Oy Vey! Hamas "Main Rocket Manufacturing Site" Was Left Undisturbed by Israel Until Recent Crisis?

On March 15, hours after the militant wing of Hamas in Gaza allegedly fired rockets into Israel which brought down a house in a Tel Aviv suburb 60 miles away, the Israeli military reported striking over 100 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including "an underground complex that served as Hamas’ main rocket-manufacturing site," according to AP. AP reported:

"8:00 a.m.

The Israeli military says it struck 100 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight in response to rocket fire.

The army said early Friday that targets included an office complex in Gaza City, an underground complex that served as Hamas’ main rocket-manufacturing site, and a center used for a Hamas drone program.

The airstrikes followed a rare rocket attack on the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv late Thursday. Israel says Hamas fired the rockets, though Hamas and a smaller militant group, Islamic Jihad, both denied involvement."

The question never asked by AP, or any other mainstream media outlet, however, was: why was a "main" underground Hamas rocket manufacturing site, whose location was obviously known, not struck long before? Since when does Israel allow Hamas to go on making rockets after it finds out about a major factory?

In other words, why would Israel allow a known rocket manufacturing site to go on manufacturing rockets, until it was time to announce that retaliatory measures had been taken for a rocket attack? Or why would Israel allow a Hamas drone program to progress unhindered?

Reports on Hamas acceptance or denial of responsibility are contradictory.

Israel says Hamas is firing 20-foot-long, one-ton rockets, the M-302 Syrian-designed Khaibar rocket. Some Palestinian rights defenders suggest that 60-mile-range rockets are both beyond Hamas technological capabilities and, along with tube launchers mounted on semi-truck-sized armored vehicles, would be impossible to smuggle into the heavily blockaded Gaza, where even medicine and food cannot get through.

As Gaza is also heavily infested with spies and informers, such hardware, even if there were the proper technicians to maintain and operate it, would be too hard to hide.

In October of 2018, Hamas denied long-range rocket attacks which were blamed on it by Israel, saying its interests were not served by inviting certain devastating retaliation, in which large numbers of Gazan civilians are routinely killed.

The Jerusalem Post reported:

"Hamas and Islamic Jihad had earlier denied responsibility for the rocket fire. "We reject any irresponsible attempt to destroy the Egyptian efforts," to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel, the joint statement said, "including the rocket fire last night.""

Israeli officials blithely dismissed the denials, vowing to get tougher and tougher on Palestinians.

But all of this begs the question of why the Israeli military would allow a major "underground" rocket manufacturing site to exist, and a drone program, until it is time to announce that something has been hit in retaliation. How do you hide digging an underground complex in someplace like Gaza, where they have spies in the sky that can read license plates? At about 160 square miles, the Gaza Strip is a tiny area about the size of Boston. Why wouldn't you destroy a rocket-making factory as soon as you knew of its existence?

So the zero tolerance for aggression, hawkish Netanyahu just let a rocket factory hum merrily along? Someone didn't think this script through. And if this is a lie, what else is a lie?

It's the little lie "gotchas" that start the big lies unraveling. Since Netanyahu is coming up for re-election very soon, Israelis above all should be asking themselves these questions.