Kassam Rocket Hits Israel Monday

Nadene Goldfoot
The rockets are falling again from the terrorists, showing that the cease fire has ended between Gaza and Israel.  One kassam rocket fell in the Western Negev Monday morning in a rural area.  This time it didn't hit a building or a person. 

At the same time, the chutzpah of the terrorists is at an all time high with Ismail al-Ashqar speaking to the UN Human rights council on Monday morning.  He has publically called for Hamas to kidnap Israeli soldiers, which is a war crime.  Also, he calls for a Jihad to liberate Jerusalem from the "dirt of Zionist occupation."  The Human Rights Council, made up of 47 states, includes such stand up countries as China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba, who know just how to treat  people.  I wonder  whose ethics they follow? 

Hamas fires rockets at the homes of innocent Israeli civilians yet is received with open arms by the UN who are always denouncing Israel.  If this isn't a mass mental illness, what is? 

Resource:  Arutz Sheva
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4204561,00.html

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

Hamas Shells Southern Israel With Six Kassam Rockets
Nadene Goldfoot

On Thursday morning in Israel the siren went off just before a kassam rocket struck the Hanegev Region in southern Israel.  That afternoon 3 more kassams fell in empty fields in southern Israel again.  The evening also brought two more kassams.  Luckily no one was injured or killed, but nerves must have been jangled a great deal after such a day. 

This time the Israeli jets retaliated by hitting two terror tunnels;  one in southern Gaza and one in northern Gaza.  These are one of the main  methods known that bring in rockets to the Hamas terrorists.  Hopefully these single-minded terrorists will be slowed down a bit. 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4095255,00.html

Increasing Rockets Fired Into Israel
Another kassam rocket was fired into the Shaar Hanegev region of southern Israel yesterday by Hamas terrorists.  It landed about a meter from a home and damaged it.    Rockets falling into southern Israel has increased in the past few weeks.  The air force is responding. 

Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4094568,00.html

Gazan Terrorists Play Russian Roulette Again With Israel
Nadene Goldfoot
A Kassam rocket landed in Israel's western Negev yesterday, fired from Gazan terrorists after a quiet of only two weeks.  The problem with these Kassams is that their primitivity means they have no guidance system and land wherever they land.  It's like Russian roulette.  The area they are pointed at is all civilian populated.  It could land in a field or on a child going to school.  Though it did not damage anything this time, a missile of this type is dangerous just the same.  What happened to the cease fire Gaza had promised?  Evidently we can't depend on their promises. 

Resource: Arutz Sheva Newspaper

Bombing of Israel from Gaza has started up again.  The last rocket attack happened on April 18th.  Tuesday is started in again.  Kassam rockets, mortars from Gaza were shot into Western Negav of Eshkol's regional council.  This is the 2nd attack in less than a week. 


http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?ID=226000&R=R1

Islamic Jihad Kassam Rocket Attack

Nadene Goldfoot

The terrorists of Gaza who call themselves the Islamic Jihad attacked Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council in southern Israel Tuesday the 8th with 4 rockets. First they fired 2 kassams hitting a field and parking lot and damaging a vehicle parked there. Three hours later they fired another volley of 2 rockets. The town of 6,000 lies between Beersheva and Ashkelon.

Evidently these rockets are made by the terrorists themselves and are classified as a simple steel artillery rocket which were developed by the military arm of Hamas. Since 2000 they have killed 22 Israelis and one Thai national. Israelis have a 15 second warning of an attack being they are close by. They cause more psychologicl harm than anything.

A 12 ship flotilla is preparing to arrive on May 31st with anti=Israelis. They had better not be carrying surgar, potassium nitrate (fertilizer), TNT or urea nitrate (fertilizer) for these things are used in making Kassams. This is why the ships must be inspected.

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=207335
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qassam_rocket

Continued Rockets and Mortars Hitting Israel

Nine Days=20 Rockets and Mortars

Nadene Goldfoot

1/10/11 Three more rockets hit the outskirts of Ashkelon, city of 120,000 and the sister city of Portland, Oregon. These were rockets of a farther range as Ashkelon is 12 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.

20 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel since the 1st of the year. Three people were injured on a kibbutz of which two were in serious condition. The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for these last attacks Saturday where 4 mortar shells and a few hours later 3 Kassam rockets fell.


This was followed by a firefight between the terrorist militants and Israel's IDF in which a soldier was killed by friendly fire. Air strikes from Israel have been following attacks.


Hamas seems to be increasing the tension, trying to pull Israel into another Operation Cast Lead in order to pile more castigation upon them.


Yet at the same time, Hamas is saying that they don't want a repeat of that operation and are saying that they'll even stop the terrorists during this unofficial ceasefire. It's interesting that they talk about a ceasefire when what has really happened is that their side has increased their offensive against Israel dramatically. In the next confrontation they say they will fullfill the dream of their fathers and take over Israel. So you know that any ceasefire is not for the sake of talking about a Peace between Palestinians and Israelis; it's just to reconnoiter their terrorist troops and reload or rearm.


