WarSclerotic

Israel mobilizes more reserves, as Gaza rocket fire gains tempo. Hamas is preparing to hit Tel Aviv.

The IDF mobilized another 1,500 reservists Monday, July 7, in readiness for a broad operation to curb the escalating rocket fire. A troop buildup at the Gaza border is about to be backed by intensified air strikes against Palestinian rocket launchers.

The Palestinians have also redoubled their missile blitz against Israel from day to day these last three weeks. By Monday sundown, 40 rockets had been slammed into Israel, causing damage in several locales – both near the Gaza border and further away up to the outskirts of Beersheba.

The IDF is getting set to counter Hamas’ plans to bring its rocket offensive as far north as central Israel. Israel’s military planners have to take into consideration that, while the IDF is fighting in Gaza to knock out Hamas’ missile capability, the country’s heartland may well be beset by an upsurge of violent Palestinian and Israeli disturbances.

debkafile reported Monday morning:

There is not the slightest chance of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas halting its three-week barrage of rockets against Israel in the foreseeable future,  high-placed sources in Cairo, Washington and the IDF told debkafile’s military sources Sunday night, July 6. They all agreed that Israeli-Gaza border tensions would continue to escalate in the absence of serious Israeli military punishment for cutting Hamas down
Following this assessment, the Israeli Air Force went into its first serious action against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip during Sunday night – not just bombing empty buildings, but hitting Hamas operatives. Seven were killed in Rafah and another two in Al Bureij.

The Hamas spokesman said that this was the biggest single Israeli hit against the Islamist group since the 2012 Pillar of Defense operation and “The enemy would pay dearly.”

A senior US intelligence official familiar with the sector offered the view that, so long as Israel did not show it was serious about a military reprisal – like for instance positioning two whole IDF armored divisions right up to the Gaza border – Hamas would not feel pressured enough to stop firing rockets and accept a truce. Every passing day without real punishment for kidnapping and murdering the Israeli teenagers, Gil-Ad Shear, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach, leaves the Islamists certain they have got away with it and in no mood to talk terms.

The source reported that, as far as he knew, Cairo had given up on its earlier effort at brokering a Gaza ceasefire. Cairo sources confirmed that Hamas had made unacceptable demands of the Egyptian government as its price for halting rocket attacks on Israel. The list was presented to Gen. Mohammed Farid el-Tohamy, head of Egyptian intelligence, who had been acting as the intermediary between Hamas and Israel in the truce effort.
One of those demands was for Egypt to reverse its six-month crackdown for reducing Hamas’ aggressive capabilities for terror in and from Sinai, including the reopening of the smuggling tunnels Sinai which long furnished the Hamas regime with arms, smuggled goods and revenue.

Cairo lashed out against Hamas as a terrorist group harmful to Egyptian security and a helpful offshoot of the proscribed Muslim Brotherhood.

There is no sign that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has any intention of meeting Hamas demands.

Indeed, all the parties following the conflict agree that the ball is now in Israel’s court and not, as it is presented by Israeli officials, up to Hamas to take the initiative. The Islamist group has already made its decision, which is to continue shooting rockets, in line with its unswerving commitment to fight Israel.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz must decide if and how to fight back.

Contrary to Israeli media reports, the chief of staff and the high IDF command have clearly informed the government that they are fully prepared to undertake any military operation without delay if so ordered. The elimination of seven Hamas members of its fighting army Sunday night may be the first step.

Families of Suspects in Arab Teen’s Murder Fear for Their Safety, Israel National News, Tova Dvorin, July 7, 2014

Arab rioters in Jerusalem Flash 90

The families of the six suspects arrested Monday over allegations of murdering 16 year-old Mohammed Abu Khder fear for their lives, according to Walla! News, and have requested a security detail to guard them against ‘revenge’ attacks. 

Attorneys from the Honenu rights organization, which is handling the boys’ case, passed on the request to the IDF.

“Given the repeated requests from the families of suspects, as well as threats made ​​by senior officials and others who want revenge, we see Israel Police as responsible for the safety and security of these families,” Attorney Adi Keidar wrote in the official request.

“We demand that the Israeli police provide them the proper protection and not abandon them, to avoid causing another disaster.”

Earlier Monday, police reported that three out of the six suspects arrested on Sunday confessed to the murder of the Arab teen, and even re-enacted the crime for investigators.

The suspects have allegedly not been permitted to meet with their lawyers since the arrest until the investigation is complete.

Meanwhile, little is objectively known about Abu-Khder’s murder, five days after his body was found in the Jerusalem Forest.

Police suspect that the crime was nationalistically motivated, allegedly as a “revenge crime” for the murders of Israeli teens Naftali Frenkel (16), Gilad Sha’ar (16), and Eyal Yifrah (19).

An initial pathologist’s report, issued from Palestinian sources, stated that Abu-Khder was burned alive, with the teen suffering from severe burns on 90% of his body.

The suspects arrested for the murder are Jewish; some are minors. They are residents of Jerusalem, the community of Adam north of Jerusalem, and Beit Shemesh.

Assumptions about the motivation for the crime have caused widespread rioting and ongoing incitement against Israeli Jews, with unrest centered in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem and in the northern “Triangle” area, which is home to some 300,000 Israeli Arabs.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4539058,00.html

( At this point, why should Hamas pay any attention to this hollow saber rattling? – JW )

Military source: 1,500 reservists called up by IDF Defense officials believe Hamas is seeking in escalation, say Hamas may be taking part in rocket fire on Israel.

Ron Ben YishaiLatest Update: 07.07.14, 18:40

A senior military source has said that Hamas hasn’t been stopping rocket fire into Israel and has even been taking part in the fire itself. According to the source, “Quiet won’t be answered by quiet and therefore we’re expecting escalation.”

Also on Monday a senior military source said that the IDF had called up “some 1,500 reservists who will arrive in waves. Most of them are commanders and part of the home front command.”

With rocket fire from Gaza continuing unabated, Israeli defense officials now believe Hamas is seeking an escalation in the south, and that the Egyptian mediation efforts were not bearing fruit.

Israel was therefore preparing for a possible escalation that could result in a large-scale IDF operation in Gaza, with cabinet ministers meeting in Jerusalem for three hours on Monday afternoon to assess the situation.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz were also expected to hold a situation assessment at the IDF’s Kiriya headquarters in Tel Aviv on Monday. The two were to discuss future moves to combat the escalation in the south, in the West Bank, in Jerusalem and in Arab towns inside Israel.

Defense officials have noted a discrepancy between statements by Hamas’ political bureau and the operations of its military wing. Nonetheless, a cabinet decision is in place to increase IDF operations in accordance with attacks by Hamas and other terror organizations.

The IDF already stepped up its activity in the Strip overnight, attacking 14 terror targets and killing two terrorists. Seven other Hamas member were killed in a “work accident” inside a tunnel under the southern Gaza border town of Rafah.
Former Shin Bet head Avi Dichter told Ynet on Monday that Israel must accept that it has to wipe out the Hamas threat from Gaza.

“We must focus on how we’re going to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities in Gaza,” he said. “This is not a three-week operation like Cast Lead and not an eight-day one like Pillar of Defense. This will take over a year. This is a move we can’t avoid. While we can’t destroy ideology, we can destroy a terror organization.”

First Published: 07.07.14, 15:12

No moral symmetry, Israel Hayom, David M. Weinberg, July 7, 2014

[A] central ideological and moral distinction between Israel and the Palestinians is this: Israel seeks conflict resolution, not jihad. Israel wants to resolve the conflict through compromise, not end the conflict by annihilation of the enemy. Israel wishes to live at peace and cooperate with its Arab neighbors, not to conquer the Arabic and Islamic nations from Tunisia to Indonesia.

Needless to say, these modest Israelis goals are not shared by too many Arab or Islamic partners.

Muhammad Abu Khdeir’s murder is well on its way to becoming a core building block in the pantheon of anti-Israel propaganda, a central plank in the false argument that Israelis are just as murderous as the Palestinians. That Israelis are no more moral than the Palestinians.

Without being too defensive, or in any way forgiving of the inexcusable kidnapping and gruesome murder of the young Arab boy from east Jerusalem, let it be said loud and clear: Comparisons that place Israeli and Palestinian societies on the same moral plane are evilly intended and utterly untruthful. No parallels can be drawn between Israel and the Palestinians when it comes to ethical standards. This is an asymmetrical conflict in every way: moral, political and ideological.

Israeli terrorists are few and far between. Over 100 years of conflict, they comprise a mere handful: Ami Popper, Jack Teitel, Yehuda Etzion, Baruch Goldstein, Yona Avrushmi and several others. This list of Palestinian terrorists fills fat ledger books across the globe, and the list of their victims fills even more.

Israeli terrorists are denounced roundly and emphatically by Israeli society, caught quickly, and jailed fast. Nor are they released five minutes later. They are skunks, not heroes, of the Zionist movement and the Jewish people.

By contrast, Palestinian terrorists are celebrated widely by Palestinian society and feted by Palestinian leadership, sheltered methodically from justice, and rewarded generously.

And if they’re taken into custody, Palestinian terrorists are released just as quickly as international attentions turn elsewhere — the infamous “revolving door” record of the Palestinian Authority. And if Palestinian terrorists are held in Israeli jails, the Palestinians extort their release via kidnappings of Israelis, which again are celebrated. A perfect circle of perfidy.

Note that Abu Khdeir’s murderers are already under arrest in Israel. They have nowhere to hide in Jewish-Israeli society. Whereas the murderers of Naftali Frenkel, Gil-ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach are still at large, hiding among their sympathetic and admiring brethren in the West Bank or Gaza.

When it became clear that Jews had murdered Abu Khdeir, for reasons of revenge or just ugly thugishness, the president, the prime minister, the chief rabbis, and all the political and cultural icons of Israelis society expressed deep shame at the killing, and spoke out immediately and without reservation in fierce denunciation of the crime. This killing does not represent the values or path of the Israeli people.

When it became clear that Palestinians had kidnapped the three teenage Israeli boys, there was no shame in the streets of Ramallah, Hebron or Gaza City, only triumphant jubilation and defiance. A new three-finger stick-it-to-the-Israelis salute became the rave, and the pleased mother of one of the suspected kidnappers was lavished with hours of Palestinian television screen time. She told viewers that (“if he did it”) she was proud of her son. Hamas and some Fatah leaders congratulated the kidnappers and promised them safe refuge and rewards, while promising Israel more kidnappings and murders.

The IDF arrested and jailed 10 soldiers last week who posted Facebook messages with calls for revenge. Contrast this with PA television, which broadcast a dozen sermons by local clerics, who get salaries from the Palestinian Authority, glorifying terrorism against Israelis and praising the kidnappers. All the while, the PA continued to pay salaries to the families of Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails and large reward stipends to terrorists released from Israeli jails.

My point is that you judge a society not the by crimes of a few, but on the basis of the way that society deals with its criminals and who it celebrates as its heroes. In such a tally, there is no moral symmetry whatsoever between Israeli and Palestinian societies.

Ironically, Palestinian propagandist MK Ahmed Tibi essentially affirmed the basic moral distinction between the two societies when speaking to Israel Radio this week before the killers in Jerusalem were identified.

“Every Jew in this country,” Tibi declared, “is praying that the murderer of Abu Khdeir is not a Jew. But I’m telling you for sure that he was a Jew.”

Tibi meant to curse and spit on Israeli society, yet didn’t realize he was praising it. Indeed, every Jew in this country was praying that the murderer of Abu Khdeir would turn out not to be a Jew, because the very thought was reprehensible.

By stark and very telling contrast, not every Palestinian, not even a few of them, were praying that the kidnappers of Naftali Frenkel, Gil-ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach would turn out not be Palestinian.

When one widens the lens to consider the political-ideological conflict in this region, the difference between Israel and the Palestinians becomes even clearer.

Despite five wars launched by the Arabs against Israel, thousands of Palestinians terrorist attacks against Israel, and tens of thousands of rockets and missiles fired on Israeli towns and cities by Palestinian and Arab terrorist armies, across seven decades — Israeli society has behaved overall with incredible restraint and responsibility.

It’s actually quite amazing, even miraculous, that calls for revenge and actual vigilante action are so infrequent and considered so downright unacceptable.

Again by contrast, Palestinian society has no such inhibitions. Rioting, destruction and mayhem is considered a “legitimate” and “understandable” form of protest and political expression. Cars can be stoned. Israelis can be dragged out of their cars and nearly lynched. Molotov cocktails can be thrown at will. Everything in sight can be destroyed, including the rail lines and bus shelters placed in Arab neighborhoods by local municipalities to serve the local Arab population. That’s natural and acceptable.

Imagine the world reaction if masses of Israelis were to regularly act this way after each frequent Arab terrorist attack.

And finally, a central ideological and moral distinction between Israel and the Palestinians is this: Israel seeks conflict resolution, not jihad. Israel wants to resolve the conflict through compromise, not end the conflict by annihilation of the enemy. Israel wishes to live at peace and cooperate with its Arab neighbors, not to conquer the Arabic and Islamic nations from Tunisia to Indonesia.

Needless to say, these modest Israelis goals are not shared by too many Arab or Islamic partners.

So spare me please all the high-minded moralizing about the supposed “brutalization” (not) of Israeli society and the sad symmetry (again not) of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. We Israelis have every reason (still) to claim the high moral ground. (And yes, we also have room to improve).

John Kerry: US Will Work With Interim Palestinian Authority Government

US Secretary of State John Kerry stated in Beirut that the US would work with the current interim government in the Palestinian Authority

.Jun 04, 2014, 08:55PM | Jonathan Benedek

via Israel News – John Kerry: US Will Work With Interim Palestinian Authority Government – JerusalemOnline.

Israel mulling Gaza operation as Hamas mediation efforts stagnate – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Defense officials believe Hamas is seeking in escalation, but note the discrepancy between statements by organization’s political bureau and its military wing’s operations.

Ron Ben Yishai

With rocket fire from Gaza continuing unabated, Israeli defense officials now believe Hamas is seeking an escalation in the south, and that the Egyptian mediation efforts were not bearing fruit.

Israel was therefore preparing for a possible escalation that could result in a large-scale IDF operation in Gaza, with cabinet ministers meeting in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon to assess the situation.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz were also expected to hold a situation assessment at the IDF’s Kiriya headquarters in Tel Aviv on Monday. The two were to discuss future moves to combat the escalation in the south, in the West Bank, in Jerusalem and in Arab towns inside Israel.

Defense officials have noted a discrepancy between statements by Hamas’ political bureau and the operations of its military wing. Nonetheless, a cabinet decision is in place to increase IDF operations in accordance with attacks by Hamas and other terror organizations.

The IDF already stepped up its activity in the Strip overnight, attacking 14 terror targets and killing two terrorists. Seven other Hamas member were killed in a “work accident” inside a tunnel under the southern Gaza border town of Rafah.

Hamas’ political bureau keeps signalling that it is not interested in an escalation, while its military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades continues to act aggressively against Israel. The Israeli assessment is that the military wing is acting out of anger and intends to take advantage of the outrage following the brutal murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir in East Jerusalem last week.

Former Shin Bet head Avi Dichter told Ynet on Monday that Israel must accept that it has to wipe out the Hamas threat from Gaza.

“We must focus on how we’re going to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities in Gaza,” he said. “This is not a three-week operation like Cast Lead and not an eight-day one like Pillar of Defense. This will take over a year. This is a move we can’t avoid. While we can’t destroy ideology, we can destroy a terror organization.”

Israel Hayom | Cease-fire needs ‘braking distance’.

Yoav Limor