Monday, December 29, 2008
IDF Troops Have entered Gaza
This hasn't hit the media yet, but I've already gotten the e-mails.
May Almighty G-d strengthen their hands, guide their aim and protect them from harm...and may He bring darkness, death and defeat to their enemies.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
A Tale Of Selective Morality and Tribal Warfare
Needless to say,Israel's response to months of rocket and mortar attacks on its citizens has brought forth widespread protests across the Muslim world and its various beach heads in the West. Not to mention 'concern' in the so-called international community.
In Damascus, Syria, more than 5,000 people went out in the streets burning Israeli and American flags. In Jordan, one of the two Arab countries that has diplomatic relations with Israel, protesters called for the deportation of Israel's ambassador, lawmakers in what passes for Jordan's parliament burned an Israeli flag and US ally King Abdullah called the Israeli response “unjustified aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza”, and said that it “should stop immediately”, according to Petra, the Jordanian news agency.
In Turkey, the Islamist Prime Minister Erdogan referred to Israel's defense of its citizens as 'a crime against humanity'.
In Iran, the Ayatolah Khamenei issued a fatwa against Israel, saying it was time for Iran and the Arabs to unite and destroy Israel and that anyone who died killing Jews was a holy martyr.
There were protests throughout Iraq in Baghdad, Mosul, Samarra, and Falluja that pretty much involved all factions. The 'moderate' Ayatolah Sistani said condemnation didn't go far enough:
"Expressing condemnation and denunciation for what is going on against our brothers in Gaza and expressing solidarity with them by words only doesn't mean anything in the face of the big tragedy they are facing," he said in a statement released by office in Najaf.
"Now more than at any other time, both Arab and Islamic nations are required to take a practical stance for the sake of stopping this repeated aggression and to break the unfair besieging of these brave people."
The Mosul protests had an ironic twist when a Muslim suicide bomber lit himself up at the rally, killing two.The demonstration's organizer, the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party knew whom to blame, of course. The party's Mosul spokesman, Yahiya Abid Mahjoub sai, "The ones who targeted our brothers in Gaza are the same who targeted us in Mosul today. They are agents of Israel."
Damned Jews..... they're everywhere, aren't they?
In Britain, a violent Muslim protest at the Israeli embassy resulted in ten arrests, as Britain cringed as usual, referred to ' the humanitarian crisis' and called for an immediate end to Israeli attacks on Gaza. I have no doubt that this will intensify the Brown government's desire to ramp up aneconomic war with Israel.
Other international voices joining in the chorus included the UN's Ban K. Moon, Spain, the EU, a whole slew of Iran friendly Latin American countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia and of course the anti-Semitic Organization of Islamic Conference ( OIC). To my knowledge, the only countries to actually voice support openly for Israel's right to defend itself are the US, Australia, and Canada.
Here in America, Muslim brotherhood front CAIR weighed in, calling Gaza 'a massacre', and there were violent pro-Hamas demonstrations in New York, in New Jersey, in Detroit and on a number of college campuses courtesy of the Muslim Student's Union and the MPAC.
Of course, none of these people were opening their mouths when Hamas rockets were slamming into Israel.
Another item that the Muslim world and their western appeaser allies were silent on was the event pictured above.
No, that didn't happen in Gaza, but in the eastern province of Khost, Afghanistan, where the Taliban targeted a bunch of 8 and 10-year-old kids as they were coming out their school..and killed 14 of them with a truck bomb. Not to mention the 58 listed as wounded.
It was the last day of the school year for the kids, and the bombing was deliberately planned to coincide with their leaving class:
Afterwards, the ground was littered with bloody textbooks and shoes.
That particular crime against humanity made the wire services, but somehow never made it on to the agenda of the Muslim world or the rest of the folks busily condemning Israel for defending itself today. Nor will it.
For Muslims, the reason is a pretty simple one. They regard the war against the Jews as a jihad and a tribal war just as they always have, with all that implies. Any western-style concessions are simply a tool to be used for war. To them, a bunch of dead infidels and the dominance of Dar Islam are simply the way Allah planned it, and the sooner the better. That's why they had nothing to say about Mumbai, or Beslan, or any of the numerous butcheries committed in the name of Islam...and when the targeted victims happen to be Muslim, they are simply declared kaffir, non-believers, and thus fair game. That's how the Pakistani army was able to rape and slaughter its way through what's now Bangladesh with a clear conscience, and how the Sudan is able to do the same thing to Muslims in Darfur today.
If by this, you understand me to mean that a great many Muslims lack any sense of justice, tolerance or simple human decency I won't contradict you.
As for the non-Muslim appeasers, their motivation is different but no less deadly.
For a number of them, it's a matter of fear. They really believe that if they give the Muslims Israel, they'll be able to live in peace and apparently have forgotten the lessons of Munich. Others, like Britain's Labour government are dependent of Muslim votes to stay in power. And still others are politicians and government officials excited by how generous people like the Saudis can be when they retire when it comes to funding things like presidential libraries, foundations and exorbitant fees for speeches and 'consulting' to those in government that do the Arab's bidding. And for some, it's a mixture of all three.
The truth outs itself eventually, and these western appeasers will have to relearn the lessons of history. For now, it's enough merely to note their disgusting hypocrisy and morally repugnant cowardice for the record.Operation Cast Lead: Israel Hits Hamas
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be wrong about this.
Operation Cast Lead, a response to the latest of a number of Hamas rocket barrages against Southern Israel involved the Israeli air force using around 150 Israeli bombers and helicopters against over 100 targets.
