Prayers For Peace, Rockets, And A New Daycare Center.

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

This month has been busy for the residents of Sderot (pronounced:  STAY'rot).  Let us start with this bit of optimism.

Sderot, Israel (31.12.09): Hours before the new year, as hundreds of pro-Palestinian and Arab demonstrators gathered at the Erez Crossing chanting "Katyushas on Ma'alot, Qassams on Sderot," while Israeli demonstrators at another Gaza viewpoint a few meters away gathered together to communicate a very different message.

A group of Israelis singing songs of peace versus a group of Arabs calling for the bombing of these people.  And the idiots on the left (especially the ones in the White House, Speaker's Office and the Senate Majority Leader) all have concluded that Israelis don't want peace, only Arabs do.

And black is white, good is bad, up is down.  Nothing to see here folks...just move along.

That was the optimism.  Now for the news:

Worst Rocket Escalation to Strike Israel Since Operation Cast Lead

by Anav Silverman

Since Operation Cast Lead, over 306 rockets have been fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. On Sunday, January 10, Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that he regarded the recent escalation of rocket attacks very seriously.

Rocket attack in Sderot. (Photo: Hamutal Ben Shitrit/Sderot Media Center)

"Last week 20 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. The Government's policy is clear: Any firing at our territory will be responded to strongly and immediately."

Both Netivot and Ashkelon were hit by Grad rockets in the recent rocket escalation. On New Years' eve, two Russian-made Grad artillery rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and struck Israel, with one hitting the southern town of Netivot, a city of about 26,000.

The Color Red system did not go off at the time of attack, and Netivot residents had no warning of the incoming rocket attack. No damages were reported but one woman suffered shock.

The last Grad rocket to strike Netivot had exploded near a synagogue nine months ago, causing heavy damage to the building.

A week later, on Thursday, January 7, a Grad-type Katyusha rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a field south of Ashkelon, causing no damage or injuries. Air sirens, however, did sound, sending Ashkelon residents into panic.

Ashkelon, a coastal city with over 100,000 residents, has been a target of Palestinian-fired Katyusha rockets for nearly four years.

Since the start of 2010, tens of Iranian-supplied mortar rockets have also hit southern Israel. Terrorists also fired an anti-tank missile at IDF troops on the Gaza border.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility for the recent firing of the rockets.

Hamas boasted on Friday Jan. 8, that it had managed to smuggle new types of weapons into the Gaza Strip. Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, published photographs on its website of the new weapons. The weapons include missiles with a double warhead, 107-mm caliber missiles that are designed to penetrate fortified structures and a new type of armor piercing RPG missile.

Abu Ubeida, the Hamas spokesman stated that the group "has thousands of fighters and good weapons capable of harming Israel."

Former OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yom Tov Samia predicted on Sunday that another war with Hamas was inevitable.

"We are before another round in Gaza," Samia told Army Radio in an interview.

"I am very skeptical about the possibility that Hamas will suddenly surrender or change its ways without being hit much more seriously than it was during Cast Lead."

Will someone please explain the meaning of the word CEASE-FIRE to Hamas!  In a cease-fire both side stop shooting at each other.  If one side starts shooting again, then the cease-fire is over, battle begins anew.

Now for a little good news:

A new rocket-proof daycare center was inaugurated in the southern city of Sderot on December 27. The money for the furniture, equipment, and toys was donated by 13 year-old Thomas Cole of Toronto on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah.

United Israel Appeal of Canada’s website reported that the dedication ceremony was attended by 35 members of Cole’s family, including his parents and grandparents, as well as by Sderot Mayor David Buskila, who unveiled a plaque of recognition and affixed the mezuzah together with Thomas.

The daycare center was built to withstand rocket attacks and contains three classrooms. It will serve approximately 45 infants ranging in age from three months to four years. The center will specifically serve the Reut community, a group of 150 young families who have made Sderot their home over the last decade.

Eran Shmueli-David, director of UIAC’s Israel Emergency Campaign, said that “this gift was implemented thanks to the tireless efforts of Eddy Azran, UIAC’s local coordinator in Sderot. It was his persistence and determination that pressed the municipality to open the new building as soon as construction was completed.”

Thomas Cole personally chose to dedicate the money to the Sderot Daycare Centre out of several options given to him by the B’nei Tzedek program of UJA Federation.

Read the full story here.

Young Thomas Cole of Toronto not only is on his way in life to becoming a man of good character, but has shown to the world the true meaning of becoming a man.  The unselfish giving unto others.  In Master Cole's case, his generosity will help many children to have a better life.

His parents MUST be busting at the seams with pride.

You can HELP too.  It isn't hard.  Just a few dollars can and does go a long way.  Just click here and follow the instructions.  Your donation to the Sderot Media Center will help the people of Sderot and the Western Negev.  People who have been under rocket attack for the last 9 years.

