Cast Lead: deception par excellance
By Ted Belman
Last week in the conference call with bloggers, myself included, Gen. Effie Eitam advised that Israel was going to pulverize Gaza City and would not agree to a ceasefire without recovering Corp Shalit.
Then the talk of a lousy ceasefire filled the news and I thought that Effie had mislead us. But now, I think not.
From the getgo, Israel managed the war and the message brilliantly.
First of all, the press was barred from Gaza even though the Israel SC ordered that they be permitted in. The diplomatic corps stayed on message and the IDF shut up. All to the good.
Deception
It started with the message that the Security Cabinet was going to decide on Sunday whether to launch the operation. To the surprise of all, the operation began on Shabbat prior to the Sunday meeting.
Another misleading message was a report that the IDF lawyers were greatly restricting the operation for fear of charges of war crimes. This tended to suggest that Hamas, the war criminals, could fire at Israelis from among civilians with impunity.
Such was not the case, as the IDF was very aggressive in waging the war in order to minimize IDF casualties. No target was sacrosanct. The IDF didn’t hesitate to hit mosques, schools, UNRWA compounds, and residences so long as they were identified as military targets or if Hamas was firing from them. It even hit the AP offices housing the Palestinian stringers. Prosecuting the war in this fashion greatly reduced the power of Hamas and increased IDF deterrence.
One week into the operation, Ehud Barak,the man tasked with prosecuting the war, started to push for a ceasefire. How odd he should be the one. But the war went on. Then, Livni the one tasked with finding a diplomatic solution, said she preferred no formal ceasefire but for Israel to stop unilaterally.
Nevertheless, Israel was talking to everyone about their ceasefire initiatives but at no time slowing the war effort. A number of messages came out leading us to believe the ceasefire agreement was immanent. Israel was careful to present minimal demands to make the ceasefire appear more probable. Demands it knew Hamas wouldn’t accept. And slowly these demands became more severe. Eitam had told us that the issue of Shalit’s release was not being raised but it would be at the end of negotiations when all else had been agreed on.
During this time, Israel kept advising that they were reluctant to enter Gaza City for fear of great casualties. We were told that Phase III of the operation had not begun when in fact it was going on with great determination. In the main, the war criminals refused to fight and kept retreating, thus making it much easier for the IDF to move to the heart of Gaza City.
Rice announced the US was hoping for a ceasefire by January 20th. Let’s see that gives the IDF four more days to finish the job.
Brilliant. Well done Israel
[...] # 3,536,243 gungasnake Reply Fri 16 Jan, 2009 08:46 am http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=7980 Quote: By Ted Belman Last week in the conference call with bloggers, myself included, Gen. Effie [...]
Pingback by Brilliance of the Cast Lead Operation — January 16, 2009 @ 9:47 am
We’ve all been played like a fiddle. The Israel military and political sides of the war are in sync. We’re all guessing what Israel wants in the way of a ceasefire and in doing so - we’re taking our eyes away from actually happening - what the IDF is doing to Hamas. No one is talking about that all and its a classic magician’s trick! Misdirection is a war is a chess move and we all know who is checkmated even if Khaled Meshaal has misled himself into thinking that Israel is now defeated. Delusion and reality couldn’t be further apart and Hamas is not thinking like the enemy!
Heh.
Comment by NormanF — January 16, 2009 @ 11:19 am
Hi, Ted and Norman
I confess, that I have not been following this operation with bated breath. It goes without saying, that Israel has wanted to achieve maximum damage to the HAMAS-Hizbulla-Syria-Iran infrastructure, with minimal damage to its own forces. It had a window of opportunity, as the world’s attention is on the economic crisis and on the changeover of administrations in the US. Elections are also imminent in Israel, and the government has a last opportunity to prove to the people that it is “doing something”; and even allies of Labor and Likud abroad know that Livni and Barak have to look good in this thing or they will have to face a less pliable Likud-Beiteinu-Shas coalition (I left out the religious Zionist parties because, as usual, they have responded to a real challenge and opportunity by futile infighting). People interested in maintaining Livni and Barak in power include Abu Mazen of the PA (who wants them to defeat HAMAS for him, so he can be the sole terrorist leader in Israel), Barak Obama, Hosni Mubarak and, in short, most world leaders.
In short, this war is not amazing at all in its tactical effectiveness: The IDF has performed superbly, as everyone ought to know they would, when unshackled by domestic and international politics. The interesting facts are what is happening on the international scene. Here it is:
1. Iran is a big floppo. If any Islamic militant thought for a moment that he or she could count on the Iranians to bail them out in a pinch, they have been disabused of the fantasy.
2. Israel has surpizing international support. Is this a short-term matter? Or does this signal a coming trend?
You probably know, by now, my understanding of Bible prophecies. We face two great wars in our generation:
A. The Gog-Magog attack on Israel, mentioned in Ezekiel 38. Gog is Turkey; Israel wins, and burns enemy weapons for seven years (nuclear fuel?).
B. The “big confrontation” between ALL the nations of the world and Israel (Zechariah 14, I believe). Israel loses, the world rejoices, then sudden destruction comes upon Israel’s enemies and the “Messianic Age” begins.
