Sultan Knish - Price Tag Attacks and Peace

Daniel Greenfield
Sultan Knish
07 November '11

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2011/11/price-tag-attacks-and-peace.html



To the sort of people who think that a few teenagers living in a shack on a hilltop represent the greatest threat imaginable to the peace process and world peace-- the so-called "Price Tag" attacks in which local Jewish farmers strike back against Muslim attacks as a deterrent against further violence are an obsession.

Whether there are actually any "Price Tag" attacks and how many "Price Tag" attacks there are is open to question. Security agencies tasked with going after "right wing extremists" usually get their man and after a splashy announcement and prolonged detention have to let them go because their case doesn't actually exist. At that point it doesn't matter, the arrests have already been widely reported and the conclusions have all been drawn.

The investigation of a mosque burning incident has already resulted in arrests of people who couldn't have physically done it. But the arrests themselves are a form of "Price Tag" exacted by the authorities against community members to send a message. It's a particularly ironic form of message when the goal is to clamp down on those types of "eye for an eye" tactics.

States tend to command a monopoly on violence which is well and good, it's one of the things that states are for, and one of the few things that they do well, but that monopoly depends on the state exercising its proper function. The ugly truth is that the Israeli authorities have lost control of parts of the country, not just in places like Gaza and the West Bank which have been turned over to terrorist control, but in the Galilee and many Arab villages well within the '48 borders.

A sizable percentage of Israel's Muslim population lives in "No Go Zones", areas where Israeli police cannot operate and which they do not enter except on rare occasions. This isn't an entirely new development. Arab villages ran things their way, received state funding and avoided involving outsiders in their affairs. The village elders, some of whose families had backed the Israeli side in the war, took care of business and the authorities didn't ask too many questions.

Arens - Shalit saga was a defeat for Israel

Moshe Arens
Haaretz
08 November '11



http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/shalit-saga-was-a-defeat-for-israel-1.394279

The Gilad Shalit saga was another defeat of Israel; praising ourselves for our national solidarity cannot change the fact that this was another victory for terror.

In those terrible days 10 years ago, when Palestinian terror was striking at Israeli civilians almost daily in the streets of the cities of Israel, there were those who argued that terror could not be defeated by military means, while some said that it could not be defeated by military means alone and others argued that terror can and should be defeated solely by military means.

After the Passover massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya in April 2002, the argument was settled. The IDF's Operation Defensive Shield effectively put an end to the Palestinian terror that originated from the areas of Judea and Samaria. It was done by military means alone. The renewed presence of the IDF in Judea and Samaria has since then provided the real-time intelligence information and the ability that is required to discover terrorist cells before they become active and to eliminate them. Defeating terror required the elimination of the capability to carry out terrorist attacks. As long as that capability exists there will be terror. It is an example that has been studied by others facing the threat of terror.

Glick - Waiting out Obama

Caroline B. Glick
Our World
JPost
07 November '11


http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=244741

Unlike the US, Israel would have to limit any operation in Iran to destroying the most dangerous Iranian nuclear facilities while leaving others untouched.

Over the past week, there has been an avalanche of news reports in the Israeli and Western media about the possibility of an imminent Israeli or American strike on Iran’s nuclear installations. These reports were triggered by a report on Iran’s nuclear program set to be published by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency later this week.

According to the media, the IAEA’s report will deal a devastating blow to Iran’s persistent claims that its illegal nuclear program is “peaceful.” Specifically, the IAEA report is expected to divulge information about Iran’s efforts to develop and test components that have no plausible use other than the production of nuclear weapons. These activities include experimentation with triggers used only for detonating nuclear weapons, and the development of missile warheads capable of carrying nuclear weapons. They also include the design of computer simulation programs to test nuclear weapons.

Most nuclear experts claim that Iran currently has sufficient quantities of enriched uranium to produce four or five nuclear weapons. They also claim that it will take Iran another three years to develop a fullblown nuclear arsenal. Finally, Israeli and Western sources claim that in light of Iran’s bid to develop hardened, underground nuclear sites, its nuclear installations will be immune to ballistic missile attacks or aerial bombing within a year.

Confronting Iran’s rapidly developing nuclear capabilities, Israeli hawks and doves are united in their view that Israel’s preferred option is for the US rather than the IDF to launch a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations. This view is reasonable because the US has the military capabilities to destroy Iran’s nuclear program completely and do so with minimal risk to America’s international prestige and position.

Moreover, if the US, rather than Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear installations, Israel will be able to devote all of its own resources to fending off missile and ground assaults from Iran’s proxy regimes in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Between them, Hamas, Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar Assad have some 100,000 missiles aimed at Israel. For the past two years Hizbullah has been planning a ground offensive against northern Israel in conjunction with a missile offensive. Syria has chemical weapons.

If as expected, Iran unleashes these forces in response to a strike on its nuclear installations, the IDF will have its hands full.

Fresnozionism - The Jews are the reason

Fiamma Nirenstein

Fresnozionism.org
07 November '11





http://fresnozionism.org/2011/11/the-jews-are-the-reason/

Israel Hayom published a great interview today with Italian journalist and MP Fiamma Nirenstein. Here is a snippet (but read it all):

And yet, we can ask why it is that when facing a unilateral declaration, the world is prepared to support a Palestinian state? As this is lunacy. First, a Palestinian state cannot exist, divided as it would be between Hamas and the PLO. They have nothing in common, neither institutions nor an economy. So only violence can result from such an unrealizable expectation. Second, what could be the nature of a Palestinian state? On the basis of our knowledge until now – a state where women are inferior; extremist Islam prevails and perhaps wins the next elections; homosexuals are persecuted, as well as regime dissidents. In this case, why has it gained such widespread support around the world, particularly in the western world?

The Jews are the reason. The Palestinians’ raison d’être is not a positive aspiration to establish a state, but a negative one, to destroy the Jewish state. This apparently suits the cultural and political agenda of the world’s Left. [my emphasis]

Indeed. It often strikes me that it is impossible that all of the EU politicians, President Obama and his advisers, the journalists who write about the Middle East (Nirenstein says that Thomas Friedman “…is constantly wrong. He no longer has eyes to see”), the human rights industry, all of them, can be simply naive or stupid.

