against Israel ?
    I think God is going to knock America out of the way.
    http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/01/01/todd.israel.hamas.exit.strategy.cnn
    Robert Pastor ,the liar
    http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/01/01/international-pressure-mounts-to-end-gaza-violence/3446/

    Reply
  • Marcel Cousineau 01/02/2009 at 16:21

    Robert,
    Of course you would use the openly biased against Israel UN and their ‘figures’ as a credible source.
    I remember how your club gave the bloody killer Yasser Arafat great status for your phony peace scam against Israel.
    The same show continue’s with the Road Map which has led to the Hamas control of Gaza which the US is directly responsible for.
    President Bush’s pressure on P.M. Sharon to ethnically cleanse every Jew from their land in Gaza and pressuring the removal of the IDF from the Philadelphia crossing into Egypt where smuggling of weapons into Gaza could proceed unhinderd.
    Israel is the only one required to produce for your strange peace ,never the ‘poor,victims’ we know as Islamic yerrorists.
    While the U.S regularly bombs wedding parties in Afghanistan you have the arrogance to tell Israel how to fight her wars.
    This will end ,soon!
    Kudo’s to you and your roundtable of wise men in successfully dumbing down the majority with your devious propaganda ,but not all of us are snookered.
    The sinister agenda of the US,EU,UN globalist elite against Israel is evident by how long the U.S. has been allowed to deal with Islamic terrorists half a world away in Afghanistan, 7 years and Iraq almost 6 years.
    With Israel the game has different rules ,only a week into it’s war against Hamas next door fireing mortars and rockets into Israeli cities the CFR boys and girls work hard to make sure that Israel never again defeat another Arab army.
    Saving Arab face is necessary to your sinister plans and Israel must always suffer for this.
    To the resuce of Hamas they ride on their dark horse as they did with Hizbollah in Lebanon.
    Israel is restrained while Israels’ enemies are emboldened and given a pass.
    What goes aroud comes around dear globalist elite snobs.
    http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/01/01/international-pressure-mounts-to-end-gaza-violence/3446/#comment-1296

    Reply
  • NormanF 01/02/2009 at 16:58

    You should be Foreign Minister! Tzipi Livni blogs in Hebrew only and she can’t reach the rest of the world… Its just as well with a government that has no idea of what a war is supposed to be all about: secure victory for your side. And we don’t hear that from government spokesmen. I wouldn’t be surprised if like Hezbollah, Hamas emerges strengthened from this farce of a war.

    Reply
  • Chris Jefferson 01/02/2009 at 17:07

    And you are surprised by this? I knew this was going to happen by Day 3, when the 7th Armored and the Golani weren’t sent in. The only thing I’m betting on is when you start blaming Condi Rice instead of yourselves for tolerating this government of half-steppers.
    The same thing happened in 2006. Early in that war, Olmert’s delegation to the White House promised that the Lebanon War would be solved by Victory Through Airpower, something a cursory knowledge of World War II could have disabused Amir Paretz or Dan Halutz of so dear a belief. Questions were raised by Rice, Cheney and Rumsfeld, but Halutz and Paretz were certain.
    When, three weeks into the war, Rice realized that she was being hung out to dry by an incompetent man running a surprisingly incompetent army, she did what any rational American would do-she cut her losses.
    The same thing is occuring again. Olmert is a poser who has no intention of waging ground war. Rice is covering for him again, and the same thing will happen; when Olmert’s failure as a leader is both complete and catastrophic, you will find a way to blame Rice.
    Meantime, we in the U.S. have shown the way: in 2004, our First Marine Division and Seventh Cavalry Regiment cleared Fallujah, not quite as large a target as Gaza City, but against as fanatical an enemy. The IDF needs to be sent in to do the same job, and to apply the lessons we learned in Anbar. But it must be allowed to do its job.
    Sadly, I fear it won’t. But you’ll blame Condi when it happens.
    Funny that.

    Reply
  • Scott 01/02/2009 at 17:19

    Ms.Glick,your complaints about the government are becoming wearisome in so far as you never acknowledge that it is Israel’s system of government that allows a bum like Olmert to cobble together these gangster coalitions.A powerful chief executive and Commander in Chief would work wonders…

    Reply
  • James Biga 01/02/2009 at 18:06

    I have feared that this war was nothing more than a political ploy. Reading statements provided by politicians I get the sense that none of them are on the same page. They all have their own idea of what is ti be achieved by this war. Unfortunately I don’t get the sense that the annihilation of Hamas is one of these. This time next year Hamas will still be in charge in Gaza and there will still be rockets launched into Israel. The modern man appears to be too weak to fight to win.

