Israel

Welcome to the War in Gaza Update #18.

Previous editions of the round up can be found below:1* 2 *3* 3.5* 4* 4.5* 5* 5.5* 6*6.5 *7* 7.5* 8* 8.5.*9, *9.5, *10, *10.5, *11, *11.5, *12, *12.5, *13, *13.5, *14, *14.5, *15, *16 and 17.

From the traditional media we have:

CNN: U.N. condemns shelling of aid complex
CNN: Third-ranking Hamas leader in Gaza killed
CNN: Arab nations split on Gaza diplomacy
NY Times: War on Hamas Saps Palestinian Leaders
Time: Hamas Ranks Showing Signs of Division
Time: How Badly Has Hamas Been Hurt in Gaza?
WSJ: The No-State Solution
Guardian: Gaza split prompts Arab countries to boycott emergency summit
YNET: Iran: It is not feasible for Israel to live
YNET: Olmert’s ill-advised move
Commentary: Con Denver
Commentary: An Obama Peace Process?
Commentary: An Exercise in Comparing and Contrasting

National Review: Can We Trust the Casualty Numbers?

From the blogosphere:

Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue live-blogging the war. The IDF blog has Summary of Overnight Events, 15 Jan. 2009 08:30 IST.

Take a letter, Dear World.

From Mere Rhetoric
Top US Communication Listserv: Hey, How About Some Anti-Israel David Duke Pamphlets?

At Daled Amos Talk Again Of Ceasefire–But Not Of Gilad Shalit? and United Nations Relief and Works Agency: We Employed Terrorists At Palestinian Schools.

The Elder continues to produce posts you need to read such as Fact: Palestinian Arabs lie and Morning news roundup.

Crittenden blogged about The Media War. Soccer Dad asks Who’s getting sapped?

Jewish Current Issues shared Three Posts on Judging and Justifying Israel. Discarded Lies has IDF get another “rich” target: Hamas interior minister.

At Yourish go read It’s not anti-Zionism—it’s anti-Semitism.

Carl and Atlas Shrugs talked about the shelling of the UN complex in JIHAD USES UN COMPOUND TO FIRE AT ISRAEL and.’Palestinians’: UNRWA headquarters on fire; UPDATED: ‘Palestinians’ fired anti-tank missiles from UNRWA HQ.

Jack and Jill Politics has a different perspective What’s Happening in Gaza is Wrong & It Needs to Stop Now.

Back at Yourish read Hamas: Still hurting, still needing to be destroyed. and Mark Regev responds to biased CNN anchor

From Sderoth Some Musings on Proportionality.

Shiloh Musings wants to know why Israel won’t finish off the terrorists.

You might want to read Six wounded, two seriously as Grad hits Be’er Shev.

More idiocy from the protests Ringo’s Pix: Bad Craziness in Los Angeles.

This is not a picture of the latest bomb shelter.

This concludes the round up. More to come later.

Welcome to the War in Gaza Update #17.

Previous editions of the round up can be found below:1* 2 *3* 3.5* 4* 4.5* 5* 5.5* 6*6.5 *7* 7.5* 8* 8.5.*9, *9.5, *10, *10.5, *11, *11.5, *12, *12.5, *13, *13.5, *14, *14.5, *15 and 16.

From the traditional media we have:

Welcome to the War in Gaza Update #16.

Previous editions of the round up can be found below:1* 2 *3* 3.5* 4* 4.5* 5* 5.5* 6*6.5 *7* 7.5* 8* 8.5.*9, *9.5, *10, *10.5, *11, *11.5, *12, *12.5, *13, *13.5, *14, *14.5 and 15.

From the traditional media we have:

NY Times:Olmert Says He Made Rice Change Vote
NY Times: Israel Says Hamas Is Damaged, Not Destroyed
CNN: Israel tightens grip on Gaza City; Hamas stays defiant
WAPO: Israeli envoy plans ‘decisive’ talks in Egypt
WSJ: Europe Reimports Jew Hatred
WSJ: Ending the West’s Proxy War Against Israel: Stop funding a Palestinian youth bulge, and the fighting will stop too By Gunnar Heinsohn
Arutz Sheva: ‘Cast Lead’ Photo, Video Essay: Anti-Aircraft Gun Inside Mosque
Arutz Sheva: Humanitarian Aid: Reaching Gaza’s Poor?
JPost: US says Olmert’s UN vote story ‘just 100%, totally not true’
JPost: Saying ‘No’ was a mistake
JPost: Red Cross: ‘Israel’s white phosphorus use legal’

Jefferey Goldberg: Does “Black Hawk Down” Portray an American War Crime?
Daily Dish: The Iran-Hamas Axis, Ctd.

