Gaza: Now Is the Time
It is almost as if the world is begging Israel to go into Gaza with a full-scale invasion. How else can one interpret the international silence and inaction in the face of the escalating rocket assault on Sderot and Ashkelon, Hamas's production of longer-range and more sophisticated rockets, and the continued smuggling in of weapons and materials to arm the terrorist regime?
The international community has been surprisingly responsive, overall, in refusing to deal with the Hamas leadership until they recognize Israel and halt terror. The international community has been far less responsive in helping Israel address the daily rocket barrage on Sderot and environs.
Where are the public statements of condemnation by world leaders? Where are the United Nations resolutions condemning Hamas for attacking the Jewish state from Gaza, long after Israel pulled out? Where are proposals for international forces — the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Quartet — to intervene and position themselves in Gaza to prevent the rocket attacks and make it unnecessary for Israel to have to reenter Gaza as the only way to protect its citizens? This past week Israel stepped up its activity in Gaza. Though far short of an invasion, the Security Council sent the wrong message, criticizing both sides. The criticism of Israel essentially negated the criticism of Hamas, thus ensuring that Hamas will continue its rocket fire.
One can think of many reasons Israel should not reenter Gaza. There will undoubtedly be many Israel Defense Forces casualties, as well as Palestinian civilian casualties. Israel could get bogged down there and may have to take over running the place again, which is not what anyone wants. One can almost guarantee the televisions images, newspaper headlines, and statements by leaders around the world that will cast Israel in a highly unflattering light.
And yet, in the long run, what alternatives does Israel have? Not only is the government accused of not protecting the residents of Sderot, and now Ashkelon, but with longer-range rockets in the works, it soon will be accused of not protecting the residents of Kiryat Gat, Ashdod, and other cities further north. Where will it end? No government would be able to resist the public pressure to act, once and for all.
Is the world going to sit back and let events unfold with a certain inevitability, and then complain about Israel's "disproportionate" response? Or will its leaders address the obvious question: Shouldn't we be doing everything in our power to make sure that rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza, and weapons smuggling into Gaza, are halted? Not so much because we worry about what is happening to Israelis, but because it is the only way to make sure that Israel doesn't invade Gaza?
In this sense the Gaza issue resembles the Iran nuclear issue. Those who are most against military action should be the ones who most support every kind of measure short of military engagement as the best way to avoid reaching the moment when the only option left is military engagement.
There may be time still for the world to wake up. The Israeli government worries about a lot of things — the impact on the Annapolis process, the safety of Galid Shalit, the need to organize for the day after — but the dam will burst sooner or later if the current situation continues. The Bush administration, together with the other members of the Quartet who pushed the Annapolis process, should make it a priority to bring the rocket assaults to a stop. Because an Israeli invasion of Gaza, however much it might help Mahmoud Abbas in the long run, will surely bring a suspension of the peace talks. Mr. Abbas would have to show Palestinian solidarity in the face of Israeli "reoccupation" of Gaza and attacks on Palestinians.
Is this going to be a tragedy in which every party plays its appointed role, or will leaders wake up and do the right thing?
Mr. Foxman is the national director of the Anti-Defamation League and author of "The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control."
