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Unibrow
Joined: 20 Aug 2012
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 9:59 am Post subject: New war on Gaza? |
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Israel is launching airstrikes in Gaza against civilians and "terrorists"
http://news.yahoo.com/top-hamas-commander-killed-israeli-airstrike-143218204.html
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GAZA (Reuters) - Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group vowed would "open the gates of hell".
The onslaught shattered hopes that a truce mediated on Tuesday by Egypt could pull the two sides back from the brink of war after five days of escalating Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli strikes at militant targets.
Operation "Pillar of Defense" began with a surgical strike on a car carrying the commander of the military wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls Gaza and dominates a score of smaller armed groups.
Within minutes of the death of Ahmed Al-Jaabari, big explosions were rocking Gaza, as the Israeli air force struck at selected targets just before sundown, blasting plumes of smoke and debris high above the crowded city.
Panicking civilians ran for cover and the death toll mounted quickly. Seven people including two girls under the age of five were killed, the health ministry said.
A second Gaza war has loomed on the horizon for months as waves of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli strikes grew increasingly more intense and frequent.
Israel's Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 began with a week of air attacks and shelling, followed by a land invasion of the blockaded coastal strip, sealed off at sea by the Israeli navy. Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed and 13 Israelis died.
Hamas said Jaabari, who ran the organization's armed wing, Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam, died along with an unnamed associate when their car was blown apart by an Israeli missile.
The charred and mangled wreckage of a car could be seen belching flames, as emergency crews picked up what appeared to be body parts.
GATES OF HELL
Israel confirmed it had carried out the attack and announced there was more to come. Reuters witnesses saw Hamas security compounds and police stations blasted apart.
"This is an operation against terror targets of different organizations in Gaza," Israeli army spokeswoman Colonel Avital Leibovitch told reporters.
Jaabari had "a lot of blood on his hands", she said. Other militant groups including Islamic Jihad were on the target list.
Immediate calls for revenge were broadcast over Hamas radio.
"The occupation has opened the gates of hell," Hamas's armed wing said. Smaller groups also vowed to strike back.
"Israel has declared war on Gaza and they will bear the responsibility for the consequences," Islamic Jihad said.
Southern Israeli communities within rocket range of Gaza were on full alert, and schools were ordered closed for Thursday. About one million Israelis live in range of Gaza's relatively primitive but lethal rockets, supplemented in recent months by longer-range, more accurate systems.
"The days we face in the south will, in my estimation, prove protracted," Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai, Israel's chief military spokesman, told Channel 2 TV.
"The home front must brace itself resiliently."
Mordechai said Israel was both responding to a surge in Palestinian rocket salvoes earlier this week and trying to prevent Hamas and other Palestinian factions from building up their arsenals further.
Among the targets of Wednesday's air strikes were underground caches of longer-range Hamas rockets, he said.
Asked if Israel might send in ground forces, Mordechai said: "There are preparations, and if we are required to, the option of an entry by ground is available."
HAMAS EMBOLDENED
Israel's intelligence agency Shin Bet said Jaabari was responsible for Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, when the militant Islamist group ousted fighters of the Fatah movement of its great rival, the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
It said Jaabari instigated the attack that led to the capture of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit in a kidnap raid from Gaza in 2006. Jaabari was also the man who handed Shalit over to Israel in a prisoner exchange five years after his capture.
Israel holds a general election on January 22 and conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to retaliate harshly against Hamas.
Hamas has been emboldened by the rise to power in neighboring Egypt of its spiritual mentors in the Muslim Brotherhood, viewing them as a "safety net" that will not permit a second Israeli thrashing of Gaza, home to 1.7 million Palestinians.
Egypt condemned Israel's strikes on Gaza and urged it to end the attacks at once.
Hamas has historically been supported by Iran, which Israel regards as a rising threat to its own existence due to its nuclear program.
In the flare-up that was prelude to Wednesday's offensive, more than 115 missiles were fired into southern Israel from Gaza and Israeli planes launched numerous strikes.
Seven Palestinians, three of them gunmen, were killed. Eight Israeli civilians were hurt by rocket fire and four soldiers wounded by an anti-tank missile.
Helped by Iran and the flourishing contraband trade through tunnels from Egypt, Gaza militias have smuggled in better weapons since the war of 2008-09.
But Gaza's estimated 35,000 Palestinian fighters are still no match for Israel's F-16 fighter-bombers, Apache helicopter gunships, Merkava tanks and other modern weapons systems in the hands of a conscript force of 175,000, with 450,000 in reserve.
Israel's shekel fell nearly one percent to a two-month low against the dollar on Wednesday after news of the Israeli air strikes broke.
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams, Crispian Balmer and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Giles Elgood) |
So yet again we see Israel punishing the civilian population of Gaza for the actions of small armed groups. At least 2 children have been killed, and who knows how many civilians have been injured. It's worth noting that in 2008, of the 13 Israeli dead, 7 were killed by friendly fire. With the change in government in Egypt and the growing divide between Israel and her Middle Eastern allies, particularly Turkey, the international response will be interesting to watch develop.
I hope that this does not escalate further and lead to more death and destruction of civilians and their homes and farms, but it is likely that Israel will use their firepower to target "terrorists" and kill scores of civilians in the process. |
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Unibrow
Joined: 20 Aug 2012
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:11 am Post subject: |
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The death toll is up to 16 Palestinians dead and Israeli attacks are only increasing. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006 Location: China
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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This is ugly. Whole mid east if going up. Iran"s leaders will take a harder line if the IDF enters Gaza. Egypt might jump in, be very hard for them to stay out of it. There are already demonstrations in Jordan and this will inflme the masses there. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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Got to love how you bold the Palestinian civilian casualties and the Israeli RESPONSE and ignore the other side.
