The Israeli way of dealing with terror

Israel’s war in Gaza has been met with cries of protest around the world. They come from two sources.

First, there are those who oppose any Israeli effort to defend itself, mainly because they don’t believe a Jewish state should exist at all. This is a form of anti-Semitism, and such a view should be rejected outright rather than argued with.

Second, there are those who support Israel’s existence, but believe it is wrong to wage so harsh an assault on the Gaza Strip.

This argument takes two forms: First, that Israel’s response is disproportionate and therefore wrong; and second, that there are less violent ways to handle Hamas – through international pressure, sanctions or negotiations.

Both of these claims, as logical as they may sound, ignore the lessons of history, including Israel’s recent history in fighting terror. In the 10 years I served as a minister in Israel’s security cabinet, I learned just how mistaken such arguments can be.

Practicing restraint
On June 1, 2001, a suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv. Twenty-one Israelis, mostly young people, were killed, and more than 130 wounded. It was the latest in a long string of suicide bombings that had been launched since the start of the Second Intifada in September 2000.

The next day, I took part in a dramatic cabinet meeting to discuss our options – a Shabbat-day meeting, which only a true emergency could justify. Most of the ministers felt decisive action had to be taken.

Military officials presented a plan for uprooting the terror infrastructure, through a complex campaign in the heart of Palestinian cities and refugee camps. Though the attack had been carried out by Hamas, it was clear that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had given them a green light. We had both the right and the ability to strike back.

Source: Jerusalem Post

Filed under: Analysis, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Tunnel, Tzipi Livni

Hamas’ next move?

Twenty-two days after launching its campaign against Hamas, Israel announced on Saturday it was pulling the plug. But the cabinet’s decision to declare a unilateral cease-fire while maintaining a military presence in areas seized by the Israel Defense Forces is only a conditional cease-fire.

The ball is now in Hamas’ hands. The IDF presence on the ground, combined with the fact that the crossings will remain closed for the time being, may prompt it to continue firing rockets into Israel. And indeed Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, threatened on Saturday that “If we don’t get what we want, we will continue to fire rockets.”

Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi informed the ministers during Saturday’s meeting which yielded the decision that the IDF forces have met all their objectives in this mission. The IDF now prefers a quick pullout from the Strip so as not to expose troops to further, unnecessary risks.

For now, the decision-makers have decided to overrule this preference. However, if it emerges that Hamas will gradually come to accept the cease-fire, the troops will pull out.

The key question as far as Israel is concerned is, starting Sunday, how to respond to the next rocket that lands in the western Negev. We have already failed that very test at least three times in the past: After the pullout from Lebanon in 2000, after the disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and during the cease-fire with Hamas in 2008.

In all the aforementioned cases, the threat of a harsh response on Israel’s part turned out to be an empty one, and hostilities against Israel continued to trickle in, eventually resulting in a major conflagration.

Source: Haaretz

Filed under: Analysis, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Tunnel, Tzipi Livni

Israel’s cost of victory

Trying to hide a smile and a sense of self-satisfaction Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced the cameras at the Defense Ministry and declared to the Israeli public, “We won.” The Israel Defense Forces objectives for its operation in the Gaza Strip were “obtained in full.” Hamas was “surprised and badly beaten,” the government “made decisions responsibly and wisely,” the IDF’s performance was excellent and the southern home front “displayed resilience.”

Olmert would have loved to have been able to say the same thing back in 2006, at the end of the Second Lebanon War. But then he had to confront a disappointed and outraged public calling for an inquiry into the government’s handling of the war. The Gaza operation was undoubtedly intended to redeem Olmert, and will be used as a springboard for a comeback – if he avoids conviction on any of the charges pending against him.

Israel’s military achievement in the fighting was aided by prior preparation and the creation of national and international legitimacy for the operation. The success was further assisted by the weakness of Hamas, in comparison to Hezbollah in the Second Lebanon War, and the IDF’s willingness to sustain losses that in the end were less than expected.

Israel succeeded in hurting Hamas and in creating an international awareness of the need to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the Gaza Strip, but not all the operation’s objectives were accomplished. Rocket fire from the Strip into Israel continued throughout, and it will take a few weeks to determine whether they will stop. A humanitarian crisis in Gaza was not averted and it is not clear whether the likelihood of securing the release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit has increased.

