WarSclerotic

Thwarted, for now, Iran’s bid to target all of Israel from Gaza

By David Horovitz March 10, 2014, 5:04 pm

​ (Bibi should tell the world that a defeat for Hamas is a defeat for Iran, thus making the regime in Tehran look weak in the eyes of her enemies.-LS)

The Iranian weapons shipment intercepted by the Israel Navy in the high seas off Sudan last Wednesday, and placed carefully on display at Eilat port on Monday, would not have drastically changed the balance of power between Israel and the Gaza Strip had it reached its intended destination. But it would have been a game changer of sorts, nonetheless.

The intended recipients of the 40 M-302 missiles and other weaponry on board the Klos-C were not Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas, whose relations with Iran have been deteriorating steadily, but the rival Islamic Jihad, a force that is thoroughly loyal to Iran, which has been funding and training its operatives.

Had the shipment reached its destination, Islamic Jihad would have gained possession of weaponry more sophisticated than the dozens of rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, many of them produced in Gaza, which Hamas is stockpiling for the inevitable next round of conflict.

This would have boosted Islamic Jihad’s prestige in Gaza, and doubtless emboldened it in its ongoing challenges to Hamas. Far more significantly, however, it would have given the Iranians a push-button capacity to wreak havoc all across Israel at a moment of their choosing.

Some of the M-302 missiles on the Klos-C can reach from Gaza to beyond Tel Aviv, all the way to Haifa, Israeli officials said, carrying highly destructive 150 kilogram warheads. And while Hamas, since violently seizing control of Gaza in 2007, must carefully weigh any escalated confrontation with Israel against its need to retain control of the Strip, Islamic Jihad has no such concerns: If Iran were to give the order to fire salvos of the missiles it supplied into Israel, Islamic Jihad would not hesitate.

Across Israel’s northern border, Hezbollah — by far the world’s most heavily armed terrorist organization — holds tens of thousands of rockets capable of reaching anywhere in Israel. It has considerations of its own about drawing Lebanon into renewed conflict, but is ultimately loyal to the Iranian regime that created it. The Klos-C shipment would thus have given Iran the capacity to batter Israel with rocket fire simultaneously from north and south as and when it deemed necessary.

In Washington last week, arguing against President Barack Obama’s willingness to allow Iran a continued uranium enrichment capability, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the complete dismantling of Iran’s rogue military nuclear program. Otherwise, he warned, Iran would inexorably become a nuclear weapons threshold state, capable of swiftly breaking out to the bomb when the world’s attention was focused elsewhere.

Employing its proxy terror groups — Hezbollah in the north, and/or Islamic Jihad in the south — is just one of the means by which Iran could distract that attention, and cause widespread harm to the Israeli home front.

The identification, tracking and ultimately interception of the Klos-C shipment marks an impressive example of Israeli intelligence-gathering and operational skill. As Netanyahu and his colleagues were detailing the mission, explaining the capabilities of the intercepted weaponry, and pointing the accusatory finger at Iran on Monday afternoon, however, multiple concerns remained.

For one thing, certain sections of the international community may remain willfully disinclined to believe that those newly charming Iranians could have been responsible for dispatching the shipment, and resistant, still, to the wider dangers posed by the regime in Tehran. Netanyahu spoke in Eilat of a “hypocritical” international community that “prefers to ignore” Iran’s ongoing aggression — a stance he branded “morally unacceptable.” He didn’t mention EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton by name, but was presumably thinking of her in particular. Ashton has been visiting Iran in the last few days, and gave no sign of having acceded to Netanyahu’s request at the weekend that she confront her hosts about the intercepted weapons shipment.

More practically, there is the fear that this was not the first shipment sent along its convoluted path toward Gaza, and that it is unlikely to be the last.

And finally, as Netanyahu highlighted in Eilat on Monday afternoon, there is the danger that, if the Iranians do outsmart and outflank the international community, their future covert shipments, headed to any port in the world, could carry weaponry of an entirely more devastating capacity.

