Breaking: Rockets fired from Sinai at Israel
Within the past hour, two rockets have been fired on Israel from an area of the Sinai desert controlled by the Islamic State terror group.
Both rockets fell in open areas.
The rockets landed in the Eshkol Regional Council, according to
an initial statement released by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. No
injuries or damages were caused.
A Red Alert was not sounded, the statement said, due to the fact that the rockets were fired into open space.
It was reported on Sunday that an
Israeli drone killed five ISIS terrorists in the Sinai near Rafah (the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip).
Nothing else could do a better job of making the world forget about the 'Palestinians.'
Heh.
Labels: Egypt, Gaza, Gaza envelope, Islamic State, Rafah, rockets, Sinai
60 years after a terrorist murder and Israel's Gettysburg address
Moadim l'Simcha.
It's just a few minutes until the holiday starts again, and then I will be offline until Saturday night.
60 years ago today (on the secular calendar), a young security guard at Kibbutz Nachal Oz on the Gaza border was murdered by Arab terrorists (Wikipedia and the Times of Israel notwithstanding, there were no Arabs who were known as 'Palestinians' in 1956). Roi Rotberg HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) had moved to Nachal Oz from Tel Aviv. He was eulogized by the IDF Chief of Staff, Moshe Dayan, in what Wikipedia calls
Israel's Gettysburg Address.
In 1956, Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan gave a eulogy for a Roi Rotberg, a kibbutz security officer killed near the Gaza Strip,[1]
calling upon Israel to search its soul and probe the national mindset.
Dayan's eulogy is considered one of the most influential speeches in
Israeli history,[2] and has the importance in Israeli collective memory that the Gettysburg Address has in American memory.
Nahal Oz
became a kibbutz in 1953 and was frequently in conflict with Arabs who
crossed the nearby armistice line from Gaza to reap crops and conduct
petty theft.[3]
The previous few months had been relatively quiet on the Israel's
borders with Egypt and Gaza, but escalated with several cross-border
shootings in early April.[3] On April 4, three Israeli soldiers were killed by Egyptian forces on the Gaza border.[3] Israel responded the next day by shelling the center of Gaza City, killing 58 Egyptian and Palestinian civilians as well as 4 Egyptian soldiers.[3] Egypt responded by resuming fedayeen attacks across the border, killing 14 Israelis during the period 11–17 April.[3][4]
Rotberg, the Nahal Oz security officer,[3][5][6][7] was regularly involved in chasing off infiltrators, sometimes using lethal force.[3]
On 29 April 1956 he was caught in a prepared ambush; Arab harvest
workers began to reap wheat in the kibbutz's fields in a spot where
Rotberg would see them, he did, but as he rode toward them to chase them
off others emerged from hiding to attack.[3][8] He was shot off his horse, beaten and shot again, then his body was dragged into Gaza.[3] According to Jean-Pierre Filiu, Rotberg's attackers included, "an Egyptian policeman" and "a Palestinian farmer."[9] The body was returned on the same afternoon, badly mutilated, after United Nations intervention.[3][10][11]
Yes, even in 1956, before there was an 'occupation,' Arab terrorists mutilated his body.
Today's Times of Israel includes a
translation of Dayan's speech by Mitch Ginsburg. There is a lot here with which one could disagree (Dayan demonstrates far too much sympathy for the Arabs, and we know
historically that he did not follow through to reach the conclusions he should have reached). But I have no time to discuss that right now. I'm just throwing it out there for you to think about.
Yesterday with
daybreak, Roi was murdered. The quiet of a spring morning blinded him,
and he did not see the stalkers of his soul on the furrow. Let us not
hurl blame at the murderers. Why should we complain of their hatred for
us? Eight years have they sat in the refugee camps of Gaza, and seen,
with their own eyes, how we have made a homeland of the soil and the
villages where they and their forebears once dwelt.
Not from the Arabs
of Gaza must we demand the blood of Roi, but from ourselves. How our
eyes are closed to the reality of our fate, unwilling to see the destiny
of our generation in its full cruelty. Have we forgotten that this
small band of youths, settled in Nahal Oz, carries on its shoulders the
heavy gates of Gaza, beyond which hundreds of thousands of eyes and arms
huddle together and pray for the onset of our weakness so that they may
tear us to pieces — has this been forgotten? For we know that if the
hope of our destruction is to perish, we must be, morning and evening,
armed and ready.
A generation of
settlement are we, and without the steel helmet and the maw of the
cannon we shall not plant a tree, nor build a house. Our children shall
not have lives to live if we do not dig shelters; and without the barbed
wire fence and the machine gun, we shall not pave a path nor drill for
water. The millions of Jews, annihilated without a land, peer out at us
from the ashes of Israeli history and command us to settle and rebuild a
land for our people. But beyond the furrow that marks the border, lies a
surging sea of hatred and vengeance, yearning for the day that the
tranquility blunts our alertness, for the day that we heed the
ambassadors of conspiring hypocrisy, who call for us to lay down our
arms.
It is to us that
the blood of Roi calls from his shredded body. Although we have vowed a
thousand vows that our blood will never again be shed in vain —
yesterday we were once again seduced, brought to listen, to believe. Our
reckoning with ourselves, we shall make today. We mustn’t flinch from
the hatred that accompanies and fills the lives of hundreds of thousands
of Arabs, who live around us and are waiting for the moment when their
hands may claim our blood. We mustn’t avert our eyes, lest our hands be
weakened. That is the decree of our generation. That is the choice of
our lives — to be willing and armed, strong and unyielding, lest the
sword be knocked from our fists, and our lives severed.
