The results of the last "lull"

A Summary and Analysis  of the Situation  by Ami Iseroff                       http://www.zionism-israel.com/maps/Hamas_rocket_range_map.htm

"The increase in range of the  renewed Hamas rocket fire demonstrated how they had taken advantage of the truce to import arms, while all the while managing an international propaganda campaign about a supposed humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

 

In the fall of 2005, Israeli forces left the Gaza strip. By international agreement the Rafah border crossing was to be monitored by EU observers, to prevent the smuggling of arms. The Hamas, a militant, genocidal terrorist group, took over the Gaza strip after winning elections. A unity government between the Hamas and Fatah factions came to an end after the Hamas staged a coup and murdered the Fatah.

Hamas has announced repeatedly that they will never make peace with Israel. They insist that all of Palestine is a holy Waqf given to the Muslims by Allah. Their charter declares that negotiations and international conferences are a waste of time. Jihad (Holy War) is the only war. Their mission, as they declare, is to kill all the Jews, because the end of days cannot come before every Jew is slain.

Hamas and other groups began raining Qassam Rockets down on Israeli towns even before Israel left the Gaza strip. As soon as Israel left, the stream of rocket fire increased.   They were small home made Qassam rockets with a range of a few kilometers, that could reach the town of Sderot. Life became hell in Sderot. No self defense measures Israel took were effective. In June of 2006, Hamas kidnapped an Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, from inside Israel, in a planned terror operation. Rocket fire on Israel increased after the Hamas coup and became intolerable.

When Israel tried to cut supplies to Gaza, international pressure forced it to resume supplies.  In June of 2008, Israel concluded a truce agreement with the Hamas, mediated by Egypt, under pressure from the UN and Western powers. Hamas used the truce to smuggle quantities of arms into the Gaza strip. When they took power by force, they dismissed UN monitors from the southern border crossings and insisted that they must be able to bring in anything they wish from Egypt. Egypt sealed the border, but the Hamas dug tunnels that they used for smuggling everything from cigarettes to refrigerators to mortars, explosives and rockets.

In December of 2008, Hamas declared unilaterally that the truce would not be renewed unless Israel agreed to let them import whatever they wished. In a single day, December 24, Hamas rained dozens of rockets on Israeli towns.  Israel launched operation Cast Lead (Oferet Yetzuka) to stop the rocket fire. The increase in range of the  renewed Hamas rocket fire demonstrated how they had taken advantage of the truce to import arms, while all the while managing an international propaganda campaign about a supposed humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Prior to the truce, in June of 2008, the Hamas rockets were homemade Qassams with a range of perhaps 10-12 kilometers.  Following the resumption of rocket fire, Hamas rockets reached about 45 kilometers into Israel, hitting as far north as Yavne and as far west as Beersheba.  If they are not stopped now, in a few months, Hamas rockets will probably reach Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    

 It is recommended that you also refer to http://waringaza.blogspot.com , a blog initiated by Rabbi David Kaufman to help supporters of Israel  communicate intelligently about the situation in Gaza.

 

"Hamas knows one big thing, which it labels 'resistance' or, for Western audiences, 'ending the occupation.' Just what that means was made clear by Palestinian cleric Muhsen Abu 'Ita in a televised interview. "The annihilation of the Jews here in Palestine," he said, "is one of the most splendid blessings for Palestine." "

 

--  Bret Stephens,  December 30, 2008,  Op Ed, Wall Street Journal

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123059693797741083.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

 

A letter from Ronit Salomon at Kibbutz Or-Haner  ------ near  Israel's Military Operation against Hamas in Gaza "We have been waiting too long, having absorbed these rockets attacks for more than 7 years. 7 years - too many. " -- Ronit Salomon, Kibbutz Or-Haner

