Winds of War Blow Across Israel
It is not certain that a larger-scale attack against Gaza in response to the Kassams would incur the Obama administration’s wrath to the extent that recent actions in the West Bank and Jerusalem would. Washington views Israel’s relationship with Hamas in Gaza and the relationship with the Palestinian Authority in East Jerusalem and Gaza very differently.
When it comes to President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, the White House is leaning heavily for a kid-glove approach.
This is in keeping with their carrot-and-stick philosophy, designed to presumably usher the Palestinians away from the Hamas-style “losing strategies” of violence and terrorism, jihad, and a battle for the liberation of the entire homeland into a better life through negotiations and a two-state solution. Hence the Obama administration’s disappointment and condemnation with the steps taken regarding Jerusalem and the West Bank, which are seen to hurt the standing of the Palestinian Authority.
There is little evidence, however, that the Palestinians and the rest of the world make a similar distinction, and in the current atmosphere, Israel cannot assume that the U.S. would necessarily stand staunchly by its ally should it take aggressive action against Hamas in Gaza. Thus, Israel will presumably hold back from definitive action unless the Kassam attacks significantly intensify. Ha’aretz military commentators Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff conclude:
Israel’s response will likely remain limited, given the present circumstances in the region. The Netanyahu government already has a number of other headaches to deal with. It’s not only the crisis with the United States over Jerusalem — it is also Israel’s wish to avoid a wider confrontation with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Jerusalem while keeping an eye on tensions in the north.
IDF leaders, who after the Gaza offensive created a reasonable security situation for residents of the western Negev, have no interest in another war in the south, and certainly not in another Goldstone report.
In the same analysis, they said that Hamas isn’t really interested in a war either, noting that the Kassam that killed the Thai worker was fired by an al-Qaeda-linked splinter group:
Hamas is still working to rehabilitate its military wing and tighten its hold on the Strip. The movement is not directly responsible for a single rocket attack since the war’s end, but in most cases has thwarted attempts from smaller, competing factions to attack Israel.
The silent actor in this drama is Iran, which is doing all it can to fan the flames of unrest in the Palestinian population via Hamas in Gaza and their Islamist proxies in the West Bank. Whatever is bad for U.S.-Israel relations is good for Iran, since it takes the focus off of promoting sanctions. As Hamas’ biggest benefactor, if Iran wants a proxy war, whether it takes place via Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon, a war is what it will get.
Some might conclude that after a week like this, in the U.S.-Israel-Palestinian power struggle, there were no winners. On the contrary, there is a clear winner. His name is Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.
Quartet demand no Jews in parts of Jerusalem!
Quartet demands terror state like Iran/Afghan/Syria/AlQaeda for West Bank/Gaza
… while the US/EU claim to be at war (Iraq/Afghan) with the same terrorist they demand set up a state on the West Bank/Gaza.
One can only conclude that the US/EU soldiers are in fact human sacrifice to the Islime G-d and that this war is in fact a phoney “nice Long lasting War and sell lots of weapons” exactly as I informed every member of congress between 1989-1991. c 1991 getty…
We send army men to die fighting people; while we demand that that same enemy/people set up a terror state on the West Bank and Gaza exactly like the States we are fighting/human sacrifice…this is “bazaar…
The USA: with friends like the USA, who needs enemies…The USA brought this current uprising with “malice of forethought”.
It is of course only the leaders of Islime that “insult the Koran/Islime” by claiming the Jews have no connection with the land, (the Jews who understand their faith become Muslims; Koran:3:113)
The Koran is obsessed with converting the Jews; but according to today’s “insulters of Islime”, “Jews have no claim/connection to the land” except the Koran makes it clear that “the Jews exist on the land” predating Islime.
Something is rotten outside Denmark! I demand these rascals that obviously know nothing about the Koran/Islime stop insulting Islime/Koran by claiming Jews have no connection to the land!
And yes, Jews have a Torah and a 3000 year written connection to the land which predates Islime by 2000 years. How can Islime claim to know who was on the land for the 2000 years before it/Islime was founded?
The US may do well to read what the prophet Zechariah wrote 2000 years ago: in chapter 12…as the prophet describe what awaits the countries that align against Jews in Jerusalem in: wow, the era we are in now! Including that there would be “self hating”..
Islime is at war with the West to prevent free speech to criticize Islime. The leaders of Islime, Al Qaeda, Iran et al, are dictators (or worse) that parade as religious.
Islime types, (dictators that parade as religious) know that Islime can not continue to exist in a world of successful “Western” market economies; so the “West” must be placed under “siege”.
