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Hugh Fitzgerald: Netanyahu vs. Lieberman on Gaza (Part Two)

Apr 22, 2019 10:00 am By Hugh Fitzgerald

A report from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America’s (JINSA) Hybrid Warfare Task force, which is headed by several retired senior U.S. military officials, outlined this striking strategic threat that Israel will face in its next war with Hezbollah.

According to the report, the next conflict with Hezbollah will “bear little resemblance to anything that has come before between Israel and its adversaries.”

“Changes in the strategic environment in the 12 years since the last Israeli-Hezbollah conflict will translate into unparalleled death and destruction,” the report said, noting that Hezbollah’s recent fighting experience in Syria, its support from Iran and its massive weapons arsenal pose a “quantum leap” in the terror group’s ability to inflict devastation on Israel.

“Today, Hezbollah possesses more firepower than 95 percent of the world’s conventional militaries, and more rockets and missiles than all European NATO members combined,” the report stated.

Various estimates put Hezbollah’s overall rocket and missile stockpiles at between 120,000 to 140,000—up from roughly 10,000 in the last conflict in 2006.

The threat posed by Hezbollah is much greater than that from Hamas. In mid-November, Hamas did its level best, firing nearly 500 rockets and mortars into Israel, but only one Israeli was killed. One can imagine the destruction and casualties that would result from any attack by Hezbollah, with its gigantic stockpile — 120,000 to 140,000 — of rockets and missiles, many of them advanced, and hidden all over Lebanon.

Netanyahu has decided that the IDF has to focus most of its military efforts on preparing to meet any threat on the northern front, by Hezbollah in Lebanon, and by both Hezbollah and Iranian forces in Syria. He does not want to get bogged down in Gaza, or even have to divert limited military resources to the south (such as the Iron Dome anti-missile shield). A cease-fire with Hamas is always temporary, he knows, but these intermittent flare-ups with Hamas are manageable in a way that a massive attack from Iran, aided by Hezbollah’s missiles, would not be. Israelis call the damage they inflict repeatedly on Hamas as “mowing the grass.” But the threat from Hamas hardly compares with that from Iran-backed Hezbollah or Iran itself.

According to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006, all armed groups in Lebanon were supposed to disarm. Instead of abiding by the Resolution, Hezbollah then began its gigantic arms buildup, with Iranian help, while Israel waited — in vain — for members of the U.N. to force Hezbollah to honor its solemn commitment to disarm. Everyone — Europe, America,U.N. peacekeepers — looked the other way; Israel complained, repeatedly, without success.

Nothing was done. The U.N. demonstrated its impotence, its inability and unwillingness, to force Hezbollah to abide by Resolution 1701. And the arms buildup by the terrorist group continued, unstopped and unstoppable, even until today. The only attempt to enforce Resolution 1701 has been by Israel, which has bombed Iranian shipments of weapons meant for Hezbollah. But it’s all a bit late. Hezbollah now possesses more firepower, according to the JINSA report, than 95 percent of the world’s conventional militaries, and more rockets and missiles than all European NATO members combined.

Netanyahu wants to free the IDF from having to devote so many resources to Israel’s Southern Front. He knows that ever since 2006, Israel has turned its main military attention to Gaza, and had several small wars with Hamas, in 2006, 2008-2009, 2014, and 2018, along with many smaller-scale exchanges of fire. These conflicts have all been manageable, with Israel’s victory never in question, but they also helped deflect much of Israel’s attention away from Hezbollah’s steady, massive buildup, with the results we now see.

In an Israeli attack in mid-November, by way of an answer to a barrage of rockets and missiles from Hamas, the terrorist group saw the destruction of many of its weapons depots, of Al-Aqsa TV, the Hamas-run television station that broadcasts anti-Israel propaganda and also sends messages to would-be terrorists, of several of Hamas’ main office buildings, and a few residential structures, too, where weapons were known to be stored. In every attack Israel followed its “knock on the roof” practice — that is, dropping non-explosive or low-yield devices on the roofs of targeted buildings, as a warning of imminent bombing attacks, in order to give the inhabitants time to flee. The results for Israel have been most satisfactory: they hit more than 160 targets successfully, and kept the loss of life among the “Palestinians”  to an astounding minimum of seven dead.

