Comments on a Few Past Events And Trying to Cover Current

 

By now, the world has reported upon the flare-up in Gaza resulting from an intelligence gathering operation by Israeli Special Forces who was found out and an intense firefight broke out. Six Hamas fighters and one high-ranking Hamas officer, Nur Barakeh, the deputy commander eastern battalion of Hamas’ Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades in Khan Yunis, were killed. An IDF officer identified only as Lt. Col. M. was killed and a second officer was injured and was evacuated to the Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva. The hospital said on Monday morning that the officer underwent an operation and is listed in moderate and stable condition. This was instantly a “Breaking News” update and addressed closer to an editorial condemning the Israelis for mounting an operation into Gaza. Some reports claimed that the Israeli forces were caught invading Hamas territory. Yes, Hamas Territory as if a terrorist group controlling an area where they are supported and lauded as a great ruling entity is sacred lands which need be treated as one would operate with an actual nation. Hamas took control of Gaza in a bloody coup ejecting the Palestinian Authority in 2007, and after the initial weeks of fighting, they cleared the region of any Palestinian Authority officials who Hamas believed would not operate under their control mostly by tossing these former officers from the Palestinian Authority governing body off rooftops and other equally appalling methods. Yet, all too often, reporters and news services report on the Gaza region as if they were an actual government just because they pick-up the garbage and almost run the utilities and other services. They ignore that Hamas along with the other main force within Gaza, Islamic Jihad, are almost universally regarded as terrorist organizations, both of which are currently backed by Iran. So, Israel is being condemned for not giving the honors which are presumably reserved for actual governments and real nations to an area under the control of terrorist forces who operate in a manner very similar to the same rules as the Islamic State. We do not recall anybody condemning anyone for their attacks on the Islamic State and the regions in which they claimed to be the government but there will be those who will claim that the Islamic State was different from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They are right; the Islamic State was murdering mostly fellow Muslims and had no argument with Israel while Hamas and Islamic Jihad both claim their main desire is to murder every Jews on Earth.

 

Now for another piece of news where there was almost no reporting and what there was had no outright condemnation of there being any invasion of some national region or the ignoring of a national border. This was one of numerous such breaching of a border with the intent of destroying as much physical structures and anything of worth including fields of crops as well as murdering every last civilian they might meet. These infiltrations have been on top of aerial attacks as well as destructive attacks on the border fence and other demarcations. These acts of violence even included the destruction of infrastructure which provided fuel and electricity to their own territory from the neighboring nation and, as we know from past experience, in a few weeks there will be an outrage over the fact that the region who destroyed these infrastructures providing the utilities is not being provided these very same utilities by their neighboring country and the world will castigate their neighbor for not providing the utilities. The rioting and destructive behavior has been conducted with the full support, funding, and tactical support including incendiary devices and the kites and balloons to fly them into Israel setting fields, forests and wilderness reserves on fire. These rioters have repeatedly over the months destroyed the pipelines providing Gaza with natural gas and water as well as the electrical lines providing Gaza with two-thirds of their electricity. These you have probably heard about intermittently despite these acts of arson and terrorism have been continuous since the end of March 2018. These attacks have also included numerous interventions across the regions of destroyed fences and were only prevented from spreading terror further into Israel by IDF forces defending the border. Other times there have been infiltrations deeper into Israel either under the cover of the smoke caused by their burning thousands of tires during daylight hours and under darkness in the night. These infiltrations against Israel have not been considered newsworthy. Allow us to cover one from the recent past.

 

There was a Gazan who succeeded in infiltrating well into Israel on Thursday night, November 8, 2018, possibly Friday early morning, penetrating several hundreds of meters into Israel where he came upon a greenhouse filled with growing crops, farming equipment, stores of seeds, numerous sacks of fertilizer and other various farming necessities. We can consider this greenhouse to have been a typically well-stocked greenhouse which is fairly common throughout Israel. He did what any self-respecting Gazan terrorist would do when coming across such a structure which he believed must belong to what he considers and accursed Jew, what he has been taught that every Israeli represents, he set the greenhouse on fire. The greenhouse burned, as what he must have considered, gloriously with flames leaping high into the air completely engulfing the greenhouse destroying everything as is obvious in the picture below. One need wonder why this destruction of an Israeli’s greenhouse taking with it his seeds, fertilizer and equipment along with what was most of his farming provisions and parts required for maintenance of his greenhouse which keeps his farming operations functioning. Basically, this act destroyed his means for supporting his family, a small item which had managed to survive their air attacks of the incendiaries launched on balloons, kites and even some avian wildlife including a falcon which was found tangled in a tree dead thanks to the vicious and thoughtlessness of one of the rioting Gazans for the bird’s life. The IDF eventually caught the arsonist and he was turned over for questioning. He told his interrogators, boasting, that he had set the greenhouse on fire. The main objective of the interrogation is for finding out how he evaded detection such that this route can be closed to prevent any repeat. Fortunately, this infiltration did not result in any loss of life though it was expensive enough with the inferno which destroyed the greenhouse and all of its contents.

