More on Daniel Viflic HY"D (may God avenge his blood)
On Sunday night, I reported on the
death of Daniel Viflic, the 16-year old who was hit by an anti-tank missile while riding a school bus in the Gaza envelope ten days ago. Here's some more about
Daniel's final hours.
Chief of Pediatric ICU at Soroka Medical Center, Professor Shaul Sofer, said: "Unfortunately Daniel passed away this afternoon. We were not surprised by his passing – he arrived in critical condition, and within a short time his brain stopped functioning.
"Because of the sensitive nature of the case, we continued to give him the best medical care, although objectively we knew that his brain would not recuperate," he added.
According to Sofer, "Daniel arrived at the hospital without blood pressure, after being resuscitated. He suffered from shrapnel that penetrated his brain, and had subsequently stopped breathing, which prevented oxygen from reaching his brain."
Sofer added that after receiving the initial brain scans it was clear that he suffered a critical injury that was irreversible.
Hundreds of people attended Daniel's funeral on Sunday night in the outskirts of Beit Shemesh.
"It's hard to believe he's not here. I thank all those who came and all the support from the religious and seculars alike, even from Arabs and Bedouins. It’s not thanks to us, it's because Daniel was an exceptional child," his father Yitzhak said.
Benny Chen, who knew the family from the time they lived in Hong Kong said: "The father met the mother in Hong Kong where she converted to Judaism and made aliyah out of love for the Land of Israel. They came here to set up a family and raise their children in Israel. Daniel and his sister were their only children.
"They managed to fit in well with the local community [Ramat Beit Shemesh. CiJ], they were quiet and loved by all. The boy Daniel was not meant to be on the bus. He came to visit his grandmother, slept over and the driver who knew him asked to take him for a ride. A ride from which he never returned.”
Zion Yemini, the driver of the school bus which was hit was devastated to hear the news of Daniel's death. "This is very bad news, I so hoped he would stay alive," Yemini said Sunday.
May Daniel's memory be blessed and may he be a straight advocate for his family and friends.
Labels: Cornet anti-tank missile, Daniel Viflic, Gaza envelope, Palestinian terrorism, school bus attack
Netanyahu blows off Justin Bieber
Prime Minister Netanyahu finally found someone to whom he could stand up: 17-year old Justin Bieber. Fortunately, at least
it's for a good cause.
The prime minister was scheduled to host the young singer at his office in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening, before Bieber's Thursday night concert.
Taking advantage of the PR opportunity presented by the meeting with Bieber, Netanyahu's advisers invited a group of children from communities near the Gaza border to attend.
The children had disembarked from a school bus just before it was hit by a Hamas rocket last Thursday, critically wounded a teen and moderately wounding the bus driver.
Bieber reportedly refused to meet the children, which led Netanyahu to cancel the meeting.
Bieber still has a day to change his mind and be a good boy. I wonder why he won't meet with those kids.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Justin Bieber, school bus attack
Emergency fund for family of Israeli teen wounded in Gaza envelope on Thursday
An emergency fund has been established for the family of the teenager who was critically wounded by 'Palestinian' terrorists in Thursday's attack on a school bus in the Gaza envelope. It turns out that the teen is not from the Gaza envelope area.
He's from Beit Shemesh (just West of the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv corridor).
Lema'an Achai charity organization of Ramat Beit Shemesh, "One Family" (which specializes in assisting terror victims) and "Paamonim" (which specializes in financial and small business structuring) are coordinating efforts to help the family of 16-year-old Daniel Viflic of Beit Shemesh, who remained in critical condition Sunday with wounds suffered Thursday, when an anti-tank missile. launched by Gaza terrorists, hit the school bus in which he was travelling.
Chairman David Morris of Lema'an Achai says the Viflic family will need $10,000 to make it through the Pesach period which, under normal circumstances, would be a peak season for its catering business, which has been closed by the tragedy.
To donate securely on line, go to: https://lemaanachai.org/donations.aspx
Use the drop-down, or comments section to designate "Terror Victim - Viflic".
To donate by Phone (in Hebrew), people in Israel can call: 02 999 9933
People are asked to pray for Raphael Arieh ben Tamar.
For those calling from outside Israel, that would be +972-2-999 9933.
