In most of recent history going back about 17-18 years (since the Disengagement, I think), there was never any sustained quiet on the border with Gaza. Hamas or their buddy organizations in Gaza would shoot regular salvos of rockets into Israel. Up until the end of Netanyahu's last term he never succeeded in sustaining any significant period of quiet by that border.
When the Lapid - Bennett government was in power, the Gaza border was quiet pretty much the entire time.
Now that Netanyahu is back in power, rockets have started flying again.
So what is the difference? What did Bennett/Lapid do that Netanyahu doesn't do, or vice versa? Were they afraid of the Bennett/Lapid government for some reason, fear of retaliation, in a way they are not afraid of the Netanyahu government? They know Netanyahu never really responded, he let the money flow to Gaza most of the time, he would usually respond by attacking empty buildings and sand dunes, but they never really tested the Bennett/Lapid government. Were they hesitant to shoot rockets with the government including Mansour Abbas - it seems to me they should not have cared about that just to stop shooting as they weren't shooting at him anyway.
So what was the Bennett/Lapid secret to securing a quiet border that Netanyahu cannot seem to manage?
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Well, I can give one solid example: Two Yom Yerushalayims ago the various lefties made all sorts of claims of how "insensitive" it is to march through the Old City. So Bibi, the great right-winger, cancelled it. And closed the Har HaBayit. And we got rocket attacks *on Jerusalem* *in the middle of the parade.*
ReplyDeleteThe next year Bennett didn't do a thing to stop the march from going through the Old City, and the Har HaBayit was wide open and thousands went up. Guess what? No violence.
A couple of thoughts (1) Bibi had given them a good thumping a few months before Bennett came in so maybe they were re-arming. (2) Biden came into power and Blinken started pressuring Israel. Attacking would undermine the sympathy they were enjoying from the new administration (3) They actually did shoot rockets on occasion but the press downplayed it every time (4) Bennett-Lapid had the potential to be very accommodation to Arab demands and act as lap dogs for Biden and his agenda. Attacking would force them to pull away from that.
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