These words, "Now is the time to fight", could be applied to many issues around the world and inside the United States today, but they were spoken by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. "There is a time for cease-fires and a time to fight, and now is the time to fight." The world heard nothing from Arab nations when rocket after rocket was hurled into Israeli homes and businesses. Not a word was heard when Israelis lost property or when they were injured or killed. Now when Israel decides to fight back, the entire world is speaking out.
On Friday, December 26, 2008, Israel said Gaza-based militants had fired at least 20 mortars at Israel since Thursday. On Saturday the Israeli Air Force bombed over 170 targets, killing more than 230 Palestinians, in "Operation Cast Lead," aimed at putting a stop to Hamas rocket attacks against the South. Hamas and other Iran-backed Palestinian groups in Gaza continue to kill and wound Israeli civilians by launching almost daily attacks.
In two waves, over 100 fighter jets and attack
helicopters dropped dozens of smart bombs and hundreds of tons of
explosives on Hamas training camps, headquarters, weapons storehouses,
underground missile silos and command-and-control centers scattered
throughout the Gaza Strip.
The propaganda wheels are already in motion. Be on watch for the photo-manipulations and one-sided reporting. Defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge. Hamas
"will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," vowed
spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal called on West Bank residents to rise up against Israel in a renewed intifada. [1] US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad suggested Hamas held the key to restoring calm. "We believe the way forward from here is for rocket attacks against Israel to stop, for all violence to end," he said.
Israel’s strikes started at 11:30 a.m. and in two minutes hit more than 30 targets, most of them security compounds run by Hamas. Most of the Palestinian dead were members of the Hamas security forces, including Police Chief Tawfiq Jaber and the head of the organization’s Security and Protection Service, Ismail al-Jabary, said Taher Noono, a spokesman for Hamas. “Hamas was clearly taken by surprise and probably didn’t think Israel would launch such an operation just six weeks before elections,” said Shlomo Gazit, former chief of Israeli Military Intelligence and an analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. [4]
World leaders immediately called for restraint. President Nicholas Sarkozy of France, who holds the rotating European Union presidency, said he “firmly condemns the irresponsible provocations that have led to this situation, as well as the disproportionate use of force,” according to an e-mailed statement. [5]
World reaction very similar. Israel's operation to protect her citizens, 'sparked protests and condemnations throughout the Arab world, and many of Israel's Western allies urged restraint'. (AP) From Michael Travis via email:
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a
religious decree to Muslims around the world on Sunday, ordering them to defend
Palestinians against Israel's attacks on Gaza, state television
said. "All Palestinian combatants and all the Islamic world's pious
people are obliged to defend the defenseless women, children and people in Gaza
in any way possible. Whoever is killed in this legitimate defense is considered
a martyr," state television quoted Khamenei as saying in a statement outlining
the fatwa.
Saudi Arabian leaders have called U.S. President George W. Bush concerning Israel's attacks on Gaza. Should we expect the U.S. to call for Israel to show restraint? If so, shame on Bush.
The Arab League calls for immediate meeting. Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and Ben Ali expressed their "profound concern in the face of serious developments which have caused a great number of victims," and saying he was ashamed of the reaction by Arab nations.
Arab protesters in Damascus and Beirut burned Israeli flags and governments across the Middle East condemned Israeli air strikes against the Hamas-led Gaza Strip that left at least 285 people dead. (Bloomberg)
More typical reactions:
"The secretary general is deeply alarmed by today's heavy violence and bloodshed in Gaza, and the continuation of violence in southern Israel.
"[He] appeals for an immediate halt to all violence [and reiterates] previous calls for humanitarian supplies to be allowed into Gaza to aid the distressed civilian population."
GORDON JOHNDROE, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN
"Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people.
"The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza."
SPOKESMAN FOR JAVIER SOLANA, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF
"We are very concerned at the events in Gaza. We call for an immediate ceasefire and urge everybody to exert maximum restraint."
BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE STATEMENT
"The only way to achieve lasting peace in Gaza is through peaceful means. Whilst we understand the Israeli government's obligation to protect its population we urge maximum restraint to avoid further civilian casualties.
"We also call on militants in the Gaza Strip to immediately cease all rocket attacks on Israel."
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT
"Moscow considers it necessary to stop large-scale military action against Gaza, which has already led to major casualties and suffering among the civilian Palestinian population.
"At the same time, we call on the Hamas leadership to stop shelling Israeli territory."