In the case of the politicians, even if they are naive or stupid — Obama has shown over and over that he doesn’t understand the Mideast — they are surrounded by ‘experts’ who should know better.

I’ve stopped wasting time analyzing and over-analyzing the reasons for this phenomenon. Arab money, Muslim populations in Europe, oil companies, fashionable academic theories, the brilliance of presenting the effort to destroy Israel as a movement of national liberation, on and on. All of these factors may be relevant to some extent, but none of them can explain the way so much of the Western world holds a position that is flat out counterfactual.

Nirenstein is correct: the Jews are the reason.

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Mama Rachel, Pray for Us!

Malkah Fleihser
Kumah
07 November '11

http://www.kumah.org/2011/11/mama-rachel-pray-for-us/

The sun has descended, bringing in the 11th day of Cheshvan, the yartzeit of our mother Rachel. There are so many traits we may hope that we have inherited from her: her beauty, her determination, her compassion, her strength. Yet of all her lofty characteristics, one is most noteworthy – that is her unremitting, passionate love for her children.

Maybe you are a lonely Jew in a far off place, wishing you were connected to the greater Jewish brotherhood. Perhaps you sit quietly in the park, watching other women push baby carriages as your heart breaks and your arms lie empty. Maybe you shed tears for the pain of the exile, praying to return to the bosom of the Holy Land. Or you watch your baby sleep in her biblical homeland, knowing that enemies lurk in the mountains or in the streets outside, and pray that she comes to no harm.

These are the dear ones of Rachel, our matriarch. These are the special charges of the one who ceaselessly cries for her children. May we each take part in ending the suffering of the other, so we can ease the suffering of our mother. And when we do our part – and return to our borders – may we give her joy and pride.

I may have few accomplishments in my name. But of one thing I can always take satisfaction – I came home to Israel, and lessened the crying of Rachel. May we all merit to say the same.

“Thus said Hashem: A voice is heard on high, wailing, bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, she refuses to be consoled for her children, for they are gone. Thus said Hashem: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your accomplishment – the word of Hashem – and they will return from the enemy’s land. There is hope for your future – the word of Hashem – and your children will return to their border.” (Jeremiah 31:14-16)


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IMRA - PM Netanyahu: Compensate Palestinians instead of destroying homes

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
07 November '11




[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

Pop quiz from Israel Law 101:

Shimon builds an apartment complex on land in Ramat Gan.

It turns out that the land apartment complex is sitting on is owned by Yosef.

Question: What do the courts in Israel rule?
A. Demolish the apartment complex.
B. The apartment complex is the property of Yosef since he own the law.
C. Shimon has to compensate Yosef for the property and Shimon retains possession of the apartment complex.

Answer: C.

And this has in fact happened.

So why is it that when the government lawyers get involved in a case they think that the answer is "A" only because he property is owned by Yousef instead of Yosef?

And why is is that the same courts that rule "C" for Yosef rule "A" for Yousef?

Well it has nothing to do with the law and absolutely everything to do with the political leanings of the government lawyers and the court judges.

Again. No one is claiming that Yousef should not be compensated - if in fact there is some Yousef out there who legally owned the land (there are some homes slated for demolition on property that no specific person or persons has even been identified as the owner). But that is fair compensation - not demolition of the homes.

Elder - Juan Cole isn't very "informed" about Gaza

Elder of Ziyon
07 November '11




I stumbled across this piece of stupidity by Juan Cole where he takes already suspect statistics from HRW and elsewhere - and twists them even more:

Truckloads of goods per year allowed by Israel into Gaza today: 1,000

Truckloads of goods per year allowed by Israel into Gaza in 2005: 2,500

Exports from Gaza to the rest of the world allowed by Israel: 0

HRW's numbers are per week, not per year. One would think that a celebrated academic would know the difference.

Beyond that, the number of truckloads to Gaza is now about 1250 a week - 25% higher than Cole says. And a few events happened between 2005 and now, which Cole and HRW don't address, that make security an issue.

Israel allows exports of strawberries and flowers from Gaza, and did this year as well. Growing season ended in May. HRW says this, Cole ignores it. Cole is lying when he says that the amount of exports from Gaza are "zero."

Moreover, Israel requested a one-time export of tens of thousands of palm fronds in September, which was refused by Hamas. Does Cole approve?

(Read full "Juan Cole isn't very "informed" about Gaza")

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Eydar - The media's virtual reality world

Dror Eydar
Israel Hayom
07 November '11



http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=786

1. Amid the sea of verbiage washing over the public discourse both in favor of and against action on Iran, there is a hidden assumption that is not articulated but that has loomed over the discourse since the electoral upset of the Israeli Left in 1977. Those who saw themselves not only as the chosen leaders of the Jewish state but as the makers of Jewish history were removed from the stage in one fell swoop. Ever since, they, their descendants and their political and media clones refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the people's chosen alternative leadership.

For journalists Nahum Barnea, Amnon Abramovitch and their vocal circle of friends, Benjamin Netanyahu does not really have a popular mandate for critical historic decisions -- with the exception of a diplomatic agreement custom-tailored to their ideological creed: In other words, full withdrawal from, and the destruction of Jewish settlements in, Judea and Samaria. What's more, the fact that these journalists are more or less the same age as our country's leaders plays its part. "Who are those guys to decide our fate?" they mutter angrily and contemptuously.

Hertz - Have We Lost Sight of Rabin's Vision?

Eli E. Hertz
mythsandfacts.org
07 November '11
Originally published
October 21, 2010

http://www.mythsandfacts.org/article_view.asp?articleID=159

Today, sixteen years after signing the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty and 15 years after his tragic death, Yitzhak Rabin was lauded by President Barack Obama as a man of peace and courage, who "demonstrated that a commitment to communication, cooperation, and genuine reconciliation can help change the course of history."

