SCOWLS, clenched fists, and promises aside, when “Bibi” Netanyahu or his lackeys are queried: What will it take, once and for all, to unleash the IDF to bury Hamas, it is as if they are reading from the same demented script: “What we see from here, you don’t see from there!” 

BE that as it may, as is said, the proof is in the pudding. To wit, how many times does this grave situation, a/k/a “matzav”, have to be tackled and highlighted to demonstrate that Israel’s leadership are wildly derelict in their most sacred duty of all? Ad infinitum. 

BUT for the uninitiated, or the still unconvinced, here we go again. As per the actual facts on the ground….the case….the indictment…. 

• Back in August 2011, six years after the late PM Sharon, “the bulldozer”, ordered the IDF to destroy twenty five plus thriving Jewish communities in Gush Katif, a/k/a Gaza, and the northern Shomron (to satiate the very same barbarians who rocketed southern Israel for 17 years – only to up the ante and terrorize the entire nation, after the insane “gifting/rewarding” of developed Jewish communities, as evidenced during the last defensive war with Hamas in 2014), this investigative journalist was asked to memorialize the devastating destruction via its knock-on effects (for HONENU – Israel’s National Legal Defense Organization) through a no-holds-barred analytical assessment. Resultant,”The Bitter Fruits of ‘Disengagement‘ ” was written. Shortly, others followed. Painstaking. Searing.
• Even so, those with eyes and ears and a modicum of historical acumen should have known that one cannot feed rabid beasts and, in return, expect civilized behavior! In fact, as far back as 2007, “No Crime Without Punishment” laid out (at Israel National News) the absolute legal and moral onus upon Israel’s leaders, that is, their sworn duty to mete out punishment commensurate with the acts of terrorism against their citizens. Nullem Crimen Sine Poena. How many understand this sworn obligation?
• In this regard, under the Orwellian circumstances cited above, it is hardly shocking that a follow-on (again, at Israel National News) report was necessary in January 2008, and with no let up in sight. Ask yourselves: Is it rational, let alone acceptable, that the most fearsome army in the Middle East (indeed, the IDF is ranked Number 8 in the world!) has yet to bring Hamas (and assorted Jihadi offshoots) to its knees?

IN light of the above truth-telling and disinfectant, and as night follows day alike, no one should be shocked that this past weekend Hamas is still “calling the shots”, as to when to fire, and when to “pause” – even though, reportedly, the IDF/IAF targeted this and that Hamas building for destruction, all of which, “coincidentally”, were (always are) empty. Why is this?? And, once again, Hamas’ terror masters are left standing to terrorize at will.

Wave upon wave of Palestinian missiles were aimed at Israeli communities from Gaza on Friday night and Saturday morning, Oct. 26-27, gaining impetus from IDF air strikes at some 87 Hamas targets. The IDF spokesman spoke of 30 Palestinian missiles during the night, although the number was more than 50, of which Iron Dome intercepted 13 that directly threatened residential areas. This Palestinian assault focused on the town of Sderot and the Shear Hanegev Council communities rather than widely-spaced targets.
The IDF reported Saturday that IAF fighters hit the new Hamas General Security headquarters in the Derej district of Gaza City although they admitted the building was empty at the time of the attack. In the streets of Sderot meanwhile householders and their children huddled in shelters and fortified rooms after a day of listening to howling mobs of some 16,000 Palestinians close by, trying to force their way through the Gaza fence at three points, while hurling small bombs, grenades and rocks at the soldiers. Five rioters were killed and dozens injured by IDF gunfire before they were pushed back.

But Palestinian missile fire continued unabated into Saturday morning. The latest IDF bulletin held Syria and the Iranian al-Qods responsible for the Palestinian barrage of Friday night and Saturday morning. This onslaught powerfully debunked the reports of an Israeli-Hamas deal,  brokered by Egypt, for the Palestinian terrorists to gradually de-escalate the border outbreaks, provided Israel held back and gave Hamas time for the process.

It also served as a greeting card from Hamas and Islamic Jihad to Israel’s next military chief of staff, whom Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman named on Friday as  Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, 54. Kochavi is currently deputy chief of staff to Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkot, after spending three years as OC Northern Command. He served in many key combat and staff capacities during his military career, although evaluations of his capabilities are mixed.