    Reply
  • Marc Handelsman, USA 01/02/2009 at 19:47

    The current government will probably cancel the ground offensive in Gaza. If that happens, Hamas will be left in control of Gaza with EU peacekeepers that will allegedly monitor Hamas activities. For every Hamas Islamist that was killed, three more will replace him. Kadima will win the media war, but the country will lose the strategic war. Israelis should demand a massive invasion of Gaza to wipeout Hamas. Anything less, will lead to an inevitable regional war. Finally, Israel needs to reform its electoral process because the current system is broken.

    Reply
  • Dan 01/02/2009 at 20:17

    Don’t ya’ think many an Arab is beginning to conclude that the reason that ground forces weren’t sent into Gaza was that the Israeli high command feared they would demonstrate more of the breathtaking incompetence that uniformly characterized their actions in Southern Lebanon.
    And not just incompetence, but outright cowardice.
    For that was on display as well, —————- and for all the world to see.
    Incompetence and cowardice hardly advances the strategic interest of the state of Israel. It would hardly advance the strategic interest of any state, let alone a state in so contestive a neighborhood as Israel.
    Could the Israeli Army be so broken down, its morale so reduced, that Israeli leadership is scared to death of using anything more than the Air Force, otherwise the status of the IDF would get exposed.
    I’m not the only one suspecting that the dry rot running through Israeli leadership is also found throughout the IDF.
    Israel needs more than a few commando units to secure the state.
    And the IAF can’t be relied upon alone, all by itself, to advance Israeli strategic interest.
    Commando units are great, ——————— but you have to look to those regular and reservist forces as well, ———– for commando units don’t have the size necessary to take down a foe the size of Hamas or Hezbollah.

    Reply
  • JB 01/02/2009 at 20:18

    The present Israeli government insists upon translating military victory into diplomatic defeat. The incoming U.S. administration will be even less encouraged to risk political capital in defense of Israeli interests if the country itself hands its enemies the knife.

    Reply
  • isaac - Rio de Janeiro 01/02/2009 at 23:46

    There’s something I don’t understand:
    We all know the trio Olmert-Livni-Barak want to survive to the next election scheduled in february,so my question is:
    Why they would let Israel be defeated and lose the coming elections to Bibi?It’s just dumbness or there’s something behind the curtains that an ordinary person like me is not seeing.Can you help me?

    Reply
  • sol vason 01/02/2009 at 23:54

    2 Questions:
    1. Why are Moslems so vastly superior over Jews in the art of public relations?
    2. Why was this thing called “Cast Lead”? What does “Cast Lead” mean?
    The dinosaurs that run Isreal naively believe that wars are won on the battlefield. That idea died in Viet Nam a whole millenium ago. To paraphrase Clauswitz, PR is war by other means.
    Israel needs leaders who understand PR. Leaders who will launch “Operation Save the Holy Land”! Leaders who will demand a truce not with Hamas but with Iran!

    Reply
  • Ron Grandinetti, USA 01/03/2009 at 0:30

    Caroline, is this is a charade?
    The leaders commit to putting Hamas out of business and then pull this stunt.
    If Hamas is in favor of a cease-fire, truce whatever you want to call it is just a means to buy time to regroup. If anyone in the government is buying into Hamas keeping their word, tell them to call me, I own a portion of the Brooklyn Bridge I want to sell.
    Now EU is involved. Why? Again, why is it necessary to allow outsiders to get involved? This is not an EU problem. Hamas is an enemy of Israel and has to deal directly with Israel. A cease-fire or truce is unacceptable, only a surrender and exile out of Israel for good with Israel taking over complete control of the Gaza Strip.
    Good grief, elections can’t come any sooner. The people of Israel need a new government that will put an end to this foolishness.

