When I heard that the cabinet had voted to declare war on Hamas, I was reminded of the old adage that it's easy to declare war, but very hard to end one. I thought of this when I realized that none of the ministers who voted for this declaration had a clue as to how this war should be waged or what the war's actual objectives should be. And this includes our Prime Minister, who had the gall to invite Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz to join a so-called National Unity government. These are the two individuals, along with a host of ex high ranking military personnel, such as Gadi Eisenkot and Ehud Barak, who helped create the false impression of a demoralized IDF that couldn't defend our country. According to several captured Hamas terrorists, it was this impression, perhaps more than anything else, that convinced them that they could beat our army. And they did, over the course of one blood soaked day.
But the reason we suffered such a devastating surprise attack by Hamas had less to do with the Kaplan Force than it did with the IDF's failure to maintain an offensive strategic doctrine. Instead, our military establishment adopted a defensive mind set that has been described as "kicking the can down the road", "mowing the grass" and "managing" the enemy. These methods were in place of undertaking decisive offensive operations designed to eliminate our enemies, not tolerate them. And, not surprisingly, our corrupt and incompetent political establishment went right along with this insanity either due to their inability or unwillingness to do what was necessary to defend our country. So, what are our generals and politicians planning to do to Hamas, now that they've declared war without any idea about how it should be waged?
At the present time, we are in the process of a general mobilization. However, the army is apparently short of such vital equipment as ceramic plates and clothing for the infantry, modern armored infantry fighting vehicles, artillery shells and ground to ground rockets, other precision guided munitions and Iron Dome interceptors. So, once again, victory in this war will apparently be won at the cost of our soldiers lives because the IDF's high command didn't think that our sons and daughters were that important to waste money on. That's a hard statement, but it's an accurate one. But, unfortunately, this is just the beginning of our problems.
As the IDF's leadership has acknowledged, our mobilized army is also expected to fight not just Hamas, but a multi front war that may involve Hezbollah, Iranian proxy forces in Syria, various terrorist groups in the Territories, Arab Israelis in our mixed cities and Iran. That would be a tall order for any army, even one as presumably sophisticated as the IDF. However, given our government's refusal to order the army to decisively crush the terrorist threat in the Territories, it led our other enemies to conclude that we had lost the will to win. And that's not my assessment. It's what the leadership of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran have openly stated. The fact that Bibi sabotaged Itamar Ben G'vir's attempt to form a National Guard for enhanced internal security just added to the impression that we weren't taking our enemies' desire to bleed us very seriously. And so the slaughter of our civilians and soldiers on Simchat Torah commenced.
At this point, nobody seems to know exactly how we're going to crush Hamas. My fear is that the army eventually intends to commit our infantry to an intensive urban warfare campaign in Gaza, which I've described as "Stalingrad on the Med". This would not only be incredibly stupid, as we would be fighting exactly the way Hamas wants us to, but our expected casualties would be enormous and beyond our ability to justify, let alone sustain. So, if our goal is to eliminate Hamas without incurring a butcher's bill in the process, is there another, more rational, way of doing this? Yes, there is and it would not require one Israeli soldier to cross over into a Gazan meat grinder.
The first thing we have to do is blow open an escape valve for the approximately 70% of Gazans who want to leave their Hamas ruled hell hole. We can do this by eliminating the barriers Hamas has erected on the Egyptian border and drop leaflets throughout Gaza warning the inhabitants to leave immediately if they want to live. I believe most of them will run and overcome any Egyptian measures to stop them from entering their territory. After that, it's up to the Egyptians, the Arab League and the UN to figure out where these refugees should go. My personal preference for what it's worth would be Ireland. The remaining civilians in Gaza should be considered terrorist auxiliaries and targeted accordingly.
What happens after that is a bit complicated but involves a number of weapons that totally disable all of Hamas' communications and rocket forces. At that point, we undertake a sustained bombardment campaign employing a variety of conventional weapons that will first obliterate most surface structures in the Strip then create a firestorm that will burn and asphyxiate everyone of the terrorists hiding in their tunnel complexes. I expect that after one week the IDF could enter Gaza and prepare the area for our annexation and repopulation.
By implementing this plan, we would not only eliminate one very dangerous front, but also do so in a manner that could very well deter Hezbollah and the various Arab terror groups in the Territories from activating their equally dangerous fronts. What we would do against these particular enemies at that point would depend on whether or not the people of Israel wake up and vote in a new government that will immediately implement a comprehensive military reform program that replaces the current failed policy of appeasement with one that calls for the decisive destruction of our enemies.
