The current Israeli government once again decided to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory, announcing a unilateral ceasefire.
Within minutes of it being announced, Hamas celebrated by firing off a barrage of missiles at southern Israel. One of them scored a direct hit at a synagogue in Tifrah, near Ofakim. Fortunately it was empty,but the building was heavily damaged.
The triumvirate of Olmert, Livni and Barak essentially caved in to pressure from the EU and the US and the UN and obtained absolutely nothing concrete in exchange.
Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni met in Washington and cobbled together a hasty Memorandum of Understanding so vague that even Livni admitted was more a starting point than any kind of detailed agreement.
Like the ceasefire imposed on Israel to end the Lebanon War,which was also Condi Rice's handiwork and accepted by Livni, it does absolutely nothing to halt Hamas' aggression or prevent them from rearming. All it does, really, is to mouth some platitudes about using 'international partners' and 'Egyptian cooperation' in stopping Iran from smuggling weapons to Hamas.
Even Livni must know in her putrid heart of hearts that this is farcical.
Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak returned from the Arab summit in Kuwait with a fiery speech last night demanding that Israel cease all military action and pull its forces out of Gaza immediately...and declaring that Egypt would not allow any international monitors of the border crossings on its soil.
By saying so, Mubarak made it even plainer that the Rice/Livni MOU is simply a bad joke at Israel's expense.
As for Hamas, they've already declared that they will not abide by the ceasefire.
And after all, why should they?
Like Hezbollah after the Lebanon war,they will present this as a victory, and fire just enough rockets at Israel to underline that fact while they rebuild their tunnel network and rearm.They have given up absolutely nothing, not even agreeing to release Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit - if he's even still alive.
Not only that, but the international community is preparing a massive $1.6 billion influx of reconstruction aid to Gaza, while Israel will not receive a single penny to help rebuild the damage Hamas caused to the southern part of the country.
And the IDF?
They're reportedly livid at having victory snatched away from them by the weakest government in Israel's history. Certainly the e-mails I'm getting bear this out,with the most common comment being, 'what did we fight for'?
The toll on the army's morale is likely to be heavy. So will the toll at the ballot box for Labor and Kadima,which could have interesting implications for the Obama administration's relationship with Israel if they're faced with a center/right government under Likud that actually refuses to knuckle under to the 'international community' and intends to defend the country.
According to the 'ceasefire', the IDF will remain in place for now, only responding when fired upon...which means they're sitting ducks. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that they will be withdrawn under fire in a week or less, as Hamas parades its victory.
While Israel's weak and ineffectual government obviously went along with the program willingly,the fact that they were subjected to this kind of pressure by the US, the EU and the UN in order to preserve a murderous terrorist enclave is significant.
The Europeans, faced with violent riots at the hands of their restive Muslim populations allied with the anti-Israel Angry Left especially wanted quiet at any price, and they were quick to identify themselves with the 'anti-Zionist' forces.
A brief glance at this video of British riot police fleeing attacking mobs howling 'Allahu akbar' is a good illustration of how Hamas won this war not on the battlefield but in the media and the streets:
In America too, we saw the open coming together of the Islamists and the Angry Left in well organized and well financed demonstrations only slightly less violent than what went on in Europe.
And in both Europe and America, the protests made a point of no longer limiting the attacks to Israel but on all Jews, and they were accompanied by wholesale attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions, especially in France and Britain.
Things have changed.
This was a major defeat not only for Israel but for the West. And there is no doubt in my mind that historians will later see this as an important turning point in the War on Jihad.
8 comments:
You are absolutely right. For the past several years Israel has been, it seems, intent on committing suicide. This is yet another step closer to that. Goal.
I thought the Jews had enough being wiped out after the Holocaust. I guess I was wrong.
Hello Uncle Enore and welcome to Joshua's Army.
It's not the Jews per se.
Hamas won this war in the media and on the streets of Europe. All one had to do was observe the violent 'demonstrations' in places like Britain and France to understand why the EU was in the forefront of pressuring Israel.
