Channel 13 News analyst Zvi Yehezkeli on Wednesday warned that Islamic Jihad has reached the size and strength that Hamas had ten years ago.
in an interview with 103 FM Radio, Yehezkeli said, “Israeli carried out a significant elimination after a long time, and is now waiting for a retaliation. In the meantime, this is an amazing window of opportunity to continue.”
He added, “[Islamic] Jihad will gain strength, and next time you’ll be faced with an even stronger Islamic Jihad.”
Regarding the fact that during the initial stages of Operation Shield and Arrow, the Gaza terror groups did not fire any rockets, Yehezkeli said, “I don’t believe that they are in such shock that they can’t manage to fire rockets. It could really be that their reaction has no effect – in the past three operations, Israel targeted Islamic Jihad and not Hamas. Today [Islamic] Jihad is the size Hamas was 10 years ago, it really is. What Hamas was in 2008 – today that is Islamic Jihad.”
“Today Hamas is nearly the size of Hezbollah,” he emphasized. “Hezbollah is already the size of a semi-army, it’s half an army. You understand that the arsenal of missiles in the [Gaza] Strip has increased.”
“They want a nice hit to show that they are not suckers, and it will happen. They say, ‘Okay, here the Jews are now in bomb shelters, they have no transportation, they are sitting, they are evacuating residents of Gaza border towns.’ … It’s true that this is weakness, but it’s not the last word.”
“Everything needs to be in context. If you say that restraint is strength in the Gaza Strip, I will tell you that since the Disengagement, Israel has only lost there, and its restraint is not strength – it is just being a sucker. Who would have believed that for the elimination of three [terrorists] from [Islamic] Jihad, we would be running to bomb shelters?”
Yehezkeli also pushed back at the claim that Hamas did not join in the fighting during Operation Breaking Dawn.
“Hamas right now is in a situation in which it does take action against Israel, it needs to do that, it needs that lifeline. But on one thing it won’t compromise: Even if it only has one shekel left, it will always invest it in [Islamic] Jihad. Now it is doing this by means of a subcontractor called Islamic Jihad. Hamas is directing terror attacks in Judea and Samaria.”
“I think that Hamas today is of a size that it does not need to enter into conflict with Israel, because Israel is also afraid of it. It’s true that it has its own considerations, but all the considerations have one asterik – [Yahya] Sinwar. The day he is able, he will flip the table over and go to an operation – right now Islamic Jihad is doing his work for him. Since Hamas fired its two rockets at Jerusalem, you’re basically in a situation where Hamas is holding you by the throat for everything that happens in Judea and Samaria.”
Yehezkeli also admitted that it is possible that Islamic Jihad is planning a response for Jerusalem Day and the Flag Parade.