 

Greenhouse Set Alight by Gazan Terrorist

 

So, why is an Israeli infiltration seeking to find further information as to where Hamas was planning on operating and with hope of taking the Hamas officer named Nur Barakeh into custody but the operation went wrong resulting in a firefight and exchange of Hamas rockets and mortars and Israeli airstrikes during the confrontation becomes breaking news reporting about the Israeli incursion, invading Hamas territory while a Hamas terrorist infiltrates Israel destroying a greenhouse and not causing any loss of life probably largely due to lack of opportunity is ignored and all the Hamas attacks with incendiary devices are largely ignored except as an insertion into articles which mainly talk about Israel airstrikes with often a mention of Hamas rockets plus the rioting, some even admit that the Israeli airstrikes were a response to the rocket launchings. But any cursory reading of these articles, one would walk away thinking that Israel bombs areas of Gaza simply because somebody just felt like doing so and not due to attacks upon Israel. To get around the news reports, which more represent propaganda designed to make Israel out to be the monster and Hamas as the poor and under-armed weak and innocent victims of Israeli aggressions, one need read virtually everything and then make their best guess. This has been the main grist off the mills of the main news resources throughout the world and much of it is due to lazy reporting combined with an underlying form of light anti-Semitism. It is not overt in its origins but the end result when combined with some overt anti-Semitism is driving some reporting and much of the editorial writing. Israel, by editor-room insistence, must be cast as the colonializing monstrous force while the Arabs are simply victims and underdeveloped people of color fighting the good fight against the technological superpower. One would equate the reporting with an equivalence of the United States fighting one of the Native American tribes on a reservation. There are some very large problems when comparing Israel with the United States and Hamas with Native American tribes. There are no Native American tribes burning farmlands, greenhouses, forests or wildlife reserves nor are any Native American tribes launching rockets into United States territories and they are not teaching their children to murder Americans and the Native American tribes are not invaders from the seventh century. On the other side of the equation, Israel is not the size of the United States but far closer to the size of New Jersey and the IDF is most definitely not the United States military with active duty soldiers in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Merchant Marines and numerous other armed services. The IDF is not even the equal to any one of these services and in case of major war, Israel almost shuts down all businesses and most production as the reserves are called back into service thus having the effort use a large percentage of the entire Israeli population. Lastly, many Arabs are anything but people of color. Just look for pictures of Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, and decide for yourselves.

 

Israel is the homeland of the Jewish People whose DNA has been tested repeatedly and every time they have found that every group of modern Jews are interrelated with the sole exception being those whose families are the offspring of converts plus their maternal mitochondrial tests depict a Middle Eastern set of genealogy. This is rarely reported, though we do try quite often. Those people who would like to see our deed to the land, check out Genesis 13:14-17 for the original deed to the lands which were given to the Jewish People through Abraham. When the Israelites, early Jews who left Egypt with Moses and came to the lands promised Abraham after the years in the desert, they were instructed in the means for taking the land and how to treat the nations bordering their lands once they had conquered the lands is covered in Deuteronomy Chapter 20. There is a huge difference between their instructions on treating their neighboring nations and those they are to conquer. This was warfare back around 1500 B.C.E. to 1750 B.C.E. when the way tribes of people took lands for their inhabitation, they would eradicate the people inhabiting the desired lands. This was the modus operandi of most everyone in this period, and this was so there would not be any chance of a revolt in the future by those who were the progeny of the conquered peoples, thus the normal means was to leave none alive so as to insure your safe future. Eventually, Israel may find it necessary to “go Biblical” on Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the region of Gaza. The people of Gaza reportedly support and Hamas is assuring the children will grow up to become Hamas warriors. It is not that their support for the terrorists is at some low point, as some report, but is reportedly quite strong. The future will become more bleak as they continue to utilize both their education system and their recreational camps are all dedicated to blind support for the Jihad against Israel. This is another truth which is avoided if not simply refuted by many sources in the developed world because there is the need to vilify Israel, and this can only be done if Israel, despite there seldom being any fatalities from their airstrikes, must be shown to be bombing mostly innocent people who do not support Hamas and the terrorists. The links above put to lie such reports and Haaretz is not exactly an extremist news source and is more closely aligned with the left, often the far left.

 

We unfortunately are required to add our own “Breaking News” from Gaza. Going into yesterday evening Hamas decided to raise the level of the conflict of our ever-ongoing conflict. We have reports of a bus being struck by either a mortar or an RPG antitank missile. At the same time, the residents of much of southern Israel are sitting in their bomb shelters while barrages of well over one-hundred rockets have been fired into their region. This follows their firing of a dozen to a dozen and a half rockets over the day and early morning. At the least, one rocket did get past Israeli defenses striking a residential building in Ashkelon, a major Israeli city. This strike caused the death of one 40-year-old man as well as the injury of ten Israelis, amongst them a 40-year-old woman who was in critical condition and a 40-year-old man who suffered moderate injuries and reportedly a 60-year-old woman unconscious with blast injuries. The barrage came towards the onset of sunset and to coincide with rush hour traffic in order to maximize the terror and disorder. People heading home from work would find themselves out in an area with which they may not be familiar making finding the closest shelter problematic. An IDF soldier has been seriously wounded by shrapnel from one of the explosions along the border region. The question is becoming whether Hamas is going to escalate further and continue to attack forcing an Israeli response. If they are going to press the issue to such an extent, then there come a couple more questions. First, how large a response will Israel use and second, will Hamas end the escalation and let everything settle or take it to the point of provoking a full out war once again. Further, as is normal, while Israeli News is covering the attacks while not a word of the Hamas rocket and mortar and possible RPG attacks with the destruction of a bus and further damage, the American News have not mentioned anything, let alone placed such under breaking news. One can only wonder what the news will be like in the United States and especially in Europe once Israel responds, we can guess. Hamas is claiming that the over one-hundred rockets is their response for the firefight when an IDF Special Forces group was intercepted while on a clandestine mission where the resulting injuries, as reported above, were six soldiers and an area commander while the IDF had a high-ranking officer killed and one other officer seriously injured. We will attempt to continue to cover things over the night and morning up to posting time. Below is a video of some of the first rockets being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome systems. Each interception is an interceptor missile which cost approximately $50,000 per interceptor, which is expensive but worth the cost if we potentially save lives, even a single life. Hamas, on the other hand, does all in their power to get their citizens killed as they use such deaths as a weapon blaming everything on Israel which much of the mainstream medias in the developed world simply eat-up without a single question. We never honestly cared that much for sleep anyways.

 

 

Below video shows when antitank missile (RPG) fired by Gazan terrorists striking a bus which drove Israeli soldiers fortunately moments after the soldiers departed from the bus, but which seriously injured the IDF soldier driving the bus when it was struck.

 

 

Israel has launched airstrikes in response and media in the United States are providing intermittent coverage between the Florida recount and its close resemblance to the Bush-Gore recount in the 2000 election as much of the recounts are being conducted in the exact same counties where observers are being prevented from direct observer watch, and the coverage of the Mueller Russia probes. France is now giving these events coverage, thus perhaps this might actually get coverage though France, where Prime Minister Netanyahu was visiting when everything hit the fan, so to speak. The Prime Minister left early and is returning to Israel. France is discussing whether there will be a war by morning; we hope their concern is unfounded. The running total of interception has climbed to sixty rockets which likely required ninety interceptors to be expended, that is a total of approaching half of a million dollars just for this evenings attacks.

 

This update from just after midnight Israeli time and over three-hundred missiles and other projectiles have been fired into Israel. These attacks have gone way beyond being a response to the Israeli intelligence gathering infiltration which went wrong and were caught. The ire is more that the IDF unit was able to extract back to Israel with only one fatality and the body returning with the soldiers. This has become exactly the same as when the second intifada started, presumably, because Ariel Sharon had the temerity to step up upon the Temple Mount. Of course, it later came out that the intifada had been planned as a response to peace efforts and as a way of definitively stating that there could be no peace which permitted the Jewish State of Israel to survive. It will likely come out once all is known that Hamas had been waiting for any event they could use to trigger these attacks. This many rockets fired at specific targets with the majority actually intercepted as their trajectories plotted such that they were going to strike heavily inhabited areas. Such a high percentage of the rockets being capable of such depict selective targeting performed beforehand and under careful supervision. Such a high performance means that they had used those specific firing angles and launch payloads and propellant exactly the same as previously fired rockets over time. This is the performance one gets from presumably unguided rockets where the performance had been tested and found to work at striking desired targets within Israel. This attack has been an event awaiting a reason to allow Hamas a reason for making such an attack and the infiltration served as well as any event to allow Hamas to play the injured party striking Israel with righteous indignation for a grievous harm. The infiltration and brief firefight was insufficient cause for this level of all-out attack at a level which may purport an oncoming offensive push into Israel. The initial response from Israel has been to strike reportedly seventy Hamas targets within Gaza in response including an intelligence center used by Hamas (building pictured below). Additionally, the production facility for Gaza television has been struck (film of strike below). There is planned to be an emergency session to be taken by Israel this coming morning where various responses are weighed ranging from allowing all to settle down and quiet return, assuming Hamas had ended their assault, to a complete sweep of Gaza from one end to the other arresting every known Hamas and Islamic Jihad member and their ardent supporters meaning total, all-out war. We have also seen reports Egyptian and United Nations personnel are working feverishly to bring calm back to the situation. As has been the history of such offensives, the attempts to restore calm come immediately after the Palestinian Arab onslaught and before the Israeli response has been launched and then come the claims that the Palestinian Arabs really just got carried away and did not mean to so viciously attack Israel and Israel need understand this. We have been to this dance way too many times but we are likely heading that direction once more.

 

Hamas Building Used as an Operated Intelligence Center

 

 

Early morning reports have mostly depicted support for Israel from some governments from around the world amongst them the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz who condemned the ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel, the United States State Department which condemned the Hamas terrorist group as hundreds of rockets were fired toward southern Israel amongst others while United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres continued the tired old refrain after Hamas had fired over three-hundred rockets into Israel and Israel had only just started to respond he clamored for maximum restraint according to Guterres’ spokesman, Farhan Haq who was quoted stating, “He urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint. The United Nations Special Coordinator, Nickolay Mladenov, is working closely with Egypt and all concerned parties to restore calm.” Reports of ongoing violence has been silent leaving us praying that this is over, but the ominous signs from last night portend that the rioting on the border will be escalated this coming morning.

 

Morning news in Israel stated that over four-hundred rockets and mortars plus at least one RPG, as reported above it striking a military bus, while Israel has struck one-hundred-fifty Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets and may strike more should the rocket offensive continue. We heard a reporter claim that the Israeli general public has grown accustom to the rocket attacks on the southern communities. We can attest that this is not the case as those we have met are anything but accustomed to these attacks and most are in favor of wiping all of Gaza and replacing it with homes, businesses and hotels along the beach transferring the terror regime with Israel reclaiming their lands and using it for the greater good. Meanwhile, we await the results of the Security Cabinet with anticipation that they will order actions which will remove the presence of these terrorist groups which openly states their intent to kill every Israeli. Hamas has announced that they demand what has, unfortunately, become the normative ending, first Israel cease all strikes, then after another two or three salvos which include tens, if not hundreds, of additional rockets over the ensuing hours, they will finally stop. About the Security Cabinet, they will meet and be briefed by the IDF Command, then they will recess while the Ministers to hold consultations, presumably, and then they will decide that any major operation would not improve the situation and announce they have authorized a serious set of reprisals but falling short of any military intervention with troops entering Gaza. What this means in reality is that they see no upside politically with elections coming within one year. What they fear is with a limited incursion by troops, this runs the risk of Hamas taking hostages or other complications. We all know that complications are the bane of politicians as such requires additional actions. The people of Israel want this menace removed, nothing less, or at least the majority desire this be concluded once and for all. Whatever the Security Cabinet decides, we will all see it on the news and the final conclusions in much of the world will be that it was all Israel’s fault. Israel has struck buildings where warnings of these strikes were given to Gazans which led to the normal conclusions, numerous destroyed buildings, no Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed and the world media will show all the destroyed buildings and the world will cry for the terrorists and not shed a single tear for the dead and injured Israelis. We have all witnessed this dance before and we fear it will continue until Israel finally does what any normal country would do; completely annihilate those responsible, clear the entire region from which these terrorists have received support, and use the land for our benefit and for those Arabs who pass a security clearance for being free of connections to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist entities, they will be permitted to remain as long as they live under Israeli law and do not prove to be jihadists. In the meantime, we can expect that every individual killed in the Israeli strikes will be initially claimed to be an innocent civilian and by the time the names are released and the vast majority are found to be terrorists, the world will have moved on and those killed will continue to be considered innocents except in Israel where we cannot afford to look away and continue as normal as we are the ones these people have sworn to murder, every last one of us.

 

The latest before we needed to post was that Israel was going to start their de-escalation. Unfortunately, there has been no mention from the terrorists that they are willing to do likewise. Time will determine what will be the immediate future. We are afraid that we are once again going to have Israel basically stand down while Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest of the terror forces are continue to fire rockets. We are expecting a few more hours of rocket barrages probably continuing through midday and perhaps into the afternoon while Israel responds doing next to nothing. How being nice and sweet by allowing the terrorists to fire more projectiles with explosive and incendiary warheads while the Israeli government shackles the IDF demanding they simply intercept what they are able and otherwise live and let live. The problem is the terrorists are using the live and let die as their motto and they intend for the Israelis to die. They have repeatedly stated their intent to kill as many Israelis as possible. Meanwhile, Israeli leadership actually acts as if their being humane and simply playing defense while the terrorists in Gaza continue to attempt to murder as many Israelis as they are capable. Hamas and Islamic Jihad act as if every Israeli killed is one of those accursed Jews which they have a special and deeply seated hate. Should Israelis from the almost one-quarter of citizens who are not Jews plus the numerous foreign workers who are almost entirely other than Jewish be killed, the terrorists simply think of them as Jews by proxy. The terrorists see every Israeli as being a Jew, and this includes those who are Muslims, that is how deep their hatred lies. Should Israel simply stand down for the time being while the Gazan terror forces continue to fire rockets through the day, that sends the wrong message. They are reinforcing the belief that Israel is too impotent to respond definitively, and that will simply permit them to continue to attack Israel under a feeling that they will remain safe as Israel does everything possible to avoid killing innocents, even if doing this means they will also not kill the terrorists which allows them to feel completely safe in striking Israel. This is what the Israeli people, not just those in the south, but throughout Israel, are starting to demand that these threats be addressed and destroyed completely. This includes Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezballah along with any others who threaten us. Many of us have difficulty watching us bend to the world and not act as any other nation would under similar threats. The United States and NATO went across the world to destroy the Islamic State but Israel must suffer the Gazan terrorists and not act as other nations would act. This double standard is reaching the end of it use-by date. Israelis demand that all Israelis be given neighborhoods in which they can reside in peace and security and not live sometimes weeks at a time in shelters and at the end find that the situation has not been addressed and completely destroyed as would happen in any other nation.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

What a Difference Media Perception Makes

 

We would all agree that dead civilians in a war zone are tragic but inevitable. We would all agree that militaries should take all reasonable efforts to minimize the threat and danger to civilians while continuing to strike military assets. Finally, we would probably agree that militaries should also take precautions in their movements and weapons placements and storage of armaments such that they allow for little or no threat of danger to civilians. But should we use different scales when deciding which military forces are taking appropriate efforts as different societies have different standards and place varying importance on the safekeeping of their civilians and about targeting civilians. That last one is a bit trickier and perplexing, right? Let us make it a little easier. Should Israel be judged more harshly for dead Palestinian Arabs when fighting Hamas attacks in a conflict with Gaza than the United States should be judged for dead Iraqi and Syrian Arabs in their fighting the Islamic State (ISIS)? Reading reports in the mainstream media one would believe that the Israelis intentionally target Arab civilians in Gaza while the United States has avoided civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria attacks. This is possibly because the mainstream media supports targeting Israel and attempting to display the IDF and Israeli efforts as immoral and lacking in any precautions against killing civilians while President Obama ordered strikes in Syria and Iraq had to be above all suspicions, completely moral and resulting in minimal civilian deaths. In a Reuters report“At least 352 civilians have been killed in U.S.-led strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria since the operation began in 2014, the U.S. military said in a statement on Sunday.” That is correct, three-hundred-fifty-two civilians killed in United States led strikes since 2014, which makes for an average of approximately one-hundred per year or approaching ten per month. In another statement released and used by Reuters with photo credited as “AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File” showing residents carry the body of several people killed in airstrikes during fighting between Iraq security forces and Islamic State on the western side of Mosul, Iraq, statement released Sunday, April 30, 2017, the Pentagon said investigations conducted during the month of March reveal that coalition airstrikes killed 45 civilians, mostly in and around the city of Mosul. The Pentagon added that in each incident “all feasible precautions were taken,” but the strikes still resulted in “unintentional” loss of civilian life. There have been no explosions of editorials demanding explanations from the United States military or government demanding they make reparations or prove they had taken sufficient measures to prevent civilian deaths. There have been no calls for the United States to be brought before The Hague to answer charges for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. How can this be and where are the Human Rights groups with highly inflated or differing numbers or an official United Nations count that also would likely disagree with the official Pentagon numbers claiming multiple numbers were in fact killed. Do not expect there to be any such events being committed against the United States. There also have been no reporters confronting American officers in headquarters or in the field demanding to know why so many Iraqi and Syrian Arabs have died and no Americans have died. Simply, you probably did not even know of these deaths until reading this article. Now comes the time to wonder why.

 

March 24, 2017 file photo, residents carry the body of several people killed
in airstrikes during fighting between Iraq security forces and Islamic State
on the western side of Mosul, Iraq. In a statement released Sunday, April 30, 2017,
the Pentagon said investigations conducted during the month of March reveal
that coalition airstrikes killed 45 civilians, mostly in and around the city of Mosul.
The Pentagon said in each incident “all feasible precautions were taken,”
but the strikes still resulted in “unintentional” loss of civilian life.
(AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

 

Let us return to the seven weeks from July 8, 2014 through August 26, 2014 and the Israel Hamas (Gaza) War. The numbers of civilian casualties released about this conflict varied greatly depending whose numbers you wish to believe. Here are the particulars; the Gaza Health Ministry reported 1,617 Palestinian civilians killed with 10,626 Palestinian militants and civilians wounded; the United Nations Human Rights Council reported 1,462 Palestinian civilians killed; Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported 761 Palestinian civilians with 428 uncategorized males aged 16-50 killed as well as at least 23 Gazans executed by Hamas. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reported that there were 5 Israeli civilians dead (3 killed directly by rocket fire, 2 died of heart attacks after hearing warning sirens), 1 Thai civilian in Israel killed and 87 Israeli civilians wounded. Granted, no matter whose numbers one uses, the number of Israelis affected pales in comparison and this was the number one question the mainstream media asked incessantly for an explanation. This had nothing to do with their lack of knowledge as to the answer, it had everything to do with painting Israel as a monster who worries about their own people but have no regard for the Arabs residing in Gaza. Many reporters acted as if Israel was directly responsible for the protection and care for the people in Gaza as if they were Israeli citizens. Almost none of them displayed any knowledge that starting in August 2005 and completed on September 9, 2005 Israel removed every Israeli, razed everything with the exception of the Greenhouses left for Gazans to use to produce crops and the synagogues as to have bulldozed them would have been a desecration and the IDF removed their last personnel. Those Synagogues were desecrated far worse in the ensuing days by the Arab Palestinians and the greenhouses were stripped bare and used to make weapons and rocket launchers, not grow crops. Hamas took control of Gaza in a coup lasting June 10 through 15 of 2007 and immediately reissued their declaration of intent to destroy Israel and kill every Jew on the Earth. All this history was ignored and the disparity in civilian deaths was the sole news worth reporting. Why was this, one might query.