Hey I can do that too.
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Mordechai said Israel was both responding to a surge in Palestinian rocket salvoes earlier this week and trying to prevent Hamas and other Palestinian factions from building up their arsenals further. |
If you don't want to get bombed how about NOT provoking the other side to do so? You don't get to launch an attack and then cry "Foul" when the other side responds.
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Seven Palestinians, three of them gunmen, were killed. Eight Israeli civilians were hurt by rocket fire and four soldiers wounded by an anti-tank missile. |
See the difference is that Israel at least attempts to target fighters while the Palestinian rocket fire tends to target civilians.
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The onslaught shattered hopes that a truce mediated on Tuesday by Egypt could pull the two sides back from the brink of war
after five days of escalating Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli strikes at militant targets. |
When you are clearly outmatched DON'T INSTIGATE TROUBLE AND DON'T ESCALATE IT. How many times must this be said? |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
When you are clearly outmatched DON'T INSTIGATE TROUBLE AND DON'T ESCALATE IT. How many times must this be said? |
You've got to be kidding.
The antagonists aren't trying to destroy Israel with a few mortar shots and rockets. They're trying to get Israel to respond aggressively and kill civilians. Guess what happened. |
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Zackback
Joined: 05 Nov 2010 Location: Kyungbuk
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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Israel should respond even more aggressively. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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I'm worried about the possible reaction of Egypt's new government. |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Location: the eye
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Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:33 am Post subject: |
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comm wrote: |
They're trying to get Israel to respond aggressively and kill civilians.Guess what happened. |
Its lucky for the Palestinians that they only facing Israel. Wonder what Iran would do?
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In a speech in December 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini called the concept of ethnic minorities contrary to Islamic doctrines. He also accused those "who do not wish Muslim countries to be united" in creating the issue of nationalism among minorities. His views were shared by many in the clerical leadership.In the spring of 1980, government forces under the command of President Abolhassan Banisadr took back most of the Kurdish cities through a huge military campaign, sending in mechanized military divisions to Kurdish cities including Mahabad, Sanandaj, Pawe, and Marivan. Entire villages and towns were destroyed to force Kurds into submission.. Ayatollah Khalkhali sentenced thousands of men to execution after summary trials. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps fought to reestablish government control in the Kurdish regions. More than 10,000 Kurds were killed during this process.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Kurdistan |
We don't actually know how many were killed here but it is a safe bet than was a lot more than anything Israel does when fighting Hamas. Of course the UN didn't say anything. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:42 am Post subject: |
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catman wrote: |
I'm worried about the possible reaction of Egypt's new government. |
I wonder about that, too.
Bibi did his best to alter the US election, and failed.
Syria is a mess of major proportions. Things are slopping over into neighboring countries, like Lebanon. Refugees are pouring over into Turkey. Jordan is igniting. |
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Unibrow
Joined: 20 Aug 2012
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Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:36 am Post subject: |
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The death toll has reached 25, mostly civilians. At least three children have died, along with several elderly people. The tweets from people stuck in Gaza are heartbreaking. Nonstop bombing and attacks from Israel are killing more and more people everyday. They don't realize that every "terrorist" they kill creates two more "terrorists." The bloodshed needs to stop but Obama is too chicken to call it what it really is: The worlds 4th most powerful military attacking 30,000 fighters in a population of over 1.5 million in area the size of Delaware. Indiscriminate fire, the use of white phosphorous, and nothing will come of it. Israel will get away with murder like they always do and the Palestinians will be left to suffer. |
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GENO123
Joined: 28 Jan 2010
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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GENO123 wrote: |
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/11/14/Hamas-Fakes-Casualties-on-Twitter |
GENO123's article wrote: |
Aside from passing off civilian casualties caused by its former Syrian sponsors as Israeli atrocities, Hamas's @Alqassambrigade account spent the day falsifying its military activities, claiming that Hamas was shelling military targets, when in fact most of the rockets from the Gaza Strip were aimed at Israel's civilian population. |
How that should have read:
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Aside from passing off a civilian casualty caused by its former Syrian sponsors as an Israeli atrocity, Hamas's @Alqassambrigade account claimed that Hamas was shelling military targets even though most of the rockets from the Gaza Strip hit Israel's civilian population. |
One of the many reasons breitbart.com is a poor source. |
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Titus
Joined: 19 May 2012
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Titus
Joined: 19 May 2012
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:09 am Post subject: |
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Next time we hear that the Arabs just refuse to negotiate with the peace loving Israeli government:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-palestinians-israel-deceptionbre8ae166-20121115,0,3285861.story
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JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's leaders were literally looking in the opposite direction, and making sure everyone knew it, just before catching Hamas's top commander in the Gaza Strip off-guard in an air strike that killed him.
In what now appears to have been a diversionary tactic, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak paid a visit to the Syrian frontier in the north, hours before the air offensive began in the south.
The show of concern over errant mortar shells that have landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria was widely reported during the day by Israeli media.
In fact, Israeli experts now say, the visit may have been part of a ploy to deceive Hamas into believing that a truce was in place in Gaza, so that the Israeli army could catch its target, Hamas military mastermind Ahmed Al-Jaabari. |
I sure wouldn't negotiate going forward. Just keep making babies while watching the United States, UK and France implode. Arabs will win the war yet lose every single battle along the way. |
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falco
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:58 am Post subject: |
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Just what the world needs...another pointless civil war.
Let anyone who takes the life of anyone else indiscriminately, no matter what side they're on, burn in the lakes of hell. |
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