Kibbutz Or Haner, December 29th, 2008  [The kibbutz is in the Israel Partnership Region of the Quad Cities Jewish Federation, and Ronit's letter is directed to the Executive Director of the Federation, Allan Ross, who has made the letter public. --MF]   Dear Allan,   It doesn't matter how you get prepared for the most difficult, complicated and hard to take scenarios.  You find yourself confused, terrified, scared......in one of the most unbelievable situation you find yourself involved.   We all hoped that something would happen. That there would be some kind of Israeli response and as soon as possible because we couldn't take it anymore - the missiles, the mortars, the snipers.....we couldn't think about ourselves but about our friends and neighbors in the kibbutzim nearby and in Sderot, a town where we used to do our shopping and feel the tension every day when we hear the RED Alert alarm, keeping our hopes that we would retaliate for the Hamas attacks.   We wanted our government to react. To give us answers that will make us feel that we are not alone in our way of life. That no one forgets our existing. We have heard the warnings coming from our minister of defense, our prime minister, our ministers who warned the Hamas leaders to stop their missiles shooting to our area every day despite the cease fire agreement. We felt like human targets for Hamas who upped the danger more and more..   And the reaction finally arrived Saturday morning.  The kids were busy with their Hanukah activities. We had been in the purple hall, enjoying famous musicians who came to sing here in the kibbutz despite the situation. Then started our Air Force's attack. Since Saturday morning our Air Force continues to bomb different targets in the Gaza Strip.   I must admit that despite these terrible voices of war, I feel more tranquil. I am trying to do my best to keep safe, taking care of my kids, hoping the older ones will know what to do when they need to. We all trust our army to do what is needed to bring the quiet to our area. We have been waiting too long, having absorbed these rockets attacks for more than 7 years. 7 years - too many.   Since Saturday we have been told to keep staying in safe places, protected and close. Indoors activities are welcome and the farmers have been told not to work the fields and keep staying indoors. We closed the kids houses and the students won`t get back to school tomorrow, when their Hanukahs holiday will end.   We are trying and doing as much as we can to send the kids out of the kibbutz, out of the area. We don't want them to stay here in this atmosphere, with these bomb sounds, with the fear of the rockets which are sent to us so many times a day.   Today we send the kids to Tel Aviv, to one of the Fun parks...Personally, I would rather  they will stay there and not coming back home right now. Last week the teenagers were invited to one of our northern kibbutzim and they stayed there 1 day. That was even before the operation in Gaza.   We have an emergency crew in the kibbutz and I am a part of it. My responsibility in this crew is to inform the community about any changes, any information, any note about the sensitive situation we are in. By messages via cell phones (SMS) or by the Beepers (which we all have in our houses), or a special channel on TV where the people can read the news and the notes we send them. The people should arrange whatever they need if we will have to stay at the bomb shelters, none knows for how long it will be and when. We are trying to arrange everything that might help to make our stay, especially the kids`s staying in these shelters - such as furniture, games for the kids, air conditioners, TV`s, everything that might make our time over there comfortable as possible.   Due to the army's orders we closed our dining room and the people can get food only once a day. The Clinic and Mini market is also closed. There are families which decided to leave the kibbutz for a while for relatives' houses in other parts of the country. I guess they will be back when things will calm down a little bit although we all know it will take much as needed to arrange this quiet we are all expecting and hope for.   We all hope that this operation will bring the quiet to our area for many days. We surely need that.   We pray for better days in the new year, 2009.   Thank you, Allan, for your encouraging and supporting and to all of you, our friends. We know you are with us all the time.   Love and Happy New Year to all of you.   Ronit Salomon, Kibbutz Or-Haner, Shaar hanegev Region, Israel.   ************************   ****If you get a chance, please send Ronit and Kibbutz Or-Haner a note of support to:  ronchili10@gmail.com.

DECEMBER 29, 2008  Wall Street Journal  Editorial   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123051162714738469.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Sudan's Slaves

Adding to the list of crimes in Darfur.

• Add slavery to the list of Khartoum's crimes in Darfur. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people have been enslaved in the region, the human-rights group Darfur Consortium says in a report based on interviews with escaped or released abductees, witnesses and families. The abductions by Sudanese soldiers and government-backed Arab tribesmen, the Janjaweed, are part of a wider strategy to drive civilians from non-Arabic speaking ethnic groups from their lands. The land is "then seized and repopulated by the militia and Arabic-speaking nomadic groups," the Uganda-based group reports.

Women and girls are raped, forced into "marriages" and sexual slavery, the report says. The testimonies are difficult to bear. "They used us like wives in the night and during the day time we worked all the time," one woman told Darfur Consortium. She was able to escape after having been abducted from a refugee camp in 2005 with 20 other people.

President Bush has led international calls to end the slaughter, urging the U.N. Security Council to act. Moscow and Beijing have snubbed his efforts and repeatedly vetoed tough sanctions against Khartoum.

President-elect Obama says diplomacy will be a keystone of his foreign policy. We'll soon see whether he will be more successful than his predecessor in rallying a reluctant international community to stop the atrocities.

