Our Israeli correspondent MC sends the latest news from Sderot:
Although you may be reading in the news about a ‘peace deal’, the reality on the ground is different.
The past three days have seen sporadic shelling and bombing (outgoing), with continued kite and balloon attacks.
Tonight we are hearing artillery and gunfire with aircraft etc.
The area has all the signs of a military campaign in the making. We passed a field full of tanks coming in from Ashkelon today. Given that it is Shabbat, this is serious. Normally things stop at sunset on Friday, but not tonight. Expect some move soon.
It appears that Hamas’ control may not have be as complete as they would have us believe, and that a faction in Gaza is trying to provoke instability.
For those who are interested, here’s the story from Arutz Sheva on the “peace deal”:
Israel, Hamas Reportedly Agree on Calm
Israel and Hamas, with Egyptian mediation, have reached preliminary agreements on restoring calm along the Gaza border, Israeli media reported on Friday.
A source who participated in the a with the Egyptian mediator said, according to Channel 13 News, that the Palestinian Arab factions had agreed to end the nightly demonstrations.
Israel, in return, will ease the restrictions on the fishing area, allow the Qatari money into Gaza and resume the supply of electricity.
The factions have reportedly agreed that the full ceasefire will begin on Saturday, according to Kan 11 News.
Meanwhile, Hamas politburo member Khalil al-Hayya, said, according to Walla! News, that the timetable for the implementation of the understandings with Israel would be set at the beginning of next week.
Earlier on Friday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh hinted that if talks on a ceasefire do not succeed soon, war may break out.
“We are continuing the marathon of talks with Egypt in order to reach serious understandings that Israel will honor,” Haniyeh said. “We are at a crossroads, and the coming hours will decide which direction we’ll take.”
On Thursday night, Egyptian intelligence officials warned Hamas that “any mistakes on your part on Saturday may lead to war with Israel.”
The comments were referring to the planned Land Day protests on Saturday along the Gaza border, for which the IDF is preparing.
On Monday, a rocket hit a home in the Sharon region, injuring seven people. Hamas initially claimed that the rocket was fired by mistake, later changing their story to say that “bad weather” caused the launch.
However, on Tuesday Hamas admitted that the launch had indeed been intentional, and was carried out at Iran’s behest.
MC lives in the southern Israeli city of Sderot. For his previous essays, see the MC Archives.
Hamas admitted that the launch had indeed been intentional, and was carried out at Iran’s behest.
And with Iran supplying the money for this murderous attack. All that Obama money flown into Iran has been put to such uses.
Thank God Hillary lost, or the situation would be even worse. She has a dark history in the Middle East.
Psalm 83 anybody?
The Gog-Magog invasion of Israel that will bring upon the world a false peace and a new world government led by a popular world leader? Yes. Either sooner or later. Erdogan is trying to collapse the world’s current financial markets of the west at this very moment. I wouldn’t be surprised if he joined with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Quds Force in Syria in some invasion of northern Israel to take a spoil of the huge oil and gas fields recently discovered there. Turkey has already apportioned out for themselves part of Syria. In which case you may want to stock up on a few months supply of food and water.
“…collapse the world’s current financial markets of the west…”
A good counter to this would be to relax, sooner rather than later, the federal reserve control of US currency in the US. The whole system is built on debt and funny money, shored up by the sale of hard assets in the US to treasury bond and US dollar holders like Saudi Arabia and China.
The result of any move away from central banking would be a severe, but hopefully short, recession. Of course, the current politicians would be swept out of office, which is why free currency is not even discussed. Central governments who control the currency can set the exchange value artificially high (or low) depending on what non-financial policy they wish to pursue. (George Soros has a special talent for taking advantage of this government-created opportunity, hence his tens of billions of dollars to contribute to: centralized government. Who would have thought?)
Private currency issue is never going to get too far from its real value, as a truly private bank cannot enforce sanctions against its competitors.
One of the consequences of a private currency would be that the US would have far fewer opportunities for costly foreign adventures like in Syria or Afghanistan. That would leave Israel more-or-less free to pursue its own solutions: both an advantage and disadvantage for Israel. My guess is that if Israel is presented with a serious, two-front war, the solution would be a modified von Schliessen plan: eliminate the lesser threat first, and then focus on the greater threat. But then, my quality of thinking is obviously not in the league of the Israeli military and intelligence planners.
I would think if it was that serious, Israel would just nuke them all and let allah sort them out. The absence of our intervention would mean they could finally pursue a more permanent solution to the problem of their neighbors constantly swearing to annihilate them.
Nuke them?? And live with radioactive fallout? That seems self-destructive. Something Iran has said it is willing to do, but no sane country wants that.
