By Vic Rosenthal
But one thing is as bad or worse than ever: what Israelis call hamatzav — the (security) situation.
It is true that we haven’t come under rocket fire yet. Yesterday the most recent ceasefire was broken by a barrage of about 60 rockets, but they didn’t come as far north as Rehovot. For people in the towns and kibbutzim near Gaza, as well as the cities of Ashkelon and Beersheva, it was back to the shelters. In fact, the army told residents that had left some of the locations closer to Gaza who had temporarily left their homes that it was safe to return; but when what should have been predictable happened, they found themselves spending the day (and night) in shelters.
Some of them were interviewed on the TV news last night. One expressed what most of them were feeling: it is impossible to live like this. It has been going on for almost fourteen years! They understand that we can’t allow the fanatics of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to succeed in depopulating the area around Gaza, but come on — how can this be allowed to continue? How long do Jews in the Jewish state have to let racist Islamic fanatics try to murder them on an almost daily basis? I know it is a cliché, but what would any other country do?
Israel agreed to the latest ceasefire, supposed to last for 72 hours, and part of the agreement was that it would remove its forces from Gaza. Numerous sophisticated tunnels which had been dug under the border to allow terrorists to infiltrate Israel and attack soldiers and civilians have been destroyed, but it is generally thought that there are still tunnels that have not been found. It is also certain that a large number of rockets with various ranges, probably including the ones that can threaten Ben-Gurion Airport, remain.
Hamas is demanding that borders be opened and even that it have a seaport. Of course this would permit the importation of even more rockets and other weapons from Iran. At this point Hamas does not represent an existential threat to Israel, but — especially combined with the much larger and more sophisticated arsenal of Hizballah in Lebanon — there would be much more to worry about.
Meanwhile the debate in Israel continues about what to do. Because Hamas’ installations in Gaza are embedded in the civilian population, destroying them from the air would result in a large number of noncombatant deaths. Despite the fact that this is permissible according to the international law of war, it is repugnant to Israelis, and of course would result in international condemnation and pressure on Israel.
The alternative is a ground invasion to root out the Hamas infrastructure, which would be much more costly in casualties to Israel, since Hamas will boobytrap structures and fortifications, lay ambushes, place mines, etc. There would be fewer casualties among Gaza residents, but experience shows that exaggerated figures would be published which would be accepted by world media.
Diplomatic solutions like those of John Kerry simply do not exist, because there is no offer that can be made to Hamas that is better than what they are doing now. Their reason for being — read the charter— is to destroy Israel. They are not interested in a better life for the residents of Gaza.
For various reasons — nobody wants war, there is pressure from the US — the easy way out is to do as little as possible in order to maintain quiet. So far this has been the alternative chosen by the government. As long as Hamas is cut off from resupply, this is tolerable. But the ‘international community’, which is practically (if not in principle) supporting Hamas, is pushing harder and harder to ‘rebuild’ Gaza for ‘humanitarian’ purposes. Can we trust any international guarantees to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities if borders are opened?
As I hinted above there is a real danger to the Jewish state from a combined assault from the north and south. Hizballah has tens of thousands of missiles and rockets, including accurate GPS guided ones, and almost certainly chemical weapons from Syria. Their fighters are well-trained (much better than Hamas) and they doubtless have built a system of tunnels under the border like Hamas, tunnels which have yet to be discovered.
Hamas is not going away by itself, Hizballah is not going away by itself, and behind them stands Iran, whose officials have said several times that Israel will be destroyed by local forces. I think we should take their threats seriously.
There is no perfect solution. There isn’t even a good one. There is only a choice between bad and worse.
The moral imperative is to survive, not to commit suicide. Hamas must be destroyed, whatever it takes.
Defeating Hamas should be a must now than before or in the future – as Hamas and Islamist are being exposed for the evil they are and even lost supporters from Arab countries. They are religious zealots who will not stop until they “kill” all Jews. They are racists; sadists and unreasonable religious fanatics with whom none could come to an agreement logically and reasonably. Why do Egypt and other countries mediate between Israel and terrorists knowing fully that Hamas’ one goal is the annihilation of the state of Israel? Will Egypt be willing to reoccupy Gaza?
@ M Devolin:
Well done, Maple Sugar !!!!!!!!
NormanF Said:
I hope you’re sitting down NormanF, but I agree with you and no insults,,,,yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not trying to advertise my stuff, but the title of this article is reminiscent of what I say in ‘Israel: A Necessary State’.
