So for you, the specialists /sages/ came up with:
The Great Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman) wrote that in the book “The Scroll of Secrets,” written by Rabbeinu Nissim, the following is narrated: “When the heads of all twelve tribes completed the sacrifices in honor of the renovation of the altar, the Almighty said to Moshe: “Tell Aharon what will happen.” another renovation (in Hebrew - Hanukkah) of the altar, which will be performed by his descendants, the Kohanim priests who did not participate in these sacrifices. With their help I will perform miracles for Israel, give them salvation and renew My altar.” Therefore, after the section “Heads of the tribes” in the Torah comes the section “When you light the lamps.” And in Midrash Rabbah it is written: The Almighty said to Moses: “Inform Aharon that he will receive greater honor than the heads of the tribes [through whose sacrifices the altar was renewed]. After all, their sacrifices renew the altar only while the Temple stands, and the lighting of the lamps entrusted to you will never cease.”
It follows from this that we are not talking about the temple lamps, the lighting of which stopped with the destruction of the Temple, but about the lamps of Hanukkah.”
It should be noted: the twenty-fifth word of the Torah is “light.” And the twenty-fifth stop of the children of Israel on their wanderings in the desert occurred at Hashmon. All this is allusions to the victory of the Hashmonai over the enemies of the Jewish people and the holiday of Hanukkah, contained in the Torah...(c)
http://toldot.ru/tora/articles/articles_1539.html
Our information:
Some of the Hashmonai were known for their cruelty. Thus, the grandson of Simon Hashmoneus, King Alexander I (Yannai), tired of arguing with opponents - supporters of the religious way of life, the Pharisees, executed 800 of them, forcing their wives and children to be present at the execution. During this massacre, he himself organized a cheerful feast - completely in the spirit of the Greek kings.
The Hashmoneans are responsible for the only case in history of the forced conversion of other peoples to Judaism. John Hyrcanus I converted the Edomites, descendants of Esau, who lived in the Negev and Northern Sinai, to Judaism.
It was the Hashmonites who brought new invaders to Judea. The Romans were invited to Judea to participate in civil war, which broke out between supporters of two Hashmonean brothers who did not share the throne among themselves. This intervention resulted in the occupation of Jerusalem, and subsequently the loss of Jewish statehood in Eretz Israel for two thousand years (until 1948).
The end of the Hashmonean dynasty was tragic. One of the slaves who served royal palace, staged a coup - and himself became king. He founded a new dynasty by destroying all the descendants of the Hashmoneans. His name was Herod! And he came from those very Edomites whom the Hashmonites forcibly converted to Judaism...
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Over the past month, a ceasefire was declared on the border between Israel and the Arab autonomies, however, immediately, then shots were fired again. Israeli lands with missiles, aviation. When reports of shootings came as no surprise, Israel responded to another attack by threatening to launch a full-scale invasion of Palestine.
Hamas, the organization most often blamed for attacks on Israel, responded by threatening to “open the gates of hell.” The Israelis themselves apparently believe that life in the zone bordering the Gaza Strip is already similar to hell: the army is spreading a message about 25 rockets fired at the south of the country, but the police are talking about 83 shells only since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Cloud. According to the army, about a million people in the country are within the range of militant missiles. Hamas.
Propaganda of the Israeli Armed Forces:
So far, however, the effectiveness of massive shelling from Palestinian territory remains low: only one missile penetrated the air defense system. After this missile fell, Israeli aircraft first carried out a targeted strike against Ahmed al-Jabari, and then swept across the entire territory of Gaza, damaging the militants’ infrastructure. Ten people were killed in the bombing, including an infant.
Reaction
President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas countries Arab League. It will take place this Saturday. Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council has already begun; the Palestinian ambassador, as RIA Novosti writes, demanded to stop the Israeli aggression.
The meeting was initiated Mohamed Morsi, the head of Egypt after representatives of Palestine turned to him for help. They knew who to turn to: the country's Islamist government insists on 1979, before which the countries were on the brink of war. As of today, a representative of the Israeli diplomatic mission has received a note of protest, and the Egyptian Ambassador.
As expected, the United States, like the UN, condemned the shelling of the country by Hamas. And America and the Secretary General UN Ban Ki-moon asked Israel to respond.