Oh, and the best part for all the Americans against the Jews/Israel: If Israel G-d forbid goes, America will fall shortly thereafter, whether you see it or not, and whether you like it or not: Anti Israel = suicidal; unless you desire to be ruled by dictators that parade as religious…
…And that, is a better explanation than you got from the “main stream media”!
For more than a year, the Obama White House has given the Palestinians perfect cover for a 3rd intifada by making unrealistic and unreasonable demands on the Israelis and placing no expectations whatsoever on the Palestinians. And Obama underscored this approach to the “peace process” last week with his over the top berating and diplomatic condemnation of Israel for an ill-timed announcement while doing nothing but tut-tutting at the continued glorification of Palestianian terrorism and the outbreak of violence by Abbas’ so-called moderates.
As long as Muslims are willfully blind to stuff about Jews & Christians that does not line up with what they believe,
real peace is not possible.
Truth has to precede peace, and frankly what Muslims say is timeless truth does not measure up to what is timelessly true. In other words, just because you call an arm a leg, does not make it a leg.
http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/03/20/robert-fulford-a-study-in-middle-east-morality.aspx
I conclude backs me up.
Will a measured response to a Kassam rocket attack work?
“Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel would offer a strong response to what was the first deadly rocket fire from Hamas-ruled Gaza at Israel in more than a year.”
Item 1 – A predictable response is worse than no response
A response to aggression should always be unpredictable and it should be overwhelming. So the practical way to go about it is to do nothing for a while and then react massively. It should come as a shock.
An analogy could be like this: Do people, who has tattoos all over their bodies, fear a tattoo needle? No they don’t. But why not? Getting a tattoo is very painful. Yes it’s painful but they know exactly what to expect. They know the level of pain and they know from experience that they can cope with it. They dread it, but they don’t fear it. And there is a difference.
Item 2 – Dread leads to hate and disrespect. Fear leads to submission and respect.
Back to Israel. When Hamas sends rockets into Israel, they know what the response is. They have tried it many times before and they know they can cope with it. So they don’t fear it. The Israelis even announces it up front and seemingly show pride in the fact that a strong response is something the Palestinians can count on. Which is exactly the wrong way to go about it.
Item 3 – Uncertainty is what causes fear.
Does Israel want the Palestinians to fear them? Yes they do. And that is why Israel needs to change its approach to this problem. They should never announce what they are going to do. And the tactic should look something like this:
Provocation – Do nothing
Provocation – Do nothing
Provocation – Do nothing
Provocation – Do nothing
Provocation – Strike massively
I think that the Obama administration and all the preceding administration have committed a big error by pushing for the ”peace process”
Actually they mostly embarked in the ”peace for the middle east” operation has a cheap way to convince americans that they were doing ”something”. Remember when Bush was bored of bombing Iraq ? He sent Condi for ”historical” talks for peace in the Holy Land ! same way the Obama administration just happened to play the ”peace talks” card earlier because the Porkulus and HC debauch was so damaging
The worst is that Biden, Hillary and Obama by their stuppid retoric are putting Israeli lifes at risk … I’m not a Jew, but has son of immigrant I understand when people want to kill you and you father, will raping mothers and sister because they like your skin colour, culture or religion
Yes you can say that I just exaggerated … but when we see the thousand of people of white who were killed in Africa after decolonisation or Robert Mugabe getting whites farmers property in Zimbabwe … I understand why the Israeli are a ”little” nervous especially when they know that Iran, Hamas and muslim brotherhood when not only to destroy Israel but to get rid of all the Jews there … preferably to drown them in to the sea. I don’t bet that a complete defeat of the IDF would like an ”orderly” dismantling of Israel with Hamas personnel escorting the Jews to mass graves will chanting Allahu Akbar
By its stupid actions, Obama is putting Israeli lives at risk by giving the stupid hope that an intifada can be successful. Sure the IDF can take care of this, but at a time when Iran is about to get nukes … there was not better timing
But it looks like not only Obama is not just plainly incompetent, but he is just at best uninterested of the fate of the jews, or at worst He agree with reverend Wright, his anti-Semitic pastor for 20 years.
At this pass, Obama will likely fuel a third intifada against Israel AND let Iran get a nuke … at this point may the Lord help the Jews.
