It’s no surprise that Israel would launch a new offensive against Hamas. Israeli officials have been warning that they would not sit back indefinitely and let Hamas rain missiles on their citizens. The timing — after Christmas and before Obama is sworn in – make sense.
It’s also no surprise that much of the coverage has ignored the years of missile attacks Israel has endured or treats them as though they are just a minor annoyance: Can’t the Israelis use umbrellas or something?
A CNN piece I saw earlier today made no mention of the missiles until the very end when they quoted from a White House statement calling on Hamas to finally put a stop to the rocket salvos.
Context is also missing from many reports: Israelis left Gaza in 2005 – after years of being told that if they “ended the occupation” the violence would subside. It’s been just the opposite.
Instead of proving to the world that they are capable of building a free and democratic state, the Palestinians voted in the militant Islamist group Hamas which – with support from Tehran — quickly turned Gaza into a terrorist enclave.
Hamas then took over full control of Gaza in a bloody operation against the Palestinian Authority and its supporters.
In June of 2006, Hamas “commandos” invaded Israel and kidnapped an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. The “international community” has been virtually silent about Shalit who — unlike the detainees at Guantamo – has never had access to the Red Cross much less to an attorney.
The real question now is will Israel do to Hamas what it failed to do to Hezbollah: demonstrate clearly that terrorism is a dead end – figuratively and literally — for those who employ it, sponsor it and support it?