By Daniel Greenfield, FRONT PAGE 22 March 2024
The current Israeli government made the same mistake after Oct 7 that so many previous ones had by assuming that it would retain the support of the White House if it followed its parameters. Instead of a comprehensive siege and rapid forceful assaults, Israel waited. When there were complaints about casualties, it slowed down, sent warnings and put its own soldiers at risk. And lives were lost.
But none of that worked. There was a ticking clock and Biden was bound to eventually pull support. It was only a matter of time.
Now, Israel won a major victory by catching Hamas and Islamic Jihad by surprise. How did it do that? By ignoring the rules that the Islamic terrorists thought Israel had to operate by.
After a previous raid on the Al-Shifa hospital, a Qatari terror base, that had been telegraphed with multiple warnings, Israel returned, struck fast, and took out over 100 terrorists and captured over 600. (The numbers continue to increase.)
Reportedly, Israel has captured top Islamic Jihad leaders and a variety of significant Hamas figures.
Hamas had not been expecting Israel to hit a ‘hospital’ on Ramadan without warning. That was against all the rules out of D.C.
But the rules are going out the window.
Some IDF sources explained that the terror groups likely returned to Shifa, despite the IDF already having cleaned it out in November 2023, because they did not expect the military to return to the hospital in the middle of Ramadan, with a rise in global criticism of Israel, and with hostage negotiations at a critical point.
These IDF sources said that the paradigm for IDF action in Gaza has shifted, and it is now ready to act anywhere and anytime, regardless of the human shields Hamas hides behind.
The last time around, Israel had delayed and focused on showing how nice it was. As a result, the terrorists were able to escape and take the hostages with them.
Not this time.
IDF sources also described additional details of the operation, including that the first forces started moving toward and into Shifa at 2:15 a.m., with the compound surrounded by 2:30 a.m.
Next, Shayetet 13 and Nahal forces penetrated two different areas, followed only a few minutes later by two other separate forces penetrating, including the 424th battalion and a mix of the 52nd and 401st battalions.
Around 6,000 civilians were also evacuated, but unlike the November operation when there was no inspection of evacuees, these civilians were evacuated with a careful inspection to catch all of the terrorists…
The IDF arrested “very senior” Hamas officials in Gaza’s Shifa Hospital but cannot disclose the names due to ongoing investigations, IDF spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a Thursday evening briefing.
“The Shifa operation is the largest since the launch of the war,” Hagari noted. “We captured the higher echelon of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders.”
The Michigan allies of Hamas had worked hard to dismantle Biden’s support for Israel. But the flip side of the faltering of the alliance is that Israel is now much less constrained by trying to fight a war by impossible rules which provide every advantage to the enemy.
The rules have changed.
AM YISRAEL CHAI!!!!!!!!!!