One Unsafe Concept and One Ineligible to Lead

 

We have two great threats from within which we have yet to discuss. These are on top of the elite group of ex-military and security leaders who are dead set on surrendering our natural and ancient homelands of Judea and Samaria without even getting a thank you from the Arabs simply in the hope that they will be viewed with great honor and be permitted to travel Europe safely. They are flawed in their proffered solution to a problem that needs not their faux-expertise and equally wrong that the Europeans will forgive their military service and now love them. To Europe they are still war criminals and they would still be tried should they disembark and walk on sacred European soil; may it give forth as they give unto Israel, bitter yields. But there are other dangers; so shall we end this tribute to last week’s disasters and move to this week’s and the other long standing.

 

The long standing is the easier and more simple but still a threat in the wings. It has long been understood by the majority of Israelis outside Tel Aviv that the Labor party, despite its allure, poses a threat Israel dare not take. The threat is their concept of what is an acceptable risk for peace. Their current leader and poseur of greatness of which we can only allow his image to exist in his mind as should he ever make good on his dreams we would all get to live his nightmare. We refer to Yitzhak “Bougie” Herzog, the current leader of the Labor Party who has shown his willingness to go to any extreme in the hope to realize his dream of being Prime Minister and making the peace that has eluded all before him. His real ambition is to live up to his pedigree with his family tree including almost innumerable greats including but not limited to President Chaim Herzog and Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Israel’s first Chief Rabbi; Yaacov Herzog served in the Haganah and was a political adviser to David Ben-Gurion; and as an in-law, Abba Eban. Bougie is going to need more than his cute moniker to measure up to the towering greats who preceded him. The question as to what he might do if he should ever be Prime Minister has now been answered.

 

It had become public knowledge that before the past election that in anticipation of his being Prime Minister, Labor Party and ‘Zionist Union’ co-head, Yitzhak Herzog took it upon himself to negotiate, if that is the right word, a letter of intent, we might say surrender, with Mahmoud Abbas in which they presumably reached an accord on the principles for peace. In this agreement Israel was to surrender 96% of Judea and Samaria and surrender an area equal to the last 4% from within the Green Line, though which land was left undetermined, surrender half of Jerusalem yet somehow Israel would retain the Western Wall and plaza known as the Kotel while surrendering the Temple Mount as an international zone and remainder of the old city, while Jerusalem would remain under a single governance. How Jews were to make their way across Palestinian controlled lands to visit the Kotel was also not made evident, perhaps helicopter tours where they rappelled in or some such method, we do not know. Further there would be some undetermined number of ‘Arab refugees’ permitted to return into Israel to be reacquainted with their presumed lost family heritage and properties. This too was left in the air. The one thing probably not left in the air but simply refused was any recognition of Israel as the home of the Jewish People. That was still probably beyond what Mahmoud Abbas could grant even in this form of a make believe dream of Yitzhak’s grand dream. As we all can now rejoice, Yitzhak Herzog and the ‘Zionist Union’ did not get to form a ruling coalition and we were literally saved from these evil designs. The one other great saving grace Israel received from these revelations is we now know beyond any shadow of doubt that the Labor Party, its figment of imagination and misnomer of ‘Zionist Union’ (which is neither Zionist nor Union as Tzipi Livni’s party is now a party of one, or maybe two) can never be permitted to be even included in a unity coalition even if such would appear to be to the advantage of the state as their designs on fame and fortune would endanger the nations as even with the slightest sliver of power they would sell out Israel for the ability to claim there was now peace.

