Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense's One Year Anniversary Against Hamas

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

It was just one year ago that Israel had said ENOUGH and after being hit by rockets, mortars and missiles from Gaza since 2001, finally went into Gaza  in an offensive land operation to put an end to the shooting with Operation Pillar of Defense that lasted for 8 days.

It was recalled by both Hamas and other affiliated terrorists in Gaza and in Israel.  Cities like Sderot and Ashkelon were favorite sites hit in Israel.  Where Sderot is very close to the border, Ashkelon is a large major city to the north of Gaza along the sea where a large hospital is that serves both Arab Gazans and Israelis inside a large perimeter.  The strikes have caused the hospital to go to the basement levels in order to take care of their patients.  What seems to be an insane goal to me, the Arabs keep aiming for the city that provides them life when they themselves are injured.

Saturday afternoon during Shabbat, southern Israel was greeted by 3 rockets shot at them from Gaza.  They landed in an open field in Gaza!  The platform they were shot from must have been further back to not make it over the border into Sderot or some other Israeli site.

That was the climax of a week of rockets that were fired.  Last week one rocket again fell short of the border of Ashkelon from Gaza. First the warning siren blared.   The population were driven to take cover in bomb shelters.  The rocket fell just a little way from the border but landed on the Gazan side.

Last Tuesday, a Palestinian Arab managed to get into Israel from Gaza and was caught by the Israeli security forces.  He didn't come over as an immigrant wanting a better life, though.  He had grenades in his pockets.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented that there have been only 35 incidents of rocket fire since then, so this showed a 98% drop of rocket fire since last year's operation.

Will Kerry be successful in bringing about peace between the Palestinians and Israel?  He's dealing with Abbas from Fatah right now.  They have no connection with Gaza, the section that Israel left, lock, stock and barrel in the name of peace that has turned into a launching pad of rockets, mortars and missiles against them.

Hamas's charter shows no sign of ever making peace.   The charter is a 30 page document and as long as it remains their guiding dogma for Hamas or the Palestinian people in mass, the dream of peace remains impossible.  Land is elemental in this problem.  It is religion that is guiding the Palestinian Arabs.  From the Hamas Covenant, we read that "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."  (said by The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory.)  The name "Hamas" means  strength and bravery according to Al-Mua'jam al-Wasit: c1.  They write, "Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious.  It needs all sincere efforts."

That religion is the driving force, from article 6 in their charter, says, "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.  The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.  Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).

I have asked several Muslims about this section often quoted by Westerners who have studied the Koran and it has been explained to me in a very confusing way that either it's not there or its meaning is different and must be studied from another one of Islam's writings.  I get the feeling that it is not interpreted correctly but is often used by less educated Muslims to be the banner for their land fight against Jews in the Middle East.  However, when Muslims of little education read it, it is a very blatant statement and sounds like a dictum to be very aggressive against Jews and to do them harm.

Therefore I see in article 13  that there is no solution in Palestinian thinking  about the  Palestinian question  of a 2 state solution except through Jihad.  Initiative, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.  Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences  are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.

Article 32 threatens Muslims that today Jews are taking Palestine and tomorrow it will be one country or another and that the Zionist plan is limitless.  They warn that the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates, and then want to take more land.

I find this laughable because our problem is keeping Israel with a majority of Jews to keep it a Jewish state.  The last thing we need is again to live among the world as we have been, a minority without any rights of our own as has already happened in the past.  It is the Muslims who have been expansionists, forcing everyone to convert to Islam and taking their land and holy sites.  So what they really are fearing is that Jews will suddenly act like they have with the same kinds of goals.  Once they realize we are not about to ape their behaviors, perhaps they will accept us.  Hamas must be educated with some of these more enlightening and realistic ideas to solve this world problem.

 Has John Kerry, Secretary of State of the USA, found out if Hamas has changed its charter yet?  How about Fatah?  Why should Israel make peace with one who is under the spell of the other and will cooperate with fighting against Israel?  Shouldn't that twosome be worked on by the USA first before even thinking of creating another state?  Could they be thinking that this will give Fatah power over Hamas?

