Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Netanyahu's options on Gaza

The first and best option would of course be making peace with the neighbours.

But anyone who has followed Netanyahu's blood-soaked career knows that's not in the cards.

Having got yet another "war" that was cynically and obviously provoked by him alone, he seems unsure what to do now.

Faced with a Hamas leadership every bit as cynical and opportunistic as he is, if not more, he is being goaded by his own right wing to a ground invasion.

Netanyahu knows that's a bad idea, but at the same time, quitting the war he started while Hamas can still fire one single rocket anywhere will look like failure for him and victory for Hamas.

So that means a ground invasion, which is exactly what the Hamas are waiting for.

Iron Dome has been surprisingly effective in deflecting Gaza rockets.

Iron Dome won't save those Israeli tank crews once they are running rough-shod over Gaza City.

Hamas has already surprised Israel with the exponential improvement in its rocket inventory since Pillar of Defense. Gaza rockets hitting Haifa has been unheard of in any previous conflict.

Those rockets came through the Gaza tunnels.

What else has come through the Gaza tunnels?

The IDF and everybody in Netanyahu's government knows what else has come through those tunnels, which is why they're all hoping "international pressure" will provide a convenient excuse to abort a ground mission.

It will let them pose as the humanitarians who stopped a ground invasion or reoccupation of Gaza because they were concerned about the loss of life etc..

The reality is that a ground invasion means Israeli casualties, and plenty of them.

It will be the Hamas dream come true. Sure, lots more Gaza civilians will die, but there's lots more where they came from.

Even while Israel gets token support abroad from Israel-firsters like Canada's foreign minister John Baird, the reality is that this "Protective Edge" (and who comes up with these really stupid monikers?) has already done grave damage to Israel's reputation.

Netanyahu is up a stump, and no matter which way he jumps, it's only gonna get worse... for both the Palestinians and Israelis.

Then again, you could always give that up and make peace with the neighbours.

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