Jul 15 2014

Hamas has rejected an Egyptian cease fire proposal. The most striking element of the negotiations underway to stop the bloodshed and violence between Israel and Hamas is the conspicuous absence of American involvement in the peace effort. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Egypt’s president, Palestinian (Hamas) authorities, and Israeli officials are meeting to discuss peace. True to form, Hamas is the only participant rejecting peace. The American absence in the peace discussions is clear evidence of the undeniable disrespect and lack of confidence in the current American leadership….

Well Obama has now succeeded in accomplishing something — no one is listening to him any longer since he is irrelevant!

by Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

Hamas doesn’t want a ceasefire. They want to cause more pain to the Jewish people and their own supporters in order to gin up the ummah — specifically Muslims in the West. These attendant genocide marches in London, Paris, New York, The Hague, etc., the attacks on the Jews, violence, anarchy across the world — that is the objective of the devout Muslim group.

I do not believe that ceasefire is an option for Israel. Even so, Egypt wishes to lead the Muslim world in calling for Hamas and Israel to return to the 2012 agreement. Israel has said it is willing to accept the terms of that agreement, but Hamas has refused.

“Hamas rejected Egyptian proposal to hold fire,” TOI, July 13, 2014 Israel was favorable toward Cairo’s bid last week for a 40-hour truce, to be followed by negotiations for long-term agreement…

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Jul 11 2014

Maybe Netanyahu is waking up to the fact the Obama does not have his 6

Netanyahu: “No international pressure will prevent us from acting with all power”

Re-Post from Jihad Watch Robert Spencer Jul 11, 2014 at 2:46pm

Its good that NetanyahuIt said this. For decades now, Islamic supremacists, jihadists, and their Leftist allies have brought tremendous pressure to bear upon Israel to get it to end defensive measures prematurely. For years now, this has worked quite well. But now, perhaps because Netanyahu knows that Obama is not in his corner and that Israel is on its own, he feels freer to act as he should to defend his nation.

“Israel leader: World pressure won’t stop offensive,” Associated Press, July 11, 2014:

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister vowed Friday to press forward with a broad military offensive in the Gaza Strip, saying international pressure will not halt what he said was a determined effort to halt rocket fire by Palestinian militants as the death toll from the 4-day-old conflict rose above 100.

Addressing a news conference, Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off a question about possible cease-fire efforts, signaling there was no end in sight to the operation.

“I will end it when our goals are realized. And the overriding goal is to restore the peace and quiet,” Netanyahu said.

Israel launched the offensive on Tuesday in response to weeks of heavy rocket fire out of Gaza. At least 103 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. Palestinian militants have fired more than 600 rockets at Israel.

One rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a gas station and set it ablaze earlier Friday in southern Israel, seriously wounding one man, and the army said the condition of a soldier wounded by rocket shrapnel on Thursday had worsened. But there have been no deaths on the Israeli side, in large part because of a new rocket-defense system that has intercepted more than 100 incoming projectiles.

Netanyahu said he has been in touch with numerous world leaders, including President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Canada.

He said he had “good discussions” with his counterparts, telling them that no other country would tolerate repeated fire on its citizens.

“No international pressure will prevent us from acting with all power,” he said.

Israel’s allies have backed the country’s right to self-defense, but they have called for restraint. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern about the heavy civilian casualties in Gaza, and on Friday, the U.N.’s top human rights official said the air campaign may violate international laws prohibiting the targeting of civilians.

“We have received deeply disturbing reports that many of the civilian casualties, including of children, occurred as a result of strikes on homes,” said Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

“Such reports raise serious doubt about whether the Israeli strikes have been in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” she said.

Netanyahu brushed aside such criticism, saying Israel’s aerial campaign is aimed at military targets.

He blamed Hamas for causing civilian casualties by hiding in residential areas and criticized the group for targeting Israeli population centers….

…as Hamas itself acknowledges.

Jul 10 2014

Why is the IDF’s Gaza operation treading water?

Maybe Obama ordered Netanyahu to stand down!

