Posted on 06/11/2024 11:03:27 AM PDT by SJackson
We owe it to our youth, our up and coming leaders, to stiffen our spines and to do what needs to be done – on our own terms – to assure their future.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to believe that we are on our way to restoring security to our borders and safety to our citizens who reside in either the Gaza envelope or in Israel’s North, the Galilee, and the Golan.
Our soldiers have been not only heroic, but also quite effective in the Swords of Iron campaign in Gaza. We have adapted brilliantly to the demands not only of urban conflict, but also of tunnel conflict.
Our initial success in securing the release of more than 100 hostages was purely a function of overwhelming military might and success. However, since that accomplishment, we have allowed ourselves to be bogged down, delayed, distracted, and pummeled by international voices.
Ironically, that fear of the reaction of the world community has been felt at least as much, if not more, in the North than in Gaza. For reasons that range from American reaction to IDF capabilities, we have tolerated a state of affairs that is a disgrace to the Zionist dream, and a stain on the idea that Israel is projecting sovereignty so as to protect its citizens.
In 1982, rocket attacks on Kiryat Shmona, then the largest town in the Galilee and now a small city, were the pretext for the invasion of Lebanon. Today, Kiryat Shmona, like most of its surrounding communities, is largely abandoned, and those who still insist on staying must confront almost daily rocketing, and increasingly now, fires in the adjoining hillsides.
There have been until just recently only obligatory statements of empathy for the plight of residents, whether they are relocated escapees or stalwart hangers on.
It has been a national situation of “just don’t look over there, it will get you depressed.”
Hezbollah is most certainly calling the shots, as it were, and setting the agenda. We have been largely reactive, though at a certain point it no longer matters. We are involved in tit for tat playground shoving where each side wants to throw its weight around, but to do so within bounds.
There’s the problem with that. It has replaced a security buffer zone in southern Lebanon with a security buffer zone in northern Israel.
Like spectators at the movies, we are engaging in the willful suspension of disbelief, meaning that we are forgetting that Hezbollah possesses massive armories of drones, rockets, and missiles, many quite sophisticated and precise, which can be unleashed by them at their momentary discretion.
Each side knows the other could attack more forcefully, and for the time being does not seek to do so for their own reasons. But in a conflict between a side that is a fiduciary for its citizens and a foe that basically is unaccountable to its people, the advantage inevitably goes to the latter.
Hezbollah is very content for us to be discouraged, depleted and demoralized. This is, of course, a form of victory, producing a mindset that can be exploited for further future gains.
Hezbollah need only look at the situation in Gaza to see that the Israeli resolve to win, meaning to forcefully dismantle Hamas, thereby securing the release of the rest of the hostages, is dissipating. Increasingly Israelis are reverting to a mindset that would pay any price to get the hostages released, as if this was the be all and end all of the conflict.
This state of affairs puts the onus squarely on Israel to change it. Everyone knows that right now we are just once again kicking the can down the road, awaiting a true day of reckoning.
Heaven forbid that that day of reckoning is chosen by Hezbollah. Given the weapons at their disposal, the first strike damage that they could inflict might be horrific.
The embarrassment of senior Israeli military officials It is embarrassing to read how our senior military people talking about how we are getting closer to reaching a decision on what to do in the North. All that tells us is that they are enmeshed in a wait and see mindset.
For my part, first of all, please don’t share your thinking with us. We don’t need to know. We don’t want to know, because if we know, Hezbollah knows. Hezbollah is already talking about the possibility of an IDF attack in mid-June.
How would they know except for the public dithering and hand-wringing of our leaders. Remember preemption? Remember surprise? This is the lesson of the Six Day War.
Remember reactiveness? This is the lesson of the Yom Kippur War. It is no great challenge to decide which path to pursue.
The Israeli people are strong and resilient. They are willing to sacrifice to protect their country and their way of life. Our young people are breathtakingly heroic and eager to defend and protect their homeland.
They want to secure the future for themselves and for the families they have recently started or are busily contemplating. They see in this country a magnificent adventure and they see in themselves the guardians and stewards of that adventure.
That is our recompense in all of this. We owe it to our youth, our up and coming leaders, to stiffen our spines and to do what needs to be done – on our own terms – to assure their future.
Hasn’t Israel “waited and seen” enough already????
No, just another ploy to help the enemy wipe Israel off the map.
How I hate the Left.
It’s a bigger problem to go to war against Hezbullah. Israel would have to be prepared to take tens of thousands of rocket hits.
Israel has had decades to prepare for such an assault. Why wouldn’t they be prepared for it? I thought they had this “Iron Dome” or something close to it.
The younger generation has grown up with the global internet culture and wants to pretend that they live in Miami Beach while the older generation is exhausted from 75 years of living under war and the constant threat of war.
They all just want to live normal lives and pursue their dreams.
In the process, they have lost touch with the reality that the Palestinians and their Arab neighbors greatest dream is to destroy the State of Israel, steal their land and wealth, kill the men and turn the women into sex slaves for Hamas dirt bags.
There is no co existence with Hamas and there never will be.
The brutal reality is that Hamas must be annihilated and the Gaza must be defeated completely and the population must undergo the same process that the Nazis and Japaneses Bushido militarists underwent after WWII.
Hamas as shattered the Palestinian Cold War and initiated total war on Israel. As hard as it will be, Israel has this one shot to get it right this time and if they fail, it is just a matter of time before Israel is destroyed,
They have the Iron Dome. The rockets sent from Hamas on Oct 7th were a test to see if the system could be overwhelmed. Can it take out 10,000 rockets in 10 minutes?
If they go, Israel should have intel on where the bigger rocket caches are located and hit those quick and fast. But certainly a large number of them are spread out and ready to be fired on call. How many Hezbullah people are capable of firing them is another question.
The article does mention past Israeli incursions into Lebanon. The last one was very poorly executed and if I recall many were killed and some captured. I don’t know for a fact but my guess is the Israeli population may not have the stomach for Israel carving out a security zone in S. Lebanon. They’d have to go at least 10 km maybe more, clear it and hold it. And the diplomatic pressure would be enormous too.
Is there a political or diplomatic solution? Not likely, or at least not likely one that will hold forever unless Lebanon can integrate them, and the Palestinians, into their society.
“Why?”
They have allowed the Obama/Biden influence to contaminate Israel’s military and national spirit. The US should support them in whatever means necessary, but not influence the way they live their lives and conduct their wars.
I would have expected the Chairman of Im Tirtzu to be far more frank and specific about the changes that are needed. Maybe he had to show restraint to get in the far Leftist Jerusalem Post.
The stranglehold of WASPs (White Ashkenaz Socialist Post-Zionists) on senior military, intelligence, judges and bureaucrats needs to meet an ignominious end. There’s a growing population of National Religious, Mizrachi/Sefardi, and hareidim that simply have to be accommodated whether the Supreme Court and General Staff like it or not.
Excellent article.
If the Israelis are not serious about destroying Hamas, they need to apply for visas and emigrate to other countries. Now's the time to do it before everyone will tell them "no".
Perhaps the best thing for him to do is to declare "martial law". Prepare his country for sanctions. If it results in destroying Hamas, it's worth the price of getting isolated from the world community for a generation.
*10/7
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