From the blogosphere:

Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue live-blogging the war. The IDF provides video of a “Weaponized Mosque.”

Much has been made about how this offensive is going to backfire because it will create more hatred. Yaacov takes that on in a post called Sowing Eternal Hatred in which he evaluates whether that theory is true or not.

Read about The Red Mosque of Death at Seraphic Secret.

Yourish has the story about Hamas to CSM: We won’t stop firing rockets, even with a truce.

The Elder has The war against Starbucks and Another terrorist “civilian”.

Atlas Shrugs: UK: BLOOD LIBEL HORROR: JEWS EATING DEAD BABIES and ANTI-HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL VOTES AGAINST ISRAEL EXCEPT CANADA.

Zombietime has pictures of a protest in San Francisco.

Gateway Pundit told us Neo-Nazis Join Pro-Hamas Rally In Calgary. GP also shared this crazy story and video Muslim “Peace” Protesters Chase UK Police Down Street Screaming “Run You F**king Cowards!” (Video)

Foreign Policy Watch covered Not Exactly Rocket Science, but Close.

Solomonia tipped me off to Barry Rubin: The Peace Process is in Jeopardy? I Wonder Why! –

Confederate Yankee blogged Red Cross Confirms the Obvious: Israeli White Phosphorus Smoke Shells Used Legally in Gaza; Hamas Docs Continue Propaganda Efforts.

From Nad Ned Nad Ned, The Many Ways It Touches Us.

Shakesville wrote Open Thread on Israel Strike on Hamas, Part III. The folks at FDL are still foaming at the mouth in Gaza Update: Israel Whitewashing White Phosphorous. They must not have read Soccer Dad takes on the White Phosphorus Lies.

At DB check out A Triumph of Wishful Thinking.

Steg wrote a post about A JNF Rabbinic Solidarity Mission. At Shiloh Musings you can read Maybe Israel Tries Too Hard Not To Injure Gazan Civilians.

The Belgravia Dispatch shared Of War, and Tent Hospitals. Daled Amos covered Hamas In Hiding: Who’s Afraid? Not Us! and The West Wins If It Lets Israel Win.

Vengeful Zhid asks Why can’t Jews be treated like Muslims?

The Rebbitzin’s Husband has An answer for Mick Verran – A Peace Compromise. A Soldier’s Mother blogs Stop While You Are Ahead.

Want to know why you should come to Israel? Read this and find out more.

This ends the round up. Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TheJackB.

Welcome to the War in Gaza Update #15.

Previous editions of the round up can be found below:1* 2 *3* 3.5* 4* 4.5* 5* 5.5* 6*6.5 *7* 7.5* 8* 8.5.*9, *9.5, *10, *10.5, *11, *11.5, *12, *12.5, *13, *13.5, *14 and 14.5.

From the traditional media we have:

CNN: Israel tightens grip on Gaza City; Hamas stays defiant.
NY Times: Israelis United on War as Censure Rises Abroad
WSJ: Mubarak Struggles as Middleman in Gaza Cease-Fire Effort
Telegraph: Analysis: Egypt key to Gaza breakthrough
Commentary Magazine: An Obama Peace Process?
Commentary Magazine: The Economist vs. Israel
JPost: Haniyeh: We’ll deal positively with any cease-fire initiative
JPost: Hamas raids aid trucks, sells supplies
JPost: Leaflets may counter ‘war crime’ claims

Just for kicks take a look at this story from CNN about what was happening in Gaza in January of 2006. Just a few months after the disengagement the world watched as the following took place:

• Three Palestinian government offices were occupied by gunmen.
• Armed militants detonated explosives in a United Nations club.
• Three British nationals were kidnapped at gunpoint.
• An Italian man was abducted.
• Two rival families unloaded weapons at each other in a personal dispute.
• A Palestinian police officer was killed in a shootout between police and militants.
• The Palestinian-controlled border crossing was shut down by police angry at the death of their colleague, prompting European Union monitors to leave.
• Palestinian police took over government offices in their continuing protest.

From The Blogosphere we have:

Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue live-blogging the war.

The IDF Blog has a summary of today’s events and a picture of weapons discovered in Gaza.

Yourish has Iranians pulling Hamas strings and We are all Georgians now. Over at Seraphic Secret there is a Gaza Flashback.

