Rockets on Israel
Since the failure of the current peace process rockets are fired from Gaza in constant barrages. It intensified after Israel started operation “Brother’s Keeper” to find the three kidnapped teenagers. Sadly, only their bodies were found after two weeks.
The already tense situation turned ugly when a Palestinian teenager was killed in East Jerusalem on the day of the funeral of the three Israeli teenagers, apparently a “nationalistic revenge” by far right wing Israelis. Meanwhile, it became clear that Hamas was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teenagers.
After warnings from the Israeli government that they will react forcefully if the rockets are not stopped within 24 hours, the rockets keep on coming. With the current situation in the Middle East, Israel has not much room to manoeuvre. The revenge murder of the Palestinian teenager complicated the situation. Forceful military action by Israel in Gaza could be a trigger which will ignite the whole region in conflict. The seemingly hesitant posture of the Israeli government should be seen in this context.
However, should the rockets from Gaza persist public pressure on the Israeli government will increase to act more forcefully. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman already asked for harsher measures, but the cabinet are divided about the kind of actions to be taken.
Hamas is a Sunni orientated organization and its current boldness could also be spearheaded by ISIS who already captured vast areas of Iraq and Syria and they are on the march to Jordan. The commander of ISIS, Bakr Al-Baghdadi established a Caliphate in the areas they captured. Security strategists believe the advance of ISIS could also be a threat to Israel.
Unfortunately, Israel is in a very awkward position and need to take difficult decisions in an unfriendly neighbourhood – an extremely tightrope situation. Hopefully the situation will soon calm down.