Israel Prepares World Opinion for Regime Change in Gaza...

This would also include a large-scale ground assault.  In other news, Ehud Olmert's balls have been spotted for the first time.....

As Hamas drew Ashkelon into the circle of communities coming under heavy rocket attacks, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the Foreign Ministry on Thursday began preparing both Israeli and world opinion for the possibility of a large-scale incursion into Gaza.

Barak, during a series of meetings at the Defense Ministry, said, "We should be prepared for an upswing in hostilities in Gaza. The big ground operation is a reality and it is tangible. We are not eager to embark upon such an operation, but we are not put off by it either."

According to defense sources, the goals of such an operation - reportedly in the planning stages for weeks if not months - would not "merely" be to reduce the threat of rocket fire and rocket manufacturing in the Gaza Strip, but would also likely entail paralyzing the Hamas government's ability to operate, and even include "regime change."

Barak spoke with Quartet envoy Tony Blair and Egyptian intelligence head Omar Suleiman and said Israel could not tolerate the current level of rocket fire in the South without offering a wider response.

Barak also offered hints as to his plans, telling local community leaders gathered at Sapir Academic College outside Sderot that "the solution to Kassams will be a lot quicker than many people think."

And the Foreign Ministry, in talking points sent to its representatives abroad, instructed them to say that when Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2005 it did so without the intention of ever returning, but that the continuation of terrorist attacks was likely to place the country in a position where it may have no other choice.

The ministry also instructed its representatives to reveal that the Grad missiles that were fired at Ashkelon on Thursday were smuggled through Sinai from Iran.

According to one diplomatic source, stressing the Iranian origin of the missiles showed the importance of aggressive action to stop the smuggling and isolate Hamas from Syria and Iran, which "directs the organization's terrorist actions."

"We have warned for a while about the arming of Hamas, and what is happening now is proof of this," the official said.

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Comments

[John Cunningham]

Telegraphing the punch, fasten your seatbelts.

[JDAM]

Hamas knows it's coming. Probably one of the reasons they knocked down the border with Egypt. Tons of weapons and explosives came through the breach. It won't be as easy as Israel thinks.

[Elric66]

"It won't be as easy as Israel thinks."

Depends on if Israel fights to win unlike Lebanon Part 2