Issues Under Fire: Israel Pounds Gaza Before Ground Invasion
With ground forces stationed along the border, while air strikes pummel targets inside the Gaza Strip, Israel's "Operation Protective Edge" enters its second day of escalating violence. Promising to clean up Gaza once and for all, Israel's stated goal is to prevent Hamas from ever firing rockets into southern Israel again. If successful, one can expect a lot of blood to be spilled over the next few weeks.
Counting on Israel's Iron Dome defense system to protect the tiny nation from incoming missiles, Israelis feel confident they can exact a heavy toll against the Palestinians without paying much of a price in return. So far, said defense system has paid dividends, intercepting Hamas' longer range rockets before they could do any significant damage. Still, the real fighting has yet to start as ground units have yet to engage Gaza resistance fighters up close and personal.
Unfortunately, even though the Israeli government has the backing of a growing Right Wing constituency calling for its leaders to annihilate the Palestinians, to attempt to do so will be met with global condemnation. The world is watching carefully this time and many are preparing to respond in very creative ways to the inevitable charges of war crimes, acts of inhumanity and collective punishment. Israel might not even get much cover from Washington considering how poorly they conducted themselves during the latest failed efforts to broker a peace agreement.
Some are anticipating more violent responses to Israeli aggressions as the region is far more volatile than its ever been before. The Egyptian military, once a natural buffer for Israel, might not be able to control forces within its borders that might want to lend the Palestinians a hand. When the assault on Gaza begins to rack up unacceptable casualty counts, with pictures of women and children bleeding in the streets showing up all over social media, the Israelis will face a public relations nightmare even their heavily influenced American won't be able to ignore.
Bottom line: Israelis calling for blood may get what they're demanding from its government in the short term, but this shortsighted policy of brutish heavy-handed Gestapo-like behavior will almost certainly result in an international backlash that could threaten Israeli assets and interest scattered around the world.
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