This Summer's War in Gaza: What Did It Accomplish?

י׳ לחודש החמישי תשע״ד

On this anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Battei HaMiqdash (Temples), as well as many other tragedies incurred by the Jewish People, let us examine some of our more recent tragedies, including some current ones, taking place even as I write.

YNET: Netanyahu: There's no 100% guarantee, but we made the most of it

PM Netanyahu

IDF delivered a blow to the strategic infrastructure Hamas spent years in the making, prime minister says.
August 5, 2014

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday as troops left the Gaza Strip that while there's no 100% guarantee all tunnels have been destroy, "we did everything to make the most of it."

The prime minister said the IDF delivered a blow to the strategic infrastructure Hamas spent years in the making.

"The ability Hamas developed by digging these tunnels would've allowed it to kidnap and murder many citizens and IDF soldiers by attacking simultaneously from many tunnels that infiltrate our borders," Netanyahu said. (cont.)

Since when did his goal change from "return peace to the south for a long time" to "deliver a blow to the strategic infrastructure of Hamas?" Oh, I get it. He is trying to convince us that these are the same things.

Well, Mr. Prime Minister, these things are not at all interchangeable.

Are you as blind to the pattern as everyone else seems to be?

Are you as blind to the pattern, our cycle of self-destruction as most everyone else seems to be?

You did not “make the most it.” You did not do enough damage to them so that they will be not only be incapable, but disinterested in attacking us again. 

You simply repeated the pattern, which Hamas, and the rest of the Arab World looking on, expected you to repeat all along. 

The next time, and barring any Divine Intervention, there will most definitely be a next time, Hamas will have bigger and better missiles, have an even greater range, and will be filled with explosives.

And how do we know this? We’ve been there, and we’ve done it already,…many times. 

 

In the meantime, our soldiers, our children, were forced to risk their lives unnecessarily in ground operations, instead of continued bombing from the air, because of Israel’s “moral sense of duty” to the enemy’s women and children being used as human shields.

There was nothing in the least bit moral about it, just evidence of suicidal tendencies.

And just how much of it was based on “morality,” and not international pressure?

And, is it any coincidence that it was almost nine years ago to the day that the Israeli Government implemented its “Unilateral Disengagement Plan?” This plan included the expelling of almost 10,000 Jews and handing over their lands and homes to our Yishma’elite (Arab) enemies, which, by the way, they promptly burned and utterly destroyed. The Israeli Government handed over land to the enemies, and have the Judea, Samaria, and Gaza [Yesha] Council to thank for this, as it collaborated with the government in this endeavor, and betrayed its own pseudo-constituents.

Meanwhile, Hamas does not believe for a minute that Netanyahu fulfilled any of his goals. Rather, they believe that they have fulfilled several of their goals.

YNET: Hamas: We destroyed Israel's deterrence
Gazans begin leaving UN shelters and heading back to their homes; Palestinian health officials say a total of 1,834 have been killed during operation.
Elior Levy, Reuters, August 5, 2014

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Tuesday that one of the main results of the operation was "the destruction of Israeli deterrence."

"The Palestinian people now have confidence in their ability to stand firm and fight," he added.

Meanwhile, Hamas officials told Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar on Tuesday that "despite the fact the al-Qassam Brigades are bound by the ceasefire, they won't be afraid to respond to any infiltration or ground operation, even if it requires operating beyond the border."

Hamas official Ismail Radwan said the Islamist movement agreed to a ceasefire "on the condition the other side fills all of its terms and stops all forms of aggression in the Gaza Strip."

"We agreed on a truce on the condition Israel withdraws its forces, stop its aerial attacks and open the border crossing to aid, as well as accepts our demands on an airport and seaport." (cont.)

The above speaks for itself:

The IDF's care, and surgical strikes, resulted in only 1,834 deaths. There should have been more. That's what the Yishma'elim understand -- force.

The deterrence power of Israel's military has been destroyed.

Hamas gets a brand new airport and new seaport, just perfect for the renewal of its smuggling operations!

I mean seriously, it does not take a psychologist to know that if you reward a child for tantruming, it will not only tantrum again, but put on an even bigger and better show the next time it does.

PA President Abbas's (left) vision of Palestine.

And, I thought that this was simply orchestrated to make Abbas and Fatah look like the "good Arabs!" How any Arab whose map of "Palestine" does not have any room for Israel, can be considered the "good Arab," I do not know.

Anyway, I was wrong that this was the only goal. This was actually just more of the Israeli Government's same old begging for the non-Jews to accept us and validate our existence (ie. co-dependence), even at the expense of the safety of its own constituents.

Furthermore, the disaster in Gaza seems to have opened up another door for preventing Israel from defeating our enemies once and for all....

YNET: Israel should engage international community to forge peaceful future
Current Gaza op gives Israel a chance to invest in long-term peace, but first the right must abandon the mindset of Israel vs. the world.

Brent Sasley, August 4, 2014

Israel is winning the Gaza war. Hamas’ military capabilities have been severely degraded, it has few credible regional allies, and there is some evidence that even the Gazan population is growing weary of Hamas’ mismanaged rule. Still, without a larger strategic agenda, Israel will only be putting off another round of violence for another time, with all the associated costs. This is a moment of opportunity—one for Israel to engage closely with the international community to advance its interests. Israel already missed a chance to do so while weakening Hamas further, at the moment of the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement. It should not miss another opportunity. (cont.)

From which hat, Sasley is able to dig up this suggestion “to engage closely with the international community,” I cannot even imagine.

The only thing Israel has ever received when having “engaged closely with the international community,” have been pressure from the “international community” to pursue the agenda of the
“international community.”

What nation in its right mind would enter into such an arrangement?

Sasley adds…

Relying on the international community runs counter to the deeply-held Israeli narrative that Israel, based on centuries of collective Jewish experience, is a nation that dwells alone.

We ARE a separate and distinct people, not to be assimilated into the Islamic nor Western, “progressive” worlds. We not to be “grafted onto” by Christians, who are waiting in the wings to take possession of our Land.

This is not based on our “narrative,” often employed as an anti-Biblical euphemism, nor our “collective Jewish experience.” Rather, we are command to “dwell alone.”

We do not need to engage the “international community.” We need to engage The Almighty and His Holy Torah.

Operation Protective Edge was just another tragedy to be added to our litany of tragedies. Unfortunately, this has been one of the self-inflicted varieties.