Israel: Terrorism, the Media, & the Need for Defensible Borders

This week is the 3rd anniversary of the terror attacks on Israeli non-combatants, aka innocent civilians. It opened at 0630 in the morning with Hamas/PIJ rocket and mortar fire to suppress the terrorists’ initial objectives, ie their planned breach points thru the Israeli border with Gaza, and the several small, Israeli villages (kibbutzim) within aprox. 3 kilometers of the Gaza perimeter. Simultaneously, Hamas paragliders flew over the border and below the radar to land inside the villages, and Hamas sappers blew breaches through the border barriers to allow several hundred terrorists to penetrate (mounted in trucks, on motorcycles and on foot). To say the result was an atrocity and a war crime is an understatement.

Why would they do such a thing? How was it even possible? The answers are important to anyone who values Humanity.

First, when adversaries lack the combat power to gain decisive results against trained, capable and ready military units, they unsurprisingly seek other ways to gain decision. Hence, the most despicable of them frequently employ terrorism to target those who can’t fight back, so to speak. But that’s really not the full reason. The full reason is that their intentional slaughter/torture/kidnapping of noncombatants realizes grossly disproportionate psychological effect upon their target audience…which is YOU, us, the Western public. Enough of that and we become “terrorized,” cowed, and (they intend) willing to submit. Wonder why we see increasing use of terrorism in the 21st Century? Because it’s the Information Age, and cellphones and media outlets instantaneously carry the terrorists’ barbarity into the homes of every peace-loving family with a computer, iPhone or cable TV. We are hundreds of millions of humans, and we become horrified. The result…a single, tactical strike in the 21st Century can now achieve STRATEGIC effect.

Second, Real Peace can never be anything less than durable & lasting, and (in the Real World) that requires that it be defended, and THAT begins with defensible borders against those who intend harm. Because even the most well-designed defense has its limits, enemies work diligently to find those limits. Hence, the Hamas decision to target the Gaza border and the tiny villages around it. Why there? Because at the strategic level Israel had come to view Hezbollah to its north as the most lethal threat (not necessarily Hamas to the south) and at the tactical level, because in Gaza the terrorists of Hamas could locate effectively within 3kms of several villages of Israeli civilians…well within range of Hamas mortar/rocket barrages. And as the IDF was arrayed at the time, 3kms and less provided almost no time to deploy an effective counterattack.

So, what makes borders defensible? It’s not what you might think. We discussed that and more on this week’s show. My guest is an old comrade, Colonel Joe Kopser, US Army (ret), who was on the ground with me near the Gaza border roughly a year before the 7Oct attacks. He is now a successful entrepreneur, author and founder of Leading 2 Win, his nation-wide effort to help build more unity of understanding between American civilians and our military community and also within our military itself. He is an inspiring guy! Click on the link to hear our chat: https://frontlinesoffreedom.com/show-980/