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Obama: Netanyahu will compromise only if pressured

August 9, 2014

Obama: Netanyahu will compromise only if pressured

In special interview with New York Times on Middle East, Obama says PM Netanyahu is too strong, Abbas too weak to advance peace deal, adds that it is ‘hard’ to see PM able to make concessions.

Yitzhak Benhorin Published: 08.09.14, 11:52 / Israel News

via Obama: Netanyahu will compromise only if pressured – Israel News, Ynetnews.

 

 

“Netanyahu is too strong (and) in some ways Abu Mazen is too weak,” US President Barack Obama said in a comprehensive interview with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman Friday, commenting on the balance of power between Israel and the Palestinians.

However, President Obama also noted that the high percentage of support for Prime Minister Netanyahu among the Israeli public proves to be a weak point for him. “If he doesn’t feel some internal pressure, then it’s hard to see him being able to make some very difficult compromises, including taking on the settler movement. That’s a tough thing to do.”

 

Relations that have seen ups and downs. Netanyahu and Obama at White House (Photo: AFP)
 

Obama also spared no criticism of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and stated that “in some ways Abu Mazen is too weak,” while “Bibi is too strong.”

The American president told Friedman in the interview that the combination of the two leaders’ strengths and weaknesses makes it difficult “to bring them together and make the kinds of bold decisions that Sadat or Begin or Rabin were willing to make.”

According to Obama, the solution lies in the leaders’ own hands. Advancing towards a peace agreement will “require leadership among both the Palestinians and the Israelis to look beyond tomorrow. … And that’s the hardest thing for politicians to do is to take the long view on things.”

 

In some ways Abu Mazen is too weak’ (Photo: AFP)
 

In the interview, Obama outlined Israel’s development over the years. “It is amazing to see what Israel has become over the last several decades,” he said.

 

“To have scratched out of rock this incredibly vibrant, incredibly successful, wealthy and powerful country is a testament to the ingenuity, energy and vision of the Jewish people. And because Israel is so capable militarily, I don’t worry about Israel’s survival,” Obama explained.

 

“I think the question really is how does Israel survive. And how can you create a State of Israel that maintains its democratic and civic traditions. How can you preserve a Jewish state that is also reflective of the best values of those who founded Israel. And, in order to do that, it has consistently been my belief that you have to find a way to live side by side in peace with Palestinians. … You have to recognize that they have legitimate claims, and this is their land and neighborhood as well.”

 

 “Most sustained period of antagonism in Israel-US relations”

 

Ever since President Obama took office in January 2009, the relationship between the Israeli Prime Minister and the American President has seen many ups and downs. During Operation Protective Edge, it appeared that this conflict escalated even further.

 

The criticism from Israeli officials regarding Secretary of State John Kerry’s effort to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and Netanyahu’s scolding of American ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro led the New York Times to reach the conclusion earlier this week that it is unclear “how the relationship recovers as long as you have this president and this prime minister.”

 

Criticism of Secretary of State Kerry further escalated conflict (Photo: EPA)
 

The newspaper claimed that the US condemnation of Israel’s strike on a United Nations school in Rafah, that included within it words such as “appalled” and “disgraceful”, expressed the mounting American frustration towards the Israeli government in recent weeks.

According to the New York Times, American sources were left “to seethe on the sidelines”, after Netanyahu dismissed their efforts to end the current conflict in Gaza following Netanyahu’s dismissal. ”

“President Obama has had few levers to influence Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on the current conflict in Gaza,” the newspaper wrote.

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Hamas threat to renew rocket fire amounts to ‘extortion,’ Liberman tells Kerry

August 7, 2014

Hamas threat to renew rocket fire amounts to ‘extortion,’ Liberman tells Kerry

By JPOST.COM STAFF08/07/2014 10:37

Liberman tells his American counterpart that Israel is prepared for all possibilities; the foreign minister also thanks Kerry for Washington’s “unflinching support” for Israel during Wednesday’s UN session.

via Hamas threat to renew rocket fire amounts to ‘extortion,’ Liberman tells Kerry | JPost | Israel News.

 

Kerry meets with Liberman in France June 26, 2014. Photo: EREZ LICHTFELD
 

oreign Minister Avigdor Liberman told US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday that the threat by the factions in Gaza to resume rocket fire at Israel and refuse to extend the cease-fire amounts to “extortion.”