Resource:  http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-fire-three-rockets-at-israel/
Excerpts from the Hamas Charter, produced by StandWithUs.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/police-find-third-body-on-ashkelon-beach/

3 Rockets Falling into Sderot Again: Truce Broken

Nadene Goldfoot
A mortar was shot into southern Israel's  Sderot Tuesday .
Qassam rockets were then shot into the same area Wednesday morning as children were going to school, making 2 attacks in 24 hours.

These attacks were the first since rockets were fired during President Obama's visit to Israel 2 weeks ago.

Air strikes from Israel followed these attacks up.  The Israeli air raids came after the 3rd rocket attack on Israel.  These were the first airstrikes since an informal cease-fire in November.  An Israeli military statement said its planes targeted accurately  2 extensive terror sites.

Defense Minister Ya'alon warned that Israel will take a tough response toward any shelling.

Palestinians  reported that no one was hurt and no damage was reported in Northern Gaza.

A mortar  from Syria was shot into Ramat Hagolan in the North.   The IDF destroyed the source of fire.  Israel will not ignore any rockets coming from Syria, either, whether accidental or not.

During November 2012, 1,500 rockets were fired at Israel in 8 days from Gaza.   Israel's military holds Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible for any attack against Israel.  Though Sderot takes most of the hits and depending on the ammunition used, Netanyahu said that shelling southern Israel puts 1 million Israeli citizens in harm's way.  That's 1/8th of the population.

I note that the elections of the Palestinians were just over, and Hamas terrorists put in the same people again who are all for attacking Israel.

Though on Tuesday the UN overwhelmingly ok'd a worldwide arms trade pact, Iran, North Korea and Syria, all facing arms embargoes, cast the only no votes.  They complained that it favors the big arms suppliers like the USA over importers that need weapons for self defense.The Palestinian terrorists get many of their rockets from Syria who gets them from Iran.  Moon explained that the Arms Trade Treaty will make it more difficult for deadly weapons to be diverted into the illicit market.  It will take 90 days to be in effect.  50 states need to ratify it.  The USA's National Rifle Association has opposed it.  It needs 2/3 approval to win ratification.   So were the hits on Tuesday  and today in response to "getting their licks in before they can't get their weapons for self -defense"?   It certainly is coincidental.

Hopefully this will mean that eventually it will become harder and harder for these terrorists to receive their weapons to use against the Israeli population.  The cease fire lasted from November 21st to  about March 20th when Obama visited.

Resource:  Oregonian newspaper 4/3/13 page A4, Israel responds to rocket fire with airstrikes and page A5 UN overwhelmingly OK's worldwide arms trade pact.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/166720#.UVxYj6KOTqE
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/12/us-palestinians-israel-violence-idUSBRE8AB07Y20121112
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/2-rockets-pound-Sderot-area-as-tensions-rise-on-Gaza-front-308509

Gaza's Reminder to Obama of Their Presence: Two Qassam Rockets on Sderot

Nadene Goldfoot
On Obama's 2nd day of visiting Israel, at 7:15 am in Sderot, Quassam rockets were fired from Gaza.  What a surprise for a Thursday morning to have a rocket hit your backyard.  Another fell into an open area and about 3 others must have fallen into their own Palestinian territory.  First off, the air raid sirens went off 5 times.  .

This is certainly a break in the quiet enjoyed by the Israelis in southern Israel lately.   It's not a very nice thing to happen just before Passover.

Obama is talking to Assad who isn't all that popular in Gaza.  Could it be a message for Obama as well?

Resource:  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4359306,00.html

Payback For Hitting Sderot

Nadene Goldfoot
This week the UN wrote such a pathetically terrible report, inaccurate and unbalanced as usual on Gaza that Israel's ambassador, Ron Prosor, wrote a sharp letter to the Security Council's President Gerard Araud "that a group of researchers on the moon could have produced a more accurate and balanced report than this one on Gaza.  This week, Israel's children started their school year with the all-too-familiar sounds of sirens and explosions as terrorists in Gaza fired 6 more rockets into their communities," he wrote as a starter.