As commander of the Paratroop Brigade (in 2001), he led successful operations against terrorist concentrations (in 2002-2003) in major Palestinian towns for breaking the back of the Second Intifada (Palestinian uprising) that terrorized Israeli civilian centers for two years. Kochavi designed an effective counter-terror raid technique for saving Israeli troops raiding houses for suspects from being exposed to attack in the street. They were given a tool, which was named after him, for smashing through interior walls between rooms.

As head of AMAN (Military Intelligence), while faulted for certain missed strategic evaluations, he had the foresight to develop the unit’s technological capabilities for its leap into cyber warfare.
Kochavi is still remembered as commander of the Gaza Division 13 years ago, when Israel withdrew finally from the Palestinian enclave under the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. On Sept. 12, 2005, Kochavi shut the door on the last evacuated Israeli community in the Gaza Strip with the pledge: “If a single shot, or bullet is ever fired from here against Israel, the IDF’s response will be crushing!”

During the subsequent 13 years, that vow stayed in the history books. Only this week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu noted that, whereas in 2005, Hamas had only 3,000 armed men, the number has since soared to 65,000!  However, in 2009, a year after he assumed the premiership, the Hamas militia numbered no more than 12,000 men.

Policy-making and military thinking in Israel for dealing with unending Hamas terror has remained frozen in place for 13 years. In 2005, Egypt promised to deploy troops on the strategic “Philadelphi Corridor” to prevent the newly-independent and demilitarized Palestinian enclave in Gaza from smuggling in weapons for rearming. That undertaking was not honored, any more than today, Cairo is capable of forcing Hamas to accept a truce.

As for the incoming chief of staff, Kochavi’s critics evaluate his performance as OC Northern command in charge of the Syrian and Lebanese border areas as falling short of his earlier operational and innovative promise. The question now is: Will Kochavi rise above Israel’s long conceptual paralysis with regard to Gaza and resort to action for stopping the increasingly unbridled Palestinian violence? This weekend, the terrorists of Gaza threw down another gauntlet for the IDF, clearly a challenge for Gen. Kochavi to see if he will finally make good on his 13-year oath of a “crushing response”

ALAS, no one can unmask the insane, counter-intuitive so-called “strategic” policies of Israel’s political echelon akin to Dr. Martin Sherman; inarguably, Israel’s foremost strategic policy analyst. As such, listen raptly, for school’s in session.

TRENCHANTLY, a rational leadership – let alone, one which obsessively touts an abiding adherence to democratic principles – wouldn’t allow their citizens to be subjected to a continuous barrage of missiles and kites (in tandem with stepped-up terror tactics) for years on end. In the meanwhile, said abnormal leadership continues to send in fuel and assorted supplies into Hamas-run Gaza (and Iran supported), knowing full well that Jihadis appropriate the largess! Mind you, while “Bibi” gives the go-ahead, ostensibly, to “relieve” the general population from rolling electrical outages, the urgent question is: What about taking care of Israel’s terrorized citizens? In other words, if Hamas was forced to operate in the dark, in tandem, bereft of fuel to run their terror workshops, wouldn’t said strategy go a long way towards bringing them to their knees? Agreed?

BOTTOM LINE:

KNOW this; The very fact that citizens living within Israel’s southern belt  (after months of incendiary-packed kite/balloon terror and years of missile/rocket barrages) have yet to storm the Knesset, thereby, demanding an end to the onslaught, well, it attests to a form of mental besiegement. Yes, it does.

EFFECTIVELY, once a people believe that normalcy (and safety} is never going to be a part of their lives; that a daily life of terror and more terror (despite knowing that their armed forces can bury their tormentors) is tolerated by their leaders, said mindset becomes a “normative” way of thinking.  

BUT most significantly, since past is prologue, it will take untold casualties for “Bibi” to unleash the powerful IDF – still, only long enough to “mow the grass“, so to speak.

AS always, their “strategic” calculus is not to bury Hamas – mirroring a rational leadership – but to allow them to lick their wounds, and, once again, regroup. Stronger. As to why this is the case, for starters, let’s just agree that “Bibi” (and his so-called right-wing crew) is more scared of angering an ever hostile Euro leadership, rather, than being frightened of the wrath of the majority Zionist public – and that’s the damnable, shameful truth. 

INEXORABLY and most especially, if only “Bibi” was a statesman (his oratorical prowess and flourishes beside the point), Hamas (and assorted Jihadi hydras) would be too scared to rear its head.

CONCLUSIVELY, may the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob save us (myself included, as an American-Israeli living in Israel) from our derelict leaders!