Update 3/2/08 - Hamas shells Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people, raising the stakes considerably. Update 3/3/08 - Hamas shoots from civilian homes to produce civilian killings in response. Brutal, nasty, devilishly obscene tactic.
Update 3/4/08 "The Psychological Asymmetry of Islamist Warfare" from The Middle East Quarterly
. . . Western governments are challenged today by an enemy whose behavior is inspired by theological doctrines that not only disregard the Western concept of ethical combat but for whom the killing of civilians—on both sides of a conflict—also serves a vital purpose. . .
By rejecting the entire Western concept of the rules of war, Islamist groups turn the adherence of Western military powers to restrictions on battlefield conduct into not just a disadvantage, but one that can be relied upon in a conflict, whether confronting U.S. peacekeepers in Mogadishu, NATO units in southern Afghanistan, or Israeli soldiers in Gaza. (more . . .)
- Haaretz reports and Hugh Hewitt excerpts saying:
These excerpts from a Haaretz article on the looming battle for Gaza underscore the imminence of a huge clash between the IDF and Hamas, a major moment in the global war between jihadists and their enemies, but the
situation doesn't seem to be receiving much attention in the U.S."
Defense Minster Ehud Barak on Friday blamed Hamas for the escalating violence in the south, and said the Islamic movement would bear the consequences of it.
"Hamas is directly responsible for the current situation and will be the one to bear the cost of our response", Barak said during a
visit to Ashkelon, adding that "an Israeli response is necessary and will be carried out."...
Also Friday, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee said the IDF must reoccupy part of the Gaza Strip for an unlimited time and overthrow the Hamas government.
"The State of Israel must make a strategic decision to order the IDF to prepare quickly to topple the Hamas terror regime and take over all the areas from which rockets are fired on Israel," MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima) told Israel Radio. He said the IDF should prepare to remain in those areas for years.
MK Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) said his party would back an invasion of Gaza, though he fell short of advocating reoccupation.
"There is no doubt that the security response needs to include a ground component," said Sa'ar. He said the "takeover of territory in the northern Strip" from which the Palestinians launch rockets at Israel would reduce the barrages from Gaza.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai went as far as threatening a "shoah,"
the Hebrew word for holocaust or disaster. The word is generally used to refer to the Nazi Holocaust, but a spokesman for Vilnai said the deputy defense minister used the word in the sense of "disaster," saying "he did not mean to make any allusion to the genocide.""The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves," Vilnai told Army Radio on Friday.
Hewitt again:
The suddenness of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah stunned most Americans, but the start of this next battle is being telegraphed. American media might want to ask Senators Clinton and Obama about Israel's right to defend itself as the rocket attacks from the south escalate, and might also get about the business of informing the American public as to the aggressions against Israel being launched from Gaza.
Inevitably Israel gets hammered in the international media when it comes to blows with the Hamas jihadists, but the situation is simply as untenable as it would be for the U.S. if rockets were raining down on San Diego from Tijuana.
How many Americans also know that yesterday PLA President Mahmoud Abbas asserted that al Qaeda was in Gaza working with Hamas:
“Al-Qaeda is present in Gaza and I’m convinced that they [Hamas] are their allies,” said Mr Abbas in an interview with al-Hayat, a London-based Arabic newspaper. “I can say without doubt that al-Qaeda is present in the Palestinian territories and that this presence, especially in Gaza, is facilitated by Hamas.”
(HT: Commentary's Abe Greenwald.)
Hewitt:
I can understand why Democrats don't want to talk about the war against the jihadists, but MSM really does owe the American public comprehensive coverage of the war unfiltered by the political campaign underway. It seems incredible that the Middle East is on the brink of a huge explosion, and there isn't even a story on the Washington Post's front page.