Oberon
01-29-16, 02:33 PM
According to a couple (https://twitter.com/afneil/status/693146641453420545) of tweets (https://twitter.com/afneil/status/693146881120210944) from the chairman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Neil) of the group who owns the Spectator magazine, an article in the Intercept Magazine (https://theintercept.com/2016/01/28/israeli-drone-feeds-hacked-by-british-and-american-intelligence/) has alleged that the US and UK broke Israels encryption codes and have been spying on Israel for the last eighteen years. An Israeli security official has told Yedioth Ahronoth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yedioth_Ahronoth), an Israeli newspaper that it is "the worst leak in the history of Israeli intelligence."
Can't say I'm surprised, Moshe Dayan once said that 'Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.' Certainly the 'Samson option' should it exist (and I see no reason why it should not) would be enough to make even Israels allies anxious for good intelligence on it. The down side of such a stance though is again demonstrated by a quote from General Dayan "Israel cannot afford to stand against the entire world and be denounced as the aggressor." And this is something that anti-Israeli forces have realised recently, that the mood of the world is turning, and in provoking the traditional Israeli strong response ("It is not in our hands to prevent the murder of workers… and families… but it is in our hands to fix a high price for our blood, so high that the Arab community and the Arab military forces will not be willing to pay it. ") they are able to gather the ammunition to create a situation where Israel may find itself standing against the world.
In short, I don't think the traditional responses to attacks from the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Lebanon are going to work as we move into the 21st century, or if they do work it will be with just as great a cost to Israel internationally as to the terrorists locally.
Can't say I'm surprised, Moshe Dayan once said that 'Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.' Certainly the 'Samson option' should it exist (and I see no reason why it should not) would be enough to make even Israels allies anxious for good intelligence on it. The down side of such a stance though is again demonstrated by a quote from General Dayan "Israel cannot afford to stand against the entire world and be denounced as the aggressor." And this is something that anti-Israeli forces have realised recently, that the mood of the world is turning, and in provoking the traditional Israeli strong response ("It is not in our hands to prevent the murder of workers… and families… but it is in our hands to fix a high price for our blood, so high that the Arab community and the Arab military forces will not be willing to pay it. ") they are able to gather the ammunition to create a situation where Israel may find itself standing against the world.
In short, I don't think the traditional responses to attacks from the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Lebanon are going to work as we move into the 21st century, or if they do work it will be with just as great a cost to Israel internationally as to the terrorists locally.