Gaza Ignores Warning: Continues Provoking

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Iron Dome Worked

Israel's IAF took out a rocket launcher in Gaza last night after it had shot a rocket towards Kibbutz Yad Mordechai.  Sirens were heard to warn the populace at 10:00pm.

Hamas accuses a jihadist group who are attacking them, inference of it being ISIS or one of a copy-cat of Hamas, being they are so close in goals and behaviors..
                                                                             

Shooting a rocket from Gaza towards a Kibbutz

The UN, in the meantime, have made a ruling,  unfavorable as usual,  towards Israel.  They understand nothing of what has been going on but act as judge and jury.   Netanyahu called their report "flawed and biased."

Does anyone know on their panel the difference between offensive and defensive attacks?  Is their no difference in their basket of morality rules the difference between wanting to drive someone out-lock, stock and barrel, and defending oneself against such attacks?
                                                                     

Defensive measures needed for tiny Israel 

They may want to see Israel just take all the slings and arrows from the Palestinians without complaint, but it ain't goin ta happen.  Israel is not made up of appeasers, but defenders.  The genes of Aluf Bar Kochba and King David run in their bloodline.  They are there to stay and the Palestinians would be better off if they would accept that fact and work together with Israel for the betterment of their people.  After all, Israel is not trying to run them out.  Israelis gave up living in Gaza years ago in the name of peace.  They've been kicked in the shpelkas for being more than reasonable and peaceful.  The UN does not know how to measure acts other than the black and white kind.  Leave or stay.  Since Israel is staying, they are in the wrong in their eyes.  No matter what great lengths Israel has gone to not hit Arab citizens  in Gaza in their defensive operations, it hasn't mattered a twit to the UN.  At least it matters to Israel.  They know they did everything in their power; something their enemy would never do for them.

Resource:  http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/44037/iaf-strikes-gaza-rocket-launcher-following-attack-idf/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=d380a7a126-BIN+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-d380a7a126-83518689#0hHUmjWPA00thupB.97
Additional:  http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/politics-and-military/military/idf-attacks-in-gaza-in-response-to-rocket-fire-towards-israel-14186%20?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=IDF+attacks+Gaza+in+response+to+rocket+fire%2C+Islamic+State+destroys+ancient+city+of+Tadmur%2C+9+arrested+for+lynching+Syrian+rebels+and+more+news+at+JerusalemOnline&utm_campaign=MiddayNewsletter

December 25th 2013 in Southern Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

Christmas Day was remembered by Gaza's Hamas terrorists who fired a rocket towards southern Israel, but protection from above made sure it would drop within Gaza, which it did, harming no one.

It isn't that the terrorists are tired of terrorizing.  It's well known that their activities of late have been to look for longer range missiles for the next go-around.  They're stockpiling more advanced missiles.  

This means that Israel has to be prepared for ways to protect themselves as well.  Having the Iron Dome ready is one way.  

This latest shot evidently was their way of saying some sort of response to Israel's response to their previous attack of killing an Israeli who was repairing the fence after a storm and was shot by a terrorist sniper.  The Israeli was on Israel's side of the fence.  They knew what he was doing.  He was just an available target.

Resource: Arutz Sheva by Maayana Miskin

Hamas Rocket Launchers Got A Direct Hit by Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel IAF hit 2 concealed rocket launchers in northern Gaza late Monday morning.  They were direct hits.  This was in response to the 2 missiles Hamas had fired from Gaza that morning; one coming into Ashkelon that the Iron Dome stopped.

"“This targeted strike, based on IDF intelligence and advanced air force capabilities, is an immediate response to the terrorist aggression and its infrastructure in Gaza," Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said. 

This is what must happen every time Israel is attacked.  There must be an immediate response and snuff out the origin of the attacks.  

Resource:  http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=12891

Al-Qaida Militant Battalion's 4 Katushas From Lebanon Fired Into Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

Four Katusha rockets fell into Israel Thursday afternoon fired from southern Lebanon.  This happened in the early hours of Thursday morning to those of us in the USA on the Pacific coast as there is about a 10 hour difference.  Later, The Lebanese branch of the Abdullah Azzaam Brigades, a militant al-Qaida Islamist group said it was them who had attacked Israel.

Israel's Iron Dome downed one, a short-range Katyusha rocket.  A Twitter account, the terrorists' communication media, was seen to say "Praise and thanks be to Allah."  I say thank G-d that one rocket had barely missed. hitting a retirement home near Acre that houses Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.  Thank G-d that that the remaining 3 rockets caused little damage where they did fall.  Thank G-d that the rain of rockets from Gaza have so far fallen without a direct hit on life.  However, they cause enough harm emotionally as it is.  The hatred spewing from Islamic militant groups causes enough of a financial burden on everyone involved that could be better spent improving lives, not trying to take lives, including their own.