Liberman told his American counterpart that Israel is prepared for all possibilities. The foreign minister also thanked Kerry for Washington’s “unflinching support” for Israel during Wednesday’s UN session.

 

The foreign minister also told Kerry that Israel has no wish to see a further deterioration in ties with Turkey.

“The government has shown restraint in the face of provocations and harsh statements by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan against Israel,” Liberman told Kerry. “We hope that until Sunday’s presidential elections in Turkey, the series of attacks will cease. If this doesn’t happen, Israel will respond.”

Liberman responded Wednesday night to the UN condemning Israeli attacks on UNRWA facilities as “outrageous, unacceptable, and unjustifiable.”

UN officials should ensure their facilities are not being used to store weapons and launch rocket attacks, the foreign minister said, adding that institutions such as the UN Human Rights Council must not become a platform to embolden and encourage terrorism.

Had the UN been fulfilling its duties, in accordance with the principles on which it was founded, the organization would form an international force to rid Gaza of Hamas’ terror regime rather than wait for Israel to do it.

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Kidnapped IDF soldier’s unit unearthed tunnel that stretched 2 kilometers into Israel

August 2, 2014

Kidnapped IDF soldier’s unit unearthed tunnel that stretched 2 kilometers into Israel

By YAAKOV LAPPINLAST UPDATED: 08/02/2014 12:04

via

Kidnapped IDF soldier’s unit unearthed tunnel that stretched 2 kilometers into Israel | JPost | Israel News.

Army is close to completing destruction of tunnels and ground forces “will be free from any restraint and will be able to focus on attacks, as well as continuing the operation,” IDF source says.

 

 

A Hamas terror cell attacked a Givati unit on Friday in Rafah and kidnapped an officer after the Israeli soldiers discovered a large cross-border terrorism tunnel, stretching from Rafah deep into Israel, a senior army source said Saturday.

The tunnel surfaced some two kilometers into Israeli territory, the source added. A tunnel shaft on the Gazan side surfaced in an open area surrounded by homes. Terrorists emerged from the shaft, and a suicide bomber detonated himself near the soldiers, before the officer was kidnapped, the source said. In the hours following the kidnapping, the IDF launched an intensive search in Rafah, accompanied by large-scale firepower.

The IDF has so far killed some 800 terrorists in its offensive in Gaza, the source said.

Late Friday night and early Saturday morning, the IDF attacked 200 Hamas targets, most of them command and control centers. Some 4,500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets have been destroyed in Gaza since the start of the Gaza war.

“We have seen far less friction on the ground overnight,” the source said. One Palestinian attack on the IDF in Gaza came in the form of an anti-tank missile fired at the Armored Corps in Shejaia, northeast Gaza. Additionally, seven soldiers were lightly injured in a mortar attack in northern Gaza.

The IDF has destroyed four tunnels in recent hours, and is “very close to completing the process of destroying the tunnels,” the source said. The process should be complete soon, he said.

Once this goal is achieved, Ground Forces “will be free from any restraint and will be able to focus on attacks, as well as continuing the operation,” he added.

During recent air strikes, the IDF targeted five mosques in Gaza used as rocket storage centers and command posts. A target in the Islamic University complex used for military activity was also hit, the source said.

The IDF has drafted 82,000 of the 87,000 reserves it is authorized to call up.

On Friday, a Hamas attack on IDF soldiers in southern Gaza, which occurred an hour and a half after the start of a humanitarian truce, ended with the killing of two IDF soldiers, and the kidnapping of a soldier in Rafah, southern Gaza, the IDF said Friday.

Terrorists emerged from a tunnel shaft, and suicide bomber detonated himself in the vicinity of soldiers. Heavy exchanges of fire ensued, before one of the IDF soldiers was kidnapped, a senior army source said.

The IDF named the abducted soldier as Sec.-Lt Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old Givati officer from Kfar Saba. The two soldiers killed in the attack have been named as Maj. Benaya Sarel, 26, a Givati officer from Kiryat Arbba, and St.-Sgt. Liel Gidoni, 20, a Givati soldier from Jerusalem.

 

“The incident is ongoing, and the IDF is in the midst of operational and intelligence efforts to track down the soldier,” the army added on Friday. The statement came after Palestinians reported heavy exchanges of fire in southern Gaza, in which several lHamas attackers were reportedly killed in IDF return fire.

