Israel launched multiple air strikes on Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror targets in Gaza after rocket attacks from Islamic Jihad forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a bomb shelter during a campaign speech in the city of Ashkelon. After returning to the stage on this, the eve of his Likud party’s primary election, Netanyahu threatened to assassinate Khalil Batanai, the new leader of Islamic Jihad. The previous leader of Islamic Jihad was assassinated by Israel in a targeted killing in November after a similar attack forced Netanyahu off the stage in September. Is the ongoing tension leading to a new outbreak of violence or is this just another campaign threat to appeal to Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud base?
Suggested Q&A:
- What actually happened in Ashkelon at this Netanyahu campaign event? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was giving a campaign speech when the warning siren sounded through the city in anticipation of a rocket attack coming from Gaza. He was quickly whisked off the stage by his security regimen and escorted to a bomb shelter. When he returned, he threatened to assassinate the new leader of Islamic Jihad, who apparently was responsible.
- Can we expect an increase in the intensity of the violence or will it just be a continuation of the ongoing back and forth violence emanating from Gaza? It will intensify when Israel decides to change the rules of the game by ending the tit for tat violence, in which the terror organizations determine the pace and Israel just responds to each attack. That needs to change. As any good athlete knows, the best defense is a good offense. According to the words of the new Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, that change in approach may happen soon.
- You’ve spoken about the Gaza hostilities in the South. What’s happening in the North, near Israel’s borders with Lebanon and in Syria, where Iran is involved? Isn’t that considered to be the more serious threat? Absolutely, Iran supports the terror organizations in Gaza financially, but the greater threat is in Lebanon, where the Hezbollah have 150,000 missiles, many of which are precision-guided missiles, pointed at Israel. And of course, there is Syria, where Iran has been attempting to establish military bases.
- What is Israel doing about that? Israel has been launching periodic air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria for the past two years. This hasn’t been easy because of the Russian presence in Syria and the need to attack Iranian targets while avoiding conflict with the Russian forces that are allowing the Iranian troops to remain.
- You were already warning about these dangers a year ago when you wrote about it in your book, “Trump and the Jews.” Where can people get a copy? You can get more information about “Trump and the Jews” and all of my books at my website, www.DavidRubinIsrael.com , or just go to Amazon.com and type in the words “Trump and the Jews”.
Bio: David Rubin, former Mayor of Shiloh Israel, is the author of the book, “Trump and the Jews” and five other books. Rubin is the founder and president of Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund, established after he and his then three-year-old son were wounded in a terror attack. He can be found at www.DavidRubinIsrael.com or at www.ShilohIsraelChildren.org
