We deserve the Qassams and the Katyushas

This piece from today's Ha'aretz





We deserve the Qassams and the Katyushas





By Nadav Shragai



The hundreds of Qassams and Katyushas that have landed in the south
and north are a natural response coming from those who, over the years, have
grown used to believing that Israel regards the thousands of mortars and
Qassams on the inhabitants of Gush Katif as nothing more than rain.

The kidnapping of the soldiers was practically obligatory from someone
who understands that "deterrence," a much-favored term used by many
Israelis, was a kind of self-delusion, largely virtual, and that Israeli
prisoners, for those who swore they would "not get down on the knees," are
worth a few hundred terrorists.

Hezbollah and its Palestinian pupils internalized this and made note
of it. After the wars against terror, like the one going on now, come the
retreats, and then more wars, which lead to more retreats. Terror sows and
then reaps. Fact: The blood of the dead and wounded had yet to dry and Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert was already making clear that in addition to the two
fronts where unilateral steps were taken - with great success, as everyone
knows - he will undertake another unilateral move. The "convergence," right
next to the main mass of Israel's population, will take place, he insists.






The truth? We earned it honestly as a nation of gullible fools, who
over and over followed the illusions of quiet, peace and demography sold buy
its leaders. We deserve it. However, the influence of the recent events has
moved something, maybe temporarily, but something has moved. Suddenly,
there's not enough room on board for all those who are disengagement
opponents.

Half of them, it turns out, were at Kfar Maimon - we must have missed
them. The other half, were like the secret Jews of the Spanish inquisition,
secretly opposed, while publicly voting in favor.

As for the first half, with their retroactive opposition to the
disengagement, jokes can be made along the lines of "They were also on the
Altalena." From the others, politicians like Benjamin Netanyahu, Silvan
Shalom and Limor Livnat, who explained from every podium why the plan was
bad and dangerous but raised their hands in favor of it, we never had any
expectations. The real disappointment, the searing disappointment, is with
the military echelons.

Former chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon, former Shin Bet chief Avi
Dichter, Major General Giora Eiland, and others, who during Sharon's time
consistently avoided expressing public support for the disengagement while
behind closed doors expressed opposition to it, have dodged doing what they
should do: putting their ranks on the desk, resigning and revealing their
views to the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators and dozens of MKs who
tried to stop the evil - those who internalized the lessons of Oslo; who
understood that once burned, twice shy, who warned "don't give them land and
rifles again"; who raised the alert about a Hamastan state; who anticipated
the flight of the rockets and missiles toward Ashkelon; who understood that
disengagement was a free gift, a further disintegration of Israel's
deterrence strength and a shot of Adrenalin for terror, and despite all that
they continued to serve the government that was so wrong and so misleading.

There would be no point in pouring salt on the wounds, especially in
light of their updated criticism of the disengagement now, if not for the
fact that the current leadership of the General Staff and Shin Bet is
tainted with the same disease when it comes to "convergence": against it and
squirming on the inside; quiet and swallowing their tongues in public.

Under cover of this false quiet, and nearly total media and legal
enlistment in favor of disengagement, Sharon granted terror a paradise and
turned Gush Katif into a pile of rubble.

If, heaven forbid, people don't arise from within the establishment to
pull Olmert off his convergence plan and find him some other trend on which
to anchor his regime, then from the rubble of Itamar, Elon Moreh, Har Bracha
and the series of outposts and settlements on the mountain ridge, the
terrorists will aim their missiles at the major Israeli cities on the coast,
at Jerusalem and at the airport. The intelligence Israel currently enjoys
from the areas of Judea and Samaria - which is a direct result of presence
in the territory - will evaporate, as happened to intelligence that we used
to have at our disposal in the south.

If the High Court continues to rely only on security experts on behalf
of the state because that "has been the court's position since it was
established"; if the court once again allows the state to deceive it and
present a false picture of the position of the security echelon, without
confirming it; if once again the justices automatically assume such plans
"enhance security because the friction with the Palestinian population is
reduced and because the evacuation ... reduces Palestinian motivation to
harm the Israeli public," then a Hamastan will grow to even more monstrous
dimensions and suffocate us on the outskirts of Kfar Sava and Tel Aviv.

"We told you so" should be shouted out bitterly now, not to win medals
but to prevent Olmert and his government from dragging us into another
adventure with a foregone conclusion. The law of disengagement, as Uri
Elitzur recently wrote, may say its goal is to lead to a better security
reality, but reality is the devil's work; it behaves according to common
sense and not the Knesset's decisions.






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Relevant Pages

  • Re: We deserve the Qassams and the Katyushas
    ... Israelis, was a kind of self-delusion, largely virtual, and that Israeli ... After the wars against terror, like the one going on now, come the ... disengagement, jokes can be made along the lines of "They were also on the ... If the High Court continues to rely only on security experts on behalf ...
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