Israel, and her people, are hoping to get through the rest of the summer and the fall without the necessity of a war on any front. Recent threats from Hezballah in the north in Lebanon and from Hamas in the south in Gaza are making that possibility looking less likely. With Israel also apparently frozen politically without an actual government, a war is the last thing Israelis need. They will be heading back to the polls again this September and the polls predict the same outcome with no party able to form a coalition. With our internal problems, the last thing we need is an external problem, but that is not within our control. So, what exactly do these threats contain?
Hezballah has made statements recently that Israel is preparing to start a war with Lebanon over Hezballah. This is the claim they have made before launching rockets or firing grenades at passing Israeli patrols along the border as well as kidnapping soldiers who are then more often than not executed. Still, Hezballah offers to return the soldiers captured if Israel surrenders her northern lands or releases every terrorist in our country club version of a prison or any of a number of impossibilities knowing that eventually Israel will come to take their soldiers back. The last time they kidnapped soldiers from a patrol vehicle, they killed several others and claimed to have two alive Israeli IDF soldiers. That, in the end, proved to be a lie and the only question was were they ever alive in Hezballah custody, and if they were, exactly when and how did they die. Those were questions for which we never got an answer, just more threats. Further, Hezballah is directly controlled by Iran. This explains why there are Hezballah troops fighting in Syria as well as Yemen and operating a series of terrorist training camps within the Tri-border region of South America. Hezballah has become a terrorist army and will likely expand their operations as required by the Iranian Supreme Leader. In addition, should Iran face any problems concerning their nuclear ambitions, terrorist activities or be facing a confrontation with United States military forces, or have severe troubles with President Trump; the one item they have promised is at the top of their list is having Hezballah attack Israel to draw the media attention away from Iran. This would present the mainstream media with a dilemma, do they report that President Trump is pressing Iran into an unnecessary war or do they blast Israel for responding and defending herself from Hezballah.
Then there is Hamas. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar stated in a meet with Gazan residents, “I call on Benny Gantz to remember how the IDF failed in its conflict with residents of eastern Gaza during Operation Protective Edge, when he was Chief of Staff. During the next conflict with Israel, we will rain hundreds of rockets in a single barrage.” Sinwar was reacting to comments made by Gantz, coleader of the Blue-White Party who had promised, “If necessary, we’ll frustrate its leaders and crush the region. We’ll act on the ground as much as we want.” The problem is that Hamas is also under the influence of Iran though Hamas also will act on their own volition. Proof of that was made evident with Hamas or Islamic Jihad having fired a rocket from Gaza Friday evening. Initial reports place the launch on Hamas. The rocket was heading for Sderot where it was intercepted by an Iron Dome battery. Another instance of an under two-hundred-dollar Hamas rocket being destroyed with a fifty-thousand-dollar interceptor. Such need for protecting Israelis is worth every penny, but this is also an economic battle Israel cannot win. Eventually Israel will be required to remove all the threats from her borders as no nation on the planet lives with such threats coming from both their northern and southern border.
Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar
There is also an internal problem which has been identified as Israel has lost her shining image of unsurpassed military might and abilities and thus no longer is feared by the surrounding terrorist forces. This was made evident for over a year with the regular rioting along the Gaza border and the launching of incendiary devices carried into Israel on kites and balloons riding the winds. These devices burned down hundreds of acres of farms, nature reserves, forests and towns across southern Israel. The Israelis residing in the Gaza border region cannot be expected to continue to live with such threats. Children from this region show signs of mental problems caused by anxiety, fear and the realization of actual threats making their word unsafe. Children should not be required to check that there are shelters at both ends of their soccer field before starting their game. Every activity a child performs is done with knowledge of the closest shelter and responds to the Code Red alarms by running to the closest shelter knowing they have under fifteen seconds to reach safety. Would any nation be forced by the world to have their children be raised in such an atmosphere of threats, deaths and perils? The obvious answer is of course not. But the world and media reporting on any confrontation between Israel and her terrorist neighbors as being unfair simply because Israelis are kept safe while Hamas endangers their people. The difference comes from the prioritization of the two area’s governing bodies.
Gaza is ruled by a terror regime whose main goal is to destroy Israel by whatever means are available, even, sometimes directly, at the expense and safety of the Gazan people. Hamas runs a dictatorial governance with their leaders chosen from the ranks of the terror organization. They claim to have a separation between their terrorist (military) and their civil government yet their recent appointment of Yahya Sinwar took their terrorist leader and made him the political leader. This is not separation between the two as his appointment was a marriage of the two supposed wings as they placed their government in the hands of their former terror chief. Of course, those nations who provide Gaza with aid will continue to claim they are simply assisting the political wing of Hamas and not the terror wing. Even after building material has been provided by the European Union at least three times and nothing was rebuilt yet somehow all the material disappeared only to be found in the form of infiltration tunnels into Israel. But this will not prevent the European Union or some combination of European government providing building materials because Gaza has still not been rebuilt. They will never stop and wonder why Gaza has not been rebuilt because they are giving these provisions to a good source which is killing Jews, or at least try really hard to do so.