Roi Rotberg, the
thin blond lad who left Tel Aviv in order to build his home alongside
the gates of Gaza, to serve as our wall. Roi — the light in his heart
blinded his eyes and he saw not the flash of the blade. The longing for
peace deafened his ears and he heard not the sound of the coiled
murderers. The gates of Gaza were too heavy for his shoulders, and they
crushed him.
There's more
here. Chag Sameyach and Shabbat Shalom. See you on Saturday night!
Labels: Arab terrorism, Gaza, Gaza envelope, Moshe Dayan, Palestinian terrorism
Deja vu all over again: Rocket sirens (and worse) in southern Israel
'Palestinian' terrorists are
once again firing rockets at southern Israel.
Rocket sirens sounded Saturday night in Israeli towns near the border with the Gaza Strip. The IDF said it was investigating the incident.
Late Friday night, Israeli warplanes carried out three air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip after two rockets were fired from the Strip at southern Israel.
One rocket fired at the city of Ashkelon was intercepted by an Iron Dome battery, hours after another rocket exploded in an open area in the city of Sderot.
In Sderot, a nearby bus was damaged by shrapnel, but none were wounded. Rocket alerts were sounded in both cases. The rocket appeared to have been fired from Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza. This is the first rocket to hit Sderot since the 2014 summer Gaza war.
This time, let's not wait for it to get worse. It's time to
mow the lawn (and more) before it grows out of control.
UPDATE 11:14 PM
Tonight's sirens are officially a
false alarm.
Labels: Gaza, Gaza envelope, Hamas rockets, Sderot
Residents of southern Israel report digging sounds under their homes
That's what the tweet means: Southern residents claim they once again hear digging sounds (Chico Menashe is an Israel Radio diplomatic correspondent).
The southern residents in question are residents of the
Gaza envelope - the area closest to the Gaza Strip (link in Hebrew).
They have reported the digging to the IDF and the IDF is investigating.
Some residents have said that in light of the discoveries this past summer, they no longer rely on the IDF's vigilance.
Comment: The truth is that the IDF knew of the tunnels long before the summer. The political echelon chose not to act against them until Hamas attacked.
Labels: Gaza envelope, IDF, Operation Protective Edge, terror tunnels
IDF was forced to forego opportunity to save Daniel Tragerman
Four-year old Daniel Tragerman HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) was
killed by a Hamas terrorist mortar shot from Gaza near his home on Kibbutz Nachal Oz last Friday. That mortar fire
could have and should have been stopped long before it cost Daniel his life (Hat Tip:
Leah P).
A new revelation suggests that the tragic murder of four-year-old Daniel Tragerman hy''d, who was killed by terrorist mortar fire last Friday in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, may have been completely avoidable - if only the IDF was given a free hand against Hamas terrorists.
Israeli TV's Channel 10 on Monday reported that residents of Kibbutz Nahal Oz have said five mortar barrels have been aimed directly at their community by Gaza terrorists since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge on July 8.
The residents claim the IDF told them that three of the barrels are embedded adjacent to schools where displaced Gaza residents are taking shelter, and therefore the IDF did not strike them to eliminate the threat.
They add that the IDF said the two other barrels are located adjacent to the houses of residents that the IDF was unable to contact during the course of the 50 day operation so as to ask them to leave and avoid harming them. As a result, the IDF likewise decided not to strike.
Appraising the effect of such decisions not to strike, the commander of the IAF special reconnaissance Flying Camel Squadron said recently that aborting airstrikes due to Hamas's tactics of embedding among civilians "sabotages" the operation.
Tragerman's parents said they had less than three seconds to take cover, and that their young son did not have time to avoid the mortar shrapnel. They added that they, like many residents in the Gaza Belt, will not be returning to Nahal Oz at the end of the seven-day mourning period.
The IDF doesn't set that kind of policy. The government does. Think about that over Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom everyone.
Labels: Gaza envelope, Hamas, mortar shells, Palestinian terrorists, terror victims
'We wanted to see Hamas defeated and begging for its life; instead we see Israel running to the negotiating table'
Israel has agreed to a one-month cease fire with Hamas, and the
local authorities in the Gaza envelope are furious.
Tamir Idan, who heads the Sdot Negev Regional Council, said that “if
the reports in the mdeia are right, and the agreement for a ceasefire is
for one month only, in which Hamas's demands for constructing ports
will be discussed, then this is a surrender to terror.”
He also refused to accept Israel's lack of response to a last minute
attack by Hamas that killed two men in Kibbutz Nirim Tuesday.
"Israel's tacit acceptance that it is alright [for Hamas] to fire
without limits, and without a response, before the ceasefire goes into
force, is a very grave matter. We demand that the Israeli government and
the IDF stand behind their commitment to respond in a meaningful way to
any fire.”
Itamar Shimoni, Mayor of Ashkelon, said that any conmpromise with
Hamas is a surrender to terror. “The residents of Israel and the south
wanted to see a decision in this campaign, but this will apparently not
happen,” he stated.