 

As in the words made famous over two centuries ago when Patrick Henry made his impassioned plea to the Virginia House of Burgess imploring them to join and sign the Declaration of Independence he entreated them, “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace.” The same now applies in Israel and we too need to make and apply as our answer our own Declaration of Independence. This declaration must include the liberation of our lands, all of our lands; especially the lands of Judea and Samaria from which the idolaters who worship death must be driven out as were the Canaanites who too worshiped death in their sacrifices to Ba’al. This is our sacred duty and we can do it now while things are not so desperate or we can make a situation which will demand of us to take the lands as rockets rain down upon Tel Aviv and the heartland of our Israel because we foolishly gave the Judean Hills overlooking the midsection of our nation allowing the enemy to press their boot upon our necks and attempt to choke the life out of our country. There is no manner of safeguard which can be applied which would save the thin neck that surrounds Tel Aviv once we allow the Arabs free will upon the highlands overlooking this densely populated area. There was a reason all our brothers and sisters who led us in our biblical fights for survival always dragged the battles into the hills of Judea and Samaria as we held those highlands and forcing them to attack from below gave us the advantage we needed. Our enemies relied on cavalry and chariots both of which lose their advantage when fighting uphill in rough terrain. Now we will give those same hills to an enemy making us the ones who now have the chariots known as tanks having to climb the hills from below allowing making them easy targets for anti-tank missiles. The very missiles which Iran will flood the Arab areas with as soon as the IDF leaves and they have their terror state. Iran will arm them with rockets, mortars with which to initiate the war at their time of choosing and also provide the anti-tank armaments and all the tools of war including mines to prevent easy approach and to set traps for men and machine alike. That is the reality if we ever give the Arabs their desired lands and we will pay the price for such foolishness. There is but one solution and the world may hate us for taking our land but at least our children will be safe and the world cannot hate us twice as much as hate is hate. They all know that all the land is our land legally which is why there has never been a case brought in the international courts. The only place where the land is not ours is in the court of foreign opinions and they do not reside here and will never face the barrage of rockets they salivate waiting to force us into the compromise which would seal our doom, but we can simply resume our proper rule over our lands and the Arabs residing there can either accept reality or leave, and if necessary, as they attack we can arrest them and declare them as foreign agents expelling them once and for all. Those who wish to remain peaceful can even be allowed citizenship after they prove their knowledge of our historical right to the lands and willingly sign a pledge of allegiance to the State of Israel and homeland of the Jewish People and should they ever break that pledge we can once again invite them to leave and never return. We will not need to force anybody from their homes, only those who are known aggressors who have already proven they refuse to recognize our legitimacy would be forced to leave. The rest would choose themselves and if they prefer being compensated for their lands and property, then so be it, it would be money well spent. Yes, we would pay them in dollars as the shekel is not worth much in Syria or the rest of the lands where they would be at home.

 

Our other threat which appears to be gaining some official recognition and even acceptance is the idea of a manmade port attached to Gaza by a causeway where ships can come and load and unload and the wares coming into Gaza be checked and cleared before being sent by truck into Gaza and where these same trucks can bring their exports for loading for transport to their destinations. How this is different other than location from the current system of using the port at Ashdod escapes our sense of reason (picture of port below). The crazed idea is to spend over a billion shekels, likely closer to five-billion shekels, to build an Island and port facilities some distance, presumably safe distance, out into the Mediterranean Sea from Gaza and connect it to Hamas held Gaza, the Hamas held part is very important, by a multi-lane two way causeway where trucks would transport goods both into and out of Gaza allowing for presumably easier, more efficient and more independent transference of goods in both directions. Since there would also presumably be an agreement that all incoming and outgoing cargo would still be checked and approved by Israeli security inspectors, it completely escapes us as to how this is any different than the current system where trucks take whatever cargo need go in either direction to Ashdod where the port there, a very capable and already functioning port, and inspections are carried out by Israeli security inspectors. But we do see one vital difference; so please follow with us below.