This week southern Israel suffered rocket fire from several rockets, one of which had hit a home in Sderot early Friday morning, so the Israel Air Force (IDF) identified the cell responsible and identified an accurate strike.  At least 3 Palestinians were killed and one injured.  It was near the border.  The wounded were rushed to a local hospital by ambulances.  Three targets in Gaza were struck for the rocket fire on Sderot and the surrounding area.  Two weapons production sites and a weapons warehouse were hit in northern Gaza in the retaliation.

The terrorists should know by now that when they hit Israel, it's a sure thing that they'll get it back in return.

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=283988#

Counterterrorism in Gaza: AQAP Saudi Cell Caught With Poison Chemicals

Nadene Goldfoot
Last Sunday, August 26, 3 rockets hit Sderot, Israel which lies just a few miles from the Gaza Strip border.  This time 2 workmen were injured.  On the very same day, 2 terrorist cells were captured in Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  Both were created by Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula  This group, AQAP, has ordered its Sinai cells and the Egyptian and Palestinian branches to step up their attacks from Sinai and the Gaza Strip.  AQAP is an al--Qaeda group who revere Osama bin Laden of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.  The Saudi government evidently chased them into Yemen, whose government is also against them.

The AQAP have been found with not only weapons and explosives, but chemical substances for loading into explosive charges.  This type of evidence was found in 2002 when a bomb was found packed with poison chemicals and was detonated by a Palestinian suicide killer in Jerusalem.  It is feared that those weapons may also now be in the Sinai.

The result was 3 Qassam missiles fired into the industrial zone of Sderot-Shear Hanegev.   This started an even stronger anti-Israel offensive from Gaza.  The group in Gaza shooting is the Shura Council that is actually from the East Jerusalem area who are a 6,000 force of well-armed terrorists commanded by an Egyptian, Hisham Saydani.  Al Qaeda calls him Abu al-Walid al-Maqdisi.  His lieutenants and he serve as liaisons between the Sinai cells and the AQAP in Yemen.

Hamas terrorists who rule Gaza were holding Saydani in a special security prison cell until 2 weeks ago when they let him go.  He set up the Shura Council's attack near Rafah.  They killed 16 Egyptian soldiers and rammed the Kerem Shalom crossing barrier into Israel.    Egypt demanded that Hamas find and arrest them. The 3 missile strike on Sderot was warning Hamas to stay away from Saydani and his new group or they'd keep striking Sderot until the IDF would attack Hamas's areas.

Hitting Eilat, Israel on August 17 was also a warning to Cairo to stop looking for the Salafi terrorists in Sinai or else southern Israel would continue to be hit, bringing out the IDF strikes.

Resource:  Debka@thejmg.com  Al Qaeda targets Saudi Arabia, Israel, Saudi cell found with chemicals, special report
http://atlanticsentinel.com/2012/08/saudis-arrest-al-qaeda-cells-with-links-to-gaza-sinai/  very thorough
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda_in_the_Arabian_Peninsula

Sderot Home, Family Hit Twice in 5 Years

Nadene Goldfoot

School started in southern Israel and the children were greeted by more rockets raining on their countryside from Gazan terrorists.  The IDF retaliated by hitting a munitions depot on Tuesday in response to the shelling.

Rockets from Gaza terrorists have been raining on southern Israel almost daily since 2001.  Since January of this year, 450 rockets have fallen into southern Israel.   It happened again just this morning.  The town most hit is Sderot, which is just a few miles away from the Gaza Strip border.  Sure enough, the Timsit family's home was hit 5 years ago in 2007, and again this morning.  The house was damaged and the woman in the house at the time was traumatized.  I would be too, if a rocket hit the roof of my house and came through.