“On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east of the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog. For seven months the Israelites will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I display my glory will be a memorable day for them, declares Lord Yahweh. People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. They will spread out across the land and, along with others, they will bury any bodies that are lying on the ground. After the seven months they will carry out a more detailed search. As they go through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will leave a marker beside it until the gravediggers bury it in the Valley of Hamon Gog, near a town called Hamonah. And so they will cleanse the land.” – from the Book of Ezekiel 39:11-16
Tactical nuclear weapons are much smaller devices then even the two bombs used to destroy two cities in 1945 Japan. These are employed against smaller tactical targets within a specific area will not cause significant radioactive fallout across a large area. These are 1 kiloton devices whereas those dropped in 1945 were 15 and 21 kiloton bombs. One type of tactical nuclear device is called a Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM). Basically a nuclear mine. One or a few such devices along a valley road and mountain pass could theoretically wipe out an entire invading army.
Moon, This is what artillery and rockets are for, no nuke fallout, and you have the added benefit of new beachfront property to develop. Oh yes of course, they have some newly developed therombaric bombs that are quite extraordinary.
My opinion is that if it comes to Israel finding it necessary to use nuclear weapons, it will be as a result of massive policy failures in Israel. And possibly of the US. Taking out Saddam Hussein is an example of a massive policy failure. The result was that Iran had no strong, natural enemy in the region, except for Saudi Arabia, which cannot fight anything on its own, not even Yemen.
Sponsoring anti-Assad rebels in Syria was another massive policy failure. It opened the door for Iranian and Russian influence in Syria far more than before.
I would say that ceding Gaza to the “Palestinians” was a massive policy failure on the part of Israel, just as agreeing to a two-state solution would be with the Palestine Authority. But, I want the US out of Israel decision-making. It’s up to Israel to make its own mistakes and suffer the consequences or the benefits. As someone said, some problems cannot be solved, but just managed.
In my opinion, it’s not oil, but massive US deficit spending funded by Saudi oil that drives a lot of the quagmire in the Middle East. What business is it of the US what Saudi Arabia does in Yemen?
RonaldB, The arab muslim problem in Gaza and West Bank can be solved, it just takes a matter of will to get the job done. The problem with war fighting today is, we never finish the job and do it half [hearted] thus ensuring that we will be there for a do over at some point. You cannot have peace without total victory.
For G.
I don’t agree with you about total victory at any cost. How would you “solve” the Muslim problem? Wipe them out?
I think Israel is doing a fairly good job of isolating the Palestinians on the West Bank. They need to reassert authority over the wall and the Dome of the Rock.
Do you know Lebanon used to have a political arrangement where the Christians had the majority voice, even if numerically they were a minority? I think this sort of arrangement is going to become more functional in the future: lower-IQ populations are increasing their birth rates while higher productive peoples are staying the same or decreasing. This can be managed. The huge mistake of the Lebanese was falling for the claimed victimhood of the Palestinians. They allowed the Palestinians to migrate into Lebanon and immediately got involved in a vicious civil war.
G, you make a good point. US (and other allied) forces remain in Germany and Japan to this day, a useful deterrent against backsliding into fascism/militarism.
RonaldB, Sorry my friend, but you cannot have peace without total victory, and that means by whatever means necessary. Trying to do half measures out of some sense niceties and pleasantries doesn’t get the job done, especially where the arabs are concerned. When they are at your feet licking your boots, that is victory, otherwise they will be at your throat at any given moment, and always make sure their mosques and religious leaders always suffer the worst. The Israelis are suffering the same war by lawyer problems all western armies are suffering from these days, thus ensuring long drawn out, very bloody affairs which make far bloodier conflict inevitable. As for Lebanon, that Christian charity worked out very well didn’t it where those pali savages are concerned, and you can thank King Hussein of Jordan for that, for the pali’s tried to overthrow him and Hussein had the good sense to eliminate over 50,000 of them in one month, hence the name Black September. As U.S. Marines and French paid the price for it on Oct 23, 1983, for not allowing the Israelis to finish the job.
Prefer 149, personally…
O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law;
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
But the Lord is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off.
Psalm 94
Another ceasefire? Well here’s another update for you: There’s never a real ceasefire in Gaza. They continually launched artillery shells and rockets into the civilian population centers in Israel. They’ve been doing it for years and decades now. There’s not going to be any ceasefire by the terrorist leaders of Gaza against the people they’ve sworn to destroy and totally annihilate. Because that’s the reason for their existence there in Gaza. But the Israeli politicians will continue to play their political games for their own selfish reasons. Mediation, peace agreements and agreement on “calm”? What a farce! What a joke!
The direction that all this will take is a continuation of the one that’s been in operation for years now. Just another test to see how many tanks, APC’s and troops can be amassed to the south away from the Golan Heights where there’s another large contingent of Israeli tanks, APC’s and troops being amassed there in the north. Because they are there in anticipation to the Islamic Republic of Irans Quds Force now amassed in Syria under their commander Major General Qasem Soleimani to attack into northern Israel across the Golan Heights. Because Psalm 2, Psalm 83, Isaiah 17:1, Jeremiah 49:24-27, Ezekiel 38-39, that’s why. And please everyone update your information accordingly. This isn’t an if it’s going to happen but a when will it happen eventuality.
