Hamas fires 275 rockets at Israel and is rewarded with de facto acceptance as a legitimate negotiating partner in the Middle East peace process, as well as with a relaxation of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza coast. Israel is prevented from exacting a price for Hamas’ actions sufficient to deter future attacks or degrade Hamas’ capabilities. In one stroke, the Obama administration has overturned thirty years of American policy, which rejected negotiations with Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Secretary of State Clinton, to be sure, did not negotiate directly with Hamas, but rather with Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi, who supported Hamas unequivocally and encouraged its attacks on Israel. Morsi is the leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is the Palestinian chapter. It is astonishing that American officials and the world media have hailed Morsi simply because he first sicced his dog on his neighbor, and then called the dog off.
As the Associated Press put it:
“The accord inserts Egypt to an unprecedented degree into the conflict between Israel and Hamas, establishing it as the arbiter ensuring that militant rocket fire into Israel stops and that Israel allows the opening of the long-blockaded Gaza Strip and stops its own attacks against Hamas. In return, Morsi emerged as a major regional player. He won the trust of the United States and Israel, which once worried over the rise of an Islamist leader in Egypt but throughout the week-long Gaza crisis saw him as the figure most able to deliver a deal with Gaza’s Hamas rulers.”
It is a misstatement of huge proportions to suggest that Morsi “won the trust of Israel.” On the contrary: American pressure prevented Israel from degrading Hamas’ terror capabilities.
When Hamas cranked up its rocket barrage against Israel ten days ago, numerous analysts asked: Why now? In retrospect, the answer appears obvious: Because Barack Obama had been re-elected and had a free hand. From February 2011, when National Intelligence Director James Clapper praised the Muslim Brotherhood as a “largely secular” organization, the White House has made clear that it believes that the Brotherhood represents the wave of the future in the Middle East. American backing for Morsi was nearly derailed in September when the Egyptian president failed to provide security for America’s embassy in Cairo during riots that followed the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi. That affront has been forgotten amidst the accolades.
America’s traditional allies in the region, notably Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States (notably excepting Qatar) viewed Morsi as an enemy. Almost out of cash and suffering from extreme shortages of fuel and other essential items, Morsi failed to obtain financial support from the Saudis. With a current account deficit of perhaps $1.5 billion a month, Egypt was running on fumes and small handouts from Qatar and Turkey. A number of American commentators suggested that Morsi was motivated to act moderately because he needed Saudi and American help to prevent economic catastrophe. Precisely the opposite is true: the only way Morsi could shake down the Saudis for significant sums was to threaten a regional blowup.
Morsi read the American political landscape accurately. He perceived that the White House was so deeply invested in the success of the Muslim Brotherhood that it would respond to a crisis provoked by Hamas by splitting the result down the middle, giving Hamas sufficient concessions to allow the terrorist group to declare victory. He also understood the implications of Mitt Romney’s supine performance during the third presidential debate on foreign policy. The Republican party continues to drag around the chains of the Bush foreign policy like Marley’s ghost, and will offer no opposition to Obama. Influential Republicans, moreover, are so invested in the notion of Islamist democracy that many of them will go along with Obama in supporting Morsi’s protection racket. Bill Kristol, for example, opined in the Weekly Standard’s weekly podcast that Morsi has “behaved somewhat responsibly” and that the ceasefire, although it might last only a few months, was “better than nothing.”
Turkey’s Islamist prime minister Tayyip Erdogan had another motive for backing Hamas. Turkey views the prospect of Syrian disintegration and the spinoff of an autonomous zone for Syria’s two million Kurds as an existential threat. At current trends, half of Turkey’s military-age population will come from Kudrish-speaking households within a generation, and a Syrian precedent for Kurdish autonomy threatens the integrity of the Kurdish state. Erdogan is counting on the Muslim Brotherhood to rule a unified Sunni government in Syria, and has allied with Morsi to bring this into effect. Turkey’s weakness gives Morsi additional bargaining power.
Presuming that Morsi’s ceasefire holds, the absence of rocket fire from Gaza during the next several months holds little comfort for Israel. Hamas will have more opportunity to stockpile the longer-range Iranian Fajr rockets that struck near Tel Aviv and Jerusalem last week. Iran has boasted that it has transferred the technology to Hamas to quickly produce the rockets in Gaza. Whenever the ceasefire breaks down, Hamas will have far greater capacity to kill Israelis in the future. If Israel were to strike Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the price it would pay in rocket attacks from Hamas as well as Hezbollah in the north would be substantially greater than it is now.
