This Al Jazeera reporter was not expecting to have such a dramatic live report:
(h/t O)
(h/t O)
Elder of Ziyon| A Palestinian boy holds a doll as he walks amid the rubble of a destroyed house after what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip November 20, 2012 |
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| A Palestinian man picks up a doll lying on shattered glass in a damaged house following an Israeli air raid in Gaza City on November 17, 2012. (AFP) |
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| A Palestinian boy salvages a stuffed toy from a building destroyed by an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip (Picture: EPA) |
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| A Palestinian man carries a stuffed toy through a street littered with debris after an air raid on a sporting center in Gaza City on Monday. (CNN) |
Elder of Ziyon"Maj. Itamar Abu is keeping the millions of residents of the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area safe from death and destruction.
"The IAF is dealing with an enemy keen on using the densely populated Gaza Strip as a rocket base, often shooting the projectiles from the tops of residential buildings, or near schools, mosques, and other public places."
"Hamas's tactic is as simple as it is criminal and brutal. Its leaders know that by repeatedly firing rockets at Israeli civilian areas, they will give Israel no choice but to respond. Israel's response will target the rockets and those sending them. In order to maximize their own civilian casualties, and thereby earn the sympathy of the international community and media, Hamas leaders deliberately fire their rockets from densely populated civilian areas. The Hamas fighters hide in underground bunkers but Hamas refuses to provide any shelter for its own civilians, whom they use as "human shields." This unlawful tactic puts Israel to a tragic choice: simply allow Hamas rockets to continue to target Israeli cities and towns; or respond to the rockets, with inevitable civilian casualties among the Palestinian "human shields."
“Peace will come to the Middle East when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us,” then Foreign Minister Golda Meir said in 1957, during an address to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
"Well, one reason is that so many British politicians, including Britain’s favourite idiot granny Shirley Williams, tell them lies about Israel which the BBC allows to go out uncorrected. Here is Shirley Williams in reply to the bigoted question with which (unlike the excellent two conservative voices on the panel) she had absolutely no problem.
Shirley Williams told the audience that Gaza is ‘a slum’ and then went on to say the following:
‘It’s crowded out to the gills. It’s full of people struggling to find a box in which to live. It’s full of people who see their land slowly eaten up by more and more Israeli settlements.’
“The reason that people are now firing back is because of the fact of the assassination and I think if anything, rather than people saying to Hamas that it’s time to stop, it’s actually quite the opposite.”Israel’s killing last week of a Hamas military commander was a response to the rocket attacks, not the trigger for them. This was not put to Buttu. Nor was she queried at all about her demand that rather than call on Hamas to stop firing rockets, “the opposite” should occur.
"Lee concluded, "But you won't stick up for your ally Israel when the Turks, another one of your allies, say that they're engaged in terrorism in Gaza..." The exchange goes on for nearly three minutes, while Nuland is left defenseless against the charges of silence from the press pool."
"In a little-noticed exchange from the State Department on Friday, State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland openly refused to say whether an Israeli ground assault on Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip would fall under the Israeli right to self-defense."
"The Council of the European Union on Monday released a statement in which it both reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself and demanded an end to all hostilities between Israel and Gaza."
So now The Onion, celebrated for their zany approach to the news, has fallen under the spell of the radical left and has become one more mouthpiece for anti-Semitic propaganda. In their latest attempt at humor, The Onion posted this piece of Palestinian propaganda:
“8-Year-Old Palestinian Boy Pleasantly Surprised He Hasn't Been Killed Yet”
"In fact, later that same day, Nov. 18, a ’Comment is Free’ essay by the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, Musa Abumarzuq, was published – one out of several members of the Islamist terror group who has been published by the paper which aspires to be the ‘world’s leading liberal voice’."
"The Huffington Post, allegedly a mainstream, balanced news media outlet, has covered and promoted the work of anti-Semitic cartoonist Carlos
Latuff. The Huffington Post, its editors, and its owner, Arianna Huffington, have created a safe, welcoming space for all manner of Jew haters to spread their rhetoric and ideas."
"Unless the US clarifies its position regarding King Abdullah and reiterates its full backing for his regime, the Muslim fundamentalists are likely to step up there efforts to create anarchy and lawlessness in the kingdom. Washington needs to reassure King Abdullah and his followers that it will not allow the creation of an Islamic terror republic in Jordan."
Anti-Semitism is alive and well in Antwerp (Belgium), where protesters outside a concert hall on Sunday night shouted 'Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas.'
"Here are scenes from outside Sadler's Wells last evening, when a seething raucous mob of usual suspects screamed intimidatory invective at people arriving to watch the Batsheva Dance Company. "Shame on you!" yells the mob. "Blood on your hands!"
