Will Israel really neutralize Hamas? Don't count on it

December 30, 2008
from http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024143.php

Debbie Schlussel thinks not:

[...] There have been many of these occasion, temporary Israeli attacks on HAMAS or temporary blockades of funds or supplies to Gaza. And they are a waste of time because Israel doesn't mean business. Eventually, Israel backs down and stops and allows HAMAS to get "refueled" with supplies, money, etc. And yet the HAMAS attacks never end.

You must ask yourself why Israel suddenly chose to strike back now after years of HAMAS sending these rockets to kill the poor, working-class Israelis of Sderot--most of them descendants of Jews expelled from their homes and property in Arab Muslim countries. Why did it not matter that HAMAS sent rockets every day to kill Jews during the faux-truce and before then? Why does it suddenly matter now? What was different about now versus two months ago or two months from now?...

Find out the answer at Debbie's site.

And see also this, from commenter Mega over at Pamela's place:

The pattern:1) Israel starts out with an aggressive military response to the terrorists - the goals are somewhat fuzzy, but it does feel cathartic2) The terrorists go to ground quickly after taking a minor hit to key forces and weaponry3) The Arabs riot in the streets of Europe and across the middle east4) Western govts get nervous and turn the screws on Israel to pull back and negotiate and make peace5) The media reports it as a humanitarian tragedy story, complete with the pathetic pictures of Palestinian kids, leading to massive pressure on Israel to call it quits6) Israel gets nervous and starts doing non-strategic things like flattening empty buildings, to avoid civilian casualties, while trying to figure out what to do next in the face of strong and (to them) unexpected international condemnation7) The enemy, seeing that Israel has no real war plan, starts claiming victory, i.e. "survival" in the face of the onslaught of the world's 4th largest army blah blah blah, and uses some of its mostly-untouched forces and armaments, which were, of course, hidden beyond the IDF's reach8) Israel calls it off and tells its citizens it won.

Everyone knows otherwise.

We seem to be roughly at stage 6 right now.

Posted by Robert at December 30, 2008
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024143.php