Thursday, March 28, 2024

Amir Tsarfati Update

Amir Tsarfati: Israel And Middle East Update



This has been a very disappointing week as Israel has watched the United States separating itself from us. Through ultimatums, threats to withhold arms, vote abstentions, and condescending rhetoric, the Biden administration has made it clear that it believes that “peace at all costs” between Israel and Hamas is necessary for a November reelection.


This is in spite of a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris survey that showed Americans overwhelmingly back Israel. Nearly four out of five questioned expressed support for Israel over Hamas. More than two out of every three believe that Israel is seeking to do all it can to minimize casualties. Of course, you wouldn’t know that if you follow the news or pay attention to the words of the party in power in Washington. If those are your sources of information, you’d think there was a pro-Palestinian protest on every street corner populated by concerned citizens heartbroken over the genocide the evil Jews were perpetrating on the helpless Gazans. There is no mention of massacres or torture or systematic rapes or women and children being held hostage.

This is all part of the drift that I warned you about months ago back in the halcyon days when everyone supported Israel avenging October 7. “Go get them,” they said. “They must pay, and you must make yourself safe!” So, Israel did. But now that these people see what Israel has to do to make itself safe, they are all screaming, “Wait! We thought you’d just go in and arrest a few leaders. Maybe bomb a few buildings. You know, like you used to do in the good old days.” What they failed to realize – and, quite honestly, what Israel had failed to realize, also – was that the old way of doing things was nothing but dealing with the symptoms of the disease. For Israel to be safe, the cancerous tumor of Hamas has to be removed. The difficulty has been that the cancer spread throughout Gaza, garrisoning in civilian and humanitarian centers, like schools and hospitals, and burrowing in a vast and intricate underground tunnel system.

Israel was confronted with a new form of urban warfare that had never been experienced before. The leadership of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was confronted with the dual charges of destroying Hamas while protecting the human shields behind which the enemy had hidden. They have succeeded on both counts to an amazing degree.

It is not just me saying this. Last week, I linked you to a Newsweek opinion article written by John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point and codirector of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project entitled, “Israel Implemented More Measures to Prevent Civilian Casualties Than Any Other Nation in History”

This week, Mr. Spencer followed up with another article called, “Israel Has Created a New Standard for Urban Warfare. Why Will No One Admit It?” He writes, “In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, I’ve never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy’s civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings. In fact, by my analysis, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history.”






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