What has Israel gained really?

Submitted by Ali Baba (United States), Jul 22, 2014 at 16:16

Whenever Operation Protective Edge ends, it will be interesting to see how Israelis assess their tangible gains. Israel has periodically gone in with the stated objective of ending Hamas' rocket launching capabilities. Yet, Hamas keeps firing rockets every few years. That is unlikely to change this time around either. If it were so easily done, Israel would have done it already. Not that it has too. The rockets don't pose any serious danger to Israel, even less so now with Iron Dome nearly fully operational.

But by invading Gaza, the IDF has sustained casualties that Israel is not used to. Certainly more than were suffered in 2012. But what was the benefit? Israel already risks international scorn during these operations, although most countries support them outwardly.

The rise of social media exposure and an increasingly young liberal population in the US may in decades to come significantly shift the current status quo.

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