Iranian Signal Belies Calls for Action

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing Lebanese sources, reports that Iran has directed Hezbollah NOT to launch its own missiles from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. The Lebanese Daily Star has a similar report. Haaretz reports:

"Lebanon's parliament majority leader Saad Hariri on Monday claimed that Hezbollah would not respond to Israel's devastating offensive against Hamas in Gaza. Hariri said that Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told him that Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant organization, would not attack Israel from Lebanon."

This despite the fact that the Iranians are calling for all the Arab nations to strike "the Zionist Entity" for the offensive against Gaza, and are the patrons of Hamas.

Hamas: Truce a "Tactic in Conducting the Struggle"

Here's an article from the website of the Information Office of the Al-Qassam Brigades from April 27, 2008. The article discusses the possibility of Hamas agreeing to the ceasefire that the Egyptians eventually brokered, and that ended shortly before the latest round of fighting. [Extract in blue; bolding in mine; text verbatim]

Sheikh Khaled Mashaal, the head of the political bureau, said Saturday that the Islamic resistance movement Hamas accept an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire with Zionist entity, at the same time Mashaal stressed that it would be a "tactic" In the Hamas's struggle with the Zionist state.

Mashaal said in an interview with al-Jazeera television that Egypt had proposed a six-month truce between the Palestinian side and Zionist entity in Gaza as a first step. He said that Hamas is ready to both cases truce or war but added:

"It is a tactic in conducting the struggle. ... It is normal for any resistance that operates in its people's interest ... to sometimes escalate, other times retreat a bit...the battle is to be run this way and Hamas is known for that," he said. "In 2003, there was a cease-fire and then the operations were resumed and so on."

Mashaal said that Hamas is still waiting for Zionist entity's official response to the Egyptian truce offer. During a press interview with Al Aqsa TV, Dr Mahmud Al Zahhar said Hamas is refusing any a written commitment with Zionist entity.

Where Next Hamas Poll

Here's a strange one. The English-language website of the Information Office of the Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades--the armed wing of Hamas--is hosting a poll. The question is: "Next step for Al Qassam Brigades." As I write at 1205 pm EST, 836 people have voted. And the breakdown is:

1) Keep calm
%45.3
2) Resume rockets
%16.9
3) Resume operations
%37.6

This is, of course, a non-scientific poll. And I have no idea of exactly who visits the website with any regularity. If you visit the Al-Qassam Brigades English forum, the visitors appear to be extremely pro-Palestinian and anti-"Zionist." And yet nearly half of those answering the poll want Hamas to "keep calm."

Do the Israelis Target Civilians?

There's a simple way to prove that they do not, despite what assorted protesters, Hamas, and the Iranians claim. If you look at the small size of Gaza, the density of the population in the unfortunate enclave (just under 4000 people per square kilometer), and then factor in the firepower available to the IDF--naval, air, and ground--if the Israelis were actually targeting Gaza's civilian population we would not be counting the casualties in the hundreds eight days into this campaign, and keep in mind that not all of the 500 are "innocent civilians." If the IDF was actually out to kill civilians we would be counting the Arab dead in the tens of thousands. And the Israelis could manage that without a ground invasion. Air and artillery would suffice.

To be sure, the situation for the civilians of Gaza is harrowing and terrifying. But that's what happens when you vote in an anti-Semitic terrorist group that made no secret about it's intentions regarding Israel, brags about using civilians as human shields, and stores munitions in mosques.

Comparing Hamas to Nazis a Disservice to Nazis

So writes Ron Rosenbaum, author of Explaining Hitler [extract].

"Hitler made efforts to conceal the purpose of the death camps and distanced himself from them, avoided written as opposed to oral orders for the Final Solution. Not because he felt any shame about them, but because he felt knowledge of the death camps might be counter-productive to the Nazis political goals. Hamas makes no effort to conceal the fact that it wants to kill Jewish civilians, not just combatants, but women and children–all Jews (it’s in the charter, remember)—because Hamas feels this will make them more popular."

"Creepy Times"

Victor Hanson Davis writes [extract]:

"There is something especially nauseating about the latest Middle East war — scenes of worldwide Islamic protests with photos of Jews as apes, protesters (in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida of all places!) screaming about nuking Israel and putting Jews in ovens, parades of children dressed up with suicide vests and fake rockets, near constant anti-Semitic vicious sloganeering, Gaza mosques stuffed with rockets to be used against civilians — all to be collated with creepy Hamas rhetoric about the annihilation of Israel. This is the world in which we now live."

But where stands the EU, the UN, and the international community at large, he asks.