Re-Post from DEBKAfile Special Report July 10, 2014, 10:25 AM (IDT)

Early Thursday, July 10, two more rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at Tel Aviv. Iron Dome intercepted one. By 9 am, 10 more landed in Negev sites. Between Wednesday midnight and Thursday morning, the Israeli Air Force and Navy had carried out 108 strikes in the Gaza Strip – 322 in 24 hours. Targeted were a weapons store, 5 arms manufacturing plants, 5 military compounds, 58 tunnels, 2 surveillance posts, 217 buried rocket launching pads, one command and control base and 46 homes of Hamas and Jihad Islami commanders.

In this time span, the Palestinians fired 234 rockets.

On Wednesday July 9, the second day of Operation Protective Edge, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he had ordered its expansion “until the [Palestinian] shooting stopped.”

debkafile’s military sources say that the IDF high command replied that expansion would necessitate adding a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip to complement the air strikes. Enough equipment is present around the enclave but not enough troops. The call-up of 10,000 reservists did not meet requirements.

Since the prime minister had not yet provided them with specific orders, the air force continued to bomb rocket-related targets in Gaza, tallying strikes and publishing video clips of exploding targets and pillars of smoke.

But the facts in the field speak for themselves.

Despite the smoke and thunder, no senior Hamas commander or key command center has been hit – for lack of a clear directive. The Hamas chain of command is therefore still functioning.

This situation is fast developing into a standoff. Hamas leaders are perfectly aware of Israel’s dilemmas and quick to exploit them. They hear Netanyahu’s solemn words, but see for themselves that the concentration of IDF ground strength on the Gaza border is short of the numbers needed for an incursion and mobilizing them will take time.
Hamas is also listening to President Shimon Peres, who assured CNN that if Hamas holds its rocket fire, the IDF won’t go through with a ground incursion.

The Hamas rocket blitz has so far caused no Israeli fatalities thanks to a highly effective home defense system. On the Palestinian side, they are mounting, which they are beginning to use as a propaganda tool accompanied by vivid footage.

This situation decided Hamas Wednesday night to save its rockets, especially the more valuable ones with the longest range, and so confound Israeli predictions of another massive rocket blitz in store that would again widen out to reach Haifa.
Israel’s indecision about the next stage of Operation Protective Edge has given Hamas the time and breathing space it needs. Meanwhile, its most effective rockets for longer distances can be reserved for major confrontations.
And, meanwhile too, the perceived weakening of the government’s resolve and its reluctance to fix on a clear final objective have become fertile ground for self-doubts and unfounded rumors. The most damaging in circulation claimed that IDF and Air Force chiefs were complaining of a shortage of good intelligence for continuing their operations.
Our military sources confirm, without going into details on how much Israel knows about Hamas’ field setup, that the air force has all the intelligence it needs to carry on. What is lacking is not intelligence but a clear decision by Prime Minister Netanyahu about the operation’s ultimate goal and correlatively whether to go through with the ground operation necessary to complement the aerial operation. Until that is settled, Israel’s military operation against Hamas will continue to tread water.

Jul 7 2014

Hamas steps up it atacks on Isreal with 80 rockets

More than 80 rockets in steady stream from Gaza to expanded targets. Sirens in Modiin, Rehovot

Re-Post from DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 7, 2014, 9:25 PM (IDT)

IDF’s attack on Gaza.

Hamas broadened its massive rocket blitz Monday night, July 7 – edging further north and east to locales hitherto unscathed, after warning that its response to the deaths of seven operatives in Israeli air strikes would be “unprecedented.”

Iron Dome intercepted at least 10 of the scores of rockets aimed at new urban areas – Lachish, Gan Yavneh, Kiryat Malachi, Beer Tuvia and Ashdod. Eleven rockets hit Gan Yavneh alone. The last rocket targeted Rehovot. Sirens sounded in the towns of Modiin, Ness Ziona, Gedera, Beit Shemes and Abu Ghosh indicating the approach of rockets. There was one casualty – a man in Ashdod injured by shrapnel.

The IDF Homeland Command has ordered towns and villages up to 40-km from Gaza to open public shelters, including Beersheba and Ashkelon. Closer to the border, dozens of events have been cancelled and summer schools shut down for the emergency.

