Some joyous tidings from Israel

[Furunculus]

Then the IRA must not have been much of a threat, as the number of IDF active-service personnel - fully trained soldiers of a modern, well-equipped army - alone is something like several times the number of ragtag, lightly armed gunmen Hamas has at its disposal...

And, oh yeah, Israel almost certainly had nukes the last I heard.

Jaysis. Perspective.

compared to hamas, no.

we had nukes too, but last time i checked we never threaded to nuke the ira....................

[Watchman]

compared to hamas, no.

Would you then please proceed to explain to us befuddled sceptics how, exactly, does Hamas pose a threat greater than "nuisance" to Israel, anyway ? The friggin' surrounding Arab states, which actually have proper armies, weren't posing a real threat to Israel's continued existence anymore in the '73 Yom Kippur war (as they were out to recapture some lost territory before the superpowers blew the whistle to end the match) and have thereafter not bothered to be more than minor nuisances at best.

Hamas has a bunch of irregulars with small arms, some homemade rockets and a ghetto almost entirely dependent on continued foreign aid for its continued survival. I'm kind of having a hard time here seeing the part where they are a meaningful threat to Israel, the regional military superpower.

we had nukes too, but last time i checked we never threaded to nuke the ira....................

Yeah, wonder why. And the fact the things were zeroed in on Russian cities wasn't the main reason, even.
Not the point though, as I mentioned it to underline the rather absolute disparity in raw power at the two sides' disposal.

[rvg]

Hamas has a bunch of irregulars with small arms, some homemade rockets and a ghetto almost entirely dependent on continued foreign aid for its continued survival. I'm kind of having a hard time here seeing the part where they are a meaningful threat to Israel, the regional military superpower.

They aren't a threat precisely because Israel does not *allow* them to become one. Every once in a while they require a proper whipping from the IDF in order to keep them in line.

[Watchman]

Uh, yeah. And pray tell what'd they have if the IDF didn't occasionally drop an of bombs on them and kill a bunch of civvies on the side - marginally more ragtag irregulars with small arms ?

Fearsome. I can see how they're quaking with fear in Tel Aviv at the mere thought.

[Strike For The South]

Why is this any more different then when Israel kills a couple thousand Arabs? The only reason I ask is because this happens quite often and this is a very very long thread.

Color me unimpressed. Wake me when we start getting in the ten thousands range and then I might be bothered to look.

[Hooahguy]

The only reason I ask is because this happens quite often and this is a very very long thread.

indeed... imagine- 22 pages for a tiny little country that is less than 1/2 the size of my lovely state of Georgia!