The “containment” policy for Gaza instated by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the previous chief of staff Gady Eisenkot, consisting of tit-for-tat for terror within bounds, has never been a workable strategy since it draws on six misconceptions:
- That the Gaza Strip and its Palestinian Hamas terrorist rulers can be prevented from attacking Israel by enclosing and isolating the enclave with high security barriers.
- That Hamas terrorists can be tamed by feeding them large sums of cash for bolstering their rule over two million inhabitants.
- This policy became entangled in considerations and processes with no direct bearing on Israel’s security – for instance, the Middle East peace policy pursued by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. It has never been established for sure that Kushner’s project jives fully with presidential policy. Another complicating factor was – and is – Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi’s relations in the region and the Gulf – not to mention the feud between Qatar and the Saudi-UAE alliance, and Qatar’s ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey.
- The Netanyahu government consistently avoided holding Hamas-Gaza responsible – or retaliating – for terrorist atrocities it staged in Judea and Samaria, pretending there was no connection.
- Policy-makers let Hamas’ active operational ties with Iran and Hizballah ride as of little consequence, even though its leading officials run a terrorist campaign against Israel from a war room in Beirut.
- The IDF conducts regular operations against foes outside its borders – covertly, by air and by missile – but not inside Gaza. There, the IDF confines itself to limited reprisals against inconsequential sites, guided by two considerations:
(a) Keeping Hamas loss of life down, especially among the members of its armed wing, Ezz e-Din al-Qassam.
(b) Minimizing the damage to Hamas’ military infrastructure READ MORE