An Al Qaeda affiliated group were the attackers, the Mujahedeen Shura Committee, who are spread out in the Sinai and in Gaza.  They are retaliating, they said.  I can't figure that one because what Israel does is go after the sources after an attack on Israel.  This group had also attacked with a  rocket barrage earlier this week as well.  They take responsibility for previous attacks, too.   They just keep on shelling and there aren't excuses they can hide behind except their unreasonable hatred for Israel.

A second rocket, causing the red alert alarm to cry out, fell in an open field.  On Thursday evening a rocket landed in the Ashkelon area north of Sderot.

Resources: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159494#.UEDVRcFlTxo
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=283346
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/gaza-rocket-hits-home-in-sderot-causes-damage-to-property-1.461899

Clinton's Greeting in the Middle East

Nadene Goldfoot
Egypt's military head, field Marshal Hussein Tantawi warned today  after Hillary Clinton left that he won't let the Muslim Brotherhood dominate Egypt, even though Hillary  had advised him to work with Egypt's elected Islamist leaders, so he wasn't very happy with her suggestions. He stated that "Egypt will never fall.  It belongs to all Egyptians and not to a certain group--the armed forces will not allow it."  The military has cut Morsi's powers and has taken over the job of writing a new constitution.

Egypt itself wasn't happy with her either,  boys holding placards showed they hated Israel just a little more than they hated her.  Her motorcade was hit with shoes, tomatoes and a few water bottles.  The people called out "Monika, Monika, remembering her husband's affair just to irk her.

While Egypt's liberals were for the Arab Spring, the liberals and Christians are now accusing Clinton and Obama with forcing the Muslim Brotherhood down Egypt's throat to curry favor with the Islamists.

With that greeting behind her,  Hillary then met with Prime Minister Binyamim Netanyahu in Jerusalem on the last leg of her trip abroad.  She was there to talk about Iran's nuclear power and the stalled peace process with Hamas and Fatah.

As usual, southern Israel at that moment was hit with a rocket at around 9:30pm.  An Israel News Daily article explained what happens is that first the scream of the Color Red rocket alert sounds.  15 seconds later a rocket explodes.  This time it was a short-range Qassam and it exploded somewhere in the western Negev.  Security personel have to go out to locate the site where it exploded.  Israelis must stay in their shelters for 10 minutes after its impact to make sure it's not being followed immediately by another which can happen.

An hour later, another attack did come, this time against the nearby city of Sderot, which is the closest to the Gaza Strip.  This rocket exploded in a field on the outskirts of the city.  Hillary should visit the southern part just to see what it's like and what the population endures from the terrorists.

Resource: Oregonian 7/16/12 page A3, In Egypt by AP
arutz sheva,, Rocket fire Aimed at southern Israel by Chana Ya'ar
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157910
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157915

46 Rockets, Mortars Hit Hof Ashkelon Tuesday Night

Nadene Goldfoot
 Four border policemen  were injured, with the officer  seriously injured in a rocket attack on Ashkelon Tuesday night.  A kibbutz building had also been hit.  Southern Israel, including the Negav and Sderot were hit with 45 rockets between midnight and 10:30pm Tuesday night.  Most were the short range Kassam,rockets but 3  Grad Katyushas  were aimed at Netivot.  Hamas has taken responsibility saying they were trying to hit the army Zikim base and the rockets were their response to IAF strikes last night.

This has put hundreds of thousands of Israelis under siege and in bomb shelters.  The result is that the IAF struck 3 times on terror targets in Gaza in the last 24 hours which killed at least 6 terrorists.  One strike on Tuesday afternoon injured a man on a motorcycle.

Monday 2 terrorists had infiltrated and were in the Sinai area and have been identified as a Saudi citizen,  Abu Huthiyfa al-Rathali.  and an Egyptian,  Abu Salah al-Masri who belong to the group "Shura Council of the Mujahedeen at Al Quds.  They made a video showing them to be reading their wills before the attack.  The group said the attack was for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Arab terrorists held in Israel's jail and Osama bin Laden.  They had managed to kill one Israeli before killing themselves.  

