IDF Chief Benny Gantz Preps Soldiers:
“When you go in take a look backwards once to remember why you are doing it, look at Sderot, Ofakim and the communities you do not see–and from that moment stop looking backward and look only forward,”
IDF Blog: Pillar of Defense: Sixth Day Recap
The man who keeps Tel Aviv safe from rockets
Commander of newest Iron Dome battery ensuring Fajr-5 rockets don't hit city.
"Maj. Itamar Abu is keeping the millions of residents of the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area safe from death and destruction.
Lebanese Army Disarms Two Rockets Aimed at Israel
Two Katyusha rockets aimed at Israel from southern Lebanon were discovered and disarmed by the Lebanese army, a security official told the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star.
Dealing with Hamas’s human shield tactics
Pilots often ordered to call off air strikes at last moment.
"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' Tactic: Require Israel to Cause Civilian Casualties by Alan M. Dershowitz
"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."
Gaza proves Golda right
“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.
UN WATCH: Israel sent 19 letters to U.N. on Hamas rockets in 2012, before responding militarily
Assad tells U.N. he cares about suffering of people in Golan, while killing thousands of Syrian civilians
Bigotry on the Beeb by Douglas Murray
"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 ABC (Australia) is at war with Israel, too
The World Today also had Diana Buttu, calling for more rocket attacks on Israel:
“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.
AP Reporter Slams State Department For Silence On Israel
"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."
State Dept Refuses to Say If Israeli Ground Assault Counts as Self-Defense
"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."
EU: Israel has right to defense, but should stop operations
"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."
Majority of Americans support Israel’s operation in Gaza
Republicans and males are most likely to believe it’s justified, CNN poll finds
Israel Museums Hide Art to Protect It From Rockets
The Onion Goes Anti-Semitic
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”
CIF Watch: ‘Comment is Free’ publishes an essay by a Hamas leader…again.
"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’."
Huffington Post Promotes Anti-Semitic Cartoonist, Carlos Latuff
"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."
Has the US Administration Decided to Get Rid of Jordan's King Abdullah? by Khaled Abu Toameh
"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."
Antwerp protesters: 'Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas'
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.'
Muslim Savages, Leftards, Jewish Traitors, and Hungarian Fascist Rally for Hamas in Toronto
Daphneanson: "Blood On Your Hands!": Protesting Batsheva & Gaza in Old London Town
"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!"
IAEA: Iran Increases Underground Nuclear Enrichment Capacity
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.
Smartphones and websites help keep Israelis safe in wartime
Want to know if your area is being targeted by Hamas rockets, and where to go, if so? There are apps for that
"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."
Sweet diesel! Discovery resurrects process to convert sugar directly to diesel
"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."
His mother's from Surbiton but he was blown up near the border with Gaza
Family of British-Israeli soldier relive the attack that helped trigger the current crisis
B'Tselem: 41 of 105 dead are civilians
I guess the IDF figures have been the most accurate. What a surprise.
BDSFail: UC Irvine rejects divestment from Israel
Yaacov Lozowick has been getting back into blogging during the fighting, and he is always worth reading.
Martin Kramer shows yet again that Juan Cole is an idiot
Small arms, big problems (Foreign Policy)
Neat find by Challah Hu Akbar from 2009
If you are into stupic, non-scientific polls, feel free to go here and vote.
Kids from Israel play a reality-based game in a playground:
A poster:
The Al Qassam Martyrs Brigades Twitter account is often very funny. Here is their tribute poster to Ahmad Jaabari:
Finally, a story from The Propagandist:
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.”