ed note–the entire feigned ‘retreat’ on the part of Israel was designed for 2 reasons–
1. To create a political crisis that will destabilize the present government, leading to emergency elections that will then usher in a more far right (religious nutcase) governemtn that will be anything but diplomatic in rejecting Trump’s ‘peace deal’, and
2. To bolster the self-confidence of Hamas so that any inclination on the part of the Palestinians to cooperate with what Trump wants to do will be seen as unnecessary, since , after all, Hamas is ‘SO POWERFUL’ that it just ‘forced’ Israel to ‘back down’.
And yes, this charade on the part of Hanegbi is part of that black magic, and particularly in feeding into the Palestinian ego and filling it with a false sense of strength
Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi yesterday justified the Israeli prime minister’s decision not to launch a new war on Gaza saying “Hamas had a reason to attack”.
“It wasn’t that Hamas acted without a pretext. It had a pretext — to try to exact revenge. Its revenge was minor. In all, it managed, with 400 rockets, to kill one Palestinian,” Hanegbi told Army Radio.
When it was put to him that one rocket fell on an empty kindergarten, Hanegbi replied: “The empty kindergarten – that’s always talked about. But those 500 coffins – of the Israeli youths that would come back if we sent them into [Gaza’s] Jabalaya [refugee camp] – would not be empty.”
The minister’s comments stirred controversy across Israeli political spectrum.
On Sunday evening, the Qassam Brigades foiled an Israeli operation carried out by a special unit which infiltrated east of Khan Yunis province, killing the unit commander and wounding another soldier.