"We wanted to see Hamas defeated and begging for its life; instead we
see Israel running to the negotiating table at every opportunity,” he
added. “We did not lose 64 fighters and five civilians, including a
four-year-old boy, for this 'achievement'. We did not sit in the
shelters and protected spaces for almost two months for this
'achievement'. We did not take a harsh economic blow, in which
businesses collapsed, for this 'achievement'. We expected a lot more
than this.”
"Hamas raised demands through violence, and it seems they can expect
to get what they wanted. The conclusion is that the path of terror pays
off, and therefore the next round of fighting is just a matter of time.
As far as I am concerned, a ceasefire agreement in this reality means
starting to prepare the systems in Ashkelon for the next round, and it
will be more grave and lethal than anything we have known up to now.”
The head of the Eshkol Council, Haim Yelin, said that he will not ask
the residents of his region to return to their homes. “In Jerusalem
there appears to be a ceasefire. I don't know what they are talking
about,” he told Channel 10 news. “In Jerusalem they feel safe, and in
some neighborhoods of Gaza they feel safe, but not us. We went into a
war of attrition in which we paid with the lives of families and deep
pain of the wounded. The government was unprepared for this war.”
The national politicians are also irate over this 'cease fire.'
Half the cabinet was opposed.
Just as half of the cabinet ministers were opposed to the cease-fire, many in the coalition expressed similar opinions.
Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Bayit Yehudi) said “any agreement that doesn’t include eliminating the rocket threat on residents of Israel and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip is less than half of what is necessary.
“In this reality, the defense establishment will have no choice but to prepare for the next round, which will be soon,” Ariel added.
According to MK Danny Danon (Likud), in the Middle East, restraint is seen as weakness.
“Despite the heavy price Hamas paid, we did not defeat Hamas,” he said. “Fifty days of fighting, 64 soldiers killed, five civilians killed, 82,000 reservists called up, and in the end we’re back to the agreement from Operation Pillar of Defense.”
Danon said a defeat was necessary to broadcast to the whole Middle East, including Hezbollah, Islamic State and Iran, that “they should not mess with the people of Israel.”
“I am concerned we did not succeed enough. Now is the time for national introspection. The policy of restraint and hesitation hurt Israel’s deterrence,” he added.
MK Eli Yishai (Shas) said that a cease-fire without Gaza being demilitarized means Israel may as well pencil in the next round of fighting in its calendar.
“This will be time for Hamas to resupply itself with weaponry to use against Israel,” he said. “Not demilitarizing Gaza will bring Israel to another round of fighting that will be even worse.”
On the Left, lawmakers called for the government to take initiative and launch diplomatic negotiations.
What's worse, afraid he would lose, Netanyahu pulled an Ariel Sharon and
circumvented a cabinet vote.
Government ministers Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman, Yitzhak
Aharonovich and Gilad Erdan, who were against the deal, complained that
they had merely been informed of the details of the agreement and were
not given the opportunity to vote on it.
Economy Minister Bennett
demanded that a vote be held on Wednesday but was informed that Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had received a legal opinion that a vote was
not required.
A senior official in Jerusalem said on Tuesday
night that Israel had informed Egypt that it accepted the proposal for a
cease-fire without time limitation. The response was given only after
all the ministers in the cabinet had been updated, the source said.
According
to the official, the agreement does not meet Hamas' demands for a sea
port, an airport, the release of prisoners and a solution to the issue
of funding salaries for Gaza officials.
Each of the sides will
raise its demands during the negotiations following the cease-fire;
Israel will demand the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
Humanitarian
aid, including equipment and materials to repair the damage in the
Strip, will be allowed to enter Gaza through the crossings controlled by
Israel. Entrance of the materials will be controlled. It is also
possibly that the Gaza fishing zone will be extended.
Justice
Minister Tzipi Livni responded earlier to reports of the imminent
cease-fire in Gaza and says that the end of the operation should not
include "any significant political achievements for Hamas, which is a
terrorist organization which doesn't accept our existence here."
I'll have more on this later, but let's put it this way: It takes three months to hold elections in Israel. I predict we will have them and we will have a new Prime Minister within six months. Write it down.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, cease fire, Erez crossing, Gaza, Gaza envelope, Hamas, humanitarian aid, IDF, Kerem Shalom crossing point, Operation Protective Edge
His popularity dropped from 82% to 38% in seven weeks
No, it's not Barack Hussein Obama whose popularity dropped from 82% to 38% in seven weeks. And it's not George H.W. Bush whose popularity dropped dramatically in the aftermath of the First Gulf War. It's
Binyamin Netanyahu whose popularity has dropped... because the war is still going and Israel has not decisively defeated Hamas.
A new poll released by the Hebrew-language Channel 2 news
site on Monday reveals that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's approval
rating has fallen as a "casualty" in the faltering Operation Protective
Edge.
The poll, conducted by Shiluv Millward Brown and iPanel for the news
source, found in the last four days Netanyahu's support has taken a
sharp nose-dive.
A mere 38% of Israelis responded that they are satisfied with
Netanyahu, as opposed to 50% who are dissatisfied. Just four days
earlier, Netanyahu's support stood at 55%.
The sudden dive corresponds to a period during which four-year-old Daniel Tragerman hy''d
was murdered by mortar fire in his Kibbutz Nahal Oz home last Friday,
possibly contributing to a feeling of government neglect in providing
security to its citizens.
