Former IDF Gaza Division Commander Brig.-General Tzvika Fogel told Channel 10 News that there has been eight years of quiet along the northern border because Hassan Nasrallah and Hizbullah were dealt a devastating blow in that war. He explains that Nasrallah does not want to go another round with Israel for he is still licking his wounds from the Second Lebanon War.
“Until there are thousands of dead in Gaza, and I am referring to Hamas not innocent civilians, it will not happen. Israel must deliver a devastating blow to Hamas as was the case in the Second Lebanon War regarding Hizbullah.
Fogel stressed Israel does not have to and does not wish to retake all of Gaza and have to be responsible for the population but Israel must crush Hamas to ensure years of tranquility in southern Israel.
The former division commander adds that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) both are not fans of Hamas and will be more than pleased to assist in bringing Hamas to its knees. He states the Egyptian president in particular despises Hamas and its leaders in Gaza and will do a great deal to remove them from the region.
“We cannot permit a terrorist entity to continue holding millions hostage, a terrorist regime with one purpose, to eradicate the state of Israel”.
Fogel feels the Philadelphi Road must be retaken by Israel to take it from Hamas and then immediately turned over to Egypt to control. He points out the strategic significance of this area and the need to remove Hamas’ control and hand it over to Egypt, as the latter will do a great deal to cooperate to rid the region of Hamas.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Thank you YWN for your wonderful live coverage of the situation. I do enjoy your coverage but please do not feed ideas of Kochi VeÓtzem Yadi in your articles. Quotes like this “that there has been eight years of quiet along the northern border because Hassan Nasrallah and Hizbullah were dealt a devastating blow in that war”. Hashem runs the world and we have Him to thank for foiling the plans of our enemies.
Sounds good to me!
Sadly it’s easier said than done!
According to this article, IDF General Fogel says:
“ ‘Until there are thousands of dead in Gaza, and I am referring to Hamas not innocent civilians, it will not happen. Israel must deliver a devastating blow to Hamas as was the case in the Second Lebanon War regarding Hizbullah.”
That sounds as if Gen. Fogel thinks that killing “thousands” of Hamas members in Gaza is a realistic proposal for peace. Assuming he is right (practically, if not morally), he has not told us how to kill Hamas members without killing their human shields, i.e., reasonable and innocent Palestinians trapped by circumstances that go back to the Israeli War of Independence. Yes, Arab governments are largely to blame for the dire circumstances of Palestinian Arabs, but if the IDF has to kill 9 innocent Palistinians in order to kill 1 Hamas member, killing is not a practical or effective (or Torahic?) path to peace.
I hope that Israel’s right wing would recognize that Gen. Fogel recognizes that there are more innocent civilians than Hamas supporters in Gaza, and look for a strategy that protects the innocent.
Thousands of dead Arabs means hundreds of dead Jews. Wars are like that. Those who fall in great and glorious victories are just as dead as those who die in ignominious defeats. There is a reason the Israeli government is trying to find a diplomatic way to get the Gazans to stop firing rockets (and at this time, most of the Arab world wishes Hamas and Hizbullah would stop trying to start a war).
akuperma you are a silly man (or woman)
If Israel wipes out Hamas today, it would be harsh but at least 20 years from now we wouldn’t have any of these stories about Gazan casualties. It would be a done deal, like Japan and Germany.