Should ISIS Replace Hamas in Gaza; So What?

 

There has been a news story running around loose that ISIS is causing ripples of violence and is intending to replace Hamas as the governing body in Gaza. Should this actually come to pass, what difference it would make has not been explained in the stories I have seen and I am pretty sure I know why, the truth would be too revealing. The other reason this story has had the emphasis given it is so that the world will see such an event as something horrific and of causing a sea of change probably for the worse. This is true only if your name happens to be Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal of Hamas or Ramadan Shalah and Abd Al Aziz Awda of Islamic Jihad and potentially some of the other top echelon commanders such as Hamas Military Commander Muhammad Deif. The terrorist members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been complimented by the lead members of ISIS in Gaza as far back as last summer’s Operation Protective Edge though you would be hard pressed to find many, if any, news stories mentioning such, especially outside of Israel. Even within the Israeli media the subject was barely ever breached for reasons that escape me for their logic. The most news that mentioned Hamas and ISIS in the same breath was those quoting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and a few other Israeli politicians and top security officers in the IDF and Shin Bet who were making the point publically that there was really no discernible difference between Hamas and ISIS despite what the world media cared to report. The actual discernible difference should both Hamas and Islamic Jihad along with the remaining Fatah and Palestinian Authority individuals all be supplanted by ISIS would be that Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal of Hamas as well as Ramadan Shalah and Abd Al Aziz Awda of Islamic Jihad and perhaps some of the secondary commanders who were seen as not sufficiently bold in their efforts against Israel as that would be the level of the majority of the change. I am fairly sure that the topmost leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, al-Qaeda of Gaza and any other top commanders who have been getting excessively wealthy usurping funds off the top for personal gain, better known as greed, then you have something to fear as such activities are not pure and will deserve punishment by the leaders of ISIS. The top people with the most profit from their positions such as the billionaires of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal who are both worth many billions of dollars, will simply be spending a lot more time at their mansions in Qatar and as time passes less and less time anywhere near Gaza, Mashal has not visited Gaza except for that occasional photo-op just to validate his credentials and to raise morale amongst the troops. The main loss to these leaders is that the gravy train will stop running and they will just have to suffer a serious financial setback and need to spend very carefully such that they do not spend through their billions of dollars too quickly.

 

In Gaza the difference will be minimal until ISIS has attained what they consider a critical mass such that they have the troops and equipment in place and everything ready for their assault on Israel. They will tell their forces that the day when the Zionist entity will pay dearly and no longer be in possession of the stolen Muslim lands and their fellow Muslims who are pure in their practice and intentions will finally celebrate their victory over the much hated enemies of Allah. Needless to point out but if you happen to be an Arab, Muslim or not, resident in Israel and ISIS were to even temporarily for some few hours gain control of your area of residence then you would be best served to be elsewhere during that period as any Israel Arab, especially the Muslims, will be treated according to Quranic texts and their most violent and strictest of interpretations. This means that those who are followers of Islam will have to explain to deaf ears why they had not risen up and destroyed Israel from the inside and were instead living so peaceably with the Jews. After said testimony, which will be interpreted to be more of a confession of guilt, these Muslims will be declared apostate and appropriately murdered, most likely burned alive as has been the lot for the Shia captured by ISIS. The best off will be the Arab Christians who will be permitted to live after paying the Jiyza, the tax especially levied against Christians and other non-Muslims under which their Muslim leadership will protect them until the next payment comes due, but be warned that sooner rather than later you will either not have the funds to pay the Jiyza or will be given the final choice between adopting Islam or death, and conversion will not necessarily save you as your forced conversion may be determined not to have been spiritually uplifting and you would then meet the fate of an apostate, burned alive.