Five soldiers from the IDF’s Barak Formation were killed Thursday when a mortar fired from Gaza landed in Israel, near the border. They were named late on Thursday as Capt. Liran Adir, 31, from Azuz, Sgt.-Maj.

Daniel Marash, 22 from Rishon Lezion, Capt. Omri Tal, 22, from Yehud, St.-Sgt. Shay Kushnir, 20 Kiryat Motzkin, and St.-Sgt. Noam Rosenthal, 20, Meitar.

Sixty three soldiers, officers, and NCOs have been killed since the start of the war. Nineteen were injured on Thursday.

The IDF attacked 50 Hamas targets across Gaza overnight between Thursday and Friday, including rocket launch zones, and targets that were hit by the navy and infantry in a combined attack. Two terrorists seen near a tunnel were killed by Paratroopers. The Israel Air Force struck an Islamic Jihad control room, killing two terrorists.

Meanwhile, Givati infantry units uncovered two tunnel shafts and destroyed them. Secondary explosions were seen in the blast.

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US must ‘never second-guess me again’ on Hamas, Netanyahu tells Shapiro

August 2, 2014

US must ‘never second-guess me again’ on Hamas, Netanyahu tells Shapiro

In phone call to US envoy to Israel, PM says he expects the US, other countries to fully support Israel’s offensive in Gaza

By AP and Times of Israel staff August 2, 2014, 11:40 am

via US must ‘never second-guess me again’ on Hamas, Netanyahu tells Shapiro | The Times of Israel.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) greets US Ambassador Dan Shapiro, April 2013. (photo credit: Flash90)
 

ASHINGTON (AP) — In a phone call with US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro about the breakdown of the short-lived UN- and US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vented his anger, according to people familiar with the call.

Netanyahu told Shapiro the Obama administration was “not to ever second-guess me again” and that Washington should trust his judgment on how to deal with Hamas, according to people familiar with the conversation. Netanyahu added that he now “expected” the US and other countries to fully support Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to those familiar with the call. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter by name.

They said Netanyahu made similar points to US Secretary of State John Kerry, who himself denounced the attack as “outrageous,” saying it was an affront to assurances to respect the ceasefire given to the United States and United Nations, which brokered the truce.

On Friday, the Obama administration condemned “outrageous” violations of an internationally brokered Gaza cease-fire by Palestinian militants and called the apparent abduction of an Israeli soldier a “barbaric” action.

The strong reaction from Washington came as Israeli officials questioned the effort to forge the truce, accusing the US and the United Nations of being naive in assuming the radical Hamas movement would adhere with its terms. The officials also blamed the Gulf state of Qatar for not forcing the militants to comply.

With the ceasefire in tatters fewer than two hours after it took effect with the attack that killed two Israeli troops and left a third missing, President Barack Obama demanded that those responsible release the soldier immediately.

Obama and other US officials did not directly blame Hamas for the abduction. But they made clear they hold Hamas responsible for, or having influence over, the actions of all factions in the Gaza Strip. The language was a distinct change from Thursday when Washington was focused on the deaths of Palestinian civilians.

“If they are serious about trying to resolve this situation, that soldier needs to be unconditionally released as soon as possible,” Obama told reporters. He added that it would be difficult to revive the ceasefire without his release.

“It’s going to be very hard to put a cease-fire back together again if Israelis and the international community can’t feel confident that Hamas can follow through on a cease-fire commitment,” he said. His comment reflected uncertainty in the US and elsewhere that Hamas was actually responsible for the incident or if some other militant group was to blame.

At the same time, Obama called the situation in Gaza “heartbreaking” and repeated calls for Israel to do more to prevent Palestinian civilian casualties. “Innocent civilians caught in the crossfire have to weigh on our conscience, and we have to do more,” he said.

Despite the collapse of the truce, Obama credited Kerry for his work with the United Nations to forge one. He lamented criticism and “nitpicking” of Kerry’s attempts and said the effort would continue despite the latest setback.

Kerry negotiated the truce with UN chief Ban Ki-moon in a marathon session of phone calls over several days while he was in India on an official visit. Kerry had spent much of the past two weeks in Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and France trying to mediate a cease-fire with Qatar and Turkey playing a major role because of their close ties with Hamas.

