A Tactical Move to Thwart Kassams, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak
Excerpts;
There is no connection between the current Gaza incursion and the disengagement from Gaza.
Last summer, the nation decided to leave Gaza. At that time, it is important to remember, the IDF was only in Gaza to protect Israeli citizens.
Today’s incursion into Gaza was necessitated by reality. We couldn’t fail to react after a soldier had been captured and Kassams had been fired at Ashkelon.
The operation in northern Gaza does not endanger Gilad Shalit. Those who hold him know that, if anything should happen to him, Israel will find them and put them on trial.
This incursion is a tactic, not a strategy. If it makes it harder to fire Kassams on Ashkelon, then this is the right decision.
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak former IDF chief of General Staff and the chairman of the board of the Peres Center for Peace.
Commentary;
Could this article have been any more agendized in it’s very nature? Holding this mindset, how Shahak could have ever been a Chief of Staff is a great mystery. The above article is political spin, pure and simple representing dis-inclusion of a significant segment of Israel, noteably the southern Negev. It’s obvious that Lipkin-Shahak is preparing the media spin for an Olmert parachute ejection should a handcuffed IDF operation fail and events in Gaza take a further turn for the worse.
One-by-one:
- No connection between the Gaza incursion and last year’s Gush Katif “disengagement”: Aside from the prior condition of Jews living in Jewish towns on Jewish Land, having Jewish towns in Gush Katif, particularly in Northern Gaza, obstructed the ability of Arabs to fire Kassams at Israeli population centers. This is a reality which is fundamental and axiomatic.
- “… The IDF was only in Gaza to protect Israeli citizens.” Correct, Israeli citizens, not just in Gaza, but in major Israeli urban centers, such as Sderot, Ashkelon and beyond. The military presence in Gaza also served protect a power plant which generates electricity for a sizeable area of Israel, oil storage facilities which if ignited could incinerate a lot of Jews living around the facilities, etc.
- On Gilad Shalit; We have NO iron-clad assurance, despite numerous military pronouncements, that Shalit is in fact still being held in Gaza and that he wasn’t hustled out through some tunnel unbeknownst to the IDF and being held somewhere else in Arabia. Does the IDF, Shabak or Mossad alway get it’s man? Would Israel really be able to locate the murderers in Gaza or elsewhere in Arabia and bring them to trial. Would this justice system throw away the key on such murderers or later release them in some future “deal?”
- Finally, what is Sderot? Chopped liver to Amnon-Shahak? He makes it obvious in this piece that the dozens of Kassams falling on Sderot weekly just don’t matter. Why?? Mindsets like Amnon-Shahak’s are exactly what the citizens of Sderot are protesting.
And so the excuses, alibis and defeatism continue;
Top IDF Officials: Gaza Raid Won’t Halt Rocket Fire
Excerpts;
The Israel Defense Forces operation in the northern Gaza Strip may diminish Palestinian rocket fire, but it will not halt it altogether, senior military officials told Haaretz as air strikes and rocket fire continued Friday.
The officials said the IDF plans to carry out numerous raids on the outskirts of built-up areas in an effort to deter rocket-launching cells.
The Gaza operation “doesn’t mean there won’t be Qassam fire if we leave tomorrow or the day after,” said Halutz. “But it does mean that terror organizations will pay a high price for every Qassam fired.”
The commander of the Gaza Division, Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi, said Friday that the IDF will not take control of all the Qassam-launching sites in Gaza and that the operation’s key targets are terrorists and the terror infrastructure.
Commentary;
Whatever became of “Not taking NO for an answer?” MB