Speaking of flashbacks here are a few things that some of you might remember:

In this post here I said that I was wrong about the disengagement. I made a big mistake in my stance about it, but I learned. That leads to a post that Daniel Gordis wrote about making mistakes. Here is an excerpt to share with you:

“But sometimes mistakes are worth making. Take the Disengagement. It is now clear that the Disengagement from Gaza was a horrifying, costly and still painful mistake. But – and I realize that this is not a popular position – it was a mistake that Israel needed to make. It was the mistake that proved, once and for all, that the enemies we face have no interest in a state of their own. They just want to destroy ours. That is what Israelis learned, now without a doubt, as a result of the Disengagement. There’s almost no one left around here myopic enough to imagine even for an instant that further retreats will get us peace. OK, there are still a few arm-chair peace-niks in the States, insisting that there is simply no conflict that cannot be resolved. But here? Precisely the opposite. Now we know that the right was correct – further retreats will only embolden our enemies. They’ll demand more. And more. Until we’re gone.

The benefits of that lesson are understandably of no consolation to the families who paid so dearly in the summer of 2005, who are still living in temporary housing, whose marriages didn’t survive, whose livelihoods have never been restored, whose children hate the country that did that to their parents – but despite all that, the Disengagement was probably a horrifying mistake that Israel needed to make. For now we know, even those of us (and I include myself) who were naïve enough to imagine something else. Peace is not around the corner. Peace is not a year or two away. Peace is not possible. Not now. Not a year from now. Not a decade from now. Because their issue isn’t a Palestinian State it’s the end of the Jewish one. We learned that through the mistake we made in 2005, a mistake that we probably needed to make.”

Back to the update.

At Mere Rhetoric you should read:

Video: Hamas Broadcasts Tells Gaza Children To Form Human Shield Around Weapons Cache

Israeli Flag Now Functionally Illegal In Germany And Britain Because It “Provokes” Violent Anti-Semitic Mobs

Iranian Mullahs Wringing Their Hands As IDF Dismantles Hamas’s Army (Plus: NPR Wonders About “Real Connection” Between Iran And Hamas)

The Volokh Conspiracy shared this ditty about the New York Times. The Spine has a post called In The Conflict.

The so called progressive blogs make me wonder if there is a single person in there who has a shred of sense. I know that is not nice and I have said many times that you can criticize Israel without being antisemitic, but this crap here makes me wonder if the progressives are capable. Moral relativism, hypocritical positions about humanitarian crises and remarks that show they are ignorant about the history.

Dr. Helen discusses Anti-semitism is mainstream. Daled Amos has Hamas: Democratically Elected, Yet Illegal and Gaza: Where Is The Exit? (Updated).

Soccer Dad takes on the White Phosphorus Lies. Yaacov jumps into the questions about ceasefires in Are Ceasefires Good?

Israel Matzav shares Why Israel is playing hardball with Hamas. The Elder has the Hamas Lie of the Day and Al Jazeera sermon: “Allah, kill all the Jews”.

At the Right Truth read The dogs that are not barking. Don’t forget to see what is happening at some of the protests Non-Jewish Pro-Israel Couple Attacked By Muslim Mob in NYC 1/11/09.

From At Level Ground ‘One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other’ .

At Jewish Current Issues read Netanyahu Bloggers Conference Call and Moral Questions in War.

Daniel Saunders covered a Pro-Israel Rally in London. Good News from Israel shared Pictures of Israel Support Rallies from around the World.

Frume Sarah shared Word Selection. Letters of Thought has CNN’s iReports lets vile Antisemitism through – “Thank you Hitler”.

At Shiloh Musings you can read The Truth About The IDF, Operation Cast Lead and Youtube. On the Fringe submitted Doesn’t a brick to the brain kill just as readily as a bullet?

Baka Diary discusses Why Children Die In Gaza. Soccer Dad blogged Leave hamas alone.

Check out Jewlicious The Need for Israel Solidarity Rallies and Anti-Semitism and Gaza.

Gateway Pundit discusses Anti-Israel, Pro-Hamas, Far Left Rally in San Fran… and Islamists Chant “We Want to Kill All the Jews” At ….

Some more posts to go read Today I Am A Jew!, from Adloyada “We are all Hamas”: the real voice of its messengers in London.

This ends the round up. Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TheJackB.

Here is a quick update on the War in Gaza.

Enclosed in this post is more news about the shocking incidents of antisemitism at protests in countries around the world. Don’t let anyone fool you when they say that it is only about protesting against Israeli actions. If that was the case synagogues wouldn’t be vandalized, Jews in Britain wouldn’t write about feeling unsafe and scumbags wouldn’t yell “Jews to the ovens.”

Every country can and should be criticized, but if that is all that was going on we wouldn’t have those stories would we.

Previous editions of the round up can be found below:1* 2 *3* 3.5* 4* 4.5* 5* 5.5* 6*6.5 *7* 7.5* 8* 8.5.*9, *9.5, *10, *10.5, *11, *11.5, *12, *12.5, *13, *13.5, *14.

