WarSclerotic

Netanyahu: Israel engaged in historic battle for its homePM sends condolences to the families of 13 fallen soldiers, stresses Gaza op may continue for many daysBy Mitch Ginsburg and Raphael Ahren July 20, 2014, 9:38 pm

via Netanyahu: Israel engaged in historic battle for its home | The Times of Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed acute pain at the loss of 13 Israeli soldiers in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City on Sunday and said that the battle was yet another phase in the ongoing onslaught against the Jewish national home in Israel.

Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email
and never miss our top stories Free Sign up!

Netanyahu, in a press conference at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, described a unified front waging “the battle against terror, which is part of the historic campaign to harm us since the founding of the state.”

He went on to say that Israel had good reason to believe that Hamas would refuse the initial Egyptian ceasefire agreement and that this “rather highly probable” assumption was part of the calculus that enabled Israel to garner widespread international legitimacy to act and allow the army the opportunity to deal with the “strategic effort” of tunnel attacks.

Netanyahu confirmed that he was in touch with a wide array of regional leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and asserted that, while the conflict was still very much ongoing and might last many more days, it would “open new channels” in terms of future peace talks.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon addressed the press alongside Netanyahu. Asked if, in light of the tunnel threat, Israel would agree to a ceasefire in the coming days, he said that while there were likely many days of fighting ahead, “the lion’s share” of the counter-tunnel work would be done within the next two to three days.

The press conference, the second in which Netanyahu has taken questions — a rarity in recent years — during the current operation, came on the heels of a fierce battle in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya.

The facts of the battle in Shejaiya were partially cleared for publication on Sunday evening. Shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday, an armed personnel carrier transporting seven Golani Brigade soldiers was struck by an anti-tank mine and then pinned under machine gun fire, the army said.

All seven soldiers were killed. Six more soldiers were killed in a series of confrontations, including three men from the Orev platoon, who were hit by an anti-tank missile. At least 67 Palestinians were killed, according to Hamas government figures.

“The IDF was forced to respond to heavy resistance by Hamas fighters, who had deployed within homes and tunnels in the town,” said Capt. Eytan Buchman, an active reservist in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

“Our operation is against terrorist targets. In Shejaiya there’s production, storage, and launching of rockets at Israel,” a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Sunday afternoon. “You also have there the terror tunnels used by Hamas terrorist operatives to infiltrate Israel in order to maim and to murder.”

The Israeli army knew for quite a while that it would have to enter Shejaiya, the official continued. “We urged the civilian population to evacuate for days, through leaflets, broadcasts, telephone calls. We urged them to evacuate, because we didn’t want to see innocent civilians caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hamas. But it is Hamas that ordered the civilians to stay put. It is Hamas that wanted those civilians to stay, so it would have a human shield for its terrorist machine.”

“We’re making efforts not to harm the residents of Gaza, and Hamas is making every effort that Gaza residents be harmed,” Netanyahu said. Thus, responsibility for harm to Gazans is “on Hamas, and Hamas alone.”

Israel must grit its teeth and keep going in Gaza

Israelis must endure the suffering and growing casualty list – or the country will be back in the same place very soon.

Published: 07.20.14, 19:25 / Israel Opinion

via Israel must grit its teeth and keep going in Gaza – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

In any war, campaign or operation there is a point at which the list of casualties grows at an alarming rate, and chilling stories emerge from the battlefield. And that moment has an immediate and resounding impact.

At that point, there is no difference between commanders and fighters, battle-hardened as they are, and civilians in the home front. The heart still skips a beat and blood still runs cold in the veins – even for those who were not directly involved in the fighting, even if those who were there did not lie about how the battle was fought.

This pain comes from a sense of loss and defeat, even if forces on the ground are achieving their aims and carrying out their mission.

But one can – and must – get past this. I experienced it in the Six-Day War and in similar situations since. What allows you to overcome this crisis is the knowledge that the human sacrifice was not in vain. Knowing that the fallen and wounded, the bereaved parents and those who are now permanently disabled have saved the lives of many others who needed protection and sacrifice of the fallen.

This is the case now. Israel launched Operation Protective Edge to end to the clear and present danger to the lives of Israelis posed by Hamas’ subterranean terrorist mechanism. This infrastructure was planned and built for one purpose only – to kill indiscriminately, kidnap hostages and bring the State of Israel to its knees (like with Gilad Shalit) and worse.

Even the threat of rocket fire is not negligible, despite the fact that Iron Dome and the precise IAF attacks have created an illusion of security. We knew there was a threat, but there was a sense that our lives were not really in danger if we only rushed to our protected spaces.

This was a virtual war, and we thought that the worst thing that could happen to us would be to run out of Iron Dome batteries or targets for the Air Force. This is not the case. The rocket threat from Hamas is real, and if goes on much longer there will also be more casualties – it is a question of statistics. And equally important – Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is watching from the sidelines and taking notes.

We saw the results of the attacks on Gaza, and winced at the sight of destruction and dead children, but the ground operation rubbed in our faces all the ugliness and pain and made it personal for us.

There is no doubt that the events of Saturday night in the Gaza Strip will be presented by Hamas – and one has to admit, quite rightly so – as a victory of minds and media. The organization and its leaders will try to leverage this macabre achievement in the diplomatic negotiations that have not yet begun. But we cannot play into the hands of the terrorists who have so far in this operation failed in every attempt to harm us.

In the meantime, in these difficult days of war, the rumor-mongers on the social networks and on Whatsapp must behave responsibly and show some restraint. The wild rumors are unfair to those families whose sons are now fighting in Gaza. It’s time to break this habit.

The Israeli public cannot crumble, and the media cannot give off distress signals, not because it is neither pretty nor dignified to cry and show pain, but because any signs of distress or public pressure on the government to withdraw the troops will only increase Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s motivation to keep fighting – and harden their stance during ceasefire negotiations. This would lead to drawn-out negotiations, prolonged fighting and a higher casualty rate on both sides.

Even worse, we would be back here in a year or two, facing the same dilemmas and the same pain. So we have to grit our teeth, and keep blowing up every last tunnel and shaft we can find, until we can reach a durable, long-term ceasefire that the State of Israel and the Israeli government can live with.