 

 

 

Gaza Update 5 Dec. 29, 2008 Palestinian Media Watch PMW archives: Hamas explains using civilians as human shields:  "We desire death as you desire life." [Feb. 29, 2008] by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook The UN announcement that 51 civilians have died in the conflict in Gaza must be understood in the context of Hamas's declared ideology to use civilians as human shields for Hamas fighters.   Indeed, Hamas continues to emphasize and promote the religious ideology that death for Allah is an ideal to be actively pursued. The goal is to convince Palestinians, including women and children, not to fear death but even to face it at the front to protect Hamas fighters.   Hamas's placement of its military installations and fighters among civilians reflects this ideology, and has led to these 51 deaths.   A Hamas representative in the PA legislative council this year expressed pride in the fact that women and children are used as human shields in fighting Israel. He described it as part of a "death industry" at which Palestinians excel, and explained that the Palestinians "desire death" with the same intensity that Israelis "desire life."   The following is the full text of the comments by Hamas representative Fathi Hamad:   "For the Palestinian people death became an industry, at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire death as you desire life."   [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas) Feb. 29, 2008]   To view video in English click here. To view video in Hebrew click here.    To download the clip in high quality to your computer contact our office. To support the work of PMW, donate by credit card, check or wire   VISIT PMW VIDEO ARCHIVES Incitement of children to Shahada Teaching hatred with music Children as combatants in PA ideology Denying Israel's right to exist Hamas in its own words Support for terrorism Understanding Shahada Mothers joy at sons' Shahada Hatred of America and the West Holocaust denial Clarifying history Arab world TV Contact Palestinian Media Watch:   p:+972 2 625 4140 e: pmw@pmw.org.il f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.pmw.org.il

Forward email This email was sent to jcrc@dmjfed.org by pmw@pmw.org..il. Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Email Marketing by PMW | King George 59 | Jerusalem | Israel

From: The Jewish Community Relations Commission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines.  December 29, 2008

 

Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, JCRC, and National JCPA Support Israel's Efforts to Stop Gaza Rocket Attacks on Israeli Civilians

Hamas’ dramatic intensification of attacks on Israeli civilians required Israel to protect its people.  Israel air strikes targeting Hamas, terror-related sites exclusively.  IDF making all attempts to minimize civilian casualties.

 

For additional information, contact: Mark Finkelstein, JCRC Director for the Jewish Federation.   jcrc@dmjfed.org

 

For continuing coverage on this and other matters of pertinence to the Jewish community, view or subscribe to the JCRC’s Informational Blog:   http://jcommunitynews.blogspot.com

 

The following is a statement from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs [JCPA], the umbrella group of Jewish Community Relations Councils across the nation.  The Jewish Community Relations Commission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, on behalf of the Jewish Federation, supports the central points articulated in the statement, below, from JCPA.

National JCPA Supports Israel's Efforts to Stop Gaza Rocket Attacks

NEW YORK- December 27, 2008.  The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) is standing behind Israel's efforts to extinguish weeks of sustained, daily rocket fire and mortar shell attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel. While JCPA has a strong record of supporting Israel in its quest to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, no country can be expected to absorb continuous and unrelenting violence.

JCPA Executive Director Rabbi Steve Gutow issued the following statement about the unfolding operations in Gaza:

"It is unfortunate that Israel has had to resort to air strikes and is now grappling with a possible ground operation in the very area that it has tried hard to disengage from since 2005.

Israel has taken great lengths to avoid this sort of escalation, but was left with no other way to ensure that its civilians would not have to live in fear of rocket fire. Just a few days ago, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made an appeal on the Arab television station Al-Arabiya asking Gaza residents to stop the firing of rockets and mortar shells so that a military response could be avoided.

Even while rockets rained down on the frequently targeted town of Sderot and in the town of Kiryat Gat-a first-time target-Israel continued to transfer food and medicine into Gaza despite no apparent end to the attacks.

As Israel moves towards elections and the possibility of turning a new page, it is our hope that the Palestinian people will take the opportunity that this transition presents to turn their own page on Hamas' failed leadership." 

###

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is the community relations arm of the organized Jewish community.