    Reply
  • lugnut 01/03/2009 at 2:41

    It does not matter what people think.
    The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will have a final say:
    Psalm 83
    1 Do not keep silent, O God!
    Do not hold Your peace,
    And do not be still, O God!
    2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
    And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
    3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
    And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
    4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
    That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
    5 For they have consulted together with one consent;
    They form a confederacy against You:
    6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
    Moab and the Hagrites;
    7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
    Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
    8 Assyria also has joined with them;
    They have helped the children of Lot. Selah
    9 Deal with them as with Midian,
    As with Sisera,
    As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon,
    10 Who perished at En Dor,
    Who became as refuse on the earth.
    11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
    Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
    12 Who said, “Let us take for ourselves
    The pastures of God for a possession.”
    13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust,
    Like the chaff before the wind!
    14 As the fire burns the woods,
    And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
    15 So pursue them with Your tempest,
    And frighten them with Your storm.
    16 Fill their faces with shame,
    That they may seek Your name, O LORD.
    17 Let them be confounded and dismayed forever;
    Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
    18 That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD,
    Are the Most High over all the earth.

    Reply
  • Bill K. 01/03/2009 at 10:46

    There is really nothing more to add to your conclusion that the only way for Israel to be free from the threat that Hamas poses is to get rid of Hamas, period. The way to do this is not through some diplomatic fantasy but by the good old fashioned way, i.e. by military means.
    At the point of being painfully obvious, but this must not be forgotten, Israel has the right and the obligation to its citizens to end this threat permanently. It is also worth repeating that Hamas and the population of Gaza are joined at the hip. Hamas could not operate the way it does if it did not have the support the Palestinians in Gaza. You cannot wage war against Hamas and at the same time send food and medicine to relieve the suffering in Gaza. This is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. It might be proper after Hamas has been eradicated and the population of Gaza conquered and subdued but not during the conflict. Israel owes no special consideration to the population of Gaza. As William Tecumseh Sherman said “War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.”
    Alas, there are no generals or leaders in the world today that possess the moral courage of Sherman, Grant or Lincoln.

    Reply
  • Marcel Cousineau 01/03/2009 at 15:59

    When the Russians cleaned out the Islamic army from Grozny there was not the outcry from the International community or the desperate plea for huminatarian aid.
    Russia did not have grads and kassems and mortars falling on their cities and yet they leveled Grozny with civilians not spared.
    Israel is held to an impossible requrement and must stop playing this losing game to survive.
    Israel has fallen into a trap that makes it certain Hamas is not defeated.The call for monitors is just a deeper hole in this trap.
    When I walked into Gaza from Kibbutz Erez in 1977 the Palestinians has only spit to use for their weapon of choice ,no guns, no rockets ,no mortars,nothing.
    Under the ‘peace process ‘Israel imported Yasser Arafat into the country and permitted a Palestinian’s to grow into a formidable army for this strange peace Israel continues to insanely follow.
    and under direction from he peace masters in Washington Israel retreated from the smuggling tunnles into Gaza allowing what we see today to occur in Ashkelon,Asdod,Sderot,Beersheva and elsewhere. These are the rewards Israel receives on their heads for religiously obeying their false god Bush and his counterfeit peace.
    Israel is where it is today with rockets firing on it’s cities because Israel listened to and followed the U.S /Quartet Peace agenda and ignored the words of Hashem to make no agreement with her enemies but to ‘drive them out’
    I wonder when Israel will stop electing idol worshipers to lead them ?
    There was never any possibility for peace with the Palestinians ,not even Fatah ,you trusted in lies and now reality falls over much of Israel.
    Now the neutered,defeatist,idol worshipers who rule Israel wants monitors to take over as does theoir god Bush.
    It goes from bad to worse because Israel follows idols and ignores Hashem.

    Reply
  • Scott 01/03/2009 at 16:51

    Bill K.,nice you mentioned Sherman.As he showed in his campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas,his aim was to destroy the enemy military through physically destroying the civilian base which propped it up….wreck the economy,and the military will wither away.