Those efforts failed with Israel saying it could not trust Hamas and some Israelis and American pro-Israel groups complaining that the US was treating the group — a foreign terrorist organization as designated by the State Department — as a friend.

Late Thursday, however, Israel accepted Kerry and Ban’s latest proposal, despite its reservations. Once the truce was violated, though, Israeli officials hit out at not only Hamas, but the United States and Qatar for its failure.

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A full-scale invasion looms

July 20, 2014

A full-scale invasion looms

Op-ed: Gloating at the Israelis it is killing, blackening Israel’s name by operating among Gaza’s civilians, and with much of its leadership and terror capacity intact, Hamas is drawing Israel ever deeper into the Strip

By David Horovitz July 20, 2014, 1:12 pm

via A full-scale invasion looms | The Times of Israel.

 

An IDF soldier clad in an Israeli flag near the border with Gaza, July 19, 2014. (Photo credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90)
 

As the IDF grapples with Hamas’s underground infrastructure, terror tunnels and rocket attacks, Israelis are gradually internalizing the extent of the Gaza Islamist regime’s preparation for this conflict, and the cynicism of its strategy.

Two weeks into this conflict, and despite the immense scale of the Israeli Air Force’s strikes at Hamas targets, about 100 rockets a day are still being fired at Israel, and the ground offensive is proving anything but straightforward, with Hamas demonstrably capable of inflicting significant casualties and drawing the IDF ever-deeper into Gaza.

If this is increasingly dismaying for Israeli citizens, Hamas’s strategies come as no surprise to the Israeli army or political leadership. For months, military chiefs have been warning about both the expanded Hamas rocket threat, and the fortified “underground Gaza” that was being constructed. This writer wrote five months ago – and I certainly wasn’t among the first to know — about the Gaza workshops producing M-75 rockets that would be directed at Tel Aviv next time, about the cross-border tunnels, and about Hamas’s underground network inside the Strip which it would use to target Israeli land forces, to move its gunmen undetected from place to place during warfare, to house its command and communication facilities, and to protect its leadership.

Being forewarned, however, has not made the challenge any less complex. As the IDF casualty figures rise, and Hamas as of Sunday can both brag about killing Israelis and disseminate terrible footage and images of Palestinian civilian casualties in the Gaza residential areas from which it so cynically operates, that challenge to Israel’s strategists is acute.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated goal for this conflict was to attain sustained security and calm for the people of Israel — an essential goal, indeed. But Hamas has no interest in giving Israel any such thing. Its overall stated objective remains the destruction of the State of Israel. Its interim objective is ensuring that its rule in Gaza is maintained and flourishes, at maximal pain to Israel, and no matter what the cost to Gazans. As the deputy head of its political bureau Moussa Abu Marzouk told Mahmoud Abbas last week in Cairo, “What are 200 martyrs compared with lifting the siege?” — a reference to the Israeli-Egyptian security blockade that had so weakened the Gaza economy and thus so harmed Hamas’s standing in Gaza before this round of conflict erupted.

As Israel’s losses mount in Gaza, its disinclination to send troops into the death traps Hamas has prepared seems likely to result in more scenes such as those in Shejaiya on Sunday morning — with Gaza civilians terribly, fatally, caught between Israel’s imperative to tackle Hamas and Hamas’s cynical use of Gazans to protect it.

The notion that such deaths in Gaza might cause Hamas to seek a ceasefire seems extremely far-fetched. “What are 200 martyrs…?” asked Abu Marzouk.

Hence the significance of Tzipi Livni’s refusal, in a Friday night TV interview, to rule out the possibility of this conflict expanding to the point where Israel seeks to bring down Hamas altogether. Her Channel 2 interviewers almost fell off their chairs when the most dovish member of the Israeli security cabinet said she wasn’t ruling out that or any other option.

When Hamas is gloating at the deaths of soldiers, the challenge posed by its terror tunnels, and the disruption its rockets are causing, when it is drawing Israel ever-deeper into Gaza and blackening Israel’s image in the process, and when its will and capability to kill Israelis remains potent, she and the rest of the Israeli leadership can hardly dismiss the idea of Israel having to expand this operation into a full-scale invasion to oust the Hamas regime. Which is where we may now be headed.