Hamas, which not very long ago seemed swaggeringly intent on enlarging the armed conflict with Israel, was quickly chastened by seeing the widespread damage Israel managed to inflict in such a short time. That damage led Hamas to not only accept but– which is never a given with Muslim Arabs — to observe the terms of the cease-fire.

Did Israel make a strategic mistake in accepting the cease-fire? Ought it to have continued to pound Hamas so hard that it lost control of Gaza altogether? Wouldn’t a lawless Gaza be a grave danger to Israel, a place where some even more dangerous group, notably ISIS or Islamic Jihad, might fill the vacuum left by the crushing of Hamas? Worst of all for Israel would be if Gaza descended into complete anarchy, forcing Israel to move large numbers of troops into Gaza in order to impose order and to take over such mundane tasks  as supplying electricity, water, sanitation services, for a dangerous and hate-filled population of 1.8 million “Palestinians.” Indeed, the very worst thing that Hamas could now do to harm Israel is not to lobby more ineffectual rockets into southern Israel, but to announce that it cannot properly rule in Gaza when it is “under attack” by Israel, and then to hand the task of ruling Gaza over to the Israelis.

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Filed Under: Featured, Gaza, Hamas, Hizballah, Hugh Fitzgerald, Israel Tagged With: Avigdor Lieberman


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Comments

  1. christianblood says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 10:18 am

    You mean the same Israel that is supporting, arming and evacuating hundreds of Syrian
    Al-Qaeda “White Helmets” after their recent encirclement in Syria??? Do you really trust what they say?

  2. christianblood says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 10:24 am

    Israel treating wounded Al-Qaeda members in its state of art hospitals while bombing
    Christian families celebrating Christmas in Damascus on a Christmas day!

    • CRUSADER says

      Apr 22, 2019 at 6:34 pm

      christianblood,

      why is it that you call your moniker “christianblood”?

      • christianblood says

        Apr 22, 2019 at 8:10 pm

        CRUSADER

        I use this moniker (christianblood) to highlight the blood of Christians being shed around the world by Islamic jihadists and their US/Western allies.

        We just had a Christian mass-murder in Sri Lanka yesterday where the blood of hundreds of Christian were shed by Islamic jihadists! That is exactly why I use the “christianblood” moniker!

        • CRUSADER says

          Apr 23, 2019 at 1:45 am

          To “highlight” this.

          Rather euphemistic.

        • J D.S says

          Apr 24, 2019 at 9:43 am

          Is Christian blood out of his body?

    • gravenimage says

      Apr 22, 2019 at 9:16 pm

      christianblood has said before how enraged he is over the Israelis offering medical care to everyone.

      And he often lauds Muslims oppressing Christians–including Iran, Chechnya, and–yes–Hezb’allah itself. He often screams “God bless Hezb’allah!”.

  3. Buraq says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 10:38 am

    The fact that Hezbollah has not honored United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 gives Israel ‘carte blanche’ to turn them to ashes if they attack. And make no mistake, Israel has the military resources and the political will to do just that!

    If Hezbollah thought for a second that Israel’s response to an all out attack by them would be to wring their hands and beg the UN to do something, they would have fired their Iranian-made rockets long ago. Hezbollah knows that firing a barrage of rockets at Israel would open the gates of Hell for them. And the Islamic junta in Tehran knows that Israel would wipe out their military bases in Iran, too.

    That’s why these clowns are holding back! They fear Israel!

    • jarmanray says

      Apr 22, 2019 at 2:04 pm

      Buraq, I would bet that Hezbollah is well aware that the Israelis, if necessary to survive, will level southern Lebanon with nuclear weapons. We all must pray to our Lord that President Trump wins re-election as the list of communistic/anti-Semitic Dems running for the office would leave Israel out to dry.

