Wednesday, January 27, 2016

David Ignatius, "Why is Israel so cautious on the Islamic State? A recent war game explains why.": Duh!



Whose op-ed is more doltish today, that of would-be Middle East expert Thomas Friedman (see my prior blog entry), or that of would-be Middle East expert David Ignatius?

Writing from Tel Aviv, Ignatius informs us in a Washington Post opinion piece entitled "Why is Israel so cautious on the Islamic State? A recent war game explains why.":

"Rather than attacking Islamic State forces along its northern and eastern borders, Israel pursues a policy of deterrence, containment and even quiet liaison, said a senior Israeli military official. He noted that if Israel wanted to mount an all-out ground attack on Islamic State forces in southern Syria and the Sinai Peninsula, it could wipe them out in three or four hours. 'But what would happen the day after?' asked this Israeli military official. 'Right now, we think it will be worse. So we try to deter them.'"

My goodness, who would have ever guessed? Islamic State forces have killed or wounded one-third of Hezbollah's fighters in Syria, thereby effectively preventing Hezbollah, which has more than 100,000 missiles in Lebanon pointed at Israel, from initiating a new round of fighting with the IDF. I ask you: Should Israel attack ISIS?

Or stated more simply, if Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees are busy battling it out, why interfere? You don't.

1 comment:

  1. "...if Israel wanted to mount an all-out ground attack on Islamic State forces in southern Syria and the Sinai Peninsula, it could wipe them out in three or four hours. ..."

    Really? Insulting to Al-Sisi and Egypt, re: Sinai.

    and, still no mention of Israeli oil wells on the Golan?, reason enough to let ISIS fight Hezbollah

    have to move 700 miles in USA solely to access health care in a southern state, access denied by the blowback from RomneyCareMass. The local synagogue more interested in how many Syrian refugees they can help.

    Am I now a refugee?

    meh.

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