Meanwhile, the promise to conduct ground fighting, apparently, is not an empty threat. The army was allowed to announce the mobilization of reservists if necessary, and the military did not fail to take advantage of this right. It is noted that, first of all, civil defense specialists are being recruited, that is, people in border areas may live in wartime conditions for a long time. Seven kilometers from the border with Gaza, schools are already closed, events with the participation of more than a hundred people are prohibited, and people do not go to work. If Arab countries officially come out on the side of Palestine, tensions could last a long time or result in open confrontation.
For Russians, Syria is a distant country from TV. They stick it in a box without emotion, chew it over breakfast: ISIS, terrorists, Assad...
I'm standing a couple of kilometers from the hottest spot in the world. Just yesterday the news reported that several border villages had been captured by terrorists. I may be looking at them right now but not noticing them.
Let's see together what Syria looks like today. What can you see from Israel?
1 On Golan Heights oh I ended up the second time. Until 1967, the region was part of Syria, but after the Six-Day War it came under Israeli control. The Syrians still do not recognize the annexation.
2 The last serious attempt to recapture the Golan was 40 years ago, during the Yom Kippur War. It also ended in the defeat of Syria.
3 The Israelis moved deeper into the area and there have been no further attacks since then. He who controls the heights controls the situation.
4 For forty years, little has changed on this earth. This region is sparsely populated, but heavily mined. They say it is generally the most heavily mined in the world. The territory has been mined since the First World War. It is difficult to completely clear the Heights of mines, and most importantly, very expensive. But gradually, vegetable gardens and orchards appear in place of minefields.
5 People prefer not to live here, but to come to admire the views and relax in nature. A little further is Mount Hermon, where the only ski resort in Israel operates in winter.
6 Military tourism is being developed in the Golan, following the footsteps of past battles. Israelis are told about the events of 40 years ago so that they remember.
7 I was in this place three years ago, and spoke in detail about the sights of the heights. Read my large and detailed report.
8 Over the course of three years, much has changed in the Syrian territory under review. This will be visible in the photographs below.
9 On the eve of the day when I went to the Golan, there was information in the news that several villages closest to Israel had been captured by ISIS (banned in Russia). And the nearest one is only seven kilometers away! Surely it could be seen from here, so I armed myself with a telephoto camera and began to look.
In this photo you see an abandoned Syrian hospital, where we will go down, then the border fence, the UN buffer zone, and then Syria itself. And she looks so-so.
10 This is the city of Quneitra. More precisely, what is left of it. The city itself was destroyed by the retreating Syrian army during the war in the seventies. But even in 2014 it looked more intact, and a huge Syrian flag fluttered above the buildings. Now he's gone.
11 I was lucky with visibility; from the Golan Heights you can see tens of kilometers into the distance. Other Syrian cities they look just as lifeless and destroyed.
12 The war has even reached the outskirts of the country. Lifeless concrete.
13 In the distance, a large Syrian city is visible on the horizon. I tried to figure out from the map what it was, but I couldn’t. Possibly a new Quneitra, but it doesn't look like it. The city also looks half destroyed.
14 Order on the border is monitored not only by the Israeli military, but also by UN troops. They oversee the maintenance of a fragile peace. The soldiers came from Australia: they were sent here from a country as far away from the parties to the conflict as possible.
15 We go down to the destroyed hospital. Puffs in front of the entrance tourist bus. Yes, they now offer excursions here. Not foreigners, but Israeli students or schoolchildren. They spoke Hebrew.
16 I was able to hear and understand what they were told about the famous intelligence officer Eli Cohen, who operated in Syria in the sixties, but was discovered and executed on the orders of Bashar al-Assad’s father.
17 The hospital has been completely empty for many years, but the building is not demolished. It stands as a monument to the war and Eli Cohen.
18 There are generally a lot of abandoned buildings on the Heights. But the land is not abandoned, there are many sown fields and vineyards.
19 From this point to the territory of Syria - several hundred meters. On foot.
20 Israeli friends were surprised to see this photograph. On the other bank of a small river, the remains of Kuneitra and an abandoned Christian temple are visible. But there’s no river there!
21 Quneitra was captured by resistance fighters several years ago. They removed the Syrian flag and destroyed the remains of the city. Why, since no one lived there anyway? The temple, however, was not touched.