    • El Cid says

      Apr 23, 2019 at 10:20 am

      The various comments including this one are lacking understanding of one important thing. We Jews do not want to annihilate anyone. Or, see anyone suffer. We do not want to murder anyone. That is the Muslim way, not the Jewish way.

      What Iran did by arming a group of terrorists, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, is put the entire population of Lebanon at risk of annihilation. Obviously, Israel will not sacrifice itself if attacked. We Jews are in an ethical quandary and the Jihadists in Tehran completely understand that–they are relying on it. They would fight us Jews down to the last Arab man, woman and child while they sit safely in Tehran.

      This is why Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. They would use it because they don’t care about the 2 million Arab Muslim citizens of Israel nor the other Arabs living in the surrounding areas.

      The last administration, Obama, did incredible damage to the stability of the region by funding Iran and giving them political cover internationally.

      • CRUSADER says

        Apr 23, 2019 at 11:05 pm

        El Cid!

        Good to see you again on JW.

  4. Roland says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 10:42 am

    “christianblood” looks like a Russian troll. Why did his buddy Bashar Assad invite the Russians and Iranians into Syria?

    • CRUSADER says

      Apr 22, 2019 at 6:35 pm

      Good call, there, Roland.

      Keep blowing the horn !

  5. christianblood says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 11:55 am

    In short, Bashar Assad invited Russia and Iran to protect the Syrian state from falling into the hands of ISIS, Al-Qaeda and numerous other jihadist groups supported, armed, funded and trained by the US, Nato, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

    • gravenimage says

      Apr 22, 2019 at 9:19 pm

      christianblood does this all the time–pretending that it is actually America and Israel who are waging Jihad.

      • CRUSADER says

        Apr 23, 2019 at 1:47 am

        But we know that incredibly Acirema and Learsl really are culpable in waging Dahij.

  6. cornelius says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 11:56 am

    Many of the latest missiles sent from Iran to Hezbollah are “smart”. It does indeed portend a bloody carnage next time around.

    Imagine the threat from Gaza if Israel had relinquished control of the Gaza border with Egypt? Hamas would be in an identical position as Hezbollah in Lebanon….armed to the teeth with Iranian missiles. So much for the wisdom of “land for peace”.

    Since Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy, I believe Israel must make it clear that an attack by Hezbollah on Israel will be responded to as an attack from Iran. It may or may not deter the Iranians, but it’s the right policy. Just put it into historical context: Imagine if the Soviets had attacked the USA with missiles based in Cuba during the 1962 Cuban missile crises,…what kind of folly would it have been for the USA to have confined its retaliation to Cuba? It would have been tantamount to national suicide.

  7. Roland says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    @”christianblood” Why would the Israelis in their right mind support and train ISIS, Al-Qaeda and numerous other jihadist groups? Why did/do Christian Arabs incite anti-Semitism and support the brutal Baathist regimes in Syria and Iraq? Did they think they would earn some brownie points with Islam? Let’s see, there’s Edward Said, George Habash, Hanan Ashwawi, and a few thousand others promoting “Arabism”. Was Jewish blood worth nothing?

  8. christianblood says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 1:20 pm

    Roland

    Israelis supported ISIS, Al-Qaeda and various jihadist groups in Syria because they were to following the US regime-change policy against Syria just like the other US allies did.
    Watch the video above and see Netanyahu confirms that he was responding to Trump and Trudeau requests to evacuate hundreds of encircled Al-Qaeda “White Helmets” from Syria!

    Why would Netanyahu, Trump and Trudeau evacuate 800 Al-Qaeda “White Helmets” who have the blood of Syrian Christians and other minorities on their hands?

    • Hugh Fitzgerald says

      Apr 22, 2019 at 4:24 pm

      It is possible to recognize that Assad has been, as an Alawite, a protector of the Christians (for god’s sake, in Syria the government closes down at Christmas and for Good Friday, and the Armenians, who are my informants, hope Assad’s regime goes on forever), and not believe in crazy conspiracy theories about Israel — or the U.S., or Nato — supporting ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other monstrous Muslim groups. You lose your audience when you make such nutty remarks. Why not just stick to the truth: in a bad situation, Assad has been good for the Syrian Christians. End of story.

