Saturday July 1, 2006

I've Been Thinking:

Israel is aggressively seeking to free the Israeli citizens - military and civilian - who have been kidnapped by Hamas and their affiliates.
Hamas is aggressively attempting to harm as many innocent Israelis as they can.

Israel, Israeli leadership and the Israeli Defense Forces have a standard to uphold - Israel does not want to harm civilians, even accidentally.
Witness the Fox News correspondent, Mike Tobin, wandering freely around the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanoun as it is being bombed.
In response to a question about his safety the correspondent answers that bombings are a common occurrence and the Israelis are surprisingly accurate which explains why there are still Palestinians on the streets.

Israel has a dual objective and it is a nearly impossible balance to strike.
Objective # 1: to apply pressure on Hamas leadership and Hamas terrorists
Objective # 2: to avoid unduly hurting the Palestinian masses
Israel is searching for arresting and targeting - the politicians that have been arrested are all being charged with terrorist activities. Hitting the electric supply forces the terrorists to leave their hideouts and seek alternative sources - like their cars - from which to charge their all important cell phones, their communication source and link to the outside.

Palestinian terrorists are shooting Qassam missiles indiscriminately, seeking out crowded areas for attack, blowing up as many Israelis as possible.

To draw parallels between the actions of Israel and the actions of the Hamas is to misunderstand the situation and to underestimate the stakes.