Earlier in the day, another strike hit a motorcycle and killed 2 Islamic Jihad terrorists, Mohammed Shabat and Ismail Odeh.  They were part of a squad of snipers working near the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip that had shot at an Israli farmer working near the fence last Thursday.

There was an explosion in Gaza City that killed a 2 yr old Palestinian girl on Tuesday evening, but Israel said there was no air raid from them in the area then. Update:6/20/12:   It's now found that a Palestinian rocket was the cause of the child's death.  

Hamas said they fired only 10 rockets after 3 Israeli air strikes killed 6 Palestinians.  This was said after Israel hit again over Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and injured the 2 men on a motorcycle.

The terrorists only see things as one-sided.  The Palestinian cabinet condemned "continuous Israeli escalation" and called for "international protection to the Palestinian people", but never mention the fact that they start the attacks and Israel acts in defense and also told them that they would retaliate if attacked.

Israel aid that their 3 air raids in the past 12 hours was not related to the border incident and that they had targeted militants planning or engaging in attacks on Israel.  Example is finding a terrorist squad handling an explosive device near the security fence in central Gaza.  They were trying to fire a rocket at Israel.

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/two-gazans-killed-israeli-air-strike-085111010.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Controls/SendFriend.ashx?print=1&type=0&item=157032
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=274471
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/06/19/Rockets-pound-southern-Israel/UPI-96881340126009/
Update: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=4755, up to 50 rockets 

Grad Rocket Hits Southern Israel on Shabbat

Nadene Goldfoot
A 122 mm Grad rocket fell into an open desert of the Arava region in southern Israel on this Shabbat from terrorists who were most likely close to the Egyptian border around Sinai which Egypt has not been guarding as well as in the Mubarak period.  Of course Egypt denies it came from the Egyptian area.  It could have even come from Jordan, which Haaretz suggests, or even that Hamas terrorists managed to get very close to the Sinai area.

 50 rockets of this type made in China were found to be long distance and hit Israel on Decmeber 31, 2008, wounding 5 people. Russia also makes this type of Grad rocket as well as other countries.  The distance it can travel is at least 22 to 25  miles.  Update on 17th  is that the distance can be 50 km or 31.07 miles.   April of this year saw  3 Grads that were fired at Eilat from the same area.  For Oregonians, this is like a Grad rocket shot from Hillsboro and hitting Portland.

2001 saw rockets being shot into southern Israel from Gaza's Hamas terrorists.  Sderot, the closest city to Gaza is only 1.864 miles or 3 km away and was hit constantly.  More than 8,600 rockets have been shot into Israel from Gaza since then causing 28 deaths and several hundred wounded, not to mention the PTSD caused by the population.  By 2006 long range rockets such as this grad was reaching Ashkelon.

So far, this year of 2012 has seen 224 rockets and 28 mortars hit southern Israel from Gaza with the worst month being in March.

Resource:  http://news.yahoo.com/rocket-fired-southern-israel-nobody-hurt-army-103106310.html
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=274039
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/16/us-israel-rocket-idUSBRE85F0G220120616
http://defense-update.com/newscast/1208/analysis/311208_palestinians_use_chineese_ws2e_extendedrange_rockets.html
http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Ammunition-Handbook/122-mm-BM-21-Grad-series-rockets-Russian-Federation.html
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/grad-rocket-lands-in-southern-israel-source-unknown-1.436740
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2012
update: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?ID=274126&R=R1

More Mortars Bursting

Nadene Goldfoot

Tit for tat, and so the war goes on.  This time the Military Branch of the Islamic Jihad took responsibility for a barrage of 5 rockets that were fired into southern Israel around Ofakim Wednesday evening from Gaza.  When it's early morning here it's evening there.  One landed south of Ashkelon and three in Be'er Sheva.  Also, rockets landed in the Eshkol Regional Council. 

