Posted on 07/17/2014 5:55:48 PM PDT by Star Traveler
Thousands of Israeli soldiers backed by tanks poured into the Gaza Strip on Thursday night, escalating a 10-day military operation to try to destroy Hamas’s weapons arsenal, rocket firing abilities and tunnels used to send terrorists from the Palestinian territory into Israel.
The goal of the ground operation was to restore security for Israel’s citizens by stopping Hamas attacks, Israeli diplomatic sources said, and not to reconquer Gaza and oust Hamas.
The high-stakes move was compelled by Israel’s growing exasperation over unrelenting rocket fire and followed the collapse of Egyptian-led efforts to broker a cease-fire. It also came after a failed attempt by 13 terrorists to infiltrate Israel earlier Thursday through a tunnel under the Gaza-Israel border near Kibbutz Sufa, only to be stopped by an Israeli strike at the mouth of the tunnel.
Israel’s security cabinet approved the ground offensive in principle on Tuesday, after Hamas rejected an Egyptian ceasefire proposal. The resort to ground forces received unanimous approval; centrist Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said she did not take the decision “lightly,” but had “no doubt” that it was necessary.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
stopped by an Israeli strike at the mouth of the tunnel.
Surprise!
The best way to restore calm would be for Israel to demand an unconditional, hands-up surrender. Once that’s been achieved, Jewish settlers should be allowed to return to Gaza.
Before these recent events ... Israel had the “quiet for quiet” policy.
Here’s what The Prime Minister’s office put out today ...
“Operation Protective Edge will continue until it achieves its objective – to restore quiet and safety to Israelis for a long time to come, while significantly harming the infrastructure of Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel doesn’t want Gaza and it also doesn’t want Jews in there who would be in constant danger. That’s nowhere in Israel’s objectives. Israel simply wants the Palestinians “in there” (so that they’re not “in Israel”) and for the rockets to stop.
Israel does NOT want Hamas to be gone. Hamas does a great job of serving its purpose to Israel, which is why the Israeli’s created Hamas back in the late 1980s
Israel didn’t actually create it, but they did give them some implicit support in the beginning, to provide an offset to Arafat and the PLO. However, Israel realize their mistake in doing so and switched to strongly opposing them.
NOW ... at the present time ... Israel doesn’t want to take over the civil administration of Gaza, of which Hamas is doing a minimal job — so Israel still wants them there for that. But not for the terrorists attacks, which is why Israel is going after their terrorist infrastructure.
ALSO ... the IDF is concerned that if Hamas were to be completely destroyed, then all these other terrorist groups which are there, would grow and become a severe problem. At least Ha,as keeps them under control ... and that’s what Israel expects Hamas to do.
The only way to restore calm (perhaps, unfortunately) is to eliminate the hamas and their supporters, the gazans. Without that, there will be no lasting “silence”.
For some reason Israel always thinks they can “Coexist” with people that are trying to kill them.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been very clear about this, and so has Israel over the years ... Hamas and its terrorist operatives are the targets and NOT the Palestinian civilians. And Netanyahu gave specific instructions to the IDF to avoid any collateral damage with civilians.
In addition Israel has come under the FALSE ACCUSATION (by its enemies) that it targets Palestinian civilians for killing and/or for driving them out, which Israel vociferously DENIES! And their denial is the truth, because they don’t.
Here’s a post I made on another thread about false supporters of Israel ... to some genocidal maniac poster ...
— — — — —
Anyone who is one of those “faux supporters” of a Israel who urges Israel to commit WAR CRIMES when Israel denies these false accusations should SHUT UP and go crawl back into that hole where they got those genocidal ideas!
— — —
Israel ambassador to U.S. Jews: Hamas winning war of public opinion
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3181017/posts
NEW YORK — Ambassador Ron Dermer, Israel’s chief diplomatic representative in the U.S., asked some 700 American Jews on a conference call this week for their help shifting the messaging on Israel. Israel is being routinely portrayed in both conventional and social media as an angry, well-armed giant leaving many innocent victims in its wake during the current crisis with Hamas, Dermer said.