 

Well, it was all about what one reporter blurted out in her moment of excitement and whose interview has been scrubbed from history, or at least the internet, where she actually asked, “Where are the dead Jews, I mean, why so many dead in Gaza and none in Israel?” Well, why not simply answer that very question. Despite the vast majority of Hamas rocket and artillery strikes targeting civilian structures to include largely schools, kindergartens, pre-schools, day care facilities, and residential neighborhoods, Israel was fortunate to have been protected by the Iron Dome Batteries which are one of the finest anti-rocket and projectile interceptors the world has ever seen. The Iron Dome determines the projected strike point of any rocket, artillery or mortar fired and if it will be close to any civilian or military built up areas it launches its interceptors, which has over ninety-percent efficiency in taking out its target. There was one major failure of the Iron Dome systems where three interceptors were fired at one of the Hamas larger rockets and all missed. This rocket was headed for the center of Tel Aviv and would have been catastrophic. The easy explanation was a huge puff of wind blew it out into the Mediterranean Sea in the last few seconds, or there is the description and entire story as told by the Iron Dome Battery in question of this incident commanding officer as we reported back when this happened in our article ”How to Fight Terrorist Fanatics Unless You’re Israel”. The reason so few Israelis died is because Israel has built shelters everywhere and requires all new residential structures to have a built in shelter in every apartment, home, row house, etc. as part of the building codes and when the sirens sound in any area the Israelis will drop whatever they are doing and head directly to their closest shelter. If an Israeli is out and does not know where the closest shelter is on their own, they are easy to find, just follow everyone else. Hamas, on the other hand, uses their civilians to protect their rockets and the launchers and often will call in women and children and place them on the roof of any building they wish to protect knowing the Israelis will not bomb such a target. Israeli pilots are required to call headquarters and get clearance before dropping ordinance and there are officers using drones to oversee most missions who will check the target before allowing ordinance release.

 

There were other completely ridiculous question asked by reporters during the Gaza War and here are a few samples. “Why does Israel not provide Iron Dome Systems to the Gazans?” and “Why has Israel refused to build bomb shelters in Gaza?” As we mentioned, apparently the reporters were not informed that Gaza, is for all technicalities, an independent country and Israel has surrendered all connections and ties to Gaza. The one Israeli connection with Gaza is the blockade, which is more of an inspection for incoming goods to assure that there are no weapons or military useable goods such as weapons grade steel, explosives or other dual-purpose items that could be used in a military means. Israel permitted tons of cement and rebar into Gaza for the reason of humanitarian aid to permit the rebuilding of the homes damaged in the wars. Well over three-fourths of these goods were utilized to build the Hamas tunnel and bunker system underneath Gaza and tunnels into Israel itself. These bunkers are also used to protect the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist fighters but the Gazan civilians would be shot if they entered these bunkers as Hamas and the other terror groups desire maximum civilian casualties which they utilize in the media to paint Israel as a monster while pretending they are too poor because of the blockade to provide protection. What probably would surprise many to know is that Israel continued the daily transfer of aid into Gaza of food, medical supplies and other non-military aid in the tons of material per day. Below is a video of one such transference and here is an article giving the Israeli side and the proof of Israeli assistance to Gazan civilians including setting up a field hospital to treat injured individuals from Gaza. This was one fact which one would have thought might have attracted at least the slightest of curiosity with Israel sending tractor-trailer trucks by the dozens across into Gaza in the midst of a war and perhaps some wonder at how this could happen and not be shot at by Hamas. Well, here is a surprise, Hamas and Islamic Jihad would on some days target the aid deliveries and once it was of such a severe nature that Israel was forced to skip one day’s shipments, as the risk was too great. Additional aid was sent across the next day to make up for the loss of daily aid. What was truly amazing was the fuel was included in these shipments despite that Hamas could fuel their vehicles, as the fuel was also necessary to produce electricity. Even the electricity aided Hamas and the other terror groups but to deny Gaza electricity would have placed a greater burden on the people. Israel also continued to deliver electricity through the shared electrical grid and provided water, clean water, through the interconnected water system. Everything Israel had been providing to the people of Gaza before the war continued to be delivered as best as possible throughout the war and continued after the war. The reports of Israel starving Gazan or refusing them medical treatment are all propaganda spread by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the anti-Israel mainstream media. They all know that they are repeating or stating lies but as long as there are those who choose to believe anything they are told that Jews are acting with malice and committed to evil deeds, then the terrorists, Arab sources and far too many in the mainstream media will all continue to feed these people grist for the mill.

