Published by The Washington Examiner, a right-wing newspaper close to pro-Israel Christian evangelicals written by Joe Troesman, a contributor to the Long War Journal of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (launched by the Israeli military) following the attacks of September 11 , 2001); And Anya Krivine, senior director of the Israel Program and National Security Network at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, titled “By Targeting Hamas , Israel Attempts to Re-establish Deterrence in Gaza,” said at the outset that earlier this month the Israeli military sent jets to the Gaza Strip. targeting Hamas military sites in the coastal strip.
"The IDF operation was in response to the firing of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel earlier that day - an attack the IDF believes was carried out by the Islamic Jihad movement. And by punishing Hamas the IDF was re-establishing the previous rules of engagement with the movement: Hamas would have to rein in other terrorist elements in Gaza or it would pay the price.
The authors claim, "The missile attack from Gaza came after the killing of two major terrorist operatives in the West Bank: Muhammad al-Saadi, a member of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Jenin; and Naim Zubaidi of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades," which is affiliated with Fatah Al-Saadi and al-Zubaidi were killed in an exchange of fire during an arrest operation conducted by the Israeli army in the early morning in Jenin during this month, and the Israeli army and the Shin Bet security service stated that both gunmen were responsible for carrying out previous shooting attacks against Israelis.
The article attributes to Israeli media as saying later that Saadi was "the mastermind behind the kidnapping of the body of an Israeli citizen from Jenin Hospital the previous month. In the aftermath of the clashes in Jenin, Israel prepared to receive rockets from Gaza after both Islamic Jihad and Hamas threatened to respond, and the attack reached Expected two days later in the form of a rocket fired from Gaza into Israeli territory - prompting Israel to launch strikes on Hamas assets, including a tunnel and a rocket production site.This response was Consistent with the rules of engagement established under the previous (and presumably future) prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who adopted the policy of holding Hamas accountable for all terrorist acts emanating from the West Bank.
The article says, "But last August, during the reign of Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Israel decided to break away from that long-term policy. During the intense 66-hour conflict between the Israeli army and militants in Gaza, Lapid made the strategic decision to deal a heavy blow to Islamic Jihad in Gaza.” Without dealing with Hamas during that operation, Gaza militants fired more than 1,100 rockets at Israel, and the Israeli army eliminated the senior leadership of the Islamic Jihad Movement.
The authors of the article note that “at that time, the Israeli army spokesman, Ran Kochav, told reporters that the Israeli army bombed about 140 Islamic Jihad targets throughout the Gaza Strip, targeting military assets and the movement´s senior leadership. The Israeli army made its decision not to target Hamas during the operation as long as Hamas stayed out of the fight, and despite Hamas´s ability to remain on the sidelines during the operation, the IDF´s latest attack on Hamas marked the second time since August that Israel has reverted to a policy of targeting Hamas in response to attacks supposedly carried out by other terrorist groups in Gaza. The Israeli army used the same approach in November, when terrorists fired rockets at an Israeli.
According to the article, "Although no faction took responsibility for this attack, the Israeli army responded by targeting a Hamas weapons cache in the Strip."
The two writers, who work for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, one of the fronts of the Israeli lobby in Washington, conclude the article by noting that by targeting Hamas assets in Gaza in response to a rocket fire in November and December of this year, "The Israeli army makes it clear to the Palestinian movement that Israel has returned to its previous policy of deterrence, and that Hamas will pay the price for any terrorism emanating from Gaza - whether it had a direct hand in the attack or not.
Washington Examiner: Israel Attempts to Re-establish Deterrence in Gaza