The poll adds that three weeks ago Netanyahu's support was at 63%;
towards the beginning of the operation early last month when the IDF
began its ground entry to Gaza that it later withdrew, that support was
at a whopping 82%.
A University of Haifa poll late last month likewise found that
Netanyahu's support had spiked at the start of the operation, showing
that 65% were "very satisfied" with Netanyahu's handling of the operation, 20% were "satisfied" and only 10% "not satisfied."
However, that support has dipped as Netanyahu continues to be
unable to take decisive action against Hamas in an operation that
started July 8, while making numerous ceasefire agreements that Hamas repeatedly breaks, and "softening" ministers to Israeli concessions.
Ironically, US President Barack Obama told the New York Times earlier this month in an interview that Netanyahu had too much public support,
and that he needed internal pressure - not to defend Israel, but rather
to make land concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
If Netanyahu wants to stay in office, he has to stop listening to Obama and finish the job. And if Obama doesn't want to find himself sitting in the oval office next to Naftali Bennett or Avigdor Lieberman, he is going to have to bite his lip and let Netanyahu finish the job. The Israeli public is furious and is not in the mood to make any concessions to the 'Palestinians,' to Hamas or to anyone else. And the longer this goes on, the less likely that they will favor any concessions to the 'Palestinians' in Judea and Samaria either. Everyone in this country knows that the IDF is capable of finishing the job - if only they were allowed to finish it.
Read the whole thing.
JPost adds:
Regarding whether to start the school year if rocket fire continues, 18% said to open schools all over the country, 63% said school should begin everywhere except the South, and 15% said all schools in the country should remain closed.
Labels: Avigdor Lieberman, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Gaza, Gaza envelope, Hamas, IDF, Israeli polls, Naftali Bennett, Operation Protective Edge
This is not a parody....
This is not a parody....
A left-wing Moshavnik from Netiv HaAsara on the Gaza border tells Israel Radio
why we should give the 'Palestinians' whatever they want.
In a live interview broadcast this morning on Israel Radio Reshet Bet, Roni
Keidar, resident of Netiv HaAsara, a moshav that borders on the northern
edge of the Gaza Strip and has been subject to intensive attacks, explained
that Israel should give the Palestinians what they want.
Keidar, who is a member of Other Voice, gave as her proof that Israel
should follow her policy recommendation the fact that she engages in
dialogue with a woman in Gaza in English who also seeks peace. Keidar even
meets this woman periodically when she accompanies a relative to Israel for
monthly medical treatment.
"The two sides each have to share rather than take the position that
everything is theirs." Keidar noted.
Keidar, who was being interviewed from Eilat where she was taking a break
from the ongoing attacks on her home from Gaza, explained that while she is
free to express her views in Israel, her Palestinian friend has to keep her
views about peace and reconciliation to herself as it would be "life
threatening" for her Palestinian friend if her Palestinian friend's
neighbors were to find out her views.
The reporter declined to ask Keidar to address the disconnect between her
policy recommendation that Israel give the Palestinians what they want with
her belief that Palestinian society would murder an innocent Palestinian
only because they advocate peace and reconciliation with Israel.
And you were wondering how anyone in the Gaza envelope could be a Leftist....
Labels: freedom of speech, Gaza, Gaza envelope, Hamas, Israel Radio, leftists
Gaza envelope communities 'relocating'
Friday's murder of Daniel Tragerman HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) of Kibbutz Nachal Oz was a watershed event for the Jewish communities of the Gaza envelope. According to Haaretz some
70% of their residents have now fled to safer places.
In contrast to policies in place from the start of Operation Protective Edge
until now, Friday’s fatal attack set the Defense Ministry’s National
Authority for Emergency Management looking for solutions for families
wishing to evacuate the area.
Over
the last three days, some 400 families have requested assistance in
finding arrangements far away from the border. In contrast to earlier
stages of the fighting, such families no longer have to depend on
non-governmental agencies or private donations. The state is now
committed to financing their stay away from areas at risk.
All
sides are careful to note that this does not constitute an evacuation.
“This isn’t 1948,” clarified an employee at one local authority. “Don’t
label it an evacuation. These are arrangements for living away from
home,” said another employee. “We’re not evacuating any community.”
However, semantics cannot hide the fact that most residents living in high-risk areas chose to leave their homes again.
“We
were told not to call it an evacuation, only a breather, but we should
call a spade a spade. We left the kibbutz since it’s impossible to
remain there,” says Yael Stadin, community head at Kibbutz Ein
Hashlosha. Yesterday, with the assistance of the Authority for Emergency
Management and the Eshkol Regional Council, most kibbutz members left,
moving into a youth hostel in Jerusalem. One family, a mother and two
adult daughters, decided at the last minute to stay. A few hours later, a
mortar shell landed near their house and one of the daughters suffered
slight head injuries.
The
change in policy came after pressure from residents, communities and
local authorities that had to fend for themselves for over a month and a
half. The defense establishment emphasized that as far as the Home
Front Command is concerned, there is no change in guidelines, and
families have not been instructed to leave their homes. However, anyone
wishing to do so gets assistance.
The problem is apparently limited to communities that are close enough to be within mortar range. Iron Dome doesn't catch mortars and there are no warning sirens.
An estimated 30 percent of families remain in the Gazan border
communities. In more distant communities, outside the range of mortars,
some 80 percent of residents remain.
...