 

Port of Ashdod

 

This port island which would be built within Israeli territorial waters, meaning under three or at most generous five miles, would still be well within artillery range and even within guided rocket fired anti-tank missiles like the Kornet missile which was fired at a school bus from Gaza in Israel injuring the driver and murdering the lone young student still on the bus. The bus had just discharged the remaining students with the one exception remaining onboard so he could visit his grandmother further in Israel and was taking the bus there (picture of remains of the bus below). Expecting that the inspectors, in consideration of their safety, would be located on the manmade island where the trucks would be loaded and unloaded and this would be most convenient to do along the piers as the goods are unloaded and prepared for loading. There would be stationed IDF troops, probably a platoon or maybe two when suspicions were high, guarding the entry to the port island giving each truck a quick inspection before allowing it access to the port itself. Needless to point out that securing this new facility would in and of itself be an expensive endeavor as there would also likely be some naval support made readily available in case of an incident as any troops could be attacked by a joint operation of engagement by rocket fire from Gaza while a number of trucks crash any barricades and deploy terrorist troops in an attack to oust the Israeli inspectors and IDF troops taking over the facility with deadly results.

 

School Bus which was struck by a Russian made Kornet
anti-tank missile murdering one teen remaining
in the bus to reach his grandmother visit

 

After such an attack is the probability that it would be timed in order to unload contraband known to be on a ship the Iranians sent under a false flag. The unloading and making way back into Gaza with any such shipment of contraband would be completed before Israeli forces could retake the port, another expensive in cost and lost soldiers and inspectors lives as Hamas would not be taking too many prisoners of the IDF troops, just the inspectors would serve their purposes. The entire idea of such a port is a nightmare for security services and design. The port for security would need a cement wall between it and Gaza in order to prevent direct fire from striking the port facilities, personnel or ships docking there. Troops would need to be stationed in blockhouses to keep them safe from snipers and allow them to watch the coast of Gaza for any threats and have sufficient firepower to neutralize any threat. The system used on the land side of Gaza with cameras and remote fired weaponry, often fifty-cal. machine guns, have proven effective and safer for personnel but also an added expense. These blockhouses would also prove to be prime targets for Hamas and Islamic Jihad or others and repair and replacement would also prove prohibitively expensive. The possibility that tanks and heavy artillery or other heavy weapons and larger rocket motors or guidance systems could be smuggled in either well hidden within cargo or through raids, such as described above, provides another threat which would need be considered and weighed when considering such folly. No matter how one describes this venture and despite any designs or other precautions, the truth is this port would end up in the hands of Hamas and there is no humanly way of securing this facility from eventual, and likely fairly quickly, falling into Hamas’s hands and remaining under their control as it simply was realized that it was too risky and otherwise adverse to continue to retake and defend the indefensible.

 

The expense to build the facility, providing it did not get constantly attacked and workers killed by snipers making even building it next to impossible; after erecting it and attempting to defend it, we would eventually face an even more expensive reality, destroying it and re-sinking the island. The destruction would generate great amounts of additional ire and the European Union and who knows who else would call for turning the port over to Hamas as having Israeli control of the new Gaza port facility would be an aberration unacceptable to Israel’s uncountable enemies. The United Nations General Assembly would from day one be hearing announcements from Mahmoud Abbas, Turkey, Iran, Europeans and who knows how many others calling for the port to be released to Hamas and then the sea embargo would be resumed and denounced anew with greater fervor. Israel would be placed in a lose-lose situation after great expense which even if there were international backers who promised to assist in the cost, no funds would ever see their way into Israeli hands; so we would pay for the entire fiasco.

 

The end result would be Hamas having a well built and very modern and functioning port facility at which Iranian cargo ships could freely unload one after another filled in their bellies with rockets, missiles, potentially aircraft and who knows what else. We could expect Iranian warships to be docked there and patrolling what would now be Gazan and Hamas international waterways. Once Gaza has the port, there would be no way of preventing Iran from assisting in rebuilding the international airport which could be opened for air resupply from Iran and who knows where else. There would soon be squadrons of fighter jets and trained Hamas and Islamic Jihad pilots to fly them and Gaza would be sitting at the United Nations recognized now as its own nation and there would be nothing Israel could do to prevent these scenarios from playing out within a year or two of having built and provided Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest a port which would very likely provide an entry point to the Islamic State to enter and prepare attacks upon Israel. What would enter Gaza from the sea and soon thereafter from the air would facilitate their claim to be a nation and the Europeans would apologize after they supported such with their votes in the United Nations and their eagerness to allow Gaza to open embassies in their capitals so they could be amongst the first to recognize this glorious terror state. Europe has seldom if ever missed an opportunity to place Israel at further risk if they thought it would divert a single terrorist from attacking them. For the Europeans they see Israel as their shield meant solely to absorb the punishment of any Islamic anger just to keep them believing they are safer. Their folly knows no bounds and this port would only serve as yet another idea which can only end poorly. How about we skip this one, OK?

