Jerusalem – Israeli Mood Turns Dark With Mounting Casualties

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    Sharona (3rd L), Dana (C in green) and Sivan (3rd R), the mother, sister and wife of Israeli soldier Tsafrir Bar-Or, mourn during his funeral in Holon near Tel Aviv July 21, 2014.  ReutersJerusalem – For almost two weeks, Israel practically bristled with confidence and pride: The Iron Dome air defense system was dependably zapping incoming Hamas rockets from the skies, the military was successfully repelling infiltration attempts on the ground and from the sea, and the conflict with Hamas was causing almost no casualties in Israel.

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    That has changed in what seems like a flash, after at least 25 soldiers were killed and scores injured — a predictable yet still stunning outcome of the fateful decision, announced late Thursday, to send troops and tanks by land into Hamas-ruled Gaza.

    In a country where military service is mandatory for most citizens, and military losses are considered every bit as tragic as civilian ones, the reaction to the setbacks was electric. Newspapers and broadcasts have been dominated by images and tales of the fallen — mostly young faces barely out of high school — and interviews with parents concerned for offspring so clearly now imperiled.

    Angst over the highest military toll since the 2006 Lebanon war now mixes with a cocktail of emotions: on one hand, a strong current of determination to press on with efforts to end the rocket fire from Gaza; on the other, the sinking feeling that a quagmire is at hand.

    “It’s ugly and it’s no walk in the park,” said Alon Geller, a 42-year-old legal intern from central Israel. “But we have to finish the operation. If we stop now before reaching our goals, the soldiers will have died in vain.”

    But the Haaretz newspaper warned against mission creep and the “wholesale killing” of Palestinian civilians. “The soft Gaza sand … could turn into quicksand,” it said in its editorial Monday. “There can be no victory here. … Israel must limit its time in the Strip.”

    There was always near-consensus among Israelis for the airstrikes aimed at ending the rocket fire, which they considered unreasonable and outrageous. The Palestinian fatalities caused by the airstrikes — over 500 in two weeks, many of them civilians — are generally blamed here on Hamas, for locating launchers in civilian areas and for proving to be cynical and nihilistic, to Israeli eyes, at every turn.
    An Israeli battle tank from an artillery unit monitors the area near the Israeli border with Gaza, 21 July 2014.  EPA
    But a ground invasion of Gaza is another story, and the government had clearly hesitated to take the risk. House-to-house fighting, tanks exposed in fields, the danger of a soldier being kidnapped, to be traded for thousands after years in captivity: It is an untidy and dispiriting affair.

    The government felt it necessary to take such a risky step because despite all the damage being inflicted on Gaza by the airstrikes, the Hamas rocket fire simply did not stop. Israeli officials also felt world opinion would understand after Hamas rejected a cease-fire proposal that Israel had accepted.

    Complicating the situation from Israel’s perspective, Hamas does not seem to be coming under significant pressure from the people of Gaza despite the devastation they are enduring. While Gaza is no democracy and Hamas rules by force, this seems to reflect genuine support for Hamas’ aim of breaking the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt on the strip.

    Emboldened, Hamas ratcheted up attempts to carry out deadly attacks against Israeli border communities through tunnels dug underneath the fence separating Israel from Gaza. For Israelis, that raised a terrifying specter of families in placid farming areas on the edge of the Negev desert waking up to find swarms of Islamic militants in their midst.
    Israelis take cover as a siren warning of incoming rockets sounds in the southern city of Ashkelon July 21, 2014.  Reuters
    “This brought it home that they are out to kill us and we have to stop them,” said Yehuda Ben-Meir, a political analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies. “No one can say he (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) was trigger-happy. It convinced the Israeli public that the decision taken by Netanyahu came from a sense of ‘we have no other choice.'”

    Despite the absence of panic on Monday, it is clear that if soldiers continue to be killed at this rate, the flexibility enjoyed by Netanyahu to date will likely be replaced by a growing sense of urgency to stop the casualties. Many Israeli leftists will demand an end to the operation. Hard-liners will demand more radical action, up to and including a takeover of Gaza. That will add to the already mounting pressure from an outside world horrified by the carnage on the Palestinian side.

    The prime minister is probably mindful that the popularity tipping point for his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, came when the public concluded too many soldiers were being killed and that the military was not fully prepared during the 2006 war.