Bill Whittle on Israel, Hamas, and Envy

July 24, 2014
Moonbattery Blog

Even from the liberal point of view — assuming it isn’t just a pose — no one can deny that Israel is on the side of good and Hamas terrorists on the side of evil. Yet the reprobates presiding over our government are not alone in siding with Hamas. What has happened to this country that we would tolerate a government so morally vile, and that some of us would even share its allegiances?

Maybe we let envy creep in to contaminate our souls, the way it has Palestinians’ souls, compelling them to devote their nation to hatred and destruction. Envy is poison to anything healthy, but it is the ultimate source of nourishment for all things related to moonbattery.

Report: FAA Backed Down After Israeli Threat to Ramp Up

By: Shalom Bear
Published: July 24th, 2014

​(I guess two can play this game. Interesting term…’going disproportional’. We may be seeing more of it. – LS)

Israel threatened to go disproportional on Gaza, if the FAA ban on US flights to Israel wasn’t rescinded.

Israel reportedly told the United States that it understands the rules and the reasoning behind the FAA ban on US flights to Israel, according to Arad Nir of Israel Channel 2.

Israel reportedly told the US that this situation (of the FAA ban) can’t continue, so in order to resolve it, Israel will need to significantly and disproportionately ramp up its attack on Gaza, and put an immediate stop to all the rocket attacks, thus allowing US flight to Israel to resume.

Nir claims the message was understood and the FAA ban was rescinded.

Two Palestinians Killed in West Bank Protest
Sky News 2:41am UK, Friday 25 July 2014

​(Protest? More like a riot.-LS)

Israeli security forces have shot dead two Palestinians during a massive protest in the West Bank, according to medical officials.

The victims were among an estimated 10,000 people who clashed with soldiers and border police at a checkpoint in Qalandiya, between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

The protest came hours after 15 people were killed and more than 200 injured when a UN school in the city of Beit Hanoun was hit by an artillery shell.

At least 90 people were injured in the checkpoint clashes, with some reports that live fire was being used.

An Israeli army spokeswoman told the AFP news agency soldiers used “riot disposal means” to control the protest.

She said: “There are thousands of rioters there. They are rolling burning tyres and throwing Molotov cocktails and fireworks at soldiers and border police.

“The soldiers are responding with riot disposal means.”

The Qalandiya violence came ahead of a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet to discuss a US-drafted proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli public radio said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “appalled” by the attack on the UN school.

Speaking in Cairo ahead of talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry, he said: “I was shocked and appalled by what has happened in Beit Hanoun. It is totally unacceptable.”

The school was being used as a shelter by hundreds of Palestinians who have fled their homes since airstrikes two weeks ago.

It wrote: “Last night, we told Red Cross to evacuate civilians from UNRWA’s shelter in Beit Hanoun btw 10am & 2pm. UNRWA & Red Cross got the message.

“Hamas prevented civilians from evacuating the area during the window that we gave them.

“Today Hamas continued firing from Beit Hanoun. The IDF responded by targeting the source of the fire.

“Also today, several rockets launched from Gaza toward Israel fell short and hit Beit Hanoun.”

Israel’s military said it had acted “against a terrorist target located in a populated area”.

Gaza Division Commander General Micky Edelstein said: “We use various technology, like radio or messaging to ask the population to leave.

“We need to investigate what happened here.”

Last week, the UNRWA slammed militants after it discovered around 20 rockets were being kept in one of its schools.

More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in 17 days of fighting in Gaza, according to health officials. More than 140,000 people have fled the conflict.

Some 32 Israeli soldiers have also been killed, and three civilians have died in Israel from rocket fire.

It is the fourth time a UN facility has been hit during the recent conflict.

Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, said a window to allow civilians to leave the area was never granted.

He said: “We’ve spent much of the day trying to negotiate or to co-ordinate a window so that civilians, including our staff, could leave.

“That was never granted… and the consequences of that appear to be tragic.”

But the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), posting on its official Twitter feed, said Hamas had prevented people evacuating the area.

Leader Condemns Arrogant Powers’ Support for Israeli Crimes
July 24, 2014 – 12:13

(Tehran is definitely stoking the fires of war, as long as they are not directly involved. I’m beginning to think they fear direct engagement with Israel, no matter how small, because to do so could result in a defeat making them look weak and encourage those working to collapse their regime. – LS)

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution strongly condemned the “shameless” support of the arrogant powers for the continued Israeli atrocities against the defenseless people of the Gaza Strip, reiterating that armed resistance is the only way to confront the “savage” regime.

