A stranger who found himself here in the last few days could think that Israel was on the verge of collapse. Desperate cries filled social media and some of the mainstream media, mourning "loss of deterrence" and "the sacrifice of the western Negev."
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These remarks could be dismissed as fallout from the election or the summer heat if they hadn't been serious and honest, and an expression of a truly insane situation. What's worse, there was a dangerous element to them because they created pressure that could propel Israel to take hasty steps that will end up costing lives.
Let's look at the facts. On Monday, the IDF and Shin Bet security agency arrested long-term fugitive Bassem Saadi, head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the West Bank. PIJ operatives there, who in recent months have been under heavy pressure from the military, demanded that leaders of the PIJ in the Gaza Strip respond to the arrest. In the past, Gaza-based groups would "respond" with a few symbolic rockets, but this time, they decided to aim at major Israeli targets using anti-tank or sniper fire.
The defense and security apparatus received intelligence about these plans and did exactly what it should: closed off the western Negev to avoid people being killed. Because large parts of this area are within firing range of Gaza, any other possibility would have been a gamble. Meanwhile, the IDF sent up aircraft in an attempt to hunt down the missile and sniper cells and create deterrence.
Israel hoped these steps would calm things down, and added political pressure via Egypt and Qatar. As of Thursday night, the PIJ refused to climb down, and Israel shifted gears – deploying forces to the south and approving plans for a military operation, a clear signal that while Israel doesn't want escalation – it isn't afraid.
Now back to the criticism. The people who spearheaded the decisions were the commanders on the ground – professionals who have been entrusted with the security of Israel's citizens, like GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, a religious man who used to be Benjamin Netanyahu's military secretary. He lives on Kibbutz Alumim in the western Negev and raised his children there. If Toledano had left the area open, and an anti-tank missile had hit a bus and killed children on their way to summer camp, or a sniper had killed a few soldiers, what would those same Twitterers and politicians have said about him? And what would he have told the parents of the people killed?
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Yes, it's unpleasant to see the western Negev closed off. But the alternative proposed by the keyboard warriors – to launch an assault on Gaza – is no less dangerous. Doing that would result in volleys of rockets, which would have shut down not only the western Negev, but half of Israel into the bargain (and caused plenty of injuries along the way). The IDF would have gotten dragged into another round of fighting in Gaza that would have left both sides in exactly the same position – Hamas and the PIJ there, and us here, without solutions to any of the core elements of the conflict.
Since the first rocket was fired from Gaza at Israel in 2001, and since Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and Hamas' rise to power there in 2007, Israel has seen plenty of governments come and go. They all realized that there was a big difference between election slogans ("We'll defeat Hamas") and the reality on the ground, and sought to use brains rather than force. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, as four major military operations and who knows how many rounds of fighting in the last 13 years alone demonstrate.
But it's absurd to make the residents of the south out to be hapless victims, and it's dangerous, too. Instead, elected officials should find other ways of strengthening them – ensuring that they are given compensation, budgets, aid for agriculture and community-building, and yes – that security solutions are found that will allow the area to remain open and functioning during any future period of tension.
Israel playing the "poor us" card plays into the terrorist groups' hands, puffs them up, and allows them the delusion of success. It's unnecessary, mostly because in the end – there is no resident of the Gaza Strip who wouldn't prefer to live on the other side of the border, even when the area is shut down, and there is no resident of the western Negev who would move to Gaza. That's it.
