Has the Regime Demoralized the IDF?

Analysis: A Crisis of Confidence, By Anshel L. Pfeffer

Excerpts;

Olmert could be excused for believing that he has handled things pretty well until now, but whether he likes it not, the Gilad Shalit saga, now into its second week, has defined his first half-year in power and could well cast a pall over the next.

The final resolution of Shalit’s saga notwithstanding, it will take a Herculean effort on the part of Olmert and his cabinet to regain one of their most important assets, the confidence of the military and the intelligence establishment. read more

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Control of Gaza: An Imperative for Israel …

Israel Must Control Gaza’s Borders – All of Them, By Gerald M. Steinberg

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The return of the IDF to Gaza marks the end of the first phase of the
post-disengagement experiment, less than a year after it began. The two immediate causes are obvious: Palestinian tunnelling from Gaza into Israel, resulting in the killing of two soldiers and the kidnapping of another; and the escalating rocket attacks against Sderot and elsewhere.

But the underlying factor, and the more lasting impact, is the rediscovery that as long as the Palestinian war continues, there is not substitute for an Israeli military presence on the ground. The innovative arrangements that accompanied the withdrawal of Israelimilitary forces from Gaza in August 2005 have all collapsed. read more

Regime Seeks to Restore Electricity to Gaza Terrorists …

Government to Vote on Supplying Electricity to Gaza

The government will vote Sunday on a proposal to supply electricity from Israel to the Gaza Strip, in order to resume electricity to the area after an Israel Air Force strike on a Palestinian power station there.

If approved, the Israel Electric Corporation will erect special electrical lines stretching from Israel into Gaza. According to government sources, Sunday’s vote follows days of international pressure.

The Gaza Strip requires 200 megawatts of electricity, half of which is provided by the power station, and half which is supplied by the Israel Electric Corporation. After the IAF strike, the power station’s capacity was cut by half. read more

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The Gaza Invasion, Kassam Blitz and Other Moetsei Shabbos War News …

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Entebbe Remembrances …

Back to Entebbe

Excerpts;

Officer Amitzur Kafri curled up around a bag of oranges on the floor of the Hercules-130 military plane, drifting in and out of sleep.

Around him, 28 fellow Israeli Sayeret Matkal special forces reconnaissance soldiers in fake Ugandan army uniforms sat or lay, squished together, sweating and silent, on their way to Entebbe, Uganda.

Preceding them by six days were 100-plus Israeli and other Jewish passengers from skyjacked Air France flight 139, held at gunpoint in Entebbe after most non-Israeli passengers were freed. read more

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Unfortunately Redundant, But Arrogant PM Still Doesn’t Get It …

Column One: Olmert Doesn’t Get It, By Caroline Glick

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Since replacing Ariel Sharon in office last December, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has refused to permit a large-scale IDF incursion into the Gaza Strip. The hundreds of rockets, mortars and missiles that have rendered the Western Negev’s population and economy hostage to Palestinian rocket crews could not budge him from his refusal to take the war to the enemy…

The fact that Israel’s intelligence collection capabilities in Gaza were grievously undermined in the aftermath of last summer’s withdrawal; the fact that IDF commanders acknowledge that more weaponry has been brought into Gaza in the past ten months than entered in the previous 38 years, made no impression. Repeated reports of Al Qaida opening shop in Gaza and of Iranian Revolutionary Guards units training Fatah and Hamas members in the destroyed Israeli communities were dismissed as unimportant, irrelevant and insignificant. read more

IAF Chief: Won’t Fire on Terrorist Holding Son’s Hand, Launching Kassam …

Israel Air Force Chief: Won’t Stop Kassam Aimed to Kill if the Terrorist is Holding His Son’s Hand as He Launches Rocket

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…. They “cloak” themselves in the most appalling sense of the word – to protect themselves because they know we act with the highest morality. They surround themselves with women and children.

… If we know that [the terrorist] is holding his son’s hand, we do not fire. Even if the terrorist is in the midst of firing a Kassam, and the Kassam is aimed to kill. We do not fire. read more

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Gaza Invasion, Kassam Blitz and Other War News …

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PM: North Gaza Attack Plan ‘No Good’, Cover for Hostage Negotiations??

Olmert Delays Northern Gaza Incursion

Excerpts;

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday rejected a proposal by Defense Minister Amir Peretz and the Israel Defense Forces for a ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip against the ongoing Qassam rocket fire.

Olmert demanded that they present him with an approved operational plan.

According to government sources, the operation, which will target Beit Hanun, will take place, but Olmert wants the operation to be “prolonged and exhausting,” and did not believe that the plan he was shown fit the bill. read more

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Any Ceasefire Bodes Ill for the Future …

Weekly Commentary: Cease Fire Only Means Harder Future

Excerpts;

The kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, ongoing Qasaam fire, the acceptance by “man of peace” Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas of the “National Conciliation Document” (in a version even more radical than the original) and the murder of Eliahu Asheri provides Israel with a window of opportunity to launch an important – and possibly critical – operation to roll back the ever growing Palestinian capability to engage Israel in a debilitating war of attrition and bog down Israeli forces needed in the event of the threat of invasion. read more

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