WarSclerotic

PM briefs foreign ambassadors on possible Gaza ground operation to ‘reassert Israeli deterrence’ | The Times of Israel.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton calls on both sides ‘to refrain from exacerbating the situation,’ hails Egyptian mediation efforts

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) with EU diplomats in Jerusalem, October 16 (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday started taking steps to shore up international support for a possible military ground operation into Gaza that would aim to quell the ongoing rocket fire from the strip.

“If an alarm is sounded, people in southern Israel — one million people — have 15 seconds to find shelter. I don’t know if any of your governments will accept this reality. I cannot accept this,” he told some 50 ambassadors in Ashkelon. “The world needs to understand that Israel has the right and duty to defend its citizens. We will act to stop the rocket fire.”

The rocket fire continued for a third day Monday, albeit initially at a slower pace; as of early Monday afternoon, some 150 rockets and mortar shells had hit Israel since Saturday. Twenty-six people were treated for shock after a direct hit on a home in Netivot on Monday morning.

“Netanyahu wants to make sure that the international community will understand the reasons if Israel is forced to act,” a government official said Monday ahead of the prime minister’s meeting with the senior diplomats.

The government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, neither denied nor confirmed reports that Israel was planning a ground invasion into Gaza. “Different options are being looked at,” he told The Times of Israel. “It’s more than possible that there will be a need to reassert Israeli deterrence,” the official said.

Netanyahu plans to tell the ambassadors that “no country in the world would tolerate the current situation, in which dozens of rockets and missiles are continuously being fired at our civilian population,” the official added.

Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Sunday that an extensive ground operation for Gaza was being planned.

Meanwhile, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she condemned the firing of rockets and mortars into Israel and called on both sides “to refrain from exacerbating the situation.”

“Further regrettable loss of life and injury must be avoided. I support the mediation efforts by Egypt and reiterate that there is no place for violence in the Middle East. It is only through resumed negotiations that the legitimate aspirations of both Palestinians and Israelis will be met, through a two-state solution,” Ashton said in a statement.

During Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel was prepared to “intensify” its response to the ongoing rocket fire. “The IDF is operating, and will operate, aggressively against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, which are taking heavy blows from the IDF. The world needs to understand that Israel will not sit idly by in the face of attempts to attack us. We are prepared to intensify the response

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel would not hesitate to reenter Gaza: “If we are forced to go back into Gaza in order to deal Hamas a [serious] blow and restore security for all of Israel’s citizens, then we will not hesitate to do so.”

Israel hits ‘source’ of second Syrian shell – JPost – Defense.

15 Seconds…. – YouTube.

Please do your part…

Help this video go viral !

That’s all the time Israelis in the south have to save themselves.  As you can see, it isn’t long.

The time has come to put an end to this horror!

– JW

Israel Hayom | ‘Countdown to large ground operation in Gaza has begun’.

Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.

New app offers ‘Sderot experience’ for iPhone users | The Times of Israel.

13-year-old comes up with program that keeps track of missile fire on southern Israel

Policemen take cover after a rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza hit a house in southern Israel on November 11, 2012. (photo credit: Edi Israel/Flash90)

A new iPhone app enables users to keep track of Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israel by sending a notification whenever an alert is sounded, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Monday.

The application, which is not an official warning system, is the brainchild of 13-year-old Beersheba resident Liron Bar. Bar provides constant reports on missile attack warnings, known as Color Red alerts, and rocket strikes in the south on his Facebook page as well.

Application developer Kobi Snir volunteered to develop the free app, which sends a notification (in Hebrew) to iPhone users every time there is an air raid warning of a rocket attack from Gaza. Another volunteer, Yossi Yifrah, provides the updates.

Depending on their distance from Gaza, residentsof the south of Israel have as little as 15 seconds to run for cover from the time of the Color Red alert until a missile lands. Each time a Color Red notification reaches a phone, the app sounds an alert and displays the number of seconds that have passed since the missile warning siren.

The app is in no way a substitute for the official Color Red alerts and air raid warning systems that are sounded in areas under attack. However, the application does enable those living beyond the missiles’ ranges to get a taste of life in the south.

Israel’s Facebook Diplomacy in Crybaby Mode? – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

IDF graphic

IDF Facebook page

Unable or unwilling to take military action against the terror entity that is lobbing missiles at its civilian populace, Israel has resorted to what some may term crybaby diplomacy.

The Foreign Ministry joined the IDF Sunday and Monday in publishing Facebook status images that enumerate the missiles fired at Israel.

An image posted to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Facebook page said: “30 missiles, 1 day,” in plain white-on-black letters. By the time the status was uploaded, it was outdated – as dozens of additional missiles crashed into Israeli territory.