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Two Tons Rocket Parts Headed for Gaza Reconstruction

 

Palestinian terrorists this week tried to smuggle two tons of rocket-making material into Gaza. Of course they were not exactly labelled honestly; they were labelled as building supplies. They were intercepted by Israeli security, something which due to international pressures Israel has not been able to prevent tons of concrete from entering Gaza. The Europeans guaranteed they would monitor all concrete usage in Gaza. Well, we have some unfortunate news, not so much for Europeans but for Israelis, most of their guaranteed indivertible concrete has somehow ended up lining the walls of the latest rebuilt tunnels. There is no need to take it from me, take the word from the Gaza branch of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade from their newly reconstructed three and a half kilometer, border crossing, infiltration tunnel in the video below. We do not blame the Europeans for not exactly following through on their promises to inspect the usage in Gaza of concrete, we blame the Israeli leadership for believing that when Europeans promise to inspect and assure things crossing into Gaza will meet the intended uses as they had a perfect example of European and world promises when Israeli leaders allowed their promises to monitor the Gaza crossings after Israel disengaged from Gaza. The Europeans promised to monitor the crossings between Gaza and Egypt and they almost lasted a week before permanently retreating to their hotels rooms in Tel Aviv and there were rumors they may have actually glanced in the general direction of the crossings during their afternoon drinks at the coffee and tea café across the street from their hotel. Soon they hatched a brilliant plan about the Gaza-Egypt border and put it in to effect the next day at Ben Gurion International Airport when they flew home and allowed open crossing of terrorists and terror supplies crossing freely. As strange as it might sound, the Gaza-Egypt border is better guarded by the Egyptians under President Sisi, even if it is to keep his own soldiers safe from Gaza terror strikes into the Sinai Peninsula. It is always better to trust things to those who have a reason to assist and not those who simply promise in order to end a temporary discomfort, especially if you are one of the parties to their discomfort.

 

 

 

 

The provisions in question were the same type of fiberglass as used by Hamas to make the long range rockets Hamas fired into Israel last year during Operation Protective Edge. These were the larger and heavier rockets with more destructive warheads many of which launched from deep within Gaza City and which landed between the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Ashdod. It was very likely that this exact variety of rocket which took the life of a four-year-old Israeli boy who did not have sufficient time from the Code Red alarm sounded to make it to a shelter. These rockets also caused damage, serious damage to some structures which were outside of Iron Dome coverage. Granted the coverage of Operation Protective Edge spent most of the time speaking of Gazan deaths and often asking why so few Israelis had died despite the seemingly ineffective rocket fire from Gaza. We will not bore you with the facts that Israel invested billions in research and with assistance from the United States were able to make nine such batteries, which were not as free as many believe as Raytheon was given schematics, software and all other necessities so the United States could incorporate such effective technologies into their systems, a small price. Instead we will simply repeat what Hamas has prided themselves in saying repeatedly and with great pride, and we are proud of their pronouncement about our beliefs as they portray them. Who would have ever thought that we Israelis would be proud of those things Hamas would accuse us. But their words have weight and explain much about the two societies and they have framed and explained the disparity in casualties succinctly. Hamas has often stated, “They worship life and we worship death.” We will not be so presumptuous to speak for Hamas, who may very well speak for the residents of Gaza, but we in Israel do love life, worship might be a bit strong as we worship Hashem and through Hashem we love and possibly worship life.

