Israelis resigned to Gaza conflict as military build-up continues

Israeli soldiers take position on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

The deployment of troops to Israel's border with Gaza has been met with a resigned air by political commentators and the public alike. Jerusalem Post journalist David Brinn, whose daughter's combat unit had its vacation at an IDF coastal resort cancelled as it was sent to the area, told how ordinary people would not waver in joining the military action.

"It comes part and parcel with the notion of the 'people's army' that we subscribe to here," he wrote. "And like they did with Operation Cast Lead, and the ones before ? and alas, the ones that will come ? these ordinary citizens will join the standing army with heavy hearts and firm resolve as the operation plays out."

The resilient mood took on a different form in a near-empty Tel Aviv bar on Friday evening. "I'll tell you what the problem is, people in Tel Aviv are cowards," said bartender Shir Azaria. "Do you think it's better to sit around in your building and wait to hear the siren and then it [the attack] hits you and kills you there anyway? If you're going to die, die drunk."

The threat had little effect on Israeli tourists riding Segways along a boardwalk, and cafes and bars enjoyed a respectable trade until the crowds thinned out in the evening. A headline in Haaretz, referring to air raid sirens which sent holidaymakers scurrying for cover on the beach, summed up the mood: "In Tel Aviv, missiles matter, but so does a tan."

On one beach people sheltering by a wall clapped as a missile was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defence system. "Well that wasn't such a big deal," said one woman.

Katya Fayngart, a 28-year-old living in the southern city of Beersheba, said she had faith that prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was best placed to counter the menace. "We have to trust him to get us to the point when we can live our lives."

Politicians are also unlikely to offer concerted opposition to Netanyahu's military strategy. Labor party chair Shelly Yacimovich, a critic of the Israeli leader, described the assassination of the Hamas military chief that opened the offensive as "amazing".

Speculation that Netanyahu is using the operation to ramp up support for an election was played down by Reuven Hazan, chair of the political science department at Hebrew University.

"The prime minister is now putting his political campaign in the hands of every pilot in the air," he said. "The pilots are extremely well trained, and they're elite. It isn't the same with ground troops. Unless we're willing to go into Gaza and just level the place, we're not going to win."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/17/israelis-resigned-gaza-conflict

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