Israel’s Attack
A lot has been said, including at this blog, about the Israeli air attacks against Hamas targets in Gaza, but I think that one point has not received the attention it deserves: the timing.
Some argue that the Israeli government decided to attack Hamas because the group declared it would not respect the ceasefire between the two sides any longer. After the ceasefire ended Hamas fired hundreds of rockets at Israel thereby endangering the civilian populations of towns near Gaza. As a result, these people say, Israel attacked.
This is not the true reason for the attack, however. Hamas has been firing rockets at Israel for many months, despite the official ceasefire. The real reason for the timing of the attack is: Israelis will go to the polls soon to vote for Parliament and, thus, for their new government. Likud, the right wing party, is currently leading in the opinion polls making it likely that Benjamin Netanyahu becomes Israel’s new leader. Kadima, the party of Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni will have to take the backseat.
One of the main reasons Likud does so well in the polls is that Israelis fear that the policies of Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, aimed at withdrawing from some areas and destroying some Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas, has proved useless, perhaps even counterproductive. Where Israelis opted for a more conciliatory approach several years ago, they are now once again of the opinion that a more hawkish and aggressive approach towards Hamas and the Palestinians in general is required.
Since most politicians care about one thing only – their own career – Kadima’s leaders realized that something had to change; the public was fed up with the situation as it was. The peace talks were not going anywhere, Hamas continued to fire rockets at Israeli towns and support for Kadima fell flat. The result: attacks against Hamas targets weeks before the election.
As happens more often in this part of the world, the immediate cause for violence – and I am speaking as a person who believes that Israel’s attacks are justified regardless of their timing – is domestic rather than foreign.
I don’t agree on this. I’m sure Israel had been planning this for months, waiting for a rocket to fall on a kindergarten so that the World won’t be able to say anything. After the cease-fire ended and 50+ rockets were fired at Israeli towns in one day, the internal pressure to do SOMETHING was getting more and more serious. The mayors were calling upon the government to do something IMMEDIATELY. And so they went ahead and did so. There’s a limit to how much you can ignore the suffering of your own people.
I came in from Swift and wanted to say Hi, Michael. I actually wanted to say something in regard to religion, and this seems appropriate as well. It has been my experience that most people within a religion don’t manage to act badly, but there sure are the exceptions. I can’t think why a Christian would be labeled “moderate Christian” for not acting badly.