 

Where this shipment of rocket body material was intercepted, how many others were missed and will return raining onto Israel and if not intercepted possibly taking another young child’s life, the greatest loss possible. But we will do what is possible to make our children safe and if only our neighbors would learn the preciousness of a child’s life and spend their efforts on peaceably raising their precious children and allow us to raise ours and that would produce peace. The Europeans are always asking what it might take for Israel to make peace with the Arab Palestinians. Well, a good first step might be for those who worship and celebrate death to try life for them and allow us the same and that would produce a lasting peace and all sides would gain and be blessed with peace. Now if the rest of the world would also allow the Jews to live in peace it might be a better place for all.

 

In the Outremont area of Montreal a Hasidic man was severely beaten after leaving a bank around 7:15 Friday night. According to witnesses the attacker was a white male in his twenties. The witnesses told police that when they exited the bank the attacker was sitting on the bench outside the door holding a water bottle in his hands. They said there was something cold and sinister about the man who gave them an uneasy feeling. They had gotten to the corner when they heard a commotion and turned in time to chase the attacker off. The suspect pouring a liquid all over the victim and ran when the witnesses started towards him and the Hasidic man who was lying on the ground. One witness who preferred to remain anonymous, “It reeked of gasoline. I’m 100 percent sure, there was no car close by, it’s whatever he poured on him that smelled like gasoline.” The victim was bleeding heavily from the side of his head. Reports from the hospital said there were signs the man had been severely choked and had other abrasions. Initial reports said there were no signs that the Hasidic man had been robbed and police say they are waiting for the victim to recover consciousness in order to gather more information on his attacker. The police stated that they had insufficient information to determine if this was a hate crime and the man had been attacked because he was Jewish. We can answer that question for them and from what we read and a general agreement and collation of hunches says that it definitely was a hate crime and the Hasidic man was attacked for being Jewish. But just in case, we will wait for further reports though we doubt it will make the news here half way around the globe.

 

Then there is a report from London of anti-Semitic vandals desecrated the Jewish memorial in Whitechapel to the memory of Edward VII. The memorial has an inscription reading, “In grateful and loyal memory of Edward VII, Rex et Imperator, erected by subscriptions raised by Jewish inhabitants of East London, 1911.” King Edward VII ruled United Kingdom (UK) from 1901-1910. This was a horrific and startling act of hatred against King, Country and Jews whose dedication and loyalty to the Crown and Country were on display for all to see for time immemorial. The statue was desecrated with a pig and pig parts and blood as can be seen in the image below, a picture well documented on Twitter soon after the crime was reported. Local resident Lauren Justice discovered the defilement and immediately contacted the authorities and then posted images taken of the memorial’s statues, one holding a pig carcass and pig parts and blood strewn over the other statue, to her twitter account. She was quoted commenting on the atrocity, “I just think it is disgusting. It is a memorial. I do not know if they think it is funny or what, but it cannot be allowed to stay up like that. I find it offensive.” The Tower Hamlets Council stated that it was investigating the incident. Anti-Semitic acts have been steadily rising within the United Kingdom with them increasing with their numbers in the first six months rising from two-hundred-twenty-three acts in 2013 to three-hundred-nine in 2014 to four-hundred-seventy-three acts in 2015. The increase from 2013 to 2014 was 38.5% while the increase from 2014 to 2015 was 53.0% which is a definitive ramping with the increase rate of change of over 37.5%, a vigorous rate of climb which is just as frightening as it is sizeable. The rest of Europe has figures increasing in similar rates as in the United Kingdom and are beginning to show trending within the United States, Canada and other places around the world, even in places where the Jews are such a minor percentage of the populations that it makes one wonder where the people in such locations even come by their experiences with Jews that one would expect was necessary for anti-Semitism to even be perceptible, let alone grow. Such is most definitely troubling to say the least, very troubling.

 

 

Anti-Semitic Vandals Desecrated the Jewish Memorial in Whitechapel to the Memory of Edward VII, Rex et Imperator. This Memorial was Erected by Jewish Inhabitants of East London in 1911. This was a horrific and startling act of hatred against King, Country and Jews Whose Dedication, Respect and Loyalty to the Crown and Country were on Display for all to see for Time Immemorial. The Memorial Stands in Direct Contrast to the Craven Hatred Displayed with the Smearing of Pig Parts, Blood and a Carcass Strewn in Offense to All Britain and her Peoples.

