Got a couple of interesting read outs from Israel today on the anti-tunnel operations. I’m struck by the fact that it took four years of work to locate these tunnels and another year to prepare for the response.
So, when things began to heat up in Gaza, just weeks before the expected operation in the north, it’s only natural that the IDF would have wanted to pump the brakes.
Which leads me to ask: what was Liberman thinking when he tried to push the IDF into a southern conflict? He knew a major operation in the north was weeks away. And he knew Hezbollah was a more serious threat.
Love him or hate him, Bibi made the right call. He waited until the IDF was ready then moved in to neutralize the Hezbollah threat. Right now, Hezbollah appears deterred. But that was certainly not guaranteed. A southern war was the last thing Israel needed.
In short: no matter whether you take a hard line on Hamas or not, the Bibi vs Liberman stand-off was a battle of right vs wrong, with the benefit of hindsight.
