No Cease Fire !

January 14, 2009

Exclusive: Ceasefire in Gaza

Dr. Denis MacEoin

...As their Covenant makes clear, they are fighting a Jihad, and the rules they observe are Jihad rules, based on centuries of legislation about the waging of war against unbelievers. The problem with Jihad rules is that they simply don’t recognize all the elements of international law that modern states base their treaties and international conventions on. Jihad law includes rules on how and when to deceive the foe, and envisages no outcome other than the death or submission of non-Muslims. ...

A recent Hamas pronouncement boasted that the Palestinians (for which read Hamas) have made an industry of death and that everyone plays a part: “...the women exceed at this, and so too do the mujahideen [fighters in jihad] and the children. That’s why they have formed human shields of the women the children the elderly and the mujahideen in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine.” (My italics)

This is the only fighting force in history to boast that they have made human shields of their own people. There are films of “brave” Hamas gunmen dragging screaming children along to serve as shields, and of civilians sent onto the roofs of rocket launching sites, where, ironically, they know the Israelis will not fire on them. It is a mockery of military ethics, yet it goes barely noticed in the Western media....

This war is not a pretty war, but, truth be told, no wars are pretty. If Hamas cannot be fought to a standstill or until it is a spent force, lulls in the fighting will be of absolutely no use. Beaten to a ceasefire, Hamas will return. They will return and they will fight to a standstill again, then they will regroup and attack once more. More deaths, of Israelis and Palestinians both. Ever-postponed statehood for the Palestinians, unending vituperation of Israel, which is only a democracy trying to defend its civilians from crimes this country would not bear for a week.

I have given you a substantial sample of this fact filled, logical explanation of the situation in Gaza. Click the title link and read it all. Read the concluding paragraph twice. You will learn a great deal about Hamas and its malicious mission. You will learn about the world's double standard and why it is morally unacceptable. You will learn why there must be no cease fire. You need to know; you must inform others.

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News from Sderot

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

From the Sderot Media Center

Over 70 Palestinian rockets strike Israel in 2 days: Baby girl hurt in Gedera

Since early Tuesday morning, over 34 rockets and mortar shells were fired from northern Gaza Strip at Israel. In one Palestinian rocket attack on Gedara, rocket shrapnel lightly wounded a three-month-old girl in a residential building where the rocket struck.

In Sderot, a Palestinian rocket fell on a busy main street, right beside several main bus stops, located a few meters away from the pharmacy and theater. A taxi driver on scene, told Sderot Media Center that he was pulling out of the bus stop on the way to Tel Aviv, when he heard the Tzeva Adom alert sound. The eight passengers in his vehicle immediately got off and ran into the shelter. He followed through, and a few seconds later, he heard a tremendous explosion. The Palestinian rocket landed only a couple of meters away.

The rocket explosion caused damage to vehicles parked in the area and several people experienced shock. The window in the taxi driver's vehicle completely shattered upon impact of the rocket explosion.
Earlier in the day a Palestinian rocket slammed nearby the Sderot Peretz Shopping Mall Center. The Tzeva Adom set off at least 10 times throughout the day as rocket explosions vibrated throughout the city.

Over 40 Palestinian rockets struck southern Israel on Monday, hitting civilian populated areas in the cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod and Beersheba. One Palestinian Grad rocket slammed into an empty kindergarten in Ashdod, causing heavy damage to the buildings in the vicinity of the rocket explosion.

The Ashdod kindergarten was closed thanks to instructions from the Israel Home Front Command to keep schools and kindergartens within 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip closed.

Ashkelon was also struck by rockets on Monday, as five Grads slammed into the city, damaging several structures and sending several people into shock. Another Gaza rocket struck Be'er Sheva, two others hit Kiryat Malachi, seven landed in Netivot and seven others in Ofakim.

If the world thinks that forcing Israel into a truce with Hamas will stop the rockets, they are very wrong. It will only embolden Hamas and lead to the destruction of Israel.

FIRST GAZA, THEN THE WORLD

Some of Israel’s most blatant critics have written that for every Israeli killed, about a hundred Palestinians were killed. A half-truth is worse than a lie, but this is not even a half truth. This is deception. Because months and years of rockets fired at a civilian population are not a matter for bloody accounts. It is a nuisance that no country, neither Syria nor Sweden, would tolerate. It is a provocation that requires a tough response. And if we are already going for bloody accounts, we should do the overall math. We can suffice with just the accounting in the Arab-Muslim world.

So, since the establishment of the State of Israel, close to 12 million Arabs and Muslims have been butchered, most of them by Arabs and Muslims. Israel’s “contribution,” since its establishment, is 60,000, and that includes all the wars and the two Intifadas. In other words, half a percent.

And more importantly, the confrontation is not between Hamas with its rockets and Israel. The confrontation is between Hamas, as one of the entities that compose radical Islam, and the free world. Its declared goal is to establish a world Islamic caliphate as part of an anti Semitic ideology that also calls for the annihilation of the Jews. Explanations will follow. And since political Islam has already annihilated millions without any announcement, we should take it seriously when there is an announcement about annihilation.

Is Hamas part of the global Jihad? Section 7 of the organization’s manifesto explains that it is not a local movement, nor even a national movement. The heading is “The global nature of the Islamic resistance movement.” And later, “Because the Muslims are spread throughout the entire world, the movement is global.”

Is this a movement that calls for the annihilation of the Jews? That is what is written in a continuation of the same section. “The messenger (Mohammed) said, “The Muslims will fight the Jews and the Muslims will kill them, until the Jew hides behind the stones and the trees, and then the stones and the trees will say, ‘Oh, Muslim, Abd Allah, there is a Jew who is hiding, come and kill him.” And this is in addition to blaming the Jews for all the wars in the world, for world domination, etc.

Sheikh Muhsin Abu Ita stated on the Al Aktza channel that “The annihilation of the Jews is a wonderful blessing.” Dr. Ahmed Bahar, acting chairman of the Palestinian parliament stated that “the Jews are cancer, and they and the Americans should be destroyed to the last person.”

According to the Palestinian constitution, this man, Bahar, will become the head of the Palestinian Authority if Abu Mazen ceases to function. Dr. Yunis Al Astal, a member of the Palestinian parliament, one of the senior Hamas officials, who served as dean of the faculty are of Shariyah and chairman of the Islamic Law Department at Islamic University, stated that the annihilation order is a matter for our time and not for the future.

The book by Dr. Matthias Kuntzel, “Jihad and Jew-Hatred,” elaborates on the annihilation ideology of radical Islam, including among Hamas. We have not yet succeeded in imparting this awareness to the world. It is still not too late.

This is already starting with Muslims all over the world calling for a second Holocaust against the Jews in every nation of the world. Muslims in Europe, Great Britain, Canada and the US are compiling lists of Jews in their nations. Jews to murder. And they will have a carte blanche from the nations they are in. It will become public policy in all their nations.

Two-state illusion: The Sderot perspective

By Noam Bedein

In early September, I was invited to take part in a press conference in Oslo, along with the Israeli ambassador to Norway, members of the Norwegian media and members of the Norwegian parliament. The title of the press conference was "Iran: At Sderot's Back Door."