 

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

ISIS, Egypt, Sinai Peninsula and Hamas in Gaza

 

Is it a simple case of one of those strange quirks which history will muse over or is it a divine sign that the man who removed the Muslim Brotherhood horrors from governing Egypt and answered the cries of his people winning him the prized office of Egyptian President has a name which as spelled in English transliteration is the exact reverse of the English initials of the newest and most deadly allies of the Muslim Brotherhood, thus we have Egyptian President Sisi now facing forces from ISIS, Sisi vs. ISIS (and as we have said before, we pronounce ISIS as is, is thus it all depends on what the meaning of Is-is, is.) Now for the existing and coming horrors and the potential coming allies who have worked silently and in only the most untraceable means to support each other’s efforts in the Sinai Peninsula as well as Gaza may become all too public and by doing so be one of the most important ends of the coming series of conflagrations. There may be no choice for the Egyptian forces for success in forcing both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic State allied fighters from the Sinai Peninsula as President Sisi knows that he must not commit the entire strength of the Egyptian military into any sweep of the Sinai. Further, there are many within the Egyptian military whose villages and relatives live and are amongst if not having actually joined the Muslim Brotherhood or potentially joined the new Caliphate of ISIS and thus President Sisi and his generals are aware that they can only use troops specially chosen and known for their complete loyalty and discipline. Even those chosen for regular checkpoint or other daily military or security assignments are likely chosen carefully. One can bet that President Sisi probably witnessed, and not just knows of, the historic assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by disgruntled members of the Egyptian military who were far more loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

There are many who will claim that there is nothing which would permit the presumably secular Muslim Brotherhood and the fanatical religious ISIS to form any alliance despite the truth that the Muslim Brotherhood spawned al-Qaeda which established the Iraqi organization for al-Qaeda from which ISIS was spawned. The reality is that the Muslim Brotherhood is a religiously based organization whose credo states that “The Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal.” Where the Muslim Brotherhood has somewhat of a secular view is when it comes to governance that they claim to support a socialist governance which holds elections until the Muslim Brotherhood gains control over the national governance and then such inconveniences become less important. What has been overlooked in this false dichotomy is that the Muslim Brotherhood has not made any statement concerning their position on should the Caliphate be reestablished. By their apparent coordination in horrific and deadly assault on the Egyptian checkpoints and other positions throughout the Sinai Peninsula both the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS displayed a level of cooperation that should put to bed any doubts about their levels of agreement.

 

Further, there was obvious coordination and cooperation given these operations which included arms and other logistics from within Gaza provided by Hamas which should put to bed not only any doubts about Hamas working with their parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood, but also their cooperation and general support for ISIS and the willingness of ISIS to work willingly and knowingly with Hamas. This coordinated and seamless planning and execution of an assault on this level provides all the evidence necessary to prove that there is recognition and compliance with the authority granted to ISIS to lead the efforts of the Islamist groups and puts to lie the claims that ISIS was planning to go to war with Hamas but instead should provide all the evidence that the recent breakup of the Fatah unity government with Hamas was initiated by Hamas as they were already planning coordinated and supportive efforts with ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood against the government of President Sisi in Egypt. The thing which needs to be given the greatest amount of concern should be the replacement of Fatah and the Arab Palestinian Authority by the ISIS led, Muslim Brotherhood supported Hamas takeover of the Arab Palestinian operations in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) presenting Israel with the challenge of operations in Judea and Samaria taking on a whole new level of violence and coordinated threats should Fatah be defeated or simply collapse as any support it once enjoyed changing horses and moving to give their loyalties to the ISIS led Sunni Islamist merging of Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood into the ranks of ISIS.