A rocket hit a car in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council and injured a little toddler's hand in it.  Rocket fire continued late Wednesday night.  Two rockets landed in Sderot, which is very close to the Gaza border. 

In retaliation, Israel hit  storage buildings for weapons in both north and south Gaza. and they also hit tunnels used for sneaking in weapons. 

Why the barrage this time?  The Jihad group was angry because Israel got one of the terrorists named Ismael al-Asmar, 34 years old.  This is turning into a Hatfield-McCoy situation.  X shoots at Y and Yshoots back and X shoots again because Yshot back.  The difference is that Israel can pinpoint their target and the terrorists terrorize by shooting rockets and missiles into a populated civilian area.  If they didn't have bomb shelters to run to in a matter of seconds more would be dead and injured.  As it is the hospital will be full of terrorized people.  The terrorists know they can expect retaliation after they have attacked Israel.  Israel is never sure when missiles will rain down and must stay close to bomb shelters. 

All Israelis in the southern area were told to stay indoors.  A community had to cancel a music festival.  Then two more mortar shells were fired into the Israeli territory.    The Iron Dome did stop a Grad rocket.

The terrorists reported that two of their men were dead and 20 were injured.  They have an awful lot of Muslims compared to the Jewish population, and they don't seem to mind dying when they can go out as a marytr which earns them 72 virgins.  Jews have no such reward.  They just want to live. 

Resource: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/barrage-of-rockets-hits-southern-israel-idf-kills-islamic-jihad-member-in-gaza-1.380503

http://www.jpost.com/

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=235309

Thanks, U.N.  As Usual: Palestinians Keep Firing Rockets Into Israel
When is the U.N. going to get brave and tell the Hamas terrorists to stop hitting Israel?  I'd like to see the Secretary General put up with it happening in his back yard.  Seeing China in action, I have a feeling I know what he'd do about it. 

Nadene Goldfoot
On Tuesday  in Israel a rocket fell into the Sderot area again.  Sderot has been the constant victim of too many rockets in Southern Israel.  No one was injured, but you can figure that it's not a  great experience to have to put up with.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak checked out the Beersheba battery of the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system on Thursday.  The trial deployment had begun.  It's now ready for action.   It was developed in Israel and is operated by Israelis.  I remember that the USA had installed some system in Israel but that Israelis were barred from using it. 

Somehow a rocket from the Gaza Strip landed in fields south of Ashkelon on Thursday evening.  This is from a long distance rocket to reach that far.  Ashkelon is the city where Barzeli Hospital is which is the largest hospital in the vicinity.  It's the hospital that Arabs and Israelis have used.  Ashkelon is Portland's Sister City. 

http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=214659
Lebanon rockets: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110331/wl_mideast_afp/israellebanonhezbollahconflict

A Mile From Gaza Border in Israel

What's It Like?

Nadene Goldfoot
Actually, Sderot lies less than a mile from the Gaza border. Eleven months ago Israel had to go into Gaza and bring to a halt the eight years Palestinian terrorists shelled Israel. Now Israel is hit about twice a month, which is a big improvement but still not peaceful.

Children as well as adults had only about a 30 second warning of incoming rockets. Due to donations, the city now has a new indoor playground for the children that has a horizontal climbing wall, mini-soccer field and convertible disco/movie theater. It also has six bomb shelters and rocket-proof, anti-shockwave walls. This opened in June 2009. Now for the first time the children can play without fear.

Israel was complying, I'm afraid, with the world in not being allowed to stop the Palestinians from their terror on Israel's citizens when they started the shelling. Finally the government had to react, and of course they were accused of using too much force. Richard Goldstone put out the horrid Goldstone Report coming down hard on Israel. He was never around nor the UN when children died in Sderot. They didn't even give it a thought as to what life was like for the Israelis for the past eight years. All they do is count casualties, and since the number was higher in Gaza after Israel's incursion, Israel gets the blame.

