Reuters: ANALYSIS-Gaza offensive set to boost Israel's Livni

[laststeamtrain]

ANALYSIS-Gaza offensive set to boost Israel's Livni
29 Dec 2008 16:45:05 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

JERUSALEM, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Israel's bomb and missile offensive in Gaza may boost voter support for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in her bid to defeat frontrunner Benjamin Netanyahu in the Feb. 10 election.

An Israeli television poll showed 81 percent of Israelis backed the massive attacks on the coastal strip, ruled by the Islamist group Hamas, in a bid to stop Palestinian militants firing rockets into southern Israel.

Whether Livni can defeat the right-wing leader at the polls may depend on whether Israel achieves its objective without incurring heavy Israeli civilian or military casualties, analysts said.

Both Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak are gambling with their political careers by launching this attack on Hamas, they said.

"If they hadn't taken action, they would have been finished politically," though the outcome is uncertain, said Shmuel Sandler of Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv.

He said the Christmas holiday, the global economic crisis and the presidential interregnum in the United States made for good timing for Israel to launch its offensive after Hamas declared its 6-month-old truce with Israel dead on Dec. 19.

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LT138249.htm

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Why am I reminded of Thatcher's "splendid little war?"

:grr:

[anndash]

2. And, the world sits by

and does nothing while Israel gets away with murder.