The death of Daniel Tragerman caused many people to make rapid plans for leaving their homes.
The
events of the last few days have drawn a clear distinction between
communities lying within mortar range – up to two kilometers from the
border – and all other settlements in the western Negev. In the absence
of a technological solution such as Iron Dome, the relatively simple
mortar has become Hamas’ most lethal weapon against civilians. Residents
living within two kilometers of the border find themselves facing a
difficult choice, of either remaining at home in a dangerous environment
or uprooting themselves for an unknown duration.
But if Jewish communities are abandoned, Hamas will step into the vacuum, as they did when the Jewish communities of Gaza were expelled (the government doesn't like me using that word, but that's the reality) nine years ago.
There has been a lot of talk recently about Gaza developing into a 'war of attrition.' There was a
war of attrition along Israel's border with Egypt 45 years ago. That war - which lasted from 1968-69 - saw hundreds of casualties. But it was conducted along the Suez Canal. There were few civilians involved.
Given this situation, I don't understand why we're even discussing a cease fire. Hamas must be destroyed.
Labels: Gaza envelope, Gaza expulsion, Hamas, IDF, mortar shells, Operation Protective Edge
4-year old terror victim to be buried on Sunday
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
Four-year old Daniel Tragerman HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) will be buried on Sunday at the Hevel Shalom cemetery in the Eshkol Region. Daniel was
killed on Friday when a car parked outside his home in Kibutz Nachal Oz was hit by a rocket shot by Hamas terrorists. Daniel did not have enough time to escape the shrapnel.
"Daniel was a smart, kind, sensitive child," Daniel's mother Gila
stated Friday. "We wanted to see him growing up with his brothers and
fulfilling his potential."
Gila also described her own version of Friday's mortar shell strike.
"After a mortar shell exploded near kibbutz buildings earlier
[Friday], we were preparing to travel to my parents in Kiryat Ono," she
recounted. "The bags were prepared in advance. I just went outside for a
moment and then we heard the 'code red' siren."
The community is in shock.
"This is a sad day, the saddest one in the area in 14 years," Haim
Yalin, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, stated Saturday. "This is
the nightmare of every resident and every family."
"A 4-year-old boy was killed, what else can you say?" he added. "You
have to embrace your family and be united on such a sad and difficult
day."
The IDF has identified the location from which the terrorists fired the mortar that killed 4-year old Daniel.
Early Saturday, the IDF clarified the circumstances of Daniel's
death, saying Hamas terrorists from its "military wing," the Al-Qassam
Brigades, had fired the deadly mortar shell from a site "adjacent to the Jafar Ali Ibn Taleb school in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City."
An army statement early Saturday said the facility served as a "shelter maintained by Hamas authority", correcting an earlier statement in which it had stated it was an UNRWA-operated facility.
Of course, since Daniel was a Jew, no one outside of Israel is likely to care. But look at the picture above. It's the picture of a terror victim. If that doesn't make you want to cry, then you have lost all feeling for what is good in this world.
Labels: Gaza envelope, Hamas, mortar shells, Palestinian terrorists, terror victims
Hamas rocket hits synagogue in Ashdod, Hamas rocket just misses kindergarten, shots fired at Jerusalem home
Three people were wounded by shrapnel on Friday when a
Hamas rocket slammed into a synagogue in Ashdod.
A rocket fired by terrorists in Gaza has caused considerable damage to a synagogue in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.
Paramedics from the United Hatzalah and Magen David Adom emergency
organizations rushed to the scene, after a massive explosion was heard.
Three people were injured and have been evacuated for further medical
treatment after receiving first aid.
Medical sources described two of the victims as males, aged 25 and
26, who suffered shrapnel injuries to their extremities. They have been
evacuated to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.
The third victim, a 40-year-old woman, suffered injuries to her
torso, and has been evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.
Several others were treated at the scene for shock.
A short while later, a
Hamas rocket landed just 12 meters (about 39 feet) from a packed Kindergarten in the western Negev.
A five-rocket salvo saw the Iron Dome intercept two rockets over
Ashkelon. Three rockets struck the western Negev; one of them landed
just 12 meters (roughly feet) from a packed kindergarten. Luckily, all
children and staff are safe; the building was protected from rocket fire
and all of the occupants were in safe areas.
...
The near-miss follows Education Minister Shai Piron's assertion Thursday that the school year would continue as usual, despite the ongoing rocket fire on civilians.
“The school year will begin as planned. We are prepared for any
security-related occurrences,” the MK explained. “During the first two
weeks of the school year, the education system will not be occupied with
regular teaching, but rather with activities to dissipate the tensions
and with discussions surrounding the events of the summer, including the
arousal and demonstration of racism and incitement.”
The Ashklelon and Be'er Sheva Regional Councils have all pledged to ignore Piron's statement, according to Walla! News, citing security concerns and potential psychological toll on the area's children.
This is the third time a rocket has struck near a school. The previous rocket strike wounded a 33 year-old man on Thursday, as he heroically was protecting children from the missile with his own body.
And here in Jerusalem,
shots were fired from the Arab 'refugee camp' at Shuafat into a home in the neighborhood of Pisgat Zev.
As Gaza terrorists kept up their rocket war against Israel on Friday, terrorists in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat apparently opened a salvo of their own, shooting at a Jewish home in the adjacent Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood.