    Reply
  • David Custis Kimball 01/03/2009 at 18:40

    Caroline – I pray that not another Israeli life is lost. That does not mean that they should not fight… but not lost. I fear that there are too many who would love to see Israel in a ground war again and along with that the mighty Free Press who would give away to the enemy every surprise tactic and who would facilitate Hamas leading its children into harms way… just behind and surrounding the cache of rockets and weapons. To say nothing of the kidnap potential and all the misery that the USA endured in the early days of Iraq with roadside bombs, etc.
    This is not to say that Israeli forces would not do better than those of the USA, because we have many Hamas sympathizers … more … than those of Israeli cloth.
    I think strategically as of NOW – this moment, Israel has won the majority of world(or at least a lot more than if a ground offensive were to happen) opinion and crushed many in Hamas. That is a great victory .. I feel Hamas or anyone opposing the might of precision justice is in a state of fear, remorse … and many will open that into regret.
    There might be a time shortly when you can get those regreting their association with Hamas to leave Gaza to be accepted into Jordan, Syria, Iran, Saudia Arabia, Yemen, UAE, even Turkey … with money in their pocket from the savings for purchase of their property in Gaza … and their having signed a contract of No First Strike Against Israel Again, But With Full Rights To Defend Themselves Against Anyone. Perhaps that is the best friendship with the devils of Islam that is possible. Take the recent quote on Fox News of Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a founder of Hamas,”Islam is not the word of G-d… if you want to be offended it’s your problem … go study.”
    One of the first useful people (he claims to be Christian) who opposes Islam now after a stint in an Israeli prison.
    It’s not to say that he isn’t a False Christian, who can now use Christianity as a club against Israel, but that too can be brought out. Any Christian who defies Jesus’s statement that he is here to Fulfill rather than to Replace Judism is a phoney Christian… and there are many of them. And there are many Jews who confess to be total Atheists, I think because they are so dishearted by the rejection of those who claim to be Christians. My personal example is my exbrother-in-law, a well known psychoanalyst who has nothing to do with Judism and a liberal Democrat, many like Kennedy’s are antisemitic. Yet we have been close … primarily because he knew in his heart that I am part of everything that is Jewish… to begin with my name … and many relatives in early America.
    Imagine, too, the infants who could grow up without hatred… it just takes a few to begin with … perhaps Turkey, could be a fair partner in this radical victory for Israel and the world … please pray with me that Israel will build its population through strength and precision (diplomacy as accurate as the selective bombs who destroy Hamas with minimal risk to children) … not risk its most brave.
    Pray, too, that the silence of Obama is the best possible situation as if he were not … it would become a story of him versus Bush and Hamas’s enabling fools would create a terrorist garden of doubt, rejection, contradiction and make support for Israel that much more difficult.

    Reply
  • ProIsrael 01/03/2009 at 19:04

    I am wondering, what hold do the buffoons of the EU and even the dreamers of my own USA have over Israel, that its government should fail to carry out the prescription Bill K. so reasonably recommends? Could it run deeper than Kadima’s corruption? Could the root cause rhyme with “Arab Oil”?

    Reply
  • Philippe Ohlund 01/04/2009 at 2:58

    Dear Caroline,
    your expressed wording:
    Israel “must destroy Hamas’s ability to wage war. The only way Israel can achieve its aim is by conquering Gaza, overthrowing Hamas’s regime and destroying its military forces”.
    I absolutely agree with your analysis, and I think it is possible the present Israeli government will pursue this goal.

    Reply
  • USpace 01/04/2009 at 7:25

    .
    Hamas are evil garbage, they must be eliminated. Then, if the rest of the ‘Palestinians’ really want peace they can give up their dream of destroying Israel, if not, they will never have peace.
    Israel must destroy as much of Hamas as possible before the MSM and the idiots and ignorants whine loud enough for them to stop. They must only quit when they are ready.
    For EVERY missile shot into Israel at least ONE missile should be returned to the area as close as possible to the shooter. Tit for tat. Every single missile should be returned. Period. Treat them like adults, if they kill, they will be killed. If they send missiles, they will receive them. That is the only way they will learn. Screw public opinion, force them to see the truth, or let them be damned.
    .
    absurd thought –
    God of the Universe says
    hope your kids grow up
    to strap bombs on babies
    to kill other children
    .
    absurd thought –
    God of the Universe says
    form a terrorist country
    then wish to be destroyed
    by committing acts of war
    .
    absurd thought –
    God of the Universe says
    blame your failings on the Jews
    for a few more thousand years
    they are Earth’s scapegoats
    .
    absurd thought –
    God of the Universe says
    give Israel away
    to appease her enemies
    dishonor America
    .
    All real freedom starts with freedom of speech. Without freedom of speech there can be no real freedom.
    .
    Philosophy of Liberty Cartoon
    .
    Help Stop Terrorism Today!
    .
    USpace
    🙂
    .

