Jews Must Display Will Or Make One
A few days ago I said this about the ongoing Israeli "incursion" into the Gaza Strip:
Four days later it is still unclear as to whether Jerusalem is serious about this operation or flying by the seat of its collective knickers. But first, let's get caught up on related developments in the "crisis."
Anti-Semitic France hypocritically sided with the Hamasites (again) and condemned Israel (again) for its military actions, totally ignoring six months of Palestinian provocations and insisting that the IDF withdraw and diplomacy re-start. Withdrawal now would make a mockery of any subsequent diplomacy, of course, but then the entire "peace process" has been a mockery from the very beginning. Maybe the frogs would have actual credibility if they practiced what they preach at Israel in places like Ivory Coast and Comoros - where, I might add, their very national survival is not at stake. Miserable toDsaH.
Some Pals, evidently sufficiently convinced of Israeli ire to try to escape the IDF any way they can, blew a hole in the border wall between Gaza and Egypt. This drew Hosni Mubarek's attention, causing him to demand that Bashar Assad expel Hamas from Syria if the Islamist terrorist gang doesn't release IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, whose kidnapping sparked this fight. I'd be more impressed if Mubarek demanded that Assad get rid of Hamas unconditionally, but the Egyptians are not acting in Israel's interests but their own, having no use for retreating Hamasites after being hit several times in the Sinai by al Qaeda over the past couple of years.
On the other hand, Mubarek's intervention could also be for the implicit purpose of playing on the fecklessness of Israeli PM Ehud Olmert to slow or halt the IDF's advance and give the Pals desperately needed time to regroup. It certainly had that effect, as Olhert delayed a move in force into northern Gaza to give Egyptian diplomats the opportunity to broker a "compromise" that out to be a non-starter for the Jews by definition.
There are other underwhelming signs that Olmert lacks the mettle to see this operation through to where it must go to pay any genuine dividends for Israeli security. Take his Clintonian missile attack on an empty building:
The attack sent a message alright, though not the one Cap'n Ed thinks. Much like the IAF's "sound and fury, signifying nothing" blank-shooting strafing run of Bashar Assad's summer hideout last week, it tells Hamas that while the Israelis can kill or capture Haniyeh whenever and however they choose, they don't have the cajones to actually do it. Why did they not grab Haniyeh last week along with the sixty-odd other Pal functionaries the IDF dragneted? That would have been a message to the Pals that might actually have communicated something useful. Blowing up empty buildings just makes the Israelis look weak and impotent by indicating that they won't do what it takes to win. It also makes subsequent assassination threats less than credible while still incurring the usual firestorm of selective, biased "international" outrage.
In short, the Jews would have been better off "Zarqawizing" Haniyeh and gaining something concrete for the "world" backlash that was going to blow back regardless. And they would even have been further ahead by scotching the Sunday morning "office renovation" altogether if they are bluffing anyway.
Caroline Glick, the intrepid Jerusalem Post columnist, gets to the heart of my suspicions about to the minimalist end Israel's leadership is pursuing:
Ehud Olmert is insane. His governing coalition is insane. The Israeli voters who elected them are insane. Operation Summer Rains is insane by objective measure and even against its own premises. It is also pointless. Hamas was only able to kidnap IDF soldiers because Israel retreated from Gaza. Olmert has responded with an invasion that has no strategic purpose, will only incur renewed Western pressure upon him to withdraw and make more crippling concessions to the Pals - to which he has already committed! - and allow the Hamasites to escape the rare-as-hen's-lips international scrutiny of the past few months, and probably get back their Western subsidies.
And all because he went into it settling for half-measures.
God help Corporal Shalit, because he's got no help coming from anywhere else.
[I]t is Israeli will that will determine whether this Gaza "incursion" actually attains the goal they should be setting for it - nothing less than the eradication of Palestinian terrorism - or settles for half-measures and eventual withdrawal to the status quo ante that render the whole "exercise" a waste of time, resources, and the dishonoring of the Jewish deaths that served as its raison d'etere.
Four days later it is still unclear as to whether Jerusalem is serious about this operation or flying by the seat of its collective knickers. But first, let's get caught up on related developments in the "crisis."
