Why aren’t Israelis told that Hamas High Command is behind the persistent rocket fire?
After 20 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip in the three weeks since Dec. 7, limited punitive IDF air strikes, which never stopped them before, are still not working.
The identity of the hand orchestrating the rocket campaign depends on whom you ask. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman attributes it to “infighting among the Gaza Strip’s rival terrorist groups,” although he holds Hamas accountable for failing to prevent it. The IDF spokesperson issued a statement on Monday, Dec. 18, listing 40 IDF retaliatory strikes against Hamas terrorist targets: “Hamas is exclusively responsible for the situation in the Gaza Strip. The IDF views the firing of rockets at Israeli communities with the utmost gravity and will not allow any harm or attempt to harm the citizens of the State of Israel.”
Hollow words indeed so long as no effective action is taken for putting a stop to the bane. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians, including many thousands of children, live in fear of their lives.
Some of Israel’s mainstream media join in Lieberman’s game of obfuscation for absolving Hamas of keeping its hand on the button for releasing the rocket barrage. One headline proclaimed: “Hamas tortures Salafis to curb Gaza rocket fire,” and sends messages to Israel that “it does not seek escalation.”
Hamas may well be torturing Salafis, but DEBKAfile’s military sources assert this has nothing to do with the rockets launched almost daily from the Gaza Strip. It is the supreme command of Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezz e-din Qassam Brigades, which is directly responsible – not small factions or other terrorist groups. The commanders of the radical Islamist group are motivated by burning resentment of their political leaders’ compliance with Cairo’s drive for reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority led by Fatah and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip. Hamas terror chiefs have no intention of handing Gaza’s border crossings with Israel and Egypt to the control of PA security forces, or of accepting a permanent mission in Gaza City of generals from the Egyptian intelligence ministry.
Hamas is venting its resentment typically by goading Israel with an as-yet measured barrage of rockets, taking advantage of the wave of Islamic protest generated by US President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The order coming down from the Hamas high command is to its allow any group, including its own activists, to shoot rockets into Israel. The level of fire must not be allowed to get out of hand; neither is it stopped or the launchers impounded. This keeps the barrage irregular and spasmodic – yet controlled, a bane for Israelis living within range, who are trying to carry on with their lives. Hamas is fully capable of stopping it, if it so wishes, but Israel is so far avoiding outright action for making this happen.
Israel doesn’t look for an escalation and so doesn’t Hamas… But this situation could easily get out of hand for both players. Immagine if one of Hamas rockets ends up in a mass casualty incident. Netanyahu and Lieberman would be forced to start a new major Air operation over Gaza… We know that an air operations whitout ground invasion will not solve the rocket problem… We know that Israel is reluctant to a ground invasion… We know that a reoccupation of Gaza is not exactly what Israel wants… We know that after a new major air operation Hamas will be founded to rebuild its strenght… What’s the solution? The regional heavy weights must join the game.
Robert Muellar, Joe Scarbourough, Mika Brezinski, James clapper = Human Enemas!
Hezbollah in Syria is the next target for the Trump Administration. Iran will not back off till it’s shi’ite militia are wiped out in the field.
Do you think the Iranians will bring on thier own troops to face Israel? No this yea. After Iran cannot resupply Gaza – and th Saudi and the European and the UN and the US money dries out… then we’ll see the game shift to Gaza.
Shi’ite militias are exposed now. ISIS is close to defeat.
Hitting back long and hard will be the only way to stop them.
What’s with this Hamas state? PLO has renounced Gaza population and teritorry, does it imply no more Olso accords?
Israele, without El Sissi and his financer MbS can’t do much… Just bombing and bombing alone will just cause more civilian deaths and on the long run will generate new extremists… Hamas has bunkers… Bombing will hurt just the civilian population… And once the IDF will run short of fresh targets, usually a few ours after the beginning of the air campaign, will just have to wait for a cease fire agreement… We know this story… Unless the regional heavy weights will join the game there will be no solution…
Is there a “civilian population” in Gaza? Really? Anyone who is not a hardened jihadist is a terrorist. The others have moved out long ago. To live in Gaza means that you are a card-carrying antisemite who espouses death to Jews. So whose side are you on? If you want these creeps firing on your children, putting them in jail, torturing and raping and killing them because they are Jews or Christians, then move to Gaza.
