CAIRO, Egypt– Yesterday Hamas violated a ceasefire brokered by Secretary Kerry and the UN 90 minutes after it began. A Hamas suicide bomber killed 2 Israeli soldiers and kidnapped IDF soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23 years old.
Israel responded by escalating attacks against Hamas in Gaza, targeting the Islamic University of Gaza early Saturday morning. President Obama condemned Hamas and called for the release of the soldier, “If [Hamas] are serious about trying to resolve this situation, that soldier needs to be unconditionally released, as soon as possible.” He said he would work to secure another truce.
Senior members of the Palestinian Authority are arriving in Egypt this afternoon for ceasefire talks on the Gaza conflict. The delegation will include members of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement, but Israel will not be sending a delegation.
Hamas will never accept a truce or ceasefire. They are a terrorist organization and their only purpose is for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of the global caliphate. The only option is for the dismantling of Hamas.
There are moments in history that come only once and the decisions made will impact the course of history. Theodore Roosevelt said if he must “choose between peace and righteousness, he chooses righteousness” and that “wars are, of course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain kinds of peace.” Sometimes you have to go through the war to obtain a state of lasting peace.
Both Israel and Gaza have paid a heavy toll in this conflict, with 1,600 Palestinians killed, over 6,000 wounded, and 66 IDF soldiers killed. The destruction caused by Operation Protective Edge is devastating, but what would also be devastating is being forced to fight the same battle in another 3 years, with even a greater loss of life. Operation Protective Edge is the third conflict between Israel and Hamas in the last 10 years, 1,400 Palestinians were killed in Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 and over 100 people were killed in the Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012.
This is an opportunity in history to stop the recurrence of ceasefire after ceasefire, bloodshed after bloodshed and establish a lasting peace, if the international community will get behind the efforts to demilitarize Hamas.
“Sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better,” said former IDF General Avidor in an interview with Breitbart News. “We need to start looking for a long-term peace instead of ceasefire after ceasefire… MacArthur rebuilt Japan after the war, we have to develop a different concept. The MacArthur concept could work in Gaza.”
“It is a time for a new way of thinking,” said Avidor.
“A ceasefire is not the goal, it is the first step, but the goal is to implement a demilitarization zone enforced by the international community to dismantle the terror capabilities in Gaza,” added former IAF Officer Reuven Ben-Shalom.
A former senior IDF commander spoke to Breitbart News about the importance of Egypt in the solution for the conflict. “The people in Gaza are willing to renew ties with Egypt” he said. “The Gazan people will listen to Egypt and are willing to work with them.” He discussed the idea for the international community to get behind Egypt and the PA to work with the people of Gaza to depose of Hamas and replace them with an alternative form of power. “A Marshal Plan model should be implemented to rebuild Gaza providing a peace keeping force as the United States has done in the Sinai, to keep the peace between Israel and Egypt.”
The loss of life will be in vain if there is not a different outcome in the conflict than calling for another ceasefire that will only last a couple of years at most. Hamas is a designated terrorist organization and needs to be dismantled. America has been fighting a war on terrorism for over a decade and we have an opportunity now to dismantle Hamas, which would be a substantial victory against Islamist militants.
The Senate on Friday approved $225 million for the Iron Dome missile defense system. The Iron Dome is truly a miracle and has saved thousands of innocent lives. According to the IDF spokesman, since July 8th, Hamas has fired more than 3,000 rockets at Israel; the Iron Dome has intercepted the majority of the rockets. Each rocket the Iron Dome intercepts costs over $50,000. The United States has provided more than $700 million towards the Iron Dome throughout its history. The Iron Dome is worth every penny of investment and needs to be fully developed and funded, but efforts to diminish the amount of rockets being launched to minimize the cost of the Iron Dome would be a wise investment.
A former IDF officer spoke to Breitbart News on the matter: “The story is that the United States has an opportunity that may never be here again and has never been here before.”
History proves that the policy of appeasement only leads to greater disasters and more causalities. The international community must now be united in demanding of Hamas that it put the welfare of its people ahead of it’s political greed and dreams of a global caliphate. The people that are suffering the most are the people of Gaza. Hamas broke the ceasefire hurting the people of Gaza by preventing humanitarian aid. Hamas is a terrorist organization that uses their own people as human shields, celebrated when 9-11 happened and condemned the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Hamas is the same as Al Qaeda, there is no negotiating with terrorist groups.
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