Check out this video for a rare look inside the Israel Air Force (IAF) and learn about its role in defending Israel from neighboring terrorists and nuclear threats.
At a UN Security Council debate yesterday, French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert led a walkout after Libya made disgraceful comments comparing the situation in Gaza to Nazi concentration camps. His Western counterparts followed.
Read the full story from AFP.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was in Qatar this week for the Doha Forum on Democracy Development and Free Trade. This marked the first time Livni traveled to a Gulf nation and held talks with high-level officials there. She held bilateral meetings with leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, among other Arab countries. In addressing the forum on Monday, Livni sought Arab support for moderate movements in the Middle East and reiterated Israel’s commitment to peaceful relations with her neighbors.
Click here for the full text of the Foreign Minister’s speech.
Just as we saw in January, Hamas is artificially producing a situation in Gaza that hurts its own civilians in order to put pressure on Israel. The following is an official report from the Coordination and Liaison Administration, which is in charge of the crossings from Gaza into Israel:
The Hamas organization is staging a situation of crisis and distress, and harming the civilian population in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to divert pressure onto Israel.
Colonel Nir Press, Head of the Coordination and Liaison Administration: “The State of Israel has permitted the steady and continuous flow of fuel into the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.”
2,200,000 liters of diesel fuel are transferred through the Nahal Oz fuel terminal to the Gaza Strip power plant weekly. This power plant is capable of supplying 30% of the total electricity requirements of the Gaza Strip. The remaining power needs are supplied by Israel and Egypt. In addition, unlimited quantities of cooking gas, 800,000 liters of diesel fuel for transportation and 75,000 liters of gasoline are transferred weekly.
continue reading…
Today’s New York Times highlights a new study showing that Hamas is exploiting periods of relative calm to smuggle new, more advanced arms into Gaza and is actively training its fighters in Iran and Syria. It just prove that terrorists will be terrorists, no matter what they say.
See here for the full study by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
Comment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
Israel views the Hamas, who controls the Gaza Strip, as responsible for today’s (9/4) terror attack on the Nahal Oz fuel crossing terminal. Hamas bears the responsibility for this attack, and will bear the consequences as well.
Today’s attack proves yet again that the terrorists in Gaza not only attack Israelis, but also try to harm the civilian infrastructure that allows a normal way of life in the Gaza Strip. It is plain to see that the terrorists’ goal is to kill as many Israelis as possible while also undermining any example of coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, such as occurs at the crossing points between Israel and Gaza.
Israel transfers food, fuel, medicines, equipment and humanitarian supplies on a daily basis to the residents of the Gaza Strip. The terrorists who attacked the fuel terminal today are trying to harm this activity and thereby harm the lives and welfare of the residents of Gaza.
Israel will determine how to defend itself and will act against the terrorist organizations, their commanders and operators. At the same time,
For further details, see here.
From today’s Washington Times, a frightening article about the state of education in the Arab Middle East. Far from promoting peace, many classes and textbooks promote hatred of the United States and Israel and encourage kids to take violent action on behlaf of terrorist entities. Take, for example, this clip from Hamas’s al-Aqsa TV that shows a young boy killing President Bush and turning the White House into a mosque (thanks to MEMRI for the translation).
Today’s students will be the leaders of tomorrow; the fact that they’re learning to view Israel and the United States with a measure of loathing and hatred makes us wonder what the region will look like in the future. We can only hope that the state of education changes soon.
After reporting on all the dignitaries that have visited Sderot over the past several months, the New York Times notes that the city is becoming a destination for Israel supporters and their donations.
Foreign diplomats have been going to Sderot to see the cost of Hamas-sponsored terrorism and aid groups–both Jewish and non-Jewish–have donated money to protect Israeli civilians. Volunteers from around the world have also come to help.
Now that the world is watching, will the rain of missiles slow?
