Part 2: Reflection on Protective Edge (summer 2014) Rabbi David M. Sofian In my first piece I went to some length to set some background for my thoughts. My goal was for you to understand what I meant when I said “this time is different.” Well in a way I need to say it again. We are in the middle of week three and the atmosphere is very different from when I wrote about 10 days ago. Then the story was primarily about rockets, missiles and Iron Dome. Although that story continues, now it is about attack tunnels, ground forces and casualties mounting. If you want moment by moment coverage and/or seasoned analysis of what has been happening I strongly recommend you read the Times of Israel available to everyone over the internet, and in particular read whatever David Horovitz writes. He is the editor and long time observer of everything Israel. What follows is just my interpretation as an American Jew who over the years has spent a lot of time here and has been living through these events. Above I said things are different now. It seems to me for the first several days, because Iron Dome is working so well, people related to this current round of hostilities with Hamas with some worry, a lot of curiosity about the Iron Dome technology, and a kind of “been there, experienced that” sort of attitude. My sense was that people felt there are a lot more rockets this time and their range is very troublesome which is completely unacceptable; but again Iron Dome is working and struggles with Hamas are nothing new. However, just image what might have been the case if Iron Dome did not work so well. I’ll say more about this later but just recently a rocket got through and hit in a town not far from the Ben Gurion Airport. Foreign air traffic has been brought to a halt. Israelis are stuck outside of the country. Just imagine what this has all done to tourism. (Hopefully, this will be over sometime soon so Simone and I will be able to leave on our planned flight. We’ll just have to wait and see.) In a conversation with a friend before the ground operations began, in which I expressed my hope that there wouldn’t be significant ground operations because there certainly would be increased troop losses, he responded that Israel would have to mount a ground offensive. His point was that while rockets here in Modiin, given Iron Dome and the increased warning time, are worrisome but primarily a nuisance, in the south those missiles have been making life miserable and intolerable for a long time. In his view something must be done and now is the opportunity. As he said to me, “Children can’t live this way, always afraid and running to and sleeping in bomb shelters.” This way of thinking concludes the only way to get a lasting fix is to take down Hamas or at least its fighting capacity which requires ground operations. When I responded that ruling Gaza once again carries with it its own horrible consequences he agreed. But he quickly added that this is what the army is for (by the way he has a son in the active army) and the civilian situation has to be remedied. Even though I think that view has had real currency from the beginning, particularly with key people in the government, nevertheless, I believe there was a general popular hope that Israel would not need to invade, but instead hitting them very hard from the air, keeping a credible threat of a possible ground invasion alive with massed troops on the border so Hamas would fear a toppling of their regime, would suffice to bring about a ceasefire. Everyone would declare victory and go home until the next time. At least most of the people I’ve spoken with expressed something along these lines. Isn’t this, more or less what happened two years ago? I for one thought (I now believe wrongly) that Hamas’ primary motivation in starting all this with a barrage of rocket fire was to raise its stature within the Palestinian community by showing it could once again take on the big bad Zionist entity and live to tell the tale. After all, before all this started, they were experiencing a downward spiral. Just think about the changes in Egypt this past year and what they must have meant to Hamas. Showing they could take on mighty Israel would help them regain their stature and show once again they are the heart of true Palestinian resistance. And indeed this has happened. The mistake was thinking that this was all that was going on. I now believe Hamas had long planned what amounts to a real full scale war. An Israeli fighter was quoted in a newspaper this morning saying: An “Operation?” (that is what Protective Edge is officially called) in the field, it is WAR! Hamas really thought by now Tel Aviv would be in ruins from rocket fire. But much more than that, and this is what I alluded in my opening paragraph; they have long planned to strike through these attack tunnels. Hamas used cement and other building materials that were allowed into Gaza by Israel meant for public buildings like hospitals and the repair of houses, to instead build underground command centers, storage facilities and tunnels with multiple entrances and exits that begin under houses in Gaza a few hundred feet from the boarder and end near communities on the Israeli side. Israelis in the news are saying these tunnels are very complex and professionally built. I’ve learned saying something is “professional” here is a very high compliment. These tunnels are a serious threat. If a gang of terrorists gets through with the surprise the tunnels make possible, there could be horrendous results for nearby Israeli communities. Hamas must have thought their rocket attacks and incursions from the tunnels would have Israel in chaos. Perhaps they also thought that this chaos would encourage Palestinians within Israel and the West Bank to rise up as well. I’m sure they didn’t think they could actually destroy Israel, but they probably thought they could bring about major concessions like ending the naval blockage. So far Iron Dome and the IDF have been able to impede these strikes but at great cost. Already many more IDF deaths have resulted than in either of the two previous encounters in Gaza. This is why nearly all the news is about finding and destroying those tunnels. The news begins each morning by telling us how many tunnels were found and destroyed, of course implying that there are still many more yet to be found. Then there is a recitation of the names, ages and funeral times and locations of those who fell the day and night before. Of course, this affects the mood of the country. Remember the IDF is a citizen army. And remember that in a very real way Israel is a family. When one soldier, one child, falls, everyone feels the loss. As I said above things have changed. Still, through tears of grief, sadness and anger; the Israeli public is very much behind this effort to find and destroy all the tunnels and do whatever is possible to make sure there are no future tunnels. Obviously, the rockets still matter and are still in the air, but the focus now is on the tunnels. Overwhelmingly, the public knows these soldiers have not fallen in vein. As I said, Israel is a family and people understand this is what is necessary to protect the family. Hamas doesn’t want a ceasefire because it believes Israel will not topple it since whoever replaces it will probably be worse from the Israeli perspective in the sense of being even more extreme. I’m not sure they are right about this, but I think this is what they believe. Right now Israel is fixed on finding and destroying those tunnels and given how far things have already gone, doesn’t want to stop yet. It believes it can get more of the job done. Of course, I’m not sure how and when this is all going to end. Israel is going to do its best to destroy that underground reality and as many rockets and their launchers as it can. Eventually, it will feel it has done what it can short of retaking Gaza which I don’t think it wants to do. Eventually, Hamas will fear for its own existence given Israel’s successful efforts at destroying those tunnels and rockets and it will halt its hostilities. (I put it this way because it is absolutely clear in ways too numerous for me to enumerate here that Hamas not only doesn’t care to reduce the number of Gazans killed but wants that number to go up. It sees those deaths as fodder for its propaganda campaign.) When these two lines intersect there will be a ceasefire. Let’s all pray that it is soon, for real and holds for a long, long time.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 16:04:16 +0000
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