 

After Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest of the terrorist forces in Gaza would necessarily come under the control of ISIS the sea change would barely be more noticeable than a ripple added to the surf pounding the coast; simply put it would produce negligible change. The changes would mostly be cosmetic as while the production of rockets would be increased with the rockets being stored for intense use in support of the eventual ISIS assault to eliminate Israel and liberate the stolen lands which they as the next Caliphate should rule over all the lands that were ever under Islamic rule and that includes all of Israel. The reality would likely be very different as ISIS has a much larger and more important foe than Israel which has been under attack for some time using Gaza as a safe haven and supply depot. The other dirty little secret that the news media have not reported about is that ISIS presence in Gaza is mostly to operate as their liaison with Hamas who manage the supplies and provisions so as to have ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula provided with the appropriate weaponry and ammunition for their attacks on Egyptian forces as their intent is to be able to take possession of sufficient amounts, all or the vast majority, of the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula and have successfully pushed all Egyptian forces from the field of battle and be capable of announcing their great victory and spread into the Sinai Peninsula and declared it as a part of the Islamic State being founded by ISIS. Such an accomplishment would necessarily demand an Egyptian counter-offensive to retake control over the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula using solely Egyptian forces so as not to need Israeli assistance of any note as such would arm ISIS with a propaganda battering-ram with which to unseat President Sisi and the Egyptian government and replace such rule over all of Egypt claiming it for the Islamic State’s Caliphate, just another jewel in their turban and another loss for the Arab Muslims desiring peace under which they can continue their lives.

 

Once ISIS has managed to wrest the Sinai Peninsula from Egyptian control, then ISIS would turn their attention on capturing Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt and then annex the remainder of the country setting to purify the Egyptian population by testing the people on their levels of devotion and knowledge of the Quran and Muslim Law, the Sharia. Should ISIS have the capability of defeating the Egyptian military, not only would such a victory be impressive adding greatly to their reputation, it would serve as another reason proving they are in fact and deed the Caliphate they have declared themselves to be and thus would attract even larger numbers of disenfranchised youth from Western nations as well as across the Muslim world. Such a victory would make any plans to defeat ISIS close to impossible, especially utilizing solely the Iranian forces, even were there to be provided airstrikes as required in support of ground operations to defeat ISIS or seemingly to stop their incremental advances creeping across the landscape. Such a gain would also connect ISIS forces in Libya to the rest of ISIS as well as placing ISIS that much closer to uniting with Boko Haram in western Africa and based in Nigeria. Adding the weapons systems and fighter aircraft to the ISIS arsenals would also be augmented by providing safe zones in which ISIS could train their own pilots providing them with a force multiplier, air support and bombing targets in order to soften them for the ensuing ground assault, something carried out currently by suicide bombers. Such gains made by ISIS would pose a direct threat to the entirety of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and place increased fears in Europe, particularly the southern nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea. One might suspect that such gains and the accompanying threats would provide sufficient threats that the United States would act in a more forceful manner beyond limited airstrikes, but it is our conjecture that until, at the earliest, mid-January 2017 the world can pretty much rule out any increase in their commitment than to provide minimal air support of a few sorties on an active day. One reason that President Obama would not escalate the situation with ISIS would be due to any expansion westwards across northern Africa poses no imminent threat to Iran. In such a case, western movement would take the focus off Iran allowing them to better prepare for their inevitable conflict with ISIS for as long as ISIS exists, the Shia Muslims will not be safe anymore than Jews, Christians and others who do not bow to Allah.

 

