[typhonman]

Jerusalem Post editor Caroline Glick lends credence to concern about a Hizbullah military expedition into Israel and about NGOs subsidized by the New Israel Fund undermining Israeli defense and morale.  Hizbullah foresees a war that “would change the face of the region.”  It now has ground forces capable of doing that, if Israel does not prepare or preempt.  Ms. Glick, as our earlier report, foresees an Israeli Arab fifth column backing up Hizbullah.
 
The signs point to renewed war.  Iran’s President threatened new hostility and emphasized his point, experts suggest,  by launching a new rocket into space, equivalent to long-range missiles that may carry nuclear warheads.
 
The same day that the U.S. announced that it was sending an ambassador back to Syria, Syria’s President and Foreign Minister also threatened Israel with war.  Hamas floated barrels of explosives onto Israeli beaches.  Fatah sought reconciliation with Hamas obsequiously.  [Perhaps this signifies putting wartime unity before domestic rivalry].
 
It would not suffice for Israel to prepare against the military assault.  It also must prepare against the political assault from the Left.  Just as Israel neglected Iran’s proxy forces that grew into formidable menaces, so, too, Israel neglected the Left’s anti-Israel agitators who grew into a strategic menace.
 
For example, NGOs subsidized by the New Israel Fund (NIF) provided most of the allegations used by the UN Goldstone report to falsely accuse vigorous Israeli self-defense of being war crimes.  As a result of that and a Maariv expose of NIF, a movement arose to review the legitimacy of the NGOs.  Do it merely reflect dissident opinion or is it an auxiliary enemy of the state?
 
“NIF-sponsored groups have worked steadily to intimidate political leaders, law enforcement officials and military commanders to toe their anti-Zionist line.  In the wake of the PLO-incited riots in the Israeli Arab sector in October 2000, the overtly anti-Zionist NIF-funded Adalah group agitated for the formation of the Orr Commission.  Charged with investigating the police who quelled the rioting rather than the rioters whose violence forced the prolonged closure of major highways to Jewish traffic throughout the country, the Orr Commission had a devastating impact on the police's morale and organizational culture.  [The government of Israel usually does not face down the combination of leftist critics and Arab threats of violence.]
 
“Adalah successfully cowed the Barak government into agreeing to rules of inquiry for the commission that denied police officers even minimal rights of due process.  They were not allowed to confront or question their accusers.  In the aftermath of the commission's public hearings - which amounted to little more than show trials - the careers of several dedicated officers were destroyed.  As a consequence, police commanders began curtailing their law enforcement activities in Arab villages.  Everything from illegal building to livestock theft to incitement to war against Israel has gone uninvestigated and unpunished.
 
The ”…Orr Commission empowered the most radical voices in Israeli Arab society.  Supported by Arab political leaders, Adalah published a manifesto calling for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.  Bishara's suspected espionage for Hizbullah, and the legal establishment's self-evident fear of prosecuting him for treason, are also the direct consequence of the Orr Commission.”  
 
“As for the IDF, NIF-funded organizations have played a key role in organizing the weekly riots at flashpoints like Ni'ilin and Bi'ilin and in the recent expansion of these riots to other places in Judea and Samaria like Neveh Tzuf. Supported by anti-Israel activists from Europe and the US, these riots have had a devastating impact on the IDF's morale and its ability to defend Israeli communities.”
 
”The NIF-funded pro-Palestinian group B'Tselem provides the rioters with video cameras with which they regularly shoot distorted footage.  Their canned films portray Israeli civilians seeking to defend themselves from the rioters as attackers.  They portray IDF soldiers trying to keep order and protect Israeli civilians as violent bullies.  B'Tselem gives these films to its supporters in the Israel media, which broadcast them as credible footage and demand that the IDF open investigations against its officers for carrying out lawful orders.”
 