22 And they did not dare to attack Israel.
23 The Golan is not only a war. It's incredibly beautiful here. But you need to walk here carefully, and it’s better not to pick flowers. Do you see the yellow signs? Beware of mines!
24 This is also one of the wildest places in Israel. Few people get here: local tourists go to the Golan by other roads.
25 The snow cap on the top of Hermon remains until summer. The borders of Israel, Syria and Lebanon pass along the mountain. There is a ski resort on the Israeli side.
26 The climatic and natural zones here resemble a layer cake. You turn your head a little, from Hermon to the right, and the landscape changes beyond recognition. Mountains and plains, white caps and desert sandstone... In the Middle East, everything is changeable, even nature.
27 The photo clearly shows the border fence between Israel and Syria.
28 Now let's take a closer look at the Syrian cities. Approximation should be enough.
29 Another city not far from the border. The buildings are riddled with shells: clearly no one lives here. The houses on other streets seem more intact, but the city still seems uninhabited. Holes in the walls on the Israeli side: perhaps an echo of that war forty years ago, or maybe modern battles between militants from the Syrian army.
30 This is a different settlement. Not a single car is visible on the streets, not to mention people. Mosques and water towers appear abandoned.
31 Even if by some miracle the war in Syria ends this year, the country is unlikely to recover in the coming decades. There is too much destruction, too many contradictions inside the country and too many forces outside see the future of Syria differently.
32 The Israelis are in no hurry to dig their trenches. They may still be useful. Although I would like to believe that the Syrians fought two hundred years in advance.
Original taken from
Gaza Strip: Anatomy of a Conflict.
The military-political leadership of Israel carefully selects names for its operations, including in Gaza, investing in them a special meaning. In 2008-2009 it was “Cast Lead”, behind which one could discern a desire to blindly and violently punish, now it is “Pillar of Clouds”, the meaning of which, apparently, is that, in addition to what was announced, the operation also hides additional motives, of which there are many.
Israeli calculations
When the operation in Gaza was already in full swing, the Israeli portal IzRus published a very interesting document, compiled some time ago by experts from the foreign policy headquarters ("mate medini") of the central office of the country's Foreign Ministry for Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. It, in particular, contained an analysis of the reasons for the expected November 29 appeal by Palestinian leader Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) to the UN General Assembly with a request to assign it the status of an observer state at the UN. In addition, the drafters of the document presented Lieberman with recommendations regarding the Israeli reaction to such a step by the Palestinian leadership.
“The motives for Abu Mazen’s decision to appeal to the UN in November are ambiguous and varied,” the document said. “The main one is the significant weakening of its position in Palestinian society due to its inability to cope with internal problems, primarily in the economic sphere.”
The memorandum also made conclusions for Israel:
“By accepting the unilateral proclamation of a Palestinian state recognized by the UN, Israel will completely undermine its own deterrent potential, which will make any future political settlement (of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) acceptable to the Israeli side impossible.
Despite the fact that we are talking about a difficult step for Israel, fraught with serious consequences, in this case the removal of the Abu Mazen regime is the only option. Other options – inaction or a soft reaction – are tantamount to capitulation and recognition of the inability of the Israeli leadership to counter the challenge.”
Based on this, the Israeli leadership was given clear recommendations:
“If the Palestinians refuse to go to the UN, Israel should reach an agreement with the Palestinian Authority on the creation of a Palestinian state, the borders of which will remain temporary for a period of time.” transition period(until stability is achieved in the Arab world, new elections are held in the PA and clarity is brought to the West Bank's relations with Gaza).
If the Palestinians unilaterally appeal to the UN General Assembly and receive state status, this step should be considered crossing a “red line” and a violation of all agreements, necessitating a tough Israeli response.”
The entire course of events irrefutably indicates that the Israeli military-state machine is acting in accordance with a pre-developed plan, and the conflict in Gaza was provoked by it consciously and deliberately.
In reality, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said back in September that Israel might “reoccupy parts of Gaza in a future conflict.”
The impetus for the current round of violence was the assassination by the Israelis of the commander of the military wing of Hamas, Ahmed Jabari. Military sources from the DEBKA research center, which is close to the Israeli intelligence community, reported that simultaneously with the elimination of Jabari, increased combat readiness was declared in the south of the country in anticipation of retaliatory strikes. To enhance the effect, the funeral procession accompanying the murdered Jabari was also bombed. Five children and a 19-year-old pregnant woman died. The famous Israeli analyst Aluf Benn writes that “A. Jabari was rather the main figure in the Gaza Strip, holding back rocket attacks and thereby ensuring Israel's security." The more cynical his murder looks. Jabari, in the end, could have been removed quietly, as the Israeli intelligence services are able to do, but this was done loudly and demonstratively. Consequently, the consequences were calculated and expected.
