After years of Qassam rockets raining down on the Negev and Sederot, Minister of Defense Ehud Barak gingerly accepted an idea that might help. He proposed to shut down the electricity to Gaza, for between 15 minutes and an hour per rocket strike, in retaliation for the ongoing Qassam rockets that terrorize Southern Israel. Why Israel is still providing electricity to Gaza in the first place is beyond me, but we should give a thank you to Ehud Barak for even thinking in this direction.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved yesterday the recommendation from the defense establishment to impose economic sanctions on the Gaza Strip in response to continued Qassam rocket attacks. The main component of the plan involves temporary disruptions to the electricity supply to different parts of the Gaza Strip, but not to essential institutions, such as hospitals. (Haaretz)While the knee jerk leftists immediately declared Israel guilty of crimes against humanity, and that we must be a"light unto the nations" -- I'd prefer we keep Gaza in the dark. At least till they stop shooting at us.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
So please enlighten me (pun intended)--are we punishing them, or "slowly working towards not providing them with electricity" The articles seem to be in doublespeak.
ReplyDeletePunishing them....under the guise of slowly working towards not providing them electricity, even though that's a baloney answer.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to cut their electricity altogether, because it's costing you and I, a fortune.
and i just love how the immediate cry of "not fair -- collective punishment" was raised up. as if rockets falling on our innocent babies in their ganim is what? well deserved? when i heard that collective punishment excuse being used on the radio i literally laughed (guffawed?) out loud in disbelief.
ReplyDeleteIts a farce that Israel is held responsible for the welfare of a people who are so dedicated to the destruction of Israel and its population.
ReplyDeleteMr Bagel
Punish them by forcing them to root for cleveland teams.
ReplyDeletePeople: Whether you see it as justified or not, it *is* a collective punishment. There's nothing knee-jerk about acknowledging that fact, and millions of people having their electricity cut off, whatever the circumstances, is certainly nothing to "guffaw" about.
ReplyDeleteAnd, they aren't going to stop shooting at us.
Tough luck for them. If they want their electricity back, they can stop trying to kill us. Simple as that. Collective punishment isn't nice...and neither is war. Who else would "support" their enemies?! The people who celebrated as we mourned on 9-11 are not our friends. Plain and simple. Those who celebrate death and destruction obviously do not want peace.
ReplyDeleteThe situation was much more peaceful after a great military victory on Israel's part, not after foolhardy, unilateral concessions.
How come they never get it? In the US media this is being reported as a total cutoff, as if people are sitting in the dark. Some Arab official was quoted on how many days (3) supply of oil they have stashed. It sounds like a classic case of Barak & Co. thinking they are so reasonable to only implement an ineffective half-measure - which they will promptly retreat from under UN and EU criticism.
ReplyDeletetafka PP -- Why, exactly, do you and I have to be paying for their electricity in the first place? (I'm not even talking about the issue of Kassams and punishment.)
ReplyDeleteThis is absolute insanity: We give them electricity for free, and if we then take a break from giving them this free gift for a few minutes, then that's "collective punishment"? What entitles them to our largesse to begin with??
It IS collective punishment--and so what?
ReplyDeleteDon't invoke the Geneva Convention and UN resolutions UNLESS the Arabs are prepared to (1) allow the Red Cross to visit our kidnapped soldier, as mandated by the GC and (2) the Arabs agree to abide by the original UN resolution creating the State of Israel.
I'd handle it the way we handled juvenile delinquents when I was working: for every violation, there is a reciprocal sanction. Today the electricity is on--IF you fire a Kassam at us, we turn off the electricity until tomorrow at sunrise. Tomorrow, the electricity is on again--until you fire a Kassam at us, in which case it is off again until the next sunrise....and so forth. No Kassams, no cuts in electrical service. The choice is Gaza's....
The Palestinians are INSANE.
ReplyDeleteIsrael Providing Electricity Under Fire
Israel Electric Corporation worker says they're still supplying Gaza with electricity--under Qassam fire. Miko Zarfati told YNet News:
The Israeli Electric Company (IEC) is supplying nearly 70% of electricity to the Gaza Strip despite Palestinians' claims of a power shortage in Gaza, said Miko Zarfati, the chairman of the workers' committee at the power company....
"The situation is totally absurd. We're continuing to supply them electricity despite the (demand) overload for electricity in Israel and despite the fact that Israeli residents and Electric Company workers that are being sent to Gaza Vicinity communities are under threat from Qassam rockets," Zarfati railed.
"The Electric Company sends people to fix power outages that are caused from the Qassam barrages everyday in Sderot and the Gaza vicinity and more than one worker has already been injured in these rocket attacks."