Labels: Daniel Viflic, Gaza envelope, Raphael Arieh ben Tamar, school bus attack
More details about the anti-tank missile used on Thursday
Here are some more details from the IDF about the anti-tank missile that was shot at an Israeli school bus on Thursday (that's the front of the bus in the picture).
The missile was a
9M133 Kornet rocket.
During the day, it uses optical and CCD sighting mechanism.
During the night it uses thermal imaging.
It's laser guided; once shot, it always hits its target.
It has a range of 5.5 kilometers, and a payload of 5-10 kilo of high energy explosives.
It takes weeks of training to use it.
They are made in Russia...and are the most deadly penetrative weapon in the region, capable of going through a meter of steel.
And yes, the IDF says that the 'Palestinians' knew it was a school bus. They were hoping it was full.
By the way, at a 'press conference' about the 'aggression on Gaza,' Hamas tried to suggest that the bus was actually a
disguised tank.
Al-Qassam Brigades' operations during the last Forty-Eight hours:
First: Targeting a bus was traveling between the Zionist military sites on the strip border, east of Gaza City, at around three o'clock on Thursday, 07.04.2011, near the so-called "Kfar Saad," the bus was passing in the way of tanks and artillery.
But the IDF says that the bus was clearly labeled (you can see the picture above yourself and decide for yourself whether there's any way that bus could have been mistaken for a tank. I don't think so).
Labels: Gaza envelope, Hamas, Palestinian terrorism, school bus attack
Iron Dome stops a rocket in Ashkelon
Since everyone else is talking about it, I probably should point out that the
Iron Dome system intercepted a rocket over Ashkelon on Thursday.
Two intercepting missiles were fired at the rocket, but the first succeeded in hitting it, an army official said.
Eyewitnesses told Ynet they saw the rocket explode in midair and realized that the system had intercepted its first rocket.
Moshe Ben Hemo, a resident of Ashkelon, said, "I was in the street and I heard a strange sound, like someone pushing the gas pedal of a car. Then I saw the rocket fly through the air and explode. Immediately I realized that it was Iron Dome, that's what has been said here."
He added that the rocket alert had not been set off. "The rocket was apparently supposed to explode in Ashkelon. In any case I'm glad the system works," he said.
I'm glad it worked... but....
Ashkelon is not as close to Gaza as Sderot. You have
approximately a minute for a rocket to fly the 12.5 kilometers from Gaza to Ashkelon - as compared with 15 seconds to Sderot. I don't believe that Iron Dome will protect the closer-in places like Sderot.
Second, spent $100,000 to shoot down a $100 rocket. That's right - each Iron Dome missile costs $50,000 and a Hamas rocket from Gaza costs $100. How long can we keep fighting on that ratio?
Third. as the 'Palestinians' showed on Thursday, they can use laser guided anti-tank missiles that will never appear on Iron Dome's radar to hit targets within Israel (yes, that anti-tank missile was laser guided).
Iron Dome is not the answer.
Labels: Ashkelon, Cornet anti-tank missile, Gaza, Iron Dome, school bus attack
It wasn't an accident
There was speculation on Thursday that the 'Palestinian' attack on a school bus in the Gaza envelope across the border from the Gaza Strip was a lucky shot. It wasn't. The terrorists
aimed at the school bus and knew exactly what the target was.
This was the first time that an antitank missile had hit a civilian target in southern Israel, sharply raising the stakes for residents of the area. It also prompted one of the most intensive Israeli retaliatory bombardments of Gaza in the past two years, killing five.
The military wing of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, claimed responsibility for the attack on the bus, saying it had specifically aimed at the target as a response to Israel’s killing of three Hamas commanders last Saturday. Israel said the three had been planning to kidnap Israelis.
“This is an initial response to the occupation’s crimes,” Hamas said in a statement on Thursday, referring to Israel, “the latest of which was the assassination of the three holy fighters.”
Isn't it funny how we haven't heard anyone call the targeting of a children's school bus a war crime? Isn't it funny how we haven't seen the UN Security Council go into emergency session to condemn the targeting of children, nor have we heard the UN 'Human Rights Council' call for an investigation.
Maybe Judge Goldstone would like to chair a commission?
Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Palestinian terrorism, Richard Goldstone, school bus attack
On Sunday night, I reported on the death of Daniel Viflic, the 16-year old who was hit by an anti-tank missile while riding a school bus in the Gaza envelope ten days ago. Here's some more about Daniel's final hours. 