The events around Gaza should, on the one hand, intimidate the Palestinian leadership, and on the other, serve as a dress rehearsal for its removal. It is obvious that none of its leaders can agree with the “temporary borders” of the Palestinian state, which will be drawn by the Israelis and, in the version described in the memorandum, will remain indefinitely. In the same way, the voting mechanism at the UN General Assembly has been launched, and Mahmoud Abbas is unable to refuse it, even if he wanted to.
Consequently, a truly big war against the Palestinians could begin as early as December. Preparations for this are also evidenced by the unprecedented number of reservists being drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) - 75 thousand people in addition to those already under arms.
This, according to experts, is at least three times higher than the needs for solving local problems in Gaza.
At the same time, the world is creating a picture of the Palestinians being “incapable of reaching agreement.” This is clearly indicated by the speech of the Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, regarding the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. He sharply criticized the Palestinian Authority's intention to obtain observer state status at the UN. "The state that Palestinians dream of includes the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas. On behalf of whom are the Palestinians appealing to the UN: on behalf of the leadership of the autonomy in Judea and Samaria or on behalf of the Gaza Strip government, led by Hamas?"
Among other motives for carrying out Operation Pillar of Cloud, they point to possible preparations for an attack on Iran.
The current operation "clouds" the full-scale deployment of the IDF's combat potential and, at the same time, "neutralizes" possible future attacks on the flanks that would follow an attack on Iranian targets.
It is also important that Netanyahu is practically forcing the United States to “stop flirting” with moderate Islamists in the Arab world and fully identify with Israel in accordance with their strategic obligations. The US Senate unanimously (!) adopted a resolution with unconditional support for Israel and condemnation of the “provocations” of Hamas. B. Obama has already called Netanyahu, whom he dislikes, and assured him of his full sympathy. On behalf of the US President, Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser B. Rhodes stated unequivocally: "We believe that Israel has the right to defend itself, and it makes its own decisions about the tactics of such defense."
They also point to another possible motive for the operation - the upcoming elections in Israel in two months. According to the Independent, “the only real consequence for Israel so far has been the death of three Israelis in a rocket attack.” However, this may also play into the hands of Prime Minister Netanyahu. The more the conflict escalates, the harsher Israel’s reaction will be and the more Israel will feel like a “besieged fortress,” which will inevitably turn out to be in favor of the ruling party in the parliamentary elections. This is also evidenced by the fact that of all the political forces in Israel, only the far-left Meretz condemned the operation, whose leader Zahava Galyon stated: “Israel has the right to self-defense, but the implementation of this right by destroying the leaders of Hamas will not bring the desired result.”
The situation in Israel's immediate environment is assessed by its strategists as quite favorable for any military action in Gaza.
Egypt, according to Tel Aviv, despite the transfer of some combat units to the Sinai Peninsula directly to the scene of events, after internal chaos has not been completely overcome, is not able to pose any serious military challenge to the IDF.
For now, we can mostly expect tough political declarations and diplomatic maneuvers from him.
Increased security measures are being taken on the border with Syria. Soldiers are strictly prohibited from responding to possible small arms and mortar fire from the opposite side without command approval. Attacks by anti-government rebels associated with al-Qaeda are assessed as the most likely. Their total number near the border is estimated at 200 people. In particular, the ghost town of Quneitra, completely destroyed by the Israelis during the 1967 war, is under the control of the Golan Eagles group. Regular Syrian units have practically been withdrawn into the interior of the country.
Lebanon is paralyzed after the assassination of the head of military intelligence, in which Hezbollah is accused of involvement, but, as it turns out, Israel is the biggest beneficiary of this so far.
Jordan has also entered a period of instability and may well turn out to be the next weak link in the “Middle East domino”, ushering in the third wave of the “Arab Spring”. On this side, the Israeli border is quite safe.
The question of the beginning and scale of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip remains open. This is explained by the government's concerns about the possible reaction of the international community to Israel's actions.
