Israeli top soldier’s restraint vs Gaza’s rockets sends wrong signal to enemies in the north
“I hear irresponsible demands for maximum force to stop Gaza rockets,” said IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkott Tuesday. “That is the wrong way to go.”
That comment was consistent with the words last week of a “high-ranking IDF officer,” who explained: “When calibrating its response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, the IDF must take into account the need to preserve Hamas’ deterrent strength against Salafi terrorist organizations.”
The chief of staff was speaking Tuesday, Jan. 2 in a wide-ranging lecture at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. Expanding on the theme that the IDF would be wrong to use maximum force against rocket fire from Gaza, Gen. Eisenkott laid out the following rationale: Hamas in Gaza is making a great effort to set up anti-Israel terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria and inflame the ground there – “motivated by its wish to keep the Gaza Strip calm.” To this end, he said, Hamas is plotting ISIS-style lone wolf terror attacks in Judea and Samaria.
Does this mean, DEBKAfile’s military sources ask, that Israel must endure regular rockets attacks to save Judea and Samaria from terror? And is this the rationale for preserving Hamas’ deterrent strength? How would this formula stand up if a single Hamas rocket hit Ben Gurion international airport? No one doubts that the Eisenkott rationale would be dumped and the order go out for the IDF to do as much as it can and what it knows best.
“We have passed two difficult years, but have managed to stabilize the situation there (in the Gaza Strip) by dint of the right policy,” the Chief of Staff said.
The Palestinians fired 30 rockets in as many days? Is that proof of the right policy?
He then turned to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ investment in building machines of terror. A cool billion dollars, for instance, is funneled year by year to the Lebanese Hizballah terrorist organization; several billions are sunk in the war in Syria; hundreds of millions per year are earmarked for fomenting the war in Yemen and a similar sum goes to the Gaza Strip’s terrorist groups. Continuing his lecture, Eisenkott noted that Hizballah has undergone many changes in recent years “to become Iran’s messenger in the region.” He stressed that, in his view, “Israel faces its most serious threat from the northern front in Lebanon.”
The facts on Iran and Hizballah were recounted as if they are unrelated to the Gaza Strip and Palestinian rocket fire. That is where the chief of staff has got it wrong, military experts tell DEBKAfile. Iranian strategists, while busy holding down increasingly violent protests at home, will undoubtedly have picked up every word uttered by the Israeli chief of staff. They will have drawn operational conclusions from his words for referring to both Hizballah and Hamas through the same channels as Iran supplies them with cash, rockets, and mortar shells.
The disquieting message conveyed by Gen. Eisenkott is that Israel’s military leaders are willing to tolerate rocket fire on strategically peripheral targets without ratcheting up IDF responses beyond the current slow level. The danger here is that it leaves Iran, Hizballah and Hamas with the initiative. It is up to them, not Israel, to determine what situation suits them best on Israel’s northern borders with Syria and Lebanon and its southern border with Gaza.
Nail on the head….
Israel has lost it’s deterrent power by not aggressively responding to any and all attacks and provocations. We’ve become too concerned about world opinion. We should not let world opinion influence what we need to do to survive as a nation. We all know the world hates Jews and they will continue to hate us no matter what we do short of dying. For every rocket fired from Gaza we should fire 100 artillery shells indiscriminately into Gaza. As civilian casualties in Gaza increase so will the pressure from within to stop firing rockets.
Palestinians do not respect restraint. They see it as a sign if weakness.
Regarding world opinion, palestinians manipulate the truth to trick others into feeling sorry for them. If that doesn’t work, they resort to violence &/or threats of terror.
This is the reality. I agree with you Yaakov.
the world knows nothing about jews, and jews should not make so much of themselves in the world. why should we care when we are satisfied with normal things like homes and productive lives
Ivan,
Why then are you reading a Israeli news web page?
You prove how ignorant Russians and libtards are.
Do your self a favor and go back to fellow nazis at Russia today.
Absolutely correct, the current leadership generation does not understand that.
You are right the military worship the liberals in Israel Not GOD
My Shamouta mother is an arab semite who practiced beastiality.
That explains me.
A whole fake colony, afraid and paralyzed.
It’s pathetic, really.
like your mother when she is fucked in her ass by a big camel,one of your cousins
The sentence above my reply say’s offensive language is barred. Read the comment immediately above my reply. Does Debka even know what is offensive language?
Just attack them as they deserve.
Plan an operation to attack both Lebanon, Gaza and Syria at the same time
with full strength a mighty blow that the terrorists never forget.
But gather intelligence before like it was done in the good old times when it was enough to just bomb the trees in order to hit the bunkers.
The comments were not consistent. The unnamed officer said, as a paraphrase, “We must consider that if we wipe out Hamas in the Gaza Strip, then we must be prepared for the repercussions of the resultant power vacuum.” Eisenkot said, as a paraphrase, “Attacking Hamas with full force is not the proper response.” Unlike Eisenkot, the unnamed officer did not state that the IDF should not attack at full force, only that it needs to be prepared to deal with the fallout.
Of course, this is all secondary to keeping mouths shut in the upper ranks of the military, with or without the press involved. Such statements from senior members of the US Armed Forces would prompt a full investigation, particularly in time of war.
Here is what I would do:
Demand PA-Hamas change their Charter and end all hostilities with Israel and end all alliances with foreign powers or else…
No electricity
No water
No supplies
No money
Only exits from Gaza and Judea-Samaria but nobody to entrances.
Who am I to disagree, with General Eisenkott. However, I still believe we should treat Haniyeh, Mashaal, and Deif, the way we treated Rantisi and Sheikh Yasin. Kol Araveem Toveem B’Bet Kevarot.
The founding father’s of Israel understood that only overwhelming force wins battles and war. Today’s leaders, both military and political seem to believe that a tit for tat reaction is all that is required, when in fact it is a losing proposition.
Israel shouldn just wipe out the entire Middle East. No more problems