The current efforts by ISIS are bringing more forces to bear in the Sinai Peninsula and it appears they will simply be cementing their gains in Iraq for the time being while continuing their efforts in Syria while striking in the Sinai in an effort to overwhelm the Egyptian forces currently holding the area. This is a natural fit for ISIS to open its next expansion as they already have a resupply base where they are able to keep supplies safely and a place they can hide away from the warfront retreating and enjoying relative peace in which to lick their wounds and plan for their next strike. The ISIS strategy is to strike hard with as many forces across as many fronts of the area of operations causing confusion and high casualty counts on their enemy attempting to overrun their checkpoints and other positions. This is the first time ISIS is fighting a national armed forces as until now they were fighting the remnants of a the Syrian Army and militias such as the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Sunni and Shia militias in Iraq and some of Iranian IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) forces which have continued to hold Baghdad and stymying further advances. This has forced ISIS to open a new front from which to make headway and continue to project their strong horse imagery and their invincible forces. Their raid this week assaulted multiple targets striking checkpoints and guard positions across the Sinai Peninsula. These strikes met with varying levels of defense but by the end of the day the Egyptian army had regrouped and pushed ISIS from all the positions they had taken earlier in the day. This was accomplished using assets wisely. The coordinated fight was conducted using forces including the Egyptian Air Force, armored units and those ground forces already deployed in the Sinai Peninsula. ISIS actually brought supplies out of Gaza prompting one Egyptian military leader to breach the subject of Gaza claiming that Egypt held the option of their forces going into Gaza and striking hard at any opposition units that may be; including Hamas, Islamic Jihad or other terror forces they find in Gaza. Initial results have shown that ISIS can push the Egyptian forces from their positions but they have thus far been unable to retain the grounds gained and are forced back into hiding. This may prove to be a war of attrition which would favor ISIS as they are gaining strength as the Western Powers, particularly the United States, appear reticent as they refuse to commit ground troops and actually fight against ISIS. Their anxiousness might be due to their having a plan for one great rout of the United States forces reminiscent of the Tet Offensive in Viet Nam. What that taught the leaders who have studied the History of the United States, particularly their innovative abilities to adapt to their situation and implement strategic options changing their tactics and adopting new and innovative tactics to fit that situation but that as long as the enemy can claim a victory and have produced large numbers of casualties that the media will reside with the isolationist reporting the offensive as have created a new and perilous situation where the forces fighting the United States are described as valiant while the United States military are cast as murderous and treacherous and any other derogatory terms and cast as losing the war or at best not winning. Once the American public has been bombarded with such news reports they demand the troops be brought home and from that point forward the United States has lost and their enemies need only keep up a modicum of effort as a constant reminder and to continue the nightly body count at the opening of every newscast. This was what defeated the United States in Viet Nan, in Afghanistan, and in Iraq once already and the one strength the terror forces have is they have nowhere to run to so they will fight to the last man, woman and child. That sort of determination takes an amount of steady and constant levels of ruthlessness in order to not only defeat them in every battle but to break their spirit and prove to them beyond any doubt that their cause is useless and, in this case, Allah does not favor them being deserving of victory and has handed victory to their sworn enemies. The only question is once the coming war begins, will the American people have the stamina and stomach for completing the fight or will they simply first surrender to the coming propaganda and then inevitably face the final surrender, surrendering to Allah and becoming Muslim and all that does entail.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Can the World be Defused?

 

Once a while ago there were three leaders who defused the terrors and monsters of their day. There work took a while longer and they may never get the credit they deserve. They were the magic combination which comes around only when things seem darkest. In a much earlier time the combination of leaders need not all be present on the world’s fields of battle at the same time, but the world moves at a different pace these days. The old team which between them staved off Europe falling, thus eventually led to our modern age as we have known it, consisted of one hero in the west of Europe, The Battle of Tours pitting Charles the Hammer Martel defeating the Umayyad Caliphate led by ‘Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, which halted the Islamic threat from advancing further eastward and eventually led to the forced retreat of Islam from the Iberian Peninsula under the reign of terror known as the Spanish Inquisition established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, a retrograde purge for which Spain would never quite recover as that evil, or is as some might claim the purification, left Spain without a curious mind in all the realm as the Inquisition allowed not such stray thoughts other than those found in the ‘Good Book’. A few hundred years later the Ottoman Turks were prevented from further adventures in Europe being turned back at the Battle of Vienna by a somewhat unusual hero, King John III Sobieski of Poland who struck a deal whereby his lands would be left untouched by the greedy hands of the other barons and monarchs while he and his entire army would cross to the southern end of Europe and free Vienna breaking the Ottoman siege. This would stall and lead to the end of Ottoman expansion into Europe.

 