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Verdict on UN Security Council Emergency Session? Not Terrible.

July 19, 2014

Verdict on UN Security Council Emergency Session?

Not Terrible.Friday’s emergency session of the UN Security Council ended with the news that Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will fly to the region in an effort to broker a ceasefire.

By: Lori Lowenthal MarcusPublished: July 19th, 2014

via The Jewish Press » » Verdict on UN Security Council Emergency Session? Not Terrible..

 

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Photo Credit: VOA
 

The United Nation Security Council held an emergency session on Friday to address the escalation of violence between Gaza and Israel.

U.N. Undersecretary Jeffrey Feltman spoke at the beginning of the session. He announced that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will be arriving in the region tomorrow, Saturday, July 20, in an attempt to help rein in the hostilities.

Feltman also mentioned several points raised by acting leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. He said Abbas believes the PA should be ensuring security along the Philadelphi corrider, and that there has to be one entity in charge of both all Palestinian Arabs, including those in Gaza.

At the conclusion of his statement, Feltman waxed rhapsodic about the holy grail of the “peace process:” the creation of a Palestinian State so that the “Two State Solution” can herald the dawning of the era of peace and harmony.

And then, as if cynics were writing the script instead of people who actually believe this malarky, the U.N. ambassador from “Palestine” spoke, making it crystal clear that the Palestinian Arabs have no interest in anything like peace with Israel.

The representative from “Palestine,” Riyad Mansour, launched into an invective-filled diatribe accusing Israel of intentionally causing the murder of Arab babies, and insisting that the brutal occupation by the savage Israelis is the root cause of every problem in the region.

Mansour even stated that Israel “cynically used the deaths of three Israeli teenagers” as an excuse to restart its war machine in order to inflict the greatest harm possible on the poor Gazans who are in a stranglehold due to the illegal embargo and closure of its borders.

Not content to use every bloodthirsty adjective to describe Israel, Mansour also spent a good portion of his speaking time reading names and ages of children he claimed have been killed by Israel.

For his part, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor seized the opportunity to engage in rhetorical warfare, although of a far more subtle type.

“Hamas lives by violence and celebrates death. I want to be clear, our forces are fighting in Gaza, but they are not fighting the people of Gaza,” Prosor said.

Prosor also took the opportunity to castigate the nearly immediate, nearly universal international support for the Palestinian unity government. He said that simply allowed a fig leaf for Hamas to continue its violence and reign of terror against Israelis.

Neither of the parties’ spokespeople struck a surprising note. Perhaps the biggest surprise to wary observers was the statement made by U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power.

Power’s brief statement was emphatic about the need to de-escalate the violence. However, she did not spin any fairy tales about how it is only the lack of a Palestinian State which is blocking the peace train from rolling through the region. Nor did Power equate the two parties to the conflict. Power said the indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into Israel had to stop, and she called on both parties to try their utmost to reduce civilian casualties.

At least at this point, given that there were no marches in the aisles of the U.N. demanding Israel cease so that Hamas can continue firing (a joke Prosor employed during his remarks), it was not an altogether terrible day for Israel at the United Nations.

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As Israel prepares wider campaign on Gaza, US signals limited support

July 8, 2014

As Israel prepares wider campaign on Gaza, US signals limited support

By MICHAEL WILNER07/07/2014 23:08

Amid onslaught of rocket fire from Gaza, State Department condemns “deliberate targeting of civilians by terrorist organizations” while urging restraint from government in Jerusalem.

via As Israel prepares wider campaign on Gaza, US signals limited support | JPost | Israel News.

 

Rocket from Gaza lands in Lachish region. Photo: POLICE SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT
 

WASHINGTON – The United States issued a message of support for Israel on Monday amid an onslaught of rockets on its south, condemning “the deliberate targeting of civilians by terrorist organizations” in the Gaza Strip.

“We support Israel’s right to defend itself against these attacks,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, while calling for restraint from the government in Jerusalem.

The focus of the call “was on reiterating our concern about escalating tensions,” Psaki said, adding that “more needs to be done” on both sides to calm the crisis.

But the message, consistent with previous US responses after rocket barrages from either Lebanon or Gaza, was coupled with a strong urge of restraint against escalating the conflict. The Obama administration fears a wider Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza might destabilize political control in the Palestinian Authority, with riots in the West Bank reminding many of past intifadas.

