The Israeli-Hamas War
11am, AESummerT 17 October
There is much to be concerned about in this war. At this time Israel has not begun their ground invasion of northern Gaza. But what is their goal?
The Israelis have already stated their goals: 1: to kill every member of Hamas. 2: to ensure that they can never again control the Gaza Strip, and use it to launch attacks against Israel.
The media commentators seem to think these goals are impossible. But I disagree. They are not thinking clearly about what the Israelis have stated.
First, the common claim is that only about 25% of the Palestinians in Gaza support Hamas. Yes, in a democracy, that would mean that they have no chance of governing, or of doing any real damage. But what does it mean here? Of the 2.3 million Gazians, almost 600,000 of them think that it is acceptable, even desirable, to attack Israel.
But much of Hamas’ military infrastructure is underground. So how do you eliminate them? You do this by levelling most of the above ground structures in Gaza, and then move into their underground systems and eradicate them, tunnel by tunnel, causing many deaths on both sides. I suspect the ground attack will begin at sunrise today, in about four hours.
And how do you ensure there will be no further attacks into Israel from Hamas, or from anyone else in Gaza? You drive all of the current occupants of Gaza out, and turn the entire area into Israeli territory. There is no other way. This can be the only acceptable outcome from the Israeli perspective.
And so far, they have essentially depopulated the northern half of the Gaza strip, and are making life almost impossible in the southern half. Egypt will be forced to allow them to escape via their country, as starvation and desperation drives the Palestinians across their border. And if any sense prevails, they will be absorbed into many nations across the world as war refugees. And that will finally cripple Hamas.
But all this will almost certainly result in ferocious attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that will likely make both Iran and the US active participants in this war. May Jehovah God stop it from spreading further!!! And let us not be troubled, for the end is not yet. (Matthew 24:6).
Bruce Armstrong
Central Highlands Congregation of God