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August 05, 2008
Is anyone listening?
It doesn't seem so.
Ongoing debate on Shalit prisoner swap diverts attention from military option
By Arieh Eldad
Gilad Shalit has been in captivity for more than two years now. The media is replete with harsh descriptions regarding the conditions his captors are holding him in - a cellar or a narrow tunnel, without any daylight. I don't know what the source of these descriptions is and whether they are based on intelligence information or imagination. However, there is no doubt that we need to get Shalit back home.
The debate seemingly focuses on how many terrorists should be released for him and how much blood we may accept on their hands. Is it moral to free hundreds of terrorists when everyone knows that anywhere between a third and a half of them will attempt to kill Jews again?
In our cemeteries one can find hundreds of buried Jews who were murdered by those released from Israeli prison in these types of tainted deals. Yet the debate regarding the number of prisoners and blood on their hands diverts it from what should be its main focus: The military option.
The Gaza Strip is a terror hub established through the folly of Israeli governments and by ignoring our national and security interests. This terror hub can be dismantled, however. We can fix what we ruined. Yet thecorrection has to start from this point. Capitulation to Arab terrorism in the form of Hamas' Gaza regime paves the way for a complete Arab victory over Israel. What's hanging in the balance is no longer Shalit's release,but rather, the State of Israel's liberation. Israel is a hostage at this time. Moreover, the Gaza Strip is within arm's reach; within walking distance.
In the 1970s and 1980s Israel scored important victories against terror; these triumphs often exacted a heavy human toll, as was the case with the hijacked bus on the Coastal Road and the hostage-taking in Maalot. We even went as far as Uganda in order to rescue our hostages. Yet there is no doubt that had Olmert and his spineless government were leading Israel at the time, we wouldn't even be considering a military move: Because of the distance and risk. Instead, we would have released thousands of terrorists. Yet during those days, capitulation to terrorism wasn't an option.
Even when IDF soldier Nachshon Waxman was abducted, Israel's leaders chose a risky military operation that ultimately ended in failure - the captive was killed, as did Nir Poraz, a Sayeret Matkal officer who died during the rescue operation. Yet the message conveyed to terror groups was that Israel does not capitulate to terror.
There is a military option There is a military option in Gaza. We can issue an ultimatum to Hamas that Israel would assassinate one of its leaders in Gaza or elsewhere every day if Gilad Shalit is not released at once. We can embark on a targeted operation based on existing intelligence information, or a broad operation if we lack such accurate intelligence information. We can kill every terrorist on the way, go from one house to the next, and while we're at it blow up Qassam rocket workshops, arms caches, and tunnels. We can pulverize Hamas in Gaza as we pulverized the PLO in the First Lebanon War, and unlike what we did to Hizbullah in the Second Lebanon War (the reason we didn't do it was not lack of power, but rather, deficient political and military leadership.)
The alternative is not only capitulation to terror and the release of thousands of murderers. The alternative is reconciling ourselves to Hamas' military buildup and fortification, until its rockets reach Tel Aviv and Dimona - then, we shall have to enter Gaza and pay a much greater price because of our current cowardice, hesitation, and flawed political considerations, which come in place of decisive national considerations.
Gilad Shalit must not become the reason for avoiding a war on terror. If this materializes and this is the way adopted by Israel, terror groups will realize that they found the way not only to release the murderers in ourjails, but also "their entire Palestine."
Tomorrow, more soldiers will be abducted for the sake of Mount Dov (which they refer to as the Shebaa Farms,) and two days from now, they will kidnap more troops and demand that we withdraw from Hebron. They will demand Temple Mount in exchange for several abducted civilians, and if, heaven forbid, they take over a kindergarten, they'll demand Arab autonomy in the Galilee.
There is no logical reason for them to stop, unless we stop and say: No more.
Arieh Eldad is right. I can't count how many times I've posted this picture:
The faces of 177 Jews, all of whom were murdered by palestinian terrorists after the terrorists were released from Israeli prisons. and...