Between these two battles was a smaller battle that gained a larger than life share of attention from historians but was still none-the-less of great importance by what it avoided. The battle of which so much is made was the almost war that King Philip II of Spain decided to bring to a conclusive end and forever rid England of its Church, which followed not the Pope in Rome, restoring the rightful ruler of Christendom, Pope Clement VIII. The Armada was assembled and sailed on its historic mission which failed as it was made up of large and cumbersome ships of the old technology which favored the retrograde habits left over from the Inquisition and the purification of thought within the rule of Rome where science would become as close to defined as sin and as a threat to the sanctified rule of a Pope. The defeat of the Spanish Armada allowed the Church of England to prevail and their more open attitudes and the advantage of a strong political royalty which ruled alongside the Church of England but separate when decision of State were decided and the rule of law endured while the Church of England was to content itself with matters of faith. This partial separation between Church and the State had its periods of difficulty but it also permitted great strides in science which eventually spread through Europe beyond where the Pope had extended the Church’s strangling long reach from Rome. Eventually Rome too saw the light of the reformation and the separation between religion and government became the supreme and crowning achievement which was a long time coming with the many fits, starts and backtracks that make history fascinating. The ancient Israelites (or Hebrews) had achieved a form of separation between religious influences and the rule of a king as the limitations of each were delineated in Torah leaving certain powers to the King, others to the Clergy and the freedom to override either, though solely through admonition and persuasion, went the Prophets during their era. The one unfortunate result of the separation of Church from the matters of the ruling elites was that Europe no longer had a single overseeing power structure that the Pope provided when all prayed in the manner instructed out of Rome. This would eventually lead to many wars between the many states in Europe culminating in World War II. With these conflicts came technology which placed Europe as the crowning achievement of its time.

 

The modern realms had a tripartite power structure which managed to work towards their shared goals in what resulted in a mutually supportive series of actions despite there being no treaty or visible connection where these three strong leaders actually were collaborating, instead each added to the strength and power of the others with minimal appearance of collaboration. The three leaders were the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, who presided in that office from May 4, 1979 through November 28, 1990, while Queen Elizabeth II was the supportive monarch; Pope Saint John Paul II whose Papacy began on October 16, 1978 and ended April 2, 2005 and was a strong advocate for the rule of the people and their rights to a government deserving of the people and not the reverse and strongly held to the traditional beliefs working tirelessly largely behind the scenes while making appearances often with intent to back freedom and human rights for all people; and lastly United States President Ronald Reagan whose Presidency began on January 20, 1981 lasting until January 20, 1989 and the challenging force behind the scuttling of, as he coined it, the Evil Empire which was the Soviet Union which he did as much as anyone in facilitating the sudden downfall of the Soviet system and its iron curtain fell in under one week from the inception of the collapse of Communism in Europe. These three people had as much influence in their short decade where all three stood at the pinnacle of the power that swept in a new life and vitality born of freedom and challenging the greatest tyranny which stood in opposition to all these three defenders of the people, their individual rights and their right to choose their own governance and take control of their national ship and steer it through the ballot box and supportive of human dignity and the sanctity of life.

 

The world is once again spiraling into the void that lies beyond the cusp where freedoms are forever lost and tyranny and darkness extinguish the light of hope and the dignity of the spirit. Once again a retrograde influence is oozing from every corner advancing across the plains devouring everything in its path. The seriousness of this threat can be measured in the resisting flames in the eyes of those readying to fight a battle they know they cannot win but fight it they will in the hopes that somewhere a leader will have the courage to step forth and hold the line from crossing beyond the cusp and darkness once again gripping the heart of Europe. This threat comes from every front and ignores all borders and had many masters of which not a one honors freedom, individuality and the rights of the people to choose their own destinies and those who will lead them into the light and not towards the darkness. Currently the forces of freedom sleep as their ruling head of state has little stomach for such as the struggles barking from the far frontiers. This man who leads by following knows only that the previous leadership suffered from flaws that came from striving and this leader swears not to make such mistakes and instead retreats before taking stands and charging forth as doing so may reveal his flaws as it did his predecessors, but he realizes not that timidity and failure of vision are his flaws though his slow shrinking before every challenge is his plan to avoid mistakes. This comes when Europe also means to do well by refraining from the competition and instead seeks to facilitate and placate their way to oblivion that also lie beyond the cusp where greatness fails the timid and the freedoms hard won become easily surrendered and lost as they tip beyond the cusp and fall into the night of oblivion. There are the few who have clear sight and identify the threats but can the world rely on the strength of those who previously held roles of a supportive nature and have not been leaders of the free world as is now asked of them. The leaders in some instance are up to the challenge while in other leaders we see the rage of mediocrity hoping only to hold the line as best as possible waiting for one of the historic leaders to step forward and take the helm once more. What must the few who can lead do when the majority in the world are too tired, fat and lazy to put their shoulders to the wheel and strive to remain free, to stop the mad plunge and assure that their people are not forced beyond the cusp as from there the return will take generations and may never recover as some points, once crossed, may well mean there will be no return for this will be the final fight, the final battle between freedom and all that does empower the greatness in the human effort and spreads the light of freedom giving every last soul the power of flight so as to soar to new heights and new greatness ever pressing forward the boundaries of the mind through new equations which describe the actual functions of the universe and to eventually voyage into the far unknown and visit those points of light seen in the night’s sake for as sure as there is light there is hope for the future or the death of the individual spirit and the complete surrender to darkness forever extinguishing those final glowing embers of hope and heart as we fall beyond the cusp.

