Monday, March 25, 2024

The challenge of Avoiding Civilian Casualties


This is an inside look at Israeli drones and what they do. 
The world needs to see the truth. 
Look at the challenges Israel has when fighting Hamas!

Friday, March 22, 2024

Blinken's Fantasized Diplomacy

 

Thanks to Ruthie Blum  full article at https://tinyurl.com/5n8bndke 

In a press conference on Thursday in Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his opposition to an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, saying that such a move would be a “mistake.”

An invasion into the southern Gaza city, he stated, was “unnecessary” to achieving the goal of defeating Hamas. This attitude, which the Biden administration has been expressing with increasing fervor, runs counter to Israeli assessments.

It has become the key bone of contention between Washington and Jerusalem since the start of the Oct. 7 war, spurred by a massacre of Jews that hadn’t been seen since the Holocaust.

Other disagreements—surrounding the use of Israeli force, civilian Palestinian casualties and plans for “the day after”—have been mild in comparison. Or at least they’ve been treated by Israel as arguments that can be addressed through a presentation of the facts.

This hasn’t been simply a tactical ploy to avert discord. On the contrary, the justice of destroying the genocidal terrorist organization that controls territory along Israel’s southern border and vows to repeat the atrocities of Oct. 7 “again and again and again” is irrefutable.

Anyone disputing Israel’s duty to eradicate Hamas—for the survival of the Jewish state, as well as for the benefit of the region and the world—is on the wrong side of history. Period.

Furthermore, Israel has the data to support the extreme measures it employs to avoid non-combatant deaths in Gaza. It has proof of the huge quantities of humanitarian aid entering the Strip. It also has evidence of its efforts to prevent Hamas from stealing the goods.

Blinken is fully aware of the above. He is equally cognizant that the war would end in an instant if Hamas surrendered unconditionally and released the remaining 134 hostages, among them U.S. citizens, held in its sadistic, sexually abusive captivity.

But since the only pressure Hamas understands is that exerted by Israel Defense Forces bombs and troops, America’s top diplomat has no recourse but to powwow with Qatar and Egypt. The former has close ties with Iran and provides refuge for “exiled” Hamas bigwigs.

The latter shares a border with Gaza. Though porous enough to have enabled the flow of materials for the construction of hundreds of miles of Hamas terror tunnels, it has been totally impenetrable for Gaza residents who wish to leave.

Has Blinken raised these issues during his shuttle diplomacy excursions to the Middle East to “mediate” a deal for the release of the hostages that involves a halt in the fighting? Of course not.

No, “as a Jew,” he’s been too busy warning Israel about the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza and pushing for a “sustained” ceasefire. Apparently the White House believes think that it’s possible to win this war without killing any more terrorists or the human shields behind whom they hide. Talk about music to Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s ears. No wonder his ultimate demand is for a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza and continued Hamas reign in the enclave. He doesn’t want to agree to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for hostages.

His having done so in November was due to two factors. One was IDF might. The other was the assumption that Israel wouldn’t have the wherewithal or legitimacy to resume fighting. He was right about the first and wrong about the second. Today, however, thanks to U.S. admonitions about Rafah, Sinwar has cause to up any ante on offer.

It’s not clear, then, what Blinken meant by announcing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and in Egypt the following day that the “gaps are narrowing” in the negotiations. Perhaps he can explain how he reached that baseless conclusion when he meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday in Israel.


Wednesday, March 20, 2024

EU Claim That ‘Starvation Is Being Used as Weapon of War’

Israel Furiously Counters Top EU Official’s Claim That ‘Starvation Is Being Used as Weapon of War’ - Algemeiner.com

Israeli officials reacted with outrage on Monday in the face of a claim by the EU’s foreign policy chief that Jerusalem is imposing a famine on Palestinian civilians in Gaza as the war in the beleaguered territory continues to rage.