Israelis are getting mighty irritated about the constant rain of fire upon them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110109/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictgazapolitics

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=202833

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110110/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_violence

Round Two: The Rachel Corrie is Coming

Nadene Goldfoot

The next Gaza flotilla ship, the Rachel Corrie, is supposed to come close to Gaza on Saturday morning. The ship's intention is to break Israel's naval blockade and is using the smoke screen of bringing goods for the Gazans. It's owned by the Free Gaza Movement and flies the Cambodian flag and is funded with money from former prime minister of Malaysia. All sorts of dignitaries are on board making up the 20.

Israel has told them that they don't want a confrontation just like they told the previous ships. If they sail to the port of Ashdod they will check it for weapons and deliver all the goods to Gaza and their representatives are welcome to go along through the crossings.

Of course the co-founder of this Free Gaza movement, Greta Berlin, has said they have no intention of ceding to Israel's request. Supposedly this ship has only 20 people on board. The ship is coming from Ireland. The US is now reacting by assisting Israel with other countries. No one wants to see a repeat of the attack from the Marmara which had hundreds of activists sponsored by an Islamic aid group from Turkey called "the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief. This group is known by its Turkish acronym IHH and they have ties with Hamas, a terrorist group who have taken over Gaza.

In the meantime, no one in the world is helping to free the southern Israeli citizens from the Gazan terrorists shooting rockets into their back yards. A week before the Gaza flotilla came into view, a rocket was shot into Israel. Another fell right after the flotilla was boarded. Thursday night saw rockets fired at the city of Ashkelon again, Portland's sister city. A Kassam rocket exploded later near a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev region. Israel fired back and hit a group of Islamic Jihad terrorists as they were working on firing more rockets. They killed three of them. These rocket attacks from Gaza have increased since the beginning of the year. Israel's IDF then bombs weapons factories or tunnels under the Egyptian boarder. That's why they haven't let cement go into Gaza. It's used for these things. The war has not stopped; it has just slowed down a little. Now Israel is finding that trying to protect yourself from attacks is not understood or even popular among our freedom loving peers.

Resource: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/ from Arutz Sheva
http://www.jpost.com/

O'Leary's Cow Does it Again

How Things Escalate

Cpl. Gilad Schalit hopefully is still alive, but no one in Israel knows. He was an IDF soldier captured two years ago on June 6, 1986 by Hamas terrorists. The Palestinians have done nothing to let us know what has happened to him since his kidnapping despite Israel's inquiries and offers.

On Sunday, some Israeli protesters were demonstrating his kidnapping at the Kerem Shalom border crossing at the Gaza border. They were stopping trucks with shipments for the Gazans and setting tires on fire. They had decided to take matters in their own hands.

After reading John McCain's book, "Faith of my Fathers", about his experience in a prison camp in Viet Nam for five and one half years, I shudder. He experienced torture for the whole time. No doubt Shalit's family and friends are imagining the torture he is enduring if he is still a prisoner.

The terrorists responded on Tuesday, breaking six weeks of peace by firing a Kassam rocket into Southern Israel, most likely into a Sderot field. Four months ago a cease fire was declared, but occasionally the terrorists have broken it.

According to the cease-fire arrangement, Israel would lift a blockade that was started two years ago. Now, when they break the peace with rocket fire, Israel closes the commercial border crossings. The closure is brief, but makes a point. Undoubtedly, it creates a crimp in the Gazans' schedules.

Reference: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/ Yahoo news

Jerusalem Post Newspaper

Faith of my Fathers: John McCain with Mark Salter

Wikopedia: Cpl. Gilad Shalit

And on the Sixth Day...

On the sixth day of a truce between Israel and the Hamas terrorists of Gaza, the terrorists fired three Kassam rockets into southern Israel. It was a gross violation of the truce and wounded two people in Sderot.

This happened after a day of violence evidently in the West Bank, under Fatah control. Nablus was the town which is under the influence of the Jihad of Syria and Iran. The Jihad group avenged Israel's killing of one terrorist in Nablus when they went to arrest two of them. They fired on the soldiers. There was found all sorts of weapons and ammunition in their home. They were planning a big attack on Israel. Three Israeli hikers were injured there, also.

Hamas said they had to support their people in the West Bank, and used this as an excuse to break the truce. How Israel will respond is not known.

Reference: Yahoo news. from Ale Daraghmeh

The Jerusalem Post

Hamas Attack on Sderot

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Sderot, Israel has been attacked by Kassam rockets steadily for the past two weeks. It is not a little border town. Sderot has 24,000 citizens, which means it is a city about the size of Tualatin or West Linn, Oregon. It's larger than the 20,727 people in Roseburg, Oregon. Imagine if of of these Oregon cities were under rocket attack and that half of the population had to flee like Sderot's have had to leave. Many of the citizens here are Jews who are from other Arab lands and had to literally escape to Israel. The newer immigrants are from Russia, a country where practicing their religion was against the law. Many who tried to were put in jail and had lost their jobs.

