David M Weinberg, ISRAEL HAYOM
Quite a few “bubbles” have popped over the past week. Whether the current round of warfare with Hamas ends today in another bad cease-fire or extends into an even worse ground fight, quite a few political myths have already been demolished.
The “Tel Aviv bubble” was the first to go. Neither Hamas nor Hezbollah had directly slammed their nasty calling cards into the central Dan region before. It’s no longer so easy to preach Palestinian statehood from the pretty porches of Kadima and Meretz’s headquarters in Tel Aviv. Residents of the south, of the settlements, and of the sushi bars of Tel Aviv are all in the same boat. Good morning.
The second myth completely vaporized was the notion that Israel could and would clobber the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip the minute they used violence and terrorism against us. Remember Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza disengagement bravado? “If they use Gaza as a launching pad for terrorism after Israel withdraws, Israel will respond with no holds barred and have international legitimacy for doing so,” he said, or something to that effect.
Poppycock. The New York Times has given us sanction to bomb Hamas’ “empty training sites” (yes, that’s what a Times editorial actually suggested), and the world community is letting us get away with a few days of pinpoint terrorist targeting. But we have no international sanction for truly disarming the Palestinians, bunker by bunker. We have no international legitimacy for clobbering or dismantling the Iranian-backed terrorist state that has been established on our southern border.
Which brings me to the next bubble that has been burst: the notion that there ever can or will be something called a “demilitarized Palestinian state.” Alas, this is nonsense. The Gaza experience has shown that if given a state (or in the case of the Hamas, when they grab a state), the Palestinians inevitably develop their own foreign and defense relationships and arm their state to the teeth. All international guarantees and so-called “security arrangements” to the contrary come to naught. Nobody has stopped Gaza from becoming a client state of Iran and part of the Iranian army. Nobody has prevented Hamas from developing strategic partnerships with the radical Islamic governments of Egypt and Turkey.
Another myth that should now be put to rest is that Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has a legitimate, serious claim this month for international recognition through the U.N. as a state representing “the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza.” There already is an independent Palestinian state, in all but name, in Gaza. That state is in no way under the control of the Palestinian Authority, it does not come close to meeting U.N. definitions for legitimate statehood, it is not peaceful, and Abbas has no realistic plans for making it so.
Another burst bubble is the inane intellectual argument that religiously extreme, anti-Semitic radicals (like Hamas) can be co-opted into peace (or at least long-term diplomatic cooperation) by giving them power. This argument posits that the holding of sovereign power and the assumption of day-to-day responsibility for the welfare of a people willy-nilly moderates a radical movement. That Western recognition and cooperation, Israeli respect, economic aid, open borders and peace-minded Western educational efforts will massage the jihadists into becoming pragmatists.
No, the evidence shows that jihadists like Hamas are willing to sacrifice all of the above on the altar of permanent holy war against Israel. Only the naive can continue to make the co-option argument. Only appeasement-minded diplomats dare try to impress this notion yet again upon Israel.
Finally and fortunately, it’s good to be able to burst the bubble of the myth that Israelis are exhausted and have no strength for their continued national struggle. Not true. Our national resilience and spirit are strong.
Israelis are indeed mentally so very tired of the conflict, but we nevertheless have plenty of fight left in us. In point of fact, 99 percent of reservists showed up for military duty this week, with high motivation. That is tens of thousands of men and women, people with families and careers, many of them from Tel Aviv.
Nobody is thrilled about a ground offensive into Gaza, but most Israelis understand and accept, alas, that we still have to fight for our sovereignty and security. And we are determined to do so.
The West must demand that Abbas, Muslim leaders and clerics stop lying about Israel: Muslims invaded the Holy Land in the 1500s for the second time but lost it when the Ottomans lost WW I. There is _no_ land for invaders who have spent centuries killing Jews and Christians. We need only look at the past 64 years to see that Muslims refuse to live in peace with the Jewish state. What army can force the Jews to give away their land? No army.
