Posted on 12/31/2008 9:45:15 AM PST by fella
Dec 30, 2008 22:54 | Updated Dec 31, 2008 11:37 'The aim isn't to topple Hamas' By HERB KEINON
The relatively modest goal for Operation Cast Lead articulated Saturday by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - to fundamentally improve the security situation in the south - has morphed in the mouths of some of the country's key spokespeople over the last three days into the destruction of Hamas, a change that has left some foreign ministry officials extremely frustrated.
'This is diplomacy, but this is also lawyering,' says Shalev on her new posting. Photo: Courtesy photos, Shahar Azran
For instance, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, said Monday the aim of the operation was to "completely destroy" Hamas, and added that Israel would continue with the action "as long as it takes to dismantle Hamas completely."
Likud head Binyamin Netanyahu, who has been enlisted to help explain Israel's actions abroad, told Reuters, "The action that is required is something that removes this Hamas regime from the scene."
As to whether this was the aim of the current campaign, Netanyahu replied, "Whether it can be done right now is something I don't think we should discuss here. But it should be discussed because ultimately, if we don't do it, then Hamas will rearm itself."
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit told Israel Radio that "there is no room for a cease-fire" with Hamas until the threat of rocket fire had been removed, a statement that could be interpreted as meaning that Israel would not stop its military actions until Hamas' capacity to strike Israel had been destroyed, an idea that wasn't articulated by the country's leadership.
"People are starting to divert from the message," one foreign ministry official said, specifically referring to Shalev. The official said the government's line regarding Israel's objectives had been drawn up carefully and that it was important the country's spokespeople stick to it.
Regarding Sheetrit, the official said that there was a tendency among Israeli politicians to want to sound tough and "macho" when speaking to the domestic audience, accompanied by insufficient sensitivity to how this sounded when broadcast abroad.
Another foreign ministry official was more understanding of Netanyahu's comments, and said they had to be seen within the context of the election season.
"We are not saying that the aim is to topple Hamas," he said, "And those who say that is the aim are talking nonsense."
Then why even bother.
The person who said this needs to be retired from office. He's lost the plot.
The op must continue until there are no more missiles to launch, and no one left in Gaza with the will to launch them. Otherwise you are guaranteeing you will have to do this again a year from now. If you don't want this to continue as a never-ending cycle, first they rain missiles on us for a year, then we blow them up for a couple of days, then we do it all again... if peace is ever to have a chance you have to eliminate the people who insist on war.
The only purpose for war is to eliminate the conditions that led to war in the first place, and to build a new reality on the ground that makes peace possible.
If toppling governments is enough, fine, but if more is required, more is required. In this case Hamas has proved again and again that they truly represent the dreams and aspirations of the Gazan arabs. Which means the Gazans themselves are the enemy. They need to be schooled, reformed, scrubbed, washed, and hung out to dry, or they need to be expelled from the territory.
It must be clear to them that remaining in Gaza and continuing to make war is not an option.
Step one is to destroy the missiles, destroy the top third of the Hamas org chart, and seize a half-mile strip of land along the border. If the attacks continue, seize another half mile strip. Keep doing it until they get the hint or until there is nothing left to seize.
Rocket that hit Beersheba school made in China
ynetnews.com | 12.31.08, 14:43 | Yael Barnovsky
Posted on 12/31/2008 12:49:21 PM PST by Tucson_AZ
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156898/posts
[12/31/08] Palestinian Terror Rocket Explodes in Ashdod Playground
Ashdod News | 12/31/2008 | Ashdod News
Posted on 12/31/2008 7:18:33 AM PST by mvpel
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156703/posts
IAF bombs Gaza mosque being used as weapons storehouse
Haaretz | 31 Dec 2008 | Amos Harel
Posted on 12/31/2008 10:25:34 AM PST by vikingd00d
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156829/posts
Bombing of Islamic University in Gaza
FOXNEWS.COM | Tuesday, December 30, 2008 | Stephanie L. Freid
Posted on 12/31/2008 11:01:46 AM PST by gandalftb
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156847/posts
U.S. pledges Palestinian aid ($85 million to the United Nations)
jta.org/ | December 30, 2008 | State Department
Posted on 12/31/2008 12:12:28 PM PST by shielagolden
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156880/posts
Arab Leaders Call for Palestinian Unity During ‘Terrible Massacre’
AP | Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Posted on 12/31/2008 7:55:22 AM PST by presidio9
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156731/posts
Iran: Volunteer suicide bombers seek to attack Israel
AP (via Yahoo! News) | 12/31/08 | Ali Akbar Dareini
Posted on 12/31/2008 7:31:48 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156711/posts
L
Regardless of how diplomatic statements sound abroad, the real aim of the operation is to completely destroy Hamas.
If not - they shouldn't even start the mess, since Hamas means shelling of Israel (with increasingly longer range missiles).
To send Hamas visiting virgins in their heavenly whorehouse is the only way to put end to shelling.
Hamas Charter (1988)
The Charter of Allah: The Platform of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)
... Hamas is one of the links in the Chain of Jihad in the confrontation with the Zionist invasion. It links up with the setting out of the Martyr Izz a-din al-Qassam and his brothers in the Muslim Brotherhood who fought the Holy War in 1936; it further relates to another link of the Palestinian Jihad and the Jihad and efforts of the Muslim Brothers during the 1948 War, and to the Jihad operations of the Muslim Brothers in 1968 and thereafter. But even if the links have become distant from each other, and even if the obstacles erected by those who revolve in the Zionist orbit, aiming at obstructing the road before the Jihad fighters, have rendered the pursuance of Jihad impossible; nevertheless, the Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree (cited by Bukhari and Muslim).
Article Eight: The Slogan of the Hamas
Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the Qur’an its Constitution, Jihad its path and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief.
http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html
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