As practice shows, the ground phase of the operation leads to additional civilian casualties, which in turn increases criticism of Israel and, accordingly, pressure on it.
At the same time, Daniel Beeman, director of Middle East studies at the Brookings Institution, believes, for example, that Israel has started a risky game in the Gaza Strip, which it may lose...
A new factor compared to the brutal Operation Cast Lead in 2008, during which about 1,500 Gazans were killed, is the Arab Spring and Hamas's ideological affinity with neighboring Arab regimes. Israel will have a tough time if Hamas survives for any length of time. The Israelis are unlikely to want to reoccupy the entire sector, and they will not receive the support of Washington, which does not want to further complicate its relations with Arab countries.
In resonance with this opinion, Amir Goren writes in the Israeli opposition newspaper Haaretz: “Military operations aimed at eliminating the commanders of hostile factions are justified, but fruitless. As long as they are disconnected from the broader national context, unattached to the national task, Israel moves in a debilitating spiral, always returning to the same place.”
“The gates of hell will open!” Hamas calculations
Hamas (an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawana al-Islamiya - the Islamic Resistance Movement) emerged decades ago as a regional branch of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which until 1967 included Gaza. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was killed in 2004, is considered the founding father.
There are indications that the Israeli intelligence services had a hand in the formation of Hamas, trying to contrast the Islamists with the secular and socialist-oriented forces in the Palestinian resistance.
If only they knew then who they were raising. However, now both sides prefer not to remember this. Gained political strength in the late 80s. during the first intifada. Having won the elections in the strip in 2006, Hamas has taken full control of Gaza since 2007, while in the West Bank power belongs to Fatah, founded by Yasser Arafat.
Hamas has been included in the American list of terrorist organizations since 1997. In addition to being more militant than Fatah, it is known for its attention to the social situation of the population and less susceptibility to corruption. The formal leader of Hamas remains Khaled Mashaal, who moved from Damascus to Qatar in early 2012, while the real leader in Gaza is “Prime Minister” Ismail Haniyeh, a close ally of Sheikh Yassin. There is a barely hidden rivalry between them. Hamas says it is ready to recognize the 1967 borders and live in peace with Israel, but is in no hurry to do so.
As a result of the Arab Spring, Hamas has strengthened significantly both military-technically and politically. Moreover, by admitting its responsibility for launching rockets into Israel, which it has avoided until recently, Hamas is demonstrating that it is no longer afraid of direct confrontation with the Israeli war machine.
His increased confidence is based on a number of factors.
Having ended its dependence on Damascus, Hamas gained much more powerful patrons in the Islamic world. In October this year g. the first of the heads of state in its entire history modern history The Emir of Qatar visited Gaza and gave the Hamas a gift of $400 million, which immediately raised their stakes among Palestinian voters. Following him, Turkish Prime Minister T. Erdogan gathered there. The Tunisian Foreign Minister visited Gaza, and in the near future, in accordance with the decision of the Arab League meeting held in Cairo, an entire delegation of Arab ministers plans to travel there.
Taking into account the reorientation of Hamas from Syria and Iran to regimes more acceptable to Washington, voices began to be heard in the United States about the possible entry, unofficially for now, into contact with this movement. The White House was strongly pushed towards this, in particular, by the leaders of Qatar and Turkey. The prospect of gradual international recognition of Hamas looms, albeit still distant.
As a result of the post-revolutionary chaos, Cairo has largely lost control over the situation in the Gaza Strip. Sinai Peninsula. This gave Hamas vital strategic depth.
He placed his training camps and even workshops for the manufacture and repair of weapons in the Sinai, inaccessible to Israeli aviation, which is bound by the obligations of the peace treaty with Egypt at Camp David. Moreover, in recent months there have actually been cases of rockets being fired at Israeli targets from the territory of the peninsula, although without causing much damage to them.
Hamas, if it did not directly challenge the Israeli military machine, did not shy away from clashes with it, inflicting small harassing injections on Israel and having its own calculations. Just as Israel, by unleashing the conflict and bearing full responsibility for it, forced Washington to clearly and bluntly identify itself with Tel Aviv, Hamas just as clearly forced Cairo and other Arab capitals to take its side.
