This is such a balanced and intelligent analysis it merits much broader dissemination. Leaders of Hamas sought the exactly the Israeli reaction the world is now forced to witness. They know many child victims of the massive retaliation that we see on TV. News every night will be future recruits. With the exception of the Entebbe raid, Israel has always been prone to massive retaliation to terrorist attacks. The “nie weder” (never again) mentality is understandable but leads to excess. It is an insane policy to adopt means that create enemies faster than you can kill them. Netanyahu needs to go but probably won’t. President Biden jumped in with both feet when he should have used what ever leverage we have to abhor the Hamas atrocities while pushing for a more measured approach. I’m mildly surprised that Israel is not engaged on a three front war. Major attacks by Hezbollah and Fatah could put them into serious jeopardy. Mike Pheneger
It sometimes appears to me that Netanyahu's all out military action to destroy Hamas has more than a little to do with a desire to cover up his government's failure to protect the people living in the areas so close to Hamas and less so the stated goal of "completely" destroying a terrorist gang. As one of his close advisor's admitted prior to the ground invasion it was an operation to get "payback." On the other hand, a 60 Minutes segment suggested that it took over 10 hours for the IDF to show up at the sight of the attacks. A member of one the villages who survived 7/10 indicated in an interview that he approved the attacks on Gaza, but was also furious with the Prime Minister and his government. They had built an underground wall to stop Hamas from digging tunnels under the fence near where he lived, but afterwards the government had decided that because of the expense of the wall and the new security situation, they could now remove the 20 members of the IDF living in the Kibbutz providing protection for them. One can only wonder what difference having members of the IDF immediately available at the time of the attack might have made.
I have no idea what war-fighting tactical options are. but Netanyahu brought Israel into this murderous closed canyon, and should be removed/replaced immediately.
Gaza Is Not Entebbe
This is such a balanced and intelligent analysis it merits much broader dissemination. Leaders of Hamas sought the exactly the Israeli reaction the world is now forced to witness. They know many child victims of the massive retaliation that we see on TV. News every night will be future recruits. With the exception of the Entebbe raid, Israel has always been prone to massive retaliation to terrorist attacks. The “nie weder” (never again) mentality is understandable but leads to excess. It is an insane policy to adopt means that create enemies faster than you can kill them. Netanyahu needs to go but probably won’t. President Biden jumped in with both feet when he should have used what ever leverage we have to abhor the Hamas atrocities while pushing for a more measured approach. I’m mildly surprised that Israel is not engaged on a three front war. Major attacks by Hezbollah and Fatah could put them into serious jeopardy. Mike Pheneger
It sometimes appears to me that Netanyahu's all out military action to destroy Hamas has more than a little to do with a desire to cover up his government's failure to protect the people living in the areas so close to Hamas and less so the stated goal of "completely" destroying a terrorist gang. As one of his close advisor's admitted prior to the ground invasion it was an operation to get "payback." On the other hand, a 60 Minutes segment suggested that it took over 10 hours for the IDF to show up at the sight of the attacks. A member of one the villages who survived 7/10 indicated in an interview that he approved the attacks on Gaza, but was also furious with the Prime Minister and his government. They had built an underground wall to stop Hamas from digging tunnels under the fence near where he lived, but afterwards the government had decided that because of the expense of the wall and the new security situation, they could now remove the 20 members of the IDF living in the Kibbutz providing protection for them. One can only wonder what difference having members of the IDF immediately available at the time of the attack might have made.
I have no idea what war-fighting tactical options are. but Netanyahu brought Israel into this murderous closed canyon, and should be removed/replaced immediately.