 

Background

Israelis living near the Gaza border have been targets of cross –border rocket and mortar attacks for years, despite Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.   If you recall, Gaza was taken over in 2006 by a Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas, a terrorist organization identified as such by the U.S. State Department.  Hamas is largely responsible for the attacks at the crossing points into Israel, the very points where Israel has transported humanitarian supplies into Gaza, making it dangerous for Israel to provide assistance to average Gazans not involved in terrorism.  Hamas is also largely responsible, having taken credit, for the 5,000 rockets, missiles, and mortars that have been launched from Gaza indiscriminately on Israeli civilians living in Israeli towns.  To intentionally target civilians is a war crime.

 

  Hamas is anti-Jewish, as clearly demonstrated by passages in its Charter that call for the killing of Jews – not Israelis – Jews.  Hamas is dedicated to the total destruction of Israel.  As one political scientist*, has put it: “Hamas has no program of improving the well-being of the [Palestinians in Gaza] or educating children to be doctors, teachers and engineers.  Its platform hs but one plank: war, war, endless war, sacrifice, heroism, and martyrdom until total victory is achieved.”  That victory, again, is the defeat of the Jews in Palestine and the destruction of Israel.

 

On November 19^th of this year, Hamas unilaterally decided to end a cease-fire negotiated with Israel.  It had not actually been a cease-fire, but rather a “period of calm,” during which fewer rockets had been launched into Israel.  After the cease fire ended,  Hamas began escalating its attacks, with fifty or sixty rockets flying indiscriminately onto Israeli civilians.  Dozens of Israelis were treated for shock.   This was an untenable situation for Israel as it would be for any nation.

 

In regard to the situation, Israel’s President Shimon Peres has stated: "Israel doesn't have any ambition in Gaza. But we cannot permit Gaza to become a permanent base of threatening- and  even killing- children and innocent people [residing inside Israel.]"

 

Everyone knew that something had to be done to stop Hamas from continuing to assault Israel with its rockets and mortars.

 

Last Thursday, December 25, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert addressed the people of Gaza by television. He, Israeli President Peres and Israeli Foreign Minister Livni, at different times that day, virtually begged for peace. 

 

Olmert  said: " I appeal to the residents of Gaza: I speak to you as a father and grandfather and I know that there is nothing I want less than to put my children and grandchildren in danger. Is it the spirit of Islam to kill innocent children? To shoot rockets at kindergartens and at civilians? I do not think that this is the spirit of Islam. Hamas, which does this against the spirit of Islam, is the main reason for your

 suffering - for all of ours.

I say to you in a last-minute call, stop it. Stop it. You the citizens of Gaza, you can stop it. I know how much you want to get up in the morning to quiet, to take your children to kindergarten or school, the way we do, the way they want to in Sderot and Netivot."

But to no avail.  Despite all pleas, Hamas continued to launch rockets into Israel—and to use Iranian-supplied rockets that can strike further into Israel, at that.  And as you know, Israel has now endeavored to stop the rockets from flying into Israel.

Overview

 ·    Abbas: Hamas Could Have Avoided Gaza Raids - Alaa Shahine
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday in Cairo that Hamas could have avoided the Israeli attacks on Gaza. "We talked to them and we told them 'please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop' so that we could have avoided what happened," he said. (Reuters)

 

·    Israel Must Defend Its Citizens - Amos Oz
The systematic bombing of the citizens in Israel's towns and cities is a war crime and a crime against humanity. The State of Israel must defend its citizens. It is obvious to everyone that the Israeli government does not wish to enter Gaza; the government would rather continue the ceasefire that Hamas violated and finally revoked. But the suffering of the citizens surrounding Gaza cannot go on.

Rice: U.S. Holds Hamas Responsible for Gaza Violence
The United States holds Hamas "responsible" for the renewal of deadly violence in Gaza after the Islamist group broke its ceasefire with Israel, Secretary of State Rice said Saturday. "We strongly condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence there." The six-month ceasefire, which Hamas said last week it would not renew, "must be restored immediately and fully respected," she said. On the day the truce expired, she warned that renewed violence against Israel by Hamas would only hurt the Palestinians, and that the movement "needs to concentrate on turning away from violence." (AFP)

   Egypt: Hamas Responsible for Israeli Response - Roee Nahmias
At a press conference Saturday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit held Hamas responsible for Israel's military action in Gaza, saying that "Egypt warned for a long time, and someone who ignores warnings is responsible for the outcome." Earlier, Gheit had said, "we suspected this would happen. Hamas didn't stop shooting rockets at Israel." (Ynet News)

 

Information prepared for JCRC by Mark Finkelstein

---end-----

 

 

 

A 9 year old's "Rocket estimation table"

Translated from INN. 9 year old "Shir" wrote a list for herself in case of rocket attacks on her home in Southern Israel. This way she knows how long it takes to run to the bomb shelter from everywhere in her home, from the time she hears the air raid siren.

