Netanyahu Says Israel Can’t Focus ‘All Assets’ on Gaza

[bemildred]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said threats from the Islamic State and al-Qaeda led to his decision not to put “all assets” in one battle against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu’s comments today came after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, writing in the New York Times, called for a “global coalition” against Islamic extremists who are “perilously close to Israel.”

In an interview on Israel’s Channel 2, Netanyahu said amid a reality “where the Islamic State is galloping towards us, al-Qaeda is on the Golan borders,” he decided “not to invest all my assets in this one arena,” the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The defense budget needs to be increased, he said, without elaborating.

Netanyahu was interviewed following a Aug. 26 cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas that ended more than seven weeks of fighting. The Egypt-brokered deal allows the opening of Gaza’s border crossings with Israel to let in reconstruction materials and humanitarian aid.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-30/netanyahu-says-israel-can-t-focus-all-assets-on-gaza.html

[azurnoir]

2. Guess Bibi decided it was unwise to put all his eggs in one basket

actually it's more a confirmation of what was already suspected a conceivably real existential threat vs a 'claimed to be' existential threat

[bemildred]

3. I construed it as butt-covering for not invading Gaza again.

Fending off criticism from the right for "weakness".

However, your point in well taken, they might have other uses for those bombs soon.

[bemildred]

4. Netanyahu: I didn’t want an Israeli Fallujah in Gaza

PM defends decision not to send troops to oust Hamas; amid al-Nusra gains in Syria, says resources also needed elsewhere; believes Gaza calm may hold

http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-i-didnt-want-an-israeli-fallujah-in-gaza/