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Commentary;
Before rushing to click on MSM BBC coverage of Israel’s ‘Cast Lead’ Gaza operations, check out the real, unslanted perspective behind Israel’s current Gaza operations by viewing this YouTube video. MB
Sunday War News Updates: Artillery Batteries Deployed Along Gaza Border, Cabinet Approves Reserves Call-Up, 40 Smuggling Tunnels Blasted in 4 Minutes, Thousands of Gazans Pour into Egypt; Hezbollah Retaliation Threats; Baby Injured by Stoning, Arabs Nabbed Burning Tires in Beit Hanina
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Artillery Batteries Deployed Along Border with Gaza Strip, by Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Cabinet Approves Call-Up of Reservists, by Herb Keinon (Jerusalem Post)
[Thousands] Gaza Palestinians Cross Egyptian Border [into Egypt]
Two Wounded by Rocket in Ashkelon
IAF Warplanes Seen Flying Over Lebanon [Reaction to Hezbollah Chief Nasrallah Threat of Retaliation Over Gaza Operations] , by Hana Levi Julian (Israel National News)
Sunday War News: ‘Cast Lead’ Day 2 — IAF Continues Bombing Hamas Facilities as Rockets Reach Near Ashdod, Barak Opens Gaza Crossings, No Advance Notice to Shalit’s Dad; Molotov Thrown at Jerusalem Home
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[3] Rockets Land Near Ashdod in Farthest-Reaching Gaza Attack [More Than 40 km North of Gaza]
11 Rockets Fired at Israel Since Sunday Morning; None Injured
IAF Strikes Gaza City Government Offices
2 Killed by IDF in Beit Hanoun
2 Rockets Land in Ashkelon; No Injuries Reported
5 Rockets Land in Ashkelon; Warning Siren Sounds in Ashdod, Gan Yavneh
Barak Instructs that Gaza Crossings Open for Humanitarian Supplies [Aiding the Enemy During Wartime, Even While Pu\ounding Them??], by Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Parsha Vayigash 5769: Jewish Unity, Still As Elusive As Ever
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Parsha Mikeitz records the whole affair between Yosef and the brothers when they came to Mitzrayim to buy food and were accused by the Viceroy of being spies. We learned how after hearing their story and family history, Yosef demanded that they bring their youngest brother to him and incarcerated Shimon as insurance that the brothers would indeed return with Binyamin, their youngest brother. We learn that in the middle of Parsha Mikeitz, with the imprisonment of Shimon, the brothers recognized and attributed their predicament to the sin they had committed earlier by throwing Yosef into the pit and then selling him to the Mitzriyim. Yosef heard and understood their conversation and left their presence to cry silently. (Perek 42, posukim 21-24)
Israel Launches “Cast Lead” Operation Against Terror Infrastructure, Weapons
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Commentary;
Israel has apparently launched a major operation, dubbed “Cast Lead”, against terror in Gaza. President Shimon Peres has announced that “measures will not include invasion” but Defense Minister Ehud Barak notes; “it won’t be easy and it won’t be short.” Over 200 were killed and over 300 wounded in today’s initial strikes targeting numerous Hamas locations as well as weapons and ammo storage areas.
“Israeli-Arabs” have reacted with rioting and, in one case, an Arab attempted to run-down an Israel polliceman in Jerusalem.
Friday War News: 25 Mortar Shells Pound South as Barak Opens Gaza Crossings, 10s of Thousands of Rockets With 40km Range; Roadside Bomb Found in Central Israel; IDF Nabs Terrorist in Abu Dis
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25 Mortar Shells Pound South as IDF Poises for Limited [??#@*??] Gaza Op, by Herb Keinon and Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Popular Resistance Committees Spokesman: Tens of Thousands of Rockets in Gaza – Range Over 40 Kilometers, by Dr. Aaron Lerner (IMRA)
[Barak Decides:] Gaza Crossings Open Friday
Gaza Crossings Open [Under International Pressure]
Eshkol Region Leader: Why is Humanitarianism One-Sided?
Terrorists Shelled Eshkol Region Overnight [20 Mortar Shells Fired]
The Puzzlement About Israelis and Chanukah
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On Thursday, this blog commented on a Ynet opinion piece entitled “We Lost Our Killer Instinct.”
The piece dealt with what many have perceived for some time; How Israelis have become more “I”, “me”, individual-oriented and how this orientation change relates to an IDF basically controlled by the Attorney-General and the so-called “Justice (sic) Ministry, by fear of the media, by fear of parents and the streets of Tel Aviv rather than by the chief of staff and defense ministry.
Has the IDF Lost its Instincts of Yesteryear?
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Commentary;
It used to be that the spirit, the credo of the IDF was unity, was “follow-me” commanders and command structure, was the collective security of the nation — in all of its regions and sectors. It used to be that the pain felt in the Negev, in Galil, in Jerusalem was felt in Tel Aviv, Haifa, or for that matter, Beit Shemesh. Ynet’s Guy Bechor writes of the change for the worst saying;
“We see excess of individualism, whereby only the individual is of interest to us, rather than the State or the army.”
Thursday War News UPDATE: More Rockets, Mortars Near Ashkelon, Yad Mordechai, Kfar Aza, Sha’ar Hanegev as Kiryat Gat Prepares for Attack; Lebanese Army Defuses 7 Katyushas Aimed at Israel
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LAF Reportedly Defuses Seven Katyusha Rockets Aimed at Israel
Rocket Explodes Near Ashkelon, No Injuries
Kassam Lands Near Ashkelon Beach
Kiryat Gat Gets Geared for Gaza Attack
Rocket Explodes Near Yad Mordechai, No Injuries
Rocket Attack on Kfar Aza, No Injuries
Kassam Rocket Lands Near Sha’ar Hanegev Kibbutz; None Hurt
Mortar Shells Fired by Terrorists Backfired
Two Mortar Shells Hit Open Area in Kibbutz Sha’ar Hanegev; None Hurt