The War That Wasn't: Netanyahu Demonstrates Leadership

Last Thursday, Hamas terrorists fired an advanced Kornet anti-tank missile from Gaza at a yellow school bus in southern Israel. Hamas had already learned in early March that Israel's Trophy anti-tank missile defense system, which is now protecting Israel's frontline Merkava tanks, is effective (see: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=210366), so instead, they took aim at defenseless children. If the bus had still been full when the missile struck and many more children had been wounded and had died, Israel would again have gone into Gaza with its armor and ground forces.

Over this past weekend, some 120 mortar shells, rockets and missiles were fired from Gaza at civilian targets in southern Israel. Israel's new Iron Dome defense system against short-range missiles and mortar rounds, which had been deployed only days earlier, intercepted almost a dozen missiles headed for the Israeli cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod and Beersheva.

Notwithstanding the enormity of the provocation, Israel retaliated with pinpoint strikes against terrorist targets, killing two Hamas military commanders, Rayid Shehadeh and Tayser Abu Snima. Its attacks having proven futile and blunted, Hamas appealed for a truce on Israeli radio (see: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/04/10/hamas-israel-palestinian-ceasefire.html).

This was not an appropriate time for another Israeli ground operation in Gaza. The Ba'athist regime in Syria is teetering as a result of broadening internal protest, and Assad would have welcomed the opportunity created by a war in Gaza by calling for pan-Arab unity in the face of the Zionist aggressor and instructing Hezbollah to fire at Israel from Lebanon.

Netanyahu, who has many detractors both inside and outside of Israel, demonstrated admirable restraint during this difficult period. Without delving into personalities or politics, I believe that Obama, who detests Netanyahu, could learn much from this example of leadership and decision making under fire.

Hamas Ordered to Seek Confrontation with Israel

As noted in my prior blog entry, encouraged by the actions taken by the rebels in Libya, Syrians are now taking to the streets in Daraa, seeking an end to Assad's tyrannical regime. Yesterday, another protester was killed in Daraa by Assad's security forces.

Also, U.S. and European intervention in Libya has Tehran worried that the next time that the dissidents take to the streets demanding the ouster of Ahmadinejad, the passivity of the West in response to the slaughter of innocents is not assured.

It is no accident that Damascus and Tehran ordered Hamas to fire 50 mortar shells at civilian targets in southern Israel on Saturday in an effort to ignite a confrontation, which was intended to distract their "streets" from events in Libya. Hamas would never act on its own in this manner without instructions.

Yesterday, Hamas continued the rocket and mortar shelling of Israel and fired a Grad-type missile at the Israeli city of Ashqelon, again upon the orders of Damascus and Tehran, in order to provoke Israeli retaliation; however, Netanyahu is no fool, and the Israeli government is acting with restraint.

Quite correctly, Obama has delared that there will be no American "boots on the ground" in Libya, but has also demonstrated to Qaddafi, the monster who ordered the downing of Pan Am flight 103, that America still has teeth in the face of brutal attacks against civilians.