According to the IAEA’s quarterly report issued on Nov. 16, Iran’s work on the deep underground nuclear site, Fordo, near the holy city of Qom, is nearly complete. It now has the full capacity of 2,784 centrifuges, an increase of 644 since the last IAEA report in August.
"As citizens of one of the most connected countries in the world, Israelis have been relying on their smartphones since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense, with new apps and sites popping up to help keep them safe and informed."
"A long-abandoned fermentation process once used to turn starch into explosives can be used to produce renewable diesel fuel to replace the fossil fuels now used in transportation, UC Berkeley scientists have discovered.
Campus chemists and chemical engineers teamed up to produce diesel fuel from the products of a bacterial fermentation discovered nearly 100 years ago by the first president of Israel, chemist Chaim Weizmann. The retooled process produces a mix of products that contain more energy per gallon than ethanol that is used today in transportation fuels and could be commercialized within 5-10 years."
My friend Joe Z., a long-time Jerusalem resident, had just taken his little boy out to play in the park when the air-raid sirens began. They took cover and waited for the explosion before going to back to play. (Yes, it sounds, and is, surreal – from bombs to play in less than 10 minutes. Believe me – it isn’t easy, but we do it. Life goes on).
“I couldn’t understand why I kept hearing more ‘rockets’ until I looked over towards the Old City and East Jerusalem," Joe said. "The fireworks display was amazing – and horrifying. The Palestinians were out in force on the rooftops celebrating the possibility that Jews might have been killed, that a bomb might fall on the Holy City. We heard the music, the laughter, the shouts of joy. I was aghast at their unrestrained ecstasy at the tragedy that might have been – that they hoped might still be. My little boy played happily on the swings, enjoying the free firework show; innocent, sweet and precious. My blood ran cold.”
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of ZiyonIslamic leaders said that the majority of Salafist jihadists in the Sinai traveled to the Gaza Strip to join the Palestinian resistance. Jihadist leaders in Cairo held a meeting yesterday [Nov. 18] to examine the possibility of dispatching a second group to Gaza to resist the Israeli Defense Forces and prevent the aggression against Palestinians from continuing.The story notes that the Muslim Brotherhood is discouraging its members from joining the fighting, which is a bit different than what a Freedom and Justice Party official said that MB youth were poised to enter.
This comes as well-informed sources within the Muslim Brotherhood confirmed that a delegation of 10 youths from the Brotherhood in the Sinai traveled to Gaza to join the resistance. The sources said that a number of youths from the Brotherhood decided to travel yesterday [Nov. 18] to join the Al-Qassam Brigades and their struggle against Israel.
Salafist leader Sheikh Mohammed Muftah, known as Abu Yahya, revealed that the majority of Salafists in the Sinai traveled to Gaza since the first strike was launched by the “Jewish enemy.”
He said, “The Islamists are preparing themselves to fight for the cause of Allah,” adding that the coming days will see Salafist youth traveling from all Egyptian provinces to the Gaza Strip.
The Salafist jihadist operatives held an emergency meeting yesterday [Nov. 18] to discuss ways to support the people of Gaza and prepare those who would travel to Gaza after that the first group recently traveled across the border.
Morgan Salem, a leader of the Salafist jihadists, said, “Supporting the people of Gaza is a constant activity with different mechanisms; this is either provided materially or in the form of jihadists.”
For his part, the Hazem Abu Ismail movement's spokesman, Gamal Saber, launched an initiative to support Gaza designed to send youth from the Islamic movement to the Palestinian territory to to assist the people of Gaza in confronting the enemy and to provide fighters in Palestine with sufficient money and weapons to fight “the enemy of God.”
Elder of ZiyonAt approximately 14:10 on Monday, 19 November 2012, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a civilian car that was traveling in al-Saftawi Street in Jabalya, in which Hussam Fayez Hamdan Abdul Jawad, 32, was traveling. The car was destroyed and Abdul Jawad was killed.Jawad may very well have been a member of a terror group, but PCHR is not going to say - he was just driving, not preparing to fire a rocket.
Elder of ZiyonPalestinian gunmen shot dead six alleged collaborators in the Gaza Strip who "were caught red-handed", according to a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio on Tuesday.
"They possessed hi-tech equipment and filming equipment to take footage of positions," it said.
The Hamas radio said the men, who were suspected of working for Israel, were shot. It did not elaborate.
Gunmen chained the body of one of the alleged collaborators to a motorcycle and dragged it throughout the main streets of Gaza City.
Witnesses said the six men were pulled out of a van Tuesday, forced to lie face down on the street and then shot dead.UPDATE: A new photo (h/t EoL)
Five bodies lay in a pile as a mob stomped and spit on them. A sixth body was tied to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets as people screamed, "Spy! Spy!"
Hamas posted a sign on an electricity pole, naming the six alleged informers.
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of ZiyonMayadeen TV (pan-Arab TV channel based out of Lebanon), November 15th, interview of Khaled Al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad leader by Ghassan Bin Jiddo.
Ghassan Bin Jiddo: Mr. Khaled Al-Batsh, the Fajr 5 missiles, where do you get them from? Are they manufactured locally, or are they from outside the Palestinian lands?)
Khaled Al-Batsh (via phone): Of course they are 100% Iranian made, received by the Resistance in the framework of the legitimate aid which the Islamic Republic gives to the Palestinian people. This is well known, and was published in the media.
The deputy leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziad Nakhleh, has said that rockets fired by Hamas and the “Palestinian resistance” at Israeli towns and cities are of Iranian origin, Lebanon’s el-Nashra newspaper reported on Monday.
Some of the weapons were manufactured locally in an Iranian factory, Nakhleh said, adding that the rockets Hamas has fired at Tel Aviv have a range of “up to 80 kilometers.”
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of ZiyonRival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas said on Monday they have decided to end years of infighting in a show of solidarity over the Gaza crisis, AFP news agency reported.Its so nice to know that they can agree about something!
“From here, we announce with other (factional) leaders, that we are ending the division,” senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub told a crowd of about 1,000 who gathered for a demonstration in Ramallah, the West Bank’s political capital.
Among those present at the rally were top members of Hamas’s leadership in the West Bank as well as senior officials from its smaller rival Islamic Jihad, the AFP correspondent said.
Ramallah’s Manara Square was a sea of Palestinian flags as the crowd chanted “Unity!” and “Hit, hit Tel Aviv” in an appeal to Hamas militants who have fired at least five rockets at the coastal city since Thursday.
Elder of ZiyonIf one reviews the rhetoric of the liberal "resistance" supporters, especially after the escalation of violence in Gaza, you'd think that Hamas is a liberal or secular group, not an Islamic faction.
During the nearly two years of systematic and brutal killing by the Syrian regime of the Syrian people who are resisting tyranny, many Arabs preferred to remain silent, justifying their denial by fear of the Islamists. But suddenly, when Hamas decided to respond to the Israeli attack on Gaza, this reaction was cheered as the ultimate resistance. It didn't matter who is resisting here and why. The Islamic nature of Hamas does not matter, only because it is against Israel.
This juvenile attitude of having one enemy, Israel, and justifying all other kinds of brutality and tyranny in the name of resistance is very common among many Lebanese and Arab leftists and liberals.
Do they ask if Hamas has been the best example of governance in Gaza, the way they question the Syrian opposition day and night? Never. At least Hamas had the chance to demonstrate what kind of state it envisions, and it has been obvious that it is not the secular, civil state the opposition is demanding in Syria.
Unfortunately, the Arab awakening did not eliminate these moral double standards. The Syrian opposition can resist Assad as much as they want, but their cause will not be recognized by these leftists as long as some Islamists have joined them. Meanwhile, Hamas and Hezbollah can be as Islamist as they want; they will be forgiven, as long as they resist, or say they are resisting, Israel.
Hamas has not gone secular, but the leftists have long ago lost their compass.
At least 370 deaths in #Syria since last Wednesday, and zero anti-Syrian demonstrations.
Elder of ZiyonThousands received emails from one "Moshe Rotoor," using a Russian account, who claims in broken Hebrew that "the military censorship of military intelligence is hiding the information about the attacks on our soldiers on the border of Gaza. See the picture of the field of death in which our soldiers are falling in Gaza." YouTube videos enclosed in the email claim to show an IDF jeep hit by an anti-tank missile. In reality it is a jeep belonging to the Reuters news agency that was hit on the border on Friday.
Elder of Ziyon"Former top IDF international law head emphasizes the legal battles the military faces in choosing targets.
Libman said that an international lawyer’s job was to navigate the “gray areas” that characterized many disputed aspects of the law of armed conflict, always striving to be in keeping with the “spirit of the law.”
It was crucial, Libman said, that the IDF adhere to and “guard our [country’s] values,” since success could only be achieved in this and future operations by defending the “value we place on human life.”
"This hostility is the direct result of years of anti-Israel and anti-Western incitement in the Arab and Muslim world -- not only toward Israel but also toward the United States. In today's world of the Palestinians, anyone who talks about peace with Israel is a traitor and a collaborator; but anyone who calls for the destruction of Israel and fires rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is a hero."