Israel suffered a setback, but not a decisive setback, because the whole Gaza business is tangential to the overriding strategic issue, namely Iran’s prospective acquisition of nuclear weapons. Were Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear bomb-making capacity, it will pay a higher price for doing so in terms of civilian casualties. That is a human tragedy but not a strategic disadvantage. Hamas does not represent a strategic threat to Israel, and the degraded and demoralized Egyptian military represents less of a threat to Israel than at any time since its founding, while Syria represents no threat at all. The unexpectedly strong performance of Israel’s anti-missile technology, meanwhile, represents a new and critical strategic advantage for Israel. Egypt’s Morsi may obtain a respite, but Egypt will continue to live under the threat of economic breakdown for the indefinite future. The Muslim Brotherhood will fail to stabilize Syria.
Nothing that happens in Gaza will decide the future of the region. Israel still must decide whether to attack Iran’s nuclear program in the face of adamant opposition from the Obama administration. It is not clear how long the window of opportunity will last for Israel to pre-empt Iranian nuclear weapons deployment, but it is measured in months, not years.
@ Meathead:
I love you!!!!!!!!!! Are you from Texas!!!!!!!
@ yamit82:
Obama & Morsi “birds of a feather” Bibi looks weak and Hilary is use to cleaning up after men, an international enabler.
America fought an “all out war” in WWII with the goal of destroying the enemy’s capability to conduct war, which was accomplished. Since that time, America has fought “limited war” with the goal of destroying the enemy while making friends of the populace and that policy has proven to be disastrous. “All out war” is the ONLY way to defeat an enemy!
Until Israel decides to eliminate the threat from Gaza, Gaza will continue to be a boil on Israel’s ass. Lance the boil, drain the puss and the boil ceases to cause pain.
Israel needs to realize that Hamas is a “poisonous serpent” and you cannot befriend a “poisonous serpent” without getting bit. Conduct an “all out” war on Gaza and wipe them out. If civilians allow fighters to use them as human shields, then so be it.
If God be for them, who can be against them? Israel will survive. That eternal promise was made thousands of years ago.
@ Jossi:
Jossi Said:
Thanks…!
Yamit 82 you are on my page too, as Mr. D. Goldman is.
I do like your comments, I like logic, intellectual honesty and clearness in thinking.
@ yamit82:
This was tried with Turkey- it worked fine for a while and then it turned into a real Turkey.
@ dionissis mitropoulos:
“Yamit, your arguments are bullet-proof, as usual. I have nothing to retort – except that i like America”
Bullet proof or not, please shoot. You’ll be doing us all a big favor.
@ yamit82:
Yamit, your arguments are bullet-proof, as usual. I have nothing to retort – except that i like America.
@ Joe Hamilton:
America haven’t won a real war since WW2. They lost in Iraq and are getting butts kicked in Afghanistan. America knows how to destroy but not win.
Compliments coming from losers are to my mind not compliments.
Democracies are not good at waging and winning wars. Our problem is our political military have tried to emulate America and her military doctrine when what was a winning doctrine for us has been thrown out into the garbage.
@ dionissis mitropoulos:
He didn’t say China was an ally. He said “China is also more of an ally than the US.” The US is no real Ally of Israel. Israel is a Vassal state to the Americans and whatever aid we receive are more bribes than real help from a friend.
China has no power over us and while our bilateral trade is up with China it’s also up with Turkey. Most Americans could care les about Israel and few if any do not lose any sleep over whether we survive or not. American love their Holocaust Museums and funding Holocaust chairs in many Universities. Hell it’s a well funded and greased American cottage Indutry adding a few more museums and University chairs from the reuslts of our demie fits in with the program. Capitalism in action.
The American people as is plainly visible have very little influence in their own backyard turf what can or should one expect re: Israel? I ask for nothing from America and expect nothing and am fine with that.
Proclamations of support without influencing the Government is worth the price of a cup coffee if you have 5 bucks.
When America stops funding and arming all of our enemies then I might consider them a friend even an ally.
By the same token China can dump on us because we let them. When you project weakness they treat you in kind. As long as Israel places herself undr Americam dominance, why would you expect to be treated any better by Americas main antagonists and competitors?
Breaking lose from under Americas grip wold allow Israel to foster different and independent relationships with Russia and China. Maybe not as allies but based on mutual interests at any given time and circumstance. A Russian or Chinese veto in the UN is every bit as good as an American one. Russian aircraft are good enough for our needs and cost 5 times less than the American equiv.
Israel would increase our military exports by 2-3 times more without an American veto over our export to countries that are competitors to American Industry.. Congress made receipt of Israels patents on the Iron Dome as a condition of receiving further funding. We just lost any export value of the system for a few hundred million dollars that if we had to we could have financed ourselves.
With America, friendship stops with how much will it cost. They give away nothing for nottin!!!