Police arrived in the neighborhood after receiving reports of gunshots heard from Shuafat.
A bullet was found by the doorway of a Pisgat Ze'ev home, having hit
the home and fallen to the ground; no one was injured in the incident.
A search is being conducted by police forces in the area to try and locate the perpetrator of the shooting attack.
There has been a growing concern over rising terrorism from
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, based
on an ever more open call for terror by the group accompanied by
numerous terror attacks.
Shabbat Shalom to all of you. As we try to stay safe here in Israel, your prayers on our behalf are greatly appreciated.
Labels: Ashdod, East Jerusalem, Gaza envelope, Hamas rockets, Kindergarten, Pisgat Zev, Shuafat
NotInMyBackYard
Evelyn Gordon reports that the Government of Israel continues to treat the southern part of the country with a
NotInMyBackYard attitude. This article was received by email and was published in the JPost premium pages.
My
vote for most outrageous remark of the war goes to an unnamed senior IDF
officer who pooh-poohed southern residents’ anger at seeing rocket fire
from Gaza resume just two days after the army said they could safely go
home.
“It is possible now to be within those areas now just it was
possible during [Operation] Protective Edge to be in Tel Aviv and
Beersheba, even though there was firing,”
he insisted.
“This is not a new situation for [southern] residents. They have
protected rooms, and with proper protection it is possible to live there
... These communities have been fired on for years and people did not
leave because of it.”
What makes this outrageous isn’t just the content, but the speaker:
A senior officer of the army charged with protecting Israel against
external threats has essentially declared that tens of thousands of
Israelis have no right to expect such protection. Instead, they must
continue living with daily rocket and mortar fire, playing Russian
roulette with their families’ lives and watching their children develop
post-traumatic stress disorder.
Moreover, an officer charged with protecting Israelis against
threats showed himself incapable even of identifying a threat. Comparing
the south to Tel Aviv is ludicrous. Tel Aviv suffered one or two
rockets a day during the month-long war and is rocket-free between wars.
The south has suffered one or two rockets a day for nine years straight
and dozens a day during wartime. Tel Aviv’s situation is indeed one
people can live with. The south’s isn’t.
True, southern residents “did not leave” despite being “fired on
for years,” but even heroes have breaking points. Southerners heroically
endured for nine years in the belief that eventually, the government
and army would restore security. The latest war shattered that belief.
First came the discovery that Hamas had dug dozens of cross-border
tunnels from Gaza that emerged near southern communities. Hams could
have used these tunnels to kidnap and kill hundreds of southerners, and
apparently
intended
to do exactly that. Yet for years, despite knowing the tunnels existed,
the government and army did nothing about them, and even once the war
began, the cabinet, with full IDF backing, sought to end it before a
single tunnel had been demolished. Only when Hamas rejected a cease-fire
did the government order the tunnels destroyed. For southerners, the
message was clear: Neither the government nor the army had any interest
in protecting them; both were willing to abandon them to the tunnel
threat.
Then came the discovery that the tunnel network was far more
extensive than the IDF had thought. This intelligence failure left
southerners with little confidence in the army’s assertion that all
tunnels have now been destroyed, a concern they have
voiced repeatedly.
Third was the army’s announcement two weeks ago that the war was
over and southerners could return home, only to have Hamas resume
shooting two days later. GOC Southern Command Sami Turgeman and Gaza
Division commander Mickey Edelstein at least apologized; Chief of Staff
Benny Gantz didn’t even do that. The lesson for southern residents was
twofold: Not only are the IDF’s assurances untrustworthy, but its top
officer doesn’t even care enough about their safety to feel guilty about
misleading them.
The result of all this is that residents of southern communities
are now openly questioning whether they should stay. During the war,
these communities turned into
ghost towns, and a poll published last week
found that 20% of residents are considering making this exodus permanent.
“As a parent, I’m struggling with a very big moral dilemma here,
and that dilemma is how much risk am I willing to expose my children
to,” one southerner explained, noting that the daily “drizzles” of
rockets and mortars “make our life unbearable.”
"The residents of the area are exhausted,”
added another.
“We're frustrated that no long-term, strong, stable solution has been
reached. That's why the residents want to leave the community – because
of lack of confidence in the government, whose role is to provide us
with security.”
“It's impossible to raise children in an awful situation like this,” agreed a third.
Last Thursday, when 10,000 people – mainly southerners –
demonstrated in Tel Aviv to demand that the government finally restore
their security, Eshkol Regional Council head Haim Yellin put the issue
in a nutshell: “A sovereign state must protect the security of its
residents, even if they live in the periphery,”
he declared.
The reason why ought to be obvious. The south isn’t “occupied
territory”; it’s sovereign Israel. If Israelis won’t even fight to
defend that, terrorists won’t stop at turning the south into a
wasteland; they’ll spare no effort to extend these tactics to the rest
of Israel. And the entire Arab world – even those parts that currently
oppose Hamas and Hezbollah – will support them, convinced that they’ve
finally found a recipe for Israel’s destruction.
Of course, the IDF isn’t primarily to blame for the senior
officer’s attitude: The army of a democratic state is supposed to
execute the government’s policies, and his remarks faithfully reflected
the policies of three successive prime ministers: Ariel Sharon, Ehud
Olmert and Binyamin Netanyahu.