It is known that before the latest events, the parent organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, now in power in Cairo, showed a certain restraint in relation to its own creation - based primarily on tactical considerations of gaining legitimacy in the West. Cairo, for example, rejected Hamas' proposal to establish an Egypt-Gaza free trade zone and expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of Islamic extremists who attacked Egyptian border guards in the Sinai and prevented the unrestricted movement of militants and weapons into the strip. Israel's attacks have removed all previous contradictions: now Islamists in Cairo cannot help but support the “younger brothers.”
These calculations have already partially come true. Egyptian President M. Morsi, who had previously leaned towards a pragmatic course, sent the country's Prime Minister H. Qandil to Gaza, virtually under fire, recalled his ambassador to Israel, condemned Tel Aviv's actions as naked aggression and promised the Palestinians increased support. Egyptian Muslim brothers are demanding that the president further tighten his approach to Israel. They also announced that they were developing a draft law to unilaterally revise the peace treaty with Israel. Given their dominance in the national parliament, the chances of such a law being passed are very high. Unable to successfully confront Israel militarily, Cairo, for example, can simply open the border with Gaza “for refugees”, through which the flow of weapons that Hamas desperately needs will inevitably flow in the opposite direction. Muhammad Fouad Jadallah, Advisor to the President of Egypt on legal issues, speaking on one of the Arab television channels, said that it is necessary to immediately create a Palestinian state and begin supplying the Palestinians with weapons so that they can successfully resist Israel.
Hamas, like Israel, but for its own reasons, is not too interested in the success of the vote on the status of Palestine at the UN General Assembly promoted by M. Abbas, since it considers it insufficient and consolidating the current situation.
In addition, they believe that this whole undertaking serves mainly the purposes of increasing the personal prestige of M. Abbas and the Fatah movement. At the same time, confronting the Israeli military machine increases Hamas's credibility among Palestinians and increases its chances of achieving victory in the constantly delayed Palestinian elections when they finally take place. Governing Gaza under siege, the movement is unable to deliver on its promises to improve the living standards of ordinary Palestinians and is gradually losing its popularity. The war allows everything to be attributed to the actions of the enemy and once again unites people around Hamas.
However, the attack on the commander of the military wing of Hamas, the Izeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, Ahmad Jabari, was carried out unexpectedly for the Palestinians, a day after, through the mediation of Egypt, a cessation of all shelling of Israel from Gaza was announced. Jabari moved in the car in broad daylight, not expecting a sudden impact and not taking any precautions. His murder, as it was proclaimed in Gaza, “opened the gates of hell.” On the Palestinian side, Operation Pillar of Cloud got its name - “Stone of Fire.”
Palestinians in Gaza have never had as many weapons as they have now. The Fajr-3 and Fajr-5 missiles they imported from Iran, although they have a small destructive effect, are reaching Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for the first time.
Although Israel denounces the Palestinians' claims that they shot down an F-16 plane as lies, even The New York Times speaks of the credibility of their footage on YouTube. Hamas is not striving for an unattainable military victory; it needs a “diplomatic victory,” which it has already largely achieved.
The Israeli press writes: “We should not neglect the fact that missiles were launched at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Since the 1948 war, no Arab state (with the exception of Iraq in 1991) has dared to do what the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad allowed themselves to do.” It doesn't matter where the rocket fell - in the sea or on land, in a park or on the shore. What is important from a psychological point of view is that the imaginary barrier has been overcome. And in any war of attrition, the psychological aspect is extremely important.
At the same time, the press secretary of Hamas’s military wing warns: “The shelling of Tel Aviv and Al-Quds (Jerusalem), which has not happened before, is not all the surprises at our disposal.”
Military experts admit that a ground operation against Hamas in Gaza could repeat the disastrous experience of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006.
The Islamists in Gaza are no less powerful, trained and motivated than Hezbollah, which in 2006 forced the Israeli army, perhaps for the first time in its history, to leave the battlefield in southern Lebanon due to high losses, without solving any of the assigned tasks...
The mountain conditions then spoke in favor of Hezbollah, creating excellent opportunities for ambushes and mine-laying. The Gaza Strip, by contrast, is a continuous lowland. At the same time, dense buildings dominate there, preventing heavy military equipment from being deployed without total destruction. Of course, in the Israeli state there will easily be hotheads capable of doing this, but the situation in the world has changed somewhat, and such actions could completely blow up the entire Middle East.