AMR MOUSSA, ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL
"We are facing a continuing spectacle which has been carefully planned. So we have to expect that there will be many casualties. We face a major humanitarian catastrophe."
SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT
"Syria is following with great anxiety the barbaric Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza... a horrific crime and terrorist act.
"Syria calls on the Arab nation and the international community to use all possible means to put pressure on Israel to immediately stop the aggression, allow the wounded to enter hospital and open all crossing points [to Gaza].
"Syria as president of the Arab League calls on Arab leaders to hold an emergency summit to assess the dangerous situation in Gaza."
HASAN QASHQAVI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN
"Iran strongly condemns the Zionist regime's wide-ranging attacks against the civilians in Gaza.
"The raids against innocent people are unforgiveable and unacceptable."
REV FEDERICO LOMBARDI, VATICAN SPOKESMAN
"Hamas is a prisoner to a logic of hate, Israel to a logic of faith in force as the best response to hate.
"One must continue to search for a different way out, even if that may seem impossible." (BBC)
In spite of the continued attacks, responding to the terrorism,Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmertsaid in a televised interview to Gaza’s citizens Dec. 25 on the Arabic TV network al-Arabiya “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… “We want to live as good neighbors with Gaza,” Olmert said.“ We do not want to harm you. We will not allow a humanitarian crisis and that you should suffer from a lack of food or medicines. We do not want to fight the Palestinian people but we will not allow Hamas to strike our children.” [6]
In addition to firing rockets and mortars, terrorists have smuggled vast amounts of war materiel into Gaza. Israeli Minister for Public Security Avi Dichter said that in July 2008 alone, more than four tons of explosives were smuggled into Gaza via tunnels dug by terrorists under the Egypt-Gaza border. There are 400-600 smuggling tunnels running along Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor, the strip of land spanning the border between Egypt and Gaza. [7]
Iran, one of the chief sponsors of Palestinian terrorism, provides approximately $20 million to $30 million to Hamas annually and also trains Hamas operatives in Iran and Syria. [8] Approximately 950 Hamas terrorists have been trained in building rockets and bombs, tactical warfare, weapons operation and sniper tactics by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a special division of Iran’s armed forces. [9]
BBC News: "Israeli jets have launched a second day of air attacks on the Gaza Strip, amid warnings that operations will continue until Hamas ends rocket fire from Gaza. Palestinians now say at least 280 people have died, while Israel is said to be considering a ground assault and has authorised the call-up of reserves. At the UN, the Security Council called for an end to all violence in Gaza, including rocket attacks from Gaza."
Israeli jets have bombed 40 tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip in a second day of intense air raids aimed at forcing Hamas militants to halt rocket fire. (Video here at BBC)
Israeli attacks caught on video,view at DigitalJournal. The personal stories are beginning to roll out. Hamas expressed deep disappointment over the failure of the Arab and Islamic world to exert pressure on Israel to halt the operations.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday authorised a humanitarian envoy to
enter the Gaza Strip
Neighborhood Bully
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on
their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no
place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and
condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to
have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked
in.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the
earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and
torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood
bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned
him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was
glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's
the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by
the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck
and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every
maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.
He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he
don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be
denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the
neighborhood bully.
Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it
nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly.
To
hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall
asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great
Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with
nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was
worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned
it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into
health.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say.
He just likes to
cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this
bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of
rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing
on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood
bully.
Michael reports today via email:
I have been on the phone with Israel since the morning, There is calm in the
centre of the country despite a high alert being called for terror attacks and a
possible three sided rocket siege. Communities in the North and South of the
country will spend the night in their shelters.
Leaves have been
cancelled for members of elite IDF combat units, artillery crews, pilots and Air
Force support personnel.
The Israeli government has warned neighbouring
countries against making provocative military moves at this time.
Israel
Radio is reporting 250+ Hamas members have already been dispatched to Paradise.
With such an influx of Shahadim (Martyrs), Allah must have been very busy
indeed.
I was requested to post the following article:
Israel: Do It Right Or Don't Do It At All
by Gerald A. Honigman
Figures...the one day I don't read the paper or check my computer for news first thing in the morning...
Ugh!
Turns out the Jews finally overdosed and moved on Gaza while I was in the very midst of writing this article. So now, after having to plead my case with publishers I already drive crazy, please check it out anyway. Let's see how good the Israelis do. And hopefully, I'll be proven wrong...on at last some counts.
One of the so-called "Arab World's" greatest scholars, Ibn Khaldun, singled out the Jews centuries ago when he wrote The Muqaddimah.
