As Israeli Defense Force troops and tanks force their way deep into the Gaza strip, fighting becomes hand to hand, and house to house in a bid to smash Hamas and its ability to rain rockets on Israeli citizens. There is becoming an almost desperate desire on the part of the IDF forces to get in, wrap Hamas up in an inescapable package, and get out before January 20th, 2009.
Ralph Peters writes in the NY Post;
Israel’s leaders are asking themselves two questions: Is the cost of sending sufficient ground forces into Gaza just too high? And, upon his inauguration on Jan. 20, will President Obama undercut Israel’s counter terror offensive before its goals have been reached?
Is this just “Right-Wing Fearmongering” as the left likes to say? I mean, c’mon already! Obama hasn’t even taken office yet, and already the “Hateful Right” has zeroed in on the poor guy, and he isn’t even President yet! Not Exactly.
For example, the rumblings on the left are already coming from the likes of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio);
“All this was, and is, disproportionate, indiscriminate mass violence in violation of international law,” Kucinich said in a statement. “Israel is not exempt from international law and must be held accountable.”
Apparently Dennis “the Menace” Kucinich (D-Ohio) forgets about the kidnapping of Cpl Gilad Shalit, who was 19 at the time Hamas dug through the earth in a dawn attack by Palestinian militants who tunnelled under Gaza’s heavily protected border. He forgets as well that Israel has not only the right but the duty to protect its citizens from the same terrorists. But I covered all this already.
Israel knows where the current President (that would be Bush to some who like to forget) stands as to what should be done with terrorists who perpetually attack a nation, regardless of world opinion of whether or not said nation has a right to exist in the first place.
But where is word from the “Office of the President Elect”?
For now, Israel must worry that a major ground offensive against Hamas would be halted halfway by the withdrawal of US support, both diplomatic and practical. The IDF even counts on us to replenish reserve stocks of the guided weapons that minimize civilian casual ties or penetrate tunnels and bunkers. Israel could find that it had paid a grim price in the blood of its sons and daughters, only to be robbed of the chance to hand Hamas a meaningful defeat.
As for our president-elect, his all-too-coy insistence that “we have only one president at a time” has been selective from the start. Glad to pontificate on stimulus packages and union benefits, Obama has used the one-president mantra to avoid taking stands on difficult issues that bedevil or bewilder him.
Our president-elect needed to make a clear, prompt statement in support of Israel. He didn’t. If I were an Israeli leader, I’d be worried, too.
I’m not even in Israel and I’m worried.
