Turhaudutaanko Israelissa armeijan ja kansan riveissä Netanjahun kabinetin jahkailuun ja kaukaiseen toiveeseen että Hamas jotenkin taipuisi tulitaukoon. Armeija olisi valmis mutta käskyä ei tule. Mielipidemittaukset osoittavat että Hamasin kurmoottamiselle kunnolla olisi kansan tuki. Toki pitää ymmärtää sen verran Netanjahua että jää historiaan johtajana joka laittoi jo nyt ainakin tuhat siviiliä arkkuun. Vaikka Hamas siittäkin vastuun osittain kantaa se ei näytä silti hyvältä Cv:ssä.
Debkakin väittää näin:
The IDF was braced ready to carry out the order for an operational response a soon as it came down from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.
But the order did not come. Netanyahu and Yaalon continued to pin their hopes on someone forcing Hamas to pretend to accept yet another unsustainable ceasefire, even though they are progressively losing their cabinet majority and people are growing increasingly impatient with their stand-and-wait stance. Successive polls show that support for pushing Hamas hard all the way is steadily rising and stands now in the region of 80-90 percent, while opposition to any ceasefire grows stiffer every day.
Yet, instead of going forward, Netanyahu and Ya’alon appeared Monday night to be clutching at a new straw: Palestinian Intelligence Chief Majid Faraj was due in Cairo Tuesday along with an unidentified Hamas representative to discuss a ceasefire with the Egyptian intelligence chief, after rejecting Cairo’s original proposal for failing to meet Hamas’ terms.
Official sources in Jerusalem continued to feed the media with the myth that Hamas is badly in need of truce, a misapprehension which keeps Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip from advancing. The artillery and air strikes the IDF conducted Monday evening in no way deterred Hamas from ramping up its spiral of violence yet again.
Just hours later, the Palestinians launched their first rocket attack by night on metropolitan Tel Aviv. One rocket exploded in Rishon Lezion. Israel retaliated by bombing the empty residence of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.
Tuesday morning began with another massive Hamas barrage on Tel Aviv, Holon, Bat Yam, Yavne, Ness Ziona, Ashdod, Kiryat Malachi, Gedera, Rosh Ha’ayin and Rishon Lezion.
One former general after another with vast experience in warfare against Palestinian terrorists, including the former defense minister and chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz, continue to warn Israel’s war leaders that leaving Israeli troops in stationary positions exposes them to attack. “An army must advance,” said ex-Gen. Israeli Sieff, former commander of the Gaza Division. “Treading in place puts them in danger.”
).
