When two rockets were fired from Gaza toward Tel Aviv on March 14, they landed without doing any damage to life or property. But it was the first time since 2014 that any Hamas rockets had been aimed at Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest city and economic hub, and the attack was of great symbolic value. It had to be answered by the IDF, by inflicting sufficient damage to ensure there would be no repetition of such an attack.
Of course the terrorist groups in Gaza were quick to claim they had nothing to do it. Hamas denied responsibility for the attack on Tel Aviv, saying the rockets were launched when the group’s military wing was meeting with Egyptian mediators to try to strengthen a ceasefire with Israel.
In an unusual step that indicated Hamas was attempting to prevent further escalation, the Hamas interior ministry said the rocket fire went “against the national consensus” and promised to take action against the perpetrators.
Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, two smaller Gaza armed factions, also denied responsibility.
Israel was convinced that Hamas members did indeed launch the rockets, but the IDF eventually concluded that the rockets had been fired from Gaza toward Tel Aviv by mistake, a defense official said on Friday, March 15, the day after the attack — and after Israel’s retaliation. Lower-level Hamas operatives, performing routine maintenance on the rockets, may have inadvertently launched the rockets, or there may have been a technical malfunction.
Before the IDF concluded that the rockets had been fired by mistake, Israel had already responded with overwhelming force, in the early morning of March 15, hitting over 100 Hamas targets. The army said targets included an office complex in Gaza City used to plan and command Hamas militant activities, the headquarters responsible for the planning and execution of attacks in the West Bank, an underground complex that served as Hamas’ main rocket-manufacturing site for standard-grade rockets, and a military training site that served as Hamas’ center used for drone development.
This kind of immediate and massive retaliation by Israel is what keeps the peace — that is, prevents major war — between Gaza and Israel. The rapidity with which both Hamas and Islamic Jihad disclaimed responsibility shows how frightened — and with reason — they are of what the IDF can, and did do, in retaliation. Israel, however, holds Hamas responsible for all attacks that come from Gaza, including those that are inadvertently launched, as appears to have been the case here.
While the IDF has concluded that the Hamas attack was a mistake, there is one reason why it might have been deliberate after all. On Thursday, the very day when those two rockets were fired at about 9 p.m., there had been street protests in Gaza against Hamas rule. The protestors were angry at the high cost of living for ordinary Gazans and furious at the evident prosperity of Hamas officials. In order to keep the protests from growing, it is possible that some Hamas officials decided a diversion needed to be created. Two rockets sent skyward toward Tel Aviv, which would inevitably trigger Israeli retaliation, fit the bill. That Israeli response might serve, if only temporarily, to reunite the people of Gaza with their Hamas rulers, seen as bravely defying the Zionist enemy. But if the attack — and the response to it — had been intended to divert attention from the widespread economic discontent that fueled the protests against it, Hamas likely underestimated the severity of Israel’s response. With more than 100 targets hit in Gaza, the Hamas officials no longer appeared to be bravely defying the Israelis, but rather, foolishly endangering the safety and well-being of ordinary Gazans.
Borrowing from Hamlet, in firing its rockets toward Tel Aviv, Hamas offered an example of being hoist by its own petard(s). And, to lift another line from Hamlet: “Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.”
Frank Anderson says
Again I invoke with great respect the signature line spoken by John Vernon early in Outlaw Josey Wales. In order to launch even the simplest rocket, it must be assembled, the warhead armed, the motor connected to a firing circuit. Then it must be placed on a launch device, rails, tube, whatever, aimed and fired. There is no way a long range rocket could be fired by accident toward Tel Aviv. To say that the same accident happened twice in such a short time is so obvious a lie as to deserve all the contempt that can be applied. Well done IDF. Never again.
Joe Z. Wells says
^^^ 100%
Buraq says
In earthquake zones, it’s believed to be a good thing when small earthquakes occur at regular intervals: that’s because these small quakes drain the energy buildup that leads to a major earthquake. And so it is with Gaza firing rockets at Israel and Israel responding each time: this regular tit for tat prevents the clowns in Hamas from releasing an all out attack on Israel.
However, I confess that I would like to see a major onslaught by Israel against Hamas that’s right off the Richter Scale!
Long live Israel!
Frank Anderson says
Buraq, it could happen and certainly looks necessary because any promise made in “negotiations” is a sham with no value whatever. The really sad part is the cost. I have had the great pleasure of knowing several IDF “graduates” who came to the US for a year after their first term of service. One of their lives is worth all of the evil excuses of creatures who want to kill them. You can’t negotiate with people who make lying a central part of their religion. Select any 6 or so books on the art of negotiation and read them. The consensus of those 6 I read is that basic trust is the foundation of a meaningful deal.
Indiana Tom says
High tech enterprise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W9OX8bCcsU
Westman says
The only way to extinguish the habitual attacks of the Hamas Pavlov Dogs is to consistently deny them the reward of no consequences. Give them an inch and they will take a life.
Mark Swan says
Yes Hamas is a constant consideration for Israel, yet there are others as well.
“All of Israel is within range of Hezbollah’s missiles, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said in an interview with Iranian media on Sunday” (Jerusalem Post, March 18, 2019). Most of Hezbollah’s missiles are supplied by Iran. Iran has also developed an army of drones and is producing its own submarine with ballistic missile capabilities. In addition, Iran has sent warships to defend its shipping interests in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—the entrance to the Red Sea. “The deployment of the fleet comes two weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s navy could stop illicit Iranian oil shipments.”
Israel has built up its air defense capabilities. It maintains three different Israeli-developed air defense systems capable of defending against short-range, medium-range, and even long-range missiles that travel outside the Earth’s atmosphere. They are also integrating the American-made THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system. Israel has a small navy and a capable air force, and they also possess nuclear weapons.
The West had better make vigorous efforts to strengthen Israel—it is the best way to
try to prevent assaults on Israel that could lead to a major war in the region.
Lydia Church says
THE GOD OF THE BIBLE IS ON ISRAEL’S SIDE
(This does not endorse everything done by Israel. Sometimes Israel is even punished for sins. A lot of the prophesies look to something that will occur in the future and that is the purpose of surrounding events. It gets complicated. I could go on 10 divergent rabbit trails but not right now.)
ZECHARIAH 12:
1 The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. 4 In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ 6 In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.
7 “The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. 8 In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them.
*******9 It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
(So enemies… take note!)
Mourning for the Pierced One
10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. 11 In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.
{This is when they recognize Jesus as the Messiah, just as Joseph revealed himself to his brothers in Egypt and their eyes were opened. And the similarities go on… more rabbit trails for you.}
ZECHARIAH 14; 1-6, 12-15
1 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus the Lord my God will come,
And all the saints with You.
{The church}
6 It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
…..
***12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:
Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet,
Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,
And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.
13 It shall come to pass in that day
That a great panic from the Lord will be among them.
Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor,
And raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand;
14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem.
And the wealth of all the surrounding nations
Shall be gathered together:
Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.
15 Such also shall be the plague
On the horse and the mule,
On the camel and the donkey,
And on all the cattle that will be in those camps.
So shall this plague be.
[Hint: Don’t be on the wrong end of that plague!]