Gloves still on.

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jul 30, 2014 at 03:50

"The first time a rocket crashes into Tel Aviv, Israel will remove its gloves and hit Gaza or where ever these rockets originate, with such an sustained attack that there will be little left standing."

Hi, Jules.

Not just Tel Aviv, but every corner of Israel seems to have been hit now; but the gloves still seem very much on.

David Brooks gave a good assessment of the situation at

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/opinion/david-brooks-when-middle-east-conflicts-become-one.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

He noted that despite the media hype, the Israel-Gaza war is only one of many conflicts going on in the region, all of them connected with one another. In reality, a regional war is raging that directly involves India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Central Africa, Niger, Nigeria and Mali. Outside sponsors of the violence include the US, China, Russia, France, the UK and others. Add to this the Ukraine and Chechnya conflicts, Armenia vs. Azerbaijan, the island disputes involving S. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam, and we have the workings of a low-grade World War.

I would like to see Israel simply take HAMAS out of action. What happens after that, is anyone's guess. Will the Egyptians agree to some sort of joint security and political control of Gaza? Will Israel change its status back to "Area C", with full security and political control? Or will they simply try to revert to the HAMAS-controlled status quo, with shortcomings that you have well pointed out?

I've just been watching a Public TV documentary, Monday-morning quarterbacking the dismal situation in Iraq. The big problems there seem to have been (1) attacking Saddam Hussein in the first place, (2) not having an effective exit strategy and (3) having an incompetent US President Obama at the helm, overseeing a premature withdrawal and unable to effectively deal with the consequences of his actions. I wonder how Israel will do in these three areas, with respect to Gaza. In these matters, Israel must be more wise than the US; because the US really can afford to run away and hide its head in the sand for a few years; but Israel can't run away to anywhere: The Gazan rockets are not attacking some "Iraq", halfway across the world; they are already attacking Israel itself.

(1) Should Israel invade Gaza, the way the US invaded Iraq? They are deciding this matter, even as I type.

(2) Does Israel have an effective exit strategy? Will she find a Nouri al-Maliki to take over when they leave? or will Fatah el-Sisi of Egypt take over? Will this be another Lebanon-style UN-policed farce of a truce? Have Israel's leaders come to any sort of concensus on such matters?

(3) Netanyahu is doing a balancing act between Israel's security interests and a narcisstic, incompetent, increasingly dictatorial Barack Obama. Will he try to slap sanctions against Israel, the way he's trying to do against Russia? And if Israel develops a backbone and doesn't buckle under to him, how will it cope? Whom can she count on to help her? Certainly not BRICS, or the "Nonaligned Movement".

It's a touchy situation, and God only knows how it should be tackled.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".