This is fairly rare that rockets come in from Lebanon.  Israel has been receiving rocket firing from Gaza even through the cease fire and has responded.  Like Netanyahu warned after this attack, "Anyone who attacks us, or tries to attack us, should know that we will get him."

The response came Friday morning reporting that Israel's planes were successful and hit their target which was south of Beirut.  Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible.  Palestinian military groups are in Lebanon firing at Israel from that point.  As Defense Minister Moshe Ya'aon commented, "The Middle East is hot and turbulent, whether among the extremist Islamic movements or the spread of global jihad."

Resource: Oregonian newspaper 8/23/13 page A5, Militants fire rockets into Israel; none reported hurt, Washington Post.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.543066

Palestinians in Judea and Samaria Act Out

Nadene Goldfoot                                                               

We're always hearing about the rockets, mortars and missiles coming from Gaza and hitting southern Israel.  Judea and Samaria are acting out as well in different ways.

From June 11th to the 17th , 2013, there have been 72 rock throwing incidents of Arabs throwing rocks at Jews, and 15 firebomb attacks.  Before this there was a stabbing incident where Eviatar Borovzky was stabbed to death by a Palestinian.

 

"The name Judea, when used in Judea and Samaria, refers to all of the region south of Jerusalem including Gush Etzion and Har Hebron. The region of Samaria, on the other hand, refers to the area north of Jerusalem. East Jerusalem has been incorporated into Jerusalem District and is under Israeli civilian rule. Jerusalem is undivided today.  That part of the West Bank is thus excluded from the administrative structure that is the Judea and Samaria Area."

By 1967, there were 565,904 Muslims living in Judea and Samaria. By July 1972, there were almost 1 million Arabs living in Israel's administered areas.  640,600 were in Judea and Samaria on land that was 2,270 sq miles.   Today there are about 2,316,700.  As of February 2013, there were 360,000 Jews living in both Judea and Samaria.   There are 1.7 million Arabs living in Israel.  

Judea and Samaria are acting like a buffer zone between 4 million Jews of the Tel Aviv and Netanya corridor.  This original Israelite land is the Iron Dome for the 6 million Jews of today's Israel.  There is nothing else protecting them from the land of Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,  Syria, and Lebanon and the ultimate Iranian  incursion.  

Resource:  https://www.facebook.com/idfonline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea_and_Samaria_Area
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/02/14/jewish-population-in-judea-and-samaria-on-the-rise/
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/demograhics.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2119.html#we
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/settlers-riot-after-west-bank-terror-attack-6-arrested.premium-1.518394
Facts About Israel, Division of information, ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem

First Hand Account: Letter From Ashkelon - Conditions in Barzilai Hospital

I OFTEN WONDER……………

21st June 2012
Rhoda Goodman
Lea Malul
Forwarded to me from Golda

I often wonder how people in New York would feel if residents of New Jersey were lobbing rockets into their city every day?  Well, going on our experience here in Ashkelon, they wouldn’t like it very much.  Last night at 2 o’clock the siren sounded and, woken from sleep, we rushed into the ‘safe’ room in our house.  The challenge is that most of Ashkelon’s population do not have such facilities and have to make their way to communal shelters.  A small problem being that we only have about 20 seconds after the siren sounds before the missiles land.  No time really, none at all.

During the middle of the night there were four rockets and, thank the Lord, they were shot down by the Iron Dome Israeli defense system.  We counted the explosions before we crawled back to sleep.  In all, more than 150 missiles have been fired at Ashkelon from Gaza in the last two days.  Two days when the people of Ashkelon have once again been thoroughly traumatized, the children particularly, and even our pets show signs of strain.

Particularly difficult is being outside the home.  To some extent, you feel protected in the safe room.  However, in the past, a missile pierced the roof of one of Ashkelon’s main malls, seriously injuring a doctor and the patient she was treating in her surgery on the top floor of the mall.  Given circumstances such as these, we are not entirely at ease even within our designated ‘safe’ areas.  On the other hand, driving around the city is a whole other story.  When the traffic lights turn red you will them to change.  Who wants to be stuck at a traffic light when the siren wails?  What do you do?  You feel an idiot lying down in the middle of the road, but lying down is what you should do.  Driving along, you are constantly looking for south facing walls.  Why south facing?  Well, Gaza is situated 6 miles to the south of Ashkelon and, in the event of a rocket attack, you would want to find such a wall to crouch behind.