It was at that press conference that "rocket reality" was presented before Norwegians for the first time, showing the Western Negev as the only place in the Western world where rockets and missiles are fired at citizens on almost a daily basis. Of these attacks, 97 percent are launched by Palestinian militias from the convenient cover of civilian homes in Gaza. Their weapons come directly from Iran, with their delivery to Gaza facilitated by Syria and Egypt. This is how Hamas became Teheran's "third arm," after Hizbullah in Lebanon.

While Norwegian parliament members showed sympathy and said that they more clearly understood Sderot and Gaza, they also rationalized the Gaza rocket reality with the commonly held illusion that "if the Palestinians would be able to have their own independent state - in the West Bank and Gaza - this would bring peace and security to both sides and the firing on Israel would stop." In other words, firing missiles at Israel is justified because of the lack of a Palestinian state, since the West Bank is still "occupied."

From an Israeli perspective, then, promoting the "two-state solution" gives Europeans and their parliamentarians a way to justify ongoing rocket fire. This also gives nations around the world a justification to continue to aid the Palestinian Authority, which now receives the largest proportionate aid compared with any people of a similar sized population.

Indeed, the Norwegian government provided $100 million to the PA over the past year, even after it was proven that much of this budget reaches the hands of Hamas, which openly uses these allocations to finance terrorism.

The two-state solution is mistakenly used by Israel's advocates to justify Israel's approach to peace - pursued even under fire as a political solution. But when Israel's advocates support a two-state solution while Sderot and the Western Negev remain under constant missile threat - especially after Israel pulled out all Jewish communities and IDF bases from the Gaza Strip in August 2005 - they are simply ignoring the fact that 7,000 missiles have been fired at Israel from the de facto Palestinian state spawned in Gaza over the past three years.

THAT IS what a two-state solution means - giving the country's enemies a convenient base from which they can terrorize the civilian population, in defiance of international law. The Western world's media, and even the Israeli media, refer to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, taken in 1967, as the territories that are in dispute, while Hamas, all of the other Palestinian terror groups and the PA itself define Sderot and the Western Negev as "occupied territory." They do not recognize the territory that Israel acquired in 1948, an integral part of the sovereign state of Israel.

In the words of the press statement that Hamas issued on November 26, 2006, the day before the last cease-fire commenced (a six-month cease-fire in which more than 300 missiles were fired at Israel): "We will not stop firing on the Zionist settlement Sderot until the last citizen of Sderot leaves." Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority's "Palestine Map," which can be purchased in any PA office, replaces Sderot with pre-1948 Najd; Ashkelon is replaced by al-Majdal and Ashdod by Isdod.

The Palestinian "right of return" refers to the return of Palestinian refugees to all of Israel. Meanwhile, the PA schools books show no rights for Jews living in the land of Israel, no mention of the history of the Jews in the land of Israel.

By what right was the State of Israel established? What were the historical and legal rights of the Jewish people to the land of Israel? And why has the Palestinian refugee problem persisted, like no other in the world? It is the responsibility of anyone who speaks for Israel to emphasize that during the late 1940s, more than 40 million refuges around the world were resettled, except for one people. They remain defined as refugees, wallowing 60 years later in 59 UNRWA refugee camps, financed by $400 million contributed annually by nations of the world to nurture the promise of the "right of return" to Arab neighborhoods and Arab villages from 1948 that no longer exist.

No nation would tolerate even one rocket being launched toward its territory; but that is what Israel is asked to accept as an integral part of its existence, since the supposed root of the problem is that the Palestinian Arab people do not have a state of their own.

Yet the regime in Gaza let the ceasefire lapse and resumed its rocket attacks - provoking the current Israeli military operation - not to facilitate a two-state solution, but to "liberate" the rest of Palestine.

Try to check what happens to the money sent to the Palestinians and you will see most is siphoned off to Swiss bank accounts and the rest is used to fund terrorism. Hamas and the PA don't recognize the 2-state solution. They want only one state, free of all Jews, Druse, Baha'i and Christians. They will rape, murder and rob to get what they want.

I ask my readers to take the time and say a prayer for the people of Sderot and the Western Negev who are and have been under rocket fire for the past 8 years. And if you can, click on the logo below and contribute to the Sderot Media Center. A group that helps the people of this area cope with constant attack.

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Solving the Palestinian Problem

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle


Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

This is his latest essay from the Jerusalem Post

Israel's war against Hamas brings up the old quandary: What to do about the Palestinians? Western states, including Israel, need to set goals to figure out their policy toward the West Bank and Gaza.

Let's first review what we know does not and cannot work:

• Israeli control. Neither side wishes to continue the situation that began in 1967, when the IDF took control of a population that is religiously, culturally, economically and politically different and hostile.
• A Palestinian state. The 1993 Oslo Accords began this process but a toxic brew of anarchy, ideological extremism, anti-Semitism, jihadism and warlordism led to complete Palestinian failure.
• A binational state: Given the two populations' strong mutual antipathy, the prospect of a combined Israel-Palestine (what Muammar Gaddafi calls "Israstine") is as absurd as it seems.

Excluding these three prospects leaves only one practical approach, which worked tolerably well in the period 1948-67: Shared Jordanian-Egyptian rule, with Amman ruling the West Bank and Cairo running Gaza.

TO BE sure, this back-to-the-future approach inspires little enthusiasm. Not only was Jordanian-Egyptian rule undistinguished, but resurrecting this arrangement will frustrate Palestinian impulses, be they nationalist or Islamist. Further, Cairo never wanted Gaza and has vehemently rejected its return. Accordingly, one academic analyst dismisses this idea as "an elusive fantasy that can only obscure real and difficult choices."

It is not. The failures of Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and the "peace process," has prompted rethinking in Amman and Jerusalem. Indeed, the Christian Science Monitor's Ilene Prusher found already in 2007 that the idea of a West Bank-Jordan confederation "seems to be gaining traction on both sides of the Jordan River." The Jordanian government, which enthusiastically annexed the West Bank in 1950 and abandoned its claims only under duress in 1988, shows signs of wanting to return. Dan Diker and Pinhas Inbari documented for Middle East Quarterly in 2006 how the PA's "failure to assert control and become a politically viable entity has caused Amman to reconsider whether a hands-off strategy toward the West Bank is in its best interests."

Israeli officialdom has also shown itself open to this idea, occasionally calling for Jordanian troops to enter the West Bank.

Despairing of self-rule, some Palestinians welcome the Jordanian option. An unnamed senior PA official told Diker and Inbari that a form of federation or confederation with Jordan offers "the only reasonable, stable, long-term solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

Hanna Seniora opined that "the current weakened prospects for a two-state solution forces us to revisit the possibility of a confederation with Jordan." The New York Times's Hassan Fattah quotes a Palestinian in Jordan: "Everything has been ruined for us - we've been fighting for 60 years and nothing is left. It would be better if Jordan ran things in Palestine, if King Abdullah could take control of the West Bank."

NOR IS this just talk: Diker and Inbari report that back-channel PA-Jordan negotiations in 2003-04 "resulted in an agreement in principle to send 30,000 Badr Force members," to the West Bank.