From the living room -- 10 seconds to run to the bomb shelter.
From Or's bedroom -- 10 seconds to run to the bomb shelter.
From the dining room -- 6 seconds to run to the bomb shelter.
From Shir's Bedroom -- 13 seconds to run to the bomb shelter
From my parents bedroom -- 10 seconds to run to the bomb shetler.
From the hall bathroom -- 10 seconds to run to the bomb shleter.

(From:  muqata.blogspot.com)

Special Edition of the Daily Alert.  [excerpts]

 

Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

DAILY ALERT Special Edition Sunday, December 28, 2008  www.DailyAlert.org

IDF Hits Prime Hamas Targets - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
    The initial Israel Air Force strike hit 50 targets including Hamas bases, training camps, headquarters and offices.
    A second wave struck at 60 targets, including underground Kassam rocket launchers - placed inside bunkers and missile silos - that had been fitted with timers.
    Targets included the Hamas headquarters and training camp in Tel Zatar; a Hamas operations center and armory in Gaza City; the Hamas police academy, which was bombed during a graduation ceremony, killing 70-80 people; training camps in southern and central Gaza; the former office of Yasser Arafat in Gaza City that is now used by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh; and the Izzadin Kassam Brigades headquarters in northern Gaza.

---

Not Just Another "Surgical Strike" in Gaza - Amos Harel (Ha'aretz)
    Israel's opening salvo on Saturday was not merely another "surgical" operation or pinpoint strike. This is the harshest IDF assault on Gaza since the Six-Day War in 1967.
    Palestinian sources in Gaza report that 40 targets were destroyed in a span of three to five minutes.
   

• Israel Retaliates for Gaza Rocket Fire - Samuel Sockol
  Israeli planes pounded Hamas installations across the Gaza Strip on Saturday in retaliation for rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. At least 225 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 wounded. Palestinians in Gaza had fired more than 60 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel on Wednesday and more than 80 on Thursday, sowing fear in Israeli towns. (Washington Post)
• Rice: U.S. Holds Hamas Responsible for Gaza Violence
  The United States holds Hamas "responsible" for the renewal of deadly violence in Gaza after the Islamist group broke its ceasefire with Israel, Secretary of State Rice said Saturday. "We strongly condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence there." The six-month ceasefire, which Hamas said last week it would not renew, "must be restored immediately and fully respected," she said. On the day the truce expired, she warned that renewed violence against Israel by Hamas would only hurt the Palestinians, and that the movement "needs to concentrate on turning away from violence." (AFP)
      See also White House Puts Onus on Hamas to End Escalation of Violence - Robert Pear
  The Bush administration issued blistering criticism of Hamas on Saturday, saying the group had provoked Israel's airstrikes on Gaza by firing rockets into southern Israel. Gordon D. Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said that Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, was responsible for the outbreak of violence and called its rocket attacks "completely unacceptable. These people are nothing but thugs," he said. "Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas."
      During the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama made statements that sounded similar to those issued by the Bush administration on Saturday. "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that," Mr. Obama said in July. "And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." (New York Times)
      See also Britain and U.S. Refuse to Demand End to Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza - Nicola Smith (Times-UK)
• UN Security Council Calls on Israel, Palestinians to Halt Violence - Purnell Murdock
  The UN Security Council Sunday called for an immediate halt to all violence in Gaza amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes that followed days of rocket and mortar attacks on Israel by Palestinian militants. (VOA News)
      See also Israel Defends Gaza Operation to UN - Jonny Paul
  Israeli UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev on Saturday defended Israel's decision to embark on a military operation in Gaza to put an end to Palestinian rocket attacks. In an urgent letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the UN Security Council, Shalev wrote that Hamas "holds the sole responsibility for the latest events." Israel "has exhausted all means and efforts to reach and maintain quiet and to respect the state of calm....No country would allow continuous rocketing of its civilian population without taking the necessary actions to stop it." (Jerusalem Post)
      See also below Observations: The Operation in Gaza - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (Prime Minister's Office)
• Abbas: Hamas Could Have Avoided Gaza Raids - Alaa Shahine
  Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday in Cairo that Hamas could have avoided the Israeli attacks on Gaza. "We talked to them and we told them 'please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop' so that we could have avoided what happened," he said. (Reuters)
      See also Egypt: Hamas Responsible for Israeli Response - Roee Nahmias
  At a press conference Saturday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit held Hamas responsible for Israel's military action in Gaza, saying that "Egypt warned for a long time, and someone who ignores warnings is responsible for the outcome." Earlier, Gheit had said, "we suspected this would happen. Hamas didn't stop shooting rockets at Israel." (Ynet News)
      See also Egypt: Hamas Denying Gaza Wounded Treatment in Egypt - Alaa Shahine
  Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Sunday that Hamas was not allowing Palestinians wounded in Israel's attacks on Gaza to cross into Egypt for treatment. "We are waiting for the wounded Palestinians to cross. They are not being allowed to cross," he said. Asked who was to blame, he said: "Ask the party in control on the ground in Gaza." Hamas has been in control in Gaza since June 2007. (Reuters)
• Palestinian Rocket Falls Short, Kills Girls in Gaza - Sheera Frenkel
  Two Palestinian girls died Friday when militants in Gaza bombarded southern Israel with homemade rockets and mortars, one of which fell short and hit the victims' home. (Times-UK)