Yes.In germany the NSDAP had never more than 38% of the votes.But the whole world say:Everything was ok.Also bombing towns…And after the war 6-7 Millions died because of hunger,illness.
What about some “spasmodic” and targeted attacks on Gaza coming from Israel every few hours just to see who wins that war of attrition the Pals and their Iranian handlers have implemented to attack and terrorize Israel in the hope that the most radical of the terrorists wins out in Gaza and Judea-Samaria. Russia and America also share in the blame as Russia now controls the movements of Iranians near Israel’s border and America allows it.
Dean, it is impossible to support someone who says these things, just as it is impossible to support a humanitarian advocate who in fact preaches jihad or an atheist who preaches antisemitism. By refusing to focus on your problem and insisting on generalisations just like an antisemite, and with no sense of compassion for the innocent, you commit graver offences, and you tar everybody. Stop being hateful. It doesn’t even confer you the strategic benefit you might think.
Speculations are a waste breath.
How much do we know about military rules of engagement and intelligence gathering.
There are also other areas of consideration.
Israel holds the key to stability in the region while others are on the war path.
Only YHWH can guarantee peace. Time for peace lovers to get back to the bible.
that’s one hell of a big cop-out. let’s just say that god has left us to sort out our own problems, or not. god helps those who help themselves.
Israel should target all the Hamas leaders palaces, shopping malls etc so that the pain is on them not the average Palestinian schmo.
Stop delivering electricity to gaza and quiet will be restored since they will return to to dark ages they are so fond of …………………………..
No need to put our Israeli kids into danger .
Very difficult for Israel or any opposing force in the same position. Useless firing at empty buildings, etc. These people have had a long time time to reinforce everything. Like last time – they are all underground. I agree; cut off the power they don’t pay for anyway – maybe dig a channel from the sea and flood the streets gaza… and they can drown in their basements and terror tunnels.
Yes, cutting of the electricity and flooding their bunkers would probably be the most effective measure, but as long as they’re allowed to continue to teach their kids to hate and kill Jews the problem will not be solved.
Israel wants to weaken specifically its most serious enemies in Hamas, and develop relations with its neighbours, not deliberately deprive further the living conditions of the general populace in Gaza. That last idea is horrific.
I think Abbas went to Qatar first to see if he can get them to replace the Saudi handout $ with money from Qatar or Iran. If he can, then Abbas will tell the Saudi king to go to hell–fast. After that the Saudis will recognize Israel as the Jewish state and Jerusalem as their undivided capital. The war against Iran and their puppets will start sometime within three-four months. Iran seems to want the war with Israel over the Golan Heights because of the oil and gas. They need Syria to have that income to pay them back for the cost of this Syrian war. I am sure the Russians were paid by the Iranians for their war material—they are strictly cash-n-carry.
I thought about it further and I think we just saw here an attempted hit by the Iranians on the Saudi King. Abbas is the one who told them the place and time for the meeting and the place. That is the one critical piece of information you need to do a hit. The king should consider himself lucky that they only shot off one missile not 10.
iran doesn’t care about oil and gas.
try googling “mahdaviat”.
Ok, say Hamas is coming up nice, and there is peace IN THE BORDERS OF 67, what’s the big deal?
Better, contain them (swarms of drones, iron dome, etc) with fewer causalities than a full war, after 2 more generations, the peace will on other borders, with better security after all because the Israel territory is not quite contiguous on the maps of 67.
it’s not a big surprise that iran is heating up the gaza border, whether via pij or hamas. they need a diversion to keep israel, egypt, and saudi arabia busy.
so the solution is to deal with the head of the snake, not the tail. and the head is in tehran.
Iran has several primary goals. One is to maintain a military presence on Israel’s border. Another is to seize the Eastern Shia majority province of Saudi Arabia. Russia is interested in seizing Saudi Arabia in order to control oil pricing and to be able to control every country that depends on Saudi Arabia for oil and gas. The US – since Obama – appears to be asleep at the wheel. No one in the Middle East should every presume that the US will back them in a war – not Israel, not Saudi Arabia. Obama set the stage for US defeat world-wide, and so far President Trump has done nothing to re-assert the US presence in the Middle East. US allies like the Kurds are being over-run by Iranian stooges and the US is doing nothing to prevent it.
Meh