We’ve been here before, said Yitzhak Ben Yisrael in Yedioth Ahronoth. When we used to order airstrikes on Gaza to take out the missiles that threatened Israeli cities, we called them “retaliation operations.” This week’s Pillar of Cloud operation was just “the same lady in a different wig.” As before, the objectives were twofold: first, “dent the terror infrastructure” that Hamas has built up, and second, send a signal to the whole Arab world “that Israel is still going strong and that the dream of erasing its existence is impractical.” Those goals have been met, at least for now.
And what about the Palestinians’ existence? asked Ha’aretz in an editorial. Gaza City lies in ruins, and if Interior Minister Eli Yishai had his way, the destruction would be far worse. He urged the Israel Defense Forces to eradicate the entire enclave’s infrastructure, which would have been “inhuman and a war crime” and would not, in any case, have done Israel any good. Israel has already “turned the lives of Gaza’s 1.5 million people into hell,” a strategy that only bolsters their support for Hamas and their “hatred for Israel.”
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