The Facts
Operation "Protective Edge" is in it's third day and things are heating up fast. Without making it too much about numbers, since the beginning of the Operation, over 360 rockets have been fired at Israel and Israel has responded by attacking over 590 "terror targets".
One of the major differences in Hamas' attack in Israel now compared to late 2012 during Israel's week long Operation "Pillar of Defence" is Hamas' reach. Hamas has fired rockets in the last couple days that have reached as far north as Haifa. Citizens of Israel's center and north are now getting a better understanding of what the residents of Israel's south have gone through many times before.
In preparation for this operation, the IDF called in 40,000 reserve units and has stationed units at the border of Gaza who are currently preparing for a more severe response to Hamas' attacks. However, a ground troop based offensive is not in Israel's interest according to David Horovitz of "The Times of Israel". He explains that a ground offensive would only be helpful to Israel if Israel wanted to take back control of the strip which was handed over to the Palestinian people in a peace effort in 2005. But as Benji Lovitt, also of "The Time of Israel", pointed out, "[Reconquering Gaza] would be like divorcing your crazy wife, then taking her back after seeing her get fired and develop a crack addiction." Horovitz noted, "If Hamas attacks — whether rocket fire, infiltrations, or other acts of terror — start to take Israeli civilian casualties, the likelihood of a ground offensive will grow."
The Lead Up
So what inspired this new operation? Most credible sources point to the murder of 3 Israeli teenagers in the West Bank allegedly at the hands of 2 Arab men linked to Hamas. The bodies of Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-ad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach were found during the course of a large scale operation in the West Bank. The IDF set out to find them after a distress call was made to an emergency call center minutes after the three were abducted. The goal of the operation was to avoid another hostage situation like the one involving Gilad Shalit, who was traded back to Israel 5 years after his capture in exchange for the release of many convicted Palestinian terrorists. An FBI investigation points to "10 silenced gunshots fired at the teenagers that were heard in an audio recording of the incident". The FBI believes that the three teenagers were taken with the intent on killing them.
During the mass West Bank Operation "Brother's Keeper", the IDF detained more than 400 Palestinians suspected of terror activity. The operation, of course, gave the international community the chance to weight in on the situation. Canadian Foreign Minister, John Baird, offered Canada's "unwavering support as they mourn the loss of three young men who were taken from their families and friends far too early." Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, was quoted saying she was "deeply concerned" by the deteriorating situation and called on both sides to "refrain from any escalation of violence that would only serve to make the resolution of differences between Israel and Palestinians more difficult." Finally, British Prime Minister David Cameron stated, "This was an appalling and inexcusable act of terror perpetrated against young teenagers. Britain will stand with Israel as it seeks to bring justice to those responsible."
To me, the most ironic piece of international pressure to present itself during this operation came from the White House's Middle East coordinator, Philip Gordon. At a peace conference held on Tuesday in Tel Aviv, Gordon asserted that "the US knows how to keep Israel safe". The irony came when the conference was interrupted by a rocket attack.
Unfortunately, the bloodshed didn't end with the three Israeli teens. Hours after the funerals for the boys took place the charred body of a 16-year-old Palestinian teen named Muhammad Abu Khdeir was found in the forests outside of Jerusalem. The teen is believed to have been the victim of a revenge killing and 6 "Jewish Extremists" are the prime suspects. Following Abu Khdeir's funeral, hundreds of Israelis came to console the teenager's family, many to condone the Jewish phrase "Hilul Hashem" meaning the desecration of God's name.
While all this is going on it's important not to forget about the general situation in the West Bank. Since the murders last week, riots in and around the West Bank have become more frequent. Today, at a checkpoint on an Israeli highway, Israeli forces stopped a vehicle from entering Israel with explosives in the car. The initial report claims that the licence plate is registered to the Palestinian Authority and had two occupants in the car. Upon inspection security forces found a gas cylinder with explosive materials in it.
