Former Lt. General Thomas McInerney told the Jerusalem Post that Israel was “too restrained and could have gone deeper into Gaza.”

According to the Israeli Defense Forces, Amir Mansi, the commander of the Hamas rocket launching program in the Gaza City area, was killed on Saturday, January 20, 2009 by IDF fire with assistance of the Shin Bet a/k/a Shabak, the Israeli Security Agency.

Mansi was also the leading Hamas authority on the terrorist group’s Grad long range missile launching program.

According to the IDF, Mansi directed and actively fired dozens of rockets at Israel, killing and wounding Israeli civilians. Mansi was spotted firing a rocket in the Jabal al-Rais area during a ground force operation today. The forces opened fire, killing Mansi and injuring two additional terror operatives.

The IDF launched a much anticipated ground offensive in Gaza against Hamas on Saturday evening, January 3, 2009.


Some Israelis are hoping that the military operation will be able to finish what Israel’s Air Force started. Alex Fishman writes in Yedioth Ahronot that “Hamas’ military wing was not destroyed, it was simply destabilized for the first 48 hours of the operation, at least.”

Ophir Falk warns that:

“the IDF’s victory over the Hamas must be conclusive, leaving no room for commentary as to the triumphant side. Anything short of this will serve as another Hamas, Iranian and Hizbullah building block.”


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A ceasefire that does not achieve the dismantlement of Hamas’ military capabilities would be counterproductive and eventually lead to another round of bloodshed. New rules of engagement must be set, whereby Hamas is disarmed and a sustainable truce is achieved. If this mainstay of Sunni terrorism remains capable of attacking Israel, a renewed assault will be inevitable.

Therefore, after the unconditional return of the abducted Israeli soldier [Gilad Shalit], the immediate objective of Israel and the international community must be a permanent disarmament of Hamas and organizations of its ilk. The only way to achieve this goal is to pound Hamas until it is forced to disarm, and then reinforce the truce with effective international force.

It is predictable that Hamas will continue to use civilians as human shields, firing from mosques and U.N.-run schools.

Will this U.N. do anything to disarm Hamas? It seems unlikely, especially given the amount of heavy weaponry that Hamas has brought into Gaza’s U.N.-operated institutions.

The same thing occurred when militant Sunni group Fatah al-Islam installed itself inside U.N.-run Palestinian camps last year in Lebanon. What did the U.N. do to prevent, stop, and disarm Fatah al-Islam? Absolutely nothing. Fatah al-Islam reportedly brought battle-hardened terrorist fighters to Gaza where they likely taught Hamas military skills and terror techniques.

With Iran’s military, financial, and technical training, Hamas has remained not a strong terrorist group with its operational base in Gaza. Its practices of torturing and assassinating Palestinians are not the stuff from which democracies are made.

Khaled Meshal, the Hamas terror chief whom Syria has a given safe haven for years, boasted that Hamas would have “a second, third, and fourth Gilad Shalit” if the Israeli Defense Forces sent ground forces into Gaza.

According to al Jazeera Meshal met with other terror supporters and figureheads in Damascus yesterday, including Saeed Jalili, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary-General and Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, head of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group.

As this blogger has repeatedly stressed, Iran continues to train, arm, and fund Hamas terror operations. “Iran is our mother,” a senior Hamas guerilla commander told The Sunday Times in March 2008, bragging that “300 of the group’s ‘best brains’ had been secretly sent to Tehran.”