      • christianblood says

        Apr 22, 2019 at 6:12 pm

        Hugh Fitzgerald

        Assad has been good to Christians and other Syrian minorities but the US and its allies wanted to topple the Assad government and replace it with their murderous jihadist proxies who would destroy Syria and initiate religious genocide against Christians and other minorities just like they did in Libya!

        Thanks to Russia, Hezbollah and Iran, the US and its allies lost their proxy war and their terrorist clients in Syria are mostly annihilated except only in Idlib where they will be cleared out in the near future! Besides it is no secret that the US supported, armed, trained various islamic jihadist groups in the past decades in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kosovo, Bosnia, Yemen and Libya!

        The 20th anniversary of the US-led Nato’s bombing of Christian Serbs
        in support of their KLA jihadist allies, which killed thousands of Christian Serbs has just been observed recently.

        • CRUSADER says

          Apr 22, 2019 at 6:43 pm

          Obama and the Muslim Brotherhood gang surrounding him.

          Read what Phil Haney has said in “See Something, Say Nothing”

          Trump has been trying to rid America of the Deep State infection and infiltration.

          Red/Green Axis….

          Soviets promoted this in the first place. PLO became an operator.

        • gravenimage says

          Apr 22, 2019 at 9:23 pm

          christianblood regularly condemns the US for having defeated ISIS–then says that the US actually is ISIS. He can’t even keep his own bs straight.

  9. christianblood says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 1:22 pm

    Roland

    • gravenimage says

      Apr 22, 2019 at 9:25 pm

      christianblood loves everyone who hates America.

  10. CRUSADER says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 2:39 pm

    Oh, what “The Donald” Trump and “Bibi” Netanyahu together now can do
    for the good of the world….

    • FYI says

      Apr 22, 2019 at 7:18 pm

      I often wonder is the delightful Dr Seuss acceptable in islamic countries?

      “I do not like Green eggs and HAM”.Isn’t that statement “islamophobic” and “culturally insensitive”?
      Is it not upsetting to muslims?

      I seem to remember that muslims in Australia once complained about Peppa the Pig.
      [I ❤ peppa the infidel pig!}

      And when the Grinch stole Christmas,is it true, that’s because he had converted to islam?

      But that’s probably a made-up story:sort of like allah’s koran.

      I’m sorry,I don’t want to sound “islamophobic” or anything but I have to say I prefer the works of Dr Seuss to the koran:they have more to offer and its great for children..and Dr Seuss has more wisdom and joy and goodness.

      • CRUSADER says

        Apr 23, 2019 at 1:48 am

        Butt, of course, you know, that MoHAMhead loved showcasing humor and HAMming it up!

  11. mortimer says

    Apr 22, 2019 at 8:57 pm

    Iran is responsible for this:

    “Various estimates put Hezbollah’s overall rocket and missile stockpiles at between 120,000 to 140,000”.

    The West is fighting Islam MILITARILY, but doing nothing to fight Islam IDEOLOGICALLY.

    Islam is an expansionist, aggressive, supremacist totalitarian ideology that can ultimately only be countered IDEOLOGICALLY.

    As soon as Western governments realize that they must engage in IDEOLOGICAL WARFARE against Islam, they will realize that the CHEAPEST way to fight Islam is by deprogramming Muslims right out of Islam.

    • gravenimage says

      Apr 22, 2019 at 9:27 pm

      Where have Muslims ever been deprogrammed out of Islam by Infidels?

      • CRUSADER says

        Apr 23, 2019 at 1:51 am

        An apt query for Quilliam group to answer with specifics.

        If you get a chance, just ask Maajid Nawaz….

  12. Gamaliel says

    Apr 23, 2019 at 9:08 am

    Israel needs to occupy Lebanon now.

    • CRUSADER says

      Apr 23, 2019 at 11:07 pm

      And the “palestinian” Arabs just need to be happy in Muslim dominant Jordan.

      The flourishment of Israel will only float others’ economic boats.

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