 

This brings us to the facing off against a mutual foe between Egypt and Israel and the potential for coordination and potentially joint missions within the Sinai Peninsula as well as throughout Gaza between Israel and Egypt. This would mean a deeper level of coordination beyond simply intelligence sharing and the mere coordination of movements to assure that the two sides do not reach a point where they might interfere with each other’s execution of operations to a level where the coordinated and complimentary operations are planned with the aim of mutual strengthening the other’s effectiveness. There would also be situations, especially within Gaza, where operational support for Egyptian operations within Gaza would be granted close in air support and ground use of sorties from artillery fire to compliment one another’s operational effectiveness. Such coordination between Egyptian military operations, especially when such operations would require informing Israel of the size and scope of Egyptian operation in the Northern Sinai and especially such operations that may extend necessarily into Gaza, as all such in-force operations by Egypt are required to be cleared through Israel according to their peace treaty and supportive accords and also to avoid clashes between the two nations which could easily spiral out of control dissolving any gains made between the two nations in building trusts and peace. Such sharing of intelligence and potential coordination of operations even, if simply done to avoid direct confrontations which could arise as a result of a friendly-fire incident where both sides were attempting to establish their control over a particular objective, be that objective a central strongpoint or the eradication of a permanent large rocket and missile launch site in order to silence its use against both sides, as such a dedicated site would pose a definitive set of difficulties to any operations.

 

Cooperation between Israel and Egypt would not be an entirely new event as the levels of cooperation have been exercised previously as to who would take the lead position in apprehending any vessels attempting to break the blockade of Gaza which has been in effect since the Hamas takeover of the region from Fatah. This has been evidenced when on multiple occasions Egypt, both when under Mubarak and now under Sisi, when ships tried to smuggle by circumventing the Israeli blockade by hugging the Egyptian coast of the north of the Sinai Peninsula the Egyptians had a surprise for them, they guarded against such efforts as President Sisi and his government have had just as much to fear from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza as has Israel. Egypt has had just as tight a closed border with Gaza as has Israel and in some ways an even tighter closure as no aid reaches Gaza in any manner, let alone comparable to the multiple tonnage crossing daily into Gaza, daily even during the entirety of the Gaza War Operation Protective Edge last summer. Egypt has had better effectiveness in finding and closing tunnels under their border with Gaza which are used to smuggle things in and out of Gaza as has Israel in locating the infiltration tunnels which caused such a stir as the IDF had appeared completely surprised by the extensive tunnel system Hamas had been planning to utilize in a massive operation against the Israelis during the High Holy Days last year. Keeping the borders controlled has been a primary effort of both Egypt and Israel as both have suffered threats from within Gaza with the Egyptian threats having often been estimated and paid in lives for any missed tunnels by the Egyptians often lead to infiltrations into the Sinai Peninsula in the form of manpower and also weaponry and explosives for the design of car and truck bombs, IEDs (improvised explosive device used in place of land mines) and other explosive delivery methods and systems which are as varied in kind as they do in their delivery. The reality has been that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and numerous other terrorist groups have just as much hate for the Sisi government as they do towards Israel.

 

With ISIS moving into the Sinai Peninsula one has to wonder what there objective may be. Thus far there has been little to no change across the Negev-Sinai border and there have been the usual ramping up of terrorist strikes which accompany summer but surprisingly much of that can be attributed to problems in Judea and Samaria. What has been somewhat disconcerting has been the increase in attacks in Judea and Samaria claimed to have been attributable to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The one item which had been surprising which this assault upon the Egyptian forces and the particulars have put to rest were the dire warnings that there was a definitive expectation for a war in Gaza waged by ISIS against Hamas and potentially Islamic Jihad. Something about the threat has seemed strange, especially the ISIS against Hamas warnings as in so many ways Hamas and ISIS appear to be natural allies. The only thing which made sense about these threats was they were disinformation though the target escaped reason, well, until now. The intended target of ISIS being out to overthrow Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood was more about throwing off any investigation by the Egyptians into the validity of these claims and the simple overlooking of things being exactly the opposite. The three have been cooperating and this past week the blood soaked reality came crashing home with all the signals coming together all at one time putting to lie the ISIS against Hamas false flag arguments. The similarities between Hamas and ISIS has been a major part in the explanation by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as early as last summer when explaining why it had been paramount that Operation Protective Edge be fought with much the same ferocity which had been reserved thus far for only ISIS by Western interests. But even back then there had appeared to Israeli sources of intelligence that Hamas and ISIS were natural allies which is why more efforts had been expelled into drawing out and eliminating ISIS cells in Judea and Samaria than in Gaza.

