Hamas' march to victory

Deja vu all over again. Once again, the Olmert government has begun a "show piece" military action against Hamas in Gaza that it has no intention of winning. This action is a cynical attempt to prove that the Olmert administration is serious about defending Israel from the hordes of islamists trying to exterminate the Jewish state.

The worst effect of this latest half-assed action is that it continues to undermine Israeli credibility and is opening the door for more useless involvement of EU "monitors" in the region.

FROM JEWISHWORLDREVIEW.COM:

Hamas' march to victory

By Caroline B. Glick

George Orwell once quipped, "The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."
Since Tuesday it has become clear that the Olmert-Livni-Barak government has decided to end the war with Iran's Hamas proxy army in Gaza as quickly as possible. That is, the government has decided to lose the war.

Most Israelis are unaware of this state of affairs. In an obvious attempt to bolster the popularity of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak ahead of the February 10 general elections, the local media have spent the past six days since the government launched Operation Cast Lead praising the government's competence and wisdom and declaring victory over Hamas after every IAF sortie in Gaza.

What the media have declined to notice is that the outcome of the war will not be determined by the number of Hamas buildings the IAF destroys. The outcome of this war -- like the outcome of all wars - will be determined by one factor only: Which side will achieve the goals it set out for itself at the outset of the conflict and which side will concede its goals?

Depressingly, the current machinations of the Olmert-Livni-Barak government demonstrate that when the fighting is over, Hamas and not Israel will be able to declare that it accomplished its goals in this war.
READ IT ALL: