The cost of not destroying Hamas will be enormous. Much as Israel would like to end the matter by just pulling out, she won’t be able. The rockets will keep coming and Israel will have to keep returning fire. So quiet will not have been achieved. As much as Israel prefers NOT to have a ceasefire agreement (she says that Hamas is not trust worthy) in reality the world will force an agreement on her and she will have to give in the the demands of the Palestinians to some extent. My guess is that the Palestinians will be tough negotiators and will not settle for less than their demands. It will be Israel who will be begging for a ceasefire on better terms for her, namely demilitarization. The way I see it, Israel is on the hot seat. Israel is the loser because she is not the winner. Ted Belman
By Moshe Feiglin, JEWISH LEADERSHIP
Two things have become clear tonight, after Netanyahu’s announcement on IDF redeployment outside Gaza.
One: Israel is incapable of defeating its enemies from within the Oslo mentality.
Two: Israelis are still not able to shake free of this mentality. Not yet.
For these reasons, the PM’s decision is a given.
The essence of war is territory. They want the territory on which the Jews are living. They do not want sovereignty alongside Israel; they want sovereignty instead of Israel. To win a war, the opposite result must be achieved: they must lose their territory.
Over the past twenty years, the Oslo mentality has severely compromised the belief of the Israelis in the justice of their bond to the Land of Israel. The handshake of Israel’s leaders – from both Right and Left – with the chairman of the Organization for the Liberation of the Land of Israel from its Jews (Arafat) has turned Israelis into colonialists in Tel Aviv. It has fostered an apologetic mentality, a mentality in which Israelis are guests in their own land.
The Prime Minister cannot change this mentality and thus cannot direct the IDF to conquer Gaza.
Demography is not the problem. With thought and pre-planning, we can deal with the demographic problem. Israel’s demographic situation is good and a very large wave of aliyah to Israel is about to take place. The Hamas is not the problem, either. The IDF can easily defeat it – if instead of being directed to get entangled in tunnels and alleys, it will be directed to win.
All the tactical problems have solutions. But the real problem is not with the enemy; it is with ourselves. Are we willing now – after all the blows that we have received – to negate the Oslo mentality and internalize that this is our Land?
The answer that the PM gave tonight is ‘Not yet.’
We can anticipate the results of this decision on three fronts:
Terror: All the tentacles of the octopus that threatens us – from Iran to Gaza, from the ISIS to Hizballah, from the Arabs of Judea and Samaria to the extremist Arabs who are Israeli citizens – now understand that Israel is not capable of winning. They have all received a strong tail wind to continue their attack against us. From now, life in Israel will be much less safe, until the next significant round of fighting – which will be much worse.
The diplomatic front: A weak Israel has always beckoned diplomatic pressure. Our lack of faith in the justice of our sovereignty in our Land has not only led to hesitation on the battlefield. It has also caused the West to adopt a new approach according to which Israel is a mistake. And mistakes, of course, must be mended.
Judea and Samaria: The non-defeat of the Hamas will necessarily bring about Israeli submission and unilateral withdrawals in Judea and Samaria (after all, we must find a solution). As our experience with previous withdrawals has proven time and again – the newest round of pullbacks will feed and accelerate the same process of de-legitimization, terror and additional withdrawals.
This is the sorry state of affairs that we face this evening, the eve of Tisha B’Av, 5774.
I am filled with faith in the strength of our Nation of Israel and the State that we have established after 2000 years of exile. These energies will galvanize us to rise, shake off the Oslo mentality, change direction and save ourselves from the strategic danger hovering over our heads. They will motivate us to bequeath to our children a future of both physical and spiritual security and prosperity.
At this point, however, we have not yet crossed the threshold that will engender the necessary revolution of consciousness.
For now, we have to fearlessly tell the public the truth and consistently present the faith-based alternative for leadership of Israel. I will continue to do both. And I know that the Nation of Israel will win.
Let us all rise to this challenge.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
As Sarah Honig pointed out, there are no easy solutions and no good options on the table. All Israel can do is grind down Hamas steadily. The idea behind a war of attrition is to make the lives of Hamas’ leaders hell. Since they’re in love with death, they can expect Israel to keep hitting back. And if they want a ceasefire, they need to get lost. Seems to me that is the prudent reply.
What appears to be manifest, increasingly, are postings that might be characterized as “the blind leading the blind”; you pontificators are exuding negativity and, in the process, you have jettisoned a problem-solving demeanor. You were provided both questions [left unanswered] and a hyperlink [which portrayed the situation positively]. Other links on “dailyalert.org” amplify on the latter, so y’all may wish to consult these data prior to continuing to bash BB.
drjb Said:
perhaps “incapable” should be changed to “unwilling”.