The IDF mobilized another 1,500 reservists Monday, July 7, in readiness for a broad operation to curb the escalating rocket fire. A troop buildup at the Gaza border is about to be backed by intensified air strikes against Palestinian rocket launchers. The Palestinians have also redoubled their missile blitz against Israel from day to day these last three weeks. By Monday sundown, 40 rockets had been slammed into Israel, causing damage in several locales – both near the Gaza border and further away up to the outskirts of Beersheba. The IDF is getting set to counter Hamas’ plans to bring its rocket offensive as far north as central Israel. Israel’s military planners have to take into consideration that, while the IDF is fighting in Gaza to knock out Hamas’ missile capability, the country’s heartland may well be beset by an upsurge of violent Palestinian and Israeli disturbances.

debkafile reported Monday morning:

There is not the slightest chance of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas halting its three-week barrage of rockets against Israel in the foreseeable future, high-placed sources in Cairo, Washington and the IDF told debkafile’s military sources Sunday night, July 6. They all agreed that Israeli-Gaza border tensions would continue to escalate in the absence of serious Israeli military punishment for cutting Hamas down
Following this assessment, the Israeli Air Force went into its first serious action against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip during Sunday night – not just bombing empty buildings, but hitting Hamas operatives. Seven were killed in Rafah and another two in Al Bureij.

The Hamas spokesman said that this was the biggest single Israeli hit against the Islamist group since the 2012 Pillar of Defense operation and “The enemy would pay dearly.”

A senior US intelligence official familiar with the sector offered the view that, so long as Israel did not show it was serious about a military reprisal – like for instance positioning two whole IDF armored divisions right up to the Gaza border – Hamas would not feel pressured enough to stop firing rockets and accept a truce. Every passing day without real punishment for kidnapping and murdering the Israeli teenagers, Gil-Ad Shear, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach, leaves the Islamists certain they have got away with it and in no mood to talk terms.

The source reported that, as far as he knew, Cairo had given up on its earlier effort at brokering a Gaza ceasefire. Cairo sources confirmed that Hamas had made unacceptable demands of the Egyptian government as its price for halting rocket attacks on Israel. The list was presented to Gen. Mohammed Farid el-Tohamy, head of Egyptian intelligence, who had been acting as the intermediary between Hamas and Israel in the truce effort.
One of those demands was for Egypt to reverse its six-month crackdown for reducing Hamas’ aggressive capabilities for terror in and from Sinai, including the reopening of the smuggling tunnels Sinai which long furnished the Hamas regime with arms, smuggled goods and revenue.

Cairo lashed out against Hamas as a terrorist group harmful to Egyptian security and a helpful offshoot of the proscribed Muslim Brotherhood.

There is no sign that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has any intention of meeting Hamas demands.

Indeed, all the parties following the conflict agree that the ball is now in Israel’s court and not, as it is presented by Israeli officials, up to Hamas to take the initiative. The Islamist group has already made its decision, which is to continue shooting rockets, in line with its unswerving commitment to fight Israel.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz must decide if and how to fight back.

Contrary to Israeli media reports, the chief of staff and the high IDF command have clearly informed the government that they are fully prepared to undertake any military operation without delay if so ordered. The elimination of seven Hamas members of its fighting army Sunday night may be the first step.

Jul 6 2014

Breaking: ISIS five miles from Baghdad International Airport, and closing fast. This is very bad news for the couple hundred troops we have in the area. Without close air support they are in serious trouble….

The last paragraph is troublesome if true as 200 American special operations troops are good but they will not stop the equivalent to a brigade without support! all this will do is get American killed for no good reason ISIS knows Obama is not serious in stopping them.

Powdered Wig Society

A handful of American troops between thousands of ISIS forces and the American embassy …

With events happening faster than they can be reported, terrorist fighters are rapidly closing in on Baghdad’s International Airport and its adjoining al-Muthanna Iraqi Air Force base. Both reporting on July 4, 2014, the Israeli news portal The Debka File and alsoCNN (via WCSC CBS of Charleston, SC) cite the al-Qaeda-allied terrorists have broken the military stalemate outside of Fallujah and are now much closer to Baghdad than previously reported.

A mere 25 miles west from Baghdad International Airport, the site of the hard-fought Marine Corps victory over insurgents in 2004, the city of Fallujah fell to ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) terrorists earlier this year. Yet until recently the lines were static giving at least the outward appearance since winter that the Iraqi National Army…

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