‘Time Not Right for Gaza Invasion’
Commentary;
Ehud, if not now, when?? How much worse do things have to get and how worse our position? How much more danger for the people in the South? Do you even care? Do you even know how to win besides bloodying Jews?
To get an idea of the extent of the arms smuggling problem, the frequency of Kassam rockets being launched at Israel from Gaza and other instances of terror attacks launched upon Israel from Gaza, click here, here and here.
Excerpts;
An Israeli military official said Saturday that Hamas has exploited a period of relative calm to smuggle large numbers of anti-tank missiles and 30 tons of weapons-grade explosives into Gaza, using tunnels under the border with Egypt.
“The question is if it has to be a military operation, if it has to be a military operation by us and if it has to be now,” Olmert said. “We won’t shy away from a military operation if we reach the conclusion, after a thorough check, that it is possible, based on logic and level-headedness and no exaggerations, that there is no better way than this.”
Asked whether this was the case now, he said: “This is not the case.”
Related report; Olmert Speaks – To Time and Declines to Argue Israel’s Position
Excerpts;
TIME: Last time I was here, you laid out a visionary plan – you went beyond [former Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon, you were talking about withdrawals from the West Bank.
Olmert: I haven’t ruled out withdrawals from the West Bank.
TIME: You didn’t win a war, everyone’s corrupt and nobody’s popular. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a politician whose poll ratings are lower than yours. How are you going to face this crisis?
Olmert: First, of course, I think we didn’t lose the war, and not everyone is corrupt and so on and so forth.
TIME: I said you didn’t win the war.
Olmert: [Pauses, appears angry] And I say we won the war. We may not have won the psychological expectations of all Israeli people, but we’ve changed realities in Lebanon. With the passage of time, it will become clearer, the fact is southern Lebanon is entirely different today from what it was a year ago.