The following excerpts from Rabin's last public speech to the Knesset just days before he was murdered reveal Rabin's true realistic vision:

The Knesset (Parliament) October 5, 1995

"Here, in the land of Israel, we returned and built a nation. Here, in the land of Israel, we established a state. The land of the prophets, which bequeathed to the world the values of morality, law and justice, was, after two thousand years, restored to its lawful owners - the members of the Jewish people. On its land, we have built an exceptional national home and state.

"We view the permanent solution in the framework of [the] State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

"We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.

Muqata - The Boycott of Lod's Arab Taxi Drivers

Jameel
The Muqata
06 November '11





Found this interesting tidbit tonight...on Yediot Achronot/MYNET.

There is a taxi company in the Israeli city of Lod, which employs both Jewish and Arab taxi drivers. Upon the release of the 1027 terrorists in the "Gilad Shalit" exchange, some of the terrorists were Israeli Arabs...who returned to their hometown of Lod. The Arab taxi drivers partied publicly, honking and celebrating in the streets of Lod at the heroic release of their terrorist-brothers, Mohammad Ziada and Mochlis Borgial.

Ziada and Borgial were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for throwing a grenade onto a bus full of IDF soldiers. Luckily, the grenade didn't explode.

The Jewish residents of Lod, were disgusted by this behavior and started a boycott of their own; when calling the aforementioned taxi company, they openly request a Jewish driver. As a result, for the past 2 weeks, the number of calls to this particular taxi company has decreased dramatically, almost to the point of many drivers sitting around all day, doing nothing.



It's probably illegal under Israel law for the Jewish residents to boycott the Arab taxi drivers, and I wonder how long before someone is brought up on charges for this.

The Arab drivers do not see anything wrong with their support for the released terrorists:

(Read full "The Boycott of Lod's Arab Taxi Drivers")

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CAMERA - Wire Services Do PR for ICAHD

TS
CAMERA/Snapshots
07 November '11





http://blog.camera.org/archives/2011/11/wire_services_do_pr_for_icahd.html

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), whose director, Jeff Halper, calls for a one-state solution (read: the eradication of the Jewish state) and supports BDS and the Free Gaza movement, got a nice, albeit unwarranted, PR boost from Reuters and AFP. In particular, in an article about last week's release of a new ICAHD report, Reuters promoted the fringe group to "a prominent Israeli non-governmental organization."

ICAHD, which in the past has repeatedly disseminated wildly inaccurate misinformation, continues to do so with the release of its new report.

As AFP reports:

The group's report "No Home, No Homeland" accuses Israel of making it almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits, with the Jerusalem city council granting just 18 for a population of 300,000 last year.

While the AFP did turn to Jerusalem municipality Stephan Miller for a response, the reporter failed to relay any of the specific rebuttal that Miller provided. Instead, the article includes a more general response, stating:

Miller rebuffed the allegations, saying the report contained "misleading facts, blatant lies and political spin about Jerusalem and lacks any connection to reality."

But the AFP failed to detail any of Miller's rebuttals. In communication with CAMERA, he relayed that the city granted more than 100 building permits to eastern Jerusalem Arabs in the last year -- not 18. Miller also points out that in 2010, 80 percent of the permit requests for Arab-dominated neighborhoods in Jerusalem were approved (versus 89 percent in Jewish-majority neighborhoods), a figure which belies ICAHD's claim that it is "amost impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits."

Shine - The ultra-Orthodox punching bag

Dr. Chaim Shine
Israel Hayom
07 November '11

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=782

Last week, former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy expressed harsh sentiments against the ultra-Orthodox. According to Halevy, the radicalization of the ultra-Orthodox community is a greater threat to Israel than Iran. His statements continue a painful and disturbing trend of hatred leveled at the ultra-Orthodox from left-wing liberal circles. There is a tendency to blame the ultra-Orthodox for every ill, ache and pain in Israeli society. Over just two decades, the ultra-Orthodox have become the punching bag for a violent and decadent society, which mercilessly beats anyone who dresses differently or adopts an unfamiliar lifestyle. Yet the ultra-Orthodox are much worse off than other minorities in Israel.

Arabs in Israel have a wall to protect them, both in the Supreme Court and among the Israeli Left, in the face of any effort to infringe on their rights. Israelis are willing to lay on barbed wire to protect a few Palestinian olive trees. For every other sub-culture in Israeli society there is some protection for freedom of expression, ideological pluralism and individual rights. Only the ultra-Orthodox have no one to care for them. Their honor is trampled in the streets, evil slander is often voiced and sludge is hurled at them in unthinkable ways.

Hornik - Will Israel Invade Gaza?

P. David Hornik
frontpagemag.com
07 November '11

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/11/07/will-israel-invade-gaza/

On Saturday the Israeli air force hit an Islamic Jihad squad in Gaza that was preparing to fire a rocket into Israel. The leader of the squad was killed, the other three members wounded.

Soon after, on Saturday night, two retaliatory rockets were fired from Gaza, one of them causing shrapnel wounds to a foreign worker.

In other words, Gaza has Israel covered. The Israeli air force generally carries out successful pinpoint strikes, but Gaza can always exact a price. Even when its projectiles cause no physical damage to people or property, they make sure the residents of southern Israel don’t know a moment’s security.

The pattern was similar in the previous round. Islamic Jihad opened it with a Grad rocket on Wednesday, October 26. Three days later Israel wiped out a five-man cell in Gaza. Islamic Jihad responded with about 40 rockets and mortars that killed one civilian, wounded nine, and damaged property. Israel hit back effectively until the rockets and mortars stopped. But Israelis don’t regard this as a “victory” or a reasonable way to live.

And over the weekend there was an alarming report that “in response to a heightened threat of anti-aircraft weaponry from Gaza and Egypt, the IAF has ordered its planes to temporarily avoid flying over Israel’s southern border.” It’s believed that terrorist groups in the area have “newly procured anti-aircraft weapons from Libya [that were] smuggled into the Gaza Strip and the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula….”

