Elder - Slate: Gaza rocket terrorists are "rock stars"

Elder of Ziyon
10 July '11





Slate 's Sharon Weinberger writes a flattering article about Gaza rocket terrorists:

Abu Saif, a rocket maker for the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, is a fan of Google Earth. One recent evening in Gaza City, I sat next to him as he showed me how he used the popular satellite mapping program to target sites within Israel.

"The technology is always improving," he told me. "Our struggle started with the Kalashnikov, and then it moved to the suicide bomb, then the locally made rocket, and now the Grad rocket," he said.

And that's where Google Earth comes in. The satellite mapping tool that was created with help from the CIA's venture capital arm has now become a favored tool for rocket makers, who use it to help aim their artillery. Maps are quickly outdated, and don't provide, as Google Earth imagery does, the precise locations of buildings, roads, and other potential targets.

Like schools, perhaps? No, Weinberger doesn't bother to ask that.

Rocket makers enjoy an air of mystery, and to meet Abu Saif (a nom de guerre, meaning the "father of Saif"), I was instructed to drive down a specific street in central Gaza City, where a young man jumped into the car and guided us to the meeting point.

You can almost feel her excitement at meeting such a mysterious, almost romantic, figure.

(Read full "Gaza rocket terrorists are "rock stars")

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