Sderot was under attack before the 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip but has become worse because of arms smuggling from Sinai into Gaza by Hamas. Thousands of guns, anti-tank rockets and tons of armaments have been brought in over the past year. Most of these are aimed at Israel. The Egyptians are responsible for preventing the smuggling and of course they don't mind seeing Israel hit with Kassam rockets. They are not helping the situation as they should. Half of the population has had to leave the city in the past two weeks. Most all of the children are suffering from post-traumatic stress, just as the children of northern Israel's Kiriat Shimona did in 1980-1985. More than 12 people have been killed by Kassam rockets. The alarm sounds five or more times each day for people to run for the bomb shelters or some kind of cover. Try living there under these circumstances.

Though Prime Minister Sharon and Ehud Bark have promised Israel would respond harshly to continued rockt fire from this area, they are holding back because of the restraining advice from the USA and UN as if they are the aggressors. The fear is that if they retaliate against Hamas, the act will escalate an all out war between Gaza and Israel.

Israel cannot even retaliate by cutting of Palestinian water and electricity or Israel is slandered again. Hamas has not paid for their terrorism against Israel in any way. Though Hamas, a terrorist organization, even terrorizing their brothers who belong to Fatah and live in the same neighborhood, is accepting international aid money that amounts to $400 million dallars more than last year. The Palestinians get $300 per person compared to $44 per person for the poorest people of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the Palestinians continue to live in poverty. Now we know why.

40 YEARS OF WAR

Nadene Goldfoot

Israel has been under pressure ever since it’s birth in 1948 which was celebrated with the surrounding countries attacking with the intent to kill. Being one of the youngest of nations in the world family, it certainly feels the most unloved and unwanted. Yet this child of the world has been waiting to be reborn for over two thousand years.

The Arabs were offered land in a plan that took most of what was promised to become Israel. This would be Palestine, Israel’s neighbor. Never before had there been a Palestine with its own government. It was a new idea to the Arabs, but seeing that Israel was about to be born made the Arab people want their own state of Palestine. Yet they refused this opportunity, though the Jewish leaders went along with it. They missed their original chance.

A miracle happened in 1967 when in six days, Israel accidentally won back land that used to be theirs when Israel was led by King David. It’s many siblings of the surrounding countries were fuming with indignation when this happened, for it was to be the exact opposite. You would think that one tiny country attacked by about eight huge countries would have been consumed and eaten, but the opposite happened.

Israel only wants peace with its neighbors so eventually have given back 94% of the territories they won in the 67 attack in the name and goodwill of peace. The Arab countries are still at war with them to gain only 6% of that territory and Israel has already said it is ready to give up most of that.

The Gaza strip which lies between Israel and Egypt has been completely given up by Israel, and it has been taken over by the two factions of Palestinians who are supposedly making up the waiting to be born new Palestinian State, yet those two factions are fighting each other while shelling Israel with Kassam rockets.

Lebanon, to the north of Israel, also has fighting going on. Factions of Palestinians are fighting the Lebanese soldiers and holding out in Palestinian camps. The fear is that this will spill into Israel again.

These are our "peaceful neighbors that Israel is expected to welcome with open arms. They can’t get along with each other, so how are they ever going to get along with their hated enemy, Israel.

The Palestinian’s life would have been much richer had they hadn’t been so interested in destroying the new state of Israel instead of starting their own state. Forty years of war and hatred are only leading to continued bloodshed.

Kassam Rockets Attacking Israel

Nadene Goldfoot

The Palestinian Hamas movement has been raining Kassam rockets on Israel. Hundreds have been falling, making life absolutely so impossible on nearby towns that the town of Sderot has been evacuated. General Normin has said that these simple homemade steel rockets filled with explosives are militarily insignificant. That may be in Iraq, but not for Israel.

One must remember that a range of distance of 3, 8 and 10 kilometers is deadly for Israel. Israel is only as big as 1/3 of Oregon. The surrounding countries are very close. General Normin may think Kassam rockets are militarily insignificant but he has never fought for Israel nor has he been on such a small turf. The joke in Israel used to be: don't put your arm out of the window on the train or it will be in Jordan.

When I moved to Israel in 1980 I moved to Safed after studying for 10 months in Haifa. On the way to Safed in the moving truck I was told that a Katusha rocket had fallen in the back of a nearby apartment building only two weeks before. Then, Katusha rockets were in vogue and continued to fall in the Northern Galilee. Now they use Kassams out of Gaza, but because they are easily home made, are falling by the hundreds.

Finally Israel is retaliating while trying not to enter the Gaza territory. They've been enduring these attacks for far too long.