The Children of Sderot sent out messages of peace and hope.
The Children of Gaza send out rockets to destroy them.

Yet Hamas screams bloody murder whenever the Israelis strike back at them.

Not this time.

The time is coming when the people of Israel will have had enough.  When they will attack in retaliation, and not stop until Hamas is fully destroyed.  This next time nothing will be able to stop the IDF from achieving their directive.  Not the UN, not the EU, and definitely not Barack Hussein Obama.  Let Hamas and their anti-Semitic allies on the left cry all they want.  They will cry, scream, and throw a temper tantrum like they did last year.  But things are different now.  Europe is fed up with their antics.  The US isn't buying their lies.  And there will be elections this year.  Now Hamas will have to contend with that.

And the Children of Sderot truly might have a peaceful childhood.

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Gaza Ceasefire Update: 62 Palestinian Rockets and Mortars fired at Israel in 24 hours

Cross posted at Monkey in the Middle

November 4-5, 2008: Hamas renewed Qassam rocket fire against Israeli civilians living in the Negev throughout Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. Hamas terrorists fired 46 Qassam rockets and 16 mortar shells at the western Negev region.

The rockets damaged several green houses in the western Negev. Two rockets landed in Ashkelon,one which hit a quiet neighborhood, and sent three people into shock and trauma.
This escalation in Palestinian rocket fire has been the most serious breach in the Hamas-Israel ceasefire to date. In addition to the massive rocket barrage, 21 Qassam rockets and 26 mortar shells have been fired at Israel during the past five months of the ceasefire.
The massive rocket attack came about when IDF Special Forces entered Gaza to blow up a tunnel dug by Hamas terrorists that was created in order to abduct Israeli soldiers. The tunnel's end surfaced into a Gaza home, which the Palestinian terrorists blew up during the course of fighting with Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (IICC), reports that Hamas operatives have dug a large number of tunnels between Egypt and Gaza throughout the ceasefire. On October 28, 29 and November 2 the Palestinian media reported that about 20 tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Executive Force collapsed after stormy weather and heavy rainfall. According to Egyptian security sources, 13 tunnels were destroyed (Agence France Presse, November 3). Some of them had been dug under the cemetery in Rafah, and graves collapsed into the flooded tunnels (Quds Press), October 29).
In the middle of Sinai, Egyptian security forces uncovered an explosives cache containing eight rockets ready for smuggling into the Gaza Strip (Al-Khalij, October 30). Hamas propaganda ignores and even denies the continuing smuggling of large quantities of weapons into the Gaza Strip through the tunnels and sends foreign correspondents the false message that the tunnels are only used to smuggle civilian goods and are necessary because of Israel 's "siege" of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas smuggles weapons, money, terrorist operatives, foodstuffs, fuel and civilian and military equipment into the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the tunnels. Hamas oversees and to a great extent controls the industry. In the assessment of the IICC, there are several hundred tunnels running under the Philadelphi route, i.e., the Gaza-Egypt border. Rafah mayor Issa al-Nashar told both the Guardian and the Independent that there are about 400 tunnels, most of which are located in Rafah.

The tunnel industry is an important source of employment for Rafah residents as well as a source of income for Hamas and the tunnel contractors. It is estimated that thousands of workers and terrorist operatives are employed in digging the tunnels, operating them and smuggling. According to the British Independent newspaper, there are an estimated 6,000 workers in the industry. The profit from each tunnel is estimated at $30-$50,000 a month. The cost of digging a tunnel is estimated at $60-$70,000. Half of the amount is paid to the owners of the houses under which the tunnel openings are hidden and the other half buys digging equipment and pays the salaries of the engineer who designed it and of the diggers. An operational tunnel, according to the Independent, can be bought or sold for up to $150,000.

As the Hamas leadership continues to sponsor the building of tunnels, which they consider central to their economic infrastructure, the quiet that Sderot residents have experienced seems to be coming to a gradual end. Although the official date to the conclusion of the ceasefire is December 19, Palestinian terrorist operatives are continuing to fire rockets. Several more Qassam rockets were fired upon Israeli civilians throughout Wednesday and early Thursday morning, November 6. On Thursday, Sderot residents woke up to the sound of the red alert siren, Tzeva Adom, at two in the morning, which was followed by a rocket explosion that vibrated throughout the city.

From Monkey in the Middle:

The cease-fire is now over, and again Israeli civilians are being placed at risk. The world does nothing while except to condemn Israel for striking back.

If the Palestinians put 1/2 of the effort and money that they spend on tunnels and weapons into useful constructive ideas like an infrastructure or real industries, they would see a growth in their economy. Instead they choose to accept handouts from the world.

I ask you to click on the link below and give a donation to the Sderot Media Center. Your donation does not go to weapons of war, but to actually help the people of the Western Negev rebuild their homes, businesses and lives. Please give generously.

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