You cannot be friendly with a rattlesnake. Attempt to pet the snake and you WILL get bit for it has no sense of “peaceful coexistence”. Cut the snake’s head off and end it once and for all.
@ catarin:
omg!
this post actually made sense!
catarin, you may just be on the road to recovery..
you must have finished reading ‘the post american president’ or ‘deconstructing obama’ or …
it’s ok catarin.
it really IS ok to describe the emperor’s clothes as being the empty suit that he is.
cheers!
🙂
whatever bubbles did or did not burst, only Israel decides her future.
If some here and there think Israel should cede parts of the Holy Land to a long time hostile enemy who has no plans to make peace with them, well, that would be suicide.
The Israeli government should stop dancing like marionnettes to hands that pull its strings towards self destruction. No matter, how just Israel is, and it is just in ninety nine percent of the time, the international community will fault it for “genocide” and other atrocities. And the Obama administration, would consider first their own self interest and if/when it will conflict with Israel, it will not hesitate to condemn Israel and/or throw it under the bus..
Israel should take courage to do what is right for its people and courageusly ignore world opinion.
@ Bernard Ross:
Yeah I would describe the strategy as “Penny wise and pound foolish’
Max Said:
I think that what you say will prove to be an inescapable fact. The only question is what price will it be when it is finally realized. I believe that cleverness and intelligence do not substitute for good judgment and Israeli leadership, though intelligent and clever, lack good judgement. They believe they are stalling but in so doing they are digging the Jews grave. They lack the ability to face the only conclusions possible and then to act accordingly and decisively. They lack faith and yet the only time things turned out right was when they acted against odds and in faith. Each time they protect the jew killers’ civilians and children they are murdering a jewish child. The affect on Jewish civilians and children, of living in a ghetto and being fired upon repeatedly is not being taken into account by Israeli leaders. The act of unapologetically killing the enemy, and then warning all others that this is the fate awaiting those who seek to kill jews, would have a desirable affect on the whole world. The contemplation of killing, swindling and expelling of Jews must become unequivocally unacceptable in every jewish mind. 1967 began this paradigm but Israel lacked the faith and resolve to follow through.
@ Laura:
Good grief.
Bill and Hillary are the moral fiber of the liberal democratic party.
@ Max:
If there is a cease fire as they are reporting, before it goes into effect Israel should launch the biggest and most devastating air attack on Gaza, taking out leadership from top to bottom and level every arsenal depot they have.
Let’s face it, a cease fire is time granted to Hamas to reload.
rongrand Said:
No, put her in a rocket launcher and fire it at Gaza City. I’d love to see Obamastan’s face when he hears that news.
If you are going to fantasize do it right.
@ rongrand:
She kissed his wife.
This is good to know.
@ yamit82:
One might add:
“If your enemy wants to kill you, wake up early and kill him first”
Sage advice!
@ keelie:
Keelie Miyamoto Musashi, is of course correct but we Jews need not look further than our own sources.
” There is a time for war – during war; and a time for peace – during peace.”
We might ask why Scripture must tell us that wartime is a time for war. Might anyone think otherwise? Our sages were teaching that,There are many confused Jews who based on non Jewish ideas and culture might think so.
Tanchuma, Shoftim 15: “‘When you go forth to battle against your enemies’ (Deut. 20:1)… What is meant by ‘against your enemies‘? G-d said, ‘Confront them as enemies. Just as they show you no mercy, so should you not show them mercy.’”
We have to realize that the non-Jew who goes to war against Israel is our enemy and not our friend. How unaware people are nowadays of this simple yet profound principle!
Our sages also said (Sifri, Shoftim 192):
“You are going to war against your enemies and not against your brethren. It is not Judah against Simeon or Simeon against Judah such that if you fall captive they will have mercy on you… It is against your ENEMIES that you are waging war. If you fall into their hands, they will show you no mercy.”
Indeed, a timely war is a mitzvah, a duty..!!