Not surprisingly, so long as Israel makes no decisive move in Gaza, the strategic threat only grows. Smuggling has been a free-for-all since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Gaza’s rockets can now reach the Tel Aviv area while ever more sophisticated and dangerous weaponry flows in from Libya (another “Arab spring” liability), Iran, and elsewhere.

Kushner - From Israel

Arlene Kushner
Arlene from Israel
07 November '11




"Hiatus"

Personal matters will be fully occupying my time in the next several days, and so I let my readers know that there will be a break in my posting. I regret the fact that this break might coincide with matters of some significance, but sometimes family matters must take precedence.

Please, do not write and ask me if everything is OK. I appreciate your concern, but tell you now that it is.

In fact, I ask all of you who are in the habit of writing to me/sending me material on a frequent basis to send me no e-mails until I've started posting again and it is obvious the hiatus is ended. Thank you!

A.H.

~~~~~~~~~~

A thank you as well to those who caught the typo in my last posting: Iran did NOT send out warships to accompany the flotilla.

That flotilla of two boats was boarded after the boats refused to alter their path towards Gaza. Navy ships escorted the flotilla to the Ashdod port and "activists" on board are being deported to their home countries. The Navy will examine the contents of the boats and any humanitarian goods will be sent on to Gaza.

It should all be so easy.

~~~~~~~~~~

The double focus in the news right now is on the PA and Iran.

Mahmoud Abbas reminds me a bit of a cornered animal (I'm using that analogy here because it's so apt, although I don't like to compare terrorists to animals, as the terrorists are worse). The more things fail to go his way, the more he strikes out: the harsher the condemnation of Israel, the greater his efforts to do Israel damage, and the more strident the declarations of what he will accomplish.

The PA -- at the bidding of Ban Ki-Moon -- decided not to apply to other UN agencies following its victory at UNESCO, but its member in UNESCO will be utilized to the hilt.

What Abbas intends here is directly in line with his original intention with regard to involving the UN -- make no mistake about it. He had made it clear from the start that this was not just about declaring a state, but, rather, "internationalizing" the issues in order to better delegitimize Israel.

So now, as a member of UNESCO, the PA wants to take Israel to court for "systematically destroying...Arab and Islamic culture in Jerusalem,” and for "stealing Arab and Islamic antiquities and assaulting Islamic and Christian holy sites."

Sigh... more trouble. Of course this is precisely the reverse of what actually transpires in the Old City of Jerusalem. While Israel is respectful of all religions in its archeological work, the Wakf, on the Temple Mount, did extensive excavations that dug up ancient Hebrew artifacts, and threw them in a garbage dump.

Karsh - Finnish delusions

Efraim Karsh
Middle East Forum
JPost
06 November '11

http://www.meforum.org/3091/finnish-delusions

Finland's FM can’t be bothered with facts as far as the Jewish state is concerned; he allows his anti-Israel animosity to get the better of him.

Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja has done it again. No sooner did this 1960s radical ease himself back into the foreign minister’s seat after four years in the opposition than he unveiled again his anti- Israel prejudice.

“No apartheid state is justified or sustainable,” he told a panel discussion in Helsinki last week. “If you are occupying areas inhabited by... Palestinians who do not have the same rights as the Israelis in Israel, that is apartheid.... I think that the majority in Israel has also realized this, but they have been unable to provide a leadership that [can] move forward on the two-state solution, on the Palestinian problem.”

As the longest-serving foreign minister in Finland’s history (2000-2007, 2011-present) one would have expected Tuomioja to show greater familiarity with the facts. For one thing, all Israeli prime ministers over the past two decades – from Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres to Ariel Sharon and Binyamin Netanyahu – have unequivocally endorsed the two-state solution, whereas all Palestinian leaders have rejected this solution, refusing to allow a single Jew to live in a prospective Palestinian state. For another, Israel’s “occupation” of the populated areas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip ended in the mid-1990s.

THE DECLARATION of principles signed on the White House lawn in 1993 by the PLO and the Israeli government provided for Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for a transitional period, during which Israel and the Palestinians would negotiate a permanent peace settlement. By May 1994, Israel had completed its withdrawal from Gaza (apart from a small stretch of territory containing settlements in the south of the Strip, which was vacated in 2005) and the Jericho area of the West Bank. On July 1, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat made his triumphant entry into Gaza.

On September 28, 1995, despite Arafat’s abysmal failure to clamp down on terrorist activities in the territories now under his control, the two parties signed an interim agreement, and by the end of the year Israeli forces had been withdrawn from the West Bank’s populated areas, with the exception of Hebron (where redeployment was completed in early 1997). On January 20, 1996, elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council were held, and shortly afterward, both the Israeli civil administration and the military government were dissolved.

Ettinger - Settlement freeze – an obstacle to peace

Yoram Ettinger
Israel Hayom
04 November '11



http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=770

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's speech at the U.N. on Sept. 23 and the Palestinian Authority’s education system reaffirm the fact that Jewish settlements within pre-1967 Israel – and not in Judea and Samaria – are the root cause of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In his U.N. speech, Abbas highlighted the “63-year-old occupation” since 1948. This message is reinforced throughout the Palestinian school education system. He heralded the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which was established three years before the 1967 war and before the establishment of contemporary Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, as his supreme authority. Abbas denies that Jewish history has any roots between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Thus, the primary cause of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not the Judea and Samaria settlements, but the existence of the Jewish state.

Freezing Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria diverts attention away from the core cause of the conflict. Moreover, it constitutes an obstacle to peace by reflecting submission to pressure, thus fueling further pressure, radicalizing Arab demands, intensifying Arab terrorism and eroding Israel’s posture of deterrence, while the only peace that is possible is deterrence-driven peace.