Yet the IDF’s attitude also matters, because it constrains the government’s options. It’s no accident that, as
Israel Hayom noted,
Gantz “was recently quoted as saying that every plan the IDF presented
to the cabinet was approved and nothing the military did not want to see
happen, happened” during the fighting in Gaza. Since the army prepares
the operational plans and trains soldiers to execute them, it’s
virtually impossible to assign it a mission senior officers oppose: They
can simply declare the goal unachievable, then make this a
self-fulfilling prophecy by failing to present viable plans or properly
prepare the troops.
Ordinary Israelis do seem to grasp the magnitude of the southern threat: In one poll
last month, fully 87% of respondents opposed a cease-fire, saying the
war should continue until Hamas is defeated. Unfortunately, our
political and military leadership has demonstrated no similar
understanding. And that means both must be replaced by people who do –
before it’s too late.
There was interview on Israel Radio after midnight last night with someone living in southern Israel. A large portion of the kids there have post traumatic stress disorder. Even grown-ups are afraid to get into the shower alone in case an alarm goes off. This is no way to live. Unless the government is willing to see our borders eroded (who will be next?), relying on the good graces of Hamas and Islamic Jihad not to shoot at us
seems to be is insane.
Labels: Gaza, Gaza envelope, Hamas rockets, Islamic Jihad, NotInMyBackYard
Forgotten people: Half a million Israelis in shelters and the world's reaction...
Let's go to the videotape.
There are half a million Israelis hiding in bomb shelters from a blizzard of rockets being shot by Hamas from Gaza. Pathetically, Prime Minister Netanyahu is being restrained from going after them by the Obama-Kerry junta, at the request of '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen. And the
world's reaction is best described by the video at the top of this post.
Some half a million Israelis spent much of their weekend running to bomb shelters, with school camps remaining closed in one city July 6 because of rocket fire from Gaza.
“The Ashdod municipality had said on Saturday night that
no classes or other planned activities would be allowed to open, except
inside bomb shelters.”
The Hamas terror organization, which controls Gaza, claimed it can
hit any city in Israel, under its slogan “all cities are close to Gaza.”
A picture depicting a heroic jihadist carrying a Grad rocket can be
seen on the homepage of the Hamas information website and other Hamas-affiliated websites.
There was a steep increase in rockets shot at Israel over the past four days.
“110 rockets
were fired into Israel, 80 of them exploded in urban areas in the
Negev. Ten rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome (defense system).”
Beersheba was targeted for the first time since 2012. Although rockets were fired at the city, they were intercepted by Iron Dome.
How much longer will the Israeli government put up with this?
Labels: Ashdod, Beersheva, Gaza, Gaza envelope, Hamas rockets, rockets, Sderot, shelters
Here we go? 50-55 rockets fired by Islamic Jihad, IDF preparing ground response
2014 is not continuing the 'no rockets' of 2013. In less than the last hour, Islamic Jihad has fired
50-55 rockets into southern Israel, and the IDF is preparing ground troops to respond.
IDF Radio is reporting that between 50 and 55 rockets have
landed in Israel so far, after initial reports put the number at closer
to 25. Of those, at least five were launched at Sderot; the Iron Dome
has stopped some of them from making an impact on Israeli soil,
according to the latest updates.
No injuries have been reported.
The Islamic Jihad terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack, in response to IAF airstrikes in Gaza on
Tuesday, which killed three Islamic Jihad terrorists. Those airstrikes
were themselves a response to an attempted mortar attack on IDF forces
by the terrorist squad.
"The Al-Quds Brigades responded to [Israeli] aggression with a volley
of rockets," read a statement released by the Iranian-backed group.
At least of one of the communities near Gaza has reported damage from
the rocket fire, according to the latest news reports, though it has
not been confirmed which one.
Residents are being advised to stay in protective shelters until
further updates warrant; the Israeli Police has raised the alert level
throughout the Negev in response to the rocket fire.
IAF helicopters are patrolling the skies near Gaza now, as "security
forces and the IDF are weighing the appropriate response," according to Walla! News.
This could get big relatively quickly....
Labels: Gaza, Gaza envelope, Iron Dome, Islamic Jihad, rockets
Breaking: Gaza terrorists fire more than 20 rockets at southern Israel
In the last few minutes, Gaza terrorists fired more than 20 rockets at children walking home from school in southern Israel. Three were intercepted by Iron Dome, and the rest missed. Would you want your kids to walk home from school like
this?
Moments ago, Gaza terrorists fired a salvo of 20 rockets at southern Israel. In
the late afternoon, “Code Red” sirens sounded in Israeli communities,
where children were heading home from school. The Iron Dome missile
defense system intercepted three of the rockets.
Since the start of 2014, Gaza terrorists have fired more than 60 rockets at Israel.
Hopefully, Gaza will be rocking tonight. By the way, we had a torrential downpour with hail in Jerusalem at just about the same time as these rockets were fired. Yes, it's not just raining rockets.
Labels: Gaza, Gaza envelope, Iron Dome, rainfall, rockets
How's this for a success story?
As far as I am concerned, one rocket per year is too many (because it means you can't go about your life totally freely), but even I didn't expect this level of success from Operation Pillar of Defense.
One of my daughters spent the Sabbath with a friend in Netivot. On the way back, her bus went through Sderot, which as you might recall is right on the Gaza border and took a lot of those 2,248 rockets. My daughter reports that Sderot is huge and rapidly growing, and that housing prices have skyrocketed (bad word, I know) there over the last year.
