Many people are now saying, “I told you so”. “The Gaza pullout was a big mistake.” Ever since the settlers were evacuated and Gaza turned over to the Palestinians there has been over 700 rocket attacks launched from Gaza into major cities like Ashkelon. So was the prediction of those who opposed the evacuation. And so it has been. Adding insult to injury was the recent kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas and then yesterday another three by Hezbollah.
But consider the following. Israel has responded to this in exactly the way it said it would at the outset. They have gone back into Gaza, only this time with the military, not civilians. This is a justifiable act and far superior to allowing civilians to be targets there even wiling ones. Israel has also arrested Hamas members of the PA government, and destroyed government housing (…the interior ministry building and the foreign ministry building).
What is more they consider the kidnapping of soldiers by Hezbollah (who basically controls Lebanon) an act of war and they have attacked Lebanon by land, sea, and air, destroying their airport. And what has the world response been? It has been largely supportive of Israel’s position. And this is important, because without it, international pressure would be brought to bear on Israel to withdraw. To be sure, Secretary of State, Rice has called upon Israel for restraint but in my view it is just cover so that US cannot be accused of not caring about civilian casualties. The US clearly understands the need for the Israelis to defend themselves and will do nothing to stop them.
The evidence of a change of attitude brought about by the Gaza withdrawal is quite clear in today’s Chicago Tribune, a newspaper with a checkered history about Israel’s responses to terror. In its lead editorial
it has totally taken the Israeli position on this issue, citing the Gaza withdrawal as the test that Palestinians failed to pass. Had Israel not withdrawn the world would still be meandering around seeing a sort of equivalency between Palestinian terror and Israel’s response to terror and blaming it as it did on the continued occupation. But not this time. I urge everyone to read the editorial and see for themselves. Tribune reporting and editorial policy in the past was seen as biased against Israel... so much so that a boycott of the Tribune was called for by some of the rabbinic and community leadership here. This resulted in many subscription cancellations. It is in light of that past history that this editorial should be read.
As for what Israel should do to now… well I’ve been advocated assassinating the anti Semitic Muslim Clerics for a long time. They started with Sheik Yassin. They would do a great service to the cause of justice by by killing Sheik Nassralah the leader of Hezabolah and another Hezabolah ideologue, Sheik.Fadlala. These are the two top clerics in Lebanon. If Muslim fanatics want to continue capturing our soldiers and using them for ransom we ought to take the fight right to the ideological top. They are the ones responsible for instilling this hatred of Jews into the deep psyches of their people. These clerics are the closest thing to Hitler we have had since the holocaust, but what makes them even worse is that they are doing in the guise of religion… in the name of God. and that makes them far more dangerous.
The only way to win this “war” is to make the entire population realize once and for all that the entire religion is doomed if it doesn’t change its attitude. This is far from the case now. Demoralizing them through the destruction of their religious leaders is the best chance for our future as a nation at peace. I see no other way.
