Hamas and the PFLP have been working triple overtime to murder innocent men, women, and children, preferably in a shopping mall or on a bus. The IDF has been racing against the clock trying to get one specific terror cell in Nablus.
Following a three-day raid inside a Nablus refugee camp, Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet succeeded Thursday in capturing the militant cell planning to carry out a suicide bombing attack in the center of the country.
IDF are still perturbed about a Hamas cell in Kalkilya which is also planning a suicide attack.
Four members of the cell, which includes militants from both Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), were apprhended – including the intended suicide bomber.During the raid, residents of Nablus complained that they were running out of food.
Unfortunately, an Israeli soldier, 22-year-old Staff Sergeant Ben-Zion Haim Henman, lost his life during this operation.
Meantime, Hamas and PIJ are talking about stopping the rocket attacks on Israel. Now, this may be just a show for the media, or it may be that Hamas has finally realized that even Ehud Olmert can only be pushed so far. Or maybe they’ve realized that with Ehud Barak in charge of the IDF, there’s a new sheriff in town, and he seems not to want to stand for business as usual. You will not be surprised to learn that the PFLP refuses to continue launching rockets.
I’m actually all for the PFLP refusing to stop. I want Ehud Barak to send in the IDF in a meaningful operation to remove as much weaponry as possible from Hamas, while killing as many terrorists as they can. Israeli air deterrence may have been re-established. But ground deterrence has not been. As long as Hamas thinks that Israel will make no move to stop them, they will continue to attack, and attack, and attack. It’s a no-brainer.
Meryl,
“As long as Hamas thinks that Israel will make no move to stop them, they will continue to attack”
But won’t they continue to attack anyway? i.e. you just can’t kill all of them unless, well, unless you kill ALL of them.
I’m not saying the IDF should stop, I think there is a reason for retribution with or without deterrent effect, but is there any final military solution other than carpet bombing? Or is minimizing the frequency of attacks the best we can expect?
John M asks: is there any final military solution other than carpet bombing?
Yes, John – when sufficient numbers of terrorist leaders are convinced that they themselves are likely to lose their lives if they continue their attacks, they will stop. Carpet bombing is not required – Arabs do act rationally, according to their own priorities. When it appears that they are being irrational, it is only because those priorities don’t match what the West believes they should be.
“Yes, John – when sufficient numbers of terrorist leaders are convinced that they themselves are likely to lose their lives if they continue their attacks, they will stop.”
So, we just carpet bomb the UN and all the media organizations that spend millions of dollars every year struggling to convince them that Israel is a helpless, inoffensive desert flower that they have safely contained the more militant aspects of.
I don’t think that’s a much more realistic option.