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

• Israel Must Defend Its Citizens - Amos Oz
  The systematic bombing of the citizens in Israel's towns and cities is a war crime and a crime against humanity. The State of Israel must defend its citizens. It is obvious to everyone that the Israeli government does not wish to enter Gaza; the government would rather continue the ceasefire that Hamas violated and finally revoked. But the suffering of the citizens surrounding Gaza cannot go on.
      Hamas is actually eager to cause Israel to embark on a military operation. The Arab world will rally together around the atrocious sights that Al-Jazeera will air from Gaza, and the world court of public opinion will rush to accuse Israel of war crimes. This is the same court of public opinion that remains unmoved by the systematic bombing of population centers in Israel. Hamas' calculation is simple, cynical and evil: If innocent Israelis are killed - good. If innocent Palestinians are killed - even better. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
• Israel Tries to Change the Rules of the Game in Gaza - Ron Ben-Yishai
  What started in Gaza on Saturday is a limited move aimed at securing a long-term ceasefire between Hamas and Israel on terms that are favorable to Israel. These include: An end to mortar and rocket attacks; an end to terror attacks across the Gaza fence; serious negotiations on the release of Gilad Shalit; and an end to Hamas' military buildup. The means for securing these objectives is shock treatment - literally. This way, Hamas will no longer be initiating and setting the pace of developments, while Israel makes it clear that it would respond "disproportionally" every time Israeli residents are hurt. At this time, we are not talking about an attempt to topple Hamas' regime in Gaza. (Ynet News)
• A Time to Fight - Editorial
  On Friday, a Hamas spokesman made Israel the following proposal: You keep the stream of humanitarian aid and supplies flowing into Gaza and we will keep launching rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians. It was an offer Israel had little choice but to refuse. On Saturday, Israel finally told Hamas that it would not be bled, slowly, to death. The Islamists need to decide whether they want to go down in flames or are prepared to take on the responsibilities that come with control over Gaza.
      That over 200 Palestinians have been killed compared to only one Israeli leads some journalists to conclude that Israel is inherently in the wrong. If one Jew is killed, we get very little piety. If, heaven forbid, an Israeli kindergarten was to take a direct hit - Israel might, temporarily, gain the sympathy of news anchors from Paris to London to Madrid. At that price we would rather forgo their sympathy.
      We wonder how an international community that can't bring itself to explicitly support Israel's operation against the most intransigent of Muslim fanatics expects to play a positive role in facilitating peace in this region. Hamas must be stopped. And the civilized world must help stop it. (Jerusalem Post)

Observations:

The Operation in Gaza - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (Prime Minister's Office)