“On the defensive, the IDF is compelled to curtail its operations and Israeli civilians, now demonized, are viewed as legitimate targets for terror attacks.  One recent film of the rioting outside Neveh Tzuf posted on YouTube shows border policemen simply fleeing the scene and leaving the residents of the community to fend for themselves.”
 
Im Tirtzu's revelations about the NIF outraged NIF.  They attacked Im Tirtzu's financial backers and tried to inhibit Im Tirtzu by calling it “extremist, far right, racist, fascist, out-of-the-mainstream and all the other routine far-left terms used to demonize Zionists.”  The tactic finally failed.  Moderate leftists realized the pro-NIF offensive was an anti-Israel offensive, and are fighting back.  So is Netanyahu fighting back against the Goldstone report, partly by reasserting Jewish rights in Judea-Samaria.  So is Kadima, whose leaders were accused by Goldstone of authorizing war crimes.
 
“THE HARSH truth is that the main cause of Israel's poor performance in Cast Lead and the Second Lebanon War was the Olmert government's ideological dependence on the far left and its central contention that it is Israel's presence in contested areas rather than our enemies' commitment to Israel's destruction that causes wars.  Owing to their allegiance to this falsehood, Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni were unable to prosecute the wars to victory militarily, justify the limited steps they did take to defend Israel diplomatically, or discredit the rising chorus of Israeli NGOs arguing that Israel had no right to defend itself politically.”
 
The notion that peace can be made with the Palestinian Arabs has been discredited time and again, more recently by their rejection of former PM Olmert’s offer to withdraw from most of Judea-Samaria and from part of Jerusalem.
 
“These developments clear the way for the Netanyahu government to take steps to neutralize the potency of these groups.  The government should move swiftly to order the police and the IDF to enforce the law against these groups and their allies. It must also provide the political support to police and military commanders in the field to empower them fulfill their orders without fear that they will be persecuted for doing their jobs.”
 
”If the government seizes the opportunity to weaken these subversive groups, not only will it be making it clear that the political open season on Israel is over.  It will be clearing the way for any future war to end not only in military victory, but in political victory for Israel as well.”  (IMRA, 2/6.)
 
Now we shall find out one and for all whether Netanyahu is patriot or appeaser.  Why didn’t he expose and oppose the unscrupulous leftist tactics, all these years?

  http://www.examiner.com/x-7095-NY-Israe ... ael-Update

[urso bêbado]

A minha admiração por Israel, os seus estado e povo, acrescentaram-se imenso apôs uma viagem do 2009; é admirável este povo que quis ser espanhol, português, polonês, russo, alemão... e de toda a parte fóra banido, expulso ou massacrado.

Definitivamente, junto com o povo arménio (que contra toda sorte de conspirações veu cair sucessivamente os impêrios: persa, macedónico, romano, otomano, russo, soviético e até um holocausto a mãos dos turcos) são as duas nações às que mais respeito, por chegarem ao século XXI, pequenos estados de grandes nações.

Na viagem tive a sorte de seguir uma cerimónia cristã arménia muito sobrecolhedora.

Ainda os ortodoxos gregos, e os coptos, no Egipto têm a palavra deles para munir qualquer defesa civil e cívica contra a barbárie do Islão radical.

::::::::::::::::::
Israel é o alvo da xenreira radical islámica. Eu nada tenho em contra dos islámicos, desde que sejam gente de paz. Mas isto não resta o absoluto reconhecimento à sua vontade de vivir num pais pequeno, mas de grande coração, que lhe tenho aos judeus e ao povo hebreu em geral. Uma democracia que se tem monstrado forte face as agressões e que mais nunca vai colocar outra meixela, nem falta que faz.

Se Israel é ameaçada, ocidente tem de reagir. Desgraçadamente há muito falso progressimo que partilha discursos muito perigosos relativamente ao povo de Israel.

Sempre fui muito amante desse povo. Impressionam-me suas forças militares, seus jovens comprometidos em qualquer frente, seus serviços de inteligência...