In The Media
The IDF Facebook and Twitter pages have been blowing up with various media that proves to be informative on their defensive measures in the Gaza Strip. A lot has to do with the Iron Dome system and its efforts to stop the rockets from causing damage. There is also a lot of media showing Hamas' range of rockets and the reality that the Israeli population faces because of those rockets. Beyond that, it appears that Hamas is doing everything it can to attack Israel. This video shows the IDF Navy stopping Hamas terrorists from infiltrating Israel from Gaza.
Let's not forget the children stuck in this situation. A lot of media has surfaced over the children in Israel and how their coping with their reality. This video shows the children of Israel's south going about their normal procedure when the air raid sirens go off. The song is meant to keep everyone calm and collected while they move to cover.
But let's not forget about the children in Gaza either. The IDF has come under fire in the media for allegedly killing 8 children and wounding many more women and children in their assault on the Gaza Strip. And no stand off with the Israel is complete without the discussion of the use of human shields. The IDF posted a video of a spokesperson for Hamas on Palestinian Television. In the video he tells of how the IDF was forced to abort it's targeted attack on a building in Gaza due to the rush of civilians to the area. The spokesperson called for more citizens of the strip to follow such examples of becoming human shields and protect their homes.
But if you move away from what the IDF is showing us, it's clear that there is more issues to address than what the IDF has covered so far. CNN shared the story of the cousin of the Palestinian teen who was murdered and burned alive. His 15 year old cousin, Tariq Khdeir, from Florida was allegedly beaten by Israeli undercover forces as shown in the video CNN acquired. This lead to a large investigation by Israeli officials and the suspension of one officer as of now.
And of course, the most unbiased news source in this matter, Aljazeera (yes that very sarcastic), makes it clear that the 81 deaths in the last couple days are a result of Israel's leadership. As quoted from the political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaa, "Netanyahu will take you from disaster to disaster. They will give you nothing but defeat and destruction." Naftali Bennett, Israel's Economy Minister, appeared for an interview where he articulated himself quite well with the questions Aljazeera threw at him.
In fairness to Aljazeera, they were quick to jump at one of the main issues that no one seems to have connected to this situation; the collapse of the unity government merging the PA with Hamas. Aljazeera reported on a large amount of Palestinians in the West Bank protesting the lack of leadership and action the PA has shown during this troubling time for their counterparts in Gaza. Aljazeera's website hosts a number of videos from April when the peace negotiations started to fall apart. Some of the videos capture Israeli officials commenting on the issues of trying to make peace with Hamas, due to Hamas' charter which calls for the destruction of Israel. This, of course, ties in well with the current situation Hamas and Israel find themselves in.
The End Game
If we look back at Operation Pillar of Defence and Operation Cast Lead, we know that a resort to force has limitations and that a turn for the worse isn't out of the question. Israel currently is in an uncomfortable place where it's getting about as much indifference from the international community as it's going to get while waiting for the wave of criticism it's used to in these situations.
What seems to be lost on the international community at this point, with the exception of the Canadian Government, is Israel's responsibility to protect its citizens. Furthermore, the understanding of the Gaza Strip and the way it's situated today needs to be examined. As Ilan Mann puts it in the Jerusalem Post, "[Hamas] no longer posses the prospects of meaningful death or destruction" to the Jewish population of Israel. Gaza has a very securely kept border with Israel and "their erstwhile Muslim brotherhood allies in the Egyptian government have been deposed and replaced with an unsympathetic anti-terror military junta led by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi."
Hamas will continue to show their strength through the use of rockets and their extended reach, but Israeli's won't change their routines and won't be terrorized like they used to be. As seen, even the kids in school (who are most likely to freak out by death falling from the sky into their schools) are kept calm during these attacks. "While these continued attacks extract a serious toll on the quality of life in Israel, especially in southern cities most vulnerable to attack, they cannot and will not destroy the nation", Ilan Mann claims. Don't think that the current situation is being deemed satisfactory by either side. But if Israel's main priority is to protect it's citizens, then this back-and-forth Israel and Hamas have played multiple times since Gaza was handed over to the Palestinians, must come to an end and a real solution to this terrorism must be reached.
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