Ashkenazi: Gaza Operation Inevitable
CBNNews.com
December 13, 2007
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said a large-scale invasion into the Gaza Strip may be necessary to protect Israeli citizens.
While Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised to "find a solution to Kassams [rockets]," the IDF chief of staff said the "threat to the Israeli home front is growing."
"You cannot defeat a terror organization without eventually taking control of the territory," said Ashkenazi to participants at conference sponsored by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.
"The only reason we have been successful in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] is because we control the area," he said.
Ashkenazi also addressed the potential of being engaged on several fronts simultaneously.
"The threat to the Israeli home front is growing, which requires that we prepare ourselves on both defensive and offensive levels," he said.
"This threat began to evolve as our enemies began to understand they were incapable of defeating us militarily and also when they realized our sensitivity to the loss of human life," he said. "That is how these weapons came into use -- from the Kassam to the Shihab [missile]," Ashkenazi said.
According to the chief of staff, the IDF learned many lessons from the 2006 summer war against Lebanese-based Hezbollah terrorists.
"The IDF's deterrence has only grown stronger after the war," he said.
Source: YNet news service
CBN IS HERE FOR YOU!
Are you seeking answers in life? Are you hurting?
Are you facing a difficult situation?
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