I wonder if our outlook on life doesn't sway the numbers. Muslim males are rather anxious to meet their 72 virgins while Jews are all for "Life", or as we say, "L'Chaim!". To Life!. I don't know what the Muslim women are anxious about except they seem to be so proud of their terrorist sons. At any rate, we have managed so far to keep our death numbers lower. It also could be that we have fewer numbers to start with, and aim to keep them alive and well.

Resource: Taking the Edge Off War by Hugh Dellios

Audacity of Hamas

Nadene Goldfoot

On Sunday (about 12 hours ago our time) the terrorists fired rockets into Israel, probably in Sderot, killing two soldiers and one civilian. The rockets landed near a kindergarten.

Hamas's response was, "Israel is using false pretexts to increase their aggression against Gaza!"

Israel hasn't responded yet but have a few ideas of what to do on the table. One is to harm Hamas leaders and use airstrikes.

In the meantime, the USA army engineers are setting up radar to find tunnels from terrorists that are arming the terrorists.

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090201/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians_1004

What's It Been Like to Live in Sderot?

Sderot has been hit with rockets and missiles for the past eight (8) years. Eight miles away lies Sapir College where 8,000 students attend. They have 15 seconds; seconds, not minutes, warning to run for a bomb shelter. That's because of the close proximity to the border. Lately they have been shelled by 80 rockets in one day! You can't do anything but run like crazy in 15 seconds. The people in the area are suffering from PTSD. The government has been afraid to react, but finally did Saturday.

The so-called cease-fire was not doing a thing to stop the shelling on Southern Israel. It continued and then sped up once the period came to an end. All this time Southern Israel has been living under the conditions of never knowing when a rocket or mortar was falling, and it would happen.

The reaction of the Arab world is predictable. They are up in arms about Israel's attack at the strongholds of the Hamas terrorists. Yes, about 230 people were killed in the attack, a few of which are civilians. That's because they put their weapons in the middle of a population so that people would condemn Israel's attacks when they came. The bullies believe it's okay to attack Israel but get mad when they act to protect their people.

A government is duty-bound to protect its citizens. Peace means living without fear and bombing.

Below is the website for Road 90 where there are videos of what it's been like to live in Southern Israel. After registring (free) you will be able to see for yourself.

http://www.road90.com/watch.php?id=RqcRDjWhNF

The Ceasefire That Never Was

Sderot After an Attack

Nadene Goldfoot
On June 25, 2006, Gilad Shalit was kidnapped, and Israel has been hoping to get him back ever since. He was a soldier near the Gaza border that was stationed there, and was probably kidnapped from the terrorists who had been building tunnels nearby.

Six months ago the Palestinians and Israelis signed a ceasefire agreement that has not been upheld by the Palestinians at all. Sderot and the surrounding areas have been constantly shelled, including Ashkelon, Portland, Oregon's sister city which lies north of Sderot and contains the only hospital that serves both Israelis and Palestinians in the area.

This constant shelling has caused Israel to at least close the Gaza crossings in order to punish the Palestinians for their constant shelling bombardment. They in turn blame the closings for their reason to constantly shell Israel. The ceasefire has only tied Israel's hands in trying to get to the actual terrorists who are shelling them because they are trying to uphold the agreement. Israel said they would open the crossings if the attackers could go for 24 hours without shelling Israel with rockets. On Thursday of this week 11 rockets and 5 mortar shells were fired at Israel. Three Israelis were wounded. The IDF were able to destroy their rocket factory, though.

The ceasefire was finished on Friday, though shellings were going on against Israel all this week. The new attack included sniper fire which came an hour after the usual Kassam rockets. Farmers in Israel were attacked at Kibbutz Ner Oz for the first time and had to be rescued by the IDF. Their vehicle was hit but the people were unharmed.

Hamas is in control in the Gaza territory and make little sense to me other than their main goal is to attack and destroy Israel, and they do not care what happens to the citizens there under their control. Hamas knows that Israel closes the coastal strip because of the shelling, but they cry that Israel is creating a life-threatening siege on its people.