There is a claim that Israel has lost her ability to place fear and trepidation into her enemies. Some call it lacking the quality of intimidation. We prefer to call it poor decision making at the highest levels and a large portion of the General Staff not on the same page as the majority of Israelis. If everyone who has said that the next time Hamas starts firing rockets into Israel in quantities on a daily basis, the IDF need be sent in with orders to wipe the place clean. Some phrase it differently and claim that we need to treat Gaza as we did in Biblical times. We are not sure they fully understand that the Biblical army would kill every person, man woman and child, and wipe out their herds of sheep, cattle, goats, horses as well as their poultry and all other holdings only allowing their fruit trees and fields to survive. We do not dare even consider such and neither should the government. We prefer giving every Gazan a choice between one of three options, also derived sort of from Biblical times. They can choose to live under our rule following the Noahic Code and honoring our laws, they can leave and start again elsewhere and we will not chase them down (as was the custom when you defeated an army you chased down and killed the survivors making retreating to reconsolidate impossible), or they can decide to make war at which time the fist mentioned Biblical threat became an option. We know that the leaders of Hamas would have to be exiled if not held and tried in court, but if they will leave never to darken our doorstep again, that should be sufficient. They should be made to understand that should they return that they would be targeted for assassination and if members of their family would also come to harm, it was their fault for returning. What would be in such a deal of the Gazan people? They would have clean water, electricity, sewage treatment and so many other improvements and economically there would be no comparison. Gaza would become productive allowing for the rule of law to protect along with an actual economy. They would be able to elect their local governments and have semiautonomous self-rule while remaining under Israeli rule. There would be one item which might be considered unfair, but it is the one means of preventing further terrorism. Any person caught in an act of terrorism, planning terrorism, providing the implements for terrorism, their entire family would be expelled from Israel and banned from returning. The damage to the family is the one means of addressing terrorism before it happens. The Palestinian Authority pays their terrorists and their families making it economically incentivized. This is the opposite form of payback meant to prevent anyone even considering terrorist activities.
Hezballah posses a different problem as they also have become much of the government for Lebanon. If Hezballah were to demand the support of the Lebanese Army, Navy and Air Forces, these would probably be assigned Hezballah commanders, if such has not already occurred. This would provide them with a plethora of American and Russian equipment, air-power, helicopters, main battle tanks and various armaments they currently lack. For this reason, any war which involves Hezballah must be treated as a war with all of Lebanon and their military equipment should be targeted and as soon as it appears that Hezballah would be using these weapons, they must all be destroyed as quickly as Israel is able. Further, Israel need warn the IRGC and other Iranian units in Syria that their aiding Hezballah would prove very unhealthy. Whether or not Iran should be struck should it be found that they ordered Hezballah to wage war on Israel is such a tricky question that we will leave it up to the people paid to make such decisions. What has never made sense is why democracies, no matter the level of the threats they face, must wait until they have suffered an initial attack before acting. This and proportionality are the two most idiotic concepts applied to military actions, though they appear to be left more for Israel than anyone else. There is one other concept since World War II which actually is counterproductive simply because it is so wrongheaded. There is this concept amongst the developed nations, which just happen to be the same nations who fought in World War II directly, is that the world has realized what a waste warfare is and we live in a time of peaceful coexistence. We can tell you that this message was lost on the nations of the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). Just look around this region and see the conflicts which reach into every corner. Add to that the idea that one nation has been chosen to rule the entire world and the world is there for their taking. That nation is Iran and the Mullahs do intend to conquer the world little chunk by little chunk. They already took Iraq, almost have Yemen, have what is left of Syria, they own Lebanon and they are threatening Israel and Saudi Arabia along with the Gulf States and Kuwait. Iran also wants to take down the United States as they figure once the United States has been neutralized, think large EMP device over St Louis, then the world would be open for the taking. We unfortunately do not live in an era of peace, not yet.
That time could be near and it is all up to the developed world to take a risk and allow the most advanced forms of energy to be used across the globe and the wealth which would follow would unseat virtually every dictator and rid the world of uncountable problems. But that might harm the oil, coal, nuclear companies and put the eco-warriors out of business as energy would be virtually pollution free and so inexpensive that energy bills would become almost a thing of the past. This and modern farming methods, and it does not have to include hybrid seeds, but proper plowing, drip irrigation, water drainage, ecological means of pest control and other such technologies would allow the world to feed itself three times over without adding pollutants to the oceans. But the people who actually run our planet and wish to continue holding everyone in their concept of serfdom paying them for every drop of oil, every chunk of coal, every ounce of uranium and any other form of energy generation and thus refuse to allow any progress which would harm their industries. In time this will change as it always has and the Luddites will slowly fall back into obscurity.
Beyond the Cusp
Beyond the Cusp 