On September 20 of last year I suggested that Israel might go to war with Iran before January 20. Apparently the Israelis opted for something closer to home. I believe the motivation is politics. Two of the leading candidates for prime minister are relatively dovish. They are Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livini. They obviously want to show a tough military face to the Israeli electorate. There is little doubt that the cost of life to Israel’s forces will be small. It is astonishing to me that they would lead their country into war without an exit plan or even a plan on how to win.
There is sufficient evidence to support Israel’s contention that Hamas has been hiding their launching facilities inside civilian area. While Israel has the right to protect its population the cost of civilian lives in Gaza has been too great. Israel will have to agree to a cease fire without destroying the ability of Hamas to fire rockets at them. Hamas will declare their survival a victory. The Palestinian people will be emboldened to fire even more rockets into Israel.
This is one more issue that will be high on President Barack Obama’s to do list.
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