Lewin - America Can Prosecute Terrorists Freed by Israel

Nathan Lewin
The Sun
06 November '11



http://www.nysun.com/opinion/america-can-prosecute-those-terrorists-freed-by/87556/

Prisoner Swap Opens the Way for United States to Act Against Those Who Slew U.S. Citizens

On August 9, 2001, Ahlam Tamimi, a member of Hamas, drove a suicide bomber to the Sbarro restaurant in the heart of Jerusalem, where the bomber blew himself up, killing 15 people including Judy Greenbaum, an American citizen from New Jersey. On March 5, 2003, Abigail Leitel, a 14-year-old Baptist schoolgirl born in New Hampshire, was killed, along with 14 Israelis, by a suicide bomber who exploded a bomb on a Haifa bus.

Three Hamas members — Fadi Muhammad al-Jabaa, Maedh Abu Sharakh, and Majdi Muhammad Amr — plotted that deadly attack. On September 9, 2003, a Hamas suicide bomber slew seven people — including American citizens David, a doctor, and Nava Applebaum, who was his daughter and was to be married on that day — at Café Hillel in Jerusalem. Ibrahim Dar Musa helped plan that bombing.

The perpetrators of each of these murders of Americans violated American criminal law and could be prosecuted in American courts. Yet all of them are now free and living in Jordan or Gaza because Hamas demanded that they be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for Hamas’ release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who Hamas captured and held in captivity for more than five years.

Levick - Tin-Pot Pravda: Guardian editorial scolds Israel for taking Iranian nuclear threat seriously

Adam Levick
CiF Watch
06 November '11

I’m not sure which is more interesting, the very notion of the Guardian giving national security advice to Israel “Israel is unwise to raise the nuclear stakes“, Nov. 6, or the following passage in the editorial which represents one of the most surreal understatements I’ve read in a long time.

The Guardian, after sternly lecturing Israel on the folly of even considering a preemptive attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, writes:

“It is true that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has voiced a profound antipathy for Israel, which has been interpreted in many quarters as threatening the existence of the Jewish state.”

So, Ahmadinejad has voiced an “antipathy” towards Israel “which has been interpreted…as threatening the existence” of Israel”?!

In fact, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly and quite explicitly called for its destruction, has engaged in crude antisemitism, and called the Holocaust “a myth”.

Here are just a few examples:

(Read full "Tin-Pot Pravda: Guardian editorial scolds Israel ...")

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Rennert - Wash. Post dispenses anti-Israel poison pills

Leo Rennert
American Thinker
06 November '11

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/wash_post_dispenses_anti-israel_poison_pills.html

In its Nov. 6 edition, the Washington Post features prominently a lengthy article by Jerusalem correspondent Joel Greenberg about young Palestinian activists alienated from both Hamas and Fatah seeking a third way for the Palestinian cause. The article, with two accompanying photographs, takes up two third of the main world-news page ("Young Palestinian activists push their own agenda - Disenchanted with Fatah and Hamas, an embryonic group sees human and civil rights, not territory, as the basis of its struggle").

Greenberg pins his piece on an interview with a 22-year-old university student, Hurriyah Ziada, who apparently typifies this new wave of young Palestinian activists. Except it turns out that, far from being uninterested in territory, as the headline asserts, it turns out Ziada and like-minded Palestinians have very definite territorial aims in charting a new path for Palestinian politics.

As Greenberg himself acknowledges, their objective is "one state that would also include the area of Israel, with equal rights for Jews and Arabs, and Palestinian refugees allowed to return." Greenberg, however, fails to point out that this, in effect, would eliminate the Jewish state and that Israeli Jews would find themselves residents of an Arab/Muslim nation, depending on their Arab/Muslim masters for their "equal rights." So it turns out that Ziada's agenda actually meshes nicely with Hamas's prime objective -- a single state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean sea. Goodbye Israel. Greenberg just makes her aims seem more palatable.
Ziada, of course, is entitled to her opinions and to have them reported accurately by Greenberg. It's when he injects his own views that he crosses the line from objective reporting to pro-Palestinian propaganda. As when he dispenses some of his own anti-Israel poison pills. For example:

Collins - Questions and secrets

Liat Collins
My Word
Jpost
05 November '11



http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=244471

The end of the world is what happens when Israel’s enemies get hold of military secrets. The classification “Secret” is not a recommendation; it is, in effect, an order.

Anat Kamm got off lightly. And that was before the court handed down its sentence last week. Kamm was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, having made a plea bargain reducing the severity of charges which included stealing thousands of classified documents from the office of the head of the IDF’s Central Command, where she served as a soldier, and passing hundreds of them on to Haaretz journalist Uri Blau.

Instead of expressing shock at her sentence, her supporters might wonder at the leniency that allowed her to spend the period of the investigation, trial and pre-sentencing in the comfort of her own home. House arrest might not be pleasant but it obviously beats the alternative. Being denied access to a computer or the ability to have a coffee out with friends is a real drag; for a pampered 20-something-year-old living in North Tel Aviv, it must have seemed like the end of the world. But it wasn’t.

The end of the world is what happens when Israel’s enemies get hold of military secrets. The classification “Secret” is not a recommendation; it is, in effect, an order.

Israelis, even soldiers, don’t like taking orders, as we all know.

They do like taking things home with them. Not work. Equipment. In 2002, I wrote about one of the IDF’s periodic campaigns encouraging people to return “borrowed” IDF property.

The IDF stuck by its promise that no questions would be asked.

Much of the equipment that had gone AWOL (more than NIS 1 million worth, actually) comprised clothing, boots and everyday items like water bottles and flashlights. The returned loot also included 14 tents and a mattress.

Gold - Iran and Israel's southern front

Dore Gold
Israel Hayom
06 November '11

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=779

Israelis following the escalation of rocket launches against southern Israel this past week probably noticed all the reports that the Palestinian organization behind the attacks was Islamic Jihad. There were approximately 40 rockets and mortars that were fired by the organization over a two day period. The current round of attacks began with the launch of a Grad rocket that hit near Gedera, on Wednesday, Oct. 26, which also happened to be the anniversary of the 1995 elimination of the founder of Islamic Jihad, Fathi Shakaki, in Malta.

Israel responded three days later by eliminating a five-man rocket squad from Islamic Jihad. It has been largely assumed that Hamas had no interest in escalation at this time since it is waiting for Israel to release from prison the next group from the Shalit exchange. The real explanations for the decision of Islamic Jihad to attack at this time, however, are not to be found in the Gaza Strip, but rather in Tehran.

