On the 23rd Day, Not Quite a Cease Fire

Israel agreed to a unilateral ceasefire, which is where Israel stops fighting and Hamas gets the option of continuing to carry out war crimes by firing rockets at Israel, but for the moment, Hamas thugs have chosen to avoid firing. We'll see how long that lasts. Given the way Hamas has operated in the past, I don't give them more than a few hours. Hamas routinely violated every 3-hour ceasefire Israel proffered to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

Indeed, Hamas thugs have continued attacking Israel in the opening hours:

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev would not say what level of violence would provoke Israel to call off the cease-fire.

"Israel's decision allows it to respond and renew fire at our enemies, the different terror organizations in the Gaza Strip, as long as they continue attacking," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the start of the weekly Cabinet session.

"This morning some of them continued their fire, provoking what we had warned of," Olmert said. "This cease-fire is fragile and we must examine it minute by minute, hour by hour."

Israel must adhere to a zero-tolerance of any additional attacks on it. The reason Israel had to launch Operation Cast Lead in the first place was because it allowed Hamas to think that it could attack Israel with impunity for years on end with rocket attacks. Israel's restraint was seen as weakness and Hamas exploited the Israeli political class' reluctance to attack Hamas, which put Southern Israel at increased risk of attack by kassam rocket and mortar.

Hamas fired 13 rockets at Israel this morning (make that 14 rockets and several mortars and two Israelis injured). Does that sound like a ceasefire to you? Only diplomats would say that one is in place. Watch for the attacks to continue unless Israel resumes its military operation against Hamas. At the same time, watch the media castigate Israel for "breaking" its ceasefire with Hamas, despite the fact that Hamas never stopped attacking Israel in the first place.

Now, Hamas wants to set terms and conditions for this ceasefire as well? That's rich. Of course, the diplomats are facilitating just that, which makes Israel's acceptance of a ceasefire all the more troubling. They may say that they've achieved their objectives, but Hamas is still nominally in charge of Gaza and their leadership is still roughly intact mostly because the top leaders are in Damascus, Syria taking orders from Tehran.

Speaking of Hamas war crimes, when will human rights groups demand prosecutions of Hamas thugs for this:



That's Hamas propaganda video showing Hamas terrorists sending children out into the streets to spot for the terrorists attempting to fire at Israeli helicopters. Hamas fires on the helicopters and knows that Israeli pilots wont return fire knowing that there are civilians are around, and that if they do return fire, the victims will be children. It's a no win situation for Israel, and it's aided and abetted by media and non-governmental groups that routinely ignore the rampant war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas on both Israelis and Palestinians.

As usual, the United Nations will ignore the Hamas attacks, and will express relief at the ceasefire until Israel responds to the incessant attacks. Then, it will blame Israel for attacking claiming a lack of provocation or a chance for the ceasefire and diplomats to get their acts together.

Hamas says it will gradually cease firing the rockets, which is to say that it wont stop attacking Israel, but will simply reduce the numbers to a point where it thinks Israel will stop responding with the force seen thus far during Operation Cast Lead. It's a serious mistake to think otherwise.

Hamas may want to even the score? There's one way to avoid that scenario and it involves destroying Hamas as a political and military entity altogether in Gaza. It means enough with the ceasefires and opportunities for Hamas to regroup and rearm under hudna. Hamas seeks Israel's destruction, and will not waiver in that goal. Israel must destroy Hamas' ability to attack Israeli civilians, which means it must break Hamas' hold on Gaza.

UPDATE:
And like that, out come the uniforms. Hamas police magically reappear on the streets. Days after they disappeared so that they could hide behind women and children, Hamas thugs again show up to show the colors. Funny how that works. And everyone will buy into this nonsense.

Hundreds of Gazans are dead. Buildings smashed and Hamas infrastructure damaged, but Hamas declares victory. Israel may have won the battle, but Hamas declares itself a winner, and the media will agree.

The pressure is on Israel to open borders and to reduce the number of troops in Gaza, so that things are ready for the Obama inauguration. Israel's strategic objectives subsumed by US political needs? How exactly does that work? Who do Israel's political leaders work for? Israel or the US? Israel depends heavily on the US for political support, but Israel's strategic interest lies in destroying Hamas, not allowing it to survive even in a weakened state because Hamas will still attack Israel at the earliest possible moment. This is just a delaying tactic that works against Israel's long term security needs.

Israel is also making excuses for Hamas now? Rockets continue hitting Israel, but Israeli officials say that's just because all of Hamas hasn't quite gotten the memo? That's politics talking, and the diplomats control the outcome. Still, Israel has said that if the attacks don't stop, Israel will respond in force. Israel's military forces are showing that they have regained the initiative and deterrence factor of smashing Hamas hard, though it wasn't the killing blow that it should have been. Time and politics got in the way of victory.

Of course, there are Israelis, including those in the military, who know that Hamas will continue attacking Israel. Hamas wouldn't have it any other way.

Egypt is upset that Israel went with a unilateral ceasefire rather than the diplomatic efforts that Egypt was working with. Considering that Hamas has its own idea of hudna, Israel can do what is best for Israel, rather than doing what's best for Hamas.

Meanwhile, here come the lawsuits. Never mind that they have zero legitimacy. They're just out to get attention for Israel's actions, rather than taking Hamas to task for the war crimes Hamas has engaged in repeatedly. Every act of firing a kassam into Israel was a war crime. Yet, Hamas will get a pass on that. Instead, these suits seek to make Israel's ability to defend itself that much harder.