US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this weekend, reiterating Washington’s concern over an escalation in the conflict – exacerbated by the murders of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Since that weekend call, more than 90 projectiles have been fired from the coastal Palestinian territory into Israeli towns. One Israeli has been reported injured.

“We look to both the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to take all necessary steps to prevent acts of violence, bring perpetrators to justice, and protect the innocent,” State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez added. “We are concerned about the safety and security of civilians on both sides – in Israel and in Gaza – and urge the protection of civilians.”

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Hamas to Beersheba ‘settlers’: Run before it’s too late

July 7, 2014

Hamas to Beersheba ‘settlers’: Run before it’s too late

Gaza-based movement accompanies its rocket fire toward southern city with psychological warfare in Hebrew

By Elhanan Miller July 7, 2014, 1:21 pm

via Hamas to Beersheba ‘settlers’: Run before it’s too late | The Times of Israel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fDZ9MzDVMBo

Hamas on Monday warned of further rocket fire toward Beersheba with a video clip calling on residents of the city to flee “before it’s too late.”

“To the settlers of Beersheba, your leaders have killed our children, bombed our homes, and sentenced you to death. Run before it’s too late,” read the message in Hebrew and Arabic in the one-minute video, distributed via social media.

It wasn’t the first time Hamas used psychological warfare against Israelis over recent months.

In March, the movement sent threatening text messages to a large number of Israelis reading “get out of our land,” and in May it produced a music clip to the tune of the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikvah,” calling on Jews to emigrate or face death.

The statements echoed messages Israel has sent in the past to residents of Gaza. During Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, the IDF’s psychological warfare unit dropped hundreds of leaflets disparaging Hamas’s combat capabilities and took over Hamas media to broadcast Israeli messages. “Your death is near; you have no chance against the IDF’s special units and its weapons. Your leaders have fled and abandoned you alone in the field,” read the Arabic message in the leaflets.

Four Grad rockets were launched at Beersheba from Gaza over the course of the past 48 hours; one was intercepted by the Iron Dome system on Saturday evening and the others landed in open areas, causing no damage. An IDF patrol also came under anti-tank fire Monday morning near the Gaza border, with no injuries reported.

Hamas reported the death overnight Sunday of six members of its armed wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade in a tunnel explosion in Rafah. A seventh member of the movement died of his wounds following an Israeli Air Force strike east of the city. Israeli defense officials said the tunnel explosion was the result not of Israeli military activity but of a “work accident” likely caused by explosives the men were handling. Two members of Islamic Jihad were also killed on Sunday night.

“The enemy’s assassination of a number of Qassam Brigade and resistance members is a dangerous escalation. The enemy will pay the price,” warned Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri on his Facebook page early Monday morning.

The flareup in Gaza has marked the first time Hamas itself actively fired rockets at Israel since November 2012, when a ceasefire brokered by Egypt was reached following operation Pillar of Defense.

But Israeli military sources spoke to a clear disparity between Hamas’s political wing, which is uninterested in military escalation, and the movement’s armed wing, which is actively breaking the ceasefire amid popular anger over the killing of Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir in Jerusalem July 2, apparently as revenge for the killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June.

On Saturday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke with the head of Hamas’s political wing, Khaled Mashaal, and asked him to take immediate steps to quell any further escalation of hostilities against Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Abbas asserted that further rocket fire would only provide Israel with “an excuse” to take military action in the Gaza Strip, Arab media reported.

Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.

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Barrage of rocket fire hits South amid calls for Gaza operation

July 6, 2014

Barrage of rocket fire hits South amid calls for Gaza operation

Sha’ar Hanegev, Eshkol and Ashkelon Coast areas battered with rockets; residents instructed to stay in fortified shelters.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAFFLAST UPDATED: 07/06/2014 16:26

via Barrage of rocket fire hits South amid calls for Gaza operation | JPost | Israel News.

 

A neutralised Gaza rocket displayed by police after it landed in a house (back) in Sderot July 3, 2014. Photo: REUTERS
 

A barrage of rocket fire hit southern Israel on Sunday afternoon amid calls from within Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition for a wide-scale mission in the Gaza Strip.

The Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council area was battered with ten rockets from Gaza. Residents of the communities in the Sha’ar Hanegev area were instructed to remain in fortified shelters.