@ the phoenix:
Phoenix, I’ll second that.
Didn’t Hillary once kiss the terrorist scumbag Arafat?
She and Bill are both anti-Semites and they have a friend Lanny Davis ?????????
@ rongrand:
It is only wishful thinking on my part, I know, nonetheless, I would like bibi to repay in kind. Treat the bitch (representing husein, the Black fraud) the very same way that bibi (as the prime minister of ISRAEL) was treated.
No press, no photographs, have her climb up the fire escape into his office, leave her there as he is describing to her that he has a mean ‘#2 ‘ that he urgently must attend to….
Let the front page of ha’aretz have a photograph of him smoking a cigar with BOTH FEET ON THE DESK with the quotation
“Amongst the turmoil in gaza, bibi found some time to talk to Hillary”…
….
A sip from the coffee…and its aroma…and the realization that with this degenerate coward, it just ain’t gonna happen.
Send Hillary home with a note “Hamas must go”
Hamas is like cancer that requires constant treatment.
When treatment fails, surgery is necessary.
Time for surgery.
Israel only seeks to live in peace like any other free sovereign nation.
Remove Hamas once and for all.
@ yamit82:
Yamit – I’ve posted this several times before, but I guess it didn’t reach the “higher echelons” of the Israeli government…
The (very succsessful and legendary) Samurai warrior, Miyamoto Musashi, explained in his Book of Five Rings, that if a person only defended himself from his opponent without immediately counterattacking, one time he will slip in his defence and will be cut down. Musashi himself used an instantaneous counterattack as he defended himself from numerous attempts to kill him in single combat. 69 times in fact. He eventually retired and lived to a ripe old age.
But then he had no politicians – and certainly no Obama – piling conditions on his head.
Hamas and Egypt have put Abu Mazzen and the PA in deep freeze as irrelevant players or even nan players in the conflict.
I would not be surprised if a terrorist group from Fatah is responsible for Bus Bombing inTel Aviv about 20 min ago. If true it’s less a case of solidarity but their way of staying relevant.
This was not a suicide bombing but a small device placed on a bus.
The leadership of Israel may be defeatist and tired but the people of Israel are not!
One day Israel will get the strong and principled leaders it needs.
Their is no need for Israel to surrender to Hillary Clinton, the UN, the Eurotrash, the Egyptian Brotherhood and Hamas.
No one in Israel wants an open-ended ceasefire. If Israel has to go it alone so be it – if this government won’t do the job, Israeli voters will pick one that does get it done.
I highly recommend my moderated comment. 😉
The content of this article is OK but the tone is disastrous. This is probably the way most of the Israeli leadership is thinking and over-thinking.
And so… they talk themselves into stalemate.
Stalemated in their own heads
…
Checks and balances,checks and balances, bunker by bunker, “tedious”, getting international sanctions (like when hell freezes over), being ‘thrilled’.
Some aggressive command needs to take a chance and risk something with total commitment. It’s the only way wars are won.
Just get it done.
…
The Montgomery approach is bunker by bunker – stalemated.
The Patton approach is bunkers sliced like butter – game over.
This thing can be over so fast that by the time the Secretary General answers the phone there will be nothing but ashes at the other end of the line. Just take the leash off the IDF.
…
When the American Public has it’s first real confrontation with Islam they are going to regard that Iraq was a picnic or a warm-up.
Put things in the full historical picture and it looks quite different. Several thousand ‘civilian’ Gazans dead is nothing to six million Israelis dead down the line.
.
You can’t look behind at what you had – you have to look ahead to see what you won’t have.
I think it would be better if some commanders and the troops started getting thrilled about a ground offensive and thrilled about an opportunity to end it.
Israel has botched opportunity after opportunity in the last ten years.
Soon, for either political or military reasons, the opportunity option will be off the table.
As long as the dog is alive it is lethal – kill it now.
The only thing Israelis should be tired of is tired of losing and tired of not fighting back with full thrilling enthusiasm.