That is probably why hamas is holding out, and why Israel is escalating. They need to bring this boil to a head quickly and the infection needs to hold on just a little longer until their savior comes on the scene.

conservnut on January 10, 2009 at 9:09 AM

Jimma Carter?

The Israelis can and should ignore all political pressure from outside their country, including the US and the UN. Their compliance with requests from our government and the UN have allowed their citizens to be killed.

If that were us, I would say flip the world the finger and kick the living daylights out of those who are attacking us and do not stop until they are ALL DEAD. Including all the so called “palestinian’ “leaders”. They are ALL terrorists, born from atrocity and horror. Or have you all forgotten?

dogsoldier on January 10, 2009 at 11:09 AM

The difference is that Israel is an US client state. We are the supplier or design licensor of their advanced weapons; few advanced arms are produced domestically. [You can read me a list, like the Merkava tank, but the electronics for that beast are US.]

The Israelis got a green light from our Government, which is why the resupply is going forward. If Bush were unhappy, he’d have halted resupply, which would be the ultimate jerk on Israel’s leash — as a lame duck President, he’s got a teflon layer a foot thick, so he’d have been insulated from the Israeli lobby’s displeasure. I think he’s happy that Iran’s proxy Hamas is having the crap beaten out of them; when negotiation time comes, the Israelis will certainly be in the superior position, and US diplomacy will be made easier as a result.

Additionally, it should be noted that the West Bank is not a second front in this war — Fatah is staying out of combat. They will need to be rewarded for doing this in some way which is not a threat to Israel’s security (I think killing off Hamas in Gaza may do the trick). If Fatah or Hezbollah had entered the conflict, Isreal would be hard pressed in men and materiel to hold them off. I can see why Hezbollah isn’t doing anything (they are still rebuilding from 2006), but Fatah is actually tamping down any sympathy in the West Bank for Hamas.

If Hamas wants to play games with Isreal they are severly handicapped and the world can see this. If the Palestinian supporters think they are evening up the side for Hamas and Palestine by objecting to the way that Isreal is handling the situation, they need to understand that even after Obama takes office Isreal has the power within its holds to annihilate its opposition and it does not really care what the world thinks of it. They have always been hated or persecuted throughout history for some reason or another. But the simple fact holds true in this day as well as in the past-they are still here.

They need to hunt down and kill the leaders on the field. No capture, no trial, make stories up about them trying to escape. Executed like dogs. That is the message that will resonate to all the other rabid dogs pretending to be leaders in Iran, Hezbollah, Syria etc.

After the leaders are executed they can agree to a truce with the warning to the new leaders–the same awaits you if you don’t recognize us and sue for real peace.

Top down is the road to peace in the 21st century. Personal accountability, not allowing them to pawn it off on the toothless peasant in the corner.

patrick neid on January 9, 2009 at 2:20 PM

I think they’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that they’re going to be dealing with an at best indifferent and possibly hostile US administration. The Israelis will do what they have to do to survive and if that means strained relations with the US, then they’ll reluctantly do that. That’s one of the reasons why they’ve been working so hard at developing their own arms industry and lessening dependence on the US, as well as developing alternate sources of trade and commerce, in case Obama does try to tighten the screws.

Matt Helm on January 10, 2009 at 11:34 AM

It is also why they have a plan in place to attempt to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities. I hope that’s next on their agenda after they finish Hamas off. (I know, I’m being wildly optimistic on both counts…)

War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.
William Tecumseh Sherman

And a little more.

How? Israel is not at all impressed with Obama or Biden.
Israel knows Bush was on their side but they don’t trust Obama
and many Americans don’t either.

izoneguy on January 10, 2009 at 11:54 AM
———-
About teh only way Obama could pull this off is to send in the First Marine Division. UN has proven they can’t be trusted, so a UN troop on the border will not stop Israel (or Islamist nut-jobs) from going at it.

And if he does this, depending on the ROE, it may actually help. It’d give the Palis someone else to shoot at – and somehow I suspect the troops will shoot back.

Mew

/Palpatine

I think you mean re-re-re-re-learned.

How? Israel is not at all impressed with Obama or Biden.
Israel knows Bush was on their side but they don’t trust Obama
and many Americans don’t either.

rob verdi on January 10, 2009 at 10:58 AM

I have to disagree with that. I think they’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that they’re going to be dealing with an at best indifferent and possibly hostile US administration. The Israelis will do what they have to do to survive and if that means strained relations with the US, then they’ll reluctantly do that. That’s one of the reasons why they’ve been working so hard at developing their own arms industry and lessening dependence on the US, as well as developing alternate sources of trade and commerce, in case Obama does try to tighten the screws.

If that were us, I would say flip the world the finger and kick the living daylights out of those who are attacking us and do not stop until they are ALL DEAD. Including all the so called “palestinian’ “leaders”. They are ALL terrorists, born from atrocity and horror. Or have you all forgotten?

Keep going till Hamas is crippled. completely eliminated. You committed, don’t do it half assed.

Mr. Joe on January 10, 2009 at 10:52 AM

correction, sorry Mr. Joe I felt a bit stronger about an organization committed to terrorism.

Multiculturalist dogma has left the modern West ill-equipped to single out any enemy as a “barbarian,” and deal with them accordingly. Our elites always insist in elevating them, granting them a wholly unearned set of considerations that would only be appropriate for a civilized enemy – such as the foolish determination to grant exquisitely lawyered Geneva Convention rights to terrorists, who of course would laugh out loud at the suggestion *they* be held to such standards.

Sadly, it is necessary to consider any Islamic-terror state a barbarian enemy. As long as they think barbaric behavior has a chance of achieving their goals, they will persist in it. Only when they have been defeated in detail can their culture make the painful steps toward advanced civilization. Developing an advanced Western-style culture is *hard*, and no populace will undertake that course unless the easy, feral, barbarian path is permanently closed off to them. As with the citizens of a welfare state, so with barbarian cultures: not enough people will get off the couch and drag themselves into work, unless they are forced to do so. Civilization is hard work, but the Palenstinians are decades late in reporting to the office and clocking in.

Is the Hamas leadership even in the Gaza area? Or have they escaped via tunnels to Egypt or where ever?

Unless Israel eliminates or captures the top leadership of Hamas it will be a loss for Israel.

Both sides are saying no. Hamas’ conditions for a truce are ridiculous.

I guess one could try to force a truce via carrot or stick. However, I read the other day that the US was facilitating the transfer of weapons from Greece to Israel.

Blake on January 10, 2009 at 10:29 AM

Hell, Israel should just give them some land. It worked last time. Well, did’nt it?

That sounds as though the Israelis plan to escalate military activity in Gaza to dig out entrenched Hamas fighters in Gaza City, which they have all but encircled already.

Does this mean that Israel intends to obliterate Hamas? Good. It seems everytime Israel has one of these fanatic foes on the ropes (Hezbollah or Hamas) here comes the UN with a cease-fire to save the day for the fanatic.