 

I have been asked by some close friends why I spend anywhere from three hours to all too often more than the eight hours demanded by a regular employ to continue to write to my slowly growing field of readers. Truthfully, I write in the hopes that somewhere an individual will find something that elevates them such that it awakens within them that spark of imaginations, the boldness to fight mediocrity, the hope that the future will continue to be filled with light and just one person at a time engage more to fight against the ever increasing flow dragging mankind towards a darkness that knows it has little time before the ingenious minds make that singular breakthrough which cements the condition of mankind at the cusp of a great adventure as we spread our wings and fly out into the cosmos and forever have insured that never shall all humankind be swallowed by the darkness beyond the cusp, beyond the whirlpool that swallows all imagination, enslaves every mind, demands total and permanent surrender, insisting on complete compliance never once to again dare. The war to remain in a place where there are a plethora of alternative paths and nobody is forced into the restriction of thought or held to a permanence of class must not be lost but there is this trepidation that the youth are not made aware of the coming threats nor are they largely taught to think independently and are made to believe that there are molds into which every person must choose their mold never to expand or reach beyond the restrictions of their mind. I write to express the truth that no two people are completely alike and thus there are no molds, only self-imposed prisons of the mind and the extinguishing of every flaming spirits as the mold makers impose a correctness of thought and attempt to ridicule and intimidate any who refuse to fold before their stifling approved dictionary for acceptable terms and their definitions. Look up the word ‘discriminate’ and unless you have an unapproved and ‘outdated’ dictionary you will not find it defined as a positive trait through which one sets standards for excellence in all things and thus chooses to expand and investigate things beyond their strict education. Trust that the elite are given the lesson that discriminate is not solely an evil where people are categorized by physical, racial, religious or national traits and all else is ignored. Discriminate also means to choose wisely, something the programmers of the public school system in too many nations is not a part of their indoctrination. Resist the limitations and open your eyes and if you suspect that the teacher is not teaching you how to think but instead what to think, start your own rebellion, a rebellion of one at first as you will need to first arm yourself and then set out to change the world. Presuming you are an adequately proficient reader this list should not take more than a few summer’s free time. With these and a few other items of personal interest, yours, not mine, you may be ready to set out but remember one other item, failure is what redirects efforts towards accomplishments and may even tach us some lessons along the way. There often is more to learn when we fail than when we finally persevere and reach the necessary and inevitable conclusion after exhausting every conceivable failure along the way, or so it may seem.

 

Rebel by reading books, yes they still exist, and writings not on the approved list. Read books such as Atlas Shrugged or other Ayn Rand writings, Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell who was a socialist programmed by his education but who became disenchanted as he experienced life and later in his life wrote of the evils of socialism as he had witnessed it applied in his day, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Unintended Consequences by John Ross. Read books about history especially by those who lived in the times they wrote about starting with The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain with special attention to his travels in what is today Israel and his commentaries on Jerusalem and Bethlehem as well as his travels through the deserted lands and remember that his writings came from a period immediately before Zionists began arriving in greater numbers. Read the Bible, both New and Old Testaments, the Quran, and the life of Confucius and Buddha for some insights into the differing religions and investigate ancient Egypt, Greece, Persia, Rome, Babylon, the Phoenicians, Hittites, Mongols, and acquaint yourself with Oriental religious and societal structures and their philosophies. Read some books on war and strategy as they are useful in life and interactions in the world even in peace times such as the writings of Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz and The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. Learn to play both checkers and chess. Learn logic both as taught in math and electronics as well as philosophy, this will arm you in debates. Arm oneself with knowledge and one will be prepared for anything life sends your way.