I’m sure the IDF will prevails, but with rockets raining from Gaza, Libanon, angry mobs in the streets, and the possibility of an Iranian nuclear strike … we are going to see how does 4th generation warfare looks like … thank you Messhia Obama … without you it wouldn’t be possible
JL has the philosophy exactly right. I don’t know what the best tactics are, but it is clear that Israel’s current strategy isn’t working. Somehow Israel needs to find a way to neutralize and terminate the terrorist organizations in Gaza. One thought I have always had was if Egypt could take control of Gaza. Their security services would make short work of Hamas without the hypocritical outrage that Israel always receives when they defend themselves. It is that or just start killing Gazans indiscriminately on the (rather accurate) philosophy that the entire population is their enemy.
I sure hope it is. Nothing disgusts me more than the policies of Israel.
Israel needs to wait until the midterms come a little closer in the USA. Surely they realize they have an anti-Israeli probably Muslim US president that has both houses of Congress. As the midterms approach as usual the Dems will begin to feign a pro-Israel position to influence their base that is supported by blindly loyal, mostly self-hating Jewish liberals.
As the election approaches they need every one of these seats. Without them, every Dem seat except the black districts will be in play. They understand there will be a huge housecleaning (hopefully the RINOs do as well), but they do need to hold some of the northeastern crowd to have any remaining sway…and prevent a veto proof majority at least in the house.
With the approach of the elections, Israel can afford to be considerably more aggressive without major damage from the anti-Semitic State Department and the colluding Administration. Targeted assassinations, drone and air strikes, Special Forces attacks should all hit six weeks before the election. Hussein Obama has a substantial choice then…Deerborn or the northeast.
Well, Bibi is no Olmert. Olmert was, like Clinton and Obama, a lawyer-politician who thinks of military operations in terms of “pressure” and “sending a signal”- and thus made half-assed efforts in South Lebanon and Gaza which were abandoned unfinished.
If Netanyahu decides to go in, he WILL dig the Hamas leadership out of their cozy UN bunker under the central hospital
President Obama is determined to keep Israel from defending itself. He will do so at the cost of Israeli lives. Suprise! I think he will follow this policy of emasculating Israel even at the cost of American lives. I believe that there is a 20% chance of Obama ordering an attack on Israel. With the loss of American lives, American citizens will be forced to choose between support of Israel and support of America. That is Chicago politics + Marxist disregard for human lives all wrapped up in one bundle.
The following material appeared on http://www.debka.com this evening.
Obama recalls bunker-buster bomb kits to bar Israeli strike on Iran
DEBKAfile Special Report March 20, 2010, 6:54 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tags: bunker-busters Israel Obama
Advanced BLU-100 recalled by President Obama
Shortly after the flare-up of a US-Israel row over new homes in East Jerusalem, US president Barack Obama ordered a consignment of Joint Direct Attack Munitions- JDAM already on its way to Israel to be diverted to the US Air Force base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. This step in mid-March, the pointer to a US arms embargo for preventing Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, is first revealed here by debkafile’s military sources.
Read more
“As the midterms approach as usual the Dems will begin to feign a pro-Israel position to influence their base that is supported by blindly loyal, mostly self-hating Jewish liberals.”
Honestly I don’t believe that most American Jews are self-hating; but they do have massive ability to withstand cognitive dissonance. (American Catholics are very good at this too.) In my experience it really just does not occur to many of them that they are reflexively voting in a way that does not line up with their stances on issues that they consider important.
A personal anecdote, for what they’re worth:
I was at a New Year’s Eve party in 2008. Everyone there was from upper-middle class Jewish families. Early in the night, the main topic of discussion was how unfair the media coverage of the then-ongoing Operation Cast Lead had been – almost all of us have friends or family living there.
Later, the conversation had moved on to the recent US Presidential election, and I was absolutely baffled to hear that every one of them had voted for Obama, and were just thrilled that he’d won. I got nothing but blank looks when I asked what they thought the repercussions of the election would be for Israel. One finally said “Well, the Democrats have always strongly supported Israel.” I was literally speechless.
Debka.com & debka-net-weekly are good sources of news: if you want to know what msm is desperate for you not to know: March 19, 2010:
The Israeli teams started moving over to their new posts in May, 2007, after Washington obtained the consent of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE to the scheme, DEBKA-Net-Weekly military and intelligence sources report. Special new bases were established for the operation in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The instruction teams included commando unit veterans…The opposition to an Israeli presence in the Gulf gained traction from Obama’s decision to pull US forces out of Iraq by the summer of 2011. Replacing Israeli instructors with Americans…Obama was sworn in as president. The new president thereupon launched his campaign for Israel to abandon its training programs for the Gulf armies. The demand was raised at the very first encounters…And indeed, in early December 2009, the UAE ruler, Emir Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, notified Israel that the program’s current course would be the last one…
…the Obama administration would go out of its way and do whatever necessary to hold Israel back from striking Iran’s nuclear facilities…
…the Saudi Foreign Minister referred skeptically to another round of international sanctions against Iran as a “long-term solution”, noting that “we see the issue in the shorter term because we are closer to the threat…We need an immediate resolution rather than a gradual resolution.”