@ NormanF:
Are seriously stating the IDF could not defeat Hamas? Israel could wipe out Gaza in less than one day. You might be saying Israel has allowed itself to become nothing more than a puppet of the US which is very close to the truth. Your statement “You think the guys who couldn’t stomp out a rag-tag terrorist outfit can defeat Iran? Puhleeaze… don’t make me laugh! If Israel can’t handle a bunch of gunmen with rockets, Israel is not going to be up to taking on the mullahs. Israel is the laughingstock of the Middle East and the Jews have been humiliated. Today, Israel is the Rodney Dangerfield of the nations” shows incredible ignorance. Have you served in the military? US soldiers I served with during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom trained with the IDF and spent time in Israel for R&R. They had and have the highest respect for the IDF. This was the opinion combat veterans some of whom had spent up to 6 years deployed in the Middle East and always in harms way. What the hell do you know?
yamit82 Said:
Obama no longer has to worry about being re-elected. Iran will get the nuclear bomb. You think the guys who couldn’t stomp out a rag-tag terrorist outfit can defeat Iran? Puhleeaze… don’t make me laugh! If Israel can’t handle a bunch of gunmen with rockets, Israel is not going to be up to taking on the mullahs. Israel is the laughingstock of the Middle East and the Jews have been humiliated. Today, Israel is the Rodney Dangerfield of the nations.
The muslim brotherhood must be laughing their asses off at how they consistently hoodwink the west. We have dolts and dhimmis running our government.
yamit82 Said:
Hamas can manufacture all its rockets it needs at home and Israel can do nothing about it. The agreement only prevents Hamas from smuggling in rockets. It doesn’t contain any prohibition on a Hamas military capability. And the point is this: if all Israel was going to get was a ceasefire Israel should have pressed on to win better terms than it did. The only silver lining out of Israel’s defeat is Netanyahu, Lieberman and Barak have been exposed as empty suits and bad liars. People of such character don’t deserve to run a country.
@ Joe Hamilton:
Joe Hamilton Said:
I disagree. China blamed Israel for excessive force that killed innocent people (as if it were Israel’s fault that Hamas uses them as human shields).
Obama is as much of a threat to Israel as Iran, but he will be gone in 4 years. I wouldn’t think that Israel should abandon her alliance with the only country on earth whose citizens like Israel.
@ Joe Hamilton:
Correct you are and I have been waiting 4 years for Obama to finally and publicly throw Israel to the wolves. I knew BB was a wimp and an American stooge but I never envisaged even BB groveling as low and as much as he has done in the past 4 years. I am hoping the next couple of years Obama will leave us no choice but to face up to the reality and change course. None of the current political pygmies we have will ever do it on their own initiative so they must be forced off the American leash and ATM.
It’s still not to late for Obama to do his thing.
Read: Economic and Strategic Ramifications of American Assistance to Israel
I know nothing about Israeli politics, but the ceasefire terms look so blatantly bad for Israel that i would have thought that Israel might have agreed to them because of some concessions from Obama concerning the nuclear issue of Iran.
Is there any chance whatsoever that Israel might have come to an understanding with Obama concerning the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities? Or (more likely) am i engaged in wishful thinking?
I think there is a mistyping here: shouldn’t the sentence say”… the integrity of the Turkish state”?
Correction to comment #3
12 years later they are producing M35 rockets with a range of up to 45Km. Should read 75km
Hamas Rocket history
Hamas and Islamic Jihad began Production of the shorter range Qassam rocket began in September 2001, following the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. 12 years later they are producing M35 rockets with a range of up to 45Km. The only thing keeping them from Y&S is the IDF and Shabak who retook the West Bank in operation Homa Magen. Tel Aviv has many strategic installations including IDF headquarters but also Ben Gurion air port. Besides the densely packed Gush Dan region, Tel Aviv is the commercial center of Israel. Every IAF Base in the Negev is in range Hitting runways could prove to have strategic consequences. Most of Israels Land forces are also located in the Negev all within range of the M35 fajar 5 and in some cases even souped up Grads.
The combination of smuggled Iranian rockets along with home made versions Once they have mastered the technological know-how the progress will be incremental and quicker.
Hmas had between 10-20,000 various rockets at the start of this last attack and still possess at least 6000 today.
Because Israel only degraded there stockpiles Hamas will assuredly both smuggle in Thousands more ASAP and step up their own production. How many rockets are presently stored and ready in Y&S one can only guess but it wold be naive to believe they don’t exist in some quantities.
We have seen that the Iron Dome can be beat by overloading it’s capabilities, (firing more rockets at one time beyond the Domes technical capability.)
So I disagree With Goldman that they are not an existential threat at least they are a potential existential threat. No country or sovereignty in history succeed in ultimately survivig based on defense and defensive doctrines.
BB’s record of aversion to fighting Hamas or anybody else except defenseless Jews.