Let us not forget Yohai Lifshitz, 18, from Jerusalem; Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from Shilo; Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kohav Hashahar, Neria Cohen, 15, also from the capital, Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve Daniel, Avraham David Moses, 16, from Efrat, Roee Roth, 18, from Elkana and Doron Meherete, 26, from Ashdod. They are the 8 young Yeshiva students brutally murdered in Jerusalem by Alaa Abu Dheim, who was arrested by Israeli authorities four months prior to the murders and then released two months later.
Fact: More than 75 Israeli Arabs have been arrested over the past three years on suspicion of being involved in terror. Nearly half of them are arabs who have received a permit to stay in Israel and an Israeli identity card on the backdrop of their marriage to an Israeli Arab, and terror groups seek to recruit them due to their access to Israeli targets.
There is still no word on what Alaa Abu Dheim was locked up for in the first place, anyone want to take a guess? Israel let this bastard go as a gesture of good will after Annapolis. He didn't have blood on his hands when they let him go, but thanks to the international community, he got another chance at it and he damn sure has blood on his hands now, along with everyone connected with Annapolis and his release.
Abu Dheim is a perfect example of what happens when Israel releases terrorists from its prisons, Ehud Olmert let him go and he went right back to trying to kill Jews.
Here's another fact: If Israel did not release those terrorists, the innocent people pictured above would still be alive. In fact, if terrorism was punishable by death, the innocent people pictured above would still be alive and the terrorists who killed them would be dead. Sadly, in Israel only Nazis are eligible for the death penalty, a truly stupid policy when you consider the number of Nazis in Israel as against the number of terrorists.
Israel will never get any sympathy nor support from the international community. No matter what we Jews do - or don't do, those that hate us will always hate us and they will always find some rationalization or justification for terrorism against us and for the murder of innocents among us.
Bottom line, no one respects a victim. When Israel won the 1967 war, she had international support in her fight to stay alive. Today, the support is for the murderers, for the people who are responsible for this, and this...
Posted by LindaSoG at August 5, 2008 09:07 PM
Comments
We are listening, those of us that know the truth about islam, and its 'prophet', pedophile, rapist, mysoginist, thief, murderer and heretic, Muhammad. I am all for razing Gaza to wipe out the Hamas infestation.
Posted by: Kal at August 5, 2008 09:53 PM
"Israel will never get any sympathy nor support from the international community."
'Tis the perspective the socialist press might wish to portray, Linda, but I won't buy into their staged soap opera of deception. There are clear thinking realists and fighters who, every single day, speak out to keep the ears that listen fully informed.
There is a very young gentleman whom I have had the distinct pleasure of coming to know a bit. He is in his early twenties and resides in the communist bastion of S. California, of all insidious locations! Imagine! He mentioned to me not long back, when I was particular vociferous about my own views and pessimism, that history has never been significantly altered by the silently accepting majority... but always by the fierce and bold minority. We get lulled into thinking that serious change can never occur, simply by virtue of long periods of inactivity and appeasement.
God is watching this struggle, Linda. Who of us truly, completely understands His methods? Or His sometimes agonizing waits (like this one)? It doesn't mean He will never act. Keep the faith and never be silenced. Your words and observations could not count more than they do now.
God bless Israel!
Posted by: Defiant_Infidel at August 6, 2008 02:32 PM
Linda, I'm short on words but we all know that I support the complete destruction and elimination of islam, anywhere in the world and with exceptional PREDJUDICE.
Posted by: cuchieddie at August 6, 2008 07:03 PM
Actually "exceptional" should have been "extreme"
Posted by: cuchieddie at August 6, 2008 07:05 PM
Cuchieddie couldn't have expressed my feelings about them any better. Pick any place in the world dominated by islam and you have one theme, terror, oppression and murder.
Posted by: Jack at August 6, 2008 08:16 PM
You know Linda, I just stopped by to check on you and wish you well. Then I see that picture again. One I have seen before, somewhere else. It just serves to remind me of why I so hate islam and all that it stands for.
God bless you girl, and may our warrier sons and daughters destroy islam and all it stands for. For there to ever be peace, it must be done.
Take care of yourself and get better. We will carry on with the battle.
Posted by: Chuck from Tacoma at August 9, 2008 09:05 PM