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Photo: AP
ISIS fighters. Can we really destroy them with the thrust of a shell?
Photo: AP
Eitan Haber

Israel shouldn't underestimate ISIS

Op-ed: IDF is good at scoring achievements in big wars, but is not that successful in small wars, retaliation operations and minor tactics warfare.

It's hard to find in our region a single person who predicted the new situation (is it really new?) of a murderous war among Muslims, which is spilling to the West and may also affect us.

 

First non-Muslim victims have already been sacrificed for the sake of Western apathy, and this is probably only the beginning. 

 

 

The phenomenon of the murderous Islamic State is not new, but it has so far not been the focus of the West's attention, and especially not the focus of the State of Israel's attention. We had enough trouble of our own. We wouldn't have been pushed to the top of the line in this case it if was not for the heavy concern over this new-old trouble, which may top the charts of murderous chants.

 

The Israeli tendency to disregard this terror organization is clear. We say to ourselves: They include only several thousand members, and we can destroy them with the thrust of a shell. Didn't we reach Entebbe and Dubai? We'll reach them too. They may be multiplying like mushrooms after the first rain of the season, but we will destroy them even before the last heat wave.

 

Well, it's a well-known fact and our experience shows that the IDF is good at scoring achievements in big wars. We are good in mobilizing plenty of tanks, in moving thousands of infantry soldiers, and we have shot down hundreds of enemy planes which failed to reach their destinations over the years. Recently, we even received a new blessing in the form of the Iron Dome system.

 

But, and this is another thing we have learned from years-long experience, we are not that successful in the small wars, in the retaliation operations, in minor tactics warfare (after all, almost 40 years have passed since Entebbe) and in keeping in line.

 

We are capable of changing the entire urban building scheme of Gaza and Rafah and Khan Younis within days, perhaps hours, destroying entire neighborhoods and multi-story buildings, but are facing difficulties in the different intifadas, in wars of attrition, in protecting the northern and southern communities. We are capable of occupying Gaza or Beirut, but we are finding it difficult to deal with a dozen Hamas terrorists suddenly emerging from the ground.

 

A last example: Thousands of soldiers searched for days, within a small area in the Hebron mountains, for the three kidnapped teens before finding their bodies. And they have yet to find the kidnappers. These are the facts of life, whether we like reading and hearing them or not.

 

The conclusion is that the Western world is trying to ignore the great danger stemming from the Islamic State organization which is rising to destroy it and us. The natural tendency is to say that it's not our business and that others should pay the price. In this case, the "other" is us – the State of Israel.

 

The Western world is expecting miracles and wonders from us. We have always taken it upon ourselves to target the bad guys, and the leaders in the White House, in the Élysée Palace and on Downing Street would like us to pay the price of the war between Sunnis and Shiites for them, even when it spills into the West.

 

In the past few days the US is apparently realizing the danger waiting at its doorstep, and it trying to organize coalition forces to fight the murderous organization's fighters, but the US and the European countries are likely still taking their summer nap.

 

We are facing a double problem: The war on these murderous organizations almost definitely calls for insane coalitions, like the US and Iran for example. We currently see Iran as a horrible enemy of ours, following the intention to build nuclear facilities, and the US is the only one which can prevent such a catastrophe. What shall we do?

 

We will have no choice but to understand that the war on the Islamic State organization creates weird matches. At the moment, it's urgent to fight the murderous terror organization till the end. The important thing is to neutralize the Iranians' ability to build a bomb.

 

And another conclusion: I wouldn't want to be a prime minister in Israel these days. And one last conclusion: A well-known saying here is that a person is expected to suffer from any choice he makes.

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.08.14, 08:19
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