 

Apparently Israel had best ramp up their surveillance in seeking out and destroying ISIS cells in Judea and Samaria as they could easily be precursors to Hamas making their new move to replace the current Fatah centered Arab Palestinian Authority with one which places Hamas and ISIS to enter into Judea and Samaria replacing Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas. This was the expected move which may have found Hamas and ISIS working together to gain additional leverage against Israel by taking over the entirety of the Arab Palestinian Authority, something that with Hamas would have already occurred had Abbas ever permitted the Arabs in Judea and Samaria to be able to vote for their own government, something Abbas has been refusing to allow knowing full well that as soon as elections were held that he would fall from power. Apparently the threats of an ISIS-Hamas war in Gaza worked if its intention was allowing the two to have close cooperation setting up this assault on Egypt. Perhaps this is the main event of this coming summer, an alliance which will have Gaza spread its tentacles and wrest power from Abbas giving it to Haniyeh, the former Prime Minister in Gaza before resigning last year to permit the formation of a unity government. Hamas leader Haniyeh knew he was risking nothing despite appearances to the contrary. The ruse was an effort to try to force Abbas to finally allow Arab elections across Gaza, Judea and Samaria. The effort failed to materialize and perhaps the one unknown may have been the undoing of the carefully laid out, years in the making, plan. This unknown was the extent in which ISIS had infiltrated into the Arab Palestinian society. What made knowing this impossible was the fact that there could have been untold numbers of disenchanted Arab Palestinians tired of never being allowed the vote over who controlled their governance. This could have produced fertile growing lands for the ISIS message of rules as written in the Quran. Life by the structures dictated in the Quran might have appealed except many in Judea and Samaria did not desire something more along the lines of a Constitution that would have permitted the enshrining of modern rights and society. Sharia was not what many Arab Palestinians desire as they have witnessed how the Israeli society has produced people very happy with their lives and their society despite the threats of terrorism. They see a people who are slowly but inexorably moving to realize the advantages of a religious life but also realizing that religious life must not be imposed by government and that the only control the religion should have on the governance are the Biblical limitations through which government is prevented from enriching those in its service and that government must serve the people it is in the end responsible to care for. Government cares for the people, and the people do not need to be made subservient in any manner to their government and this is best realized by assuring that there never comes a ruling elite who have usurped unto themselves through government or economic means the ability to enslave the people. The people are what are to be kept as noble and government should act noble but never be permitted to become nobles. This is why Sharia will always be an impossible sell to those who have known true freedom and liberty. The fact that many of the older Palestinians who remember freedom and elections having meaning who will be the saviors of the Arab Palestinian society providing they step forward in the short term and teach their society the beauty of living and celebrating life and not the opposite of existing in order to die with how one dies defines how they lived. One’s life must define ones death and by that we mean the tributes and loving memories they leave the world with after living and inspiring others by their lives. When a society starts to define one’s life by how they die prematurely and before their time then there is a society which serves Ba’al and has reinstituted child sacrifice, for what else can one call a society which reveres a child because they went out to serve their society and their god by an act of suicide, and even worse, a suicide which attempted to take as many who were full of life and living the best they were able as their victims in their sacrifice. Life is already too short; making one’s life tragically shorter is just that, a tragedy. A society that reveres those who chase death is a society doomed to destroy the very future it claims to promise. The slogan which must be at the bedrock of a society is to choose life, in all things and all ways choose life and use that life to help everyone else choose life and live a life which celebrates life.

 

Beyond the Cusp