The Islamic Jihad is a very different organization than Hamas. Shakaki, its main founder was disillusioned with the Muslim Brotherhood, the parent organization of Hamas. Instead he looked to Ayatollah Khomeini for inspiration and even wrote a book entitled "Khomeini: The Islamic Solution and Alternative." The admiration for Iran became a hallmark of Islamic Jihad and even led some of its activists in the 1990's to convert from Sunni Islam to Shiite Islam.

By 2000, while Saudi Arabia emerged as the main funder of Hamas, Islamic Jihad was backed financially by Iran, providing it with tighter control of the organization. Eventually, Iran replaced Saudi Arabia as Hamas' main benefactor, but the regional loyalties of Hamas were also directed to the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, its supporters in the Gulf states, like Qatar, and increasingly Turkey under Erdogan. Over the last decade, Islamic Jihad emerged as the most reliable instrument that Iran could use when it wanted to destabilize the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.

CAMERA Ad:CAMERA "When Palestinians Reject Coexistence, The New York Times Looks Away"

CAMERA
03 November '11

CAMERA's full-page advertisement highlighting the New York Times' selective and skewed coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict ran in the November issue of Commentary. The ad detailed the newspaper's tendency to avoid reporting on incitement and rejectionism by Palestinian leaders and its impact on Palestinian society.

(Click on ad to enlarge)

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Abrams - Another Effort to Destroy Israel

Elliott Abrams
The Weekly Standard
05 November '11




http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/another-effort-destroy-israel_607792.html?nopager=1

This weekend marks another milestone in the history of intellectual dishonesty, for the so-called “Russell Tribunal on Palestine” meets in Cape Town, South Africa on November 5th and 6th.

What is the Russell Tribunal? It is the heir to the “International War Crimes Tribunal” to which Bertrand Russell lent his name in 1966. The stated purpose then was “to investigate crimes committed in Vietnam,” or in other words to attack the United States. In those days, the doddering Russell was already in the hands of Ralph Schoenman, the anti-American activist with whom he finally broke in 1969 and who was the driving force behind the “Tribunal.”

The only difference today is that the guns have turned toward Israel. Well, perhaps “guns” is not the right term. What has been turned on Israel is the same torrent of clerical nonsense, virulent bias, and Hollywood-style self-aggrandizement that marked the “Tribunal” in the old days. The 1966 panel was financed in large part by the government of North Vietnam, which no doubt helped assure its carefully balanced neutrality. Back in 1966, the cast of characters included the Soviet fellow traveler Jean-Paul Sartre, Stokely Carmichael, the writers James Baldwin, Julio Cortázar, and of course Simone de Beauvoir, and other worthies. This weekend’s panel is even more impressive. Start with the stars: Israel’s violations of international law will be judged by a group including the eminent experts Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and the Spanish actor Alberto San Juan. Members of the Tribunal’s “Support Committee” include other experts and jurists such as the actress Julie Christie, the fashion designer Agnes B, the great poetess Alice Walker, Cindy Sheehan (the “Peace activist” who at last seems to have abandoned her tent near Crawford, Texas), the British actress Juliet Stevenson, Norman Finkelstein (whose writings on the Holocaust got him denied tenure at De Paul University)—and, of course, Noam Chomsky. Also listed are Harold Pinter, Howard Zinn, and Julio Saramago, whose active support will be harder to arrange as all three are dead. There are also on the list people who should know better and ought to be ashamed of themselves—but won’t.

You are probably already asking yourself “Where is Bishop Tutu?” Never fear. This week he wrote an op-ed for the Guardian in London, supporting the Tribunal on the ground that “We have visited Israel/Palestine on a number of occasions and every time have been struck by the similarities with the South African apartheid regime.” This was in part a response to the op-ed by Judge Richard Goldstone, who is seeking redemption these days by walking away from the “Goldstone Report” and defending Israel from the apartheid charge.

Sherman - A real reason for revolution

Martin Sherman
Into the Fray
JPost
03 November


http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=244330

The conceptual foundations underpinning the Zionist enterprise are being deconstructed; the Zionist narrative must be reclaimed, resuscitated.
================================

The most righteous of men cannot live in peace if his evil neighbor will not let him be.

– from Wilhelm Tell Act IV, scene III, by Friedrich von Schiller, 1804.

The scenes of the Israeli army’s attack on Gaza at the turn of 2008 evoked... images of Auschwitz. I came out... saying to myself: Of course, we found our [sacrificial] lamb – the people of Gaza.

– from The Hermeneutic Underpinning of Ethnic Brutality: The Jewish Israeli Case, Prof. Uri Hadar, Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, 2011

To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to the written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the ends to the means.

– Thomas Jefferson, September 20, 1810

The juxtaposing of profound wisdom on the one hand, and inflammatory imbecility on the other, embodied in these excerpts throws into dramatically sharp relief the essence of what is arguably the gravest strategic danger facing Israeli society, and the greatest challenge to the sustainability of the Zionist ideal. But more on that little later.

A carefully choreographed diversion

Judging from last weekend’s less than impressive turnout for the nationwide social-justice protests, it seems that much of wind has been sucked out of the sails that billowed so impressively in the summer winds. Of course this is not entirely unexpected. After all, only the hopelessly gullible could have believed that what took place on the streets in August was a genuine reflection of socioeconomic distress across a wide cross-section of Israeli society.

For it was never an authentic cry of the “have-not” underclasses, but rather a carefully choreographed demand by the “want-more” middle classes.

Indeed, with the number of Israelis vacationing abroad reaching record highs, and unemployment figures at record lows; with new cars sales soaring to new highs; with domestic hotels and recreations sites filled to capacity over the recent holiday season; with Israel’s sovereign credit rating being upgraded, while those of the US, Italy and Spain were downgraded, the endeavor to portray the intolerable socioeconomic plight of the average Israeli as the most pressing problem on the national agenda has a distinctly hollow ring.

