The Kangaroo Court

Israeli soldiers, their officers, and political leaders may be subjected to criminal jeopardy for their actions in Gaza. Literally thousands of rockets and mortar bombs were fired at the innocent civilian populace of Israel after Israel voluntarily relinquished control of the Strip to give Palestinians the chance to build the institutions of statehood. The international community pledged to monitor the Gaza Strip border with Egypt to ensure that arms smuggling did not take place. The monitors were unarmed and were soon chased away by gunmen. The United Nations did not call for General Assembly measures or Security Council resolutions to condemn or reverse the smuggling that began apace. World bodies and large numbers of NGOs did not rise in protest as Kassams began to fly. Each one of these rockets was intended to kill, and by miracle, the actual number of casualties and deaths these attacks produced remained astoundingly low. But the situation, starting in the border community of Sderot and expanding outward, deeper into Israel, became intolerable with rockets, mortars, and Grad or Katusya-type missiles, no doubt supplied by Iran, threatening and disrupting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis, including Bedouin, Druse, and Israeli Arabs. The Hamas terrorists chased out the Palestinian Authority security apparatus that had been established under international auspices with the consent of Israel and America's blessing to help facilitate transition of Gaza into the incubator of the nascent Palestinian state. Hamas with inspiration, training, and material support from the troublemakers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, murdered many of their brethren who supported Abbas and felt that by following Abu Mazen, they were on the path to statehood. Hamas and Iran are extinguishing that hope. Even when Hamas used explosives to blow huge gaps in the Egyptian border wall and fences to allow even more smuggling, the world did not shout its outrage, even though it was obvious that weapons and weapon components were being brought into Gaza by the ton. These munitions were clearly intended to make life unlivable, childhoods unbearable, and habitation impossible, anywhere in Israel within the range of fire. Now, after Israel exercised so much patience and restraint that she appeared weak, and finally had to respond to the staggered rocket launches that did not permit a moment's peace, the Roman Catholic Church, the United Nations, the leaders of other nations, and the world's media all rush to damn Israel. The Cardinal responsible for the Vatican Office of Peace and Justice actually had the gall to declare, "Israel has established the largest concentration camp in the history of the world in Gaza." It would behoove the Cardinal to get his facts straight, the rocketeers of Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees and Islamic Jihad built the wall and through their unrelenting campaign of terror against Israel, threw away the key. The Vatican, which also reversed the excommunication (for unrelated matters) of Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson, perpetrated the Inquisition, stood by largely silent through the Shoah, and then helped real war criminals-the Nazi perpetrators of genocide escape justice by facilitating their concealing identities and fleeing Europe, has no moral authority to criticize Israel's act of self-defense. Israel bent over backwards to avoid killing the non-combatants that Hamas was deliberately using as human shields. It is only natural in so many areas of the globe that have done everything they could to rid themselves of Jewish presence that they would embrace anything they could to justify their hatreds and put it to the young men of the IDF any chance they get. It is imperative that people of goodwill don't let them.

The Suicide Cultures

Obama, in his latest interview, said he wants a certain level of sacrifice from all Americans; he wants all of us to "have a little skin in the game." America will not fall under the weight of small tax increases or increased regulation, though these little interventions won't pull the nation out of her economic nosedive either. Americans have always been willing to shed their blood and give their treasure in the righteousness of the cause of liberty but when it comes to deliberately ending one's life for a cause, Americans don't hold a candle to some other societies. The Japanese in affairs of honor or in defense of the nation have always been willing to commit seppuku, hari kari, or serve as kamikaze. Japanese even killed themselves in tribute to pop stars who had ended their own lives or joined pacts as sorts of self-murder cadres. Of late fortunately, suicide has been less of a group activity and national pastime for the Japanese. Suicide bombers seem to have become all the rage across the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and directed against Israel. Muslim suicide bombers were relatively rare in Afghanistan although their number has spiked recently. Even London and a Russian rock festival felt the explosive sting of the ultimate Jihadist. The Islamists can not take credit (blame) for the innovation of the modern man-bomb. That distinction belongs to the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka who are not Moslem and who have also commonly used female bombers. But have no doubt, Muslims originated the martyrdom concept of shahid and are more than willing to place their own women, who are subject to honor killing, and children in harm's way. That can be observed in Gaza today.

The Second Front

Missiles rained once again on the civilian populace in Israel. Ominously, they did not fall only on Sderot and the region abutting Gaza but fell all the way across the country after being fired from Lebanon. Israeli strategic planners no doubt anticipated this contingency. This could well be the nasty handiwork of Hizbullah and could have been coordinated by the merchants of menace in Tehran. If Iran has a nuclear warhead ready and a viable delivery system, they may use it soon and test the new President as he never imagined.