Our children are now on holiday but they cannot go out.  They cannot go to the beach to play or visit friends or go to the mall.  They hear only sirens and explosions.  Barzilai, Ashkelon’s local hospital, serves over  .  Even whilst our doctors are treating injured and traumatized civilians and military personnel in our emergency room, they too are anxious about the safety of their own families.  Ashkelon is not a big city and the missiles that are fired at us indiscriminately fall on residential areas, on schools and, yes, on our hospital too.  For this reason Barzilai is rapidly completing a program of fortification of many of the vulnerable areas of the hospital, such as the maternity delivery suite and the children’s wards.  Leading up to and during the war three and a half years ago, 80% of the hospital was closed down because of the bombardment.  At a time when the local population desperately needed Barzilai, the hospital could not function because the safety of patients was compromised.

However, despite the numerous rockets that have landed in the grounds of Barzilai hospital since Israel vacated Gaza in 2007, Barzilai’s physicians treat everyone who comes to the hospital for help.  Unknown and unacknowledged outside of Israel and strange as it may sound, many of the doctors who work in Israeli hospitals are Palestinians and, among their patients, are Palestinians too.  This situation is replicated at Barzilai where, amongst the patients we treat, are Palestinians who are unable to be adequately cared for in Gaza.  Yes, we even treat the very people who are launching rockets at us.  

We just want to live in peace with our Palestinian neighbours.  We are not politicans,  just ordinary people going about their lives trying to make a living and have some good times with family and friends before we die.  We would just like to die later rather than sooner.

Rhoda Goodman with Lea Malul

15 Rockets Fired After Cease Fire

Nadene Goldfoot

The Popular Resistance Committee of Gazan terrorists were resisting the cease fire order from Hamas on Monday because several of their senior members were killed in the last retaliating volley from Israel.  They know the outcome of their attacks:  when they fire into Israel, Israel will retaliate from the air.  This airstrike got the rocket launching devise.  Israel does not aim for people, but sites where the firing comes from in trying to stop it.  They have hit tunnels and such as well.

Israel's new Iron Dome protection capability was able to stop 4 out of 5 rockets fired, but that last one that got into Israel hit a young Israeli man, Yossi Shushan,  and killed him.  Another rocket was heading for Ashkelon but the Iron Dome stopped it. 4 of the 15 rockets landed in the Sderot vicinity and in the outskirts of Ashkelon.   A building was hit in this new volley.  The terrorists have resorted to firing a volley of many rockets like 7 in order to get some through the Iron Dome.  This is stopping quite a few of them.  Israel plans on procuring a few more Iron Domes by next year.  They have the capability to stop rockets fired into heavier populations so as not to waste them. 

Egypt did not recall their ambassador to Israel as they had threatened when several of their soldiers were killed in the shootout between the IDF and the terrorists in the first volley.  It took a lot of counseling to calm things down. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/gaza-rocket-fire-persists-despite-truce-israeli-aircraft-retaliate/2011/08/22/gIQA578gVJ_story.html

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=234914

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-defense-sources-gaza-terror-groups-changing-tactics-to-avoid-iron-dome-system-1.379914

17 Grad Missiles Fired at Be'er Sheva and Ashdod

                   (count now 8 dead  41 injured)

Israel is experiencing multiple attacks using Grad missiles and Kassam rockets in many places at the same time. 

Israel has Iron Dome missile Interceptor which stopped several missiles fired into Be'er Sheva and Ashdod but didn't stop one of them.  This one came in a 2nd round of firings and hit a synagogue in Ashdod at 8:15am.  Another missile landed next to a yeshiva.  6 men were wounded from shrapnel, one in serious condition. 

Minutes later a Kassam rocket was launched in the area of Ashkelon where the largest hospital is.  During the night terrorists fired several Kassam rockets from Gaza which landed in the Sdot Negev area.

Our IAF jets targeted 7 terrorist compounds in retaliation such as a weapon manufacturing site and two terror activity centers, two smuggling tunnels and such. 

Now we know that 8 Israelis died in the Eilat attack.  This is the worst attack Israel has suffered from for a long time.  The IDF managed to take the life of the top terrorist, Abu Awad Kamel a-Neirab, commander of a Brigade that was the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, an offshoot of Hamas. 

Resource:  Autz Sheva Synagogue Hit as Grad Missiles Fired at Be'er Sheva and Ashdod by Elad Benari

http://news.yahoo.com/rockets-airstrikes-attack-israel-061525929.html