The Implications and Consequences of Expulsion for the Jewish People
Olmert ‘Restraining’ Israeli Military in Gaza, By Aaron Klein (WorldNetDaily)
“We should never have withdrawn in the first place,” a senior IDF officer told WND. ‘The greatest admission of the Gaza withdrawal’s failure would be for us to have to reoccupy any part of Gaza.'”
“The Katyusha we fired (in August) shows we can have every weapon we need,” said Abu Ahmed. ‘It is only a matter of a small period before Gaza is ready for war.’”
Why Won’t Israel Protect Sderot Classrooms?, By Noam Bedein (IsraelInsider.com)
Gal Alon, special advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Olmert: “As to the protection of school classrooms — the decision as of the way to protect these classes (including which classes should be protected) was taken by professionals.”
“How can a child pay attention in a classroom, study normally, when he’s ready any second to hear the daily siren: ‘Color Red’ and run through the hallways, in 15 seconds with all of the kids, from the other un-protected class rooms?”
Stop the Kassams Now (Jerusalem Post Editorial)
Excerpts;
Hamas has once again proven that it is a terrorist organization and proud of it, talks of a Palestinian “unity government” notwithstanding. The question is how Israel will effectively respond to this reality.
After yesterday’s deadly attack on Sderot, Peretz claimed that “terror organizations will pay a heavy price.” Indeed, the IDF has been exacting a heavy price from these organizations in operations of varying scope over the last few months. Yet it is also inescapably true, as Sderot residents have been saying for some time, that if missiles were falling on Tel Aviv or Jerusalem with such frequency, Israel would be acting differently.
Drawing Conclusions (Jerusalem Post Editorial)
Excerpts;
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz “is now going through a very difficult time and I feel his pain,” said Maj. Gen. (Res.) Doron Almog in an interview in Ma’ariv on Thursday. “We were friends and we are still friends. I feel empathy for him – but professionally and as a commander, he made mistakes.”
Almog, who produced the scathing IDF report that prompted Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsh to resign, was expressing the combination of admiration and concern that many Israelis feel toward the IDF leadership at this time.
Beit Lahiya: Palestinians Shield Terrorist’s Home
Full Text;
Hundreds of Palestinians formed a human shield around the home of a terrorist in the northern Gaza Strip late Saturday to prevent an IAF airstrike on the building, residents said.
People flocked to the home of Mohammedweil Baroud after he received a warning from the army late Saturday giving him 30 minutes to leave the house.
Barhoud is a commander in the Popular Resistance Committees in the northern town of Beit Lahiya who is charge of firing homemade rockets at Israel.
Olmert Prefers Surgical Strikes to Widespread Military Operation in Gaza
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday on his return from a four-day visit to the United States that he prefers surgical strikes on terror targets in Gaza rather than a widespread military operation.
“There are many opinions on how to deal with the Kassam fire,” he said. “We must remember that this war will not be over in one blow.”
Olmert said it did not make sense to carry out an offensive similar to Operation Defensive Shield in Judea and Samaria in 2002, because in the end, it didn’t completely eradicate terrorism.
2 Kassams Land Near West Negev Kibbutzim; None Hurt
Report: IAF Jets Fly Low Over Lebanon
Kassam Rocket Fire Costs Sderot Industry NIS 40 Million
Kassam Rocket Attack Without Injuries
Kassam Rocket Lands in Western Negev; None Wounded
IDF Arrests 22 Palestinian Fugitives in West Bank
IAF Jets Strike Four [Hamas and Popular Resistence] Buildings in Gaza
Troops Nab Top Tanzim Target in Tulkarm
MKs Blame Kassam Attacks on Government and Egypt, By Sheera Claire Frenkel (Jerusalem Post)
Excerpts;
Officials from across the political spectrum scrambled to cast blame Wednesday for the day-long Kassam attacks that pounded the south of Israel, killing one woman in Sderot.
MK Shai Hermesh (Kadima) said in response to the rocket firing Wednesday morning that “the source of the terrorism is because the Egyptian army turns a blind eye as a constant supply of arms flows into the Strip under their nose.”
Olmert: Whatever is Necessary Will Be Done
Full Text;
“Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is in Los Angeles, told reporters that the IDF is authorized to take whatever measures are required to bring an end to terrorist rocket attacks into the Sderot and western Negev areas.
After being informed of the increase in attacks on Wednesday, Olmert telephones Defense Minister Amir Peretz, instructing him to step up the IDF response to the attacks.”
For additional background, click Outrage Rising Over Kassam Attacks, IDF Vows Retaliation