Each succeeding Israeli government prepares for its recurring Gaza attacks by following the same script that always end with the victim-oriented mantra that "Israel has the right to defend itself."
During its two-year long pause between attacks, Israel plays the "peace process" game. However, after the dismal failure of this year's proceedings, Israel and the U.S. will have to come up with a new reason to hit the pause button between Israel's wars.
After the pause, Israel always begins its recurring (2007, 2009, 2012, and 2014) Gaza attacks by building up Israel's ever-present "existential anxiety" -- fear and anger -- that seethes within its easily manipulated population.
Next, Israel grabs whatever provocative event that emerges. The event is then manufactured to serve Israel's purpose... to play the victim card and go to war.
For the 2014 attack on Gaza, an especially lurid provocation arrived with the deaths of three Israeli teenagers in IDF-controlled territory in Hebron. Israel knew from the outset that from the recording of gunshots behind a desperate cell phone call for help, the search for the three Isrelis would be a search for three dead Israelis.
Nevertheless, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exploited the story of the missing teenagers to charge up the emotions of his population. He even sent the mother of one of the teenagers to Geneva to appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Council for help.
When the three bodies were finally found, buried by the side of the road under a few rocks, Netanyahu immediately accused Hamas of orchestrating the disappearance of the Israelis.
He also had the names of two Hamas operatives who lived in the area. They were deemed, by fiat, as guilty of kidnapping the teenagers. Netanyahu ordered the homes of both men destroyed. No evidence or charges have surfaced.
It was time to start the 2014 War on Hamas.
Cue the massing of troops on the border and send the bombers aloft. Operation Protective Edge was ready to roll.
If this were a work of fiction, about this time in the story the reader would be demanding to know where the two so-called Hamas "killers" are hiding in an area swarming with Israeli police and soldiers.
The reader just may think, maybe, just maybe, Israel has found the two Hamas agents. If so, still with no evidence against them, they may now be dead, their bodies hidden until a more propitious time they will appear in the Israeli narrative.
Who can say, but in the narrative according to Netanyahu, the two "missing" Hamas men have served their purpose. They were only the latest pair of provocateurs utilized by Israel to kick off its next act of war.
A number of Israeli journalists, many from Ha'aretz, know that Netayahu's narrative is damaging Israel to within an inch of its future as a nation.
Unfortunately for the citizens of Gaza, this current round of the recurring War Against Gaza means many Gazans, as of this weekend more than 160, will die.
Richard Silverstein is reporting that "an invasion is imminent," which means that an invasion could come at some time Sunday morning, Gaza time. Or not. But the invasion threat is day-to-day, guaranteeing more Gaza deaths.
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