Excellent editorial by the formidable Ambassador Dore Gold (hat tip ESW) Did Israel Use "Disproportionate Force" in Gaza? Dore Gold Israel is currently benefiting from a limited degree of understanding in international diplomatic and media circles for launching a major military operation against Hamas on December 27. Yet there are significant international voices that are prepared to argue that Israel is using disproportionate force in its struggle against Hamas. Israeli Population Centers Under Rocket Attack There are good reasons why initial criticism of Israel has been muted. After all, Israeli population centers in southern Israel have been the target of over 4,000 rockets, as well as thousands of mortar shells, fired by Hamas and other organizations since 2001.1 The majority of those attacks were launched after Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. Indeed, rocket attacks increased by 500 percent (from 179 to 946) from 2005 to 2006. Moreover, lately Hamas has been extending the range of its striking capability even further with new rockets supplied by Iran. Hamas used a 20.4-kilometer-range Grad/Katyusha for the first time on March 28, 2006, bringing the Israeli city of Ashkelon into range of its rockets for the first time. That change increased the number of Israelis under threat from 200,000 to half a million.2 Moreover, on December 21, 2008, Yuval Diskin, Head of the Israel Security Agency, informed the Israeli government that Hamas had acquired rockets that could reach Ashdod, Kiryat Gat, and even the outskirts of Beersheba.3 The first Grad/Katyusha strike on Ashdod, in fact, took place on December 28. There had been no formal cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, but only an informal six-month tahadiya (lull), during which 215 rockets were launched at Israel.4 On December 21, Hamas unilaterally announced that the tahadiyahad ended. I think we ought grant their wish. And spare me on how this will galvanize the Muslim world against us, they are already galvanized. Iran's "Combatant Clergy Society" signing up volunteers to fight jihad against Israel Jihadwatch Combative clergy Combatant Clergy? But...but...don't they have to study Islam to become clerics? And wouldn't they get the picture, in all that study, that Islam is a Religion of Peace™? Why is it that, all around the world, so many Islamic clerics seem to be Misunderstanders of Islam, and think that jihad has something to do with warfare? But no worries. No number of stories like this will ever shake the PC and compromised mainstream media (liberal and conservative) out of its miasma. "Iran Hardliners Register Volunteers to Fight Israel," from Reuters, December 29 (thanks to Sr. Soph): TEHRAN (Reuters) - A group of Iranian hard-line clerics is signing up volunteers to fight in the Gaza Strip in response to Israel's air strikes that have killed at least 300 Palestinians, a news agency reported on Monday. "From Monday the Combatant Clergy Society has activated its website www.rohaniatmobarez.com for a week to register volunteers to fight against the Zionist regime (Israel) in either the military, financial or propaganda fields," the semi-official Fars news agency said. Israel patrols the coastal waters around Gaza and has declared areas around the enclave a "closed military zone." The hard-line Iranian group, which is headed by some leading clergy, says it has no affiliation with the government and was formed shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.... Fars said the hard-line group provided volunteers with a registration document called "Registration form for dispatching volunteers to Gaza." It said more than 1,100 people so far had registered for military service against Israel. Khamenei said on Sunday that whoever was killed in the fight to defend Palestinians was "considered a martyr." Iran will send its first ship carrying aid to the Gaza Strip on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said. "Iran has dispatched its first plane load of aid, including medicine, to Gaza on Sunday. The second cargo is on the verge of being dispatched," Qashqavi told reporters on Monday. "The first aircraft arrived in Egypt last night."... Germany? That's appropriate, considering their history - let's pray that stake a hard stand on this at the UN. Germany defends Israeli military action in Gaza (hat tip Aug) Berlin - Germany on Monday defended Israel's military action in Gaza, saying it was taken to protect the country's civilian population from missile attacks by Palestinian militants. The decision by the radical Hamas movement to end a six-month truce with Israel and continue firing rockets at the Jewish state was to blame for the crisis, government spokesman Thomas Steg said. 