Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘idf’

I’ve been loath to comment on prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah which saw over 400 terrorists released from Israeli custody in exchange for an Israeli businessman and the dead bodies of three IDF soldiers.

The main reason I’ve been so reluctant to post is that I’d just be re-stating what virtually everyone else has already said. How it’s a bargain with the devil. How these deals will just lead to more kidnapping of Israelis. How it’s a mistake that Israel will pay for dearly. How Hezbollah is claiming a major victory for this deal. How it will serve as an example to Hamas and other terrorist organizations. And so on. And so forth.

I agree with all of it. And then some. It would take hours to round up the abundance of op-eds, news items, commentaries, and letters decrying this move as nothing short of a catastrophe. Not only will the 400+ terrorists released surely kill again, but they will also serve as inspirational icons for thousands of others who may take up the cause. It bolsters Hezbollah’s position and gives the organization a legitimacy that it should never have. Plus, it firmly establishes the principle that one Israeli life is worth hundreds of Arab terrorists, by agreeing to such a lopsided exchange. In the meantime, the terrorists are learning that suicide bombings work, but kidnappings work too – and maybe even better. In one fell swoop, Israel is introducing a new terror tactic into the mix. And it will probably have to spend the next fifty years trying to undo that move and eradicate the tactic.

That’s easy for me to say, of course. I’m not a parent of one of the murdered IDF soldiers hoping for the chance to bury my son. I’m not a relative of Elhanan Tannenbaum (who, I understand, is being questioned by the Israeli police for possible shady practices… without details I won’t jump to any conclusions on that one). Not only that, but this is hardly the first time Israel has negotiated with terrorists. I’d go so far as to argue that the entire Oslo process was a negotiation with a terrorist organization: the PLO. We all saw how well that turned out, of course. But this Hezbollah swap isn’t setting the precedent that many claim it is.

None of that changes the fact that rewarding terrorism is always a mistake – especially here. I find it hard to believe that the government would be so cavalier about the lives of its citizens. And it pains me to face that things will probably get worse before they get better.

The Palestinian media was never exactly known for high journalistic standards, but lately it seems to be giving the former Iraqi Information Ministry a run for the title of most prone to utter fabrication:

Twenty hours after the IAF helicopter rocket attack on a vehicle containing Hamas terrorists in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Monday night, which was described by the Palestinians as a massacre and by MIK Ranan Cohen as a “blitz”, the air force released footage that clearly shows there were no Palestinian civilians in the street when the two rockets hit the car despite Palestinian reports claiming otherwise.

Not that this will stop the Palestinian people from believing the lies, mind you. They’ll probably accuse the Air Force of fabricating the video, as part of the same usual Zionist conspiracy plot that gets blamed for everything else.

Israel has bombed a terrorist camp inside Syria in retaliation for yesterday’s Haifa bombing:

Palestinian sources in Beirut said Israeli warplanes raided a facility belonging to Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), injuring one man. In addition to PFLP members, terrorists from Islamic Jihad, Hamas and al Qaeda also utilized the camp for training. Among the buildings hit in the raid was a weapons workshop used by Islamic Jihad.

Military sources said that the base was selected as a target because of the central role that Islamic Jihad played in the Haifa bombing. The decision to carry out the raid was made in response to the bombing 12 hours earlier in Haifa.

“The Islamic Jihad, like other terror organisations … enjoys the support and backing of countries in the region – foremost Iran and Syria,” the army statement said.

Syria is screaming of course, and issued a statement denying that the target was a terrorist camp, calling it a “civilian target” – which is a bit hard to swallow, considering the video footage released by the IDF showing a tour of the camp . . . and the fact that the Palestinians also claim it’s a training camp. Considering terror-sponsoring Syria is on the UN Security Council, we can probably expect another resolution in short order, condemning Israel without making any mention of the terrorist attack that killed 20 innocent Israelis.

30 years ago today was the start of the Yom Kippur war. But it seems unlikely that Syria will attack militarily. 2003 is not 1973 and even the Syrians aren’t that dumb.

This may have been a risky move for Israel . . . but it’s probably a necessary one, to expose to the world that the so-called “underdog” is really backed and sponsored by some of the world’s strongest countries.