From traditional media we have:

CNN: Israel calls for ‘further patience’ to meet Gaza goals.
WAPO: Peace Is No Longer in Sight
NY Times: Israeli Troops Push Into Gaza City in Day of Fierce Fighting
Guardian: British Jew: I Don’t Feel Safe in England
YNET: Mashaal rejects int’l presence in Gaza
YNET: Media war on ‘Nazi’ Israel
YNET: Jewish communities fear escalation of anti-Israel protests
JPost: Iran warns Hamas not to accept Egyptian truce proposal
JPost: Fatah Leader: Hamas Are Criminals
JPost: Analysis: Closing in on the Gaza goals

From The Blogosphere we have:
Video of a school that was booby trapped by Hamas. If you don’t speak Hebrew it is subtitled.

Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue live-blogging the war.

The IDF Blog has a summary of today’s events. Here is a brief excerpt:

“We continue to face an insane reality of booby-trapped tunnels and booby-trapped schools. In one neighborhood of 150 homes, over 30 homes were found to be rigged with explosives,” IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu said. “Hamas is booby-trapping every home that is abandoned by its residents.”

The IAF targeted nearly 60 Hamas targets in Gaza throughout the day, including:

• Over 20 smuggling tunnels along the Rafah border
• Approximately 15 cells of armed gunmen
• Seven weapons production and storage facilities
• Several rocket launching sites, including the launcher used to attack Be’er Sheva in the morning

The Rebbitzin’s Husband has Wake up, Jon Stewart, here’s a Border Crossing Chronology. Michael Totten says Hamas is threatening to kill International Peace Keepers.

Seraphic Secret shared Hamas and their Many, Many, Human Shields. Yaacov Lozowick discussed Owning the Dead Children and NYT: Yes, Hamas Fights Dirty.

From Soccer Dad, Shiny Happy Dhimmi #8 and Both sides now.

Gateway Pundit offers German Police Rip Down Israeli Flag to Cheers of “Allahu Akhbar” (Video) and Vandals Deface 3 Chicago Synagogues– “Death to Israel” Painted on Walls.

Yourish has Hamas: On the run, not on the ropes. The Jewish Policy Center covered the Palestinian Civil War in Gaza.

Doug Ross has video of Hamas Kidnapping Children to Use As Human Shields.

At TMV Obama’s Silence on Gaza Has Already Tarnished His Halo: Rue 89 of France.

Go visit the Elder to read Arab world not happy with Hamas, Outright anti-semitism in Denmark “peace” rallies and Outright anti-semitism in Denmark “peace” rallies.

The Sand Monkey says that Israel has made a terrible mistake.

From Daled Amos Adding Balance To The Disproportionate Debate On “Disproportionate Force” and Video: Humanitarian Aid To Gaza Includes Hamas Uniforms.

Israel Matzav had these posts Video: ‘Bombs are more precious than children,’ Hamas calls on Gaza kids to form a human shield and Even the Muslims get it.

Backspin has its take here. Nad-ned Nad Nad-Ned blogged about The Many Ways It Touches Us.

Here is a picture from our correspondent at the Israel rally in Los Angeles

This ends the round up. Stay tuned for more.

After about two weeks of the War in Gaza I feel qualified to give a short summary of what is going on in the following outline.

• Israel initiates Operation Cast Lead to end the rocket attacks from Gaza.
• There is an outcry about disproportionate force. World angry that more Israelis are not dead. Why should Israel be angry about dead Israelis.
• Hamas leaders show up on Al Jazeera and in other media outlets where they praise the “resistance” and promise death to Israel.
• Israel demonstrates it learned from Lebanon war in ’06 and makes real progress.
• Useful idiots around world again cry about disproportionate force. Angry that only a few Israelis have died.
• Hamas leader show up on television. Praise resistance again and use fiery rhetoric claiming great successes and maintain that the end is near.
• Israel continues to beat the terrorists. Demonstrable progress is made.
• More useful idiots cry about disproportionate force. Join together in a march to say that they are all useful idiots.
• Hamas leader back on television. Swears by Allah that victory is close and that even if it is not, the peace process is done. But it doesn’t matter because Allah will bring victory. BTW, did I tell you that God is on our side.
• More success on the battlefield for Israel.
• Antiwar protests filled with antisemitic slogans. Blogosphere filled too. Useful idiots say that there is a small problem with antisemitism, but it doesn’t matter because Israel should be shunned.
• In between all of this various newspaper articles and opinion pieces supporting Israel appear. Useful idiots moan and cry that this is indicative of bias. Antisemities claim that this is proof that Jooz run the media.

Rinse, Repeat and continue. You get the picture.

Crossposted on Yourish.