Op-Ed: Why Hamas is Still Holding Out There are six differences between Israel and Hamas that have a role to play in addition to the bravery and initiative of the IDF. By Dr Mordechai Kedar, July 31, 2014 israelnationalnews/Articles/Article.aspx/15428#.U9pue_mSz0c Before the start of Operation Protective Edge, an entire bevy of so-called experts appeared on Israeli media informing us of the weak state of Hamas, how its oxygen supply is cut off because the smuggling tunnels from the Sinai are closed and Egypt has turned against it, as has Saudi Arabia; it cannot pay salaries, it wants to preserve the state it has created in Gaza at all costs - and so one and so forth. Because of that, they concluded, its power of resistance is limited and since we have the Iron Dome to protect us, our decision makers can act judiciously, using our military power – particularly from the air – which is immeasurably more massive than that of Hamas. Even the world is on our side, they said, and surprisingly, supports us. Now, after four weeks of air attacks and two weeks of a ground operation, Gaza has seen over 1,200 of its people killed and 7,000 wounded, and has not capitulated, has not raised a white flag, continues to launch rockets to Tel Aviv and the south, and the Gazan population has not rebelled. Just imagine what would happen to Israels government if something like that, G-d forbid, happened here. It has suddenly become clear that all the weakness factors attributed to Hamas – the closed smuggling tunnels that Sisi sealed, Saudi Arabia, money and state – do not have the effect the experts predicted for the organization. Perhaps Hamas is not exactly the organization these experts painted for us. Unfortunately, our mistakes result from continuing to look at the enemy through our own cultural lenses: we need money, a strong army, protection from rockets, friends in the region and international approval, and we think that if Hamas has none of these, it will be as weak as we would be if we lacked them. There is no greater error than that line of thought, because Hamas is the product of a vastly different culture where the strength and weakness factors are totally different from ours. Continued... israelnationalnews/Articles/Article.aspx/15428#.U9pue_mSz0c
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 16:32:10 +0000
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