Lebanon South
Tell me how Ariel Sharon hasn't tranformed the Gaza Strip into the new (pre-Syrian-occupied) Lebanon:
Cap'n Ed calls these Pal rocket attacks "criminally stupid":
Sure they did - to the extent that pathological religioethnic hatred can be dignified by so rationalistic a term as "calculation." What it reflects is that they don't care whether Israel is "occupying" Gaza or not, because in their minds Israel is still "occupying" the rest of "Palestine." Gaza was one step toward destroying the Jewish state, not an end in and of itself. Anybody who thought that Islamic Jihad and Hamas wouldn't press their attacks all the harder for this Israeli retreat simply does not, and probably isn't capable of, understanding the Pal mindset and what is truly at stake in the Holy Land, and the GWOT beyond it.
You can understand, consequently, why I am less than impressed with Israeli bluster to the rocket attacks their own flight made inevitable:
Yawn. What does "crushing" mean? Retaking Gaza? Laying waste to it? Or just more of the same "eye for an eye/tooth for a tooth" tit-for-tat that has marked their ineffectual counter-terror efforts for the past decade and a half? If the latter, it won't work. The middle option seems premature at best. And the former? After having just evacuated the area, including forcible removal of its own citizens? Sharon would never politically survive it.
But then, given that his cut & run policy has only emboldened Israel's enemies to wage war that much closer to the heart of its shrunken (and tiny to begin with) territory, he probably won't survive Bebe Netanyahu's challenge anyway. And after having recreated 1980s Lebanon on Israel's southern frontier, he deserves the ignominy the betrayal of his career and his country have so richly earned.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered "unrestricted" military strikes against Palestinian militants after rocket attacks from Gaza.
Overnight Israeli aircraft launched a series of air raids, injuring several people, and arrested more than 200 suspected militants in the West Bank.
Israel has also taken the unprecedented step of posting artillery pieces on the border with Gaza, and practice-firing.
Cap'n Ed calls these Pal rocket attacks "criminally stupid":
The very event that Hamas celebrated - the end of the occupation - makes attacks against Israel an act of war, not a quasi-legal exercise of the so-called right to fight against occupation. Hamas and Islamic Jihad didn't take that into their calculations yesterday when they launched their missiles towards Sedarot, which all missed badly.
Sure they did - to the extent that pathological religioethnic hatred can be dignified by so rationalistic a term as "calculation." What it reflects is that they don't care whether Israel is "occupying" Gaza or not, because in their minds Israel is still "occupying" the rest of "Palestine." Gaza was one step toward destroying the Jewish state, not an end in and of itself. Anybody who thought that Islamic Jihad and Hamas wouldn't press their attacks all the harder for this Israeli retreat simply does not, and probably isn't capable of, understanding the Pal mindset and what is truly at stake in the Holy Land, and the GWOT beyond it.
You can understand, consequently, why I am less than impressed with Israeli bluster to the rocket attacks their own flight made inevitable:
"We have to make it clear to the Palestinians that Israel will not let the recent events pass without a response," Mofaz said in a statement, referring to the Hamas rocket fire. "The response needs to be crushing." ...
Mofaz decided to deploy troops on Israel's border with Gaza after meeting his security chiefs, an official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the meeting. Thousands of soldiers received call-up notices, and their leaves were canceled.
Yawn. What does "crushing" mean? Retaking Gaza? Laying waste to it? Or just more of the same "eye for an eye/tooth for a tooth" tit-for-tat that has marked their ineffectual counter-terror efforts for the past decade and a half? If the latter, it won't work. The middle option seems premature at best. And the former? After having just evacuated the area, including forcible removal of its own citizens? Sharon would never politically survive it.
But then, given that his cut & run policy has only emboldened Israel's enemies to wage war that much closer to the heart of its shrunken (and tiny to begin with) territory, he probably won't survive Bebe Netanyahu's challenge anyway. And after having recreated 1980s Lebanon on Israel's southern frontier, he deserves the ignominy the betrayal of his career and his country have so richly earned.
posted by JASmius at 3:10 PM
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