By GIL HOFFMAN, JPOST
07/27/2014 15:35

Survey says that should Netanyahu choose to end Gaza operation at this time, he would be confronting the overwhelming majority of the nation.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (R), Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz meet in Tel Aviv. Photo: ARIEL HERMONI / DEFENSE MINISTRY

Public opinion in Israel is solidly against ending Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip according to a poll released Sunday.

The poll was conducted by respected pollster Mina Tzemach among 504 respondents, a representative sample of the Hebrew-speaking Israeli adult population. It was sponsored by strategist Roni Rimon, who once worked with Likud and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but now insists he took it at his own initiative for his own curiosity.
Read more…

By Eli ben Yosef, ISRAEL HAYOM

In recent days, I have been feeling something that, unfortunately, is not always a popular sentiment — I am simply proud of our country’s young generation. These children, the generation raised on smartphones and screens, are foregoing their summer vacation plans — the beach, shopping and hanging out with friends — in favor of helping children in the bomb shelters in Ashdod, helping senior citizens, volunteering at hospitals, contributing to the public diplomacy campaign aimed at Diaspora Jews and volunteering to collect care packages for the soldiers on the front.
Read more…

By David M. Weinberg, ISRAEL HAYOM

[..] Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza must be viewed in this broader context. Israel is acting not only to end the immediate and acute rocket and tunnel threat to Israel — which alone is more than enough to justify our current military offensive — but acting to restore a measure of overall deterrence against all or enemies; to regain the aura of military supremacy, in their eyes.

Israel must prove that it is not deterred by Islamic terrorist militias that embed themselves in civilian populations and think themselves thereby invulnerable. Israel is showing that it can and will take the fight into their streets and underground hideouts, and uproot and destroy their bases of operations — despite the cost in life to our soldiers and to noncombatants unfortunately trapped (purposefully so, by Hamas) in the crossfire, and despite international condemnation.
Read more…

IDF warns civilians to steer clear of Gaza after responding to Hamas’s attacks on Israel.

By Vic Rosenthal

This is absolutely incredible (or, sadly, maybe not). Let me quote Ha’aretz diplomatic writer Barak Ravid, anything but a right-winger:

The draft [cease fire agreement] Kerry passed to Israel on Friday shocked the cabinet ministers not only because it was the opposite of what Kerry told them less than 24 hours earlier, but mostly because it might as well have been penned by Khaled Meshal. It was everything Hamas could have hoped for.

The document recognized Hamas’ position in the Gaza Strip, promised the organization billions in donation funds and demanded no dismantling of rockets, tunnels or other heavy weaponry at Hamas’ disposal. The document placed Israel and Hamas on the same level, as if the first is not a primary U.S. ally and as if the second isn’t a terror group which overtook part of the Palestinian Authority in a military coup and fired thousands of rockets at Israel. … Read more…

Since the “humanitarian ceasefire” started on Friday evening 8 soldiers were killed.

Our government is exposing the soldiers to too much danger. It must do better.

Mofaz: Ceasefire endangers lives of IDF soldiers at Gaza Strip

DEBKA jULY 16/14

Before it ended with Hamas rocket fire Saturday night, July 26, the 12-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was used by both parties for regrouping, re-arming, strengthening fortifications and digging in current lines and positions while the sights and sounds of devastation in the Gaza Strip came fully to light.

The pause in hostilities also offered Israeli forces a valuable opportunity for collecting intelligence. In the heat of the fighting, the IDF and its clandestine arms were unable despite strenuous efforts to obtain electronic and SIGINT access to the hidden Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centers.
Read more…

THIS IS A HIGH QUALITY DEBUNKING OF ARAB CLAIMS TO ISRAEL

Security Cabinet votes in favor of UN humanitarian ceasefire after Hamas answers Israel’s extended four-hour lull with rocket fire; Hamas: No deal if Israel does not remove forces, source: Calm in fighting means we can focus on dismantling Gaza tunnels.

Moran Azulay, YNET

Prime Minister Netanyahu has extended Saturday’s ceasefire until midnight Sunday, despite the renewal of rocket fire by Hamas, which seriously wounded an Israeli.

Earlier Saturday, Israel agreed to extend a 12-hour ceasefire by four hours until midnight Saturday, even though Hamas and the Islamic Jihad refused to do so, firing rockets at Israel. Israeli tank fire killed a man in the southern Gaza Strip, a local official said.

Read more…

MARTIN SHERMAN, JPOST

The only durable solution requires dismantling Gaza, humanitarian relocation of the non-belligerent Arab population, and extension of Israeli sovereignty over the region.

Read more…

Tim Brown, FREEDON OUTPOSTS

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger,
“Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”
Straight from the Jerusalem Boardroom #196, July 25, 2014

1. $1.6bn was raised by Israeli high tech companies during the first half of 2014, 81% higher than the first half of 2013. Israeli high tech companies raised $930mn during 2014’s 2^nd quarter – the highest total since 2000, 30% higher than the 1^st quarter and 109% higher than 2013’s 2^nd quarter (Globes Business Daily, July 16, 2014).

2. Israel’s new investment Angels’ Law – introduced by the Minister of Economy, Naftali Bennett – is the world’s most daring, including a 100% deduction for tax purposes during the first year (Globes, July 17).  The $86bn Los Angeles-headquartered Oaktree Capital Management acquired the Israel operations of France’s Veolia Environment for $341mn (Bloomberg, July 10). The $36bn San Diego-based Qualcomm acquired Israel’s Wilocity for $300mn, made its 5^thIsraeli acquisition following DesignArt ($130mn), iSkoot ($75mn), CSR’s camera division ($45mn) and EPOS  for $30mn Globes, July 4).

Read more…

HAMAS ALSO BEATS ANYONE WHO TRIES TO LEAVE AREAS SLATED TO BE DESTROYED BY ISRAEL

AND THE WESTERN MEDIA CHAMPIONS THEIR CAUSE AND PARROTS THEIR LIES

Cabinet unanimously votes to reject the ceasefire proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

By Elad Benari, INN

Israel rejected U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday evening.

According to reports in the Israeli media, the Cabinet which met on the issue unanimously voted to reject the proposal.

“The security cabinet has unanimously rejected the ceasefire proposal of Kerry, as it stands,” Channel 1 News reported, adding that ministers would continue discussing it.

According to Channel 10 News, even though the ceasefire proposal was rejected, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would still prefer to avoid an extensive ground operation in Gaza at this time.  Read more…

July 25, 2014 by Mark Tapson, FPM

As the Israeli-Hamas conflict rages, a familiar pattern asserts itself: Israel bends over backward to demonstrate her moral innocence to the world, and the world heaps condemnation on her anyway. Israel always feels compelled to restrain her military superiority because victory in that arena means losing the battle in the arena of public opinion despite extraordinary efforts. It’s worth questioning whether the moral victory Israel is striving for accomplishes anything except to perpetuate the hostilities and ensure more Israeli deaths at the hands of Arab terrorists.
Read more…

by BREITBART NEWS 24 Jul 2014

Late Thursday evening Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, with the co-sponsorship of seven other House Representatives, released a bill to finally designate the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

The Breitbart News Network has obtained a copy of the potentially historic document that links the MB to Al Qaeda and the global jihadi movement.

Titled the ‘‘Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2014,’’ the proposed legislation provides extensive evidence proving why the organization, which has recently been designated a a terrorist group by both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, satisfies the federal requirements to be placed on the official FTO list.
Read more…