“A number of Western countries including the US, and UK blatantly support the atrocities which no clear conscience can tolerate and the US president, in the face of the massacre of children, destruction, plight and torture of the people in Gaza, uses a ridiculous logic (to justify the Israeli crimes) saying that Israel has the right to defend itself! Are Palestinians not entitled to safeguard their security and lives? ”, asked Imam Khamenei.

Imam Khamenei made the comments in an address to a gathering of Iranian students in Tehran on Wednesday night.

The Leader also underscored that armed resistance is the only way to confront the “destructive regime” of Israel.

“Nobody should assume that if Palestinians did not fire rockets from Gaza into Israel, the Zionist regime would have fallen short (of massacring people in Gaza), because there are no arms or rockets in the West Bank and the only weapon people have is stone, all the same the Zionist regime still humiliates and slaughters people there,” the Supreme Leader further noted.

Imam Khamenei further referred to Israel’s efforts to broker a ceasefire with Palestinian fighters, saying the regime “which commits crimes beyond human imagination has become desperate” after facing strong resistance from Palestinians.

“This proves that the Zionists only understand the language of force,” the Leader emphasized.

“Based on these realities, we believe that the West Bank should also be armed like Gaza and those who are interested in Palestine’s destiny should act in this regard in order to relieve Palestinians’ distress.”

Ayatollah Khamenei also referred to late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini’s historic statement saying Israeli regime must be destroyed, reiterating that the destruction of Israel does not mean obliteration of Jewish people in the region.

Iran has already presented a practical solution to tackle the problem, the Leader noted.

“Based on the solution accepted by nations, all the people who live in and come from the region, will vote in a referendum, to choose their desired government and through such referendum, the usurping fake regime of Israel will be eliminated,” said Ayatollah Khamenei.

Meanwhile, Imam Khamenei described political support for the people of Gaza as a duty for all Muslim and non-Muslim nations and called for massive demonstrations to express solidarity with Palestinian people on the International Quds Day.

The International Quds Day is an annual event during which demonstrators express their solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposition to the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the Zionist regime of Israel.

The day is also seen as the legacy of the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini, who officially declared the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan as International Quds Day back in 1979. This year’s rallies come against the backdrop of a massive Israeli onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Iran Supreme Leader: The Only Solution For Crisis Is Israel’s Destruction
Reza Kahlili
9:52 PM 07/23/2014

(Iran claims to have a solution to save the Middle East through it’s alleged superiority and sheer will.-LS)

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated on Wednesday that the only solution for the region is the destruction of Israel, and that the armed confrontation must expand beyond Gaza.

Meanwhile, revolutionary guards announced new missiles which could destroy Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

Fars News Agency, a media outlet run by the Iranian state, reported today that Khamenei addressed the conflict in Gaza in a meeting with Iranian college students.

“These crimes which are beyond imagination and show the true nature of the wolfish and child killer regime, which the only solution is its destruction,” the ayatollah declared to his audience. “However, until that time, the expansion of the armed resistance of the Palestinians of the West Bank is the only way to confront this wild regime.”

Khamenei then criticized America, claiming its defense of Israel is “shameful,” and suggested that its support affects Iran’s behavior towards America.

“The anti-American and anti-West view in Iran is a logical view based on experience and a righteous calculation,” he said.

Referring to Israel, Khamenei added, “This event is a sample of the ‘violent policies with iron fist’ which the fake and illegitimate regime [Israel] in its 66 years of existence has repeatedly and proudly conducted.”

He then emphasized, “As said by Imam Khomeini [the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran] Israel must be destroyed…However, until that time with the help of God for this cruel and murderous regime to be destroyed, strong confrontation with steadfast armed resistance is the only solution against this destructive regime.”

Khamenei then mocked Israel for looking for a ceasefire agreement, stating that Israel is powerless against the resistance of Hamas, and once again, strongly attacked America for supporting Israel.

“We believe that the West Bank needs to be armed just like Gaza and those interested in the future of Palestine must become active in this field [guerrilla warfare] so that the suffering of the Palestinian people through their strength and their weakness due to the Zionist regime is reduced,” he said. “Some Western countries including America and filthy England defend with clarity the crimes that no ordinary person would. The President of America in the face of these child killings, destruction, torture and suffering of the people in Gaza, with a comical logic states that Israel has the right to defend itself! Don’t the Palestinians have the right to defend their lives and security?”

The Islamic regime has long trained and armed Hezbollah and Palestinian forces for attacks against Israel. In reference to further arming Palestinians, the speaker of the regime’s Parliament, Ali Larijani, said in a statement Wednesday, “The clear need of Palestine is its need to weapons and basic necessities and Iran plays an important role in meeting the clear needs of the Palestinian people.”

In related news, the revolutionary guard revealed that they have made missiles capable of penetrating Israel’s Iron Dome.

The missile, named “Hormoz 1,” is claimed to be the first anti-radar ballistic missile to be able to penetrate and destroy missile defense systems such as the Iron Dome and America’s Patriot missile system. The missile has a speed of Mach 5 and can pinpoint a target from a very long-distance. The guards claim the missile can now destroy the Iron Dome, as well as any patriot missile defense system, and that the missile could be used to attack the radar systems of U.S. vessels and carriers in the Persian Gulf.

In continuation of negotiations in Geneva between the P5+1 and Iran, a four month extension to the original agreement was agreed upon to find a peaceful solution to Iran’s nuclear program. In return for the agreement on the extension, the Islamic regime will receive $2.8 Billion dollars in six installments. The Islamic regime had received $7 Billion after the negotiated agreement in November 2013 with a six month deadline to finalize the agreement, but has so far refused to back down from its demand to continue developing its nuclear program.

A recent report suggests that the Islamic Republic has yet to address the concerns of the International Atomic Agency on work developing detonators used as an explosive device for atomic bombs. The regime, which originally denied such work, has stated the experiment as for civilian purposes.

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and author of the award winning book “A Time to Betray” (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI)

US gives weapons to Israel to attack Gaza: Iran

Thursday Jul 24, 2014 02:52 PM GMT

​(Of course, Iran would never do such a thing with Hamas. – LS)

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the Israeli regime is using the US weapons to attack innocent Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

“We know that all the weapons that are used by Israel in order to attack civilians in Gaza have been provided by the United States,” Zarif said in an interview with NBC’S Meet that Press.

However, the United Nations has not taken any action to condemn the US move and to use the Security Council in order to put an end to it, he added.

He called for an “immediate end” to the Israeli regime’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

“The United States and the rest of the members of the Security Council have a moral and legal responsibility to put an end to this,” Zarif pointed out.

“We call for an immediate end to all of these activities,” he added.

Asked if he condemns Hamas for launching rockets into Israel, Zarif said, “We do not condemn people who are defending themselves.”

“We believe that actions that are putting civilians in jeopardy in Gaza, that have placed restrictions on civilians to get access to medicine and to food…need to be vehemently condemned by the international community ,” he added.

The death toll from the five days of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip has risen to at least 125.

More than 800 people were injured in the latest round of Israeli attacks on Gaza since July 8. Most of the victims have been women and children.

Shalom, motherf****r.

by: Eitan Chitayat
July 23, 2014, 1:32 pm

​(“Know this: when someone tries to end my life, IT IS PERSONAL.”

Kind of gets to the heart of the matter. – LS)

I don’t know how to write this without sounding like the kind of person I’m about to sound like, but sometimes you’ve just got to write it like you feel it. And I feel this. I un-friended a ‘friend’ from Facebook the other day.

To be honest, he wasn’t really a friend. He was a professional aquaintance and one whose talent I respect. But that’s it.

I un-friended him because he crossed a line.

I don’t mind that he didn’t write to ask how we’re doing here in Israel. People have their lives and we’re not the center of the world.

No. He started posting videos and images that reek of anti-semitism and an anti-Israel bias the likes of which are posted by people who clearly hate my country.

And i saw these posts.

A video by an English elected official who spewed such anti-Israel rhetoric that it was borderline hatred.