On Monday morning, the ministry uploaded a photo showing security men inspecting a spent missile casing in Sderot and announcing that 100 missiles had been fired since Sunday.

While the Foreign Ministry’s graphics on this subject have the look of an improvised project, the IDF has been publishing such graphic messages for months and offers a more sophisticated and professional product. The image posted on the IDF’s Facebook page says “One million Israelis living under fire” against a stylized red and black background.

The idea behind this public information effort is obviously to portray Israel as the victim of Arab terror and not the victimizer of Gaza. However, it also inadvertently highlights the Israeli government’s embarrassing position vis-à-vis its citizens, as it refrains from taking military action to crush the terror entity that terrorizes them.

Jerusalem Post – Breaking News.

Politicians split on possible Gaz… JPost – Diplomacy & Politics.

Is it Already Too Late to Stop Iran? « Commentary Magazine.

Jonathan S. Tobin | @tobincommentary 11.11.2012 – 2:35 PM

A report published today in Britain’s Sunday Times says that the ability of Iran to move much of its nuclear program into hardened mountainside bunkers has already rendered it invulnerable to conventional air attack.

This account relies on western intelligence and defense sources that may be intent on deterring an Israeli attempt to forestall Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But given the obvious difficulties involved in any such attack, especially with the more slender military resources available to Israel than the United States, it could be correct. According to the story, that leaves Israel with only two options: use its own nukes to destroy the site or deploy ground troops to Iran. Needless to say, neither is a realistic option for Israel.

While skepticism about any such story is in order, it does raise a couple of important questions. One is whether the reason for these Western intelligence leaks is behind an effort not so much to stop an Israeli strike as to prevent action by the West should President Obama need to use force to make good on his promise not to allow an Iranian nuke on his watch. It also places speculation about Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s alleged order in 2010 to raise its alert level in preparation for a possible attack on Iran is a slightly different context. While that action has been depicted as reckless by some and even interpreted as a cynical attempt to provoke an Iranian attack on Israel or the West, if it is now too late to stop Iran perhaps Netanyahu’s concern was well placed. Just as important, it could be that the complacence exhibited by those in the security establishment in Israel that opposed any thought of action was far from wise. The same could be said about the conviction that still prevails in Washington that takes it as a given that there is still plenty of time to wait until decisions have to be made about the threat.

The American defense establishment has been eager to spread the idea that a strike on Iran is a bad idea because it would only delay rather than completely end the Iranian nuclear program. That is a foolish argument, since even a few years’ delay could buy Israel and the West the time it needs to pursue other options. It also fails to take into account the fact that an Iran that is devastated by effective economic sanctions that amount to a complete embargo (as opposed to the loosely enforced sanctions that are currently failing to persuade Tehran that it is in its interests to give up its nuclear ambitions) would probably not be able to afford to reconstruct its nuclear facilities.

Yet if it is now too late for Israel to stop Iran from the air, it is also entirely possible that the same will eventually be true for the United States, which is no more willing to launch a ground operation in Iran than is Israel (the nuclear option mentioned by the Sunday Times is one that neither country could choose so it is not even worth discussing). That means even in the unlikely event that the Obama administration or its European partners were ever to declare that diplomacy with Iran had definitively failed, there may be no path available to make good on President Obama’s promise to stop Iran from going nuclear on his watch.

Even if it really is too late for Israel to strike, given the strength of American air and naval aviation resources available to use against Iran in the region that may not be true of a U.S.-led effort. But the troubling aspect of these leaks is the impression it gives of a Western military and security establishment that is determined at all costs to influence its own political leadership to back away from confrontation with Iran.

President Obama has specifically and repeatedly disavowed any intention of being willing to “contain” a nuclear Iran. He also pledged in the last of the presidential debates that any possible compromise with Tehran must involve that country giving up its “nuclear program” and not just agreeing to a compromise about the storage of enriched uranium that might enable them to evade the restrictions and, like North Korea, obtain a weapon. But unless he sets some red lines about diplomacy, there is no chance to convince the Iranians that he is serious or that there will be any consequences for them in continuing to prevaricate with the West.

Many in Washington and the capitals of Europe seem to agree with French President Hollande, who is reported to have described Netanyahu as “obsessed with Iran.” That’s an odd way to describe the leader of a country whose existence is threatened by the possibility of an Islamist dictatorship getting the ability to make good on their threats. But given the Iranian success in making fools of Western diplomats and the eagerness with which the Western defense establishment seeks to downplay the chances of doing something about the problem, it’s hard to blame Netanyahu for being obsessed.