Source: Haaretz

Filed under: Analysis, Ehud Barack, Ehud Olmert, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Tunnel, Tzipi Livni

Go further and go faster – UK to Pakistan

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has urged Pakistan to act more quickly against extremists in the wake of the attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai.

“The whole international community want Pakistan to go further and go faster,” Mr Miliband said in Islamabad.

The Pakistani government responded by saying it would conduct an open inquiry into the attacks last year, which killed more than 170 people.

It says that it is determined to uncover the “full facts”.

‘Tenable evidence’

“I want the Pakistan government to take action because British people have been hurt… because terrorism from Pakistan is a threat to the stability of the whole region.”

He said that he believed the government in Islamabad “is serious in its commitment to prosecute those associated with the Mumbai attacks. Steps have been taken”.

Mr Miliband met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and is also due to meet President Asif Ali Zardari.

“Pakistan remains determined to uncover the full facts pertaining to the Mumbai incident,” a Pakistani foreign ministry statement said.

Mr Qureshi said that information provided by India – in addition to Pakistan’s own investigations – would “establish legally tenable evidence to bring the perpetrators to justice”.

Relations between the South Asian neighbours have been under severe strain since November’s attacks, which India has blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

On Friday, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Delhi would “never give up the demand that the perpetrators of terror acts should be extradited to India”.

He said only “transparent and verifiable [investigations] in Pakistan can unveil the full conspiracy”.

‘Official agencies’

Mr Miliband has also spent three days in India on his visit and gave a key speech at the Taj Palace hotel – site of one of the Mumbai attacks.

Delhi has blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks on India’s financial capital and believes “official agencies” played a part.

Both Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Pakistani government have denied any involvement.

On Thursday, Pakistan said it had so far arrested 71 people in a crackdown on groups allegedly linked to Mumbai.

Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said officials had also shut several schools run by a charity linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Source: BBC News

Filed under: Asia, India, ISI, Mumbai, Mumbai 26/11, Mumbai Terror Attacks, Pakistan, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, UK

Two Pakistani soldiers, 14 Taliban, killed in clash

Pakistani security forces, backed by artillery and tanks, have killed 14 Taliban insurgents in heavy fighting in the Mohmand region on the Afghan border, a government official said on Sunday.

Pakistan is struggling to stem Islamist militant influence and violence in the northwest as it keeps a wary eye on its eastern border with India after militant attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai led to a spike in tension between the neighbors.

The latest fighting in the northwest broke out Saturday evening when militants attacked troops conducting searches.

“They launched the attack from a hideout. Our troops responded quickly and destroyed it and killed 14 miscreants,” Miraj Khan, a government official in the region, told Reuters.

Two paramilitary soldiers were killed in the clash that went on for several hours, he said.

Pakistani security have recently stepped up their operations in Mohmand, which is to the north of the city of Peshawar, to fight al Qaeda and Taliban militants fleeing a military offensive in the neighboring Bajaur region, to the north.

Last week, more than 600 militants, many from Afghanistan, attacked a military camp and two nearby checkposts in the region and six soldiers and 40 militants were killed, the military said.

The United States and Afghanistan have for years urged Pakistan to eliminate militant bases in lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal regions on the border from where Taliban infiltrate into Afghanistan to fight U.S.-led forces.

Intensified Pakistani efforts against the militants has led to what some officials call reverse infiltration, with some Taliban coming back into Pakistan to protect their rear bases from the Pakistani military.

Source: Reuters

Filed under: Asia, Afghanistan, Kabul, Taleban, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, U.S.A, War

LTTE resistance crumbling fast – Sarath Fonseka

The Sri Lankan army says it has cornered Tamil Tiger rebels in the northeast of the country.

Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka said rebel resistance was crumbling fast and that they could only escape by sea as they were surrounded on three sides.

His claims cannot be independently verified and there has been no response from the Tamil Tigers.

A day earlier the rebels said they killed 51 soldiers – a claim denied by the army.

The Tigers have lost a considerable amount of territory to government forces in the last few months, including key strongholds Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass.