    Some — in the government and on the street — are already calling for a total invasion aimed at ousting Hamas, even if this leaves Israel again occupying a hostile and impoverished population of 1.8 million, as it did for nearly four uncomfortable decades until its pullout from Gaza in 2005. For the moment the ground operation is mostly limited to areas relatively near the Israeli border, where Israel is shutting down tunnels and hunting for rocket launchers; a takeover of Gaza City would probably be much more costly still.

    “I hate war. I’m pained by every death,” said Haviv Shabtai, a 61-year-old Jerusalem bus driver who has served in several wars, has a son currently called up, and had opposed a ground invasion because of the risk. Shabtai said he took the losses personally and was even physically overwhelmed at the news.

    “After recovering from that shock,” he said, “I say go all the way.”

    Comrades of Israeli army Staff Sergeant Mosh Melako mourning at his funeral on Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, 21 July 2014. Melako was killed by Palestinian militants in battle during Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip.  EPA/OMER MESSINGER


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    20 Comments
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    thegreatone
    thegreatone
    9 years ago

    Nebach nebach 25 young Jewish lives cut short.
    Off course there is no victory when Jews die and there is no victory when so many young Arab children are being killed.Even if Hamas is using them as human shields still killing women and children fuels antisemitism as never before.

    Israel,with this Gaza operation is putting the entire global Jewish population in danger.Arabs worldwide are furious,angry in a rage at Jews all over the world.
    Observant Jews must find a way letting the world know what Israel does is not the view of worldwide Jewry.The state of Israel does not represent all Jews.Jews who follow Toras Moshe MiSinai are against the state of Israel because Jews are not allowed to have their own Medina before the coming of Moshiach .

    At the same time it must be said that what a very tiny minority of Jews who call themselves Neturei Karta do hugging and kissing with Arabs is disgusting and despicable.

    sighber
    sighber
    9 years ago

    Don’t Rely on Iron Dome (by Rav Gamliel Rabinowitz Shlit”a)
    In the Tocheha, it says וְשָׁבַרְתִּי, אֶת-גְּאוֹן עֻזְּכֶם; וְנָתַתִּי אֶת-שְׁמֵיכֶם כַּבַּרְזֶל [And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron]. There is a hint to כפת ברזל [Iron Dome] in that there is a curse that it breaks the pride and power to pray to Hashem.
    And the Rambam famously berates people for not crying out to Hashem at times of trouble.
    Rather, we pray that all our enemies מהרה יכרתו [quickly be cut off], whose Rashei Teivot have the gematria of טיל [missile]. This means, we pray that the missiles should explode before it comes to Israeli territory.
    It is forbidden to be complacent and rely on Iron Dome, ח”ו, but rather, we must do Teshuva, etc.
    In the merit of stopping all the arguments between חסידים and מתנגדים and between אשכנזים and ספרדים, we will merit to be saved from the Kelipa of חמא”ס.
    Rav D. Lev adds that רצועת עזה [Gaza Strip] is the gematria of 848 and if you add the Kollel, it equals שבו ישראל [return, o Israel].
    Rav Tzion David Siboni adds that if you add the 2 words and the Kollel, you get בעתה אחישנה.

    9 years ago

    Israel has to stop worrying about what the rest of the world thinks. It’s obvious that there is a bias against Israel and Jews. You can’t beg the world to love you, they don’t even want to sympathize with you. Go ahead and carpet bomb Gaza, civilians and all.

    torontonian
    torontonian
    9 years ago

    Who’s opinion is this article? Such highly opinionated slanted reporting does little to enhance VIN credibility.

    hmmmm
    hmmmm
    9 years ago

    A little tzniyus wouldn’t harm the Israeli folks. I don’t blame them in a time of sorrow. I know I will get it over my head , but Someone’s got to say it.

    BarryLS1
    BarryLS1
    9 years ago

    All of us are affected by every soldiers death, but don’t mistake the resolve of the people here. We are too worried about supposed civilians deaths, which are mostly caused by Hamas, are put our soldiers more at risk. It is time to stop worrying about what the anti-semetic world thinks.

    Raphael_Kaufman
    Raphael_Kaufman
    9 years ago

    Hate to be picky but that’s not a tank in the photo above! It’s an M-109A4 Paladin self propelled 155mm artillery piece