By Pinhas Inbari, WJC

The current round of hostilities between Israel and the Hamas government in Gaza is rooted in an internal struggle within Hamas. The organization is embroiled in a leadership struggle pitting the Iranian-backed Ismail Haniyeh against the Qatar and Egypt-supported Khaleed Mashal and his deputy Musa Abu Marzuq.

Signs of the internal conflict were already visible during the visit of the emir of Qatar in Gaza, where he delivered a clear message: should Hamas cease its terror operations and rocket offensive against Israel and engage in reconstruction, it would receive US$ 400 billion from the Qatari government. At the same time, Qatar attempted to convince the Hamas leadership in Gaza to forgo its ambition to serve as the organization’s official global leadership.
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Talking Points for Operation “Pillar of Defense”

19.11.2012 06:00

1. We would prefer to achieve the objectives of the operation without a ground offensive, but if the only way to protect the citizens of Israel is through a ground offensive then we will do so.

2. Last night the IDF continued its strikes and tens of thousands of reserve troops are prepared to launch a wide ground offensive.

3. The operation has attained significant achievements – Hamas and the other terror organizations in the Gaza Strip have been hit hard:
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DEBKAfile Exclusive Report November 18, 2012, 11:36 PM (GMT+02:00)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman conferred urgently Sunday night, Nov. 18 – Day 5 of the Gaza offensive – on how to respond to US President Barack Obama’s insistent demand that they delay a major IDF ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

DEBKAfile’s sources disclose that when Obama spoke to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi Friday, Nov. 16 – after receiving an update from Netanyahu – he gave him a 48-hour window for talking Hamas around to a ceasefire.

Not only has the Egyptian president failed in this task, his bid made matters worse: Hamas understood the US president was leaning hard on Israel to refrain from sending troops into the Gaza Strip and took advantage of the respite to redouble its missile barrage on a dozen Israeli locations in the last three days, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
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This is a brilliant article and must be read. Greenfield argues we must fight to win and not to buy a few years of relative peace. Ted Belman

WESTERN FRONT: A Moment of Truth in Israel

What are Israel’s options – what are the realities that it faces in
this proxy war?
From Daniel Greenfield, INN

Seven years ago the Israeli government decided to forcibly evict the
8000 Jewish residents of Gaza and withdraw all bases and forces from
the area. The experts, some with the government and some with the
media, assured everyone that it would be for the best and that
withdrawal would actually improve the security situation in the
country.
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A key to the problem of Western comprehension of international realities is admirably summarized by a New York Times editorial on the subject:

No country should have to endure the rocket attacks that Israel has endured from militants in Gaza, most recently over the past four days. The question is how to stop them permanently. Read more…

The last six hours with the latest item first.

11:50 P.M. “The Israelis will commit a stupid mistake if they decide to launch a ground operation against Gaza,” Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah says during a Shi’ite religious ceremony in Beirut’s southern suburbs. “The resistance in Gaza has acquired power, determination and planning capabilities,” Nasrallah said, adding that the firepower possessed by Hamas militants was putting Israelis increasingly on edge. (DPA)

11:40 P.M. Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi says his government is in contact with both the Israelis and the Palestinians and that “there are some indications that there could be a ceasefire soon.” Morsi made the comments at a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but he stressed that there were still “no guarantees.” (DPA)
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New York Times

[..]
“Everybody is afraid of what’s next,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Al Azhar University in Cairo, predicting that the rockets fired at Tel Aviv and, on Friday, at Jerusalem, would provoke a rerun of Israel’s ground invasion four years ago.

Mr. Abusada and Efraim Halevy, a former head of Israel’s intelligence service, both said there is no clear endgame to the conflict, since Israel neither wants to re-engage in Gaza nor to eliminate Hamas and leave the territory to the chaos of more militant factions. “Ultimately,” Mr. Halevy said, “both sides want Hamas to remain in control, strange as it sounds.”
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Examiner

As a result of Tuesday’s presidential election, several reports are coming in of voter fraud by the Democratic Party, particularly in key states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, and Florida where in St. Lucie County, the unofficial vote count showed 175,554 registered voters but 247,713 vote cards were cast coming to 141.10% .

At one particular polling place in the same county, they recorded 158.85% voter turnout which turned out to be the highest in the county.

From a website, “Barack Obama Voter Fraud 2012“, an individual has been compiling reports of voter fraud by theDemocrats and posting them with the intention to eventually submit them to Governor Mitt Romney, who lost to President Obama. Read more…

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, called the Israeli and Egyptian foreign ministers, Avigdor Lieberman and Mohamed Kamel Amr, on Friday to urge a de-escalation of a “very, very dangerous situation” in Gaza, according the State Department.

BY RON KAMPEAS, JTA

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed “de-escalation” of the Gaza conflict.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu called the President today to provide an update on the situation in Israel and Gaza,” said a White House statement released late Frdiay.  “The Prime Minister expressed his deep appreciation to the president and the American people for the United States’ investment in the Iron Dome rocket and mortar defense system, which has effectively defeated hundreds of incoming rockets from Gaza and saved countless Israeli lives.”

The statement continued: “The president reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s right to defend itself, and expressed regret over the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives. The two leaders discussed options for de-escalating the situation.”
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By Ted Belman

I titled an earlier post THIS GAZA WAR WILL END CONCLUSIVELY. I feared at the time that I was wrong. I was indulging in wishful thinking.

Even though the Cabinet has approved the call up of 75,000 reservists, I believe that this operation will end soon.

Jpost reports:

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, however, told Channel 10 that toppling Hamas is not on the agenda as a goal for Operation Pillar of Defense.

“We are definitely considering a ground operation, but toppling Hamas, I think that’s something that the next government will have to decide,” he said.

Liberman also told Channel 2 that the IDF will only stop its attacks against Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip once Israel accomplishes its goals of stopping rocket fire and increasing deterrence.

The Prime Minister has made similar statements.