I realize that many of my NY
readers, who took the brunt of the storm, may be without electricity now and for
some undetermined time into the days ahead. May they all be safe and
able to return to reasonable normality before too long. Full recovery of
the city will be a long and heavy haul.
Credit:
NYPost
~~~~~~~~~~
Hamas continues to remain in the
news, and I think it's worth taking a look at a couple of things here. With the
resumption of rocket attacks yesterday and the day before, it's important to
note that it was not renegade groups that had refused to cooperate with an
Egyptian-negotiated ceasefire that were claiming credit. It was Hamas
itself.
In fact, Hamas let down some of
its facade this week, when it released a video showing their rockets being fired
from within a populated area.
~~~~~~~~~~
Elliot Abrams, writing for
the Council on Foreign Relations, has cited former Israeli National
Security Adviser Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland (below) on the subject of Hamas.
Credit:
taringa
The general -- while he recommends
a very tough stance -- does not recommend a ground operation in Gaza or
attempts to actually take out Hamas. He has some interesting
thoughts:
"He does not believe Israel has
any particular interest in reuniting the West Bank and Gaza, rather than seeking
a greater integration of Gaza with Egypt. He also notes that efforts by Israel
to strengthen the PA and its leader, President Abbas, against Hamas quite often
have the opposite effect.
"...weakening Hamas does not
strengthen Abbas and Fatah in Gaza because they are so weak there and unable to
improve their situation. Instead, weakening Hamas strengthens even more extreme
salafist and jihadi groups."
~~~~~~~~~~
I believe his next point is
debatable:
"He argues that to the extent that
Hamas comes to be more like a stable government for Gaza, with a decent economy,
it will have that much more to lose from confrontations with
Israel."
Maybe, but there is no guarantee
of this. There are some governments that are very confrontational
indeed. It depends on whether or not they allow the responsibilities of
governing to take precedence over their ideological goals, which include
destruction of Israel.
What this reminds me of is a
statement by outgoing head of the Hamas politburo Khaled Mashaal, who, in a
recent speech, alluded to the fact that Hamas has found it harder to govern
than had been anticipated. He also said in that speech that Hamas is a
nationalist movement and not purely jihadist. Interesting. Hamas leaders
seem to be struggling with exactly what Hamas is supposed to be.
But it is not Mashaal who is going
to resolve that issue for them. And my own take, given the recent
evidence of Hamas behavior, is that it is going the route of more militant, not
less.
~~~~~~~~~~
Returning to Eiland.
He recommends:
"respond[ing] extremely strongly to any attack that
does come out of Gaza. No slow escalation, no signaling and messaging, just very
quick and very tough responses that make Hamas pay a heavy
price
"Second, after every incident close the border
completely, and cut off electricity for a while....that is treating Hamas like
the government of Gaza and punishing it and its constituents for mortars,
rockets and border attacks."
Ah that our government would be prepared to do at
least this!
~~~~~~~~~~
Two days ago, the IDF, working with Shin Bet, broke
up a Hamas cell in Ramallah, arresting thirty. The goal of the cell was to
reinvigorate Hamas activity in Judea and Samaria. Most specifically, they
wanted to establish Hamas operations in Hevron and Bethlehem. This cell
was alleged to be in touch with foreign-based Hamas leaders in order to
collect money and gather intelligence.
According to an army
statement:
"The affair reveals, once again, the Hamas
leadership’s efforts both here and abroad to bolster their enterprise in the
field and improve their operations."
We should never lose sight of the fact that Hamas
does operate in -- and seeks opportunities to take over -- Palestinian Arab
areas of Judea and Samaria. It is the presence of the IDF and its ability
to operate in these areas that counters those efforts.
~~~~~~~~~~
Our soldiers are something
special:
Captain Ziv Shilon, a Givati company commander, lost
one hand recently and sustained serious injury to the other. In fact, he
almost lost his life when -- in the course of a routine patrol -- he got caught
in a blast from a device rigged to a fence at the border with Gaza.
It made news when Chief of Staff Benny
Gantz and then Prime Minister Netanyahu visited him in Soroka Hospital in
Beersheva.
Credit: PMO
Shortly after he was injured, he told reporters that
if he regained use of his remaining hand, he wanted to return to the
army.
To the prime minister, he said:
Many citizens visit me and encourage me.
Israel and its citizens need total security, including self-sacrifice if need
be. This is the reason I joined the army."
And I salute Captain Shilon.
~~~~~~~~~~
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Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
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