This YouTube video (below) seems to address some of the questions we’ve received lately:

1. Why is Israel attacking civilians in Gaza?
2. How can this be a just fight if more than 600 Palestinians have been killed as opposed to about 10 Israelis?
3. What about the idea of proportionality in war?
4. Should Israeli soldiers shoot even when civilians are in range?
5. Hamas is an elected government. Is Israel trying to overthrow a democracy?

For the answers, see the following:

Like

Unlike

Throughout the current operations, the IDF has worked to minimize the hardship to Gaza’s civilian population.  One of the ways of doing so has been through direct appeals, which have taken three forms: leaflets dropped over Gaza, phone calls, and radio messages.

Copies of the leaflets and recordings of the messages can be found on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Like

Unlike

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement regarding Israel’s operations in Gaza:

“For months – even before it officially violated the so-called cease-fire – the terrorist organization Hamas has been relentlessly firing missiles into Israel from Gaza, spreading terror, inflicting damage, and killing innocent civilians. No country would be expected to sit on its hands and simply allow its citizens to endure these kinds of vicious attacks without retaliating against the responsible party. I strongly support Israel’s right to self-defense and its decision to go after Hamas in response to the unyielding and increasingly far-reaching missile attacks. We all want peace in Gaza and hope that it will come very soon, but peace cannot be achieved so long as Hamas continues missile attacks. If a just and lasting cease-fire is to occur, it is incumbent upon Hamas to immediately and permanently halt all attacks against the Israeli people. As for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, I believe the United States and other countries can and should play a role in helping civilians in Gaza meet their basic needs through international assistance – without interference from Hamas – and I believe Israel has taken the right action with temporarily halts in military operations and creation of a humanitarian corridor to allow civilian aid into Gaza.”

Like

Unlike

The UN Security Council has been discussing Gaza in recent days in an attempt to find a means of addressing the situation through diplomatic channels. Below is a statement from the Israeli Ambassador, Gabriela Shalev, to the Security Council, given on Tuesday, 06 January. continue reading…

Like

Unlike

Terrorists fired rockets at the northern Israeli town of Nahariya this morning, injuring several senior citizens eating breakfast in the dining hall of their retirement home. While no group has yet taken responsibility for the rocket fire, there are relatively few options. Yoav Stern analyzes those possibilities in Haaretz today, and discusses the option that Iran is trying to widen the war on Israel.
An excerpt:

Several days before Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called several of his European counterparts and warned that Israel would face additional fronts if it attacked.
The rocket fire on Thursday morning from Lebanon into northern Israel can be seen as the realization of the Iranian threat.

The rest of the article can be found here.

Like

Unlike

NYC Mayor Bloomberg visited Israel this past Sunday and had this to say to CNN:

Like

Unlike

What does it mean for a Hamas missile to strike nearby?  The person in this video is undoubtedly giving silent thanks for surviving the day.

Like

Unlike

On 19 June, a “state of calm” began between Israel and Hamas.  The goal of this arrangement was to end Hamas’s rocket fire on Sderot and to gradually open up the border crossings into Gaza for civilian goods.  You can see details of the arrangement in our previous post.   This arrangement was due to last for 6 months, with possible renewal thereafter.

As you can see from the following graphs, while rocket and mortar fire from Gaza slowed during the “lull,” it never fully stopped.  (The graphs are taken from a report published last month.)

In addition, rather than use the “state of calm” to promote peace and to build a civilian infrastructure in Gaza, Hamas took advantage of the situation to expand its terrorist capabilities.  In addition to continuing to fire rockets and mortars, Hamas also smuggled weapons and other materiel from Egypt, and expanded its tunnel network, going so far as to dig a tunnel under Israeli territory to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

When Israeli forces acted on intelligence reports and went to investigate the tunnel on 04 November, they came under fire from “Palestinian gunmen” (see news item).  The firefight resulted in the death of 1 gunman and the wounding of several others, and the wounding of 4 Israeli soldiers.  During the following two days, Hamas launched 47 rockets and 10 mortar shells against civilian areas in Israel.  Hamas declared that it had responded to Israel’s actions, and leaders of Israel and Hamas maintained their desire to prevent further escalation of the situation.  However, Hamas continued to attack Israel–mostly by rocket and mortar fire–throughout the next few weeks.  In order to protect its civilian population, Israel took occasional action against these Hamas terrorists (see the list of Palestinian casualties in November 2008 from B’Tselem–all were killed while carrying out hostilities).

In fact, as the “lull” was due to expire on 19 December, Israel still held out hope that Hamas would renew the agreement.  Instead, Hamas declared its unwillingness to renew any agreement and commenced firing rockets and mortars at a higher rate than previously.

1 person likes this post.

Unlike

From today’s USA Today:

Jonathan Peled

Israel has the inalienable right to defend itself and its citizens. While America and Europe are engaged in wars thousands of miles away from their soil, we are entrenched in the front lines of the West’s war on terror.
In 2005, Israel voluntarily disengaged from Gaza to create an opportunity for peace, giving Palestinians a chance at self governance and economic prosperity. We worked closely with the U.S. and the international community to prop up Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with economic and diplomatic support.

The rest of the article is online through USA Today.

Like

Unlike