ISRAEL last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed. The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit. It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza. Hamas’s Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding. But last night’s direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.
I hope they do. For many years I believed that Yassir Arafat, father of modern terrorism, should have simply been eliminated. As I stated in this previous posting, this is how our enemy must be dealt with- the only way to stop them is to kill them.
"Oh, but Doug- the Israelis blew up the power plant, threatening many innocent civilians!"
Thousands of Hamas supporters protested in Gaza City late on Thursday over the arrest by Israeli forces of up to 32 Hamas MPs on the West Bank that day. A Hamas spokesman said the group would never recognise Israel, in spite of a deal its leaders signed this week offering implicit recognition of the Jewish state in return for easing an economic blockade.
I believe that General William Tecumseh Sherman is right up there in the realm of brilliant military strategists and practitioners. He said, on war
“Its glory is all moonshine; even success most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the lamentations of distant families. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out."
More importantly, understanding the ultimate ability of an enemy to wage war, Sherman states,
“If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war and not popularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relatives must stop the war.”
Again from The Australian:
Much of Gaza, including two main hospitals, was without power and running water as a UN aid chief warned that the 1.4 million residents of the strip were three days away from a humanitarian crisis. "They are heading for the abyss unless they get electricity and fuel restored," said emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland, who urged militants to free Corporal Shalit and stop firing rockets into Israel.
Maybe this is a wakeup call the people who harbor and support the thugs and murderers will heed? I doubt it. There is no rationalizing with these people.