Washington’s evasiveness has planted the suspicion in royal Saudi minds…
Riyadh’s contradiction of the US defense secretary’s comments – and in such undiplomatic terms as “not true” and “false” – is symptomatic of the depth of the US-Saudi falling-out over Iran.
Another Israeli official said: “President Obama denies there is a crisis in the relations. He said [n an interview to Fox on March 17]: ‘Israel is one of our closest allies and that will not go away.’
“But let’s put the facts on the table,” said the Israeli source: “Not only is the crisis there, but we are dealing with an administration whose behavior is irrational…The US president is willing to bend facts for the sake of bringing the Israeli government to its knees. That, we cannot accept.”
This answer, which is not borne out by intelligence data, was seen in Jerusalem and most other Middle East capitals as another US attempt to dodge the sanctions option and play for time to engage in more fruitless negotiations with Iran.
How does this benefit the United States? It doesn’t.
…The feeling in Jerusalem is that Israel is being pushed toward a bottomless pit; Washington will not be satisfied…
March 15, debkafile’s intelligence and Iraqi sources revealed for the first time that the Shiite prime minster had survived an attempt on his life with moderate-to-serious injuries
Since debka-net-weekly was warning about Al Qaeda in the spring of 2001…and since if you read debka.com and read “old stuff”..you will see who is telling the truth and that msm is lying to you: by reporting falsely with malice and by ommission.
…sorry I forgot to spell check it…
Reports coming in from the news clearly state that attacks are up on Jewish settlers on the West Bank. This time we can thank Obama for clearly favoring the Palestinians. How dare the Israelis rebuild a centuries old synagogue in Old Jerusalem in what was the Jewish sector before the Jordanian King Faisal invaded in 1948. How dare the Israelis attempt to build housing which had been approve three years earlier. How dare they claim the Jewish holy sites. Only the Moslems may claim holy sites, the Temple Mount, Saint Sophia and countless other locations which belonged to other faiths.
Don’t let the Mohammedan LIES, DECEIT and TAQQIYA fool you this is not about land it has never been about LAND. If it was surely any rational logical people would have been satisfied with the TWO States Syria and Jordan and OVER 75% of the original Mandate of Palestine that they ALREADY have so why do they need ANOTHER State largely carved out of the less than 25% of Land that Israel is on and that in a place in which as Mohammedan ARAB INVADERS they are only OCCUPYING through ‘Right of Conquest’. A RIGHT that disgustingly and ILLOGICALLY and HYPOCRITICALLY both they and their Islamophile left wing moonbat supporters deny to Israel.
No its not about LAND at all its just a Mohammedan excuse to kill JEWS.
Nothing disgusts me more than the uneducated, antisemitic, left wing TROLL postings by people like # 7 TOM
If there is another intifida, it is solely because of Israeli policies. Israel should be prepared for the consequences of its action especially when it doesn’t listen to the US. You can’t take risks on the expense of others’ money and security. The Americans who have supported Israel until now should be clear on where their loyalties lie, on the side of Israel or the US since clearly there is a conflict of interest. Wake up before that conflict of interest becomes so large that even your dear AIPAC can’t save you. Israel’s prime minister is coming to give new guidelines to their lobbying bodies in the US; the Israeli lobby will push its last push before it becomes clear to everyone that they are not as powerful as they used to be 10 years ago. The times have indeed changed.
If someone takes away the stick I use for self defense, I will then use the gun I have in my back pocket. Obama, by denying Israel bunker busting bombs, guarantees that Israel will simply be forced to use some other weapon to defend herself. Nukes?
Steven from Indiana
@lgkicks:
Yes the genocidal Israel policies ! like when Hamas took over Gaza and 100 Fatha operatives opted to surrender to the IDF instead of being : tortured, sexually abused and then shoot in the head ! the IDF even made the terrible thing of making sure they were delivered to their buddies in the West Bank ! Evil Jews !
