Sooner or Later, War with Hamas Is Inevitable https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/israel-zionism/2018/11/sooner-or-later-war-with-hamas-is-inevitable/

November 13, 2018 | David Horovitz
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Last week, Egypt finally succeeded in brokering a long-awaited agreement whereby Hamas would accept $15 million from Qatar in exchange for an end to eight months of low-grade violence and rioting. But on Friday—after the cash-filled suitcases had already arrived in Gaza—a terrorist from the Strip snuck into Israel and burned down a greenhouse before being apprehended. On Sunday, an Israeli commando unit operating in Gaza—most likely on an intelligence-gathering mission—got into a shootout with Hamas operatives in which an Israeli officer was killed. Hamas then launched hundreds of rockets into Israel yesterday afternoon. David Horovitz comments:

The riots and the tunneling and the rocket fire [orchestrated by Hamas] amount to extortion. If Israel does not end the security blockade it maintains on Gaza, Hamas vows, then Israelis will have to continue to endure rocket and mortar attacks, the threat of cross-border terror tunnels, arson balloons burning its fields. But if Israel does ease the security blockade, of course, Hamas will exploit this to import more weaponry to cause still-greater harm. . . .

In repeated flareups since the 2014 warfare, Israel has sought to avoid the loss of life and devastation that a resort to deeper conflict will entail. Israel is also well aware that “defeating Hamas” may sound straightforward but is immensely complex. The military challenge is profound, though emphatically not beyond the capabilities of Israel’s military forces. But Israel does not want to reconquer Gaza and reassert responsibility for two million hostile Palestinians.

Yet Hamas will not rest, and will not change, and sooner or later, therefore, must be faced down. And in the battle between a sovereign state that is obligated to ensure security for its citizens, and a ruthless, cynical terrorist organization, backed by Iran and committed to Israel’s destruction, there can and must be only one winner.

Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-will-never-change-sooner-or-later-it-must-be-faced-down/