And while Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak announced a year ago that "Gaza is not part of Egypt, nor will it ever be," his is hardly the last word. First, Mubarak notwithstanding, Egyptians overwhelmingly want a strong tie to Gaza; Hamas concurs; and Israeli leaders sometimes agree. So the basis for an overhaul in policy exists.

Secondly, Gaza is arguably more a part of Egypt than of "Palestine." During most of the Islamic period, it was either controlled by Cairo or part of Egypt administratively. Gazan colloquial Arabic is identical to what Egyptians living in Sinai speak. Economically, Gaza has most connections to Egypt. Hamas itself derives from the Muslim Brethren, an Egyptian organization.

Is it time to think of Gazans as Egyptians?

Thirdly, Jerusalem could out-maneuver Mubarak. Were it to announce a date when it ends the provisioning of all water, electricity, food, medicine and other trade, and accepts enhanced Egyptian security in Gaza, Cairo would have to take responsibility for Gaza. Among other advantages, this would make it accountable for Gazan security, finally putting an end to the thousands of Hamas rocket and mortar assaults.

The Jordan-Egypt option quickens no pulses, but that may be its value. It offers a uniquely sober way to solve the "Palestinian problem."

The Palestinian people have demonstrated that they cannot govern themselves, no matter how many dollars or euros are donated to them. They have not built an infrastructure, working hospitals or schools, roads or sewers, or any of the necessary improvements on their lands that every government must do to maintain law and order.

Instead they allow thugs and murderers to rule over them, imposing 7th Century codes of law, and causing massive shortages in every item except bigotry and anger.

Since they cannot or will not govern themselves, and Israel is fed up with the whole process, the time has come to force Egypt and Jordan to take these troublesome people back.

The Palestinian Problem is not a Jewish or Israeli one, it is an Arab one. And it is time for the Arabs to finally solve it once and for all!

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Ground War

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle




After a week of precision bombing by the IAF led to the shelling last night of Northern Gaza. This evening forces of the IDF entered Gaza. Their objective is to take control of the area where the majority of rockets are being fired from. The same area which Israel left in 2005.

Under International Law Gaza is no longer to be considered occupied (go tell that to the Moonbats on the left and the MSM)as Israel does not exercise effective control or authority over any land or institutions in the Gaza Strip. The fourth section of The Hague convention of 1907, Article 42 defines occupation as:

Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.

The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.

Israel relinquished all control over Gaza in 2005. It was also given assurance by President Bush and leaders of the Palestinian Authority that there would be no further attacks made on Israel.

So much for assurances by leaders. The rocket attacks into Israel not only continued, but intensified to the point that even the boneheads in Jerusalem, the Kadima led government, could not ignore the suffering in Sderot, Ashkelon, Ashdod and the Western Negev. Thus the start of Operation Cast Lead a week ago and now the ground operation that has started.

For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF sent ground troops into the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening.

The IDF said that the purpose of the ground operation was to eliminate launching pads in northern Gaza from which specific long-range rockets had been fired into southern Israel.

Large forces from the army's infantry, tanks and artillery units are among those participating in the mission.

Several hours earlier, the army began to fire artillery shells into the northern part of the Strip.

According to reports, the artillery units were attacking targets in northern Gaza from where Palestinian terrorists had been firing rockets at southern Israel.

Warplanes, gunboats and artillery units blasted more than 40 Hamas targets throughout Saturday, including Hamas's central intelligence headquarters in Sha'ati, weapons storage facilities, training centers and Hamas leaders' homes.

Full Story

The objective is very simple, not the complete take over of the Gaza Strip, but the elimination of the launch pads from Gaza.

The IAF also hit the home of senior Hamas commander Abu Zacharia Al-Jamal. A Hamas spokesman announced that al-Jamal was killed in the attack, which would make him the third senior operative in the group to be targeted in the past three days.

In addition, Palestinians reported four dead in an IAF strike in the Rafah area.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Channel 2 Saturday night, "We will do all that is necessary to provide a different reality for southern Israel, which has been under constant attacks for the past eight years."

In Saturday morning attacks, the army struck the homes of two Hamas operatives, saying the buildings were used to store weapons and plan attacks. Hamas outposts, training camps and rocket launching sites also were targeted, it said.

3 senior officials in as many days. Already Hamas is boasting that they killed an Israeli soldier, but reports from the field show that fighting is light to moderate with the IDF losing no men. It seems that Hamas is waiting, biding its time, choosing the place it will actually fight, praying that the idiots liberals on the left will scream loudly for them and they will survive. That is all they can pray for right now, is to survive as a group in Gaza.

Hamas has boasted in the last week that they will fight as soon as troops entered Gaza. That every man, woman, and child will give up their lives for Hamas. And that the world will force Israel to leave.

So far they haven't come out to fight. We don't see thousands of Gazans blowing themselves up. And the world is on vacation until Monday.

What happens in the next 48 hours is critical. If Israel can achieve their objective by then, then a clear victory will have been made. If the world starts to demand a withdrawal, will Israel listen? Will the US have the balls to veto such a request? Will Hamas survive this latest assault?

The nation of Israel holds its breath, waiting to see what Hamas' and the World's response will be.

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MEMRI: Judgment Day Will Not Come Until Muslims Fight the Jews and Kill Them

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle



As Gaza Fighting Continues, Egyptian Clerics Intensify Antisemitic Statements; Columbus, Ohio Muslim Scholar/Leader Dr. Salah Sultan: Muhammad Said That Judgment Day Will Not Come Until Muslims Fight the Jews and Kill Them; America Will Suffer Destruction

Following are excerpts from interviews with several Egyptian clerics, which aired on Al-Nas TV and Al-Rahma TV on December 28 and 29, 2008.

One of the clerics, Dr. Salah Sultan, is president of the American Center for Islamic Research (ACIR), a nonprofit organization registered in Ohio and located in Columbus. On his website, he states that the main purpose of the ACIR is to "serve Allah (God) in the best way possible through the principles laid out in the Quran and Sunnah," to address misconceptions and extremism, to build bridges with non-Muslims, and to issue fatwas. He also states on his website that his own mission is "to achieve Allah's consent and Paradise through the reformation of the soul, the family, the society and the nation according to the methodology of the Quran and the Sunnah," and that his vision is "To live happily. To die as a martyr."(1)

Al-Nas TV, December 28, 2008

"Take My Heart... And Use It to Stone All The Jews... Take My Skin, And Turn It Into a Fuse or a Slingshot for a Child or a Newborn Baby"

Egyptian cleric Sheikh Muhammad Al-Saghir: "I say to the people of Gaza: Take my heart, which has hardened like a stone. Take it, and use it to stone all the Jews. Take my soul, and it will give you shade, for no longer does it fly far away. Take my eye – by Allah, take my eye. Perhaps a handsome youth, who was blinded, could see again. Take my skin, and turn it into a fuse or a slingshot for a child or a newborn baby."

[...]

Egyptian cleric Sheikh Muhammad Mustafa: Where is the [Islamic] nation? If 20 million people can encircle the Earth, then 20 million people could also drown Israel in a sea of blood.