 

I also write for my own catharsis as it soothes the mind when one is forced to organize their thoughts so as to put them down as coherent writings, and if my writings have appeared to not be as clear as hoped and lacking in total coherence, then imagine the jumbled mess in my head and what that must be like, and then imagine living with such a racket of fighting ideas but not ideals as without ideals we wander undefined through a dark forest of frightening thoughts forever to remain lost. The world seems that way at this moment and it will take a few miracles to set things back to right, but fortunately the world is full of miracles if one only knows not only where to look but how to look and discern the hidden miracles behind so much that happened every day. Smell the roses and drink some strong coffee and find some simple pursuits in life and make then your anchor by which to have a place or item you define as normalcy. Mine is real, good and strong coffee brewed from just ground whole beans blended often with little care and allowing the mixture to give me a little bit of surprise in life. A little sweet chocolate seems to make it so much tastier and gives it a round robustness that is next to addictive. But everybody deserves one addictive vice they refuse to surrender before the demands for normalcy. Ah, normalcy, how boring a thing can be.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

ISIS, Egypt, Sinai Peninsula and Hamas in Gaza

 

Is it a simple case of one of those strange quirks which history will muse over or is it a divine sign that the man who removed the Muslim Brotherhood horrors from governing Egypt and answered the cries of his people winning him the prized office of Egyptian President has a name which as spelled in English transliteration is the exact reverse of the English initials of the newest and most deadly allies of the Muslim Brotherhood, thus we have Egyptian President Sisi now facing forces from ISIS, Sisi vs. ISIS (and as we have said before, we pronounce ISIS as is, is thus it all depends on what the meaning of Is-is, is.) Now for the existing and coming horrors and the potential coming allies who have worked silently and in only the most untraceable means to support each other’s efforts in the Sinai Peninsula as well as Gaza may become all too public and by doing so be one of the most important ends of the coming series of conflagrations. There may be no choice for the Egyptian forces for success in forcing both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic State allied fighters from the Sinai Peninsula as President Sisi knows that he must not commit the entire strength of the Egyptian military into any sweep of the Sinai. Further, there are many within the Egyptian military whose villages and relatives live and are amongst if not having actually joined the Muslim Brotherhood or potentially joined the new Caliphate of ISIS and thus President Sisi and his generals are aware that they can only use troops specially chosen and known for their complete loyalty and discipline. Even those chosen for regular checkpoint or other daily military or security assignments are likely chosen carefully. One can bet that President Sisi probably witnessed, and not just knows of, the historic assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by disgruntled members of the Egyptian military who were far more loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

There are many who will claim that there is nothing which would permit the presumably secular Muslim Brotherhood and the fanatical religious ISIS to form any alliance despite the truth that the Muslim Brotherhood spawned al-Qaeda which established the Iraqi organization for al-Qaeda from which ISIS was spawned. The reality is that the Muslim Brotherhood is a religiously based organization whose credo states that “The Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal.” Where the Muslim Brotherhood has somewhat of a secular view is when it comes to governance that they claim to support a socialist governance which holds elections until the Muslim Brotherhood gains control over the national governance and then such inconveniences become less important. What has been overlooked in this false dichotomy is that the Muslim Brotherhood has not made any statement concerning their position on should the Caliphate be reestablished. By their apparent coordination in horrific and deadly assault on the Egyptian checkpoints and other positions throughout the Sinai Peninsula both the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS displayed a level of cooperation that should put to bed any doubts about their levels of agreement.

 

Further, there was obvious coordination and cooperation given these operations which included arms and other logistics from within Gaza provided by Hamas which should put to bed not only any doubts about Hamas working with their parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood, but also their cooperation and general support for ISIS and the willingness of ISIS to work willingly and knowingly with Hamas. This coordinated and seamless planning and execution of an assault on this level provides all the evidence necessary to prove that there is recognition and compliance with the authority granted to ISIS to lead the efforts of the Islamist groups and puts to lie the claims that ISIS was planning to go to war with Hamas but instead should provide all the evidence that the recent breakup of the Fatah unity government with Hamas was initiated by Hamas as they were already planning coordinated and supportive efforts with ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood against the government of President Sisi in Egypt. The thing which needs to be given the greatest amount of concern should be the replacement of Fatah and the Arab Palestinian Authority by the ISIS led, Muslim Brotherhood supported Hamas takeover of the Arab Palestinian operations in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) presenting Israel with the challenge of operations in Judea and Samaria taking on a whole new level of violence and coordinated threats should Fatah be defeated or simply collapse as any support it once enjoyed changing horses and moving to give their loyalties to the ISIS led Sunni Islamist merging of Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood into the ranks of ISIS.