The Sri Lankan forces said they were poised to capture the last major rebel-held town of Mullaitivu, with Lt Gen Fonseka saying his troops had captured 17km of territory in as many days in the area, leaving the rebels with just a 40km stretch of coastline.

A defence ministry statement said soldiers had seized “a highly fortified camp” in the village of Maruthampuvel in Mullaittivu on Saturday, Associated Press reported.

The statement also said eight rebel fighters had been killed in the region.

The two sides have differed in their reports of casualties, with the rebels earlier claiming they killed 51 soldiers near the town of Dharmapuram in northern Sri Lanka, but the army saying it had taken control of the area, killing 20 rebels with only seven soldiers dead.

Independent journalists are prevented by the government from travelling to the conflict zone, so it is impossible to verify the casualty claims made by both sides.

The Jaffna peninsula and its capital have been regarded as the heart of the 25-year-old separatist insurgency.

The Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.

Source: BBC News

Filed under: Asia, Colombo, Elephant Pass, Guerrilla Group, Guerrilla war, LTTE, Mahindra Rajapaksa, Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka, Tamil, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, War

The tunnel vision

Israel’s deference to Egyptian sensitivities enabled Hamas to build up its military strength. If the diplomats fail again, the next confrontation will be far worse.

In late December 2007, at a meeting with a very senior Israeli defense official, The Jerusalem Post was told about a videotape, compiled by the security establishment, which documented Egypt’s failure to effectively seal its border with Gaza.

The tape, the Post was told, featured evidence of Egyptian assistance in arms smuggling and included footage of Egyptian security personnel aiding Hamas terrorists crossing illegally into Gaza. At one point, Egyptian border policemen were seen helping a group of some 80 Hamas personnel slip into the Strip through a hole cut in the border fence.

The Post was told that the tape was being sent to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and we reported this. The security establishment’s intention and expectation was that the tape would be made available on Capitol Hill. The aim was to encourage Congress to use the leverage of US financial aid to Egypt to press for more effective controls.

In the previous four months alone, according to information then compiled by the IDF, more than 100 tons of explosives had been smuggled into the Strip, as well as 20,000 rifles, 6,000 anti-tank missiles and immense supplies of ammunition. Only days earlier, Israel had also filed an official complaint with Cairo for unilaterally opening the Rafah crossing – ostensibly for Palestinians travelling to the Haj. In fact, Israel charged, this freedom of access was abused by a significant number of Hamas personnel to travel to Lebanon and Iran for military training.

Egypt ridiculed the IDF’s arms smuggling figures.

“To get those quantities [of weaponry] into Gaza,” scoffed an Egyptian official at the time, “you would need to have a tunnel every 10 meters.”

Despite the extraordinary gravity of the arms smuggling, and despite the most senior defense echelon’s profound interest in alerting US legislators to the danger in the hope of prompting economic pressure on Cairo, the security establishment’s videotape was not, in fact, swiftly made available in Washington.

Source: Jerusalem Post

Filed under: Analysis, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Tunnel

An emotional disconnect

After three weeks of driving around a country at war, one thing about this time is abundantly clear. Just about every Israeli Jew supports the IDF operation in Gaza.

We already knew this from the polls, of course. A Wednesday survey by Tel Aviv University reported the support at a staggering 94 percent among Israeli Jews. But hearing this first-hand offers an insight the polls can’t give: the rationale for that support despite international condemnation and images of carnage out of Gaza.

Over the past three weeks, as evidence of civilian suffering in Gaza flooded media outlets worldwide, I asked Israelis what they thought of the fighting in Gaza and the suffering of the local population.

From hi-tech entrepreneurs in Ramat Gan to social workers in Sderot, taxi drivers and graduate students alike, the responses were almost as consistent as the level of support for the operation. The responsibility for the conflict, and for the suffering in Gaza, rests solely on Hamas, Israelis say. They often added that there could be no peace with an enemy who placed their own children in the line of fire.

“I’m disconnected emotionally from what is happening in Gaza,” said Yamit Shkolnik, a 26-year-old Jerusalemite and new mother. “It doesn’t anger me or sadden me. It doesn’t make me happy either.” That’s because “they use their dead to kill us. They shoot from inside houses, and we have to take out those houses.”