Indeed, in light of the findings of a survey conducted by a leading polling institute a month ago, in which almost 90 percent (!) opined that Israel was a good place to live, it borders on the absurd.

To make matters worse, almost exactly at the time the renewed demonstrations were about to begin, the volleys of Grads missiles from Gaza made claims that security should be relegated in the nation’s order of priorities look – at best – wildly unrealistic.

That’s the thing about reality. It always seem to raise it unwelcome head at the most inopportune moments, despite the best laid – and funded – attempts to divert attention from its more unpleasant aspects.

(Video) Satire of "We are the children of winter 1973"

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
5 November 2011




Hats off to the Latma team.

Their satire of "We are the children of winter 1973" is their most powerful production ever.



To fully appreciate just how good this "Oslo Balad" is, you need to know the background of the song that it is a satire of: "We are the children of winter 1973"

Here are the words to the original song
[Words translated by Chana Shuvaly of Melbourne, Australia.
source:
http://www.hebrewsongs.com/song-choref73.htm ]

We are the children of winter 1973
You dreamt us first at dawn at the end of the battles
You were tired men that thanked their good luck
You were worried young women and you wanted so much to love
When you conceived us with love in winter 1973
You wanted to fill up with your bodies that what the war finished
And we were born the country was wounded and sad
You looked at us you hugged us you were trying to find comfort
When we were born the elders blessed with tears in their eyes
They said:" we wish those kids will not have to go to the army"
And your faces in the old picture prove
That you said it form the bottom of your hearts
When you promised to do every thing for us
To make an enemy into a loved one

You promised a dove,
an olive tree leaf,
you promised peace
You promised spring at home and blossoms
You promised to fulfill promises, you promised a dove

We are the children of winter 1973
We grew up and now in the army
with our weapon and helmet on our heads
We know how to make love to laugh and cry
We are men we are women
and we too dream about babies
This is why we will not pressure you we will demand of you
And we will not threaten you
When we were young you said promises need to be kept
We will give you strength if that is what you need
We will not hold back
We just wanted to whisper
We are the children of that winter in the year 1973

You promised a dove,
an olive tree leaf,
you promised peace
You promised spring at home and blossoms
You promised to fulfill promises,
you promised a dove

The above song was performed first in 1995 by an IDF group.

And it is a lie.

I am from the generation that experienced the nightmare of the Yom Kippur
War of 1973.

When our children were born I - as the rest of my generation - had every expectation that they would have to serve in the IDF when they grew up. And they did.

That the IDF played a role in the distribution of "We are the children of winter 1973" speaks volumes about the disturbing mentality that pervaded the upper ranks of the IDF.

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Richman - “Jerusalem, Israel” Goes Before the Supreme Court

Rick Richman
Commentary/Contentions
04 November '11

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/11/04/jerusalem-israel-obama-supreme-court/

In “Scrubbing Israel,” Ben Smith notes that the Supreme Court will hear Zivotofsky v. Clinton on Monday, considering the constitutionality of the 2002 law that directs the secretary of state to designate “Israel” as the place of birth on the passport of an American citizen born in Jerusalem, if the citizen so requests.

Smith’s title reflects the fact that a few days after the New York Sun publicized the White House photos of Vice President Biden’s trip to “Jerusalem, Israel” (and hours after National Review Online published one of them), the White House scrubbed “Israel” from the captions. Smith also highlights Omri Ceren’s “startling” report on Contentions that the administration scrubbed references to “Jerusalem, Israel” in official State Department reports published by the Bush administration.

Finally, Smith cites newly discovered documents referencing “Jerusalem, Israel” in prior administrations as well:

A search of the Nixon Library, for instance, turns up his daily diary. A search of the Carter Library turns up ten similar documents. And a search of the Clinton Library finds all sorts of documents labeled “Jerusalem, Israel,” including the classic eulogy of Yitzhak Rabin. Even a search of current .gov websites turns up a spray of bureaucratic products referring to “Jerusalem, Israel.”

The Zionist Organization of America’s amicus brief in Zivotofsky lists references to “Jerusalem, Israel” on documents found on the sites of the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Treasury. Hillary Clinton’s brief nevertheless asserts that any U.S. action that would signal “symbolically or concretely” that it recognizes Jerusalem as within Israeli sovereign territory would “critically compromise the ability of the United States to … further the peace process.”

It is ironic that Hillary Clinton became the named defendant in this case. In 2002, as senator from New York, she voted for the law. In 1994, her husband signed legislation allowing American citizens born in Taiwan to have “Taiwan” put on their passports even though U.S. policy – both before and after the legislation — was that there is only one China (the People’s Republic) and that Taiwan was not a separate country.

It is even more ironic (to use the mildest possible word) that the candidate who in 2008 told 7,000 people at AIPAC, at a critical moment in his presidential campaign, that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided” is now seeking as president to have the Court hold unconstitutional a similar law with respect to Jerusalem, Israel.

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Glick - Delegitimizing the delegitimizers

Caroline Glick
carolineglick.com
04 November '11




http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2011/11/delegitimizing-the-delegitimiz.php

You have to hand it to the Palestinians. They decided to abandon the peace process and seek international recognition of the "State of Palestine" -- a state in a de facto state of war with Israel. And they are pursuing their goal relentlessly.

This week their efforts bore their first fruit with the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) vote to accept "Palestine" as a full state member.

It is not a coincidence that the PLO/PA decided to apply for membership for "Palestine" at UNESCO first. Since 1974 UNESCO has been an enthusiastic partner in the Palestinians' bid to erase Jewish history, heritage and culture in the Land of Israel from the historical record.

In 1974 UNESCO voted to boycott Israel and "withhold assistance from Israel in the fields of education, science and culture because of Israel's persistent alteration of historic features in Jerusalem."

UNESCO's moves to deny Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the rest of historic Israel have continued unabated ever since. For instance, in 1989 UNESCO condemned "Israel's occupation of Jerusalem" claiming it was destroying the city through "acts of interference, destruction and transformation."