And a post that apparently Robert De Niro made claiming we’re an apartheid state. (we’re not – and that was another spreading of an untruth).

He crossed a line on a day – the other day – that 13 regular Israeli fathers, sons or brothers here were killed defending my country. Men drawn into a war they did not want to fight, but fought to protect their families, friends, and country – and to protect ME. A war others will continue to fight because to not fight it means we will perish. I don’t mean that we will lose our country, but as you can see by the turmoil around us in the Middle East (that has nothing to do with us) we will lose our lives.

He crossed a line following 10 days in which we, the citizens of Israel, have been bombarded the length of the 10 hour drive north to south of our country, and two our drive east to west of our country (that’s the size of Israel) with missiles intended to murder Israelis, no matter what gender, what age, what profession and what religion they follow. (We have over a million Israeli-Arabs living here within our borders as citizens with full rights).

And as I write, coming home from a day of work and having put my son to bed in his crib, we are still being bombarded.

He crossed another line after he saw that I unfriended him when he wrote an email to me saying that it’s ‘…funny to be de-friended for posting a statement from an elected official. As a Jew you should realize that mass murder is never justified’. (His identity will remain hidden, of course).

First of all, don’t give me that ‘as a Jew’ crap. I don’t need to be a Jew to realise that mass murder isn’t justified. I need to be a decent human being.

Secondly, I don’t give a damn that he was an elected official – he said some preposterous, disgusting and very untrue things – and history is full of misguided elected officals.

And third, we’re mass murderers? My country accepts an Egyptian-proposed Gaza cease-fire twice and Hamas keeps firing away. They aim rockets at civilians while we go at great lengths to avoid civilians actually calling them in their areas and dropping warning charges, to give innocents a chance to escape. That’s unprecedented in warfare history. We leave Gaza for a chance at peace 9 years ago and for 9 years we got rockets, hate education, underground tunnels built with the purpose of entering Israeli territory so radicals can murder and kidnap Jews? This is what we get for leaving Gaza unilaterally 9 years ago. And we’re mass murderers?

No – fool. Ours is not the behavior of mass murderers.

I’m tired of the argument lobbed against us where I read people saying it’s ‘not fair’ because more Palestinians have died than Israelis. Of people asking ‘why are we complaining when we’re the stronger ones?’
My heart bleeds for every innocent killed no matter what side they’re on. Palestinain or Israeli innocents – it matters not.

But I will not apologise for surviving.

For surviving missiles intended to kill me. The fact they didn’t kill me doesn’t mean they weren’t sent with the intention to murder. We have a defence system, shelters, evacuation procedures and governments who take care of us – I will not apologise for living and surviving thanks to being prepared because we have a culture that celebrates our lives and cherishes them instead of sending 10-year old children to be fighters and bombers. I will not apologise for having a business, a home, a family and friends here who want normal lives and to live in peace with our neighbors. I will not apologise for existing and I want nothing more than to co-exist quietly with neighbors who accept me here.

But this is not what Hamas wants.

Let me be very clear. Hamas is trying to kill ME. My family. My baby son. All of us here. That is their purpose. Get it through your heads – that is what is happening. And it’s VERY personal. For all of us here.

Our Israeli civilians – people like me – are being targeted to die. Palestinian innocents on the other side are dying because my army is trying to protect us from thugs operating in those areas who are launching rockets at my populated cities. If Palestinian innocents are dying it’s because of jihadists and terrorists (other names for thugs), but NOT because of the State of Israel that is trying to protect its citizens as any sovereign country would do. People are going to die. Innocents will die and it’s awful and it’s ugly. But we have to do what we have to do now. That is not a tone of justification. It’s me telling you the way it is – and believe me, we’re already paying the price with the blood of our people…of families who will never sit together again. Play together again. Hold eachother again.

This is not a game.

I was speaking to my father this evening and he advised me, like a good father does bless him, to not speak my mind on Facebook. Why go to the trouble? But he’s looking out for his son knowing I’ll face backlash.