 

This brings us to the facing off against a mutual foe between Egypt and Israel and the potential for coordination and potentially joint missions within the Sinai Peninsula as well as throughout Gaza between Israel and Egypt. This would mean a deeper level of coordination beyond simply intelligence sharing and the mere coordination of movements to assure that the two sides do not reach a point where they might interfere with each other’s execution of operations to a level where the coordinated and complimentary operations are planned with the aim of mutual strengthening the other’s effectiveness. There would also be situations, especially within Gaza, where operational support for Egyptian operations within Gaza would be granted close in air support and ground use of sorties from artillery fire to compliment one another’s operational effectiveness. Such coordination between Egyptian military operations, especially when such operations would require informing Israel of the size and scope of Egyptian operation in the Northern Sinai and especially such operations that may extend necessarily into Gaza, as all such in-force operations by Egypt are required to be cleared through Israel according to their peace treaty and supportive accords and also to avoid clashes between the two nations which could easily spiral out of control dissolving any gains made between the two nations in building trusts and peace. Such sharing of intelligence and potential coordination of operations even, if simply done to avoid direct confrontations which could arise as a result of a friendly-fire incident where both sides were attempting to establish their control over a particular objective, be that objective a central strongpoint or the eradication of a permanent large rocket and missile launch site in order to silence its use against both sides, as such a dedicated site would pose a definitive set of difficulties to any operations.

 

Cooperation between Israel and Egypt would not be an entirely new event as the levels of cooperation have been exercised previously as to who would take the lead position in apprehending any vessels attempting to break the blockade of Gaza which has been in effect since the Hamas takeover of the region from Fatah. This has been evidenced when on multiple occasions Egypt, both when under Mubarak and now under Sisi, when ships tried to smuggle by circumventing the Israeli blockade by hugging the Egyptian coast of the north of the Sinai Peninsula the Egyptians had a surprise for them, they guarded against such efforts as President Sisi and his government have had just as much to fear from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza as has Israel. Egypt has had just as tight a closed border with Gaza as has Israel and in some ways an even tighter closure as no aid reaches Gaza in any manner, let alone comparable to the multiple tonnage crossing daily into Gaza, daily even during the entirety of the Gaza War Operation Protective Edge last summer. Egypt has had better effectiveness in finding and closing tunnels under their border with Gaza which are used to smuggle things in and out of Gaza as has Israel in locating the infiltration tunnels which caused such a stir as the IDF had appeared completely surprised by the extensive tunnel system Hamas had been planning to utilize in a massive operation against the Israelis during the High Holy Days last year. Keeping the borders controlled has been a primary effort of both Egypt and Israel as both have suffered threats from within Gaza with the Egyptian threats having often been estimated and paid in lives for any missed tunnels by the Egyptians often lead to infiltrations into the Sinai Peninsula in the form of manpower and also weaponry and explosives for the design of car and truck bombs, IEDs (improvised explosive device used in place of land mines) and other explosive delivery methods and systems which are as varied in kind as they do in their delivery. The reality has been that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and numerous other terrorist groups have just as much hate for the Sisi government as they do towards Israel.

 

With ISIS moving into the Sinai Peninsula one has to wonder what there objective may be. Thus far there has been little to no change across the Negev-Sinai border and there have been the usual ramping up of terrorist strikes which accompany summer but surprisingly much of that can be attributed to problems in Judea and Samaria. What has been somewhat disconcerting has been the increase in attacks in Judea and Samaria claimed to have been attributable to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The one item which had been surprising which this assault upon the Egyptian forces and the particulars have put to rest were the dire warnings that there was a definitive expectation for a war in Gaza waged by ISIS against Hamas and potentially Islamic Jihad. Something about the threat has seemed strange, especially the ISIS against Hamas warnings as in so many ways Hamas and ISIS appear to be natural allies. The only thing which made sense about these threats was they were disinformation though the target escaped reason, well, until now. The intended target of ISIS being out to overthrow Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood was more about throwing off any investigation by the Egyptians into the validity of these claims and the simple overlooking of things being exactly the opposite. The three have been cooperating and this past week the blood soaked reality came crashing home with all the signals coming together all at one time putting to lie the ISIS against Hamas false flag arguments. The similarities between Hamas and ISIS has been a major part in the explanation by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as early as last summer when explaining why it had been paramount that Operation Protective Edge be fought with much the same ferocity which had been reserved thus far for only ISIS by Western interests. But even back then there had appeared to Israeli sources of intelligence that Hamas and ISIS were natural allies which is why more efforts had been expelled into drawing out and eliminating ISIS cells in Judea and Samaria than in Gaza.