Hamas also declared in the Oregonian that Israel is striking Palestinian militants in the West Bank (Judea/Samaria), and they also use that as an excuse for shelling Israel. How can they wonder about striking militants who are trying to kill civilians in Israel?   People who attack Israel must be stopped. This situation puts Israel in the middle between two Palestinian terrorist groups; one on the east and one on the west. Israel must be alert all the time.

Reference: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128931

Oregonian Newspaper page A17: Israelis fear renewal of rockets while blockade shackles Gazans

Ashkelon Hit Again Today

Portland's Sister City Attacked

Hamas has said today that Ashkelon, which is 15 kilometers from Gaza, will now be hit by grad rockets from Iran which have a range of 25-kilometers. They are encouraged to attack since Israel is not fighting back after the pummelting Ashkelon took yesterday with 6 Palestinian Grads and Sderot hit with 11 Qassam missles. Ashkelon's town hall opened the public bomb shelters. Ashdod, which is north of Ashkelon ordered shelters prepared.

An 82 year old woman in Sderot suffered shrapnel wounds and 22 people were in the hospital in shock. People were told to stay in shelters. they don't know what will happen on Sunday, which is a work day in Israel.

Community leaders and ministers want an effective military campaign against the terrorists before more rockets rain down on the southern part of Israel. They also agree with me in that the truce is no more. It's a farce.

Reference: Debkafile: Special Report

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

Carter's Help With Hamas

Nadene Goldfoot

Jimmy Carter was still trying to make the name for himself that he missed doing many years ago. He went against USA's philosophy of not speaking with Hamas. Jimmy's book shows to me how disgusted he had been after seeing himself as the messiah that could bring peace between the Arabs and Israel, and wrote a terrible book all against APAIC, the Jewish organization that speaks for Israel in the USA. I guess he was angry because we just didn't hand over all of Israel to the terrorists then.
                                                                               

After going to see Hamas's Mashaal in Damascus and much kissing, of course the terrorists still are not going to abide by his wishes. They were thrilled to speak with Carter as they feel that gives them legitimacy and they have been accepted. Now they have something to brag about. They will not recognize Israel. A very small article spoke of this on page A6 in the Oregonian this morning. It said Hamas was asked to halt rocket fire for a month to make a good impression on the world, and they refused. Yesterday it was reported that Hamas was willing to accept Israel as a "neighbor next door" one day. Later, Carter said they would accept a state in the 1967 borders but would never recognize the Jewish state. That certainly is a mixed message.

At least 5 Arab countries attacked Israel in 1967 and by doing so, lost claim to the 1967 borders. They lost. Now they want it and they were the losers. Aren't we lucky that Mexico has not fired on Texas every day with the goal of winning back all of their holdings, like California, Arizona and New Mexico? Well, the difference here is that Israel did not start the War of 1967. The Arab countries did and they lost.
                                                                           

We're not happy about being shelled every day in Sderot and even Ashkelon where the main hospital is, but it would be terrible to have a state next door who didn't recognize your rights and who wants you driven into the sea at any cost. That would only give them a closer range to shoot rockets. It would be moving the enemy in closer range. I was wondering what Olmert would say if Hamas accepted Carter's suggestion. Olmert might have accepted just to stop the rocket firing. In the long run, it would have been a bigger disaster for Israel. One thing we can count on is that Hamas doesn't want peace. They don't want to live side by side in a normal situation with Israel. That's not their goal.

Sderot: Enduring 20 Plus rockets in Two Days

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Sderot: Enduring 20 Plus Rockets in Two Days

Hamas has struck Sderot with more than 20 rockets in the past two days. They injured two people. Since Israel's incursion stopped, the terrorists have used their time to smuggle and produce more rockets. During that time Egyptians and the Americans had been trying to achieve a ceasefire, and Hamas did for several days only. The Islamic Jihad, sponsored by the Iranians, continued to fire missiles and conducted sniper attacks on Israeli civilians.

Reference: World tribune.com

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.