Eli Magen, a graduate student from Modi’in, said he is on the Left, but insists, “We’ve tried everything to make peace. We pulled out of 85% of the territory we conquered in 1967, and it got us missiles on our heads. Then they went and elected Hamas. What are we supposed to do with a group that thinks and acts like the Ku Klux Klan? There’s nothing Israel could have done to avoid this fight.”

Source: Jerusalem Post

Filed under: Voice, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal

A futile ceasefire by Israel?

Militants fired six rockets into southern Israel and exchanged gunfire with troops in northern Gaza Sunday, hours after Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire in the Palestinian territory, an Israeli spokesman said.

The Qassam rockets were fired into Sderot at 9 a.m. — seven hours after Israel’s cease-fire went into effect. The rockets did not injure anyone, and Israeli aircrafts destroyed the rocket launcher soon afterward, an Israeli military spokesman said.

The gunfire exchange in northern Gaza occurred after Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli forces, the Israeli military said. Troops returned fire.

Israel launched an offensive in Gaza just over three weeks ago, with the stated intent of stopping the barrage of rockets — primarily the short-range homemade Qassam rocket — fired from the territory into southern Israel by Hamas fighters.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, Israel declared a cease-fire in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was prepared to respond if Hamas militants continue fighting in Gaza.

“If foes decide to continue to fight against us, then we will be ready and we shall consider ourselves justified in replying,” he said.

Hamas leaders responded, saying they did not consider Olmert’s declaration a cease-fire as long as Israeli troops remain in the Palestinian territory.
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“The troops on the ground is a declaration of war against the Palestinians,” said Osama Hamdan, a representative of Hamas, which has held political control of Gaza since 2007. “Israel did not offer anything.”

Even before Sunday’s rocket attacks, the cease-fire announcement was met with pessimism by Palestinians.

Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator during diplomatic talks about the conflict, noted that Olmert did not say Israeli troops would be leaving Gaza.

“I’m afraid this means the cease-fire will not stand — it will break,” Erakat told CNN International. “Anybody can fire a shot now … . It’s a very fragile moment.” Video Watch Palestinian negotiator say cease-fire will not last »

Islamic Jihad, an extremist group operating in Gaza and listed as a terrorist organization by several governments, said the cease-fire was an Israeli decision that will not impact its actions.

Senior leader Khader Habib told CNN his group will continue fighting until Israel leaves Gaza, and crossings into and out of the territory are opened. Islamic Jihad is not directly affiliated with Hamas.

Source: CNN

Filed under: MidEast, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal

He loves Israel but also finds it also unsettling

Dear Mr. Aronson,
It’s not clear from what you’re saying if it’s impotent to you to keep Israel with a Jewish majority. Would you support moving heavily populated Arab areas to the future Palestinian state, to secure a Jewish majority within Israel?

Thank you,

Shlomi, Modi’in

I think it is crucial to maintain an Israel in which Jews feel safe and flourish, I do not think that a requirement for achieving that is a population transfer of Arab citizens of Israel. I am speaking now of 67 Israel, leaving the West Bank out of the discussion. Here’s why I don’t think an Israel that Jews call home requires any shift in the homes of Israel’s Arabs:
Arabs are, as you know, 20% of the population. And, according to your own Or Commission report these citizens are not a fifth column. In fact they are not eager to be part of a Palestinian state. Surely that is, in part, because Israel is a rich, stable country and the Palestinian Authority is neither. But even if entirely for reasons of self-interest, then, those Arabs have a stake in keeping Israel rich and stable. While Arab families are, on average, relatively large, the latest statistics I’ve seen show that the growth rate of that population is slowing. So a minority population that has a stake in a stable electoral democracy seems to me an asset to Israel, not a threat. Indeed, regionally, the better Arabs fare in Israel, the more of an advertisement they are for the virtues of Israel, of Jews, of democracy.

While guns and bombs go off in Gaza it may seem silly to speak of Arab citizens of Israel as a beacon of a better future. But I am reminded of a remark that a Saudi journalist made after Obama won our election: “You have,” he said, “just won the war on terror.” While a nation needs to be strong to defend itself against violent enemies, in this age of instant communication and mass media, a nation also wins in the court of public opinion through the example it sets in the treatment of its own minority citizens.

Source: Jerusalem Post

Filed under: Analysis, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal