From the Jerusalem Post:
‘We are at war,” declares Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak “Haki” Harel, head of the IDF’s Planning Directorate and a senior member of the IDF General Staff, who is retiring in a few months after 31 years of military service. The Palestinian Authority, he says in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post, has been taken over by a group of Hamas terrorists and murderers, and the IDF’s current operation against the Kassam rocket fire in the Gaza Strip is no different from a war.
But while the “war” is being fought right under our noses in cities like Nablus, Jenin and Gaza, Harel claims that Israel’s security situation has never been better during its soon-to-be 58 years of statehood. Evidence of this, he says, can be seen in the results of last month’s elections. “The fact that the government can talk about a social agenda is the result of having a strong defense establishment,” he asserts.
This is comforting coming from a man whose job it is to be a kind of military prophet – predicting the country’s future challenges and making sure the army is up to meeting them. All the more so when one considers that these challenges include an invasion of Gaza, a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank and a nuclear Iran.
The probability of a full-fledged war with Israel’s neighbors, he says, is at an all-time low. Yet the IDF might be on the verge of launching a large-scale military operation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to curb the escalation of Palestinian terrorism. The incessant missile fire is intolerable, he says, and the army will continue its attacks on Gaza, which could culminate in a massive ground invasion into refugee camps like Jabalya.
He also says that Israel needs to sever all ties with the PA, including the transfer of humanitarian assistance.
“There was a decision on the Palestinian side to create a government of terror,” he says of Hamas’s recent rise to power. “The entire border with Gaza needs to be hermetically sealed…We should stay on our side, they on their side and that is it.”[my emphasis]
Of course, such talk—and particularly such a military incursion, should it come to pass—will leave the “international community” (the UN and western Europe, most notably) shaking their fists.
But only because by painting themselves as moral exemplars of multicultural tolerance, they now find themselves in the position of being unable to affect similar pushbacks against Arab and Muslim terrorism in their own countries. At least, not without looking like hypocrites.
It will be interesting to see what France, whose problems are a result of a nationalism that never truly embraced its Muslim population for purposes of genuine assimilation (and not, as with much of western Europe, the multicultural ethos that has so Balkanized a number of countries), reacts to Israel’s actions.
Not just the government’s statements, either. I’m thinking more along the lines of the average Frenchman who is lately confronted by portions of France being cleared of French natives and falling under sharia law pushed by local imams in hermetically sealed immigrant communities.
Do good fences make good neighbors? Well, it’s beginning to look like we’ll have competing test cases to gauge the wisdom of that old aphorism…
(h/t Allah)
I got nothing but my TW is: justice.
Man, that thing is freaky.
Jeff,
Have you seen the latest Drudge headline about Hamas declaring the latest suicide bombing justifiable self-defense? Looks like Maj-Gen. Harel knows that of which he speaks. Of course, most clear thinking people are aware Israel has never not been at war.
I think the pals may have made a mistake electing Hamas. Fatah had the Orwellian double speak, diplomatic nuance bullshit down to a science whereas Hamas appears to be a little too hardcharging for their own good (apparently they have yet to learn that all they have to do is put out a press release with a half-ass condemnation for the press to fall all over themselves absolving them of responsibility). Hopefully Israel won’t give them a chance to learn.
Hmmmm.
Not just good fences make for good neighbors. There’s also heavy artillery.
A fence is a good thing, but I can guarantee you my neighbors wouldn’t dream of making any noise after 10pm if I had a 155mm self-propelled artillery along with GPS guided munitions and UAV spotters.
Memo to Hamas:
If “there are no Israeli civilians”, then by the same logic, there are no Pali civilians.
Watch you P’s and Q’s is my advice.
SB: through
Peace Through Superior Firepower
and – shouldn’t it be pronounced “thruff”?
Your predictions re: EU response got me thinking. I’ve just finished Claire Berlinski’s Menace in Europe, Bruce Bawer’s While Europe Slept, and Lorenzo Vidino’s <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1591024331/102-3208048-4491356″>Al Qaeda in Europe</a>. Reading Steyn on a regular basis isn’t helping my sense of optimism any either. So here’s my question for anyone who has any thoughts on it.
At what point do we begin to treat Europe like a developing enemy? Do we seed Western Europe with agents for intelligence and sabatoge ops. to be carried out years from now? Do we begin co-opting (bribing) EU politicians to gum up the works of the state? How long before we begin to make plans to effectively isolate them economically and who do we get to replace them as a market? India? Southern Africa? Has anyone read or heard anyone talking about this very real possibility?
It seems in a long war we need long term plans. My suspicion is that our intel guys work too closely with Euro intel to be effective sleepers. I don’t know, I have a lot of thoughts on this, but has anyone else given any thought to our treating Europe as an antagonist instead of trying to woo them back toward a sane recognition of their interests.
What is up with these retiring generals that won’t stop rocking the boat?
Justified attack? Wow, not only is HAMAS setting the table, but they will be serving dessert as well. Ringside seats are available…..
Good bye Palenstine
Um, three years ago? But that’s just me.
NEIGHBORHOOD NUCLEAR SUPERIORITY.
Hell with those conventional weapons.
Oh….I almost forgot. This is my obligatory, ignoreacthole comment.
If it weren’t for the MSM reporting Israel’s retaliation from time to time, I would never suspect that Israel is getting regularly pelted by rockets from PA territory. I hope they put a swift stop to it one of these days.