Look, we remained silent in the 30′s and look where it got us. We hoped rational people would see sense and refused to believe that people were capable of evil. And where did that get us? Trainrides straight to the gas chambers by REAL mass murderers. And there are those today who follow directly in the footsteps of the Nazis and who state proudly that they want to see all Jews dead, all of israel wiped off the face of the earth. (It is in Hamas’ offical charter – I’m serious – look). And why? Not because of ‘stolen land’ and politics but because they’re misguided, pitiful, hateful people who hate Jews and don’t give a damn about their people. Because anyone who gives a damn about their people would try giving them a future and not use them as pawns in a sick game of death and 72 virgins.

No, I will not remain silent while lies are spread about my country, my people, my culture, my values. I will be the FIRST in line to condemn my leaders and countrymen and women when they do wrong – as we do.
(And we do). But we are in the right here and I will not be quiet.

If anyone doesn’t understand any of the above; if anyone doesn’t get it; if any of my friends are going to post anti-Israel messages in a time where over 500 Palestinians have tragically died in this current conflict yet you remained silent while almost 200,000 Arabs were murdered by Arabs these past few years; if you’re not writing about Assad using chemical weapons against his people; if you’re not writing about ISIS who crucified 8 christians the other day and who are telling Iraqi Christians ‘convert, pay tax, or die’; if you only have criticism for the State of Israel that is doing EVERYTHING in its power to avoid civilian losses to Palestinians during a war; if you’re going to do nothing but sit wherever you’re sitting and just dish out your anti-Israel dirt while rockets are being aimed at my house, family and friends as our boys are fighting to protect us – and you’re going to dish it out simply because we’re living in this land and you haven’t got a clue as to our connection to it; if you’re going to join the anti-semitic and anti-Israel demonstrations flaring up in the world like we’re seeing in France, Turkey, Berlin, most Arab states and even in the US that have nothing to do with this conflict but are really just expressions of hatred directed at Jews and Israelis (and these expressions will be directed at the host countries soon); if you’re going to stay quiet and just accept, then go ahead and unfriend me from Facebook now because you’re probably no friend of mine.

Know this: when someone tries to end my life, IT IS PERSONAL.
And if you’re adding fuel to the fire by posting crap that in some small way will contribute to my demise, then again – un-friend me now.

Because you can have the hatred, the twisted, the sick and evil and be a part of that – or you can have me. But you can’t have both.

Shalom, motherf****r.

Israel Accuses Al Jazeera Media Org of Supporting Terror

by Jordan Schachtel
23 Jul 2014

On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman did not mince words when it came to how he felt about Al Jazeera: “Al Jazeera has abandoned even the semblance of a credible media outlet, and it broadcasts – both within Gaza and outside it, to the world – anti-Semitic incitement, lies, provocation and encouragement to terrorists,” he said.

The Foreign Minister pointed a finger at the government of Qatar, which funds Al Jazeera, for financing the media backing of jihadi groups through the news outlet. “Qatar constitutes the economic spine of the most radical terrorist groups, which are undermining the stability of the world in general and the Middle East in particular,” he said. “Qatar is a key player in our current conflict with Hamas in Gaza, since among other things, it finances Hamas and gives asylum to Khaled Meshaal (Hamas Chairman living in Doha, Qatar).”

Lieberman pointed out that Israel allows for many alternative media outlets, many of which hold anti-Israel biases, but Al Jazeera had crossed the line. Lieberman noted that many media outlets “don’t exactly broadcast Zionist propaganda – even the opposite. But as a democratic country, we’re obligated to allow this,” he continued. “In Al Jazeera’s case, however, this isn’t a media issue, but an issue relating to the operation of a branch of a terrorist organization that is currently fighting against the State of Israel. The U.S. wouldn’t let an Al-Qaida channel broadcast from New York.”

Al Jazeera accused Israeli forces Tuesday of fired at their offices in Gaza. “Two very precise shots were fired straight into our building,” said an Al Jazeera reporter. The two shots, although described as precise, appeared to cause no harm. Al Jazeera said it has evacuated its Gaza offices. The left wing anti-Israel Guardian newspaper ran with Al Jazeera’s independent account, writing, “Al Jazeera Gaza offices evacuated after direct hit by Israeli fire.”

On Tuesday, an Al Jazeera contributor referred to IDF lone soldiers (volunteers from other countries) as Jewish foreigners who were “fighting jihad” on behalf of Israel, calling the Jewish state’s operation into Gaza a “genocidal campaign.”