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
Because Gaza is going to be given to a 3rd party, the PA, the UN, NATO, somebody…..but not retained by Israel. This is the only reason I can see for BB not finishing the Job, he knows this is the ultimate outcome. Knowing this outcome would make further fighting and deaths meaningless.
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
this is the key to many mysteries
@ NormanF:
This is what a military person who is an enemy of ours sees. Can you defeat me? Apparently not as you cannot smash even a 20000 rabble. Correspondingly, I am going to clobber you down and out.
Netanyahu and his associates are totally unfit to lead.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
I posted a reply to this already but an easy Israeli victory is not possible. It simply cannot be done at an acceptable cost or with the constraints Israel has to live under. And Israel’s partisans do not have any realistic proposals to realize the ideal outcome they prefer. And they’re in all likelihood unattainable. And the messier choice of waiting out Hamas isn’t elegant but its doable.
There is an entirely different and positive way of analysing the position, and for this see:
http://sarahhonig.com/2014/08/04/no-mean-feat/
Instead of spouting generic truisms, answer the specific queries I posed.
To do a job half-way is as good as not doing it at all.
The solution for all those who want peace is clear. Peace
cannot be achieved when your enemy feels they still have a
chance to be successful. Your adversary must be thoroughly
defeated and then he shall be ready to sue for peace. Feiglin is right in saying the first step is for the Israeli
people to declare Zo Artzeinu (this is our land). Only then
will the GOI be prepared to do the tough job necessary.
BTW, we’re pictured together in the ’67 Cheltenham High School Yearbook [chess-club, either end of photo] but, frankly, I don’t remember ever having spoken with him.
I’m totally at-ease…now answer the questions!
Sklaroff,
Isn’t it getting a little uncomfortable all this bending out of shape to ‘go to bat’ for your high school buddy?
rsklaroff Said:
If the above-critics can validate BB’s ability to monitor goings-on in Gaza [along with al-Sisi], cannot his entire approach be perceived as a success…without any formal cease-fire accord having been signed?
@ the phoenix:
Netanyahu is sending his closest allies to bat for him. The mental basket case Peretz who commanded over the Lebanon II debacle and de Livni who was key to the same horror story.
Outside minor changes on the HAMAS firing protocols, nothing is changed from before the huge pretend attack on Gaza.
About every 15 minutes a Home Front Command red alert flag is raised for rockets approaching one or another town in Israel.
If what was done against Hamas represent all Tzahal can do, we are dead already as Iran will make mince out of us.
If Tzahal can do better and did not we demand to know why? NOW! NOW!!!!
Netanyahu, stop the idiotic TV face making sessions at once. Keep Livni and Peretz in their respective holding pens and tell the truth for once.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
@ drjb:
Some two weeks or so ago, I posted a comment which essentially was identical to drjb’s.But it was worded in a “the glass is half full” fashion:
+/- …
With proper leadership, PROUD TO BE JEWISH and to reclaim all that is ours, and inflicting mortal wounds on our enemies both external AND internal; a leadership that will bring true peace, due to an undeniable deterrence, I argued, that THAT will “open the floodgates for a massive Aliyah”…
Reading today (what we all KNEW) that:
I am sadly seeing drjb’s half empty version.
There never was any intent to defeat Hamas or any other “partner” brought into the region by the Oslo criminals.
If one believed that the IDF is a powerful military, then what we observed repeatedly since Oslo indicates that the pretend defenders are intentionally pulling punches and sacrificing our soldiers.
Netanyahu simply used the lives of nearly a hundred soldiers and offered as further sacrifices the limbs of 100’s of wounded.
Oslo styled “victims of peace”.
That will continue and even increase in virulence.
The rest is already known. That crew must be removed if we expect anything else.
Everything Feiglin has said is accurate and truthful.
One major disagreement I have with him: I don’t share in his optimism that the state will rise to the challenge of getting rid of Oslo, and I don’t believe that a huge wave of aliyah is coming. Who would want to live in a country incapable of winning a war, incapable of stopping terrorism and rockets against its civilians, a country that increases the risk on its soldiers and civilians to protect the interests of the enemy. I actually fear a wave of yeridah as israelis come to this realization and vote with their feet.
Tisha b’av is coming and things look bleak>
That is impossible. Netanyahu is sitting passively while Israel under attack. He will do nothing.
He is a demagogue not a problem solver.
If BB can directly-monitor import of cement/metal, can it not be anticipated that the Islamists would not be able to build reinforced-tunnels or rockets/missiles?