Wednesday, November 14, 2012

New York Times Editorial, "Another Israel-Gaza War?": Yes, They Are Myopic Naifs at the Times

In an editiorial entitled "Another Israel-Gaza War?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/opinion/another-israel-gaza-war.html?_r=0), The New York Times opines:

"Israel has a right to defend itself, but it’s hard to see how Wednesday’s operation could be the most effective way of advancing its long-term interests. It has provoked new waves of condemnation against Israel in Arab countries, including Egypt, whose cooperation is needed to enforce the 1979 peace treaty and support stability in Sinai."

"Hard to see" how Wednesday’s operation advanced Israel's long-term interests? The members of the editorial board of the Times, writing from their Manhattan aeries, truly are myopic naifs, incapable of comprehending the existential threat facing Israel.

Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense caught Hamas with its pants down and achieved both tactical surpise and strategic success.

Over the past month, more than a hundred rockets and missiles were fired from Gaza into towns and cities in southern Israel (more than 800 rockets and missiles have been fired at Israel in 2012). In addition, an anti-tank missile was fired across the border at an Israeli jeep, injuring four soldiers, and prior to that, an explosion along the border fence had cost an Israeli officer his hand.

At first, Israel's response appeared along the lines of "more of the same": less than punishing air operations against suspected Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, which ended when Egyptian President Morsi appeared to have brought about a tacit ceasefire. Satisfied that it had achieved its goal of ongoing provocation without sustaining meaningful retaliation, Hamas dropped its guard. And then . . .

Yesterday, Israel began Operation Pillar of Defense by killing Achmad Jabari from the air. Jabari was the functional head of Hamas's military wing and had been responsible for the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit.



Next, Israel destroyed Hamas's hidden arsenal of Fajr missiles from Iran, never used, but capable of hitting Tel Aviv. The elimination of this threat was a major Israeli intelligence coup, even more so than the assassination of Jabari.



Overnight, the Israeli air force and navy continued to strike missile arsenals, and a vastly improved Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted some 80 rockets and missiles fired at Ashdod, Beersheva and other Israeli cities.

In terms of strategic success, which has gone unnoticed by the press, Israel has been facing a three-front war involving the threat of missiles from Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. Had hostilities begun involving Hezbollah in Lebanon and/or Iran, Hamas would have let fly its Fajrs at Tel Aviv. However, as of last night, given the difficulty posed to Hamas of replenishing this "treasured" arsenal, Israel has neutralized, at least for the medium-term, this headache.

5 comments:

  1. It isn't naivete - it's scoundrelism.
    It's always the same. When countless rockets fall on Israelis, there is silence, silence, silence. When Israelis respond, suddenly the NYT is awake and appalled, appalled, appalled.
    I woke up today to the NYT's front page: "Ferocious Israeli attacks ..."
    Such absolute and perfect bastards. I would drop Sulzberger in Beersheva and tell him: "You are here to stay ... no go back and now publish your paper. Here."

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  2. Correction. I shouldn't type anything in the middle of the night before coffee. Sorry about that.
    I meant: "You are here to stay - no GOING back. Now publish your paper. Here." It looks better.

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  3. The NYT has become one of the most anti-Israel papers. Its op-ed page is dominated by the likes of Thomas "Jews bought Congress" Friedman and his ilk. Such a pity.

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  4. More Liberal bias from this morning's NYT:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-assault.html?hp

    "Health officials in Gaza said at least 19 people, including five children and a pregnant teenager, had been killed over two days of nearly nonstop aerial attacks by Israel, and dozens had been wounded."

    Followed by:
    "Three Israelis were killed on Thursday in Kiryat Malachi, this small southern Israeli town, when a rocket fired from Gaza struck their apartment house."

    No mention of the fact that one of the 3 Israelis killed in Kiryat Malachi, Mira Scharf, 27 was a mother of two young children and was 7 months pregnant.

    While Israel launches "nonstop aerial attacks", "the rockets heading toward the city of 400,000 apparently fell harmlessly elsewhere". Or that prior to Thursday, over a million Israelis were spending their nights in shelters due to weeks of relentless rocket attacks from Gaza.

    Instead, in a separate article the NYT falsely reports: "After months of mostly holding its fire as it struggled to stop other militant factions from shooting rockets across the border..."
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/world/middleeast/hamas-emboldened-tests-its-arab-alliances.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1353042678-u+CqCMrmlA3/RQ/gUsiPeQ

    And finally, in a third front page article, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/world/middleeast/in-israeli-border-town-rubble-and-blood.html
    the NYT mistakenly refers to Kiryat Malachi as a "Border Town" even though it's at least 27 kilometers from Gaza and has never once been the target of any rocket attack from Gaza.

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  5. Make no mistake about it. Besides the real battle taking place on the ground, this is a Social Media war between the Free World and those who oppose it.

    Get ready for an onslaught of lies and disinformation such as this recent Tweet from Gaza designed to arouse sympathy for the father and the dead child he is holding.

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oW_19xVTjWw/UKVoOeaPalI/AAAAAAAA9VQ/cxT1TTgEdo0/s1600/Arab%2BChild%2BKilled.jpg

    There's just one problem.

    As the picture on the left shows, the child was actually killed in Syria on October 25.

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