 

 

People often ask what Israel could do to prevent these misfortunes from befalling the people of Gaza. The unfortunate answer is that Israel is already doing as much as she can to relieve any suffering by the Gazans. One difficulty is that Hamas will regularly refuse to permit Gazans from seeking additional and often-necessary medical treatment in Israel as that can be used to claim that Israel refuses to provide medical aid. The truth is when Hamas and other terror leaders’ families require advanced medical treatment, guess where they are treated? The answer can be found here, here, here, here, here and one possibly repeat here. Israel is not the monster reported all too often in the news. Israel cares deeply about her own people but also is concerned for the well-being of those who are her sworn enemies. This confuses many in the media so they simply paint a picture they can be happy with, not that the truth would accept. The aid sent during the war is likely one of the most positive proofs that Israel is anything but what is too often reported, sometimes in Israeli mainstream news as well. The truth is worth digging for even if one had to suffer through some news slanted in the other direction, sometimes getting a variety of views helps clear the vision. The diametric opposite treatments of Israel compared to the news about the United States and civilian casualties is striking. We do not mean to impugn the United States in any way as they too make the most honest of efforts to avoid civilian casualties.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Is David’s Sling Really an “Existential Danger”

 

Some Israeli enemies have stated they consider David’s Sling to be an “existential danger” in any way, shape or form? In a word, “No!” David’s Sling is an anti-missile system designed to intercept offensive mid-range ballistic missiles. Some will point to the recent interception of an SA series Russian anti-aircraft missile fired at an Israeli jet while it was on a mission over Syria to strike advanced weapons which Iran was passing through Syria to Hezballah in Lebanon for the expressed usage against Israel. Such a strike is considered perfectly legal under international law as preemptory defensive operations but in the case of preventing weapons from reaching Hezballah there is an even greater validation, preventing weapons, especially weapons of mass destruction, from reaching any terrorist groups. This interception of an anti-aircraft missile while it was on path to strike an Israeli fighter jet would be an argument making David’s Sling as having an offensive capability as in assisting attack aircraft but only if one regards the limited but confirmed use of Israeli airstrikes to prevent the arming of Hezballah, a terrorist group, to be an offensive act. Further, the odds of ever again having an anti-missile system intercept an anti-aircraft missile are unbelievably great as the conditions would necessarily need to be of an extremely specific state as presented themselves during this one event. The normative use of David’s Sling would be against mid-range ballistic missiles such as the longer distance missiles Hezballah currently had gained thousands of such missiles now making all of Israel as well as most of the Sinai Peninsula and one third of Saudi Arabia within their range as well as full on ballistic missiles used by Iran which can reach well into Europe with some determined potentially to reach as far as to Paris. One day the David’s Sling anti-missile system could very well protect one of the capital cities of Europe in theory. David’s Sling also completes the Israeli anti-missile shield systems. In conjunction with Iron Dome, Arrow Systems I and III on Continental Ballistic Missiles, Arrow II on mid-range Ballistic Missiles, David’s Sling on mid-range Ballistic Missiles and Iron Dome on short range missiles, rockets, artillery and mortars; these multi-range systems have a fair amount of overlap providing Israel with a multi-layer and multi-radar-platform interception systems. None of these systems can be launched in an offensive manner to strike at other nations. They are all simply used to protect Israel from rockets and missiles launched at her and her people.

 

Why would the enemies of Israel claim that the David’s Sling is an “existential danger” to them if it has no offensive capability? That is easy to answer and it is the same reason they claim the Arrow Systems and the Iron Dome were also “existential danger” to them, they prevent their weapons systems from inflicting damage on Israel and her people. What is truly sad is that should the Arab League nations bring a motion before the United Nations General Assembly complaining that the new David’s Sling anti-missile system causes them to face an “existential danger,” then with a majority of Europeans and other nations the worldwide voting with them, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions. But then it was Abba Eban who once claimed about the United Nations General Assembly, “If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.” Things likely have actually only gotten worse. Truth be told the reality today is such would pass with likely seven or eight votes protecting Israel and eighteen to twenty-three abstentions while the remainder would denounce Israel. Similar percentages would prove true of any of the myriad of United Nations agencies such as the UNHRC or UNESCO to name a pair who have proven particularly guilty.

 

The problem is that while many nations and forces in the world at the end of World War I during a time when many nations particularly from Europe were discarding their colonialism at a measured pace, they agreed that the Jews should have their ancient homelands returned to them. The problem was that soon after they committed to just this scenario, that they gave the British the position of overseeing this venture. As it turns out, they would have been hard pressed to find a less suitable nation to carry out such an assignment honestly. By the time the British had decided they were going to divorce themselves of finding some further means of reducing the amount of land allotted the Jews after first rewarding the Arabs with 78% of the Mandate lands with the formation of Transjordan (Jordan) and then having the Peel Commission attempt to give the Arabs another two-thirds of the land leaving the Jews with one-third of the remaining one-fourth, meaning the Jews were being cut to one-twelfth of the original Mandate, ran into a small problem, the Arabs refused the Peel Commission because it left any land for the Jews. The British then placed everything in the lap of the United Nations who decided to divide the land evenly with two-thirds of the Jewish lands being Negev Desert and almost all the Arab lands being arable but again the Arabs refused because, you guessed it; it still left any land for the Jews. The reason the Arabs, including the Palestinians, can and will never reach any peace agreement with Israel as a whole is because they refuse to accept any land as belonging to the Jews, let alone for a Jewish State. But the evils go deeper than this.

