WTF is a “gradual” truce? Apparently, Hamas thinks it’s a truce if they shoot fewer rockets at Israel. And yet, Iron Dome intercepted five rockets last night–something it does only when the rockets are going to hit populated areas. So Hamas is upping the danger quotient and lowering the number of missiles. Truce, as always, means “We get to keep firing rockets but you have to stop killing our terrorists trying to fire rockets.” Yeah, how’s that working out for you?
“If the last rounds were not enough to deliver the message … we are ready to crush the enemy and to curb its arrogance and to respond to aggression in a strong way,” the group said in a statement earlier.
I do believe the IDF wants you to bring it.
Looks like the OWS spirit is catching: A year later, Israel has its own assholes trying to trash businesses. I do not care what the cause; violence is never going to help people agree with it.
But it’s Israel they protest against: So, those “pinkwashing” idiots? Have they ever organized a conference at CUNY about, say, Iran’s discrimination against homosexuals? Because Iran just shut down a publisher for “promotion of homosexuality“. Can you say, “Israeli Double Standard Time”? I knew you could.
Death threats for Jews in France: Rampant anti-Semitism in France leads to death threats for the chief rabbi. But of course, the French are doing nothing substantial, because the perpetrators are mostly Muslims. You know, displaying their feelings about Israel.
Turkey vs. Syria, Round Two: Oops, guess the Syrians shouldn’t have shot down that Turkish jet. Looks like Erdogan is really, really mad. He’s asking for a NATO meeting. Which could be the opening the world needs to send in troops to take out the Dorktator. (I’m thinking they won’t, but you never know.) Hey, maybe Erdogan can break diplomatic relations with Syria, issue angry statements every day demanding an apology and restitution for the victims, and then go whining to the ICC about Syria breaking international law. Oh, wait. That’s only for Israel. Never mind.
It looks like even more than five were shot down.
“A short while after the announcement, Iron Dome intercepted five Gaza rockets fired at populated areas in the southern town of Ashkelon. A siren was activated in the city around 9:20 pm and local residents reported hearing explosions.
“Earlier in the day, Iron Dome shot down five other rockets fired from Gaza. The IDF said some 150 rockets landed in Israel so far during the latest round of fighting in the south.”
Ten interceptions out of 150 rockets is greater than six percent hitting populated areas. That doesn’t sound like many, but it seems to be more than in the past. It sounds like Hamas has improved the accuracy of its rockets, so that a greater proportion of them is threatening to hit populated areas, thereby triggering the Iron Dome missiles to shoot them down. The rockets are a lot cheaper than the Iron Dome missiles and system are. In a war of attrition, Israel is being forced to spend enormous resources to counter these cheap rockets.
At the time of Operation Cast Lead I said (and posted here) that Israel needed to clear Hamas out from the Gaza Strip completely, lest Hamas coordinate attacks on Israel in the future with other enemies to confront Israel with a multifront war. With Egypt moving into the enemy classification again, that logic is even more applicable. When that happens the number of rockets launched, from both Gaza and Lebanon (as well ar Iran most likely), will probably swamp Israel’s defenses, especially if Hamas (and Hezbullah) have increased the accuracy of their rockets.. The Central Position is valuable only if you use it to attack your enemies piecemeal, not wait for them to coordinate a combined strike against you. In that case it merely means that you are surrounded.