What Israeli policies ? stop being so blind, Israel policy at this point have been of coexistance, the palestinians are spoiled brats. You never asked yourself why nobody wants them ? Egypt, Jordan, Siria and Even Lebanon want no bussines with them, and regularly have to kill some to calm them
Sure Israel is the bully of the block, but all most every one is fine with this! Egypt and Jordan have not problem with Israel, but are freacked out of the idea that Iran may get a bomb
Sure US interest ? Biden was sent there to serve Obama’s interest ! remenber that every US president play the middle east ”peace” card when is presidency tanks, even Bush did the same when He sent Condi ! this wasn’t about US interest, this was about Obama saving is sorry face from the HC debacle !
”Peace talks” are a myth and will never lead to somewhere, the only solution is what Israel is trying to do : Solve the problem through economic development, so no palestinian would like to loose is job to blow himself for the Hamas or Fatah
Obama for his onw personal whim is putting Israeli lives at risk … and sure he don’t want to give Israel the Bunker Buster now ?
I’m sure the Israeli must have a plan B, it maybe dirty, but I’m sure that when they will blow up the Iranian reactor, from Ryiad, Koweit City, Ankara, Cairo and Dhubai … president and kings … after the must needed condemnation of the latest Israeli madness will say : for once these damn Jews save our arse !
To use the words of the “profit” Muhammad. “Persecution is worse than slaughter” – I say slaughter is the answer, an iron fist to the gut and a slap to the face of the corrupt, hate filled, bigoted religion of Islam. Islam survives because the western world mistakenly gives it religious deference. ISLAM and Sharia should be exposed for the frauds that they are at every turn. Refute the Koran at every turn, reject any all Sharia (halal foods, the hijab, etc.) as part and parcel of stonings, amputations, the subjagation of women and non-Muslims, bigotry against other religions, etc. Criticize and undermine it at every turn. Never give it a moments rest.
Israeli policies arent the ones im worried about.Its Irans “policies” that are more pressing thank you very much.
Iranians train Taliban to use roadside bombs
TALIBAN commanders have revealed that hundreds of insurgents have been trained in Iran to kill Nato forces in Afghanistan.
The commanders said they had learnt to mount complex ambushes and lay improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have been responsible for most of the deaths of British troops in Helmand province.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article7069779.ece
The musleems hate the Jooos beacause the presence of the Jooos in the middle east and their repeated defeat of the ayrabs in every battle puts the lie to the supposed superiority of the musleem religion That’s why they hate the Joos; It has nothing to do with the so-called palis. Secondly, haven’t you figured out that Barack is a islamic mole yet?
@Sams,
I am no fan of the Arab regimes either, but wasn’t Israel supposed to be something different? Anyways, Iran is a danger to the peace in the region but Israel is complicating the matter further by building illegal settlements. This will only give an excuse to the extremists to recruit more terrorists and give Iran an upper hand. Israel is no match for Iran; yes Israel can drop a nuclear bomb but what’s after that? The best solution to restraining Iran is to go ahead with the two state solution as soon as possible; Israel needs to honor the UN resolutions and stop building more and more illegal settlements. This is not 1967; Iran is a much more serious military power than Egypt, Jordan, and Syria combined. Its distance from Israel makes it a hard to hit target. In fact Iran does not even need to confront Israel directly and can do that through Hizballah. Israeli politicians are going nuts and I am very glad that the Obama administration is not following them… for the sake of Israel herself.
IgKicks;
Another intifada that would result in more Palestinians deaths than Israeli, would be rather stupid on the part of the Palestinians.
Let’s look at all this in a slightly different light, shall we?
#23 lgkicks, your concern for Israel is touching. Certain themes pop up in your thread, including the thinly veiled canard of dual loyalty and an unwarranted moral equivalence. “wasn’t Israel supposed to be something different? ” Yes, it was and it is, but you ignore that fact. You also ignore that the Arabs have never needed an excuse to recruit more terrorists; they started years before Israel set foot in what you call the “illegal settlements”. Obama is no friend to Israel; friends don’t coax a friend into committing suicide, they don’t spread harmful lies about a friend, they don’t keep a friend from acting in self defense, and they don’t enable the arming of those who want to slaughter the friend.
I’m sure the IDF will prevails, but with rockets raining from Gaza, Libanon, angry mobs in the streets, and the possibility of an Iranian nuclear strike … we are going to see how does 4th generation warfare looks like … thank you Messhia Obama … without you it wouldn’t be possible
Say what you will uninformed,Israel has a right to defend themselves and their land !
The Tao: “Another intifada that would result in more Palestinians deaths than Israeli, would be rather stupid on the part of the Palestinians.”
Are you implying that Palestinian leaders value 50 Palestinian lives at more than that of one dead Israeli?