There was no post on 22 Oct – Shabbat
We are now 2 ½ weeks after the murderous attacks by Hamas on Israel IDF ground forces still haven’t mounted a major operation into Gaza. There is a lot of speculation about why. One of the most prevalent claims is that America is holding Israel back while trying to get more hostages released. Another is that the US is trying to keep the war from expanding. Both claims can be supported by a lot of pseudo-logical explanations, but I don’t believe any of them.
In an earlier post I noted that Hamas had released ONLY the 2 Americans who had been visiting family in Israel. I still think it was a ploy by Hamas to gain more time while they looked for a way to get enough international support to force a cease-fire ( an idea they have employed often in the past), Such a move would ensure their survival, and possibly get them some concessions, like allowing them to build an airport. My view is that none of those things are going to happen. The Israeli position continues to be that their objective is to destroy any military capability that Hamas has and remove them from governing Gaza. The flaw in that position is that it doesn’t have a clear picture of what will come in place of Hamas. It seems no one in the world wants the job, not even Israel or the UN. As for freeing more hostages; well, it would be a nice ‘humanitarian gesture, but Hamas is not likely to yield one of their few bargaining chips without something in return. From the Israeli side, not moving in in force allows the air force to continue to blast Hamas physical assets and kill as many as 100 terrorists daily without risking their own men. (The number 100 is used purely as an example, and doesn’t reflect any factual intelligence reports).
By the way, Hamas has about 50,000 armed terrorists and doesn’t care if large numbers of them are killed. That attitude also carries over to the civilian population in Gaza. Even on the best of days the Hamas controlled governmental attitude doesn’t even approach the standard of ‘benign neglect’. UNRWA operates in Gaza because it is helpful to Hamas. Food, education, and medical services delivered via UNRWA are items that Hamas does not have to pay for.
Wetherhorn 