[...]

Al-Rahma TV, December 29, 2008

"We Want to Teach Our Children the Truth About the Jews"; The Jews View "The Rest Of Mankind... as Pigs"


Egyptian cleric Sheikh Muhammad Hassan: "We want to teach our children the truth about the Jews. We want them to know that the [Jews] will never make peace or agree to it. The Jews will never accept any international resolution, from East or West, because they understand nothing but force.

"I remember what the great terrorist Menahem Begin said: We fight, therefore we exist. These are real terrorists. They are extremists. They are blood-suckers. They are shedders of blood. Review the history of the Jews from beginning to end, from the very first moment to the last moment, which is now. They specialize in the shedding of blood, in crime, and in killing – even the killing of prophets."

[...]


Egyptian cleric Sheikh Amin Al-Ansari: "It is told that the Israelites killed more than 70,000 prophets in a single day. It's not the people they want to eradicate, but Revelation itself. They do not want there to be any revelation, purity, religion, or religious law. The secret behind the war between the Jews and non-Jews is that they want to have a monopoly on the spiritual and ideological leadership of the world, and eventually, the physical leadership.

"By the 'Chosen People,' they mean that they are a people, and all those who are inferior to them are not peoples. In other words, they are human beings, and all others are not. They are people, and all others are not. They are human beings, selected by God to be the leaders of all beings."

So what about the rest of mankind? They view them as pigs. That's the truth. Pigs! So why do they look like human beings? So that they will be worthy of being servants of the Jews, who could ride on their backs and suck their blood.

"That's why when a Jew kills a Palestinian child, he considers him to be a little pig. What difference is there between the two?! On the contrary, he might show mercy for the pig, as an animal that should not be harmed. The Palestinian child is worth less to him than a pig."

[...]

Al-Nas TV, December 29, 2008

"The Stone Which is Thrown at the Jews Hates These Jews, These Zionists, Because Allah Foretold, Via His Prophet Muhammad, That Judgment Day Will Not Come Before the Jew and the Muslim Fight."

Egyptian cleric Dr. Sallah Sultan: "The arch-murderer who commanded the campaign against Jenin in 2003 went to America a few months later and boarded a NASA space shuttle. The space shuttle was launched by NASA, and a few minutes later, it reached Texas, the land of President Bush. Then this space shuttle shattered to pieces, along with the five top American space scientists, and that commander of the Zionist air force was on board with them. Where exactly did it shatter and fall? By Allah, Sheikh Mahmoud, although I was living in America, I didn't know that there was a city called 'Palestine' in America. Sheikh Mustafa, the space shuttle fell, of all places, in the city of Palestine, in President Bush's state of Texas.

[...]

"The stone which is thrown at the Jews hates these Jews, these Zionists, because Allah foretold, via His Prophet Muhammad, that Judgment Day will not come before the Jew and the Muslim fight. The Jew will hide behind stones and trees, and the stone and the tree will speak, saying: 'Oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' The only exception will be the Gharqad tree."

TV host: "The Jews know this for sure, that's why they plant Gharqad trees."

Dr. Sallah Sultan: "The stone's self-awareness is such that it can distinguish Muslims from Jews."

TV host: "True, and it will support the Muslims."

[...]

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion Is An Attempt To Rule And Corrupt The Entire World"

Dr. Sallah Sultan: "America, which gave [Israel] everything it needed in these battles, will suffer economic stagnation, ruin, destruction, and crime, which will surpass what is happening in Gaza. One of these days, the U.S. will suffer more deaths than all those killed in this third Gaza holocaust. This will happen soon.

[...]

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an attempt to rule and corrupt the entire world. When the world concentrates on its desires and lusts, the [Jews] will be free to implement their plan of controlling the world."

[...]

Al-Nas TV, December 28, 2008

"I Take My Little Son Baraa, Who Is 10, and Make Him Look at the Torn Body Parts of His Muslim Brothers – In Order to Sow in His Heart Hatred and Loathing for the Zionists"

Sheikh Muhammad Al-Gheini: "The truth is that I do not understand why the sons of apes do the things they do to us, especially whenever there is a holiday that may make the nation happy. Let me remind you that it was on the day marking the Prophet's nocturnal journey that Sharon defiled the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. This was also on a holy day."

[...]

Sheikh Safwat Higazi: "I take my little son Baraa, who is 10 years old, and make him look at the torn body parts of his Muslim brothers, in order to sow in his heart hatred and loathing for the Zionists, so he will know that these are his enemies.

[...]

"Israeli President Shimon Peres used to fill his helmet with the blood of Egyptian POWs, so that whenever he looked at it, he would be reminded that he had fulfilled his duty to his god."

TV host: "The Bahr Al-Baqr massacre is well known."

Sheikh Safwat Higazi: "I cry for us. I think about us. What will become of us? What will we say to our God?"

[...]

"Our generation will bear witness before Allah about each and every traitor and coward. We will have no mercy on them before Allah."

TV Host: "People, this was one of the most powerful messages we had today. These messages are very important. By the way, Dr. Safwat Higazi decided to walk out."


Endnote:

(1) http:www.salahsoltan.com. According to the website, Dr. Sultan is a former professor and president of the Islamic American University in Michigan. He is president of the American Institute for Religious and Cultural Studies, and active in the European Council for Fatwa and Research (headed by Islamist sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, whom he calls "our great scholar"); the Fiqh Council of North America; and the International Association of Muslim Scholars. He served on the board of directors of the Islamic American University, and on the board of trustees of the Muslim American Society. According to his resume, he also serves on the board of trustees of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, and is a member of the Council of Indian Scholars and of the Association of Scholars in Germany. Sultan lectures frequently at the Islamic Society of Greater Columbus, on topics such as the priorities of Islamic work in the U.S. and the role of Muslim men and women in the U.S. According to a calendar on Dr. Sultan's webpage, over the past year he has lectured in Washington, D.C.; New Jersey; Detroit; Dallas; San Diego; Montreal; Cairo; Kuwait; Bahrain; Qatar; and Jeddah, Medina, and Mecca in Saudi Arabia. He has also spoken at the MAS Youth Center Convention Center in Queens and Brooklyn, NY; the Bronx Muslim Center in Bronx, NY; the Union of Imams in Minneapolis, MN; the Omar bin Khatab Mosque and the Bethel Road Mosque in Columbus, OH; the Al-Huda and ICB Mosque in Boston; the Dearborn Mosque in Dearborn, MI; the Islamic Fiqh Council of India in New Delhi; and the European Council for Islamic Rulings and Research in Istanbul. Dr. Sultan worked at the Islamic Center of Greater Worcester, MA and at the Islamic Open University in Washington, D.C

Listen to the rhetoric:

• Where is the [Islamic] nation? If 20 million people can encircle the Earth, then 20 million people could also drown Israel in a sea of blood.
• "So what about the rest of mankind? They view them as pigs. That's the truth. Pigs! So why do they look like human beings? So that they will be worthy of being servants of the Jews, who could ride on their backs and suck their blood.
• Judgment Day will not come before the Jew and the Muslim fight. The Jew will hide behind stones and trees, and the stone and the tree will speak, saying: 'Oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' The only exception will be the Gharqad tree.
• One of these days, the U.S. will suffer more deaths than all those killed in this third Gaza holocaust. This will happen soon
• The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an attempt to rule and corrupt the entire world. When the world concentrates on its desires and lusts, the [Jews] will be free to implement their plan of controlling the world

And yet we allow this man into our nation. We allow him to teach our young people and lecture our elected officials.

