Michael Ledeen correctly notes that the battle in Gaza is not a thing in and of itself, but part of the Global War on Terrorism (or, if you prefer, the war against Islamo-fascism):
It was only a matter of time before Israel lashed out at Hamas in Gaza. Even the appeasers in Israel, of whom there are many, could not indefinitely accept thousands of rockets landing in civilian centers, especially after the battle against Hezbollah in 2006, which was widely viewed as a fiasco for the Israeli Army and for the leaders in Jerusalem who are facing an election in two months. Defense Minister Barak says it’s “all-out war,” which suggests ground operations. The usual rule in these cases is that Israel doesn’t have much time to accomplish its objectives; the “international community” rallies to the side of Israel’s enemies, and Israel’s leaders invariably convince themselves that if they play ball, they’ll be rewarded for it. But that never happens. So far the Brits and the Vatican have already demanded an end to operations against Hamas, and by the time I finish typing this there will be more.
Israeli leaders say they want to bring an end to the rocket and missile attacks from Gaza. But, as opposition leader Netanyahu said, that can’t be done without regime change.
Our goal should be twofold – stopping the attacks on our cities and eliminating the threat of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip…Stopping the attacks can be done within a short period of time, while eliminating the threat of rocket attacks from Gaza will entail toppling the Hamas rule over the Strip and uprooting the Iranian base there.
The last five words are key, because, as others have said, this is one more battle in the terror war in which we have been engaged since 2001. The Battle of Gaza cannot be understood as a thing in itself, but only as part of a broader whole: the war against the terror masters. And Iran is the most lethal, the most dangerous, and the most aggressive terror master in the world today.
I will take a moment to take exception to Ledeen’s characterization of the Vatican statement – clearly the Holy Father wants the violence to end, but he’s not just saying he wants the Israeli violence to end: all of it has to end, and the world should work diligently to assist the Israelis and Palestinians find a way out of this blind alley of hatred. With such sentiments I am in complete accord, as I think all right thinking people are – including Ledeen, a brilliant man but one some times given, understandably, to hyperbole when discussing the issues of terrorism and the threat of Islamism.
That aside, we cannot take the events in Gaza in isolation but must relate them to the whole picture – and in this picture, Iran looms exceptionally large. To just fight in Gaza or to just make a truce in Gaza won’t solve the issue. Fighting to a finish in Gaza will be more useful than making a truce in Gaza (at this point), but even a completely crushed Hamas in Gaza won’t resolve the issue as long as the Islamists have any place in the world where they can gather and plot and train unmolested. Ultimately, to Iran we must address ourselves.
In this, our largest problem will be when we have President Barack Obama – he doesn’t seem to have a clue about this, though one hopes that he’ll pay close attention to his Chief of Staff in middle eastern matters (one doesn’t really see Obama listening carefully to whatever Hillary believes about the area). If Israel pounds Hamas into submission in Gaza and, indeed, if Israel then goes on to temporarily cripple Iran’s nuclear program for a decade all we will have gained is time – time to work out a plan to overthrow the mullahs (who are terribly unpopular), or time to allow the mullahs to rebuild their terrorist infrastructure in order to attack again. It will be up to Obama to decide how this time is used – up to Obama, that is, to either figure out what a war is, or flub the issue horribly and to an ultimate high cost in blood.
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