Hmmm
There is NO WAR in Gaza. A “War” requires 2 opponents having the ability to fight choosing to do so against each other. Given that Gaza is a Prison camp surrounded by walls, barbwire and the IDF, what is going on now completely one sided slaughter. Unless of course one considers an ongoing action in which one “side” has sustained perhaps half a dozen casualties and essentially zero damage on the ground and the other side thousands dead and 10’s of thousands wounded with hundreds of acres turned to ruble each day a “war” International law and treaties which Israel have signed say what israel is doing constitutes war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. But by all means lets make sure that the headlines read “war” every time the media opens its mouth. Otherwise, they are not doing their job to serve israel…….
Don’t wage jihad and you people won’t get killed or maimed, but then again, that is not the Islamic way, so continue to die expecting a one way trip to see allah(devil) with the Israeli’s compliments. There are no such thing as war crimes where you arabs are concerned, there is only warfare. You love to throw that human rights, crimes against humanity and so called international law when it suits you to play victim, but if the shoe was on the other foot, the bloodlust from you arabs towards those Jews would be a completely different matter. You should feel very bloody blessed that I am not in charge, for I would make that rat’s nest of Islamic jihad in Gaza the next project for another Carthage. Deo Volente!
I fully agree, and if I were in charge….
I remain amazed at how gentle Israel treats the permanent agressions from Gaza. Is it a lesson from history? As Dymphna said, nuking under southwesterly winds will be hazardous to Israel.
But wasn’ t there Dresden?….. just letting my thoughts drift. Could a standard air raid of that extent be beyond capacities of IDF?
With the right government, Gaza would have it all: favorable central location in world- scale with ports, airports, beach resorts, work force…. hm, sorry, that is a single flaw in my maths. Only some genetic engeneering could help here. I remember one report from Gaza, where a unemployed father of eight complained about his harsh fate, that did apparently not impede his procreative abilities.
He claimed to have degrees in English and IT but could hardly express himself in understandable english. Dunning-Kruger- Syndrom?
Herb, The problem with the Israeli’s is the same as ours, they/we have allowed the bloody lawyers into the command and control centers making the decisions instead of the military commanders ensuring a long drawn out needlessly bloody endeavor and no victory, which by their rules of engagement have made that victory impossible. You cannot ever use nukes for they are more trouble than they are worth, it is a weapon that renders the land and surrounding areas unusable for a thousand years. it is a last use weapon if they/us are overrun. As for Gaza, their air force doesn’t have the capability for massive bombing campaigns like we or the Russians do, but they do have napalm, willie pete, cluster munitions, lots of artillery and MLRS systems to more than do the job of urban renewal and no more muslim jihad problem.
Gaza is a cesspool run by religious fanatics. They hate 100% of the time – first Jews and then everyone else. They contribute nothing to the world but misery. Arabs in other countries except Qatar hate the “Palestinians” and treat them like serfs and slaves. Just leave the place and discover a cure for cancer -in other words do something useful. In fact, converting to Christianity or Judaism would improve the IQ of the average Gazan by 30 points and free them forever.
Not sure about conversion itself helping, but if they stopped marrying their cousins (more a clan/tribal thing than religious, but common in islamic countries/societies) this would raise average IQ as well as reducing birth defects.
A big problem is that Israel is a complex, technological society and Gaza is not. So, a few rockets from Gaza now and then are extremely costly and disruptive to the Israelis. Hamas is carrying out a fairly standard guerrilla warfare: hide in the population, make a strike, fade back into the population. Retaliation in such a situation inevitably results in civilian death, providing excellent publicity for the guerrillas. II becomes a case of rocks against rockets and planes if you look at it from the shallow viewpoint.
Israel’s biggest mistake was allowing Gaza autonomy in the first place. But, that was Sharon’s decision, and Sharon was certainly no stranger to decisions and actions that deeply wounded Israel. I like what Israel is doing with the Palestinians and the West Bank: build a wall, give them limited financial support, and strictly control their access to arms. Too bad Israel can’t reestablish its authority over Gaza, with settlements and approximately the same arrangement.
And no, I’m not in favor is Israeli settlers destroying Palestinian farms or uprooting trees. I would encourage international publicity on such incidents.
It is because of international nonsense that the Israelis are not allowed to win.
If there is no war between Israel and gazans, then Iran is wasting its money as well as its orders. War requires at least 2 belligerents with war-making capacity, the Gazan war capacity is not world class, but their will is world class. The will to make war on Israel is foolish and foolhardy but that is islamic doctrine. If allah approves the gazans will be victorious, if not the gazans will be in their paradise. No international law or treaties can force Israel to agree let Israeli citizens to be targeted for genocide per the hamas charter. The hamas charter is a declaration of War.
Thus the need to make that rats’ nest of Islamic jihad in Gaza the next Carthage.