Foreign Minister says Operation Protective Edge must end with Israeli military ‘in full control of Gaza Strip.’

Noam ‘Dabul’ Dvir, YNET
Published: 07.15.14, 17:49 / Israel News

“We need to end the operation with the IDF controlling the Gaza Strip,” said Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman at a press conference in the Knesset on Tuesday.

The Yisrael Beiteinu leader addressed the failed ceasefire with Gaza militants and the decision to renew the IAF airstrikes on the Strip in the wake of the continuing rocket fire.
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I think that setting such a limited goal of destroying the tunnels will help maintain international support for the invasion. Once accomplished Israel can set another goal and so on. Ted Belman

Yoav Zitun, YNET
Latest Update: 07.16.14, 01:14 / Israel News

The IDF called on residents of eastern and northern Gaza to evacuate their homes Tuesday night, apparently ahead of planned military strikes in the areas. A military source said that some 100,000 residents had received warnings to leave their homes.

Specifically, voice messages were left for residents in the eastern Shuja’iyya neighborhood in Gaza City telling them to, “evacuate for the sake of your safety by 8am.” Further messages and instructions are expected to be sent Wednesday morning.
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Long-time critic of prime minister’s leadership given the boot after criticism of ceasefire deal proves the last straw.

by Jonathan Schanzer
Politico
July 15, 2014

http://schanzer.pundicity.com/15041/friendless-in-the-middle-east

One week after the start of Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge,” also known as Hamas’ “10th of Ramadan War,” Washington is looking on helplessly. President Barack Obama offered to mediate a ceasefire last week, but the move fell on deaf ears—on both sides. Secretary of State John Kerry then made a surprise visit to Cairo on Monday in a bid for calm. Egypt soon announced a ceasefire, which was to have taken hold this morning at 9 a.m. The Israelis agreed to the terms, but Hamas balked, claiming it was never even consulted. Rockets continue to fly out of Gaza, and Israeli warships continue to pound targets in the Hamas-controlled enclave. Read more…

Iran: The Regional Power behind the Hamas War Effort

• Iran is an arsonist, inflaming the conflicts in the Middle East. Since the 2012 “Pillar of Defense Operation,” Iran has heavily invested in improving the quantity and quality of the rockets in the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) arsenals. Its endgame is to preserve its influence via its proxies and to use the Palestinian organizations as Iran’s first defense line.

• Iranian rockets include Grad, Fajr-3 and the longer ranged Fajr-5, M-75, and M302 rockets which have reached the Haifa region. Iran also provided Hamas with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) (Ababil) and drone technology.

• The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force coordinates the smuggling, shipping and delivery of the weapons to Gaza, the training in Iran and in Lebanon, and the transfer of funds.

• The longstanding disregard of Iran’s export of revolution and terror has fostered a situation where Iran threatens vital U.S. and Western interests.

IDF Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael (Mickey) Segall, an expert on strategic issues with a focus on Iran, terrorism, and the Middle East, is a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and at Foresight Prudence.

Hamas doesn’t agree to calm for calm. Therefore give em hell and invade. Ted Belman

Senior army official says ground offensive necessary to combat terror tunnels. It could take between a week and two weeks, and has high chances of being successful.
Yoav Zitun, YNET
Latest Update: 07.15.14, 15:27 / Israel News

The ceaseless barrages of rockets after the unilateral truce has led the IDF to resume its aerial strikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon.

The resumption of aerial strikes might just be the first step towards a ground offensive, which seemed like a long-shot this morning when the cabinet accepted the Egyptian ceasefire proposal.

“A ground offensive could help combat the many tunnels in the Strip, where the Air Force is not effective,” the senior official told reporters.

Israel held its fire as of 9am Tuesday as part of the Egyptian ceasefire proposal, but the heavy rocket fire from the Strip, which included long-range rockets to the Karmel area and to the Shfela area, brought about the change in tactics.
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Israel’s enemies deliver an unwitting favor.

By BRET STEPHENS, WSJ

July 14, 2014 7:27 p.m. ET

From time to time Israel and her supporters should give thanks for having as enemies the Palestinians and their supporters.

As of midday Monday, Hamas had fired more than 1,000 missiles at Israel, aimed more or less indiscriminately, without inflicting a single Israeli fatality. It isn’t every enemy whose ideological fanaticism, however great, is exceeded by its military and technological incompetence.

It’s true that much of the incoming fire has been shot down mid-flight by Israel’s Iron Dome, but Hamas must have seen that coming since the defense system was first deployed during the last round of fighting in 2012. It’s as if the French had concluded from the Battle of Agincourt that the English long bow wasn’t as effective as advertised and would surely fail against a more determined cavalry charge.
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Hamas member claims offer was not discussed with any of the Gaza factions; armed wing promises to intensify fight.

