Is Israel walking into a Hamas trap?”

“ISRAEL IS WALKING INTO A TRAP”

“Hamas’s ruthless attack on southern Israel last Saturday was many things, but above all, it was intended as a trap—one that Israel appears about to fall into.”

“Hamas’s leaders and their Iranian backers have a conscious strategy. Like almost all other acts of spectacularly bloodthirsty terrorism, Hamas’s assault on southern Israel was designed to provoke an emotional and equally or even more outrageous response by the targeted society.”

“Hamas surely would not have meticulously planned its audacious assault without also extensively planning a response to the hoped-for Israeli counterattack on the ground.”

“Iran and Hamas are counting on Israel to attack Gaza with such ferocity that the international sympathy of the past week toward Israel, even in the Arab world, evaporates quickly and is replaced by outrage at the suffering inflicted on the 2 million residents of Gaza.”

“Hamas and its Iranian patrons want to block the diplomatic-normalization agreement that the United States has been brokering between Israel and Saudi Arabia.”

“Hamas is also attempting to seal the fate of Fatah, and maneuver to eventually take over the PLO and its international diplomatic presence, including United Nations observer-state status and embassies around the world. By taking the battle directly into Israel, claiming to be defending Muslim holy places Hamas seeks to belittle Fatah and demonstrate the primacy of its policy of unrestrained armed struggle over the PLO’s careful diplomacy.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/internat...n-trap/675628/

Hamas had to know that their terrorism wasn’t going to accomplish anything concrete but pissing off Israel, and they have been thru this before, knowing the consequences, so it raises the question of what is their primary goal?

Is Israel possibly stepping into a trap? What alternative does Israel have?

 

No.

The actions of Hamas was that of a suckered punch.

Bullies rarely have a back up plan.

 

Possibly, but even with a sucker punch, there are consequences, and anyone planning such, usually would have something ready to counter

 

You can always count on both the Palestinians and the Israelis to make a situation worse.
The Israelis turn the Gaza Strip into an open air prison as bad as the Warsaw ghetto, and Hamas resorts to barbaric terror as the only tool available to them.
The cycle will continue until there is real justice for all.

 

If Israel is 'walking into a trap', it is much more likely one laid by Iran and its proxy-army known as HEZBOLLAH! Hezbollah is much larger, better organized, and much better equipped than Hamas is. And if the bulk of the Israeli military is dedicated to chasing Hamas all over Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula, will Israel have enough of a reserve necessary to deal with the very real simultaneous threat of Hezbollah launching attacks of various kinds from Lebanon?

 

It's obvious that this is a trap.

But does Israel have a choice?

Hamas has sought for decades to unleash all-out war against the Jewish state, and last week's massacre took years of planning.

Hamas knows very well that the Israeli Army was going to enter Gaza after the attacks and that is why hundreds of civilians were taken hostage to serve as human shields.

If Israel does not step up to neutralize Hamas, Jews will live in permanent fear.

This war will have no equivalent in terms of human losses since Viet Nam.... or Ukraine.

 

Which means Hamas wins, the Israeli Saudi negotiations will fade, Hamas will rise in Palestine politics, and Iran will smile

 

You are probably right, they have no choice, hopefully Israel, having experience in similar situations, will find a way to contain the effects on the citizenry

 

Israel won't be putting dismounted forces into urban areas. Accordingly, it is just a bloody flex. They will run in a bunch of armor to say they did, but otherwise it will be missiles and bombs.

 

To quote the legendary Starlord: “A trap isn’t a trap if you know the trapper’s trying to trap you. It’s a face off”

 

Was that Japan's "trap" also?
Always remember that anything the Palestinians have, Israel gave back to them.

 

Yes

 

Israel blockaded one side, and
Egypt blocaded the other side, and for the same reason.

Why do you pretend that only Israel limits the ability of Gaza to enter their country when Egypt does the same?

BILL MAHER: ‘Your Moral Compass Is Broken’ if You’re a Lefty Siding with a Regressive Terror Group over Progressive Israel.

 

I sure hope you're right, Roy. Hezbollah enjoys what amounts to a carte blanche with Iran, and thus fully able to stock-up on weaponry of every kind that Iran has access to -- and that is quite a lot!

I've suggested that the threat against Israel is far greater than most realize, and that the time has arrived to go forward and cut the head off the snake -- IRAN! Without the insane theocracy of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and all these other Islamist paramilitary organizations are nothing. But, cut the head off of the 'snake' and the tail may wiggle for a while, but the threat is gone!

 

Hamas already rose top of the Palestinian politics. The last general election ( 2006) Palestinian voted for terrorist Hamas to be the leader of their Government. Every Hamas attack on Israel is the hand of every Palestinian.

Osama was correct about one thing about America – American government represent American people. Same goes for Palestinian government. Hamas represent Palestinian people.

 

After the USS Liberty and 911, one thing certain is that Israel is NOT our ally. The Pollard Case shows that too.

 

I say Israel can handle the situation. Every time Israel is attacked, they respond in kind but then pull back when the media claims their reaction is going too far -- this time it's different -- Hamas will now pay the price no matter what. Color Hamas gone.

 

What we're seeing is that for days now, Israel has been "telegraphing its punches", and everyone in the world has a pretty good idea what Israel is about to do (more or less). Ostensibly, Israel has been giving advanced warning so that nobody can come back and say that they didn't give any notice before they started tearing Gaza down, brick-by-brick.

But somehow I can't imagine Hamas launching this long-planned, 'in-your-face' war all by itself! Surely they are in some kind of coordination with Hezbollah and/or Hezbollah's "daddy", Iran! And then there's Russia, which has a big axe to grind in Syria, where they've had a large navy base in Tartus for many decades, and now have numerous air bases throughout the country as well....

 

The article goes on to make two more points. 1. The goal of Hamas (and by extension Iran) is to replace the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. 2. An ancillary goal is to block the diplomatic-normalization agreement that the United States has been brokering between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

 

Glad to see someone else reads the Atlantic.

 

Not succumbing to its bloodlust. Stop treating the Palestinians in Gaza like animals. Vote Bibi out of office.

 

Absolutely.

The way I see it, the solution to all of this is to improve the life of Palestinians greater than that which Hamas is offering them. Fund Palestinian schools, rebuilding infrastructure, giving back land, giving access to the sea, etc, and put these benefits in the hands of a group that is not Hamas and not pro Iran. Bibi has abused the stick, and given no carrots. It is a recipe for disaster.

 

IOW, the PLO, which has recognized Israel's right to exist.

 

That could work I believe. If Israel backs them, makes promises that it actually intends to keep that make Palestine just as prosperous and free as Israel, I don’t think Hamas would last long. There has to be an equitable peace, or it will not last.

 

Israel had a decade of “land for peace,” and you see where it got us. Doing away with Hamas in Palestine is as likely as doing away with the Democrat Party in the U.S. Hamas has the political power and the money from Iran.