Israel is now engaged in the fourth war it has had to fight for its survival. The three others were fought in 1948, 1967, and 1973. In addition, there have been a half-dozen other campaigns the Israelis have had to fight against the terrorists of the PLO, Hamas, and Hezbollah. The IDF soldiers, their ranks increased with the addition of 360,000 reservists, have been fighting up and down the Gaza Strip, a hellishly difficult theatre of war — that is, urban warfare in one of the most densely-populated places on earth. Israel’s mortal enemy, the terror group Hamas, has built a vast network of terror tunnels deep underground, where its operatives are able to store weapons, and to both move around, and live inside, that warren of tunnels that are between 350 and 450 miles in total length, and built at an average depth of 50 meters.
Hamas also stores weapons, rocket launchers, command and control centers, as well as personnel, above ground, in and around civilian infrastructure, including schools, mosques, apartment buildings, and hospitals. While trying to root out Hamas combatants from their lairs which have been deliberately placed among civilians, the IDF has at the same time been trying to minimize civilian casualties by a campaign, unprecedented in scope and in kind, of warning Gazans away from areas, or from buildings, about to be targeted. In this effort, the IDF has dropped 14 million leaflets, made two million prerecorded calls and 72,000 regular phone calls. Meanwhile, Hamas has tried to prevent Gazans from leaving the same areas and buildings the IDF has warned them about. The terror group wants more civilians to die; their deaths are a propaganda boost for Hamas, that can then paint the IDF as ruthless and uncaring about the welfare of civilians, when the truth is quite otherwise.
The IDF has performed spectacularly, both in neutralizing Hamas operatives, and in managing to minimize civilian casualties. Of the 28,000 deaths that Hamas had reported by mid-February — and as is its wont, not distinguishing between civilians and combatants — between 10,000 and 12,000 were, according to the IDF, members of Hamas. Even if we take the lower figure — 10,000 Hamas deaths — this means that the total number of civilian deaths cannot be more than 18,000. The civilian-to-combatant ratio of deaths is then 18:10, or 9:5. The UN has said that in all the wars since World War II, the average civilian-to-combatant ratio has been 9:1. The U.S. military did much better in the Iraq War, when there were 174,000 casualties, only 39,900 of whom were combatants, resulting in a civilian-to-combatant ratio of 7:2. But in the Gaza War, the IDF has achieved a ratio of 9 civilians killed for every 5 combatants; 9:5 is far less than what any modern army has achieved, in any war. This needs to be kept in mind.
Now we come to Joe Biden, who wants to reward the Palestinians, who have voiced their overwhelming support for Hamas’ attack on October 7, by handing them a state. Why do they deserve a state? They don’t. The Arabs have 22 states, and the creation of a 23rd one, sharing the tiny space “between the river and the sea,” would be a mortal threat to the only Jewish state. But Biden can’t get out of his head the notion of a “two-state solution” which will somehow “bring peace” to the region. Since its very name contains the word “solution” many, like Biden, Blinken, and Sullivan, simply assume that’s what it must be. It’s sleight of word.
In fact, forcing Israel to be squeezed back within the 1949 armistice lines — which is what the Arabs will insist on, and Biden looks ready to satisfy them — would not sate, but whet, Arab appetites. Without the minimal strategic depth that control of Judea and Samaria (a/k/a the West Bank) — and especially, possession of the Jordan Valley — provides, Israel will not have the “secure [i.e. defensible] and recognized boundaries” that, according to UN Security Council Resolution 242, it has a right to possess. After all the wars that have been thrust upon it, doesn’t Israel deserve to retain defensible borders? And even more important, shouldn’t Israel be allowed to keep the borders that the League of Nations envisaged for the future Jewish state, when it decided that the territory of Mandatory Palestine should include all the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea?
