Gaza
At some point the War on Terror may properly be renamed the War on Islam. This is a war of barbarism against civilization that has been going on for centuries. Barbarians have been waging war in the name of Islam since Islam has been a religion. The attacks of September 11th were a flare-up that caught the attention of the civilized world, but were in no way the beginning of something new. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were only the latest chapters, and thankfully, were chapters of the war fought on the barbarians’ home turf. The war in Gaza is the current front-line.
The immediate cause of the fighting was an end to a truce agreement, highlighted by rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Although the rocket attacks never completely ceased at any point during the truce, the intensity of the attacks increased in mid-December. The Israeli goal of its military operation is to dismantle the capability of Gazan militants and disrupt the ability of Gaza to resupply for the next round. The goal of the Gazan militants is to survive the attack and weaken Israel’s political alliances.
As Karl von Clausewitz wrote in his classic book on military strategy On War, “War is the continuation of politics by other means”. On the surface it seems ridiculous that the political leadership in Gaza, Hamas, would provoke a military confrontation against a vastly superior force. However, if the goal is political and serves a broader strategy, it then makes sense.
Gaza is a small strip of territory along the Mediterranean Sea that Israel captured from Egypt in the Six Day War. Its economic value is insignificant. After peaceful relations were established between Israel and Egypt, Israel offered it back and was told No Thanks. In 2005 Israel withdrew its security forces and its settlers, giving the Palestinians their long-sought own state. However, the Palestinians of Gaza responded by becoming the only people in the history of civilization to democratically elect a terrorist organization to power. Hamas responded to its new leadership role by attacking the country that gave it its freedom.
Hamas is a terrorist organization whose explicit reason for existence is the destruction of Israel. This statement is not a slander; it is a written part of the Hamas Charter. Hamas receives its support from anti-Israeli groups both in the Arab world and the West. Its primary sponsor is also the worlds’ primary sponsor of Islamic terrorism, Iran. While Hamas by itself has no chance of achieving its stated goal, it serves as part of a larger movement. Hamas is a proxy army of Iran, whose stated purpose is not only the destruction of Israel, but Islamic domination of the world.
Hamas serves Iran’s purpose in two ways. As a puppet government in a state that borders Israel, it provides a potential launching point for a nuclear suicide attack. However, Hamas also has the ability to provoke a military reaction by Israel, which shifts the spotlight of world attention away from Iran when it is advantageous to do so. Another proxy army of Iran, Hezbollah, did exactly that in 2006 when it appeared the world was finally getting serious about sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program. The war in Lebanon in the summer of 2006 distracted attention away from Iran, and the drive to prevent a nuclear Iran has never really since regained the momentum that had been building up until that point.
Although most of the world has come to accept that a nuclear Iran is preferable compared to the unpleasant alternatives required to prevent it, one country is more likely than any other to draw a different conclusion. That country is the most-likely first target of an Iranian nuke: Israel. Many analysts expected an Israeli raid against Iranian nuclear facilities in the time before a change in U.S. leadership to a less-friendly administration. The provocation in Gaza may have blocked that move.
If Israel expends its political capital in Gaza, it will not likely have the resolve to launch an attack against Iran before Hope and Change take over U.S. foreign policy. At that point, Iran can easily run out the clock before it goes nuclear by feigning an interest in negotiations.
What at first appears ridiculous, Hamas starting a war against Israel that it cannot possibly hope to win militarily, it may have already won politically.
The immediate cause of the fighting was an end to a truce agreement, highlighted by rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Although the rocket attacks never completely ceased at any point during the truce, the intensity of the attacks increased in mid-December. The Israeli goal of its military operation is to dismantle the capability of Gazan militants and disrupt the ability of Gaza to resupply for the next round. The goal of the Gazan militants is to survive the attack and weaken Israel’s political alliances.
As Karl von Clausewitz wrote in his classic book on military strategy On War, “War is the continuation of politics by other means”. On the surface it seems ridiculous that the political leadership in Gaza, Hamas, would provoke a military confrontation against a vastly superior force. However, if the goal is political and serves a broader strategy, it then makes sense.
Gaza is a small strip of territory along the Mediterranean Sea that Israel captured from Egypt in the Six Day War. Its economic value is insignificant. After peaceful relations were established between Israel and Egypt, Israel offered it back and was told No Thanks. In 2005 Israel withdrew its security forces and its settlers, giving the Palestinians their long-sought own state. However, the Palestinians of Gaza responded by becoming the only people in the history of civilization to democratically elect a terrorist organization to power. Hamas responded to its new leadership role by attacking the country that gave it its freedom.
Hamas is a terrorist organization whose explicit reason for existence is the destruction of Israel. This statement is not a slander; it is a written part of the Hamas Charter. Hamas receives its support from anti-Israeli groups both in the Arab world and the West. Its primary sponsor is also the worlds’ primary sponsor of Islamic terrorism, Iran. While Hamas by itself has no chance of achieving its stated goal, it serves as part of a larger movement. Hamas is a proxy army of Iran, whose stated purpose is not only the destruction of Israel, but Islamic domination of the world.
Hamas serves Iran’s purpose in two ways. As a puppet government in a state that borders Israel, it provides a potential launching point for a nuclear suicide attack. However, Hamas also has the ability to provoke a military reaction by Israel, which shifts the spotlight of world attention away from Iran when it is advantageous to do so. Another proxy army of Iran, Hezbollah, did exactly that in 2006 when it appeared the world was finally getting serious about sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program. The war in Lebanon in the summer of 2006 distracted attention away from Iran, and the drive to prevent a nuclear Iran has never really since regained the momentum that had been building up until that point.
Although most of the world has come to accept that a nuclear Iran is preferable compared to the unpleasant alternatives required to prevent it, one country is more likely than any other to draw a different conclusion. That country is the most-likely first target of an Iranian nuke: Israel. Many analysts expected an Israeli raid against Iranian nuclear facilities in the time before a change in U.S. leadership to a less-friendly administration. The provocation in Gaza may have blocked that move.
If Israel expends its political capital in Gaza, it will not likely have the resolve to launch an attack against Iran before Hope and Change take over U.S. foreign policy. At that point, Iran can easily run out the clock before it goes nuclear by feigning an interest in negotiations.
What at first appears ridiculous, Hamas starting a war against Israel that it cannot possibly hope to win militarily, it may have already won politically.
posted by BoiseJag at 4:25 PM
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