Good grief! Any operational decision should and I'm sure does have nothing to do with thoughts of "Arab unity against Israel". A ground operation is decided on its own merits. I personally think a ground op in Gaza sucks bigtime and is the wrong thing to do, but then again, I'm just another talkbacking armchair general - but I admit it. For my two cents, I'm in favor of taking out the Hamas leadership. Just wait for one of their big outdoor rallies in Gaza, then take out the stage with a cruise missile (they're smart enough to know when they're being watched by RPVs). Remember, folks. Hamas policy is to attack civilians and when they do - to kill as many of us as they can.

Iran is funding and directing these attacks as a desperate move to save Syria, which is the next domino now that Libya has fallen. Israel will choose targeted attacks versus Cast Lead II which might save Assad's regime. Finish the wall in the Sinai, continue to target terror leaders and Israel will be fine. Losing Syria will be a devastating blow to Iran and I doubt the IDF will do anything stupid. After Syria inevitably falls, hopefully the next and biggest domino will be Iran.

This land is useless to us and has been theirs since the 6 philistine city states. Wall it off and let the Egyptians deal with them. We have nothing to gain from invasion.

Isn't it surprising how little Israelis understand about the culture of our Arab neighbors? Coming from an Arab country myself, I am always amazed at how ignorant most Israelis are. You just don't know your neighbors. This article is a good example. We don't want to unite the Arab world against us? Is this statement a joke or what? News flash - they are already united against us & it's geting worse. Then he starts with the Arab Spring BS. This phenomenon is not about democracy, it's about Islamists seizing power. The ''democrats'' are as anti-Israel as the Islamists. The very few real democrats have been quickly side-lined, as they always are in the Arab world. Now let me talk about our Gaza problem. Perhaps a land invasion is a bad idea. I tend to think that it's not the time & we have no plan anyway. Unless we're ready to send in 50,000 soldiers & kill at least 5-6,000 Hamas members & go house to house to disarm Gaza regardless of collateral damage, then there's no point to going in. And many will flee to Egypt anyway. But that doesn't mean doing next to nothing which is what we seem to be doing now. Here's the big flaw in our strategy. We're ''reasonable'' - we make ''rational'' decisions. Hamas counts on exactly that. They don't fear us because they very easily predict our ''rational'' decisions. In other words, they play us like a violin, they manipulate us. And,they know we are afraid of world opinion. There is an obvious conclusion here. We need to be ruthless, unpredictable, & ignore world opinion. And, we need to be decisive, not dithering morons endlessly discussing what to do.

Lives in his safe Tel Aviv apartment and not in the south of Israel, A worthless article published by Ynet.

Our job is not to make sure the world attention is not diverted from Assad or to help fuel the arab spring and we certainly cannot base all our defense decisions on Gilad Shalit, sorry but Gilad has to take his chances. The job of this government is to protect the Israeli public and thats something right now they are not doing very well. In less than a week: Eight were murdered on the road to Eilat. A woman in Beersheba was killed by a rocket and many others injured Close to 100 rockets have been fired in the past week. The terrorists have learned the secret to beating Iron Dome is to fire volleys of rockets rather than individual ones so we can't even rely on that anymore. With air strikes you can't seek out and destroy arms dumps. If they have stored weapons in mosques and schools even if we know they are there for a fact they are the kinds of buildings we cannot politically get away with dropping bombs on. The only option is a full scale military operation. Cast Lead was going just fine first time and the IDF was well on its way to achieving its objectives until Livni convinced Olmert to unconditionally withdraw early so operations could be wrapped up and she could get back to her election campaign. It might actually be beneficial in September if the world sees us having to mount a military campaign. Might make some countries realize that creating a palestinian state through the UN isn't making peace.

As cast lead and Lebanon war 2 - half hearted, violent enough to get Israel condemned no where near violent enough to get the job done. Iran is going bankrupt, hizbollah is being forced further into extortion and drug dealing, assad is struggling. As napoleons said never interrupt an enemy when they are making a mistake

you and has been seeking your destruction since 1948. Now, it is one thing to say that Israel should keep a low profile and let the Arabs fight it out amongst themselves, as they are wont to do, but your rhetoric shows worrisome signs of misunderstanding your situation.

the whole Arab world is already united against you..You are brainless

Wait for the right moment, and then finish Hamas once and for all. Israel needs to take the initiative, and not react to every terrorist atrocity.

doubt if Syria & Libya unite at this time. The ruling clique in Egypt already shows intransigence. The Arabs are more disunited at this time. Turkey more anti Israel daily anyway. This may be in fact a good time to mop up Gaza. Abbas a weak mutt anyway

arab world are already against israel and many other countries are on the band wagon is well

Though I do not necessarily advocate a large scale ground operation, you are nonetheless wrong. Air strikes have failed to provide any type of deterrence. What have the tit for tat rocket launches < air strikes achieved? Nothing. What did the 2006 War teach us? Air strikes cannot be relied upon to deter a guerilla force. What did Cast Lead teach us? A large scale ground operation is capable of providing deterrence as Hamas for better or worse adhered to a two year ceasefire. How could you possibly argue "surgical strikes have already proven themselves as the most effect deterrent"?! If it is targeted assassinations you speak of, be specific. Poorly thought out article.

Isajah 11 - 14But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall despoil them of the east together. They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. Arn.Sweden.

Are you living in rocket range Mr. Daum? Do your wife and children live in constant terror? Do you think an air campaign is going to result in any less outcry when the Arabs start showing their dead children to the world? Come up with alternative solutions or don't bother to write anything. This is a left-wing mentality of "I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you what not to do"

The Arab world isn't fully united against Israel. While the people are, the leaders and army are not. A ground invasion will cause protest and pressure for our incompetent leaders to respond. Right now, only Egypt and Jordanians are protesting and calling for action. A united Arab army this time will equal the destruction of Israel. If you think otherwise, you are dangerously foolish and stuck in the 1900's. Egypt and Turkey, your only allies in the region are starting to seperate from you. That lleaves Israel, alone.

The complete routing of the Hamas and other terror organizations /PLO...that is what can be achieved if we do not listen to the cries of the nations who say we do not have a right to protect ourselves on our land and protect our citizens.

veggies when you were a kid Daum????!!!!!

It would be interesting to know whether mr Daum has a breaking point . A red line so to speak which the terrorists eventually cross. Maybe a direct hit on a school in session or a bus full of passengers . How about hypothetically speaking a chemical or biological WMD . Or maybe as I suspect he simply has no red line to cross . Except of course the one which directly impacts on him !

There is a better alternative to Cast Lead 2. Remember for Hamas and Fatah, 10000 dead, especially their own civilians, is a victory. The only way to defeat Hamas and Fatah is by doing something that will actually hurt them. In response to the Road 12 attack and the rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, Israel should formally and irrevocably annex some of her land in Judea and Samaria as well as build new neighborhoods each with 10000 housing units: Givat Hagananot (in memory of Flora and Shula zl), Ramot Pascal and Ginot Naftali. The terror attacks will stop.

America's unwavering military support for Israel in time of a real crisis will prevent any organized effort towards Israel. As another poster commented, the Arabs seemingly cannot agree with each other for long on a singular issue anyway, so to witness their organization towards a serious threat is unlikely.

Weither we invade or don't,there will always be unity.Suni or Shiate or Alawite or even Pakistan.Their sole aim is to throw us all in the sea, or kill all the Jews ( as their religion promises them Paradise & open arms virgins) and receive modern Israel (which was built in just sand dunes) on a silver platter.Look whats going on in the UN & the rest of the world, its purchased by Arab oil.So wake up my fellow men,wakeup.-Remember we not dealing with Europe.

Some, like Daum, just don't seem to understand the Arab saying "The enemy of. My enemy is my friend".

I have read your article ... and i think the problem is you really have nice self confidence ... let me tell you something .. Egypt will rise again to be Strong powerful democratic economy country ... you tried to hold us for 30 years .. but its seems to me you do a favor to us .. to know how much we are Pharaohs of egypt like u jewish ppl was in egypt back in time ....

Mrs. Goldberg the arab world is united against you. Where have you been living all these years. The ONE THING the arab world is united is their love for israel and the Jews.

Why are Israelis so afraid of world opinion? Did world opinion save the six million? Does world opinion stop the terror? What is more important,your safety or world opinion? Why do cowards run Israel? Without Israel there will be no more Jews one day. Fools like Bibi,Barak and Tal Russo, who was too stupid to protect his own people, and the writer of this article doom Israel. I cry for pitiful Israel which has lost its way

You wuss that you are.

As soon as the first rocket lands in Tel Aviv, which is matter of when not if because they are getting more advanced rockets all the time. When the first one does hit Tel Aviv the left wing attitudes will change and even the Meretz voters will be demanding military action. How many leftists that live in range of rockets want the government to remain passive and just rely on our great protector Iron Dome forever? When your not in the line of fire its easy to promote dialogue and call for ceasefires which last only as long as it suits Hamas for them to last. When you and your family are in the firing line then people want action and when the first rocket lands in Tel Aviv the liberal left crowd will also want action.