I hate to complain when Israel is finally attacking Gaza, really I do.
But the whole point is being missed here, by just about everyone.
Everyone who wants to see Hamas get what they deserve is reveling in the air attacks against Gaza, even though they are a far cry from all-out war. And they are hoping that it what is next will be the ground invasion that will finish Hamas off. Some even dare to dream that this we are seeing the first steps of rolling back the clock to the status quo ante Disengagement.
Not so fast.
Has everyone forgotten that Israeli elections are a mere 6 weeks away, that the governing parties need to bolster their images in the wake of the Lebanon War and Disengagement fiascos, and that both Menachem Begin (Osirak in 1981) and Shimon Peres (Operation "Grapes of Wrath" in Lebanon in 1996) did the exact same thing right before tight elections?
Let me make this very clear:
1) Yes, Israel has to cream Hamas.
2) This is the Left's fault in the first place, since they caused the retreat out of Gaza which allowed Hamas to take over, arm themselves to the teeth and fire rockets at Israel for years with impunity.
3) If the current leaders of Kadima and Labor really wanted to destroy Hamas they would have done it years ago, but they didn't because it would have been an admission of guilt that the Disengagement was a mistake and the occupation of Gaza wasn't.
4) Therefore it is obvious that the current attacks are a pre-election ploy to help Tzippi Livni's image ("she's not just a nice Jewish girl, she can lead
Israel in war) and Ehud Barak's ("he can fight and lead, unlike the previous Defense Minister, Amir Peretz").
5) Since PM Olmert, Livni and Barak still can't re-invade Gaza since that would be admitting guilt, they won't unless it is in their short-term political interests or unless they lose control of the situation.
6) Therefore they will stop attacking Gaza the second their short-term political aims have been accomplished; and
7) Therefore the current round of fighting is actually pointless and will change nothing at the cost of lots of bloodshed on both sides.
The bottom line: Yes, it is long-past time to stop the rocket fire from Gaza, and as everyone knows, that requires an invasion of ground forces, a permanent re-occupation and a long, hard process of disarming the Arabs of Gaza. There is no chance whatsoever that that is what the current government has in mind.
Those that favor such a policy need to expose Israel's current attack on Gaza for what it is: a short-term political stunt that, at best, will change nothing and at worse could leave Israel worse off than before. Just like happened in Lebanon when the government, basically the same government as we have now, fought a similar war against a similar foe and refused to do what needed to be done to finish off the enemy completely.
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