Tony Rice says
Here we have a problem of immense proportions. On the one hand Allah instructing his worshippers to seize and kill all non-Muslims ( wherever you find them, slit their throats etc ) and on the other hand, Yahweh, god of the Israelites, giving them the land of Israel for all time, the land mass of Eretz Israel being MUCH larger than Israel today, so there remains to be mass battles re occupation ( and ownership of land ) which does not augur well for the area , and it’s inhabitants. Orthodox Jews believe they are obliged to keep safe and occupy the land of Eretz Israel as they are obliged to do so as guardians on behalf of Yahweh. Then of course there are bent organisations such as the U N, Russia, Iran etc who stoke the fires of conflict. Israel remains the canary in the coal mine
for ” western orientated civilisation “
Goofy says
All two states proposals have in the past been turned down by the Muslims.
That is why they and their brain dead sympathisers chant: “From the river to the sea!”
Their vision is Qur’anic, meaning genocidal against the Jews as their first but not only priority in their conquest of the world, which they have doomed to total submission.
According to the Islamic eschatology during the last days the trees and the rocks shall cry out to the Jihad fighters: There is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him!
Islam has no room for coexistence, the infidels have to submit to Allah, pay their Jizya, flee or die!
A theological question that puzzles me: How can Jews be infidels according to Islam which claims to be an Abrahamic religion? The Muslims claim to worship one God only, and so do the Jews! If we accept that the two religions share the faith of Abraham, how can they be enemies?
Islam’s twisted understanding of Christianity is a different story.
somehistory says
A large part of the “reason.”
USA TODAY
“Arab Americans feel ‘a bone-deep sense of betrayal.’ And they want Joe Biden defeated in 2024
Michigan’s “Abandon Biden” movement, part of a larger national campaign, is hosting meetings with third-party candidates such as Jill Stein and Cornel West. A separate initiative, which organizers are calling “Listen to Michigan,” is urging Michigan Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the primary to send a message to Biden that his actions in Israel are unacceptable.
….Arab Americans can account for as much as 5% of the vote in Michigan, depending on turnout. Arab American advocates have been trying to push that percentage even higher by encouraging those who are eligible to register to vote.”
‘55% of Dearborn are mozlum’ ““It’s time for him to take action, and he’s failing to do so,” Alawieh said. “And that’s going to have political consequences.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/arab-americans-feel-a-bone-deep-sense-of-betrayal-and-they-want-joe-biden-defeated-in-2024/ar-BB1iq6l2?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=eed72bddab8d4308bb61ff181431f405&ei=139
Homer Bedloe says
Biden believes the Palestinians deserve a state because that’s what Obama ordered him to say. In a big house there are vessels of honor and dishonor.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Biden doesn’t think anything. The Executive is being run by the DNC and their plants in the bureaucracy
James Lincoln says
Yes, Infidel.
If Biden’s handlers / string pullers told him to say, “Israel should not allow a Palestinian State”, he would say it.
OLD GUY says
You got that right, he’s nothing but a puppet. You pull the strings of money and his mouth moves.
Kosh's Shadow says
First, Biden doesn’t think anything; he says mostly what he is told to say.
He is but the figurehead on the ship of state, being steered by some shadowy captain.
As for giving the “Palestinians” a state – that will make it so much harder for Israel to maintain security, as it would involve invading a sovereign state. The Jew-hating world would condemn any such action.
We know the “two-state solution” has the same desired ending of another “solution” from back in the 1930’s-1940’s.
I say the Palestinians can have their state in the largest extent of land that there was an independent, internationally recognized state of Palestine in the last 500 years. No more and no less. Where they go is their problem. Anyone reading this knows they have never had such a state, and did not even identify as Palestinian until the founding of the modern state of Israel.
somehistory says
Maybe he should give them the “state” of CA….
“Amid Growing Concerns Of Illegal Immigration; Noncitizen Appointed To San Francisco Elections Commission”
“Kelly Wong, an immigrant from Hong Kong, was the first noncitizen to be appointed to such a role. She aims to address the challenges faced by immigrants in fully exercising their voting rights, especially those who have limited proficiency in English.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/amid-growing-concerns-of-illegal-immigration-noncitizen-appointed-to-san-francisco-elections-commission/ss-BB1itk4C?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=aa7d3fc9de144025a92dc1231d011836&ei=33#image=1
Feb 19 2024 says
I am curious whether Biden’s “TWO STATE SOLUTION” detailed proposal is available for inspection.
Under Mr. 10% proposal, will everyone still be taught to hate all Jews?