"We must therefore endeavor to resist calls for a cease-fire until such time as Hamas, in conjunction with the Egyptians, undertake to cease their aggression.
There must be a clear understanding that any breach would result in harsh “disproportionate” Israeli responses including the targeted killings of those responsible for initiating attacks. In the absence of such an agreement an enforced cease-fire will be perceived as a major victory for Hamas and our citizens will simply return to the life of terror they endured since the first Kassams were launched a decade ago."
“So with Israel having faced existential attack from the Arab and Muslim world for the six decades of its existence, and having been under intensive rocket, missile and human bomb attack from them for more than a decade, the BBC Any Questions production team selected as the audience question to launch its discussion of the Gaza war whether Israel actually deserved to exist at all.” (inc. an EOZ link)
The constant, unabated terrorizing of Israelis does not interest the international community and the media. They only become interested once Israel responds to such attacks.
"The cards may be familiar, but the game has changed: the stakes are higher. A great shift is occurring across the region. We appear to be moving from the era of the dictators to the era of the Islamists.
Whatever is to come, Israel will need her friends abroad, for she has none nearby.”
"While Eitan declares that the terrorists “want to rain fear on us, but they won’t succeed,” the chants of the crowd and the sound of the siren linger in the air. For the roomful of mourners, the next rocket is not far away."
More than 44 million hacking attempts have been made on Israeli government web sites since Wednesday when Israel began its Gaza air strikes, the government said on Sunday.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said just one hacking attempt was successful on a site he did not want to name, but it was up and running after 10 minutes of downtime.
"Not only soldiers sprang into action the moment Israel’s military launched Operation Pillar of Defense in response to incessant rocket fire from Gaza. Israeli civilians in the center and north of the country also responded by offering Mideast hospitality to families wishing to escape the stress and trauma for a night, a weekend or longer.
“The day everything started, we got families to sign up as hosts,” says Keren Claster, assistant to the mayor of Efrat, south of Jerusalem. “We’re also gathering toys and books to send to shelters in the South.”
"Family of British-Israeli soldier relive the attack that helped trigger the current crisis
Until last week, the British-Israeli soldier Shimon Alankri, 20, was in peak fitness, serving with the army's Sayeret Givati unit on routine patrol along Israel's border fence with Gaza. Then, on 10 November, a cell from the Gaza Popular Resistance Committees fired a guided anti-tank missile at his jeep. The missile blasted straight through the vehicle and out the other side, wounding them all.
It proved to be one of the triggers that led to Israel's Operation Pillar of Defence, a fierce offensive that has divided opinion abroad, but has proved deeply popular in Israel as the country heads towards elections in January."
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of ZiyonA senior Islamic Jihad militant was killed on Monday in an Israeli strike on a Gaza City building housing Palestinian and international media, the Islamist faction told AFP.The IDF had identified four Islamic Jihad leaders in the media building.
Israel confirmed the attack, with its intelligence services saying the strike had targeted "senior Islamic Jihad officials" who were on the premises.
It was the second time in as many days that Israel had fired on the Shuruq Tower in the city's upscale Rimal neighbourhood which is used by media outlets including Britain's Sky News, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network, Russia Today and Iran's Press TV.
Smoke was seen billowing from the lower floors of the tower, also used by Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV whose offices were destroyed in the first strike on Sunday morning, officials said.
"One Palestinian was killed and three others injured in a strike on the Shuruq Tower," an ambulance services statement said.
Islamic Jihad sources named him as Ramez Harb and said he was a senior commander in its armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades.
"One person was killed and lots of people were injured. Now there's a fire on the second, third and four floors," Saed Swerky, Russia Today's Gaza correspondent told AFP by phone just after the attack.
"The Israelis warned the foreigners to leave this building yesterday because they were going to attack it again," he said, speaking from inside the building.
Reporters Without Borders condemns Israeli air strikes targeting news organizations in Gaza City today and calls for an immediate end to such attacks. At least nine journalists were reportedly injured and several local and international media were prevented from operating.Now that we know that the existence of senior Islamic Jihad officials in that same building, who were clearly using the international media presence as a shield for their own operations, will RSF modify its condemnation? After all, we now see that Israel behaved exactly as they are supposed to under international law: they identified a legitimate target, and warned the civilians to get out of the way so they could attack.
“These attacks constitute obstruction of freedom of information,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “We remind the Israeli authorities that, under humanitarian law, the news media enjoy the same protection as civilians and cannot be regarded as military targets.
“Even if the targeted media support Hamas, this does not in any way legitimize the attacks. We call for a transparent investigation into the circumstances of these air strikes. Attacks on civilian targets are war crimes and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. Those responsible must be identified.”