Al-Aqsa Marytr’s Brigade claims to have launched a chemical weapon at Israel. If that claim were to be proven true, the dynamics of the present disengagement policy of the centrist party, Kadima, is radically changed. Israel has been willing (despite the earlier tough talk about convincing the Palestininians that rocket attacks will not be tolerated) up until now, to take a minimal approach to managing the conflict in a post disengaged Gaza.
Qassam rockets, though potentially lethal, are not as much of a threat as homicide/suicide Palestinian terrorists strapped in belts loaded with explosives and nails. The Qassams could be therefore managed through a combined policy of increased survelliance and targeted attacks on the launchers themselves, with an occasional hit being mourned, but deemed better than a family of settlers being butchered in their car or a bus full of Israelis being exploded.
I came across a couple of articles by Michael Oren and Yossi Klein Halevi, that call for the return of the tough policies of targeted assasinations of Palestinian terrorist leaders. Targeting the terrorist leadership will serve to drive them underground and initiate a ceasefire, just targeting the launching sites and not the ones responsible for approving the launchings has contributed to the situation Israel now faces.
Halevi writes: “Resuming assassinations against Hamas’s political echelon is, of course, a declaration of war against the Hamas regime. But given its official sanctioning of kidnapping, Hamas has already declared war against Israel. Hamas’s adoption of the tactics of Al Qaeda in Iraq comes as no surprise. After the killing of Zarqawi, Hamas issued a statement mourning his death and urging continued “resistance,” thereby making the Hamas regime the world’s only openly pro-Al Qaeda government. Unfortunately, the international media missed the significance of that moment. “
That is of course a note worthy observation, but I do not believe that the international media just missed “the significance of that moment”, I believe that it was intentionally overlooked. Nothing would better serve to characterize the blood thirsty organization of Hamas, than its open sympathy for the demise of an equally blood thirsty criminal, Al-Zarqawi.
Oren writes: “There is, however, one way to avert a public relations disaster for Israel, to limit casualties, and to restore Israel’s deterrence power: Israel must return to the targeted-killing policy that enabled Mr. Sharon to triumph over terrorist organizations. Israel must target those Palestinians who order others to fire rockets from within civilian areas but whose families are located safely away from the firing zones. No Hamas or Islamic Jihad leader should be immune from such reprisals–neither Prime Minister Ismail Haniya nor Khaled Meshal, who masterminds Hamas from Damascus.”
I whole heartedly agree. Regardless of all the military presence and tough measures employed by the IDF during disengagement from Gaza, (they did not leave under fire as did Barak from Lebanon) the Palestinian spin doctors turned it into an Arab victory, further emboldening the terrorists to up the ante even more. This brings me back to the supposed chemically tipped warhead fired at Israeli forces. Until there is concrete evidence of such a capability, the claim remains just that, a chest thumping claim. But if this proves to have actually have happened, it only underlines the need to take effective action against the leadership of these terrorist groups, driving them underground.
A terrorist leadership that is constantly looking over its shoulder as their members are being picked off one by one, will to be unable to trust 100% in the people around them, resulting in the lack of ability to concentrate their efforts towards Israeli civilains. Now is the time to act. KGS
