It’s Not About Israel

I guess it’s time for me to weigh in. Our conflict with Hamas and Gaza right now has nothing to do with us at all. There. I said it.

This conflict, and all the bombing we’re getting from the terrorist organization known as Hamas, is all about Hamas versus Fatah. If we weren’t conveniently in the middle, Hamas would be bombing Fatah right now and vice versa. That, however, would be a problem for both of them because then it would be considered a civil war and the world couldn’t take sides. This way, the world gets to blame Israel and everyone is happy.

Hamas is a terrorist organization. They are an extreme Islamic fundamentalist group who are holding the Palestinians living in Gaza captive. The average Palestinian is not an Islamic fundamentalist. They are as secular as the Palestinians who live in Ramallah, or who shop for food alongside the Israelis at Rami Levi in Gush Etzion. But that’s not how Hamas rolls. And since Hamas is the one with the guns…well…

But Hamas is slipping in Gaza. The population is getting pretty fed up with what Hamas is putting them through, and they’re not gonna take it anymore. Hamas is weakening. No one thinks Hamas would have reached an agreement with Fatah otherwise. They figured the agreement with Fatah would strengthen them, but it didn’t work. People saw it as a leak in Hamas’ dam. Hamas, as a rule, doesn’t like admitting their own dam leaks (yes…pun intended).

Fatah, on the other hand, also has their constituency held captive. The government of Abbas is so crooked and made up of such thieves, that Al Capone, in his heyday, couldn’t hold a candle to them. They are keeping their population in poverty, and not allowing them to prosper, so they can keep an iron grip on their money making machine. But, in today’s world, being a crook is better than being a fundamentalist, so Fatah holds the world’s moral advantage over Hamas. Go figure.

Hamas needs to pick up points and that coalition thingy with Fatah didn’t work.

Enter Israel.

The Hamas intelligence (and I use that term so loosely it almost fell apart as I typed it), figured that if it lured Israel into a full scale war, it could get the sympathies of their people back and once again gain popularity. They’re not really interested in the amount of human lives that could cost. Let’s remember; we’re still dealing with terrorists here.

They just need one more thing from Israel.

A ground invasion.

That is the icing on the cake they’re waiting for.

They are making a ground invasion look so tempting to Israel, that the low hanging fruit is practically in Bibi’s pocket.

Let me say, for the record, I’m not a big Bibi fan. So, it almost pains me to say that, so far, I agree with the way he’s handling this. Targeted airstrikes alone is not what Hamas wants. It won’t get the people back. And so far, that’s all that Bibi is giving them.

Abbas, on the other side, is condemning us for our escalation, blah, blah, blah, wink, wink.

Unless Bibi sends ground troops into Gaza, Hamas is going to be in big trouble; and it’s not from Israel. It will be from their own population. They will not only be further weakened from the airstrikes, but they know that the masses won’t stay subservient for very much longer.

It has nothing to do with Israel. Let’s hope we play this one smart.