MAKE HAMAS PAY

ISRAPUNDIT ^ | July 4/08 | Ted Belman

[tedbel]

Strange as it may seem, some people on the left want Israel to reconquer Gaza while many on the right like myself are not in favour of it.

For my part I see the existence of Hamas as ensuring that such a deal won't be concluded and that makes me happy..

That is not to say that I think there should be a "lull". Far from it. I strongly support increased pressure on Gaza and the assassination of its leaders until the rockets stop. As for the "lull" itself it now appears it was just an excuse not to invade. It gives cover for passivity and perhaps results in reduced rocket firing. The fact that rocket fire and smuggling continues and Israel still maintains the "lull" suggests that Israel expected no tangible results of it save for it being an excuse not to invade.

Jonathan Spyer updates us on developments in Fortress Gaza. Hamas now has 20,000 men under arms and has increased the sophistication of its anti-tank missiles, IED's and other weaponry. They are following the Hezbollah model of fighting. They believe that

"Israel's Achilles' heel is its inability to absorb large numbers of military and civilian casualties. Hamas believes Israel's will can be broken through attrition and a steady toll of unexpectedly high numbers of both military and civilian casualties."

This is one of the reasons Israel lost in Lebanon and is the reason Israel is afraid, yes "afraid", to invade even now before the build up reaches a peak. I am also against an invasion. But I am not against bombing the shit our of the place. The stronger Hamas gets the more likely Israel will destroy them from afar.

[wendy1946]

One possible solution: provide the residents of Sderot and every other Israeli town and city being targeted by the rocketeers with their own short-range rockets and launchers. Gaza is more densely populated than southern Israel....

[Jabba the Nutt]

It’s just painful, when amateurs try their hand at military strategy. So, Israel’s Achille’s Heel is it’s inability to absorb large numbers of casualties, so HAMAS is arming and training 20,000 men, planning on using improved IED’s and anti-tank missiles. And Israel isn’t going to adapt? If it’s a choice between Israeli casualties and Palestinian civilian casualties, I think I know how that’s going to come out. Israel will just bomb them from the air, use drones to observe, then take out any missile or mortar teams and just insure the HAMAS doesn’t break out. And if they attempt that, that’ll just be a target rich environment.

[Fee]

I think the US should support an old but in modern times an out of the box approach to war with the Gaza strip. Bomb my civilians and I will bomb yours. Warplanes might be a PR diseaster for Israel but using intel agents (posing as Israelis vigilantes) to place bombs in Gaza markets to kill Palis shoppers might be the proper level of warfare. Of course after the attack, Israel’s government would condemn the “vigilantes” in public with a nod and wink and promise the world that they will arrest them.