Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Friday, March 07, 2008 6:27:40 PM
FP: Dr. Levin, ever since Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza in 2005, Hamas has used Gaza as a launching pad for its campaign of genocide against Israel and its citizens. Hamas has been firing rockets (about 2,000 so far) from Gaza into Israel, especially on the town of Sderot, with the objective of killing as many Jewish civilians as possible. It has done so from within civilian areas. The Israeli government failed to answer these attacks until just recently, when it finally showed resolve to defend its own citizens and launched some attacks and killed over 100 Hamas terrorists.
Now, very typically, much of the international community, including the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moo, is condemning Israel, as if Jews do not have the right to defend themselves. Criticism of Hamas's terrorism is almost non-existent.
I would like to discuss these matters with you today and their significance.
Let’s begin, first, with the havoc that Hamas has wreaked on Israel since the withdrawal from Gaza. Can you describe this reign of terror for us?
Levin: Israeli communities near Gaza, most notably Sderot, a town of about 24,000, have been subjected to continuous Kassam rocket attacks, with, as you noted, the rocket count numbering in the thousands. While the residents try to maintain some semblance of normality in their lives, they know that all of them are the targets of Hamas's genocidal strategy and that their situation is anything but normal.
Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 situated about 11 miles from Gaza, has occasionally also been hit by Kassam rockets; but in recent days, as Hamas has received, apparently from Iran, Grad rockets, larger and with greater range, the terror organization has targeted Ashkelon with more dangerous bombardments, widening the target area for its campaign aimed at mass murder of civilians.
FP: So Israel withdraws from Gaza as a gesture of goodwill to Palestinians and the Palestinians use the opportunity to wage a campaign of genocide against Israelis.
Can you explain Israel 's belated response to two years of Hamas's aggression? Why did it wait so long?
Levin: You're correct, of course, about Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in August, 2005, having yielded only increased Palestinian aggression. Hamas's seizure of full control of Gaza in June, 2007, led to a further escalation both in the smuggling of weapons into Gaza and in attacks across the border into Israeli towns and villages.
Explanations for Israeli reluctance to undertake a full-scale campaign to end Hamas's aggression vary according to the Israeli official discussing the question. The most coherent answer is that the only effective way to stop Hamas is to retake control of Gaza, which is something Israel is very reluctant to do because it is not interested in assuming responsibility for Gaza's million plus inhabitants.
One idea floated by some Israeli leaders is to capture Gaza, deplete Hamas's ranks and destroy its infrastructure, and hand the area over to international forces, such as a NATO contingent. But NATO is unlikely to want to accept such an assignment; an international force would more likely be under UN auspices.
In any case, introduction of an international force would inevitably work against Israeli interests. It would have the effect of giving Hamas a protective shield behind which it could rebuild and resume attacks on Israel while hamstringing Israel's ability to respond out of concern for harming or clashing with members of the international contingent. This is, in fact, the situation in southern Lebanon, even with the more robust international force put in place in the wake of the summer, 2006, war. Hezbollah has replenished its rocket and missile arsenal and rebuilt many of its emplacements, including south of the Litani River - the area from which, according to the international force's explicit charge, Hezbollah was to be prevented from reestablishing its former strongholds. Hezbollah may have some decreased freedom of action on the border with Israel, but it is still reconstituting its assets largely unhindered and has effectively intimidated the "robust" international force by such acts as its attacking and killing a number of Spanish soldiers. Meanwhile, the presence of foreign soldiers will complicate Israel's response to any future Hezbollah assault.
Another idea floated in Israel with regard to Gaza is to seize the area and hand it over to Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority. But this would mean expending Israeli lives to give control of Gaza to another group that, like Hamas, aspires to Israel's destruction and mounts terror attacks against Israeli citizens. Abbas's troops, if given Gaza, may not be able to prevent Hamas from rebuilding, but in any case the PA and its forces present threats to the Jewish state hardly less significant than Hamas's.
Yet another suggestion by some Israelis is to push Egypt to intervene and take responsibility for Gaza. This idea has gained increased attention since Hamas's demolition of the Gaza-Egypt border barrier at Rafah and breakout into Sinai in January. Egypt, which has allowed Hamas to smuggle arms and fighters into Gaza and even assisted in the smuggling, has no great interest in assuming control of Gaza. But Hamas, which is in effect the Palestinian branch of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist opposition to the Mubarak government, does represent a threat to Mubarak's regime, and Egypt, particularly if encouraged to do so by the United States, could decide that it's in its interest to take a greater role in Gaza. If it did so, it is capable of imposing its will on the area.
All these various alternatives present problems for Israel, with most being useless and dangerous. Another approach would be for Israel to enter in force to destroy Hamas and, after doing so, remain in those areas in the north of Gaza that put Israeli towns and villages within rocket range. Some of these northern areas have virtually no inhabitants, while others are populated and arrangements would have to be made for disposition of the local population. Taking and holding northern Gaza would be only a temporary solution, as Hamas would ultimately reconstitute itself in areas further south and gain access to rockets and missiles with longer range. But it would at least temporarily resolve the current intolerable situation in which Israel's government is failing in its most basic responsibility, the protection of its citizenry from attack.
Read the entire interview at Front Page Magazine. It appears everyone including the Bush Administration is happily sewing the seeds of Israel's destruction and a second Jewish Holocaust. Israel needs a strong propaganda campaign of its own and an even stronger offensive against Hamas and Hezbollah.