Hamas Takes Advantage of Israeli Care

The Fellowship  |  August 14, 2018

As we who stand for Israel know, the Jewish state values all human life and takes this into consideration even when defending herself against wanton violence and terror. However, Israel’s enemies share no such morality. Ynet News’ Ron Ben Yishai writes that Hamas is taking advantage of Israeli wariness to wage war, confident it can get what it wants without making concessions and without acting ethically itself:

The State of Israel has managed to convince Hamas that it would do almost anything to avoid sending the IDF into the Gaza Strip for another large-scale military campaign. Government and Cabinet conduct in recent months, IDF actions on the ground, the negotiations with the Egyptians by the Shin Bet director and through the Israeli media—have all made it clear to the Hamas leaders, beyond any doubt, that Israel is willing to take a lot, so long as it doesn’t have to launch a wide scale operation…

This desire—justified in and of itself—has in practice become the main objective of Israeli strategy and tactics recently. The government in Jerusalem and the heads of the defense establishment at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv may be constantly declaring that their objective is to reach a stable, long-term calm that provides security and the sense of security to the residents of the western Negev—and they mean what they’re saying—but what’s happening on the ground makes it absolutely clear to Hamas that the immediate Israeli objective is to prevent another Operation Protective Edge or an even bigger and longer campaign in the strip.

Hamas and the other Palestinian factions see proof of that in the restraint shown by the Cabinet and the IDF in the face of the “incendiary terrorism” and in the responses—limited in scope, time and damage—of the IDF to sniper and rocket fire from the strip, including to incidents in which an IDF soldier was killed and civilians and soldiers were wounded. The IDF doesn’t hesitate to shoot at Gazans trying to infiltrate Israel, but shows restraint and great caution when responding to other actions—from burning fields to rockets and mortar shells, whether Hamas is responsible for them or the “errant” groups are behind them…