According to the military wing of Hamas, in the event of a ground operation, IDF soldiers will be allowed to penetrate 300 meters deep into Palestinian territory, and then they will face strong resistance.
These concerns, and not just international pressure, may explain the apparent delay that arose in the actions of Israel, which had already announced the start of a ground operation.
Negotiations on a ceasefire, which are currently underway in Cairo with the assistance of Egyptian mediators, according to experts from the International Crisis Group, may end in a compromise trilateral agreement. According to it, Hamas will undertake to take control of “extremist elements,” while Egypt will ease the regime at the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, and Israel will take similar steps regarding the Kerem Shalom commercial terminal it controls.
At the same time, it is difficult to believe in the strength of such agreements, taking into account the far-reaching strategic aspirations of the parties. Opposites meet. However, no matter who wins this deadly game of blood, the losers, as usual, will be simple people, both Arabs and Jews.
The end of Barack Obama's honeymoon with the Muslim Brotherhood? US calculations and miscalculations
When Barack Obama was re-elected President of the United States, many expected that relations between Israel and America would deteriorate sharply, since everyone remembered the spat between the head of the White House and the Israeli Prime Minister, as well as B. Netanyahu’s open bet on the Republican candidate M. Romney. However, it turned out that those who thought so greatly exaggerated.
Those who remembered the strategic nature of the relationship between the two countries and the enormous influence of the Jewish lobby in the United States turned out to be right.
According to Israeli analysts, in fact, Netanyahu was quite cautious and tried not to “cross the red line.” He received Romney and expressed words of support for him, but all this has always been customary in Israel in relation to American presidential candidates. Obama himself, when he was a candidate, visited Israel and received the pictures and smiles he required with Olmert, Livni and Ehud Barak, although at that time there was a Republican president in the White House. Romney's propaganda videos used pictures and compliments of Netanyahu, but Obama's propaganda campaign also used pictures of Shimon Peres and E. Barak. When Romney harshly criticized Obama for “throwing Israel under the bus,” Israeli President Peres met with Obama in Washington and testified to complete mutual understanding. The Israelis always knew how to properly place their eggs in different baskets. “Today Netanyahu already knows that Obama won in the United States, and Obama knows that Netanyahu will win in Israel. It is what it is, and you have to live and work with it.”
Moreover, Obama’s entourage practically managed to defend the president’s Jewish electorate, who for the most part did not believe Romney’s stories that Obama was going to “abandon Israel.” Studies have shown that American Jews still retain their traditional orientation towards the Democratic Party. Of those who turned out to vote, 69% voted for Obama, only 5% less than in the previous campaign, a very small drop considering the efforts Republicans made to portray the incumbent president as an “enemy of Israel.”
Therefore, the newly elected president's statements that he remains committed to a strategic alliance with Tel Aviv appear to be true. However, in new reality Obama will have to solve an extremely difficult strategic problem - how to maintain relations with his former ally and not damage, and, if possible, even strengthen ties with new friends recently acquired as a result of the “Arab Spring” from among the “moderate Islamists.” The attempt to sit on these two chairs at the same time does not pass the very first test in connection with the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
If you know that Israel, from the very beginning of the “revolutionary processes” in the Middle East, critically assessed the actions of the Americans who in every possible way stimulated these processes, as well as Washington’s attempts to get closer to the Muslim Brotherhood, then all that remained was to wait for the moment when Tel Aviv began its counter-game on disruption of this “unholy alliance”. And it came.
The Israeli “Pillar of Cloud” descended on the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian “gates of hell” opened towards it - all masks have now been torn off.
Washington fully and unconditionally supported Israel, remaining deaf to the calls of the Arab community to somehow influence its ally, which destroys the entire cunningly built American strategy in the region with its supposedly unbiased attitude towards all states located here...
As it turns out, even on the eve of the Israeli attack on Gaza on November 12-13 this year. The delegation of the Israeli National Security Council, led by its leader Yakov Amidror, held talks in Washington with Assistant to the US President for National Security Tom Donilon. It was the first high-level meeting between the two sides since Obama's re-election. According to official reports, they “held consultations on the situation in Gaza, Syria and Iran.” At the same time, the press representative of the US National Security Service, Tommy Vitor, said: “The meeting was the last in a series of consultations in the field of security on top level between Israel and the United States and demonstrates our unwavering support for the security of the Jewish State." It is difficult to imagine that at the current level interstate relations The Israelis did not inform their American interlocutors about the upcoming operation in Gaza. Perhaps this was the main goal of their mission.