Whether you agree with this picture or not, look at the logic of it. There is a group of elitists in the world today, that thinks they can use the growing world resource crisis to concentrate power into their hands. They are more than willing to use the “messianic” card to their own advantage, putting on the appearance that they are somehow “saviors of the planet”, with quasi-religious trappings. The one thing that stands in their way, ultimately, is the REAL religious trappings in the minds of Bible-believers, the only group united (by their common doctrine) enough to oppose them. They will, at some point, need to demonstrate to the people that the Bible is completely untrustworthy and that only THEY can be relied upon. In short, Israel and the Jewish people need to be destroyed.
With that in mind, what do you suppose is standing between these power-crazed people and their goal? It isn’t Israel — as clever as the Jews are, Israel is too small. Besides, even if Israel is wiped off the face of the earth, there are Jews elsewhere, mainly in the US, that need to be rounded up with difficulty, Nazi-style. It is better for these people, that Israel remain and become a haven for harrassed Jews from around the world. Enter the sons of Ishmael, “their hand against every man”, throwing monkey wrenches into the works at every turn. They are useful as a distraction, but ultimately the TRUE world leaders (who are better described by NATO and the G-7 than by the Arab League) want Israel to remain as a ghetto so they can then crush it (Zechariah 14). That is why the “Ezekiel” phase, the “Islamic Militant” phase, has to quickly play itself out to the real confrontation can begin.
Don’t expect details from me — I don’t know them. From the broad outline, though, don’t be surprized at a seeming “change of heart” towards Israel and away from the Islamic militants. One country, of course, that will NOT desert the Moslems is Turkey which, you may have noticed, has used the Gaza Operation as a cover to announce that it is developing a nuclear program. Since they are “friends” of the West, they can get away with this. They are already privy to information on NATO’s most advanced weapons systems; and with nuclear weapons within their grasp (This can take an amazingly short time, with North Korean and Pakistani help), they will have the “Islamic torch” handed them by their Iranian neighbors — neighbors which, you may have noticed, are in economic turmoil and ironically, as one of the world’s top oil producers, unable to meet their domestic energy needs.
Just things to watch for. Meanwhile, three cheers for the IDF, who are performing marvellously.
Shalom shalom
Comment by BlandOatmeal — January 16, 2009 @ 12:04 pm
Bland, go fuck yourself.
Comment by Ed D — January 16, 2009 @ 3:13 pm
Bland just for you|
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f72LdmGrfcs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyfbkXqRdtw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4hzK6v-gf0&feature=related
Jewish interpretation:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3833552521650335373&q=the+last+war+gog+u+magog&total=3&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
Comment by yamit82 — January 16, 2009 @ 8:02 pm
Bland oatmeal, I believe that I failed to read your article correctly, therefore please accept my deepest apologies.
Comment by Ed D — January 16, 2009 @ 8:03 pm
Apology accepted, Ed. It’s easy to get fired up and hasty here. I personally find it very hard to even keep up with what I’VE written, much less what everyone else has to say.
Yamit, I know your 12th-century interpretation of the current situation. Forgive me for not being terribly interested in it. You and I certainly live in perillous times, and it behooves us to try to figure out who the enemy is and what they’re up to. There is a very complicated plot afoot, and we need to sort out the players. First of all, the Moslems have obviously made their presence known. Their motives and objectives ought to be obvious: they are a society of darkness, that has benefitted for centuries from isolation. Now they are confronted hourly with an alien culture on the Internet and TV, which is rapidly undermining all their values. Of course, they are reacting violently. The culmination of all this will be the Turkish coalition of Ezekiel 38, despite what your numerologist goofnuts think.
If anyone here seriously thinks that the Moslems are the coming world power, though, they are deluded. Just look at any figures that represent REAL power in the world, and Moslem countries don’t even make it into the charts. Here are the world powers:
1. The USA
2. The UK
3. France
4. Germany
5. Italy
6. Spain
7. Japan
8. Canada
9. China
10. India
…not, by any means, in that order; and I will allow some variation in the listing. The point is: G-7 — seven out of 10; NATO — seven out of 10; UN Security Council Veto states: four out of 10; nuclear states — five out of 10; Moslem states — ZERO out of 10.
I don’t pretend to know who the “10 toes” are, of Daniel’s statue, nor the “10 horns” of his last beast; but they are certainly approximated by the above. The real contest for TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION will not be between the puny Moslems and the puny Israelis. It will be between a world order described well by “NATO” or the “Quartet”, opposed, 1984-style, not by any country whatever but by a STATE OF MIND, an “Emanuel Goldstein”. Unlike 1984, though, the enemies of this “world order” will not be “East Asia” or “Eurasia” or “Oceania”; but Israel, Jews and everyone professing to believe the Bible as the inspired word of God. The military aspect of that contest will be an attack by the whole world against Israel.
I read a lot of hyperbole about “The Jews” and “Anti-Semitism”, both here and elsewhere; but nobody has produced a truly rational explanation for it all. What I have detailed here is a very rational grab for power, by the very people most likely to do such grabbing. It explains the motives behind the Zechariah 14 attack.
Comment by BlandOatmeal — January 19, 2009 @ 1:54 pm
Oat you make the common Christian semi rational approach. We are dealing with prophesy which is G-ds words through the mouths and writings of mortals. Rational does not work here. I won’t venture a time line nor exact circumstances but that you Christians ( excuse me, believers of and in the deity who wound up on a stick) are to be toast. I think a lot of Muslims and Jews will be joining you.
Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is near unto Me, saith the LORD of hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn My hand upon the little ones.
Comment by yamit82 — January 19, 2009 @ 5:10 pm