Israel não pode desaparecer. É uma tragêdia que não podemos nos permitir.

::::::::::::
Em uma altura na que se nos dá a ideia de que as pequenas pátrias nada têm a fazer ante os grandes poderes internacionais --quer militares, quer económicos --, Portugal(iza), essa pátria inexistente mas certa nalgúns corações, pode é colher o exemplo. Não importa ter vizinhos mais fortes. Para amostra um botão: o país mais soberano hoje é Islândia: a troika não vai meter a mão lá. Há vontade, patriotismo... e vale isso mais do que um exército muito grande e ainda uma economia abafada pelos poderosos.

Os inimigos deles e os nossos são outros, sem dúvida. Mas o exemplo fica ao pé para colhê-lo e prender no orgulho de Portugal.

[Cabeça de Martelo]

How the IDF is preparing for multi-front war

While there is no indication that any one of Israel’s enemies is interested in initiating a full-scale war, the growing explosiveness of the region means that any tactical incident can turn into an armed conflict– and one front can ignite others.

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) plan designed to get it prepared for the challenge of multiple-front warfare is entering its third year.

The ability to operate effectively on multiple battle fronts simultaneously will be crucial for Israel’s ability to deal with unpredictable, explosive events that can begin on one front but quickly spread to others. According to Israeli intelligence assessments, none of Israel’s enemies wants a full-scale war any time soon (and neither does Israel), but the growing tension in the region means incidents can quickly escalate.

During a speech given to the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya at the start of January, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot identified the five fronts that pose threats to Israel’s security.

He noted that a “big, strong Iranian umbrella is hovering” over all five of these sectors. The first is Lebanon, where Hezbollah, with Iranian assistance, has built up a major capability. Based on a relatively simple concept, Hezbollah’s assets in Lebanon are designed with strong layers of defense around them, combined with an ability to heavily strike the Israeli home front with projectiles. This is a model the Iranian Republican Guards Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah believe can challenge Israel’s military superiority.

Eisenkot named the second front as Syria, which has undergone drastic changes over the past year. Members of a Russian-led coalition, consisting of Iran, the Assad regime, Hezbollah, and Shiite militias, view themselves as the victors in Syria’s conflict and seek a presence on the Golan Heights. Iran has plans to establish an air, ground, and naval presence in Syria. “The danger to us is significant,” Eisenkot said.


The West Bank forms the third threatening sector. Hamas seeks to orchestrate terror attacks from there and divert “fire” away from Gaza, which it rules. Unorganized terrorism and ISIS-inspired lone attackers remain threats here too.

Gaza is the fourth sector. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas and other armed Palestinian factions have built up terrorist guerilla armies, armed with arsenals of projectiles. These forces are embedded in a densely populated urban jungle.

The Sinai Peninsula, where ISIS remains highly active, is the fifth sector.

Beyond the five fronts, Iran to the east – its nuclear ambitions and regional hegemony efforts – continue to threaten Israel.  The potential of reaching a high level of escalation “is immediate,” Eisenkot cautioned.

The IDF’s preparations for multiple-front war rest on several capabilities. The first is Israeli intelligence supremacy. This gives the military a high-quality picture of enemy assets and activities and the ability to launch mass, precision strikes in the event of a war. The second key capability is robust air power.

During a speech delivered to the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in 2017, former Israel Air Force Chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel stated that Israel’s air power remains its most generic military force, giving it the flexibility to deal with multiple fronts quickly and simultaneously.

“Speed – physics – still has a significance,” Eshel said. Threats, whether asymmetrical forces or older classical enemy divisions, can appear in bordering areas, or thousands of kilometers away. “When these approach, they can become a big problem. The solution of air power… arrives within minutes to hours,” Eshel said.

With no other military force able to respond this quickly, the IAF remains Israel’s first port of call in multiple-front warfare. Eshel said the IAF must be able to operate in three main sectors simultaneously, presumably referring to the north (Lebanon and Syria), the south (Gaza), and the east (Iran).