Writing of the rise and fall of civilizations, he stressed the overwhelming importance of 'asabiyah--unique group consciousness--to the overall fate of any nation.
While Ibn Khaldun noted that the Jews had one of the most "noble houses" in history, he explained that, as a result of losing their 'asabiyah, they had subsequently suffered constant humiliations as a result.
The Muqaddimah stressed that the Jews were forced to wander in the desert for forty years due to their "meekness." Ibn Khaldun held that this was necessary so that a new generation would arise with a new, more powerful 'asabiyah.
Prime Minister Olmert and his crew should pay close attention to this...Jews can't afford yet another of such wanderings.
After putting up with countless mortar and rocket terror launched from Gaza since it unitaterally withdrew from there years ago, it looks like Israel, under Olmert and Livni, has gotten a green light from Washington to do what should have been done long ago. Unfortunately, these are not the leaders to do it right.
Too many of Olmert's crew have much in common with the "post-Zionism" plaguing too much of Israel today.
Too many of Israel's teachers, especially at the higher levels, lack that 'asabiyah Ibn Khaldun stressed and have spread the disease to their students as well.
Israel's war against Hizbullah in Lebanon was a result of such new leaders. An Israel under Menachem Begin, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, or Arik Sharon would not have fought Hizbullah largely by the Arabs' own game plan. Olmert's crew did--with disastrous results.
And now this same crew is telegraphing it's punch to do a virtual Lebanon II in Gaza.
More young Israelis will be sent on the ground into deadly booby traps set for human and tank alike.
Arabs like to joke about how Jews value life...
We'll, for starters, they don't believe that they'll have seventy-two virgins awaiting them in Heaven as a reward for blowing up Arab babes and other innocents the way Arabs see this picture for themselves. So, the Arabs are correct--for this many other reasons as well.
But, following up on this observation, Israel thus needs to play a very different game in Gaza.
Hamas and the Gazan Arabs who elected it to office know that Israel can't lay low forever. It has deliberately been trying to bait Israel into fighting at this time. But I suspect that Hamas expects Israel to follow a game plan approved by Washington--especially the State Department--which will not allow it to do what really needs to be done here...actually win.
Israel will be allowed to punish Foggy Bottom's bad cop terrorists for the sake of the alleged latter-day Arafatian good cop ones of its darling, Mahmud Abbas. In reality, both have the same long-term goal for the Jewish State. But there's billions of dollars at stake for the winners. Recall Arafat's legendary Swiss bank accounts and so forth.
Israel must indeed answer terror, but at minimum cost to itself. Every soldier Israel loses is like America losing abot sixty.
No matter how "good" it tries to be here, it will be condemned anyway...So, do it as best as possible.
Those who deliberately set up terror shops amidst their own civilian human shields will be responsible for the deaths of innocents (and keep in mind that those "innocents" gladly elected the leaders they now have). The Geneva Conventions condemn such cowardice and further state that it will not prevent retribution. See the Perfidy Clause and so forth.
So, here's the real plan...
Bombers, not helicopters, will take the lead here.
Israel has already telegraphed its punch loudly and clearly in the aftermath of all Gaza singing Hamas's praises for hundreds of mortars and rockets fired at Israel in just the past few weeks. Newspaper articles all over the world have reported of Israel's upcoming invasion.
Massive, quick retaliation, following America's own Powell Doctrine for war, must be the guideline. If having death and destruction fired non-stop at your towns by folks who don't recognize your very right to exist is not war, then what is?
Bombers will need to seek out major groupings of armed fighters. So, the time for the strike should be set for when Hamas is having another of its major rallies or parades. Hopefully, Israeli intelligence can redeem itself here a bit. Hundreds must be sent to Paradise at one time--enough so that there will be a shortage of virgins.
Qassam rockets and such must be answered by artillery. Forget the tit-for-tat manure that Arabs only laugh at... Massive barrages must target sites from which terror is launched. Prospective mine fields and booby traps must be blasted as well.
Any suspected hideouts of Hamas leadership must be taken out. Israel had opportunities in earlier decades to do this and refused because of the human shield thing. Not this time...
Hide with them, die with them. President Bush almost said those exact words himself.
Many underground bunkers as well as tunnels have likely been constructed by Arabs in preparation for Gaza's virtual Lebanon II. This is a good time to test those bunker-busters, assuming Israel has gotten some decent intelligence here before it uses those expensive bombs.
Israeli teens and others should not be sent in on the ground until everything has been done to reduce their casualties. To Hell with those "innocents" who'd slit Jews's throats in an instant given the chance.