 

The reason anything Israel does, whether in her own defense or as an offer of peace, will always be insufficient and is due to a number of reasons, one for almost every group on the planet. For the Arabs it is because the lands can never be relegated to anybody, but especially the Jews, because the lands were once conquered by the Arabs. For the Muslims it is because no lands ever conquered by the Muslims can ever be permitted to fall under anybody else’s control. This is why the Muslims still claim that the Spanish are occupying Andalusia and make claims that they will reunite Andalusia with its Muslim heritage very soon. This is the essence of the India Pakistan war as the Pakistanis claim one-third of India as rightfully theirs as its Muslim conquerors and thus its rightful owners. The truth is in some Muslim perspectives the entirety of Earth was once Islamic and they have been retaking that which is rightfully theirs because Allah told them the entirety of the world was theirs. Of course the world was somewhat smaller in Muhammad’s view around 625A.D. Further, the majority of European nations look upon allowing the Jews to have their own nation was their most grievous of errors in the past century when they agreed upon this action between the end of World War I and through the early 1920’s. Oh, that’s correct, by the early 1920’s the Europeans and the Arab nations under the leadership of King Faisal and the leaders of the recently defeated Ottoman Empire all agreed to allow the Jews to return to their Biblical homelands, all of their Biblical homelands which were presumably the lands placed under English control called the British Mandate. Of course the British found some interesting verbiage which they turned into making the vast majority of the land into an Arab state and called it necessary and proper, British proper of course. The world was already turning away from their promise and were all very cozy and comfortable with the British rearrangement such that even the League of Nations saw no need to complain about the twisting of the wordings in the San Remo Conference which was the original document setting aside land for the Jewish State in 1922.

 

 

Skipping to the modern era and the world would simply have no compunction in allowing the destruction of Israel. The Arabs might lower the price of oil as a congratulatory move of renewed friendship. Then again, as it has often been noted by even some diplomats, Israel and the Jews are behind every problem in the Middle East and possibly the entire world and maybe even behind why all the galaxies other than Andromeda are flying away at an ever increasing rate. That’s right, the Jews and Israel invented Dark Energy, okay, not exactly, but there will be some who will link to it here and claim it must be true, it is on the Internet. You list Israel and the Arab Palestinians as the greatest problem facing the globe and for only one reason; you know the result will destroy Israel. You translated and excitedly realized and concurred with what Yasser Arafat broadcast in his “stages” message in Arabic where he stated, “Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish sovereignty there, and use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel.” You grabbed this as a revelation of the final solution coming to fruition and as the solution to your problem with Jews ruling themselves.

 

Your placing the existence of Israel as your most pressing problem in the world would be so laughable if it were not so tragic. Your hatred of Jewish freedom and self-rule and your desire to finish what Europe bred for over a century and a half with Inquisitions, pogroms, Purifications and attempted genocidal cleansing with a final sweep removing Israel even if at the cost of 10,000,000 Jews or more depending on the length of time it will take. This is your most driving force between Europe, the Arab World, much of Africa, a fair part of Asia, possibly the majority of the Russian population and likely close to a third of the people in the Americas. Israeli existence is such an anathema to potentially more than half, nay, two-thirds of the people throughout the planet that it is placed as the most immediate necessity to solve over such as the meat-grinding bloodshed in Syria, a megalomaniac ruling Turkey with plans on incorporating northern Syria and Iraq into Turkey expressly for the purpose of ridding the lands of the Kurdish People, another omnipotent leader in Russia seriously considering reestablishing his nation’s dominance over large swaths of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, an entire set of loonies in China seeking to dominate one of the busiest sea trade routes through the South China Sea that they are building Islands and then exclaiming to have discovered and acquired a whole new island never seen before claiming it was there all of a sudden like and we didn’t do anything, the hopefully last in a line of ever growing mentally unstable lunatic ruling the northern areas of the Korean Peninsula where the people are starving while he murders selected generals and family members while playing with tossing nuclear weapons around the globe while building such and the rockets with which to deliver them and to top this list off there are a whole bevy of religious fanatics with nuclear weapons on their minds and where the top Mullah leads immense crowds of the people on selected Fridays to pick up the pace from the other Fridays where these crowds chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” while this country is mobilizing for a war to take control of the entirety of the Arab oil wealth followed by spreading Shia Islam to every Sunni in the world and then everyone else. That is a partial list and does not mention any potential problems with the new American leader, the refugee issue in Europe, the war in Yemen, Libya, or Somalia plus dictators taking control in many nations with disastrous results as in Venezuela and the new Freedom Index released recently published by The Heritage Foundation showing yet another year of a world less free than the one before it. Israel, a free democracy run under the rule of law is the world’s biggest problem? Puleeze!

 

Beyond the Cusp