“In the morning, aircraft can be over the northern front. By noon, they can be to the east, thousands of kilometers away. And in the evening, they could be operating over Gaza. No other force can do this,” he said.

The IAF is structuring itself to deal with symmetric and asymmetric threats, near and far, all at the same time. In addition, the idea of a preemptive strike, if necessary, is making a return to military high command due to new air capabilities.

The IAF’s strike rate has “doubled twice” in recent years, Eshel said, meaning that several thousand targets can be hit within 24 hours, every 24 hours. This degree of air power is unprecedented in military history.

The ground maneuver

The days in which the IDF relied mainly on air power to wage a full-scale conflict are long gone. In line with the IDF’s multi-year plan, a major effort is underway to improve war readiness among ground forces. This year, enlisted operational forces are set to begin training for 17 weeks to match every 17 weeks of active security missions. This division of labor is designed to bump up combat readiness significantly, and not to let routine missions erode combat readiness.

In addition, the IDF has been creating light infantry brigades and deploying them to the borders with Egypt and Jordan. Their mission is solely limited to border security, thus freeing up enlisted combat forces, which would take part in ground maneuvers, for more war training.

To counter the threat of armor-piercing RPGs and anti-tank missiles, which are highly prevalent in Gaza and Lebanon, the IDF is mass producing modern armored personnel carriers (APCs) and tanks. These are the tracked Namer and the wheeled Eitan APCs. The latter can travel 90 kilometers an hour on roads, giving it the ability to leap from one battle front to another.

Israel is also mass producing the Merkava 4 tank. On all these platforms, the Defense Ministry is installing Rafael’s Trophy active protection system. This gives the armored vehicles the ability to intercept incoming missiles and to instantly detect and share the location of enemy cells that are firing at them, enabling rapid, accurate return fire.


As the IDF strengthens its ground war abilities, various command levels are training to improve their ability to launch multi-front attacks simultaneously.

The end goal of multi-front combat

The IDF’s official strategy, published in August 2015, states that the goal of such an effort would be to force the enemy to agree to a ceasefire or diplomatic solution from an Israeli position of strength that follows a military victory.

Forcing enemies into a position where they are unable or unwilling to continue fighting is the objective. Tactically, this means removing enemy capabilities and motivation to fight, destroying its forces, decreasing its ability to fire on the Israeli home front, hitting targets perceived as valuable by the enemy, and employing cunning approaches to hit the enemy’s weak spots.

These are designed to shock and surprise, and to harm enemy decision making, according to the strategy.

The IDF’s object is to achieve these goals as quickly as possible after the outbreak of large-scale conflicts. Launching an immediate ground offensive, seizing areas, and reducing fire from these territories on Israeli-populated areas is the main way to achieve this.

The mission of the ground forces will be to capture and destroy military infrastructure and harm the survivability of enemy governments over their areas, according to the IDF’s strategy.

This will be accompanied by large-scale air strikes.

The Israel Navy would have an important role to play in such a scenario.  The missile ship and submarine fleets, both of which are being modernized, can act as intelligence gatherers off enemy coastlines and as firepower platforms that can launch shore-to-surface guided missiles.

Covert special forces would presumably conduct elite missions behind frontlines in this scenario.  A digital, network-based military command system, able to share battlefield data and intelligence in seconds, is currently being developed. This network will enable IDF branches – air, sea, and ground – as well as the Military Intelligence Directorate to integrate their activities in new ways.

Aside from these preparations, the IDF is also working on its ability to launch continuous air-based and special forces operations against threats that do not border Israel.

Yaakov Lappin is a Research Associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. He specializes in Israel’s defense establishment, military affairs, and the Middle Eastern strategic environment, is author of the BESA study The Low-Profile War Between Israel and Hezbollah. Email: yaakov@gmail.com

A BESA Center Perspectives Paper, published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/21737