Turing = big
‘We are at war,†declares Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak “Haki†Harel, head of the IDF’s Planning Directorate and a senior member of the IDF General Staff, who is retiring in a few months after 31 years of military service.
Still in there swinging. I guess if you cannot read and comprehend English, you might mistake him for someone already retired, rather than currently serving. Couldn’t happen on this site, could it?
US Generals pissing and Moaning = RETIRED, General described above = ACTIVE, will retire in future.
Snark about generals – clean miss, drop 500 meters, try again, over.
Hopefully the Middle-East.
I said he was retiring.
More on Europe as a developing enemy (at least France) here:
http://networdblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/containing-france.html
I think we have to face the very real possibility that Europe is going to be more and more our enemy than our ally. I think the only things that kept Europe from war for the last half of the 20th century was the threat of the USSR and the lack of military budget and arms manufacture because NATO protected them.
Hence your miss – see second post. Can’t make a linkage if you cannot ….oh crap, I give up. Nevermind.
Should have listened to rls.
I understand this guy is in active duty and someone else has already ended that. Don’t change that they’re retiring and rocking the boat.
When you stick your hands in shit, they’re going to look and smell like shit. Stay out of the shit, Major John.
Christopher: The interesting thing about France is that while they are going to be the first WE country to be Muslim majority they are also the ones we cooperate with most closely in the War on Terror via our intel services. Many a cell has been broken up do to hardworking French majistrates and intel sharing. Cells both in U.S. and the rest of the EU. The French anti-terror guys are the best in Europe by far and their justice system is virtually the only one to take the threat seriously. But that won’t save them. Their political, academic, and media elites have made a deliberate pact with the Muslims (both jihad and non-jihad varieties) in an effort to restore Napoleanic influence. What a fucked country.
TW: George; They could have used a George Washington back in ‘89.
Of course, they had a Lafayette (bless his soul) and it didn’t do them any good.
What are you talkign about?
Eurabia
While Europe Slept
Menace in Europe
<a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1591024331/102-3212154-3079306″>Al Qaeda in Europe</a>
Do your own research.
Whats the deliberate pact the media elite have made? And how is going to restore napoleonic influence? I glanced at those links, and they seemed more about destroying the west than restoring it to the 19th century.
You’ll have to read the books. It will destroy the European West. That’s the jihadi goal and they have a very effective strategy. The notion of restoring France’s former influence is a pipe dream, but it is one French elites believe will be possible if they can effect an antagonistic EU, aided by the Arabs, as a balance to American hegemony. It’s ridiculous, but it’s nonetheless what they aspire to. The EU beareaucrats dream of a similar project without the Napoleanic particular, but using the same tools. They live in Never-Never Land.
Read the books if you’re interested.
What does that have to do with their domestic arabs?
The interesting thing about France is that while they are going to be the first WE country to be Muslim majority they are also the ones we cooperate with most closely in the War on Terror via our intel services. Many a cell has been broken up do to hardworking French majistrates and intel sharing.
Absolutely, the French are actually harder on terrorism and crime than the US is, and countries who stand up and scream near-hate at the US like them and Russia are actually working hard under the radar with us. But France as that article points out is totally self-absorbed and interested. They’re not helping the GWOT for some altrustic ideal, they are doing it to protect France. They aren’t fighting terrorism to help out the US, they’re doing it to further their agenda and ideas. France is totally Machiavellian in their foreign policy, it’s completely France first and France only.
Since algeria, probably.
Can we start imposing a fine on people who cooperate with threadjackers?
Everybody back away from the moron, there’s nothing to see here, just the world’s-fucking-stupidest-commenter…actus.
Guys, there’s two problems with the “let’s beat up on Actus” movement:
1. He likes it.
2. He’s a lot better than the other leftist turd-bombers.
He helps us focus our arguments by better alerting us to what are likely to be the common objections to them, especially those objections so dull-witted they were non-obvious.
Sometimes they’re not even dull-witted. I’d hope for sharper dissent, but you work with what you’ve got, unless you’re a left site, in which case you shame/ban all dissent. Hasn’t worked so great for them, as far as I can tell.
How do you mean? Are you talking about electoral victories as being linked to comment policies?
When he can get his average back up over .001, we can reconsider.
There. The stick has now been joined by a carrot. Happy now, Bez?
“How do you mean? Are you talking about electoral victories as being linked to comment policies?”
See, I woulda never thought of that one. I’m talking about more interesting and/or productive conversation. One of those products could involve winning elections, though that’s pretty far down on my list.
As for winning elections for whom, note that Reagan started out left and ended up right, and I started out pretty right, so if the left could get their act together…
Heh, they could build a moon car and drive you around town with swooning kangaroo boxers, kicking Enya…I think you’re safely on the darkside, Bez.
Really, actus, just do your own reading. I’m not interested in tutoring you. (Whew! says actus, Dodged a bullet on that one.)
Plus, your curiosity is completely disingenuous you great whingeing douchebag.
It was unclear.
“It was unclear.”
All communication is, to some extent. Requires filling in some blanks. In doing so, you can assume the worst, as you seem determined to do, but that’s been shown to be a suboptimal survival strategy.
“Benefit of the doubt” or “innocent until proven guilty” tend to produce better results. Try it sometime, you might like it.
And yeah, I’m being condescending, preening, pedantic, yada, yada, yada…
Above link should go to Prisoner’s Dilemma. You can google it yourself if curious.
I didn’t assume. I asked.
And the optimal repetitive strategy is tit for tat. I know. Read about all that stuff in college.