The IDF did really well on this one.
Labels: Gaza, Gaza envelope, Hamas rockets, Netivot, Operation Pillar of Defense, Sderot
Would you want to live like this?
They just fell 'harmlessly,' right? So would you want to live like
this?
Gaza terrorists fired two mortar shells at the southern Negev early
on Sunday afternoon. The shells exploded in the Eshkol region, but did
not cause injury.
The military has advised agricultural workers in the area to seek shelter.
Last week terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired a mortar shell that hit the Eshkol region. Less than a week earlier, a projectile fired from Gaza hit southern Israel.
Recently, Hamas’ “military wing” has admitted to being behind an attempted attack involving a “terror tunnel” leading from Gaza to an Israeli kibbutz. The group admitted that the tunnel was to be used to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
Remember that the 'Eshkol region' is not over the 'green line'; it's in territory that has been part of the State of Israel since the State declared its independence in 1948 (and for much longer).
So would you want to live like this? I think not. I think it would crimp your style. I know it would crimp mine.
What would you want your government to do about it?
Labels: Gaza, Gaza envelope, mortar shells, Palestinian terrorism
IDF uncovers tunnel from Gaza to nearby Kibbutz's Kindergarten
Lest you think that all the Gaza tunnels are about smuggling in cars, that Egypt is shutting them all down, or that the 'Palestinians' have given up on
murdering Jews....
The IDF recently uncovered a Palestinian terrorist tunnel leading from
the Gaza Strip to Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, they announced on Sunday.
The tunnel was dug in order to either kidnap civilians and soldiers, or
to infiltrate the community and carry out an atrocity in it, the army
believes.
The tunnel was over 1.7 kilometers in length and represents a grave
attempt by Palestinian terrorists to perpetrate an attack, army sources
added.
The entrance of the tunnel on the Israeli side was reportedly dug near a kindergarten.
"The
discovery of the tunnel ... prevented attempts to harm Israeli
civilians who live close to the border and military forces in the area,"
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said in a statement, accusing Gaza's
ruling Hamas Islamist movement of being behind construction of the
2.5-km (1.5 mile)-long tunnel.
There was no claim of
responsibility in Gaza but a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing wrote on
Twitter that "the determination deep in the hearts and minds of
resistance fighters is more important than tunnels dug in the mud".
What nice people. I'm sure if we give them a 'state,' they'll stop trying to murder Jews. /sarc
Here's a photo of the tunnel provided by the IDF.
Labels: Gaza envelope, Hamas, weapons tunnels
IDF: No longer necessary to place guards in border towns, Judea and Samaria
In what is being billed as an operational decision, and not a budgetary one, the IDF is to
stop posting soldiers at towns along the Gaza, Lebanon and Syria borders.
In
the past, the IDF’s Southern Command placed soldiers at the entrance to nine
towns and villages near the Gaza and Egypt borders, while the Northern Command
secured 13 frontier communities in this way.
Evaluations carried out at
IDF headquarters concluded that enhanced border security measures, such as
electronic sensors, patrols and lookout posts, combined with additional
components, meant that the practice of placing soldiers inside the communities
is no longer necessary.
“We know where the threats come from, what routes
threats could take, and we understand these measures are no longer needed,” the
source said. “The need to defend communities from the inside seems less
relevant,” he stated. Operational considerations rather than budgetary
constraints lay behind the move, he added.
But if this is really an operational decision, how do you explain this?
But Shlomo Vaknin,
in charge of security for the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria
said that 20 West Bank settlements would also be impacted by the new security
arrangements.
The IDF has notified these settlements that 17 soldiers
will be removed from their security details by October 1, and that anywhere from
23 to 33 soldiers will be taken off the details as of January 1, Vaknin
said.
Soldiers will continue to guard the settlements, he said, but the
number in each settlement will now be reduced. He added that the move harms
smaller settlements that have less resources to make up the gap. Although the
settlements could sustain the cuts, Vaknin said, he was concerned by the
implications of the move, fearing they could lead to further
cutbacks.
Council spokesman Yigal Delmonti noted that 33 soldiers had
already been cut from security details in settlements in Judea and Samaria a few
months ago.
These communities are under threat of infiltration, Delmonti
said, and past experience has shown that such infiltration can have tragic
results.
The area around settlements in Judea and Samaria is not secured
by the same physical and technological barriers as are border communities and,
as a result, they are more reliant on IDF security details, he said.
This is a disaster waiting to happen, R"L (God save us).
Labels: borders and security, Gaza envelope, IDF, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, Syria
It starts: 'Palestinian' terrorists shoot rocket at western Negev
The 'peace talks' have started and so has the
'Palestinian' rocket fire.
Several hours after Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks in Washington,
Gaza's
terror groups sent a message of their own. A Qassam
rocket exploded in an open area at the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council
on Tuesday morning. No injuries or damage were reported.
Benny, who resides in the surrounding area, told Ynet, "We know where
we live. For weeks now we've been waiting for something to come from
Gaza's direction. Every time there is talk of negotiations, we get a
present from Gaza."
But just give them a 'state' and they'll police their terrorists and get them to stop shooting rockets at us.
/Fantasyland.
Labels: Gaza, Gaza envelope, Kassam rockets, Palestinian terrorism, rockets