From Magic City Morning Star
Michael Devolin
Israel: A Necessary State
By Michael Devolin
Jul 31, 2014 – 2:15:01 AM
Anyone delving into the subject of Jewish Zionism will quickly discover varied definitions of Zionism and, consequently, opposing views regarding not only what constitutes true Zionism, but also condemnations of the very idea of Zionism. One will discover in Jewish history, especially in interwar Poland, different groups headed by fervent Jewish leaders vying for recognition and dominance, with their “determinist” or “prognostic” or “voluntarist” Zionism. One will read about Borochorov and Herzl and Jabotinsky and the struggles and hardships each endured in living out their intellectual delineations of what they thought constituted true Zionism, how they went about justifying that Zionism, and how it should have applied to the Jewish people.
But this essay is not about any particular brand of Zionism that had been contemplated during “interwar Poland,” nor about the Jews who vaunted their Zionism then as the true Zionism. Rather this piece is intended as an excoriation directed at the utter stupidity and imprudence of those Jewish rabbis and sects like Neturei Karta who today asseverate that Zionism, any Zionism, should not even exist, and in what can only be described as sociopathic screeds contend against the rest of Jewry with the argument that “Zionism” is antithetical to real and literal Judaism. Neturei Karta believe that the “Zionist State of Israel” is a temporary illusion and that it will one day, in a future on which they hinge all their inculpation of their fellow Jews, be nothing more than a memory.
Well guess what? Israel and the Jewish people couldn’t wait for Neturei Karta’s religiously prescribed future. The Nazi Holocaust against the Jews made sure of that yesterday. And today Islam’s malefic injunctions against the Jewish people have become the impellent reasons why all Jews (but especially Israel’s Jews!) outside of Neturei Karta’s discrepant orbit can never concede any measure of credence to their sociopathic insistence that world Jewry wait out this present storm of global antisemitism for a moshiach who could not be found yesterday by those waiting for him while their families were turned into ashes in Auschwitz and Sobibor and Chelmno.
“Necessity breaks iron” says the Yiddish proverb. And survival of the Jewish people–their religious culture and incomparable genius–demands that all contentions about Zionism within the Jewish community, whether in Israel or the Diaspora, is the only Jewish tradition that should cease to exist. In my view, such a discussion became superfluous during the transports to Auschwitz. And one of the horrors of the Holocaust was not only that the world turned their backs on the Jewish people, but also that the saving power of real Jewish Zionism was realized too late. As Herman Melville wrote, “Faith and philosophy are air, but events are brass.”
As I write this, the State of Israel is at war with Hamas, a group of religious savages Adolf Hitler would surely have adored, if only for their hatred of the Jews and their zealous insistence that they disappear entirely from this world. For Hamas, backed by every raving lunatic that ever entered a mosque and admired by a world as insouciant today about the murder of Jews as they were in 1933, Israel and her Jews must disappear. For the Jews of Israel, this war, like every war they have fought since 1948, is but a fight to survive their enemies for another day, or month, or year, or decade.
But survive they must. And this is the Zionism I speak of. This is the Zionism that survived Auschwitz and the Warsaw Ghetto. This is the Zionism that designed the Merkava tank and made the IDF and the IAF a force to be reckoned with. This is the Zionism that is such a damning contradistinction to the suicidal prescription about a coming Moshiach and the idea that, until he reveals himself, Jews should just lend their necks to the sword of their enemies. This is the Zionism that makes it perfectly clear that Israel is become a necessary state.
Michael Devolin
© Copyright 2002-2013 by Magic City Morning Star
As formulated by Emil Fackenheim: “Jews must not give Hitler a posthumous victory.”
It amounts to an 11th Commandment for Jews. And since the Arabs want to destroy the Jewish people, pretending peace with them is possible is showing a lack of respect for one’s own life and is an insult to the enemy. With such an enemy, only one outcome is possible: he must be destroyed.
@ Max:
Israelis are all combat trained soldiers. All Gazan are innocent child victims. Max Darlin, I thought you knew this? CNN is a reporting is a movie.
Isreal shows some sense and hits a mosque:
Notice the biased reporting in calling the dead terrorists “victims”.
Did they have ID cards saying “victims of Israelis ” on them?
Anyone in Gaza that has not recognized Israel’s right to exist is a terrorist and as far as I know – no one has.
SAY WHAT?
Watched a report from a CNN correspondent in Gaza he said
CNN made sure to stuff Gaza with pro-Hamas terrorist favoring leftist type reporters
In my term I call that biased reporting.
In my term I call that lying.