What to do?
In yesterday’s edition of Israel Today Online a headline read; “ANALYSIS: Israel Must Finally Decide What to Do With Hamas.” The article went on to say; “The latest round of heavy fighting in and around the Gaza Strip again ended with a predictable ceasefire that left Hamas intact and well-armed, ready to continue harassing Israel at a later date. That outcome has resulted in a rising chorus of voices demanding that the Netanyahu government either finally bring an end to the Hamas threat to the nearly 1 million people living in the south of the country, or resign. This displeasure with our current prime minister and his policies vis-a-vis Hamas-ruled Gaza spans the political spectrum.
Tactics
You know It is one thing to fight an enemy face to face on the open field of battle and the Israelis are past masters at this kind of warfare as we have seen especially in 1948, 1973 and in 1967. However, the Hamas tactic, which they have been using for years, is the myriad of underground tunnels dug by professional engineers that are large enough for armed militants to walk through. Today I think the Israelis are hard pressed to deal with this situation. Watching an interview with Avi Lipkin (Founder of the Bible Block Judeo-Christian political party in Israel) earlier this month, he said that this situation with the underground tunnels was one of the factors behind the withdrawal of Israeli forces and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Tunnels
When I was in South Korea, several years ago now, and standing at the demilitarized zone looking over into North Korea I spoke to a soldier at the DMZ about the situation there and he told me at the time that the North Koreans were digging tunnels under the DMZ and that these were not easy to detect. He told me that at that time they had destroyed around 32 or 33 tunnels and that there were at least eleven other tunnels they had not found. I walked through one of these tunnels that had been blocked off but remained open for civilians to walk down. They were primitive but solid and well-constructed and large enough to drive a small armoured vehicle through. This was and I believe still is a problem for the South Korean military today. In Vietnam the Viet Cong used underground tunnels and many very brave American and Australian soldiers had to go down into these tunnels to confront and destroy the enemy.
A difficult choice
I am no military strategist but possibly one way for Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Knesset to press the attack on Hamas is to make an all-out and concentrated effort to detect and destroy the labyrinth of Hamas tunnels. The repercussions of an all-out attack on Gaza for Israel are huge with Iran funding Hamas and Hezbollah ‘waiting in the wings’ as it were, to launch thousands of rockets into Israel. All they need is an excuse to do this. Hezbollah receives military training, weapons, and financial support from Iran, and political support from Syria. Added to this the cowardly Hamas backed by Abbas and Co are using civilians as shields and Prime Minister Netanyahu is also well aware of the repercussions of the International community against israel if Israel decide to take the option of invading Gaza.
Let’s be realistic
So let’s be realistic and not too hard on Prime Minister Netanyahu. There is a lot at stake for many of the innocent civilians in Gaza who are not militantly against Israel but also a lot at stake for innocent Israeli Citizens. Added to this, Israeli forces are on alert on the border with Syria as Iran moves its forces into Syria and as far as we know with the blessing of Russia and Turkey. So Israel at present faces Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran and Syria on their Northern border and to top it all off the rising contender for the Islamic Caliphate President Erdogan of Turkey who wants to “pitch his tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain” in East Jerusalem giving him access to the Temple Mount.
Swooping down on Gaza!
One thing that will ultimately happen according to the Word of God is that the Israelis will “swoop down upon the shoulders of the Philistines (Gaza).” (Isaiah 11:14) If Israel does not succeed in taking back Gaza now they will when the Messiah our Lord Jesus comes back. As Israel’s Commander in Chief He will lead the remnant of Israel against Islam to destroy it forever. (Isaiah 63: 1-6) compare (Revelation 19:11-21) the prophet Zechariah also tells us in that day “Judah will also fight at Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 14:14)
