THINK-ISRAEL

ISRAEL CAN'T PROTECT THEM EVERY TIME

From Jinsa Online. Number #270,July 24, 2002

For every Palestinian bomber that succeeds, Israeli authorities have prevented dozens of others. But Israel cannot be secure only by playing the percentages on attacks that are already underway. The operational structure that plans, finances, trains and launches attacks must be destroyed. That means eliminating Hamas leadership, which has been responsible for dozens of bomb attacks killing hundreds of Israelis, and the almost daily (and almost forgotten) mortar attacks on Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF has targeted Palestinian terrorists before, but taking out Salah Shehadeh, founder of Izzadine el-Qassam, the Hamas terrorist army, clearly was different. It had to be. And one hopes it engenders a different response.

Shehadeh, like most cowards, was sleeping in a crowded civilian neighborhood in an apartment surrounded by own his family and other people's families, probably thinking Israel wouldn't risk collateral casualties by hitting the building. And the people who let the mastermind of the Dolphinarium and the Passover massacre sleep there either a) ascribe to his ethic, or b) also had such faith in the IDF that they believed they could have Shehadeh among them with impunity.

Their faith in the IDF's willingness and ability to protect Palestinian civilians from the evil that lives among them is touching and generally well-placed. But after another week in which Israeli women and children were gunned down on a bus, and Israelis and foreign workers were blown up in a pub, the IDF had to go after the head of the snake. It is Israel's primary obligation to protect its own civilians, not those of the people who are making war against Israel.

And therein lies a message, or maybe a threat, or at least a responsibility.

In his speech, President Bush went to great lengths to separate "good Palestinian people" from "bad Palestinian leaders." Just this week, the Israeli government engaged in discussion with elements of the PA to try to make life easier for "the people" while continuing the war against "the terrorists."

The distinction may not so clear. If "the people" don't believe evil leaders are using them against their own best interests; and if "the people" like having Shehadeh and his goons among them; and if "the people" do as Hamas said they would, i.e., turn themselves into human torches so that "restaurants [in Israel] will run with blood [of Jews]," they and we will have to accept that "the people" are morally inseparable from their "leaders." And there are consequences to all of that.

The killing of children is awful, from whatever quarter, but Shehadeh set them up. The Palestinians have to know what Israelis have painfully learned: the IDF is an excellent and moral military force, but it can't protect their children every time. What will the Palestinians do about it and who will they hold responsible? The answer will tell a lot about "the people" and their future.

This was reproduced with permission of The Jewish Institute For National Security Affairs (Jinsa). The original is Report #270 in the Information Archives at the Jinsa website: http://www.jinsa.org.