When he is confronted on this, he lies, he says he never said it. But the truth is out there if you listen and understand it. By speaking in Arabic, he hopes that the liberals in the west will not be able to understand his words.

But in any language his words speak of hatred and war. His words are the same words that Adolph Hitler said in 1933. The same words that every anti-Semite says today:

Kill the Jews!

And then he condemns Ilan Ramon. For the crime of defending his nation.

The arch-murderer who commanded the campaign against Jenin in 2003 went to America a few months later and boarded a NASA space shuttle. The space shuttle was launched by NASA, and a few minutes later, it reached Texas, the land of President Bush. Then this space shuttle shattered to pieces, along with the five top American space scientists, and that commander of the Zionist airforce was on board with them.

Ilan Ramon

Do you notice that he never uses the word: Israel. But uses the word Zionist or Jew. To him and the majority of Muslims in the world they are the same. Their goal is very simple: To Kill All the Jews. Israeli, British, American. It makes no difference. And the governments of the world are working with him and those like him in this endeavour.

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What Can You Do In 270 Seconds?

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

An interesting question needless to say. 270 seconds = 4 minutes. You can boil an egg. You can kiss your spouse. You can give your children a big hug. If you are Israel, you can destroy 40 Tunnels that connect Gaza to Egypt.

The IAF destroyed 40 tunnels that connected the Egyptian and Gazan sides of Rafiah (Rafah) in a bombing sortie that lasted 270 seconds Sunday afternoon. Plumes of black smoke mushroomed into the air one after the other as the IAF cast bombs at the tunnels which line the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and Gaza.

The Corridor is supposed to be guarded by Egyptian forces but these have proven unable or unwilling to prevent large-scale smuggling of weapons and other supplies into Gaza.

A high ranking military source said that all of the tunnels which have been used by Hamas to smuggle weapons have been destroyed. Observers said the IAF may have used U.S.-supplied "bunker buster" bombs to destroy some the tunnels.

As part of the psychological warfare against Gaza, hundreds of residents of Gaza received recorded telephone calls in which they were warned: "You are in danger. In order to save your life and that of your family you must leave this place. This is a message from the Israel Defense Force."

The top source said that the IAF has carried out 213 sorties over Gaza since Operation Cast Lead began, 56 of them by combat helicopters. Most of the sorties were carried out Sunday.

He said that some of the tunnels were buried deep in the ground and their demolition was made possible thanks to accurate information supplied by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

The source said that the fighting would go on for a long time and warned that we would see "difficult days" in the course of the operation.

Strange war this is. The enemy calls up the civilians in Gaza and tells them to take cover. When did Hamas ever do that for the people of Sderot.

Day 2 of Operation Cast Lead is going well. Hamas still fires rockets into Israel, this time reaching as far as Ashdod, Israel is hitting military targets with precision and accuracy.

Gaza terrorists continued firing rockets at the western Negev Sunday afternoon, although the pace of the attacks had slowed by 4:00 p.m.

Three people, including a 12-year-old boy, suffered shrapnel wounds and several others suffered traumatic shock Sunday afternoon when the missiles bombarded the coastal city of Ashkelon at mid-day.

The terrorists are using 122-mm Grad-type Katyusha missiles, of the type that can reach a range of up to 40 kilometers. Several cars were also damaged after one of the missiles struck the southern end of the port city. The second missile landed in an unidentified location. Less than an hour later, two rockets exploded in the Eshkol region. No one was injured and no damage was reported.

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And the usual noise is coming out of Lebanon. Again the people of Lebanon will suffer for the actions of Hizbollah.

Hizbullah terrorists have vowed to open a second front against Israel in the north in retaliation for the IDF military operation against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah issued a statement on Hizbullah's Al-Manar television station Sunday, vowing that "northern Israel will burn as Gaza is burning." Nasrallah rarely appears in person; he speaks via a video hook-up from his hideout due to fears of assassination by Israeli agents, following the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Hizbullah officials were quoted in a number of Arabic-language publications on Saturday warning that they would not permit Israel to attack Gaza without retaliating.

Last week seven Katyusha rockets were discovered primed and ready for launching in southern Lebanon, located near the northern border of Israel. All seven were aimed at targets in the Jewish State.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert -- anticipating such a reaction -- warned Hizbullah Saturday night in his speech informing the nation about the military operation in Gaza that any "others who may seek to take advantage of the situation would be wise not to."

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In 2006 the world saw the dead children but not the dead Hizbollah fighters. Reports say that Hizbollah was decimated with losses of over 60%. I believe those reports since Hassan Nasrallah ordered that no funeral for any fighter be shown on the news, only those for civilian casualties. Thus the world got an distorted view of the war.

This time it is different. This time the Israeli people are 100% behind this action. This time the media is showing more pictures of dead and wounded Hamas fighters (I will not give them the honorific of soldier). And this time Israel will prevail.

NEIGHBORHOOD BULLY




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Operation Cast Lead!

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle


I woke up this morning to a wonderful Chanukah gift. The IAF attacking Gaza. I know I shouldn't be ecstatic, that I shouldn't be joyful at the death of my fellow human, but I feel like dancing and singing this day.

It is only fitting that at this time of the year when Jews all over the world are celebrating the Maccabees's victory over the Greeks (a war in which military expert would have said they couldn't win) that the murderers of Gaza start feeling the flames of war themselves.

This just didn't happen overnight. It has been 8 years in the making. 8 years of Sderot and the Western Negev being attacked on a daily basis. 8 years of death and destruction. Yet Hamas is screaming that they are being attacked without cause.

Over 80 rockets and mortar shells struck areas throughout the western Negev. In Netivot, 58-year-old Beber Vaknin was killed, one person was seriously wounded, and four others sustained light to moderate injuries when their house was hit by a rocket.

All the wounded were evacuated to Soroka hospital in Beersheva.

Later, a rocket hit a house in the community of Mivtahim, seriously wounding one person and lightly wounding another. A Magen David Adom team treated the wounded at the scene.

In Ashkelon, at least 10 rocket strikes were reported, with one hitting an apartment building.

For the first time ever, a Kassam rocket struck Kiryat Gat. The "Color Red" warning siren also sounded in Ashdod, although the location of a rocket strike had yet to be reported.

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Beber Vaknin had a right to live in his nation in peace and safety. His only crime was being a citizen of Israel and a Jew. To Hamas that is the greatest crime in the world.

While Hamas indiscriminately attacks civilian targets while calling everywhere in Israel a military target. The IAF is selecting true military targets and wiping them out.

The wide-scale offensive on Hamas installations in the Gaza Strip was codenamed 'Operation Cast Lead,' after a Hanukkah poem by H.N. Bialik referring to a "dreidel cast from solid lead."

