Posted on 01/01/2009 5:56:58 AM PST by vietvet67
AS WORLD leaders and international organizations rush to rescue Hamas, Israel faces complex battlefield challenges - while fearing a stab in the back from the incoming Obama administration.
Israel's leaders are asking themselves two questions: Is the cost of sending sufficient ground forces into Gaza just too high? And, upon his inauguration on Jan. 20, will President Obama undercut Israel's counterterror offensive before its goals have been reached?
Israel can deal with self-aggrandizing busybodies, such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose irresponsible attempts to force a cease-fire upon Israel benefit only Hamas. (Carla, can't you give that guy something to do?) But Israel would be hard pressed to fight on without American support.
As government leaders and generals in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv weigh the question of whether or not to send tanks into Gaza's streets, they hear the clock ticking. A major ground incursion would take time. Would Israel Defense Forces soldiers find themselves fighting on political quicksand?
Despite the frankly anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish reporting of this conflict in the global media, Israel's military performance not only has been technically superb, but has been as humane as possible under such difficult circumstances.
From earlier briefings in Israel, I know the IDF takes an almost absurd degree of care in its targeting. The questioning doesn't stop with "Is that the right building?" it then asks, "What should be our angle of attack to ensure any rubble falls into the street, not atop the primary school next door?" (Hamas consistently embeds terror facilities among innocent civilians.)
Hitting a terrorist hideout in an apartment building, for example, an F-16 would be armed with the smallest warhead that could do the job.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I don’t get it... the Israelis won’t win ever the favor of the media and “world opinion”. Why bother? Might just as well fight the war properly through and give the media the finger.
“... and give the media the finger.”
The very media that a dhimmicratic (who else) congressman wants to extend govt aid to.
When that happens, the real war will begin. None of my tax $$ goes to a group of losers with joke educations who couldn’t hold a real job in any real business.
It's a little late for that.
Only Israel can save itself. To depend on others is to signal defeat.
When you’re fighting for your nation’s existence, it’s not the time to question your popularity. And should Obama somehow pull America’s support for Israel, that would be a major blunder so early in his shaky administration. It doesn’t matter what World opinion is. He’d be left high-and-dry here in America by everyone who sees Israel as an ally in the Middle East. That would be a stupid move.
IDF should have initiated this action two or three months earlier.
It’s not the IDF’s call. They’re tied to whatever administration is in office. Whatever happens, and when it happens, is political. And it happened now due to the upcoming elections. I have no doubt of that. What I do doubt is the sincerity behind all this military buildup along the border. It’s appearing more like rattling sabers every day.
“Might just as well fight the war properly through and give the media the finger.”
I couldn’t agree more. No matter what Israel does, the international community will still hate its guts. Better it ignore international opinion and do whatever it needs to do to ensure its survivability and the security of its people.
They bother because a majority of Israelis believe that they have a mythical "right to exist" which is separate from, and effectively unrelated to, their willingness and their ability to kill their enemies.
For them, made-up words like "international law", "UN resolution", and "international community" have resonance. The imaginary existence of those things gives them a sense of security.
Therefore, their willingness to defend the actually existing Israel with real things like bombs, bullets, and cold steel is conditional on the views of the imaginary "international community".
The contradiction which such delusional Israelis never address is that, if acts of the "United Nations" could create and legitimize the State of Israel, they can also destroy it. They have sheltered under the protection of a US veto in the "Security Council", to the point of becoming SO disconnected from reality that they could allow 77% of their US co-religionists to vote for an annihilationist President who will soon withdraw any meaningful US support and thereby end the Israeli state.
It's quite amazing. The founding generation, I'm sure, couldn't have cared less what the recently-unemployed camp guards and trainmasters thought about Israel's self-defense.
But a majority of Israelis do care, now, and that's why they aren't going to make it.
Woe unto Obama if he goes against Israel.
Even the lunatic Democrats would likely abandon him if he moves to deny Israel the support she needs to fend off Muslim aggression.
(then again, nothing the Democrats do surprises me any more)
A stab in the back? I think Obama Hussein has been very clear what his feelings are towards Israel. Maybe they should have influenced their American cousins a little more during the election.
Only 10% of Gaza causalities have been women and children (43 of 390, according to Arab estimates)...that is exceptional and almost unprecedented in terms of urban target precision. And considering those “innocents” are without a doubt the wives and children of Hamas terrorists, they are not exactly “civilians” in the first place. I have always believed that the families of terrorists are legitimate targets.
Jerusalem's Enemies to Be Destroyed
1 This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: 2 "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. 4 On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. 5 Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.'
6 "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.
7 "The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.
Ralph is right, as usual.
And as for Mr. Zero, he is a friend of the enemies of Israel. I have no doubts about how he will act and I bet the Israelis are not fooled either.
Israel can mute world opinion derived from Palestinian propaganda by using the following strategy:
Return fire: One bomb (or two to give a lesson)for each one that Hamas fires.
Since the Israelis have so much better equipment and targeting, their response will punish much more than the damage from Hamas.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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too late ... cue D’Onofrio in M.I.B. “oh, you idiots!”
SSDD.
Israel refuses to acknowledge that she is fighting a total war with Hamas, a state that can only end with the annihilation or unconditional surrender of one of the participants. Until she does, Hamas will continue to nickel-and-dime her to death.
Unfortunately, American “support” means far more than how the leftist MSM reports on the bombings and missile strikes. Israel gets its arms and replacement parts, etc from the US. Should Hussein cut that off in order to protect his people, Israel would be in trouble.
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