Barry Rubin "A lot of people have asked the purpose of Israel’s defensive war against Hamas. Some, including those supposedly expert on the region, have been mystified. They cannot seem to figure out what is going on or what the goal of this Israeli operation could be.
"The answer is simple. Given the premise that Hamas is in a permanent state of war with Israel and will attack Israel whenever it can get away with it, Israel needed to do three things.
"First, Israel had to show Hamas that it cannot daily attack Israel and Israeli civilians without a cost.
"Second, Israel had to show Hamas that the cost is unsustainable and that it needs to keep the peace or suffer massive losses to its governmental, economic, and military infrastructure. This includes a personal cost to those who have taken the lead in attacking Israel and especially to those who have organized terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.
"Third...."
...."So far, Hamas has been turning down the efforts by Egypt and Qatar to broker a ceasefire, making huge and ridiculous demands. Hamas is banking on the idea that the suffering of Gaza’s people–a suffering that it adds to and fictionalizes–will bring enough Western sympathy to force Israel to stop fighting without conditions. It is not in anyone else’s interests to let this happen."
"The answer is simple. Given the premise that Hamas is in a permanent state of war with Israel and will attack Israel whenever it can get away with it, Israel needed to do three things.
"First, Israel had to show Hamas that it cannot daily attack Israel and Israeli civilians without a cost.
"Second, Israel had to show Hamas that the cost is unsustainable and that it needs to keep the peace or suffer massive losses to its governmental, economic, and military infrastructure. This includes a personal cost to those who have taken the lead in attacking Israel and especially to those who have organized terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.
"Third...."
Read this next article and tell me if you expect courageous backing for Israel from the Democrats now in power:
"A statement issued Thursday from the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) illustrates this point. Israel "has escalated air and ground attacks against the Gaza Strip, killing Palestinian men, women and children," it says. "Israel is claiming these attacks are about going after militants, but in reality it's about assassination of Palestinian leaders, destruction of Gazan infrastructure and the gross killings of Palestinian civilians, including women and children."
"The statement offers no information to substantiate such a claim. Israel military officials, in contrast, have posted videos of one of their strikes, which targeted the longtime head of Hamas's military wing."
Jewish World Review
"The statement offers no information to substantiate such a claim. Israel military officials, in contrast, have posted videos of one of their strikes, which targeted the longtime head of Hamas's military wing."
Jewish World Review
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