In July, 2013, 22 members of Al Jazeera’s staff in Egypt abruptly resigned, accusing the network of forcing its employees to adhere to the network’s pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias in its reporting. One journalist called Al Jazeera a “propaganda channel” for the Brotherhood. Another said that “Al Jazeera has turned itself into a channel for the Muslim Brotherhood… They are far from being professional.”

The US-designated Hamas terror group, currently in a self-declared war with Israel in perpetuity, describes itself in its charter as the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

A “humanitarian” ceasefire would give Hamas time to find answers for Israeli Chariot-4’s Windbreaker armor

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis July 24, 2014, 1:16 PM (IDT)

Thursday, July 24, the 17th day of the IDF’s Gaza operation, Israeli ministers were discussing a possible “humanitarian ceasefire” in IDF-Hamas hostilities, which could last up to five days. According to debkafile’s military sources, it is Hamas which, behind its tough stance, is keen on a pause – and not just out of sudden concern for Gaza’s civilians. Its tacticians are desperate to find a chink in the Chariot-4 tank’s Armored Shield Protection-Active Trophy missile defense system, known as the Windbreaker. The 401st armored brigade is the only IDF unit with this armor.

Hamas has tried to stop these tanks with two kinds of advanced guided anti-tank missiles, the Russian Kornet-E, and the 9M113 Konkurs. But Windbreaker repels them and blows them all up.
Wednesday July 23 the IDF deliberately placed brigade commander Col. Sa’ar Tzur, one of the outstanding commanders in Operation Protective Edge, before TV cameras, while standing in front of a Chariot-4 tank.

He spoke at length about the brigade’s unstoppable performance under anti-tank missile fire. Those missiles are blown up without penetrating the tanks’ armor, he said, and are powerless to slow their advance.

Hamas has found no answer for the Active Trophy defense system, any more than it has for the Iron Dome anti-missile defense batteries, which keep Israeli civilian populations safe from its rockets. Both systems are home-made, developed by Rafael advanced armed systems industries.
Hamas is not giving up, which is why it is holding out against a long ceasefire, but aiming for just enough time to come up with new stratagems, debkafile’s military sources say.
This was the message conveyed in the statement Hamas leader Khaled Meshal made Wednesday July 23 in Qatar: He rejected a long-term ceasefire, but left the door open for a “humanitarian” pause.
While its forces have taken serious punishment, most of Hamas’ underground command and military infrastructure is still far from knocked out. But if the Israeli military decides to go for a decisive coup against those core facilities – defined by the Israeli security cabinet’s euphemism of “expanding the operation” – Hamas chiefs expect it to be spearheaded by a fleet of Chariot-4 tanks hurtling towards them behind the protection of their impenetrable “Windbreakers.”

To maintain any kind of draw with the IDF, Hamas stands in urgent need of two resources: 1) Technology for neutralizing the Windbreaker; and 2) Missiles able to pierce it.
While Khaled Meshal haggles with ceasefire brokers in Qatar, his agents are known to have appealed urgently to Tehran to find the weapons they need and deliver them at top speed to the Gaza Strip – possibly from Libya by the Iranian-terrorists’ arms smuggling route through Egypt.
A reference to this appeal was made in a comment by a senior military intelligence official Wednesday, when he disclosed that Iran had promised to rebuild Hamas’ military machine, including its rocket production and launch systems. Hamas and Tehran also broached the problem of the Chariot-4 armor. Both fully understood that unless it can be solved, Hamas may have no way of defending its high command and arsenal in their elaborately furnished underground bunkers.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has all these facts to hand, fed by a steady stream of intelligence from US informants in and over the battlefield. His efforts for a ceasefire are based on his perception that Israel has so far not managed to inflict a clear defeat on Hamas and needs to expand its operation to tip the scales.

He calculates that if Israel launches its final thrust, which has not yet been approved, it will not accept a ceasefire before achieving its goal, and this may take at least a week to ten days.

But if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon hold off on Israel’s decisive attack, then negotiations can start for a truce of some kind, while both sides size up their respective situations and decide whether or not it is to their advantage.