Monday, June 18, 2007

Israeli Offensive into Gaza

This would be a stupendously horrible thing to do (via War in Context):

Israel’s new defence minister Ehud Barak is planning an attack on Gaza within weeks to crush the Hamas militants who have seized power there.

According to senior Israeli military sources, the plan calls for 20,000 troops to destroy much of Hamas’s military capability in days.

The raid would be triggered by Hamas rocket attacks against Israel or a resumption of suicide bombings.

Israeli officials believe their forces would face even tougher resistance in Gaza than they encountered during last summer’s war against Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

Which would seem to be an argument against just such an offensive, considering how things turned out in Lebanon last year. Perhaps the story is hyperbole, something this reporter picked up and ran with. But perhaps not. I surely hope that there are those in the IDF who realize how incredibly bad of an idea this is. Israel would be better served to let Hamas suffer it's growing pains, and avoid the use of military force if at all possible.

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