'It is the legitimate right of Israel to protect its civilian population and to defend its territory,' Steg told a press briefing in Berlin. He called on Hamas to cease firing Kassem rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and villages immediately so that Israel can end its military operation. It is mildly bemusing that politicians in Israel and (the US) move right of center to get elected. It's what the people want. Once elected, they veer wildly to the left to the detriment of civilization. EXCELLENY OVERVIEW OF OPERATON CAST LEAD Jordan killed 10,000 to 25,000 "Palestinians" in one month (September 1970)- that's more "Palestinians" in than Israel killed during the three years of increased Palestinian homicide bombings that began with al dura hoax - the second intifada, in the fall of 2000. The brutality of the Jordanian Army toward Palestinian dissidents and terrorists was far more egregious than anything Israel has ever done but these details have little relevance to the antisemitic narrative being spewed by the left and their media propagandists. (more here) hat tip Joel Ban Ki-Moon, call your office: Egyptians open fire on Palestinians (Jihadwatch) Middle East Map (hat tip Nancy) 22 Hostile Arab/Islamic Nations Allied With 1.4 Billion Muslims Worldwide One,Tiny Jewish Nation On The Entire Earth - Israel In its six decades of history, clouded by almost uninterrupted warfare against it, Israel has made many mistakes: 1. Relinquishing the Sinai to Egypt 2. Relinquishing Southern Lebanon to Hezbollah 3. Relinquishing Gaza to the Palestinians And the greatest mistake of all: *Relinquishing Gaza to the "Palestinians" Since Israel forcibly kicked all Israelis out of Gaza and gave it to the Palestinians, the Gazans have launched daily rocket attacks on the Israeli city of Sderot. These attacks are upon peaceful civilians, innocent men, women and children who are merely trying to live a productive and peaceful life. As you can see from the map above, the one thing Israel does not have enough of is land. Giving up land in the hopes of having peace has done nothing but give Israel’s enemies closer access to its eventual annihilation. When in the history of the world has a country given up land they captured in a defensive war launched against it by surrounding enemies? Only in Israel has this happened. So great is their quest for peace. All 22 Arab Nations incite daily in their (non-free) press for Israel’s destruction. Children in the 22 Arab Nations are being raised with a goal of becoming suicide bombers – killing as many Israelis as possible as they die a martyr. Their mothers celebrate their deaths and the countries hail them as heroes – other children collect trading cards with their pictures and descriptions on them much the same as American Children used to collect baseball cards. Ahmadinejad in Iran promises to ‘wipe Israel off the map.’ He denies there was a European Holocaust that killed six million Jews while he plots and plans to carry out a second one. He is rapidly working on Atomic Bombs for just that purpose. We should believe him when he says that is his goal…but no one seems to be. We should have believed Hitler when he wrote about his intentions to get rid of all Jews…but no one did. Much thanks to Nancy who pulled this together"DISPROPORTIONATE FORCE" OR NOT ENOUGH?
Monday, December 29, 2008
THE FOURTH REICH: IRAN BEGGING TO BE BOMBED
GERMANY DEFENDS THE JEWS
ACCURATE MIDDLE EAST PERSPECTIVE,THANKYOUVERYMUCH
This may well be Livni's attempt to snatch victory from the hands of likud. But I do not think they can pull that off. You can't fake integrity and courage for terribly long. Olmerde and company do not have the spine, the fortitude, the soul to fight for the Jewish people. (Olmert said that the action was intended primarily to improve the security of the residents of southern Israel - so we now what that means, he will cave when the pressure gets too intense). We saw this in the summer of 2006, the last time Islamic jihad declared war on the Jews.
Israel should rout her enemies and take out Iran's nukes NOW. Before it is too late. But these dhimmi Jews just don't get it and they will continue to appease their executioners.
That's my take.
22 Totalitarian Arab/Islamic Countries
One Tiny Non-Arab/Democratic Country – Israel (in red, below)
Arab Countries – Oil Rich
Israel – No Oil Reserves
Arab Countries Have 800 Times More Land Than Israel
Israel is Only 1/6 of 1% the Size of the Arab Lands
It is so small…it is 1/19th the size of California
Israel: The Most Disputed strip of Real Estate on Planet Earth!
Monday, 29 December 2008
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