 

Apparently Israel had best ramp up their surveillance in seeking out and destroying ISIS cells in Judea and Samaria as they could easily be precursors to Hamas making their new move to replace the current Fatah centered Arab Palestinian Authority with one which places Hamas and ISIS to enter into Judea and Samaria replacing Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas. This was the expected move which may have found Hamas and ISIS working together to gain additional leverage against Israel by taking over the entirety of the Arab Palestinian Authority, something that with Hamas would have already occurred had Abbas ever permitted the Arabs in Judea and Samaria to be able to vote for their own government, something Abbas has been refusing to allow knowing full well that as soon as elections were held that he would fall from power. Apparently the threats of an ISIS-Hamas war in Gaza worked if its intention was allowing the two to have close cooperation setting up this assault on Egypt. Perhaps this is the main event of this coming summer, an alliance which will have Gaza spread its tentacles and wrest power from Abbas giving it to Haniyeh, the former Prime Minister in Gaza before resigning last year to permit the formation of a unity government. Hamas leader Haniyeh knew he was risking nothing despite appearances to the contrary. The ruse was an effort to try to force Abbas to finally allow Arab elections across Gaza, Judea and Samaria. The effort failed to materialize and perhaps the one unknown may have been the undoing of the carefully laid out, years in the making, plan. This unknown was the extent in which ISIS had infiltrated into the Arab Palestinian society. What made knowing this impossible was the fact that there could have been untold numbers of disenchanted Arab Palestinians tired of never being allowed the vote over who controlled their governance. This could have produced fertile growing lands for the ISIS message of rules as written in the Quran. Life by the structures dictated in the Quran might have appealed except many in Judea and Samaria did not desire something more along the lines of a Constitution that would have permitted the enshrining of modern rights and society. Sharia was not what many Arab Palestinians desire as they have witnessed how the Israeli society has produced people very happy with their lives and their society despite the threats of terrorism. They see a people who are slowly but inexorably moving to realize the advantages of a religious life but also realizing that religious life must not be imposed by government and that the only control the religion should have on the governance are the Biblical limitations through which government is prevented from enriching those in its service and that government must serve the people it is in the end responsible to care for. Government cares for the people, and the people do not need to be made subservient in any manner to their government and this is best realized by assuring that there never comes a ruling elite who have usurped unto themselves through government or economic means the ability to enslave the people. The people are what are to be kept as noble and government should act noble but never be permitted to become nobles. This is why Sharia will always be an impossible sell to those who have known true freedom and liberty. The fact that many of the older Palestinians who remember freedom and elections having meaning who will be the saviors of the Arab Palestinian society providing they step forward in the short term and teach their society the beauty of living and celebrating life and not the opposite of existing in order to die with how one dies defines how they lived. One’s life must define ones death and by that we mean the tributes and loving memories they leave the world with after living and inspiring others by their lives. When a society starts to define one’s life by how they die prematurely and before their time then there is a society which serves Ba’al and has reinstituted child sacrifice, for what else can one call a society which reveres a child because they went out to serve their society and their god by an act of suicide, and even worse, a suicide which attempted to take as many who were full of life and living the best they were able as their victims in their sacrifice. Life is already too short; making one’s life tragically shorter is just that, a tragedy. A society that reveres those who chase death is a society doomed to destroy the very future it claims to promise. The slogan which must be at the bedrock of a society is to choose life, in all things and all ways choose life and use that life to help everyone else choose life and live a life which celebrates life.

 

Beyond the Cusp