As for the Bush Administration, both the soon-to-be ex-president and Condi Rice have long been sympathetic to the Arab position despite appearences; the president is building the most expensive presidential library in history at half a billion dollars US, with a large chunk of that money coming from the Saudis and the UAE
The same folks also do a lot of business with the Bush family via the Carlyle Group, a hedge fund where Bush Sr. is chairman emeritus and a large part of the Bush family money resides.
Condi, aside from her personal predilections on this issue is also no doubt looking forward to being a recipiant of what I refer to as 'the Saudi government pension augmentation plan ' ...lucrative speaking engagements, honorariums and consulting fees given to government functionaries who perform obediaently while in office.
Add that to the weakest and most corrupt government in Israel's history and you begin to see why this shook out the way that it did.
It's not so much that the Jews have an appetite for destruction so much as that they're considered expendable for 'peace', and the West may not realize what a grave error this is until it's too late.
Regards,
ff
Unlike many, I've become closer to Israel in recent years, even volunteering recently with Sar-El packing medical kits on an IDF base. Anyone could see that the IDF of today was ready to carry through to complete their mission, only to be undercut by a feckless Israeli leadership still anxious for the world's approval.
The Israeli electorate will have their say in just 22 days. Labor and Kadima will pay the price for their failure of leadership.
I'm sure the IDF is livid, and who can blame them. Again they had a chance to wipe out the enemy and WIN, and again they were denied.
Debbie Hamilton
Right Truth
Hamas won because they can look at a pile of rubble and a pile of bodies and say "this is our victory - We won ." They can point to their stupid leaders and say "Here are our wise leaders."
Israel will lost because we have degenerate traitors like you, who point to a magnificent victory and say "We lost," and who point to the best leadership and the middle east and scream "Traitors."
Hello News Service,
I beg to differ.
Israel's war goals, as expressed by the three stooges you refer to as 'the best leadership and(in?) the Middle East' were to end the rocket fire on the South, end the smuggling of arms into Iran and free Gilad Shalit.
Please tell me which of those they accomplished? The answer of course is N-O-N-E O-F T-H-E A-B-O-V-E.
Of course, a real victory would have involved destroying Hamas, and the Tzahal was fully capable of doing it...which is why every single member of the IDF I've heard from is furious about the way they were prevented from doing exactly that by Olmert, Livni and company.
Hamas won because they could care less about destruction and loss of life. They're focused on goals, chaver. And those goals are the destruction of Israel and every Jew in it.They know that the UN and EU plus the money they get from Abbas and Fatah will enable them to rebuild their weaponry and reconstruct their fortified bunkers and tunnels.
They won because they were able to bring out thousands of their supporters and willing dupes from the Left in well organized, well financed violent 'demonstrations' that scared the pants of the EU, which is why Britain and France were in the forefront to pressure Israel into a meaningless 'ceasefire'. Just like the last Hamas 'ceasefire'.
They won because Israel's puerile leadership allowed itself to be pressured into not finishing the job, which means Hamas will live to fight another day.
As for me being a 'traitor', aside from the fact I'm an American, I've seen the latest polls and it appears that the vast majority of the Israeli electorate agree with me about the 'leadership' of the three stooges and about the fact that this was no 'victory' . Are they all traitors too? or, like me, are they sick and tired of how Livni, Barak and Olmert have misled the country?
To me, the word 'traitor' might be better used ot describe peopl ewho cheefully kicked their fellow Jews out of their homes 'for peace' only to have other more worthy men pay in blood because of their stupidity.
I guess we'll know who the israeli public thinks the real traitors are in a couple of weeks,won't we?
I, too, am an American, nor am I a Jew. But I have been watching the muslim butchers for 45 years now if Israel is going to comport itself in this fashion, it may as well just head for the sea all by itself.
Where are the leaders from the 60's and 70's who DEFENDED Israel?
And WHO thinks it's a good idea to give the Palestinian sub-human butchers a country of their own? It's foolishness...and suicide for Israel.
This makes things easy for Obama. Trying to talk Israel out of Gaza, is a headache he doesn't need. As for Olmert, it's the last chance he'll have to smite Hamas for a long long time, if ever. They hit their window of opportunity perfectly. As for Kadima, they could be the biggest losers of them all.
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