![[file photo] U.S. Democratic president elect Barack Obama (D-IL) and Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak (3rd L) look at the remains of a rocket, fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza, during a visit to a police station in the southern town of Sderot July 23, 2008.](http://www.vinnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/rockobama.jpg "rockobama")
Jerusalem – Defense Minister and Labor Chairman Ehud Barak on Monday said that Israel would extend and increase its military operation in the Gaza Strip until all the goals were achieved.
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He spoke at a special meeting held at the Knesset, and attended, among others, by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu.
“This operation will be extended and deepened as we find necessary. Our goal is to strike Hamas and stop the attacks on Israel. Hamas controls Gaza and is responsible for everything happening there and for all attacks carried out from within the Strip. The goals of this operation are to stop Hamas from attacking our citizens and soldiers,” said Barak.
“I would like to remind the world that Israel withdrew from the entire Gaza Strip more than three years ago. We gave a chance for a new reality, and all we’ve seen is the Hamas government firing rockets and missiles on our citizens and carrying out attacks against Israel,” he noted.
Barak added that the IDF was targeting the Hamas leadership and not the citizens of Gaza.
“We have nothing against the citizens of Gaza, but we must fight against the Hamas leadership. We are making the utmost efforts to prevent civilian casualties… We are not preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip.”
The defense minister told the MK’s he wasn’t sorry for Israel’s restraint in previous months and noted that Operation Cast Lead had been planned by the security establishment over a long period of time.
“I’m not sorry for the restraint we showed until the beginning of Operation Cast Lead…now is the time to act, we are not willing to let this situation continue,” the defense minister said.
Barak stressed that Israel was not interested in violence but would not allow a situation in which its citizens are under fire.
“I never believed war is the best option…I’m the defense minister, not the war minister,” he said. “As a fighter and commander I know personally what it feels like to lose a fellow combatant. I’m not trigger happy, maybe even the opposite.”
However, Barak added that although Israel was not interested in war, it had come to the conclusion that a military operation was necessary.
“I want to make it clear that we did not set out on this military operation because of revenge or rage… The security establishment has been preparing for such an operation for many months,” he said.
Netanyahu, however, criticized the government’s policy of restraint and said that Israel had taken too long to strike the Hamas.
“For firing at citizens, hiding behind citizens, causing suffering to our citizens to their own citizens, we will strike Hamas…No country in the world would do otherwise, and no nation would restrain itself for so long, for too long,” the Opposition leader said at the meeting.
He also noted that the military operation should also be aimed at toppling the Hamas government in Gaza.
“Our goal should be double – stopping the attacks on our cities and eliminating the threat of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip,” said Netanyahu. “Stopping the attacks can be done within a short period of time, while eliminating the threat of rocket attacks from Gaza will entail toppling the Hamas rule over the Strip and uprooting the Iranian base there.”
Netanyahu went on to call on all the citizens of Israel, Arab and Jewish, to “remain loyal to the state of Israel during this just war against our enemy.”
“We stand united in face of this war. Not every citizen must automatically support every move the government makes, but it is unacceptable that Israeli citizens will support our enemies,” he said.
The Opposition leader urged the Arab Israelis to condemn fundamentalism in their midst, and said that Israel would act forcefully against Israeli Hamas supporters.
Netanyahu also called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to dismiss the Minister of Science, Culture and Sport Raleb Majadle from the government, saying that “A minister must serve the state of Israel and cannot boycott a government meeting at a time of war.”
This is all about politics & elections. Not that this attack is unjust but their motives are
“until all the goals were achieved.”
Or, more likely, until the nations of the world — who did little or nothing to stop the Holocaust, and who have generally done even less to stop the Arab world’s genocidal, racist 60-year vendetta against Israel and the Jews — gets outraged at the idea of the Jews actually defending themselves, and, as it always has in the past, demands that we stop short of real victory and let our enemies off the hook, to fight another day. In this they will be aided by a treasonous fifth column of liberal, secular Jews who cry more for the “oppressed” Arabs than for their own martyred people, and so-called “religious” Neturei Karta types who likewise side with our enemies (Arafat, Ahmadinejad, etc) and want to return the Jews to a state of dhimmitude. We shall see if the political weasels like Barak, Livni and Olmert currently running the government (as well as Bibi, waiting in the wings) have the strength to ignore them and stand up for what is right, which is protecting the people of the nation, WORLD OPINION BE DAMNED. I, for one, am NOT optimistic.
this one is beyond me : we are in an all out war with hamas but we are not planning to topple the hamas goverment . isn’t the definition of an all out war to defeat your enemy not merely weaken it . besides as any middle east observer with half a brain could conclude by himself – words don’t mean much in the middle east actions do . so why not quit all the silly talk and focus more on the action . we need less of these silly statements and more of the f16’s .
Yoish. Those idiots are stating goals again. Who cares what there goals are? In lebanon they showed that they do not have the will for victory anymore. The same will happen here. They are only interested to bomb them a little to show voters that they are also bombers. And that they will show, not victory.
At a time when a nation’s security is at risk the people to listen to are the generals. Just like President Bush said that in Iraq we need to consult with the generals before we react. This will give us the best way to be secure. In this case it is not the time to hear what the politicians have to say instead we need to hear from the commanders on the ground what is needed to make the county safe. Just like in hospital you rely on the doctors’ advice not on the accountant how to cure the patient .
kudos to Sharon & Olmert for diengaging from Gaza. just imagine how much jewish casualties whould have been if jews were in Gaza during the recent IDF raid.
what a smart move this was.
Those arabs are a bunch of … They fire rockets into wherever in Israel they may fall. These firings are set off from school yards and home lawns! With laser technology, Israel located the points from where these were fired, pinpoint targets those shelling posts, ant the world media buys the story the arabs promote that Israel is shooting at innocent women and children! How can Reuters show a photo of a little arab, probably tomorrow’s shahid (suicide bomber), lying on a stretcher! (By the way, she looked fine, if you noticed! Certainly staged!)
Today is still Chanuka ~ the most derhoibener day ~ let’s daven hard for the Geula Sh’leima! Im loi achshov, aimosai!
HaShem, how much longer do you think we can handle this?
Was this attack necessary? everyone knows what the results can be. Did the Israeli leaders over-think 15 times before the made this decision? or was it just a way of making people busy so the will not have time too challenge their leaders. Patriotism will take over.
You Are Fighting With A Enemy That Is Impassable To Defeat For Most Part Because Israel Have Never Won A Gorilla Style Of War And Hasam Yaracamm How Many Dead Body’s A Ground Invasion Can Bring (Don’t Forget How They Blow Up Marcava Tanks In The Past) This Is Besides All Suicide Bombers They Will Use (Besides If You Line Them Up To The Wall And Shout Them Out One By One I Don’t See Where They Are Taking This ).
We Need Kink Solomon Here