Jack Cohen. Ground Offensive. On Thurs evening, PM Netanyahu ordered the IDF to initiate ground operations against Hamas in Gaza. There were several reasons for this, most notably the continuation of barrages of rockets from Gaza against civilian centers in Israel, including a salvo of at least 20 rockets fired against Tel Aviv Thurs evening. Also, Thurs morning before the 6 hr humanitarian ceasefire went into effect, a group of 13 terrorists from Gaza entered Israeli territory via a tunnel and were en route to the village of Sufa, but were detected and intercepted by the IDF and were mostly killed. Also, Hamas launched a second drone over Israeli territory, but this too was shot down. All these hostile and aggressive actions, and the rejection by Hamas of the ceasefire on Tues, were enough to convince even the most pacific of Israeli politicians that the time had finally come to launch a ground offensive.
Jack Cohen
After 10 days of battering by the IAF in response to the continual firing of missiles into Israel and the last day of intense action in northern Gaza, as well as the dropping of leaflets for 2 days warning civilians to leave their homes in northern Gaza and go to safe areas, the ground invasion finally started. Both Israel and Hamas have representatives in Cairo with Egyptian Pres al-Sisi and PA Pres. Abbas, acting as intermediaries, and various other well-meaning countries, including Turkey, Qatar and the USA wanting to facilitate a ceasefire. But, the reports of a possible agreement for a longer ceasefire on Friday were apparently unjustified. Both sides have conditions for a ceasefire, but it is extremely unlikely that either side will accept the others conditions. Israel is not looking to destroy Hamas altogether, even if it could, but Israel must insist that all missiles and rockets be removed from Gaza and/or destroyed under international inspection, and that rocket making facilities be removed (just as in the case of the chemical weapons in Syria). If this is not done then the Israeli counter-action in Gaza would have been in vain, since as before the terrorists will simply start another war in a few years.
On the Hamas side, they are looking for concessions from Israel, the removal of the naval blockade against Gaza, the permanent opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt (this must involve Egypt), the release of Hamas prisoners held by Israel (some in the wake of the murder of the three Israeli teens) and allowing Hamas operatives to transit Israel to the West Bank. It is extremely unlikely that Israel would agree to any of these conditions. By making the ground offensive, Israel is upping the ante and will be putting Hamas to the test, at some point they will see that they have no alternative and they will be forced to accept Israeli conditions for a ceasefire.
Note that the pressure from the international community is on both sides to come to terms, and even the Arab League has proposed that Hamas accept a permanent ceasefire. Anyone with any understanding of the situation knows that Hamas is the aggressor and that all the casualties, including the Gazans, result from the fact that Hamas made no provision to protect its civilians, as well as firing rockets from civilian areas, telling civilians to stay in areas when warned to leave by the IDF and Hamas refused the initial ceasefire agreement that Israel accepted. Under these circumstances the IDF will be busy destroying Hamas missiles caches and infrastructure (tunnels, underground bunkers) and no doubt killing as many Hamas military leaders as they can. By then, Hamas will either accept a permanent ceasefire with Israeli conditions or they will no longer function effectively.
Futility of Hamas Strategy
The Arabs have tried various strategies to destroy Israel and kill Jews. Their initial major strategy was simply to invade Jewish areas with militias and armies to massacre Jews and defeat Israeli forces. They did this in 1921 (riots), 1929 (massacre in Hebron), 1936 (the Uprising), 1948 (the War of Independence), 1956 (the Sinai campaign), 1967 (the 6-Day War), 1973 (the Yom Kippur War), and 1982 (the First Lebanon War). When the enlightened leaders of Jordan (King Hussein) and Egypt (Pres. Sadat) saw that this was a futile strategy, they capitulated and signed peace treaties with Israel (Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994).
Since the Palestinian Arabs under Yasir Arafat could no longer depend on the Arab States to fight their battles, the PLO switched strategies and turned first to intifada (i.e. more riots) (the First Intifada 1987-1993; the Second Intifada 2000-2005). But when that failed to work they extended their strategy to terrorism and suicide bombings (mostly 2001-2005). This strategy was ended by the Israeli building of the Security Fence (2003-2012) which prevented easy Palestinian access into Israel. Since the rocket attacks by Saddam Hussein on Israel during the First Gulf War of 1991 were seemingly successful and Israel had no effective answer to them (and did not use the IAF against Iraq), the Palestinian terrorist organizations have turned to a strategy of firing rockets into Israel at civilian centers, although the rockets and missiles are not targeted.
With the development by Israel of the Iron Dome anti-missile system, now it can be concluded that this rocket strategy of Hamas and Hizbollah is futile, it has been successfully counteracted by Israel. Since the deployment of Iron Dome in 2011, and operational improvements, the Iron Dome anti-missiles are now ca. 90% effective. With a tenth battery now becoming operational there is little chance that any rockets can get through the Iron Dome umbrella and cause mass Jewish casualties, as intended by their launchers. For example, in the current round of hostilities, Hamas have launched ca. 1,000 missiles into Israel. Of these, ca. 70% fell on unpopulated territory, and only ca. 30 % were expected to fall on populated (or protected) territory. Since the operational ability is ca. 90% that means that only 10% of 300 or only 30 rockets were actually able to penetrate to Israeli populated areas. Today the first actual Israeli casualty, Dror Chanin, a volunteer killed by shrapnel from a mortar near the Gaza border, was announced.
This is a laughable proportion, 30 out of 1,000, or 3%, or 1 man killed for 1,000 rockets fired, indicating that the strategy is totally futile. Imagine the cost and danger of firing 970 rockets for NO reason. Not only do the launchers usually get killed because of the rapid IAF response to rocket fire, but it is a futile strategy. Certainly the firing of the Iron Dome anti-missiles is much more costly than the rockets fired by Hamas, but Israel as a technologically advanced country with a strong economy, can well afford this expense to protect its civilians. During this current bombardment by Hamas, most Israelis have in fact been going about their business, living their lives and continuing to be productive without much interference (this is not to minimize the truly terrifying situation in certain parts of the country, particularly the south, where rockets have been falling at a truly alarming rate and life is lived under a reign of terror). When will Hamas and the Palestinians realize that their current rocket strategy is a failed approach to kill Jewish citizens of Israel and bring the country to a standstill. They are running out of ideas and time.
Anti-Semitism in the Diaspora
Whenever Israel is forced to take military action against its Arab enemies, there is always an upsurge of anti-Semitism around the world. Of course, this is not rationally justified, but the hatred and bias against Israel and Jews very quickly bubbles to the surface. There are three sources of this anti-Semitism, 1. Good old-fashioned right-wing nationalism expressed as Jew-hatred; 2. Left-wing sympathy and support for the poor Palestinians as victims of “imperialist,” “colonialist,” “apartheid” Israel; and 3. Muslim anti-Semitism, that is endemic and ubiquitous in all Muslim countries and is growing more confident in Europe as the number of Muslims there grows.
We all saw pictures of the attacks in tolerant, secular France by a mob of mixed Muslims and left-wingers, viciously attacking two synagogues and beating up Jews. The anti-riot police saved this from becoming a massacre. As a result, French PM Vail denied permission for another demonstration in support of Hamas, with a good expectation that it would turn violent. It’s not much better in Britain, where the latest anti-Israel demonstration in the center of London at Traflagar Square took a violent turn when the mob began to attack individuals whom they identified as Jews.
Unwittingly these stupid anti-Israel protesters are causing French Jews, the largest Jewish community left in Europe after the Holocaust, to re-evaluate their safety there and many are now coming on aliyah to Israel. Today, in the midst of the current Gaza war, ca. 450 French Jews arrived in Israel to live. They feel safer here under the Iron Dome and with the IDF to protect them, than they do in France where all Jews are subject to daily incidents of hateful anti-Semitism. The French Jewish population in Netanya is blossoming and they are buying apartments here, partly explaining the huge growth in apartment buildings all over Netanya. In many cafes downtown French is now the main language and they have an active Francophone cultural scene. Obviously news gets back and so we expect more French Jews to come, the numbers have doubled in each of the past two years and is now up to 5,000 in 2014. So go ahead with your anti-Semitic violent protests, you vile ridiculous idiots, it only makes Israel stronger.
Jack Cohen, Netanya, Israel
Jack Cohen Born in London, UK, lived in suburban Washington DC area for 30 years, moved to Israel in 1996. He has a web site: Comment From Israel
