As of Sunday morning 116 missiles had been fired in to Israel from Gaza in a 24 hour period. The IDF has raised its alert level in the area of the Golan Heights on the Syrian border after firing in to Syria for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur war. At what point does Israel act accordingly?
A home in the Sha''ar Hanegev Region after missile attack
For the most part Israel’s military responses can be summed up with one word; “Restraint”.
I understand the reasoning, from politics to world view, I get it, I don’t always agree, but I do understand. But at what point does Israel stop worrying about world view, which we all know will always be against her, and start worrying about her own security and people?
Sunday November 11, the Jerusalem Post reported,
Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired at least 50 rockets and mortars into Israel since midnight Saturday night, injuring three civilians.
The fresh launches bring the total number of rocket and mortar attacks to over 80 in the past 24 hours.
As of the writing of this the total number of missiles has exceeded 116. During this barrage of missiles into Israel’s south, Israel fired into Syria, something Israel hasn’t done since 1973. As reported, again from the Jerusalem Post,
The IDF fired a warning shot, in the form of a guided missile, at the Syrian military on Sunday after a Syrian shell exploded in the Golan Heights for the second time in recent days.
Israel has not fired at Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Then we have the attack of a woman while sitting in her car with her children in the French Hill section of Jerusalem, which Israel National News is calling a possible Third Intifada,
Jerusalem Stabbing, Road Terror Herald Third Intifada?
As terror attacks against Israelis intensify both in frequency, as well as variety, ferocity and geographical spread, it is worth considering whether the phenomenon heralds the possible advent of a third intifada, as many military analysts have warned.
A Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist attacked a Jewish woman Sunday afternoon in the Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill. The attacker struck as the 30-year-old woman who sat in her car near the fence of a school waiting with her two young children for her husband while he was in the school. He yanked open the car door, brandishing a knife and stabbed the young mother in the face.
PA Arabs also attacked Israeli motorists as they drove Sunday by the Jewish village of Negohot in the Hevron Hills, according to YeshaNews. In what has become known as road terror attacks, the Arabs were hurling rocks at cars as they drove close to the village. One of the cars sustained several direct hits and was damaged in the attack, but the driver and passengers were not physically injured. Such attacks are intended to kill by causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle. The car then crashes or slows down enough to allow attackers to attack their victims directly.
Israel is used to showing restraint and rather than filling the entire article with examples, I’ll site just one. The Gulf War 1990-1991. A total of 42 Scud missiles were fired in to Israel from Iraq in a seven week period.
During this period approximately 230 Israelis were injured with some 4,000 Israelis left homeless. The Jewish Virtual Library reported,
The biggest cost was in human lives. A total of 74 people died as a consequence of Scud attacks. Two died in direct hits, four from suffocation in gas masks and the rest from heart attacks (Jerusalem Post, January 17, 1992).
Throughout the Gulf War Israel did not respond to any attacks, it showed ‘restraint’ just as the U.S. had requested.
Israel now is facing a much closer enemy, nothing new of course, but closer nonetheless. Sunday morning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting,
“The IDF is striking and will continue to strike Gaza," Netanyahu said. "Terrorist organizations are suffering grave setbacks at the hands of the IDF. The world must understand that Israel will not sit idly. We are ready to escalate our response.”
Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke on Army Radio Sunday morning saying that Israel is working to ensure the IDF has the freedom to operate. He stated,
“With open eyes, we must strike blows as necessary, and sometimes you get hit, because that''s how it goes in a boxing ring.”
Well Defense Minister, that’s a nice analogy, but with all due respect, it’s not a boxing match and Israel won’t just suffer a black eye, it will suffer with dead civilians and soldiers.
These animals are timing the attacks to kill children. As reported by Israel National News,
Many of the rockets fired Sunday were timed for the end of the school day, in order to try and kill or maim children.
“This has to stop,” said Gershon, another resident of “the capital of the Negev.”
“The rocket attack was at 13:58,” he said, “when all the kids were walking home from school and I was on my way to pick up my daughter. The whole city should keep their children home until the rocket attacks stop.”
At what point, to use the Defense Minister’s analogy, does Israel take off the gloves?
Others in Israel are calling for a full scale response. Ynet News reported,
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said that “Israel must operate in Gaza to eliminate the Hamas leadership and disengage on all civil levels, just like in Lebanon. I don''t think the elections factor into this.”
Interior Minister Eli Yishai remarked that the “rules of the game in the south are about to change – there will be no more of ‘they fire and we respond.’ Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself.”
Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau said, “We must persecute them, we must remember Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas), the partner. Is he able to stop the firing from Gaza?” The minister added that the situation warrants a large scale operation.
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said during a tour of the Sderot police station, “Hamas is accountable and will pay dearly. We will not hold a time limit on retaliation. The IDF knows the targets and will strike them; holding close to a million residents in shelters is impossible and intolerable.”
Over a year ago I wrote an article titled “Confronting Israel’s Enemies - It’s Long Past Due”. In that article I stated,
At what point will Israel and its leaders realize that no matter what they do, it doesn’t matter in the world’s eyes and they need to stop trying to please the world and do what is necessary for the security and safety of its own people?
At this point I for one think that Israel needs to just take off the gloves and treat those who want war with exactly what they want. It’s called survival.
I explained about the Hamas Charter,
“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”
“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”
At the end of the article I put it bluntly,
Do what any other sovereign nation would do and go in to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and deal with the issue once and for all. Use their words,
“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”
Don’t pull out after a week or month. Use the entire strength and might of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Stay and complete the mission, get it done and - if need be - level the whole area.
I have written numerous times that I, like every Israeli does not want war. However I don’t want to see a continuation of rockets raining down either. How many more civilians must be injured or killed, how many children must die before Israel realizes that it may have to put its military in harm’s way rather than its civilians?
The U.S. election is over and perhaps now it is time to send a message to the U.S. and the world, it is time to set a precedent.
Its military is named the IDF, Israel Defense Forces. It is time to put its name to use and sometimes the best defense is to go on the offense.
Gadi Adelman is a freelance writer and lecturer on the history of terrorism andcounterterrorism. He grew up in Israel, studying terrorism and Islam for 35 years aftersurviving a terrorist bomb in Jerusalem in which 7 children were killed. Since returningto the U. S., Gadi teaches and lectures to law enforcement agencies as well as highschools and colleges. His articles have appeared in The Jerusalem Post, Frontpage Mag,Family Security Matters and dozens of other sites. He can be heard every Thursday nightat 8PM est. on his own radio show “American Akbar” on Blog Talk Radio. He can bereached through his website gadiadelman.com.