Three rockets hit the Eshkol Regional Council area , one of which started a brush fire, and an additional two rockets landed in open territory in the Ashkelon Coast Council region.

At least 150 rockets have landed in Israeli territory since June 14 when the West Bank operation to find three Israeli teens kidnapped and murdered by Hamas commenced , the IDF said Sunday.

While Economy Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman have called for a wide-scale operation in Gaza, Israel has thus far limited its response to air strikes on select terror targets.

Netanyahu said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting that Israel must act “with composure and responsibly,” and not with “militancy or rashness.”

Israeli warplanes struck rocket-launching targets in the Gaza Strip before dawn on Sunday, the army announced.

According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, IAF aircraft hit 10 targets in central and southern Gaza.

Palestinians in Gaza fired Grad rockets at Beersheba and Ashkelon on Saturday evening, escalating their ongoing attacks on the South.

Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries intercepted one rocket over Beersheba for the first time since Israel clashed with Hamas in November 2012, and soon afterward, three more rockets were intercepted over Ashkelon. Several additional rockets hit open areas in the Sha’ar Hanegev and Ashkelon regions.

On Saturday evening, the Israel Air Force struck in Gaza, targeting a terrorist who was about to fire a rocket, the military said. The terrorist had fired rockets at Ofakim in recent days, the IDF added.

Palestinian rocket and mortar fire continued to target southern communities throughout the weekend, with some 30 projectiles striking areas close to the Gaza border on Friday and Saturday.

A soldier was wounded by shrapnel from a projectile in the Eshkol region on Saturday.

Paramedics evacuated him to the hospital.

Earlier in the day, the Iron Dome system intercepted a projectile over the town of Ofakim.

The regions of Sdot Negev and Eshkol came under regular projectile fire throughout the day. The air force struck three Hamas targets in southern Gaza.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz visited the northern Gaza border region on Saturday and met with military forces operating in the sector. Gantz spoke with infantry and tank unit commanders and examined preparations under way for a possible escalation.

Gantz was accompanied by OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Sami Turgeman, as well as the commanders of the Planning Branch and C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence) Branch.

Gantz said Hamas bears responsibility for rocket firea, and the IDF is prepared to provide any necessary response to ensure residents of the South can lead routine lives.

“We’ll know how to respond with great force if quiet isn’t returned to the area,” he said.

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ISIS Threatening a New Jewish Holocaust

July 6, 2014

ISIS Threatening a New Jewish Holocaust”

The Real Zionist Holocaust is Predicted in the Hadiths!

The Hour [resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them.”

7.4.2014 Israel RevoltJeff Dunetz

via ISIS Threatening a New Jewish Holocaust | Truth Revolt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YDck85jIVS8

 

SIS, the terrorist group controlling parts of Syria and Iraq, is using social media to promise another Holocaust against the Jews. The group’s supporter placed a post on Twitter quoting Muslim Hadith (traditionally a statements or action of Muhammad) that says in part, “The Real Zionist Holocaust is Predicted in the Hadiths! The Hour [resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them.”

An English translation of speech by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was posted on the internet Tuesday. In the oration, al-Baghdadi launched into an anti-Semitic diatribe:

So listen, O ummah of Islam. Listen and comprehend. Stand up and rise. For the time has come for you to free yourself from the shackles of weakness, and stand in the face of tyranny, against the treacherous rulers – the agents of the crusaders and the atheists, and the guards of the Jews.

O ummah of Islam, indeed the world today has been divided into two camps and two trenches, with no third camp present: The camp of Islam and faith, and the camp of kufr (disbelief) and hypocrisy – the camp of the Muslims and the mujahidin everywhere, and the camp of the Jews, the crusaders, their allies, and with them the rest of the nations and religions of kufr, all being led by America and Russia, and being mobilized by the Jews.

A ISIS video posted on June 2 (above) encourages violence against Christians and Jews, writing, “Break the crosses and destroy the lin­eage of the grand­sons of mon­keys [Jews].”

Many Americans who argue against any U.S. action against ISIS claim that we have no stake against the terrorist group. However ISIS’s own propaganda demonstrates their violent intentions extend beyond Syria and Iraq and into Jewish and Christian communities across the world.

(H/T IPT)

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