There’s an interesting article in the Jerusalem Report about the showdown between the IDF and the International Solidarity Movement:

But now, say Israeli officials, things had taken a major shift for the worse. Their inquiries showed that the two suicide bombers involved in the Mike’s Place attack, both British nationals, had actually been hosted by ISM. “For us,” says the Foreign Ministry’s Information Chief Gideon Meir, “that was the turning point.” Defying army bulldozers was one thing; providing cover for suicide bombers to slip into the country quite another.

[ . . . ]

We have nothing against the internationals,” says a senior IDF officer. “But, as far as we are concerned, ISM is not an international organization or a peace organization. It’s a pro-Palestinian organization, set up by Palestinians, funded by Palestinians and linked to Palestinian terror.”

[ . . . ]

“There is no other country in the world that would have allowed these people so much scope, and in the end Israel gets blamed,” complains a senior IDF officer who has been closely observing the ISM. He says the activists are divided up into three categories: human shields, witnesses and spokespeople. “It’s almost like a paramilitary organization,” he charges. “The human shields obstruct IDF work, while the witnesses and spokespeople give a deliberately distorted picture of what is going on.”

The officer also accuses the ISM of deliberately protecting Palestinian terrorists. In late March, he says, an American ISM activist, Susan Barclay, 26, tried to prevent soldiers from entering the organization’s Jenin offices where a wanted Islamic Jihad terrorist, Shadi Sukia, had sought refuge.

The Prime Minister’s Office has come out with a report directly linking the ISM to terrorism in the case of the bombing at Mike’s Place, and accusing the international activists of using elaborate cover stories that are coordinated in advance to get into the country.

I understand Israel’s frustration with these very un-useful idiots. And I also have no doubt that they’re right about the ISM’s support and facilitation of terrorism. But, like the Jerusalem Report article states, this could turn into a giant PR disaster for Israel, since to the rest of the world, it’s all too easy for ISM to put on that innocent, “non-violent activist” face and claim to be persecuted. As usual, Israel is making serious blunders in the media war that have already been far too costly.

In a tragic case of mistaken identity, the IDF accidentally shot two Israelis yesterday, mistaking them for Palestinian terrorists.

Yehuda Ben-Yosef, 22, of Ma’aleh Adumim, and Sec.-Lt. Yoav Doron, 23, from Jerusalem who was on demobilization leave were hired by the regional council to guard an isolated outpost a kilometer northwest of Pnei Hever.

The IDF Spokesman expressed regret for the incident, calling it “a tragic mistake,” and said there will be investigation.

This was a very sad mistake of the sort that do happen in times of war. Compared to many wars, which have high levels of what the Israelis would call “balagan”, these incidents are – thankfully – rare in Israel. That doesn’t bring the two security guards back to life, of course.

It is worth noting that the Israeli army of course took responsibility right away and issued an apology for the mistake. Had this been the opposite, a case of innocent Palestinians killed by friendly fire, two years later they’d still be trying to pin their deaths on Israel, as in the case of Mohammed Al-Dura.

Reports from Israeli intelligence sources seem to indicate that war in Iraq could be only days away:

The US attack on Iraq could be launched “any day” after the beginning of next week if the Turkish parliament gives the go-ahead for American troops to operate via its territory, the head of IDF intelligence told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

[ . . . ]

On the Iraq issue, Ze’evi said that if the Turks are not persuaded to let the US use their bases as a launching pad, a US attack could be delayed “for some time.”

But Ze’evi said the weather would not present an obstacle for a military operation through the end of April or May.

This is pretty much the same as most people are speculating. But Israeli intelligence is usually fairly accurate. A lot will come down to this week’s events.

The Israelis captured and arrested a Hamas founder yesterday. Sheikh Muhammad Taha was nabbed yesterday as part of an IDF incursion in Gaza.

Interestingly enough, the army says that he wasn’t even the original target – the army was after his son, Ayman, who seems to have links to Hamas’s chief bomb maker. The army captured three of his other sons in the raid.

The part I find the most telling is that today’s Gazette contained a large photo of Taha – probably one of the worst terrorists and murderers of Israeli civilians anywhere – being tended to on a stretcher and taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment.