Israel and The Sin of Expulsion

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3 Grads Hit Ashdod Despite [Daily] 3-Hr Truce

Security Cabinet Votes to Continue Operation Cast Lead [Will Israel Escalate Ground War and Wipe Out Hamas?], by Hana Levi Julian (Israel National News)

Excerpt;

Olmert cites Israel’s “right to defend the security of its citizens.”

UN Passes Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution [US Abstains in UN Security Council Vote] (Jerusalem Post)

1 Hurt as Over 25 Rockets Hit South [Kassam, Grad Rockets, Mortars Hit Sderot, Ashkelon, Beersheba, Eshkol and Merhavim Regions] (Jerusalem Post) read more

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Commentary;

This blog asked a few days ago if the Israeli government will squander the IDF’s Gaza War achievements. Events on the diplomatic front continued to show strong indications that Israel’s Troika of Olmert, Livni and Barak are close to doing just that, wasting the degradation of Hamas’ capabilities, the lives of the 9 fatalities and more on a ceasefire based on international forces in Gaza — a rerun of Lebanon.

So concerned are IDF’s defense establishment officials that Ynet’s Hanan Greenberg reports that they have warned; read more

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Tuesday Rocket Total Hits 20

Grad Rocket Strikes Open Area in Beersheba; No Wounded Reported

3 Kassam Rockets Hit Sderot; None Hurt

IAF Hits Home of Hamas Rocket Chief [IDF: Terror Chief, Iman Siam, in House in Jabalya at Time of Strike, 10 Hamas and Islamic Jihad Gunmen Killed in Other Battles], by Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)

PM: No to [European Union] 48-Hour Ceasefire

80 Trucks Full of Humanitarian Supplies Allowed Into Gaza [Through Kerem Shalom Crossing]

Gaza Terrorists Widen Rocket Range [to Gedera, Five Miles South of Rehovot], by Hana Levi Julian (Israel National News) read more

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Commentary;

IMRA’s Dr. Aaron Lerner notes that the current regime, the Olmert, Livni, Barak Troika are aiming to emulate, in Gaza, the Lebanon cease-fire model which columnist Caroline Glick recently described.

Dr. Lerner cites Roni Sofer’s report; Israel Examining International Treaty to Isolate Hamas which follows up his (Sofer’s) report of Sunday, noted on this blog, where he lists Olmert’s conditions to end the conflict.

Lerner comments;

There is a fairly straightforward explanation for PM Olmert’s interest in an international force: The Olmert-Livni team adamantly claims that the Second Lebanon War was a fantastic success because it concluded with the introduction of the grossly ineffective international force…. They thus see their reputations tied to the validity of using international forces. read more

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Commentary;

The results of the first day on the ground show that Operation Cast Lead will be anything but a cake-walk. Israel lost her first ground fatality;

St.-Sgt. Dvir Emmanueloff, 22, from Givat Ze’ev and of the Golani reconnaissance unit, was killed on Sunday by mortar shell shrapnel during clashes with Hamas terrorists near Jabalya.

Meanwhile, Ynet’s Roni Sofer reports Olmert’s comments to Tony Blair, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev regarding the goals of the operation. These comments leave more questions than they answered. read more

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This author recalls a commentary by the K’li Yekar (Judiaca Press Chumash, Vol.3, page 600) on the first posuk of Parsha Vayechi which is leyned this Shabbos.

The K’li Yekar explains the lack of a space between the end of the previous sedra Vayigash and our parsha as meaning that the two poskim are understood together. The final verse of Vayigash reads;

And Yisrael dwelt in the land of Mitzriyim in the land of Goshen, and they acquired property in it and… multiplied greatly. read more