The strikes were aimed at Hamas military targets, and obviously caught the Green Hats by surprise.The Israeli press had previously reported that Israel's security cabinet had decided against an operation at this time.
Because of that, a number of Hamas commanders were caught out in the open. The Israelis hit a 'graduation ceremony' for Hamas fighters that had heavy attendance from Hamas brass at the parade ground at their command headquarters in Gaza City, and that proved to be a wonderfully target rich environment.
Another series of raids hit a network of Hamas tunnels near the Philadelphi corridor, between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. This is the site of a number of Hamas smuggling tunnels, and was apparently also the base for a Hamas reserve force and military supplies, including gasoline stocks.Those tunnels are now history,( along with a lot of the Hamas fighters who were stationed there) with the beneficial result of cutting off Hamas' pipeline for smuggled arms from Iran via Egyptian Sinai.
Also destroyed in a new raid this morning was one of Hamas's main security compounds in Gaza City, including Seraya prison in downtown Gaza. Apparently the local AP office also suffered some damage, which I can only refer to as poetic justice, considering how they've been shilling for Hamas for years.
Other targets in today's raids so far include the Al Aqsa TV station used by Hamas.
The studio building was destroyed, but the station is apparently still on the air with a mobile unit....which leads to the question, what kind of war is Israel waging if they don't even cut off electricity to their enemies?
Not only that, but the oafish Ehud Barak, Israel's defense minister is not only allowing humanitarian aid through ( much of will be seized by Hamas for its fighters and loyalists) but actually allowing injured Gazans to come across the border to Israel for medical aid.
In contrast, a crowd of Palestinians trying to get out of Gaza via Egypt was actually subjected to machine gun fire by Egyptian troops. You certainly won't see that on CNN..but just imagine if Israel had done it.
So far, Hamas casualties stand at about 280 dead, 15 of whom are estimated to be civilians...which is not bad at all considering how Hamas hides among non-combatants and uses them as human shields.
According to Tzipi Livni, she's 'in close connection' with Condi Rice and confirms that Israelis trying to wage a kinder,gentler war..which of course is impossible. She wasn't even honest enough to admit that destroying Hamas would be a legitimate war goal and said frankly that Israel has no plans to 're-occupy' Gaza, which makes me wonder what this is all about then. Are Olmert and company merely going to destroy Hamas in order to hand Gaza over to Fatah and Abbas?
Based on the Israeli government we're talking about I think that's the plan, and it was likely co-ordinated not only with the Bush Administration but with Egypt's Hosni Mubarak when Livni met with him last week - Mubarak has no love whatsoever for Hamas, an Iranian proxy and an offshoot of Egypt's radical Muslim Brotherhood.
If I'm right and that's what the Olmert government has planned, they are beyond foolhardy.
They will get absolutely no love from the Muslim world or from the EU for this, simply because it's Israel. As for the Palestinians, their genocidal hatred of Jews isn't going to change one iota. To them, Israelis just participated in overthrowing a democratically elected Hamas government in order to install a corrupt and despised Fatah overlord...and Abbas' reaction for the free gift of all this territory he wasn't able to hang onto even with the benefit of millions of dollars of US military aid isn't going to be gratitude. He will simply want more, and a Jew-free corridor through southern Israel to connect to two halves of his lil' reichlet as well.That's assuming Gaza's Arabs don't chase him and and friends out again with a new pro-Hamas revolt.
Nor will it end the threat to Israel's south in the long run. Even if Abbas manages to hang on for a while ( and remember, once he's out of the picture there's no telling who will take over), the radical elements in Fatah will insist on a military build up to prosecute the War Against the Jews.
Rather than spilling blood doing Abbas' and Condi Rice's dirty work, the IDF should eliminate the threat to its south once and for all. That means driving Hamas out of Gaza for good by exterminating its fighters and leadership.
It also means blowing the Egyptian border fence 'by accident' or allowing Hamas to do it and facilitating as many of Gaza's inmates escaping the lunatic asylum into Egypt as you can...after which you reseal the area and refuse to allow them back in. Finally, you pack most of the rest off to the Palestinian occupied areas in Judea and Samaria ( AKA the West Bank), annex Gaza to Israel permanently and move the Jews back in. You don't hand it over to Fatah and Abbas 'for peace'.
The UN, the EU and the Arab world will of course denounce this 'theft of Arab land.' But considering that's how a lot of them feel about all of Israel anyway, permanent quiet on Israel's southern front is probably worth the diplomatic fallout. That's the only way to avoid having to deal with the same problem again in a few years. Frankly, it should have been done years ago.
The Jews will change Gaza into a garden again, and Gaza City from a terrorist armpit swimming in its own sewage into a beach resort and high tech trade center.
The reason the war against Israel's civilians continues is because the Palestinians have yet to experience any major consequences for it,and the world mostly continues to enable their horrific behavior. Losing Gaza might just make like minded jihadist Palestinians in Judea and Samaria take a good look at what happened to Gaza and realize that peace with Israel might prevent the same thing from happening to them.
Monday, 29 December 2008
Israel apparently decided that enough was enough, and launched a series of coordinated strikes against Hamas in Gaza. As you know, I predicted back at the start of the so-called 'ceasefire that an Israel-Hamas war was just around the corner. Unfortunately,given who's in charge of Israel at the moment, I fear that it will be a half effort at best and at worst involve the Israelis expending blood and treasure merely to hand Gaza over to Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah.
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