The year 2008 saw a dramatic increase in the extent of HAMAS rocket fire and mortar attacks on Israel, with a total of 3,278 rockets and mortar shells landingin Israeli territory (1,750 rockets and 1,528 mortar shells). These numbers are double those of 2007 and 2006, years which marked a five-fold increase over prior years. There was also a significant increase in the number of Israeli residents exposed to rocket fire. Prior to 2008, the city of Sderot (about 20,000 residents) as well as villages around the Gaza Strip were the main targets of rocket fire and mortar shelling. In 2008, the cities of Ashkelon and Netivot came under attack by Grad artillery rockets with a range of about 20 kilometers. Later, during Operation Cast Lead, Ashdod, Beersheba, and other cities were attacked by a previously un-identified rocket with a range of 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. This rocket created a new reality in which nearly one million Israeli residents [about 15 percent of the entire population] were at risk.
Israel launched an air assault on Gaza on Saturday 27 December 2008, following a series of rocket attacks on its territory and the collapse of a shaky truce that had been in effect for the past six months. Israel’s military intelligence chief said Hamas’ ability to fire rockets had been reduced by 50%. Hamas rocket fire dropped off sharply, from more than 130 on Saturday 27 December 2008 to just over 20 on Sunday 28 December 2008. Hamas launched a total of 40 rockets and mortars at Israel Sunday 28 December 2008, bringing to around 300 the number fired since the six- month truce ended.
Hamas launched an upsurge in rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza once it declared an end to a truce with Israel on 19 December 2008. By 18 December 2008 Palestinian militants had fired at least 40 missiles into Israel since Tuesday 16 December 2008. On Wednesday 17 December 2008 no less than 24 rockets landed in the Western Negev desert area. On Thursday 18 December 2008 a further seven rockets landed in Israel. On December 24, five days after the lull arrangement ended, the cities of Ashqelon , Netivot and Sderot, the towns and villages near the Gaza Strip, the crossings and IDF bases were subjected to a massive rocket and mortar shell attack. At least 60 rockets and mortar shells were fired, most of them by Hamas. Palestinian militants fired over 40 rockets and 20 mortar shells at southern Israeli border towns in the largest daily attack since the end of a six-month ceasefire. Hamas responded by firing more rockets and mortars into southern Israel.
By 15 January 2009, since the beginning of the IDF operation in Gaza (Dec 27, 2008), four Israelis had been killed and 285 wounded by rocket fire. 771 rockets and mortars had been fired at Israel.
The evil Obama used one trillion dollars from the US Treasury, disguised as an economic “stimulus” to buy voters and their votes over the past four years. Romney was correct when he said the vast majority of those who voted for the vile Obama were those who paid no taxes. The evil Muslim now will attempt to assist his fellow Muslims in their quest to destroy Israel. But having an evil, white hating ,Jew hating US president will finally wake up Israelis to the fact that the US was never an ally, let alone the protector of Israel. Israel must stop taking the $2 billion in credits to buy American made weapons. Since Israel already manufactures most of the weaponry they need, having this evil creature as US president should prompt Israel to do everything possible to stop relying on any assistance from the US. Almost every major weapons system Israel uses is now manufactured and/or was developed by indigenous Israeli Defense companies. The few remaining areas which Israel still relies primarily on imported weaponry: Naval vessel and manned jet fighters, should be targeted by Israel to become self- sufficient. They must wean themselves off of any major US made weapons system such as the overrated F35 sixth generation fighter. Israel should follow Moshe Arens’ suggestion to revive the Lavi which if Israel had been able to develop fully would be the top jet fighter in the world today. US “aid” has cost Israel billions of dollars and allowed US presidents who invariably secretly sided with the Arabs because of oil to stop Israel from defending itself. Since the US began supplying weapons to Israel after the 67 war, they have repeatedly stopped Israel from finishing off their adversaries who have no interest other than murdering every Jew in Israel. Now the vile beast Obama is attempting to blackmail Israel into giving away a large part of the Jewish National homeland to the Arab criminal gangs aka the Fakestinians. Israel could make billions of dollars from selling weaponry especially to China and even Russia. Russia has actually become more of an ally in reality than the US. Putin has been much friendlier to Israel than the vile beast Obama. There are no pictures of the foul beast Obama wearing a yarmulke and praying at the Wailing Wall as there is of Putin. China is also more of an ally than the US. It is true that majority of the American people support Israel over the Arabs. It was revealing that only 40% of US demoRATS in a recent CNN poll support Israel’s current effort to defend themselves against the vile Muslim beasts. The democrat party in the US has increasingly become a racist, anti-white, anti-Semitic, group of parasites who want to steal wealth from the productive (white) segment of the US population.
Goldman is on my page as I commented on previously on other threads like Here
What I do disagree with him in part is the potential threat that Hamas can pose in the not to distant future.
Iran has transferred rocket technology to Hamas along with Instructors. The rockets fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and the one that destroyed a 6 story apt. building in Rishon Lezion were all Hamas produced M35’s …See Graph Here
Hamas rocket capabilities