• For seven years, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens in the south have been suffering from missiles being fired at them. Life in the south under missile barrages had become unbearable. Israel did everything in its power to fulfill the conditions of the calm in the south and enable normal life for its citizens. The quiet that we offered was met with shelling.
• No country can countenance such a reality. The lives of our citizens are not forfeit. In recent days, it became clear that Hamas is bent on conflict. In such a situation we had no alternative but to respond. We do not rejoice in battle, but neither will we be deterred from it.
• The operation in Gaza is designed, first and foremost, to bring about an improvement in the security reality for the residents of the south. This is liable to take time and each one of us must be patient so that we can complete the mission. We want to restore the quiet and the tranquility and give the residents of the south the ability to live the normal lives that every country provides its citizens.
• On Thursday I made it clear to the residents of Gaza [in an interview on Al-Arabiya television] that we are not acting against them and that we have no intention of punishing them for the actions of Hamas. We will see to the needs of the population in Gaza and will do our utmost to prevent a humanitarian crisis that will impinge upon residents' lives.
• Residents of Gaza, we are not your enemies and we are not fighting against you. This terrorist organization has brought disaster to two peoples. Israel is not fighting the Palestinian people but the Hamas terrorist organization that has taken upon itself to act against the residents of Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister: Would U.S. Accept Ceasefire with Al-Qaeda? (FOX News)
    Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told FOX News on Saturday: "For us to be asked to have a ceasefire with Hamas is like asking you [the U.S.] to have a ceasefire with al-Qaeda....It's something we cannot really accept."

 

From the Jewish Community Relations Commission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines  

 

12/27/08

On behalf of the Jewish Federation, JCRC supports the statement below issued by our national agency, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA).  We stand with Israel in its reluctant but necessary efforts to return normalcy to the lives of Israeli civilians who have been subjected to long-term, escalating bombardment from Gaza by Hamas, a terrorist organization as identified by the U.S. State Department.  We concur, as well, with the announced U.S. position of  "condemn[ing] the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence there."

 

Comments on this matter may be directed to Mark S. Finkelstein, Director of Community Relations for the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines.  jcrc@dmjfed.org

 

The National Jewish Council for Public Affairs 

Supports Israel’s Efforts

 to Stop Gaza Rocket Attacks

 

NEW YORK— December 27, 2008   The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) is standing behind Israel’s efforts to extinguish weeks of sustained, daily rocket fire and mortar shell attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel. While JCPA has a strong record of supporting Israel in its quest to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, no country can be expected to absorb continuous and unrelenting violence.

 

JCPA Executive Director Rabbi Steve Gutow issued the following statement about the unfolding operations in Gaza:

 

“It is unfortunate that Israel has had to resort to air strikes and is now grappling with a possible ground operation in the very area that it has tried hard to disengage from since 2005.

 

Israel has taken great lengths to avoid this sort of escalation, but was left with no other way to ensure that its civilians would not have to live in fear of rocket fire. Just a few days ago, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made an appeal on the Arab television station Al-Arabiya asking Gaza residents to stop the firing of rockets and mortar shells so that a military response could be avoided.

 

Even while rockets rained down on the frequently targeted town of Sderot and in the town of Kiryat Gat—a first-time target—Israel continued to transfer food and medicine into Gaza despite no apparent end to the attacks.

 

As Israel moves towards elections and the possibility of turning a new page, it is our hope that the Palestinian people will take the opportunity that this transition presents to turn their own page on Hamas’ failed leadership.”

 

###

 

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is the community relations arm of the organized Jewish community.  JCPA is online at www.jewishpublicaffairs.org

From the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. Statement from Israel's Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni

  From the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.    December 27, 2008   11:30 am, EST   

       
 Israel Launches Counterterrorism Strikes Against Hamas


       
Dear Friends,

In response to the hundreds of rockets and mortars that have been fired into Israeli civilian populations over the past several weeks, early this morning Israel launched as a self defense measure a series of Airstrikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.


Statement by Israel's Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni:


Israeli citizens have been under the threat of daily attack from Gaza for years.

Only this week - hundreds of missiles and mortars shells were fired at Israeli civilian communities including the firing of 80 missiles on a single day.

Until now we have shown restraint. But today there is no other option than a military operation.

We need to protect our citizens from attack through a military response against the terror infrastructure in Gaza.

This is the translation of our basic right to self sefense.

Israel left Gaza in order to create an opportunity for peace.

In return, the Hamas terror organization took control of Gaza and is using its citizens as cover while it deliberately targets Israeli communities and denies any chance for peace.

We have tried everything to reach calm without using force. We agreed to a truce through Egypt that was violated by Hamas, which continued to target Israel, hold Gilad Shalit and build up its arms.

Israel continues to act to prevent humanitarian crisis and to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians.

Unfortunately, Hamas cynically abuses its own civilian population and their suffering for propaganda purposes. The responsibility for harm to civilians lies with Hamas.