At least 200 people were reported killed - the majority of them Hamas operatives - and nearly 400 wounded in the attacks. It was not clear if the aerial offensive would be coupled with a ground offensive. Asked if Hamas political leaders might be targeted next, military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said, "Any Hamas target is a target."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a press conference that the IAF had succeeded in eliminating senior Hamas commanders during the offensive. According to witnesses, among the dead was Hamas police chief Maj.-Gen. Tawfik Jaber.

Despite the massive casualties, Hamas remained defiant, vowing revenge and calling on all other Palestinian factions to join in the fight.

"Today we are stronger then we've ever been," one spokesperson for the group said at a press conference. "We won't raise the white flag, we won't give anything up, we won't retreat."

Minutes after the first wave of air strikes hit areas in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinians reported a second wave which targeted installations in the center and the north of the Strip. Channel 2 reported that 60 planes were involved in the attack, and nearly 100 targets were hit. Military officials said more than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on Gaza by mid-afternoon.

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If Hamas thinks this is a limited operation like other times, they are in for a rude awakening. For the IDF is amassing on the border, just itching to go.

The IDF was beefing up forces around the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening in preparation of a possible ground operation following a massive air assault earlier in the day.

Defense officials estimated that Hamas was capable of firing 150-200 rockets a day, adding that the operation could last for weeks.

Israel's goals, officials added, was to end Hamas rocket fire, end smuggling of arms into Gaza and severely disrupt any Hamas military activity.

In a press conference held earlier in Tel Aviv, Barak said the IDF would deepen and widen its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip as much as needed.

"There is a time for cease-fires and a time to fight, and now is the time to fight," Barak said. "For months the IDF and security forces have been preparing for the operation that began today."

Barak stated that Israel had not intended to allow Hamas to continue to fire rockets into Israel without responding.

The defense minister warned that tough times lay ahead. "I don't want to deceive anyone," he said. "It won't be easy and won't be quick. We must be resolute." Rocket attacks were expected to continue and to increase during the operation, he added.

"For weeks Hamas and its satellite groups have rained [Israel] with rockets…and mortar shells. We did not intend to let this situation continue," he said.

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Happy Chanukah Sderot! You and your children are getting the best Chanukah gift possible. And maybe this time the IDF will be able to stop those horrible rockets once and for all.



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AM YISRAEL CHAI!

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Crucifixion, Whips and Honor Killings..

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

...are now all permitted in Gaza under the new Shar'ia act that has been passed.

In line with its Islamist ideology, the Palestinian Authority in Gaza has enacted a new law adopting the traditional Muslim criminal code. Penalties include amputation and crucifixion, as well as the death penalty for negotiations contrary to Hamas's interpretation of "Palestinian interests".

According to a report on the new law appearing Wednesday on the Al-Arabiya website, as translated by Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Legislative Council approved a bill "to implement Koranic punishments." The Arabic website, the online arm of the popular Al-Arabiya satellite news outlet, refers to the London-based Saudi-owned newspaper Al-Hayat, which said the decision to implement shari'a (Islamic law) was "seen as unprecedented," and that it has "brought criticism and concern from human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip."

The criminal code adopted by the PA includes such punishments as lashes, amputation of thieves' hands, crucifixion, approval of blood revenge, and execution. According to the Arabic press, the law stipulates that only the victim of a crime can pardon opt to forgo the "Koranic penalties".

Among the crimes punished with lashes, and that have no specific "victim" who can pardon the offender, are the consumption, owning or producing of wine. According to the new PA law such an individual "will be punished with 40 lashes if he is Muslim, and anyone who drinks wine, or angers another person [with wine], or causes him distress when drinking wine in a public place, or goes to a public place while drunk, will be punished with no less than 40 lashes and imprisonment for the minimum of three months."

Touching on the political aspect of the Hamas ideology, the new law reportedly includes the death penalty for anyone who "raised a weapon against Palestine on behalf of the enemy during war, was appointed to negotiate with a foreign government on a Palestinian issue and negotiated against Palestinians' interest, performed a hostile action against a foreign country in a way that endangers Palestine in war or in harming political relations, served a foreign army in time of war, advised or helped soldiers to enlist in this army, weakened the spirit or the force of resistance of the people, or spied against Palestine especially during war."

If in fact passed, as reported in the Arabic press, the new law only puts into practice what was stated succinctly by a PA legislator - Hamed Bitawi of the Hamas organization - just after Hamas won the January 2006 PA elections in a sweeping victory: "The Koran is our constitution, Mohammad is our prophet, jihad is our path and dying as martyrs for the sake of Allah is our biggest wish." His statement was answered with a standing ovation and calls of "Allahu Akbar".

It also bears noting that the Palestinian Authority Constitution as it was adopted under the PLO's Yasser Arafat and led by Fatah also declares, "The principles of Islamic shari'a are a major source for legislation."

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What fun! I guess that Gaza will now be out as a destination for Spring Breakers. No liquor, no rock and roll music and women who look like this:


Not a very fun place to spend spring break.

On the other hand we will now see a surge in Honor Killing. It has been made legal to kill your mother, sister, daughter, aunt, etc... if she has destroyed your honor. And the execution method of crucifixion might boost tourism. It will be a great thing to watch on Hamas television the executions of gays, lesbians, and other undesirables if you cannot attend them in person. Or watch the whipping of those who take a beer or two for enjoyment. The stoning of adulterous women should be a great ratings boost and let us not forget the weekly amputations of hands of the thieves.

And while this is happening do you believe for one instance that the MSM will report on it? Or that gay and lesbian groups will take to the streets around the world to protest the murder of their brothers and sisters? Or women's groups demanding justice for the women of Gaza from the tyranny of Shar'ia?

You won't hear anything of the sort. What you will hear from all these groups is the condemnation of Israel for so-called Human Rights Violations and the praise of Hamas.

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Qassam lands 50 meters outside of Sderot Media Center

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

By Anav Silverman - Sderot Media Center

Palestinian rocket explosions marked by the wail of the Tzeva Adom siren alert sounded throughout the day in Sderot and the western Negev. Beginning on Tuesday night, 60 Palestinian rockets have slammed Sderot, the western Negev, and Ashkelon.

One Grad-Katyusha hit outside a home in Ashkelon, sending several people into shock, while destroying a storage shed and shattering the windows of the Ashkelon home. Another Grad-Katyusha slammed into an Ashkelon factory, causing extensive damage. In all, seven Grad-Katyusha rockets hit Ashkelon today.

Photo: Roy Edan

Barzilai Medical Center reported that of the 24 people hospitalized for shock on Wednesday, 12 were children.

In the Sdot Negev Regional Council, a Palestinian rocket directly hit a home, causing extensive damage as well. No one was wounded in the attack.
During the early morning, a barrage of Palestinian rockets were fired at Netivot, with one landing in the industrial zone of the city and several more in the agricultural fields outside the city. Another Palestinian rocket landed outside a Netivot Youth Center. Two Netivot residents were treated for trauma.

Among the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip in the morning, one Palestinian rocket failed to clear the border and landed in the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, lightly wounding two Palestinian civilians.
Several Qassams were fired at Sderot with one falling 50 meters outside Sderot Media Center in an industrial center, shattering the windows of several offices in the area and sending a number of people into shock.
Sderot Media Center staff were in the office at the time the office at the time the rocket hit. "We heard the shriek of the Qassam zooming over and the office literally shook from the impact of the rocket explosion," said Itzik Yarkoni.

Photo: Roy Edan

On Tuesday, five Qassam rockets were fired at Sderot and the western Negev. One Palestinian rocket landed 30 meters away from the Sderot home that was directly hit by a Qassam rocket this past Sunday.

In all, 37 Palestinian rockets, and 23 mortar shells were fired at Israel in the past 24hours. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the morning rocket terror.





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What a lovely Chanukah gift Hamas is giving the people of Israel. Over 50 rockets shattering lives in Sderot and Ashkelon. It has only been a small miracle that no body has been seriously hurt or killed yet. But it will happen.

You can give the people of the area a better Christmas/Chanukah gift. By clicking on the logo at the top or bottom of this post, you can give a donation to the Sderot Media Center. A little bit goes a long way.

I ask all to remember these men, women and children in your prayers. Remind others of the risks and horror that they live with each and every day.

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8 Years of Rockets And Still No End In Sight

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Sderot residents in fortified room (Photo: Amir Cohen)

Imagine that you live under a situation in which every day there is a rocket attack from your neighbors. You don't know where it is going to strike, you don't know if your home, your family will suffer this time. Imagine that this has been going on for 8 years and the authorities would do nothing to stop these attacks. This is what the citizens of Sderot and the Western Negev have lived with for 8 years now. Even when there was a so-called "truce", the rockets fell. And yet the world only condemns Israel for attacking back.

Four Qassam rockets were fired from northern Gaza Saturday evening towards the city of Sderot in south Israel. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
One of the rockets landed in the courtyard of a local factory, but caused no damage to the site. Another rocket landed near a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, while the third landed near the security fence separating Israel from the Hamas-controlled territory. The landing site of the fourth Qassam has yet to be located.

The attack on Sderot took place at around 19:30 pm; loud explosions were heard in the city.

The al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad's armed wing, claimed responsibility for the barrage, saying it was launched in retaliation for Israel's "continued aggression" and "crimes of the occupation."

At 9:30 pm another Qassam rocket fired from Gaza landed in an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

At least 15 Qassams and 26 mortars were fired toward the western Negev region throughout the day.

In the afternoon a barrage of mortar shells and one rocket fell in a kibbutz located within the Shaar HaNegev Regional Council's limits.

Full Story

Now imagine a former US President siding with your attackers, advising them and telling the Media that it is all your fault that you are being attacked by your neighbor.

Former United States President Jimmy Carter reported that he advised Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on what price to demand from Israel for the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted more than two years ago. He said that Hamas is "relatively satisfied with the status quo."

Carter's visit to Lebanon and Syria earlier this month follows a trip to to Damascus several months ago in the face of American policy against establishing direct contact with the outlawed terrorist organization.

Carter wrote on his website that he spoke with Mashaal about "formulas for prisoner exchange to obtain the release of Corporal Shalit," who has since been promoted to sergeant.

However, he probably is not aware of the promotion because the International Red Cross has not succeeded in convincing Hamas to honor the Geneva Convention and allow its officials to visit him. The Red Cross also has rejected Israeli citizen's demands that it stop visiting terrorists in Israeli jails until Shalit is seen and confirmed to be alive and in good health.

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I see that a nursing home hasn't been found for Grandpa Carter yet.

In order to put forward your side of the conflict you hold a news conference, but the media does not attend, calling you an aggressor and murderer.

Sderot Media Center Press Conference Release

By Anav Silverman - Sderot Media Center

A day before the Hamas-Israel ceasefire officially ended, Sderot Media Center facilitated a press conference with a panel of Sderot officials who provided brief updates of the security situation and the impact of the ceasefire on the area residents to Israeli and international press.
Member of Knesset and Kadima party member, Shai Chermesh, who is a resident of Kfar Aza, a western Negev community under daily mortar shelling, participated in the panel. He stated that the ceasefire had yielded no positive results for Israel. "Gilad Schalit is still in Gaza and Sderot and western Negev residents are still under rocket fire. This is a reality that our government must deal with and as of now, the government of Israel has shown that it has little authority over what is happening to Sderot and the western Negev," MK Chermesh concluded.



"Hamas is the occupying power of Gaza and has treated its constituents terribly," he added. "Hamas must stop using their own Palestinian civilians as sacrificial offerings by employing rocket terror tactics against innocent Israelis."
Chermesh stated that he believed that disengaging from Gaza in 2005 was a positive move. "It was important that we left and it was too bad that we didn't leave earlier," he stated. "If the IDF re-enters Gaza, the attack must be planned carefully. The people of Gaza should not go hungry and we must limit civilian causalities as much as possible."

Batya Katar, representing the Parents Association for the security of Sderot, stated that Sderot residents feel that Sderot is a separate entity. "We don't have the right leaders to deal with the reality of the region," she said. "If this was happening in Tel Aviv, there would be a completely different reaction from the government."

"Only yesterday evening, a Palestinian rocket landed right outside a busy supermarket. People outside at the time barely escaped the rocket explosion," Katar added. "Thanks to the Tzeva Adom, they were able to make it inside, but the attack could have been deadly. How many more rocket attacks must Sderot experience, how many near-death experiences must Sderot residents endure--before the government of Israel acts?"

The president of Sderot's Small Businesses Association, Danny Dahan told the press that the rocket fire was economically crippling the region. Dahan, who owns Dahan's supermarket in Sderot, explained that the changed shopping patterns of his customers--"they rush in and rush out" has contributed to the decrease in sales. "People no longer linger around, taking their time to buy food. Everyone wants to go home as quickly as possible." Dahan also stated that due to the rocket fire, there were problems with shipments of goods coming into Sderot. "Some of our suppliers refuse to enter Sderot because of the rocket fire. Many times, I end up going to the junction in Ashkelon to pick up the goods for my supermarket."

Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center director, highlighted that the over 2,500 Palestinian rockets fired at Sderot and the western Negev have caused a marked increase in psychological trauma among Sderot children. "Between 70-94% of Sderot children are suffering from signs of PTSD, according to a recent NATAL survey" Bedein stated.

Bedein also related that between 300-400 Palestinian rockets have been fired at Israel since the ceasefire began in June. Yehuda Ben Maman, the Sderot security officer, added that although many bomb shelters have emerged throughout Sderot in the recent year, most of the structures provide protection from rocket shrapnel only and not from direct Qassam rocket hits.

But for the people of Sderot and the Western Negev, the IDF might be giving them a Chanukah present.

Military source: IDF prepared to 'conquer Gaza Strip' if need be

Military sources said the IDF was preparing for a wide-range of scenarios, pending government instructions.

"We have operational plans ranging from conquering the Gaza Strip to pinpoint raids against rocket squads," one officer said. "However, we will ultimately do what we are told to do."

