Posted on 07/14/2014 5:40:32 AM PDT by Star Traveler
Despite devastation in Gaza, and its inability to inflict Israeli casualties, the organization is in robust shape — personnel unharmed, rocket supplies plentiful, popularity soaring.
headquarters and the IDF have been repeating over the past two days assertions like “Hamas is frustrated” and “Hamas wants a ceasefire.”In principle, they’re right,but those statements must be accompanied by two critical caveats that in practice prevent a halt in the fighting.
True, Gaza’s Hamas rulers are frustrated to a certain extent. They aren’t happy that the almost 1,000 rockets they’ve fired at Israel so far have caused few injuries and haven’t even significantly disrupted life in Israel. Hamas also had far-reaching plans for terrorist attacks inside Israeli territory, but so far they’ve all been thwarted. Even attacks on communities and army bases by way of tunnels that were dug over years did not bear fruit, thanks to Israeli intelligence efforts.
However – and this is a major reservation – the damage to Hamas from Israel’s air campaign, at least so far, has been minimal. Not one senior member of the movement’s political or military echelons has been as much as scratched by Israeli fire.
Meanwhile, the organization’s ability to fire rockets at Israel has remained formidable, as has the functioning of its command and control system. According to the assessments of Israeli defense officials, the IDF has destroyed 2,000 rockets, which along with the 1,000 or so that were fired, means Hamas’s arsenal has declined by some 3,000. The problem is that Hamas is still in possession of 6,000-7,000 rockets, enough to continue fighting for weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
Wishful thinking regarding both sides leads you to erroneous statements ... :-) ...
israelis need to record all the launch sites and the traffic that feeds them to see where hamas is storing all the missiles, and then carpet bomb the feeder sight... seems like they should be able to have that data with the tech that is available... awacs and satellite.
take away the muscle of the enemy.
t
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Related threads
Hamas media campaign taunts Israel, fortifies battered Gaza public
Dresden-ize Gaza, it’s the only way to stop them.
Israel - by its own internal laws and by their own decision - does not commit war crimes against Palestinian civilians.
This is a LIE that the enemies of Israel perpetrate - that Israel does commit war crimes against Palestinian civilians in order to kill them or drive them out. Israel ONLY targets the terrorists and their operations and does everything they can to avoid collateral damage to the civilians.
You appear to be “feigning support” for Israel if you are urging Israel to do exactly what Hamas lyingly says Israel is doing!
Self defense is not a war crime. Overwhelming violence against an active aggressor is not immoral. You can’t be lukewarm about war; it is an all-or-nothing proposition - you either win or die. Israel will never win the war of public opinion, so they may as well inflict as much damage to the enemy as is required to put a final end to enemy attacks. Showing restraint has not stopped attacks against Israel since its inception. It is no consolation to be morally superior if you are dead.
and...... every live person in Gaza is a combatant
If Israel targeted Palestinian civilians in order to kill them and in order to get them to leave the country and force a mass migration of the population (which is exactly what the enemies of Israel claim it does) - then that would be a war crime.
If Israel targets Hamas operatives and Hamas buildings and war material, and avoid hitting Palestinian civilians (which is what Israel says it does and “does”) - then that is not a war crime.
The second of the two paragraphs is what Israel actually does and which the ENEMIES OF ISRAEL deny that they do. Also those who “feign support” for Israel also are the ones who urge Israel to commit war crimes (and Israel doesn’t listen to those “faux-supporters”).
That’s definitely not the view of Israel or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or the IDF. They all take the view that Palestinian civilians are different from the Hamas terrorists and operatives and they are not to be targeted and to avoid as much collateral damage as possible.
Yes, of course you are right.
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