The call was organized by the Jewish Federations of North America, which this week sent federation leaders to visit targeted towns in Israel, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Dermer told his audience that Hamas may be winning the war over public opinion, as Israel is vilified for the civilian casualties its bombs cause in Gaza, while Hamas is not being blamed for instructing Palestinians to stay in their homes – even when they have been warned by the IDF that the locations will be bombed imminently.
“Hamas is putting its missile batteries and command centers next to schools and hospitals. That is a major war crime. While we are doing everything possible to keep civilians out of harms way, Hamas is trying to put their people into harms way. Gaza’s interior minister said people should ignore warnings and go back into their homes. We are taking action to minimize to the greatest extent possible number of civilian casualties, they are doing everything to maximize it.”
— — —
We need to make ABSOLUTELY CLEAR when we talk about and support Israel, that it is NOT engaging in a GENOCIDAL CAMPAIGN against the Palestinian civilians - but that it’s HAMAS who is.
We must be STRONGLY EMPHATIC that Israel does NOT COMMIT WAR CRIMES against Palestinian civilians and explain the ways that Israel goes about avoiding collateral damage, while strongly attacking Hamas and its missiles that are flying into Israel.
If you believe that Israel should commit war crimes and engage in a GENOCIDAL CAMPAIGN against Palestinians — then just SHUT UP! ... because you’re doing Israel no favor with your genocidal talk!
First no peace will happen unless Gaza is wiped clean of all Hamas. Two ways, any resistance shoot to kill or drown in the sea. Retake the land under Israel rule and temporary set the military as occupation force while building a justice system with police. A strong force should be located between Egypt border to the Gaza strip.
Yes, our progressive troll Star Traveler continues to misrepresent Israeli public opinion. The Israeli public would he delighted to have Hamas taken out. They do not want Hamas administering services to the Arabs in Gaza. If housing were made available to Israeli Jews kn Gaza again there would be long lines. And Israel coild control the border between Gaza and Egypt. It is 6.8 miles long and emds at the border between Israel and the Sinai, which is controlled by Egypt.
If Netanyahu ends this war leaving Hamas with any power the majority of Israelis will be very disappointed, except the leftists like Star Traveler.
The only way to calm the situation is to kill and disable Ham-ass.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123275572295011847
From the Wall Street Journal
“Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation,” says Mr. Cohen, a Tunisian-born Jew who worked in Gaza for more than two decades. Responsible for religious affairs in the region until 1994, Mr. Cohen watched the Islamist movement take shape, muscle aside secular Palestinian rivals and then morph into what is today Hamas, a militant group that is sworn to Israel’s destruction.
Instead of trying to curb Gaza’s Islamists from the outset, says Mr. Cohen, Israel for years tolerated and, in some cases, encouraged them as a counterweight to the secular nationalists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its dominant faction, Yasser Arafat’s Fatah. Israel cooperated with a crippled, half-blind cleric named Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, even as he was laying the foundations for what would become Hamas. Sheikh Yassin continues to inspire militants today; during the recent war in Gaza, Hamas fighters confronted Israeli troops with “Yassins,” primitive rocket-propelled grenades named in honor of the cleric.”
I didn’t write that article in the Times of Israel ... you better write to the Editor there if you have a problem ... :-) ...
Here’s a running account of news reports related to these recent events with Israel and Hamas. If you want to catch up on the news accounts ... they are here ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/stisraelhamas/index
It’s listed from newest to oldest, so go to the bottom to start.
Even Tzipi Livni now says that “all options are on the table” including taking out Hamas.
The virtually unanimous consensus in Israel that a long-term resolution is required seems to be trumping Obama and Kerry’s demand that Israel confine its efforts to neutralizing the tunnels.
Conservatives have to raise their voices and make clear that an aggressive and far-reaching response by Israel is called for. With the world’s attention focused on the Malaysian airplane this may be an opportune time for Israel to enlarge the theater of war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighs many things, and doesn’t just listen to WHINERS. In fact he said as much recently, when he said that he has to weigh many things before proceeding on any action and that also includes that region at large (namely the Middle East). Netanyahu says he is looking at the big picture and not just one thing.
That’s one thing that Netanyahu does, is carefully consider and weighs the bigger picture for Israel in the long run. And much of that statement was made in regards to the WHINERS Netanyahu has had to shake off his heels like RABID DOGS ... including one he had to fire ... :-) ...
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