Two opinion pieces in today’s paper discuss the current operations against Hamas in light of the worldwide efforts to combat terrorist entities. William Kristol, writing in the New York Times, discusses how Israel has managed to learn from her mistakes made in conducting a war against Hizbullah two years ago. He also notes that Israel does not have to hold onto Gaza for this counterterrorism operation to succeed, an important point that has not been made enough.
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) makes many of the same points, but emphasizes the role these operations play in fighting the extremist ideologies backed by Iran. As long as Israel’s military is able to send a forceful and convincing message to Iran and her allies, the moderates in the Middle East–as well as Europe and the United States–will all be better off.
I support Israel 100%
israel fights the war on terrorism?
what does that mean now?
? israel is fighting against the war on terrorism?
? is fighting in the war on terrorism?
i thought the war on terrorism was a brand owned be the u.s.a…..
Hamas is a terror regime that must be stopped, they are seeking and aiming to hit civilians only, they hide is civilians areas and is a regime, not an army, they can not fight Tank vs Tank, all they can do is risk their population, they are very weak right now, soon all will end.
israel must stop this massacre immediately. they are killing lots of innocent people including babies and women.
to taner – there is no “massacre”. Israel is making every effort to avoid harming civilians. Israel even gives up the element of surprise to warn arab civilians to get out of the way before Israel attacks the Hamas terrorists. but Hamas hides behind civilians, sometimes not letting them leave, and sometimes the civilians willingly go to the target to protect the terrorists. either way, Hamas is to blame, not Israel.
Hamas has been shooting missiles at Israeli civilians for 8 years. even during the so-called “cease fire” Hamas continued to shoot dozens of missiles at Israeli civilians. if Hamas would stop shooting at Israel, then Israel would not have to shoot back. so again, Hamas is to blame.
it is also quite likely that the pictures that you see on the news are made-up. this was the case in the Lebanon War and the Defensive Shield operation (Jenin), and I am sure that we will afterwards find that many of the pictures we see, supposedly showing injured arab civilians, will turn out to be fake.
Will someone explain to me how it is possible that the strongest, best equipped military in the Middle East, fighting in one of the most heavily populated areas in the world, against a lightly armed enemy, has managed to kill less than 600, of whom less than 25% are civilians, after eleven days of intense fighting? Are they the worst shots in the world? The more likly answer is that they are trying to the best of their ability to keep civilian deaths down.
The world is pressuring the wrong party. It should stop Hamas immediately and help the peace loving civilians prosper in Gaza.