Thus, the attack on Gaza was most likely undertaken with the full knowledge and approval of Washington.
Immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, US President Barack Obama, in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed support for the Israeli authorities and emphasized Israel's right to self-defense. At the same time, the American leader called on Tel Aviv to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties.
In addition, as reported by the American publication The Daily Beast, in this telephone conversation, the Israeli leader assured his interlocutor that the IDF was not yet planning a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. The source cited by the publication claims that Netanyahu gave personal guarantees that a ground operation would begin only if Hamas sharply intensified rocket attacks. Two senior American officials, who, according to the publication, received information regarding the content of the conversation between Obama and Netanyahu, claim that Israel, contrary to its belligerent statements, is allegedly not yet even considering the option of invading Gaza, and this scenario will only be considered in the event of significant losses from the Israeli sides. At the moment, the date for the possible start of the ground part of Operation Pillar of Cloud has not even been determined. However, "if Hamas increases pressure, the Israeli government may change its mind," the American source said.
For his part, the Israeli Prime Minister said that he spoke with US President Barack Obama and thanked him for the support and contribution of the Americans to the development of the Iron Dome missile defense system.
It is worth noting that information about the conflict transmitted from the scene is oversaturated with laudatory reviews of this system, which simply resemble a large-scale advertising campaign to promote it. Experts point out that in reality it is ineffective in the fight against low-flying targets such as missiles, but the joint American-Israeli military-industrial complex is vitally interested in its advertising, which is objectively the “third rejoicing” in the events taking place and to a large extent pushes them forward.
The Arabs have held meetings before in connection with the violent actions of the Israelis against the Palestinians, but observers do not remember such intensity of anti-Americanism as arose at the emergency meeting of the League of Arab States (LAS) held in Cairo on November 17 with the participation of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. It was suggested that the United States is the only force in the world that could not only stop, but also prevent the conflict in Gaza, but they did not do this because of their dependence on Israel. And therefore, their assurances of support for freedom and democracy in the Middle East are worthless.
The general position was expressed by King Abdullah II of Jordan, usually considered one of the most loyal Arab leaders to the West and Washington, who warned the White House against a position of non-intervention, which, in his words, “could lead to large-scale upheavals throughout the region.”
However, Barack Obama did not seem to hear this. During a tour of Asia, speaking at a press conference in Bangkok on November 18, Obama emphasized that no country in the world would tolerate rocket attacks on civilians, and expressed confidence that every effort should be made to resolve the conflict with Gaza in this way so that no more missiles fall on Israeli territory. Once again, he stated that Israel has every right to protect its citizens from rockets that are flying at them from the Gaza Strip.
The US President also noted that the issue of the possibility of concluding a truce will be resolved in the next two days, especially noting that the escalation of violence in Gaza minimizes the chances for peace in the region.
It is too early to judge how successful the Israeli Operation Pillar of Cloud will be in terms of breaking the resistance of Palestinian radicals. Most likely, everything will happen all over again. But one thing can be said with confidence - the additional, and perhaps the main, plan hidden in it to create discord between America and the Arab countries is so far working quite effectively. The “pillar” turns into a “wedge”.
Washington's Arab Spring strategy is coming apart at the seams. Short " Honeymoon"B. Obama's relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood seems to be ending.
The United States may experience even greater humiliation during the vote at the UN General Assembly at the end of November on the status of Palestine, remaining only with Israel and the group dwarf states against the rest of the world, including all Arab states. The split will become even more noticeable. There will be no opportunity left to claim “closeness” of interests and aspirations with “moderate Islamists.” In relations with them, one will have to put aside the weapon of “soft power” so beloved by Obama, relying only on its hard version, which is not always available, and financial handouts, the scope of which is also limited in a crisis. Washington’s main lever of influence on many of the countries in the region, in particular Egypt, which is key in this situation, remains economic. Experts at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies recommend, for example, that the White House use for these purposes not only direct assistance to Egypt, but also its positions in the IMF, from which the Egyptians requested a loan of $4.8 billion. But are there enough funds and influence? And will the Egyptians find sources of funding outside Washington, including in their own Middle East region?