Anti-Semitic France hypocritically sided with the Hamasites (again) and condemned Israel (again) for its military actions, totally ignoring six months of Palestinian provocations and insisting that the IDF withdraw and diplomacy re-start. Withdrawal now would make a mockery of any subsequent diplomacy, of course, but then the entire "peace process" has been a mockery from the very beginning. Maybe the frogs would have actual credibility if they practiced what they preach at Israel in places like Ivory Coast and Comoros - where, I might add, their very national survival is not at stake. Miserable toDsaH.
Some Pals, evidently sufficiently convinced of Israeli ire to try to escape the IDF any way they can, blew a hole in the border wall between Gaza and Egypt. This drew Hosni Mubarek's attention, causing him to demand that Bashar Assad expel Hamas from Syria if the Islamist terrorist gang doesn't release IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, whose kidnapping sparked this fight. I'd be more impressed if Mubarek demanded that Assad get rid of Hamas unconditionally, but the Egyptians are not acting in Israel's interests but their own, having no use for retreating Hamasites after being hit several times in the Sinai by al Qaeda over the past couple of years.
On the other hand, Mubarek's intervention could also be for the implicit purpose of playing on the fecklessness of Israeli PM Ehud Olmert to slow or halt the IDF's advance and give the Pals desperately needed time to regroup. It certainly had that effect, as Olhert delayed a move in force into northern Gaza to give Egyptian diplomats the opportunity to broker a "compromise" that out to be a non-starter for the Jews by definition.
There are other underwhelming signs that Olmert lacks the mettle to see this operation through to where it must go to pay any genuine dividends for Israeli security. Take his Clintonian missile attack on an empty building:
An Israeli helicopter gunship fired at least one missile at the Gaza City office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh early on Sunday, witnesses said.
They said Haniyeh, a top Hamas official, was not believed to be in the office at the time.
The attack sent a message alright, though not the one Cap'n Ed thinks. Much like the IAF's "sound and fury, signifying nothing" blank-shooting strafing run of Bashar Assad's summer hideout last week, it tells Hamas that while the Israelis can kill or capture Haniyeh whenever and however they choose, they don't have the cajones to actually do it. Why did they not grab Haniyeh last week along with the sixty-odd other Pal functionaries the IDF dragneted? That would have been a message to the Pals that might actually have communicated something useful. Blowing up empty buildings just makes the Israelis look weak and impotent by indicating that they won't do what it takes to win. It also makes subsequent assassination threats less than credible while still incurring the usual firestorm of selective, biased "international" outrage.
In short, the Jews would have been better off "Zarqawizing" Haniyeh and gaining something concrete for the "world" backlash that was going to blow back regardless. And they would even have been further ahead by scotching the Sunday morning "office renovation" altogether if they are bluffing anyway.
Caroline Glick, the intrepid Jerusalem Post columnist, gets to the heart of my suspicions about to the minimalist end Israel's leadership is pursuing:
But while [Sharon's goal in 2002] was to "defeat the terror infrastructure," the current Operation Summer Rains in Gaza has set as its goal returning Cpl. Shalit to Israel. Olmert and Peretz hope to somehow convince Hamas and Fatah and their bosses in Damascus and Teheran that they are better off coughing up Shalit. They are supposed to think this even though Israel has made it clear that it won't stay in Gaza and is dead set - regardless of the outcome of Summer Rain - on giving them Judea, Samaria and parts of Jerusalem. [emphasis added]
Ehud Olmert is insane. His governing coalition is insane. The Israeli voters who elected them are insane. Operation Summer Rains is insane by objective measure and even against its own premises. It is also pointless. Hamas was only able to kidnap IDF soldiers because Israel retreated from Gaza. Olmert has responded with an invasion that has no strategic purpose, will only incur renewed Western pressure upon him to withdraw and make more crippling concessions to the Pals - to which he has already committed! - and allow the Hamasites to escape the rare-as-hen's-lips international scrutiny of the past few months, and probably get back their Western subsidies.
And all because he went into it settling for half-measures.
God help Corporal Shalit, because he's got no help coming from anywhere else.
posted by JASmius at 5:53 PM
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