Israel's Lost Victory

For Israel, in the struggle against the genocidal Islamist terrorist organization Hamas, what constitutes victory? Israel went to war to end rocket and mortar fire on her civilian populace. The Kassams and mortar strikes continue unabated and are now supplemented by Grad missile attacks which are deadlier and have a longer range. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier taken hostage more than two(2) years ago, remains captive. His release should be demanded in any ceasefire agreement, but Shalit's plight has almost gone unmentioned during the current conflict. There are no reports that the IDF has rooted out Shalit's abductors and brought them to justice. While many smuggling tunnels into Gaza have been destroyed, others have survived and there is no apparent mechanism in place to prevent future smuggling either through tunnels or wall breeches. Israel no doubt has done great damage to Hamas, to the Gaza civilian population in which the terrorists operated and hid behind as a shield, and to her own international reputation particularly among those who were possessed of a tinge of Jew-baiting in the first place. Has the assault on Hamas generated enough qualms in the terrorists to stop their firing or caused sufficient revulsion among Gaza's beleaguered people to cause them to say no more and throw the terrorists from their midst? On the contrary, Hamas has deliberately exposed Palestinian civilians to ever greater danger, so that they could exploit their civilian casualties in the media and to curry the favor of world public opinion which has sadly or cynically obliged them and blamed only or mostly Israel for her effort at self-defense, thus rewarding terror and prospective genocide. I am not one who argues that any Israeli military action further radicalizes the Arab or Muslim street. The Koran and generations of anti-Israel and Jew-baiting incitement already did that. The Arab street has never and will not foster the idea of peaceful co-existence unless Islam undergoes tremendous internal reformation. Prior to the Gaza involvement, many of the practitioners of the religion of peace wanted Israel erased and Jews annihilated and the Gaza fighting has done nothing to diminish this, but in reality, it hasn't exacerbated it either. While the IDF has been dominant tactically, Israel has not achieved her strategic objectives. The Kadima government will herald victory as will Labor's Ehud Barak, who seeks Israel's highest office. Tzipi Livni, who is also a Prime Ministerial aspirant, has signed Memorandum of Understanding with the US which will bind Israel but which the terrorists will ignore. It is vexing that Israel may have launched the war, no matter how justified, in part as selfish calculation by members of the political eschelon and in the event, ended the advance too soon so that Livni and Barak could prematurely proclaim victory. As in Lebanon with Hizbullah and the last conflict with Hamas in Gaza, Israel has bled her enemies but not removed the threat. Temporary solutions and truces that only the Jews embrace will never lead to a lasting peace in the Holy Land.