Join the Bandwagon

While Israel has enjoyed consistent US support from the Bush administration, Obama may alter the strategic balance in the Middle East by abandoning Israel to her own devices at a time when the Jewish state faces an existential threat from Iran and may well have to counter this new nuclear menace alone and under international sanctions. Israel's alleged attack on two(2) UN schools in Gaza will militate toward the UN taking action against Israel and come January 20th and the new administration, the US will stop using her Security Council veto to stave off hostile measures punitive to Israel. The US will simply abstain from voting and Israel will be punished for attempting to defend herself or the US may affirm progressively tougher measures such as those used to fight South African apartheid until Israel is forced to give up any territory the world deems occupied and is left totally vulnerable with indefensible borders and an extant atomic threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran. All this because Hamas was savvy enough to fire from the environs of the schools to force Israeli forces to respond to protect themselves. In this world of upheaval, Muslim fanatics who should be fully and solely held to account can triumph by sacrificing their own women and children and blaming Jews. How disgusting.

World's Criticism Mounts

Israel continues to exercise tremendous restraint considering her overwhelming power. The IDF has not used saturation bombing or reduced Palestinian areas with artillery. The Israeli bombing has been surgical and measured. The world should be thanking Israel for showing vastly more restraint than any of her Arab neighbors would have. Even in the battle between the Lebanese authorities and al Qaeda sympathizers, the refugee camp in which the terrorists were hiding was eventually leveled with artillery with no consideration for the civilians who resided there. Isn't it rich that China, the authors of the Tiaenemun Square massacre and the slaughter in Tibet, have condemned Israel? Street demonstrations against Israel's actions have gripped London. Is this any wonder in a nation so in the thrall of or in fear of Muslims living there? Some British also still resent Israel as a former colonial possession that to borrow the Arab verbiage "threw off the yoke". Crowds in Greece against the Jewish state are no surprise in a nation gripped recently by riots and riddled with Marxists. Germans have reportedly gathered against Israeli action or more likely the protesters were largely Turkish and other migrant Muslim workers whose natural sympathy would be for their fellow Muslims. Europe is still rife with anti-Semites. Israel must do what is necessary to eliminate the Hamas threat regardless of what Communists or Jew-haters say about it.

Miscalculations Cause Disasters

Saddam Hussein would never have postured a non-existent WMD program had he foreseen the cost. He was a vicious dictator no doubt and a Muslim, but he was no Islamist fanatic. He was interested in perpetuating his own power and self-preservation and thought Bush was bluster and bluff. The Hamas terrorists currently under devastating assault knew that they would not destabilize Israel with their nuisance rocket attacks; they would occasionally kill a Jew or a few, but they would not overturn the Jewish state by way of the Kassam. They did not conceive that the IDF would marshal sufficient force to cause many of their deaths over a rocket barrage. The Pakistanis do not believe minor troop movements will precipitate a great conflict. Miscalculations engender great conflagrations.

Good Time Party

Kadima, the corrupt governing party of Israel, is saber-rattling and may finally enter the Gaza Strip to end the ceaseless Kassam rocket threat that has plagued the border area, particularly Sderot. This would be a crass, cynical political manipulation of the Israeli electorate right before the coming national election in which the more conservative Likud party was expected to gain power. If the Israeli body politic does not recognize that Tzipi Livni is only hawkish now for political effect, they will empower this party which has made Gaza Judenrein, to attempt the same with the West Bank perhaps even parts of Jerusalem. A Zion free of Jews might be the ultimate result of keeping Kadima which is well-versed in political games in a position to negotiate the piecemeal disassembly of the Jewish state. Nor does Livni possess the Thatcherite iron to face down or actually remove the Iranian nuclear existential threat.

Severe Withdrawl Symptoms

The Iraqi parliament approved the three(3) year withdraw plan for American forces last week. It is incumbent upon Obama to make it clear that the US will not pull out under fire or with her tail between her legs. The examples of Israel's evacuation from Lebanon and later from Gaza illustrate what not to do. The South Lebanon pull back was done literally in the middle of the night. This allowed Hizbollah to proclaim victory over Israel and rallied countless fanatics to the Jihadi cause. The Gaza situation was mishandled with no dark of night pullout possible due to the presence and resistance of the Gush Katif block of Israeli citizens, Israel had a protracted effort sometimes under rocket or mortar fire and the occasional try at direct assault by members of the PRC, Hamas, or members of the al Qaeda sympathizing Dogmush klan. Once again, terrorists heralded a victory over the West and Israel. The British exit from Basra is also instructive. Much of Iraq remains a cauldron of simmering ethnic tension, but even in almost exclusively Shia Basra, after the British, Basra has become a tinderbox of gangs and warlords contesting the oil revenues. An American retreat seen as capitulation will engender renewed sectarian violence in mixed areas with the grave possibility of Saudi assistance to the Sunnis and Iranian aid or actual combat participation by Iranians on the side of the Sadrist block. Incidentally, Muqtada al Sadr's supporters in parliament opposed the Three(3) Year Plan and pushed for immediate American removal where the Iranians and their Shia surrogates could claim they had chased the Yankees from the country. No matter what else, America must conduct an orderly pull back that can only be seen as leaving in victory.