It's time for Israel to fight to win...like any other country would. So...
I don't recommend hitting Gaza now.
Conventional wisdom states that Israel should attack before President Obama takes office along with his list of anti-Israel advisers.
While this is a consideration, it is trumped by the make-up of Israel's current leaders and the wisdom of Ibn Khaldun.
Israel has waited this long to strike. It must wait a bit longer...until new elections produce leaders for whom the Jews's Zionist 'asabiyah is once more calling both the political and military shots.
At that time, it will be able to fight to win--not merely play the game that others have in store for it.
NOW IS THE TIME TO FIGHT !!!!!
Also See:
We Have A Right To Live In Peace, Monkey in the Middle
Israeli attacks on Gaza could escalate, Faultline USA
[1] Jerusalem Post, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111718610&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
[2] Ben David, Calev, Abu Ramadan, Saud, “Israeli Air Raids in Gaza
Kill as Many as 200 People,” Bloomberg, Dec. 27, 2008, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aj7RvdbJIeDY&refer=home
[3]
Curiel, Ilana, “Man killed in rocket strike,” YnetNews, Dec. 27, 2008, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3644954,00.html;
Harel, Amos, Ravid, Barak and Issacharoff, Avi, Haaretz Correspondents and News
Agencies, “Army readies for 'limited' Gaza action as 22 mortars hit Negev,”
Haaretz, Dec. 26, 2008, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050338.html
[4] Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aj7RvdbJIeDY&refer=home
[5] Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aj7RvdbJIeDY&refer=home
[6] “PM Olmert Interviewed on Al Arabiya,” Prime Minister’s Office, Dec. 25,
2008, http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/Spokesman/2008/12/spokeinter251208.htm
[7] “News of the Israeli-Palestinian Confrontation July 22-29, 2008,” Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/jul_e001.htm; “Hamas has lately regulated the flourishing tunnel industry in the Gaza Strip,” Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Oct. 28, 2008, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/ct_e009.pdf
[8] Hamas," Council on Foreign Relations Web site, http://www.cfr.org/publication/8968/, retrieved July 7, 2008
[9] “Senior Hamas operative figure tells London Sunday Times’ Gaza Strip correspondent about Iranian and Syria military aid, detailing the training received by hundreds of Hamas terrorist operatives and describing the transmission to Hamas of Iranian technical know-how for the manufacture of rockets and IED,” The Terrorist and Intelligence Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center, March 17, 2008, retrieved July 7, 2008, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_160308e.htm; Colvin, Marie, “Hamas wages Iran’s proxy war on Israel,” The Times, March 9, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3512014.ece
Thanks to the Israeli Project for some references.
Hamas is reaping the rewards of its own actions. I hope they "enjoy" it.
G-d protect the IDF.
Posted by: Jack | December 28, 2008 at 12:13 PM
In Israeli schools one actually has to study the Bible (Old Testament only). It was only fitting that Ehud Barak would paraphrase from Ecclesiastes 8: a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Israel has tried the time of peace, prays for the time of peace, desires only peace. But is forced into war time and time again.
Posted by: Katie | December 28, 2008 at 01:20 PM
I have one word for Israel: FINALLY. Finally they are hitting back. Hard.
Posted by: Karen | December 28, 2008 at 06:01 PM
Now is the time to fight..amen amen amen!!
Posted by: Angel | December 28, 2008 at 06:20 PM
Sorry to say, the Arabs hate Israel and the west so much WE must inflict so much pain and death on them that there are not enough of them to cause problems for a thousand years.
Really how dumb are they to think they wont run out of virgins
Happy New year all from Texas
WB
Posted by: williebill | December 28, 2008 at 07:49 PM
Excellent news roundup! We must pray that Israel sustains. Dylan's Neighborhood Bully is great!
Posted by: Faultline USA | December 28, 2008 at 09:17 PM
I read on FOX that Israel was prepared to go all the way. I sure hope they are, cos HamASS is in this for the long run. They want nothing less than to wipe Israel off the map, plain and simple.
If Israel is not prepared to do whatever it takes, they might as well quit now and go home. God speed to them.
Posted by: MK | December 29, 2008 at 06:24 AM
See also Sultan Knish's latest post, 'The Gaza Picture Show'
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2008/12/gaza-picture-show.html
Posted by: no.apology | December 29, 2008 at 01:25 PM
Thanks for the comments and links everyone. Sultan Knish makes some great points.
Posted by: Debbie | December 29, 2008 at 01:54 PM