Hamas Plays Chicken with Families and Civilians

Just in case you don't believe the Israelis when they tlak about Hamas's use of civilians as human shields, here's an early 2008 Hamas TV report on just such an incident. It documents, publicly from a Hamas source, both the IDF's policy of warning by telephone Hamas leaders whose homes it plans to bomb as well as Hamas's policy of remaining in the house and using civilians as human shields. In this particular case, the human shielding worked and the Israelis called off the attack. But that was then.

Why 2009 Isn't 2006

Making predictions about the Middle East is not easy. And I'm not about to predict an Israeli success in Gaza. There are far too many variables at play. But there are a few points worth consideration as to why Israel may be more successful in Gaza than it was in Lebanon in 2006.

The Lebanese people are seen largely as a third party drug into the Palestinian problems by various state and non-state actors, including Israel. In that sense it's easier to view the people of Lebanon as innocent bystanders than it is the people of Gaza.

Hamas benefited from the experience of Hezbollah in 2006. Hamas expected to repeat that history in Gaza in the event of an Israeli ground attack. But the Israelis also learned a few lessons in southern Lebanon in 2006 and, I assume, are conducting their operations in Gaza along different lines. Hamas may well have fallen victim to the "preparing for the last war" syndrome.

Mumbai! Not that there's any link between the Mumbai jihadists and Hamas, but the images of Mumbai are fresh in people's minds, and such memories of Islamist terror can do little to gain Hamas more sympathy.

Iraq! In 2006, pre-surge, the war in Iraq was going poorly. That realization only reinforced the idea that military action was pointless in the face of Islamist resistance. Post-surge, military actions does not appear hopeless. Quite the contrary, as even President-Elect Obama has recognized, as he prepares to "surge" in Afghanistan.

I'd also add that the Arab states are more amenable to seeing Hamas weakened or destroyed than they were Hezbollah. The Arabs support Fatah, which is more threatened by Hamas than by Israel. To be sure the Arab states also dislike Hezbollah, but the alternative to Hezbollah in Lebanon isn't Fatah, but a dangerous popular democracy.

Taken together these factors may mean that the IDF-Hamas confrontation on the ground will go better for Israel, while in the international arena the Israelis may have more time to operate.

"Arab states urge Israel to kill Gaza leaders”

That's the headline from an article appearing today on the English language edtion of the Al-Bawaba website. Citing Maariv, an Israeli newspaper, the story states:

"Israel has recently received messages from 'senior Arab official' urging the Hebrew state to resume its assassinations attacks in the Gaza Strip, the Tel Aviv-based Maariv reported. According to the newspaper, one of the messages even said 'take their heads off", in reference to the Hamas leadership in the coastal territory."

No doubt this is nothing but Zionist propaganda.

War Reporting Iranian Style

Remember Baghdad Bob? He was the Iraqi Minister of Information who became an infamous caricature during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He reported massive defeats of American forces at the hands of the Iraqi military, even as US tanks rolled into the capital. Well, if you miss that kind of war reporting check out the IRIB--Islamic Republic Information Bureau. Here's what their "Latest from Gaza: Israeli armor fled Beit Lahya" has to say about the course of the fighting. [Please note that all the misspellings are in the original. My favorite is where they "pork" the spelling of Hamas to Haams.]

Israeli armored vehicles were seen fleeing Beit Lahya in Gaza after they found Palestinian snipers hunting for the invading soldiers, Hamas TV netwrok reported Sunday evening.

The snipers from the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades shot dead at least three Israeli soldiers before the armored vehicles flee the scene, it added.

In another development, a third Israeli soldier was captured in the Gaza combat between the Zionist regime and the Palestinian resistance.

Meanwhile, spokesman of the Qods Brigades announced Sunday that the Palestinian fighters could destory seven Israeli tanks in Hay al-Zaytoun area southern Gaza.

The Palestinian combatants earlier reported the killings of at least 9 Israeli soldiers and wounding of over 90 others.

Also, a joint force of Palestinian resistance descended on another column of invading Isareli soldiers with RPG and mortars, killing an unspecified number of them.

The resistance fighters also said Sunday they downed an enemy helicopter over Gaza.

The night before, a statement from Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said that in monitoring Israeli military radio traffic, it learned that five soldiers had been killed.

It added later that the number had increased to nine with fatalities it could directly confirm. One of the dead was said to be an officer.

The Israeli army refused to comment as usual.

Haams spokesman Ismail Redwan vowed that Israeli incursion into Gaza "will not be a walk in the park and Gaza will become your cemetery."

Israeli army has escalated attacks against civilian targets inside Gaza.

A Zionist jet hit the Ibrahim al-Maqdana mosque in Jabaliya, killing at least 16 worshippers, medics and witnesses said.

Four children were among the martyrs and dozens of wounded were dragged from the rubble.