In 1996 UNESCO held a symposium on Jerusalem at its Paris headquarters. No Jewish or Israeli groups were invited to participate.

Beginning in 1996, the Arab Wakf on the the Temple Mount began systematically destroying artifacts of the Second Temple. The destruction was undertaken during illegal excavations under the Temple Mount carried out in order to construct an illegal, unlicensed mosque at Solomon's Stables.

UNESCO never bothered to condemn this act. It was silent despite the fact that the Wakf's actions constituted a grave breach of the very international laws related to antiquities and sacred sites that UNESCO is charter bound to protect. Similarly, UNESCO never condemned Palestinian desecration of Rachel's Tomb, of Joesph's Tomb or of any of the ancient synagogues in Gaza and Jericho which they razed to the ground.
The reason for UNESCO's miscarriage of its responsibilities is clear. Far from fulfilling its mission of protecting world heritage sites, since 1974 UNESCO has been a partner in one of the greatest cultural crimes in human history - the Palestinian and pan-Arab attempt to wipe Jewish history in the Land of Israel off the historical record. And UNESCO's crimes in this area are unending. In 2009 it designated Jerusalem a "capital of Arab culture."

In 2010 it designated Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron "Muslim mosques."

IMRA - And what if Abbas returns the keys?

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
Weekly Commentary
03 November '11

Palestinian officials are now threatening that if the Palestinians don’t get what they want that Mahmoud Abbas will close down the PA and hand the keys back to Israel.

It would be best for Israel to be prepared so that such a scenario could be an opportunity rather than a punishment for the Jewish State.

Israel’s goal in the event of such a move should be to prevent the development of a crises that is exploited by the Palestinians to introduce foreign actors into the mix.

To achieve this, Israel would have to maintain a semblance of normality.

First and foremost this would require being able to ignore the ex-officials of the PA while avoiding a humanitarian crisis.

Israel must be in a position to shift from interfacing with Palestinian officials at a national level to a regional and municipal level.

We have experience in this already.

Even in the worst of times in Jerusalem-Ramallah relations, Israelis and Palestinians cooperated on a municipal level to restore or maintain vital services.

One of the biggest tests Israel would face would be maintaining the flow of goods and people between the West Bank and the outside world.

Israeli planners should set as a goal to actually speed up the movement of cargo to and from the West Bank. It would also make sense to prepare administrative provisions to avoid the situation that equipment contributed from overseas for Palestinian humanitarian projects gets stuck in Israeli ports because of disputes over the payment of various duties and taxes to Israel.

Israel should also be prepared to efficiently substitute Israeli travel documents for the ones issued by the then defunct PA so that international movement is not impeded.

Then, of course, is the thorny issue of the Palestinian security forces.

While Israel wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with Palestinian cops associated directly with a specific municipality or regional groupings of municipalities, the American trained and armed Palestinian troops who answer to the Palestinian federal authorities could present a serious challenge if it is not possible to shift their allegiance to municipalities or regions.

It would not be easy.

But with proper planning and unity Israel can insure that the dissolution of the PA becomes an opportunity rather than punishment.

And the more prepared Israel is for this challenge, the more likely that the Palestinians will opt to drop the idea.

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Singer - Palestine – UNESCO rebuffs PLO huffs and puffs

David Singer
J-Wire
03 November '11
H/T Daphne Anson


http://www.jwire.com.au/featured-articles/palestine-unesco-rebuffs-plo-huffs-and-puffs/20120

The PLO application seeking admission of Palestine to the UN has been dealt a serious blow – after 86 of its 193 members failed to support a mirror application for Palestine to join UNESCO…writes David Singer.

The poor UNESCO majority vote recorded in favor is even more remarkable when one excludes the 56 Islamic member States – whose vote to recognize Palestine’s admission to UNESCO was always assured. Only 51 of UNESCO’s remaining 137 members were prepared to publicly out themselves in support of the PLO application.

Any of the five following reasons could be possible explanations for this rebuff to the PLO and could signal a similar disastrous outcome when the UN deals with the Palestine issue later this month:

Member States were concerned that any favorable UNESCO decision would be in breach of Article II (2) of UNESCO’s constitution- which only provides for States to be admitted to full membership.

Palestine does not possess the attributes for statehood required in customary international law and codified in article 1 of the Montevideo Convention 1933.

Palestine could have chosen an easier and less controversial option by applying for associate membership of UNESCO as a territory which was not responsible for the conduct of its international affairs under Article II (3).

Kushner - Islamic Jihad: Iran’s New Favored Proxy

Arlene Kushner
frontpagemag.com
04 November '11



http://frontpagemag.com/2011/11/04/islamic-jihad-irans-new-favored-proxy/

The story that has made headlines in recent days deals with the various weapons being shot from Gaza into the south of Israel. As this is written, over 40 projectiles have been launched: Grad Katyusha rockets, Kassam rockets, and mortars, much of this arsenal supplied by Iran. The Grads – which are both the most accurate and have the greatest range – are the most deadly.

Israel has responded, but in a severely limited fashion (which some refer to as “tit-for-tat”). Air Force planes take off over Gaza, hit a launching site, or a smuggling tunnel, or a group of terrorists planning a launch, and return.

Since Saturday, one Israeli man has been killed by a rocket, and four others have been injured. Damage has been done to buildings, and cars have been gutted. Children within range of the rockets (some 40 kilometers of the border with Gaza) are being kept home from school, and the populace of southern Israel lives with fear.

Scant attention is paid to the fact that some individuals end up going to the hospital because of anxiety attacks, but high anxiety – perhaps better called panic – is both psychologically and physically debilitating. Additionally, as it is important for them to try to stay close to shelters, residents of places such as Ashdod, Beersheva and Ashkelon have limited opportunities for moving about.

Bottom line: Citizens of Israel should not have to live this way. Israelis in growing numbers are of the opinion that it’s time to launch a second operation such as Cast Lead. That brief war, involving both air and ground operations in Gaza, took place during the first weeks of 2009 and dealt Hamas a significant but not fatal blow.