Full Story

You can give the children of Sderot a wonderful Christmas/Chanukah gift too. A small donation to the Sderot Media Center will give a child the gift of hope and love. It pays for the small parties given to the children of Sderot, the psychological counseling that many of the citizens need, and the legal help the people of the region need to deal with the government bureaucracy. It is easy to do. Just click on the Sderot Media Logo at the top or bottom of this post and follow the directions from there.

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Italian MPs Show Solidarity in Sderot

Cross posted by Findalis from Monkey in the Middle

By Anav Silverman - Sderot Media Center

In a unique show of solidarity, a delegation of 70 Italians, including 24 members of the Italian Parliament visited Sderot this past Monday, December 8. The Italian delegation brought with them a copy of a letter, written by members of the Italian Parliament, addressed to Gilad Schalit, the IDF solider captured two years ago who remains in the hands of Hamas in Gaza.

Photo: Hamutal Ben Shitrit

In a press conference facilitated by Sderot Media Center, the Italian delegation, which included members from various Italian political parties, presented the letter to a representative of the Schalit family, Medi Cohen. Rossana Boldi, President of the Committee on European Affairs, and acting as representative of the group, stated that the letter had been signed by many important members of the Italian Parliament in the hopes of getting the International Red Cross in Rome to hand the letter to Gilad Schalit.

Boldi cited during the press conference that the International Red Cross had not paid one visit to Gilad Schalit since his capture, and continues to ignore the plight of Sderot residents living under Palestinian rocket fire.

"Israel has a right to exist in security," said Boldi, "and Gilad Schlit has every right to return home."

Medi Cohen, speaking on behalf of the Schalit family, responded by stating that a week previously she and other Gilad Schalit supporters protested in front of the Shikma Prison in Ashkelon, which houses Hamas terrorists. "You could see Palestinian mothers freely entering the prison to visit their imprisoned sons. These Hamas terrorists are treated fairly and according to international law--they receive free medical treatment and proper care from Israeli authorities," said Cohen. "Gilad on the other hand, has been denied everything. Hamas prevents any form of communication with Gilad from the outside word. Gilad has not been allowed to even speak with his family for two years," said Cohen bitterly.

David Bouskilla, Sderot's recently elected mayor was also present at the press conference and warmly welcomed the Italian delegation to Sderot. "The city of Sderot has strong ties with the Italian community," Bouskilla stated. When Bouskilla was mayor of Sderot eight years ago, he oversaw the building of the only rocket-protected theater in the entire Negev which was funded partly by the Italian Keren Hayesod.

Photo: Hamutal Ben Shitrit

Mayor Bouskilla also added that Sderot residents have been standing alone in the face of continuing Palestinian rockets. "Our children and families are forced to sit and accept this situation, as rockets continue to hit our homes, properties, playgrounds and schools," said Bouskilla. "It is more important than ever to have the support of the international community, especially from a country like Italy" he told the Italian delegation.

Indeed, it was both encouraging and inspiring to see the concern exhibited by the Italian government officials for Sderot civilians in light of the 200 or more Qassam rockets that have been fired against Sderot and the Negev since early November. During the brief stop at the Sderot police station, where hundreds of Qassam rockets are stored away, the Italian delegation expressed their shock at the way life in Sderot has dramatically altered due to the terror generated by Palestinian rocket fire. "It is disturbing to think how Israeli children must live in this kind of reality," said one Italian official.

In the scheme of world affairs, Sderot children at least have a few friends back in the Italian Parliament.

From Monkey in the Middle:

It is nice to see that the Children of Sderot have a few friends in the world since they have none in the Olmert government. No matter how they plea and cry, Olmert will not even try to stop the rocket attacks that have been occurring daily for the past 8 years.



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But you can help. Write your Representatives in Congress demanding that the US do something to force the end to these attacks. Write your Senator. And you can give a small donation to the Sderot Media Center. You can give a child of Sderot a little Christmas/Hanukkah gift. It would be a nice gesture in support.

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Sderot: November Update

Crossposted by Findalis at Monkey in the Middle

By Anav Silverman - Sderot Media Center

More than 126 Qassam and 71 mortar rockets were fired at Sderot and the Negev from northern Gaza since November 4 according to the Intelligence and Terrorism and Information Center.

November 4-5, 2008: Over 60 Palestinian Qassam rockets were fired on Sderot and the western Negev. Hamas renewed Qassam rocket fire against Israeli civilians living in the Negev throughout Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, in light of. 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. 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.

Photo courtesy of Sderot Media Center

November 7, 2008: Southern Israelis woke up to another day of rocket attacks Friday as Palestinian terrorists fired five Kassams at western Negev neighborhoods. The rockets landed in the Sderot, Eshkol and Sha'ar Hanegev regions. No one was wounded and no damage was reported. One of the Kassams landed near a kibbutz reservoir, while a second hit the fence surrounding another western Negev kibbutz. The other rockets hit open areas. The Islamic Jihad's armed wing claimed responsibility for the attacks. (Jerusalem Post)

November 14, 2008: A Qassam rocket launched from the northern Gaza Strip hit an electric pole near a house in Sderot on Friday, injuring an 80-year-old woman with shrapnel and seven people suffered from shock from the attack.

Four more rockets hit the Ashkelon area later Friday. One landed inside the city, another fell just outside, and two more landed in nearby open fields shortly after an alarm was sounded. Defense establishment officials said at least two of the rockets were Grad missiles. Three people suffered from shock. All victims were evacuated to Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon. A total of 14 rockets were fired on the Western Negev on Friday. (YNET News)

November 20, 2008: The port city of Ashdod, 24 km north of the Gaza border, was this week connected to the rocket alert system already in use in Ashkelon and Sderot. It is an acknowledgement that threats by Palestinian militants to bring it within range are being taken
seriously. (Jewish Chronicle)

November 27, 2008: Gaza terrorists continued their attacks on southern Israel Thursday evening, firing a Kassam rocket that hit a home in the Eshkol region, damaging the structure wounding no one. Earlier Thursday, two rockets landed in open areas in the western Negev. The exact impact sites of the other two rockets could not initially be ascertained due to heavy fog in the area, however there were no reports of wounded or further damage.

November 29, 2008: Eight Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded Friday evening, two seriously, after mortars fired by Gaza Strip militants hit a military base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the western Negev. The soldiers were evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva and to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Six soldiers were still hospitalized Saturday morning. Doctors had to amputate the leg of one of the soldiers who was brought to the hospital in serious condition.
(Haaretz.com)

From Monkey in the Middle:

Just imagine you are sitting down to your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner and a rocket lands in your home, or your neighbors, or your child's school. Imagine the stress and trauma that the people of the Western Negev have lived with these 8 years. No nation on Earth would put up with it for this long, and yet Israel has to. Why? Because the world would condemn them if they truly struck back.

This holiday season please give a small donation to the Sderot Media Center. Help make a traumatized child's Hanukkah a little more joyful.



It has been said by many that only Jews can make light of a tragedy. That when things are bad they turn to comedy. And so it is in Israel with the situation in the Western Negev. And only Yaakov Kirschen can do it best.

From Dry Bones

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