Israel ups the ante against Hamas

Israel has declared Gaza a “hostile entity.” One might be tempted to call that a keen grasp of the obvious. One might be right.

The security cabinet voted on Wednesday to declare the Gaza Strip a hostile political entity. The ministers also discussed the continuous rocket attacks against Israel.

The unanimous vote also authorized the imposing of economic sanctions against Gaza, so long as they do not affect the civilian population. The measures to be taken against Gaza include cutting back on the supply of electricity and fuel, in accordance with international law.

This is the interesting part. I wonder if there will be any follow-through. Although Israel’s detractors like to pretend otherwise, Israel is not the kind of country that will allow people to starve, even her enemies. I think it’s possible we’ll see limited cutbacks, just enough to make the Gaza population even more pissed at Hamas.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that Israel’s decision constituted a “declaration of war.”

“This is a dangerous escalation of the attempt to legitimize destroying Palestinian land, criminal behavior and bringing a humanitarian disaster on the Palestinian people. This is Israel attempting a knock-out blow against Hamas following its successes in taking control of Gaza.

Yeah, I’m not seeing a downside to that, Barhoum.

Here comes the laugh-out-loud part of the story, though:

Barak’s office said that in accordance with international law – in dealing with a hostile entity, Israel would be able to respond without imposing a collective punishment against the civilian Palestinian population.

Those measures include preventing the flow of funds into Gaza, restricting the operations of the various border crossings, cutting off the Israeli supply of fuel to Gaza and cutting back the amount of electricity provided to the public.

Ehud Barak is being rather naive here. Doesn’t he know that the rules that apply to the rest of the world do not apply to Israel? Nobody is calling emergency UN sessions on the murder of Sudanese refugees by Egyptian border police. The UN and world leaders didn’t call for restraint when the Lebanese Army attacked a Palestinian refugee camp, indiscriminately killing civilians while trying to oust the terrorists in the camp. And the world doesn’t think it’s a crime that Gaza sends rockets into Israel on a near-daily basis.

Meryl’s prediction: Israel will cut back on the flow of electricity and fuel, and the world will rise up as one—against Israel. I sure hope I’m wrong. But I think not.

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4 Responses to Israel ups the ante against Hamas

  1. David M says:

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  2. Jack says:

    It is about time.

  3. Bob says:

    It occurs to me that believing the world is out to get you isn’t paranoia … if it’s true. 3500 years of anti-Semitism is tough evidence to overlook.

  4. Ed Hausman says:

    Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that Israel’s decision constituted a “declaration of war.”

    Right, and it’s about time. But hasn’t Hamas’ own charter always declared it is at war with Israel?

    Anyway, there is no such legal concept as “hostile entity” no matter how many times westerners especially try to update the Geneva Conventions to account for non-state actors with the power of actual states. Perhaps Israel can lead the way in creating a more realistic international understanding of contemporary warfare.

    I doubt the world will care. International law already considers combatants who hide among civilians responsible for harm to those civilians, not the legitimate forces fighting those combatants.

    Unless the legitimate forces are Israeli.

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