The accusation comes from Josep Borrell — a Spanish official who serves as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy “In Gaza we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” — said at the opening of a conference in Brussels on humanitarian aid for Gaza. “This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine,” Borrell continued.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded :    “Despite Hamas violently disrupting aid convoys and UNRWA’s collaboration with them, we persist.” “Israel allows extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, air, and sea for anyone willing to help,”      In a blunt posting on the same platform, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy noted that on Sunday, “8 million lbs. of food entered Gaza by land. That’s ~4LBS. OF FOOD PER CAPITA. That’s not famine, starvation, or catastrophic food insecurity.”

 

Levy added tartly: “I’m sorry if the facts are awkward for your efforts to help Hamas rapists survive 10/7 and live to fight another day.”

Separately, in a statement on Friday, COGAT — the Israeli agency that assists with humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza — noted that since the beginning of March, “an average of 126 food trucks entered Gaza daily. This is 80 percent more food trucks entering compared to before Oct. 7. 500 trucks entered Gaza daily before Oct. 7, carrying building, agriculture, and industrial supplies; only an average of 70 carried food.”

Monday, March 18, 2024

Gaza Market with Abundance of Food


 From this video taken in Gaza one can see how Gazans 
are profiting from the aid bring sent into Gaza.
There seems to be an abundance of food available.

Bedouin Family Member Who Rejects Hamas, Urges Palestinian Peace with Israel



 This is a story about a remarkable Bedouin Arab family who
suffered, along with Israelis, from the murder, kidnapping,
and mayhem perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th.
One family member engaged in a heroic rescue of Jewish
people trying to escape the slaughter at the Nova Music Festival
near Gaza. Other family members were killed or kidnapped. And
the most articulate and vocal family member, Bashir Alzayadni,
told CBN News of his hopes for peace between Palestinians
and Israelis, Jews and Arabs.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Tunnels and The Philadelphi Corridor

(With thanks to IDSF, Habitchonistim )

A smuggling industry with a turnover in the billions:

In recent years, smuggling from Egypt into Gaza has become central to the Gazan economy and key to the strengthening of Hamas. Even today the city of Rafah is full of smugglers, who bribe the Egyptian police and run a business sector with a turnover in the billions.

The smuggling still continues during wartime, as war materiel and other goods flow from Sinai into Gaza every day. And there is fear that such smuggling is, or will be, accompanied by smuggling in the other direction. Senior Hamas figures are likely to try to escape into Egyptian territory, with hostages, and from there to Iran.  

Control  of food distribution is to control Gaza.

Besides the problem of smuggling, absence of Israeli control at the Philadelphi Corridor also causes a severe problem of supervision over the humanitarian aid to Gaza. Since the start of the war, thousands of trucks have entered Gaza with humanitarian supplies and food. The distribution of aid is managed officially by UNRWA and by “charitable organizations,” but in practice, behind all that management, Hamas is pulling the strings. It is important to understand that as long as Hamas wields control over the supplies, they are channeled first and foremost to its own purposes, and in that way Hamas succeeds in operating more forcefully while also gaining the population’s acknowledgement of its authority.

Israel Must Defeat Hamas in Rafah

Both the history of Rafah and its current situation show that if Hamas is to be defeated as a governing body, the IDF must control the Philadelphi Corridor, Israel must have full authority over the entry of all goods into Gazan territory, and there must be a ground operation in Rafah.

Such a ground operation is indispensable, because Rafah is the last stronghold of the Hamas leadership and the only place where its battalions still are active as organized military units. Currently the Israeli public is concerned that the IDF, despite attaining many, many successes, has not laid its hands on the senior Hamas figures and has not located the hostages. The entry into Rafah will be the decisive battle, leading us to the top Hamas commanders and to their last military stronghold, and to the hostages. Therefore we must enter the city, and as promptly as possible. Contrary to the widespread conception, Rafah is not a difficult military objective. Tougher places have already been taken, so this task is certainly doable.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

10 IDF Couples Wed Simultaneously

In a unique ceremony, ten IDF soldiers married their partners at a mass wedding in the Tel Aviv Port. It was part of Chabad of Savyon’s “Marrying the Warriors” initiative and included 10 wedding canopies. Each couple invited 100 guests. 10 glasses were simultaneously smashed.

A delegation of visitors from Canada raised over $1 million in support .


This wedding was mind blowing, highly emotional

See also https://tinyurl.com/3vsy7sru