Hamas is a terrorist organization, supported by Iran, that does not represent the legitimate national interests of the Palestinian people but a radical Islamist agenda that seeks to deny peace for the peoples of this region. 

While confronting Hamas, Israel continues to believe in the two State solution and remains committed to negotiations with the legitimate Palestinian Authority in the context of the peace process, launched at Annapolis.

Israel expects the support and understanding of the international community, as it confronts terror, and advances the interest of all those who wish the forces of peace and co existence to determine the agenda of this region.


Ben Sack
Officer for Public Affairs
Embassy of Israel
Phone: (202) 364-5548
Fax: (202)364-5423
Visit us at: http://www.israelemb.org

Israel retaliates for continues rocketing of Israeli citizens from Gaza 

News summary from combined sources.

Livni: Israel is doing what is necessary to protect its citizens (Haaretz)
	Barak: We must do everything it takes in order to return the quiet (Haaretz)

Israeli Air Force strike Hamas Gaza compounds. Israel will expand operation if needed

Barak: We have hit 150 Hamas militants in Gaza

 Israeli Air Force planes  destroyed Hamas security headquarters in Gaza City, and compounds, police stations and ports across the Gaza Strip. Several Hamas commanders were killed in the bombardment of a Hamas military passing-out ceremony. Among them was a police chief Tawfiq Jabber.

 The United States on Saturday urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties in its strikes, but did not call for an end to the offensive, essentially signaling its support for the operation.

The White House said for the violence to end, Hamas must stop rocket attacks into Israel.

Map:  Gaza and Israel http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Hamas and other Palestinian factions have ordered its "fighters to avenge Israeli attacks."

The Israeli military spokesman said the Gaza operation is "just beginning." An Israeli official said all Air Force planes had returned safely to base but the operation carried out in response to Palestinian terrorist attacks would be expanded and intensified if needed. They went into action a second time Saturday against missile teams which hit killed a woman in Netivot and bombarded Ashkelon from northern Gaza.

Egypt has condemned Israel for its military attack and mobilized its rescue and medical services in Sinai, including hospitals for aid to casualties for the Israeli air bombardment of Gaza. Egyptian ambulances are standing by at the Rafah crossing to transport wounded Hamas operatives.

Defense minister Ehud Barak has placed Sderot and locations surrounding the Gaza Strip on an emergency footing.

The Israeli air attack launching some 40 missiles began 11.00 a.m. local time Saturday, Dec. 27, eight days after Hamas terminated the informal Gaza ceasefire by showering missiles and mortar rounds on Israel day by day and targeting 200,000 civilians.

Last week, the Israeli cabinet gave the Israeli military the green light for reprisals as Palestinian missile attacks escalated, 13 mortar rounds fired Friday, when Israel allowed 90 trucks of food and medicines to cross into the Gaza Strip.

Since Israel evacuated the Gaza Strip in 2005, the Palestinians have fired 5,000 missiles.

Israel News Update

In what sounded like a last ditch appeal, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert turned directly to Gaza Strip residents Thursday with a request to "stop it."

"I say to you in a last minute call, stop it," Olmert said in an interview Thursday on the Arab satellite station al-Arabiya. "Stop it, you the citizens of Gaza, you can stop it. I know how much you want to get up in the morning to quiet, to take your children to kindergarten or school, the way we do, the way they want to in

----------------

 The missile that landed south of Ashkelon Thursday evening was a Grad Katyusha rocket, according to Haaretz. Five other rockets were launched during the course of the day by terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

-----------------------------

Livni on rocket attacks: Enough is enough Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday, "Enough is enough. The situation (in the Gaza Strip) is going to change." Livni is in Cairo for meetings with President ... Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday, "Enough is enough. The situation (in the Gaza Strip) is going to change." Livni is in Cairo for meetings with President Hosni Mubarak and other Egyptian officials, on the escalation of violence emanating from the Gaza Strip. Livni said there is one address and it is Hamas. Speaking at a joint press conference with her Egyptian counterpart, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, Livni said Hamas needs to understand our aspiration for peace does not mean Israel will take this situation indefinitely. ---------------------------------------- Israeli President Shimon Peres said that for there to be peace, Hamas must stop shooting. ------------------------------------------ Audio of the most recent Voice of Israel newscast in English: http://www.intkolisrael.com/  ( Israel is 8 hrs later in time than CST)