    Reply
  • Stephen Hughes 01/04/2009 at 19:34

    Disproportionality of Israeli Response ?
    By Stephen E Hughes author of Tehran’s Wars of Terror & its Nuclear Delivery Capability
    Over a period of some three years Israeli subjugated itself to a false peace treaty with Hamas. However, Hamas with its allies circuitously and tortuous conducted low intensity war, with Israel. Israeli officials did try targeted smart sanctions , to closure of various entrance points to Gaza. Yet Hamas only increased its hostilities, threw the bulk of its economic resources into its war campaign.
    Openly with malevolence Hamas rebuffed any peace offerings, or cessations of its hostile actions with Israel.
    As Hamas rocket siege reached to scorches of thousands, fired indiscriminately into Israeli communities, Washington Officials along with International Communities were curiously silent, tacit. Israel stood alone, unaided.
    Factually the Hamas rocket campaign did not cause extensive damage or loss of life to Israel. Yet behind this iniquitous certainty, its credence dissipates.
    The Iranian regime and its Hamas patronage, from in-depth training, to providing logistical support for asymmetrical warfare, involving millions of dollars. It was this same Iranian regime which introduced and created the cult of the Islamic Homicidal – Suicide bomber, infecting the Arab Palestinian populous, to a global pandemic.
    Should have the Israeli government waited until the Hamas was outfitted with more accurate , deadly and devastating missiles and mortars? Already holding some 200,000 Israelis hostage in their missile ranges. And just exactly how high did the Israeli body count need to be? Or was several thousand rockets a foreboding specter of a firestorm in the making, a shape of things to come ? No less a clear and precise picture of Hamas’s lethal intentions?
    Hamas’s founding and governing articles are no less than a blood painted genocide, for the Jewish People, no matter where they are period. An Islamic Fascist Ideology, created for the sole purpose of a holocaust, in wit this demented, twisted hate filled ideology is indoctrinated at every level of Arab Palestinian populous.
    Perhaps the real Proportionality and Disproportionality was the act of insanity which leads others to believe they can build or even create any type of peace with such a heinous entity, to begin with.

    Reply
  • Naima Qadri 01/04/2009 at 22:30

    I would like to associate myself with Bill K.’s remarks!

    Reply
  • cantbelievemyeyesandears 01/05/2009 at 6:39

    Yes , Bill- I agree. Dealing with any Arab government is nothing more than dealing with a house of cards…It’s the Arab street that matters and in Gaza the Arab street IS Hamas…they won the election, remember? So they must bear the fruits of their decision. Until the day comes when Gazans march in the street to demand that THEIR government recognizes peaceful co-existence with Israel,it wont. And believe me, that day will not come in my lifetime. So Israel must not pretend to the world that it is liberating a poor Gazan population from it’s mean dictators. Press on and complete the job (someone please tell the current clowns in office what the job is). ..btw, My Hindi friends from India also believe that letting Hamas/Gazans off the hook too easy is not wise.

    Reply
  • Reaganite Republican 01/05/2009 at 14:35

    Ignore the UN, EU, and brain-dead American left… I guess they’ve never listened to what Iranian proxy Hamas says, nor read their charter.
    Take out all those rocket launchers and stack-up these scum like firewood, Israel…those with moral clarity and common sense back you.
    And Iran, you’re next on the IDF’s schedule to be turned into smoldering little bits… what a shame our moralizing, game-show-host President will be too busy playing basketball and smiling for our swooning press to do anything that requires sense and/or courage… it’s humiliating.
    TIA, Israel- and if Omert/Livni don’t finish the job properly, then Bibi Netanyahu will… the Israeli public has had ENOUGH.
    http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  • Hartmut Pilch 01/07/2009 at 23:59

    European politicians and public opinion are split about Israel. German opinion polls on the web show that a slight majority considers Israel’s actions as justified. A rising tide of adverse feelings toward islamic immigration is pushing many people to see Israel as a kind of frontline country in a “clash of civilisations”, a scenario which others again want to avoid evoking. On a world wide scale the aversion against militant Islam has been growing. Apart from a few exceptions like Hugo Chavez, there is less of a sense of a third-world coalition against Israel than there was a few years ago. Chinese state tv has been reporting in a low-key neutral manner, Russia similar. China might be a better guarantor than Europe, because they at least back up their involvements with substantial military force, as can be seen in the recent navy dispatch to Somalia. In any case, as has been pointed out by Caroline G and other commentators, the idea of pulling in foreign observers to monitor Hamas makes very little sense and sends strange signals.

    Reply

Leave a Comment