After the Truce

The informal truce between Israel and Hamas that was brokered this summer through Egyptian assistance started to unravel on November 4th when IDF soldiers darted 250 meters into the Gaza Strip and blew up a tunnel. Four Hamas terrorists were killed in the attack and an additional dozen have been killed in subsequent strikes. Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations once again started firing rockets, including Iranian made Grad missiles, at civilian targets in Israel. A total of at least 140 rockets have been fired since the resumption of hostilities, the latest one striking Ashkelon on Friday morning. Israel has suspended the transfer of humanitarian goods to the Strip following the renewed attacks on its civilians, which has resulted in pressure from various foreign governments. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, demanding the free flow of aid through the Israeli border crossings, even as the rocket attacks continue. Livni’s response was to say that ”[w]hoever thinks that a situation of them firing at us, while everything continues as usual, can exist – is mistaken. The Israeli government will take action in the event that the attacks against Israeli civilians continue.” Most Israelis, however, think that this situation can – and does – exist. The repetitive responses of the Israeli leadership to the rocket attacks is starting to sound more and more like the hot-headed responses of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations whenever the IDF successfully takes out one of their operatives: ”The revenge will be harsh, we will strike at the heart of the Zionist enemy, their blood will color the streets of Tel Aviv.” This never happens these days, since the IDF mows the lawn in the West Bank virtually every night, and Gaza is sealed off, yet the terrorists continue with their theatrical vows of revenge as if their words actually meant something. This pathetic disease has now fully infected the Israeli leadership as well. The fact that 250,000 Israeli civilians live within range of the rockets from Gaza has been slammed as ”unacceptable,” ”outrageous,” ”intolerable,” and every other conceivable superlative for well over three years by to the failed leaders of Israel. Yet absolutely nothing is done to change this equation. This inaction has altered the attitude of the international community toward this area of the conflict. Not only is every military response immediately branded as disproportionate, but even a non-military response such as the closing of border crossings is condemned off hand. It has come to the point where Israel can’t even scratch its nose in response to these rocket attacks, much less pick it. It has been said that if you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out, but if you place it in cold water and slowly turn up the heat, it will swim around until it boils to death. This is a tragically apt analogy for Israel today. So is there a logic to the inaction of Israeli decision makers? Yes, and it is a disgusting one. They are waiting for one of the rockets to score a direct hit on a kindergarten. It’s as simple as that. Then all hell will break loose.