Three tragedies, punishing Hamas

    Eighteen days after they were kidnapped, the bodies of Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrach were found in a small crevice, covered by rocks and brush, just a few miles from where they went missing. From the forensic evidence found at the scene and in the Israeli car that was set ablaze in Hebron during the night of the kidnapping, we now have a clearer picture of what happened.

   Around 10pm on Thursday night, June 12th, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel left their school to hitchhike home from a nearby junction. Eyal Yifrach, who they did not know, was also there.

  A stolen Israeli Hyundai i35, approached. In it, pretending to be Israelis, were two trained Hamas terrorists, Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Kawasme, both known to the Israeli and Palestinian authorities.

   It is assumed that at first they only saw Yifrach, but when they stopped and all three got in they may have feared being overpowered and said something in Arabic.

   At that point Gilad Shaar made a phone call to the police emergency line, whispering: “We’ve been kidnapped” followed by shouts and what sounds like gunfire. The call was not taken seriously, despite reports that an officer tried to call back eight times and only got voice-mail.

   The terrorists, realizing that he was calling the police or perhaps because the teens were preparing to fight, changed their plan from kidnapping to murder.

   I have listened to a recording of the call, and you can clearly hear shouting in Hebrew with a thick Arabic accent: “heads down” followed by shots and groans of pain.

   The IDF radio station reported Tuesday that the three were shot in the back seat during the phone call. It said blood and a bullet case were found in the car, as well as some of the killers’ personal effects.

   They then drove a short distance before abandoning the Hyundai and setting it on fire.

   Abu Aysha and Kawasme transferred the bodies to a second car, and drove to the field in the Halhul area where the teens were found on Monday, bound and partially buried in a hole under a plastic sheet and piles of rocks. The area was being searched intensely since the land where the bodies were found belongs to the Kawasme family, and Gilad Shaar’s broken glasses were found nearby.

   Now Israel has to respond. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said: “Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay”.

Which raises a dilemma: How can Israel punish Hamas severely and painfully, but without removing Hamas from control of Gaza? Strange as it may seem, in the convoluted logic of today’s Middle East, with the Islamic State (ISIS) taking over large parts of Syria and Iraq while giving a strong tailwind to the most extreme Jihadist groups, any regime that will replace Hamas today will only be worse. The only “secular” option to Hamas in Gaza is a return to full Egyptian sovereignty… and that’s not going to happen any time soon.

   So what are Israel’s immediate options? Most analysts agree on the following:

1.    Capture or kill Abu Aysha and Kawasme and anyone else involved

2.    Continue destroying the entire Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank: military units, weapons, financial sources, leadership, command and control, communications, etc.

3.    Return to jail the 50+ Hamas prisoners that were released in the Gilad Shalit swap (they have all been re-detained in the past two weeks, together with 380 other terrorists, mostly from Hamas).

4.    Because Hamas is now directly involved in firing rockets daily into Israel, Israel should continue with surgical air strikes to destroy all missiles, missile assembly plants, storage bunkers, launchers, launch teams and militants of Hamas and other Jihadist organizations in Gaza.

5.    But since the alternative will be worse, Israel should refrain from targeting the political leadership of Hamas in Gaza, as well as the civil infrastructure it needs to govern.

   Israel has to be careful and smart. Hamas must be made accountable for the kidnapping and rocket fire in a way that will serve as a message and deterrent to it and other terrorist organizations. But with the Islamic State Caliphate now controlling areas of the Syrian Golan Heights, and its black flags already appearing in a rallies in Jordan, Israel cannot afford to risk its relations with, and support from the US and EU.