Ynet reporters

While Israel’s security cabinet decided to accept the Egyptian ceasefire initiative on Tuesday morning, Hamas’ armed wing rejected the offer completely, saying it was “a surrender” to Israel.

Yisrael Beiteinu chairman, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, voted against accepting the ceasefire proposal, as did Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett. Voting in favor of the offer were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Finance Minister Yair Lapid, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and ministers Gilad Erdan and Yitzhak Aharonovich.

The ceasefire started at 9am Israel local time, in effect bringing Operation Protective Edge to an end after 8 days. However, Hamas has yet to agree to the truce.
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I think this is a pretty good assessment. Leaving ego aside, I find myself increasingly in favour of a ceasefire. But I am not in favour of negotiating any terms for demilitarization because they would be ineffectual as in 1701. We are not going to get a better deal than calm for calm. Egypt has made a proposal that I realize that from time to time Hamas would violate it. Even so that seems like a better outcome for Israel than suffering the costs of invasion and temporary occupation and the problems of withdrawal. The proposal calls for “To end all hostilities by political factions (DEBKA: Hamas is not mentioned by name) based in Gaza against Israel via land, sea, air and underground, while emphasizing the stoppage of rockets of all kinds, assaults on the borders and the targeting of civilians.” But this is meaningless because Hamas will still conduct itself as before. Netanyahu has asked, that “any deal with Hamas being contingent on the creation of an international mechanism to dismantle and remove Hamas’s rockets stocks and production facilities from the Gaza Strip.” Even if you ask for that the ceasefire will be a fact long before such a thing could be put in place which is never as Hamas would not agree to it. So in the end its calm for calm. Anything else is delusion. But I believe that it is better than conquering and occupying Gaza. Occupying Lebanon as we did was a picnic in comparison to what it would be in in Gaza. You know what they say, “Descretion is the better part of valour or is it stupidity.Ted Belman

At times it seems almost inevitable that the order will come, the dead-end situation leaving no other alternative. Then it seems increasingly unlikely as all the many factors, drawbacks and risks are added up.
By Anshel Pfeffer, HAARETZ | Jul. 14, 2014 | 2:31 PM

The Israel Defense Force could enter the Gaza Strip at literally any moment. A number of brigade combat teams are deployed around Gaza’s borders; infantry battalions, tanks, engineers, armored personnel carriers, and all the logistic echelons to keep them supplied.

The operational plans have been ready since last week, authorized by IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz. Every day that passes, there will be more hardware, officers better acquainted with every detail on their maps and more intelligence at their disposal. But while there is near-total operational readiness at the staging-grounds, there’s also a languid atmosphere of weary skepticism. In the coffee shops and kebab joints which suddenly fill up whenever there’s a security crisis around Gaza, they grabbed quick breaks over the weekend, but didn’t actually seem in a rush anywhere.
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By Alan Dershowitz, NEWSMAX

March 11, 2014

When President Barack Obama warned of “international fallout” if Israel fails to embrace the latest U.S. Middle East peace proposal, Newsmax asked noted author and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz to comment on the growing talk of a European boycott against Israel.

Why are so many of the grandchildren of Nazis and Nazi collaborators who brought us the Holocaust once again declaring war on the Jews?

Why have we seen such an increase in anti-Semitism and irrationally virulent anti-Zionism in western Europe?
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Egypt’s proposal for a ceasefire is “a disaster”, says Housing Minister Uri Ariel.

The same goes for Israel. She shouldn’t stop until the full agreement is negotiated which must include the dismantlement of all weapons and rockets. Ted Belman

“A ceasefire without reaching an agreement is rejected,” Hamas spokesman says of Egypt’s proposal.

By Elad Benari, INN

Hamas rejected Egypt’s proposed ceasefire in Gaza on Monday night, as Arab foreign ministers in Cairo called on “all parties” to accept the proposal.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group would not accept a truce without a fully-fledged deal to end hostilities, according to AFP.

“A ceasefire without reaching an agreement is rejected. In times of war, you don’t cease fire and then negotiate,” he told the news agency.
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Between the Settlers and the Unsettlers

Why Israel will soon be the only state able to govern Judea and Samaria, and the only military force capable of securing its borders

By David P. Goldman, TABLET MAG |July 14, 2014 12:00 AM

By Ted Belman

As I see it, Israel has no stomach for a ground invasion. Israel is deterred by Hamas from doing so. So Israel is left to position its goals as quiet for quiet or perhaps a little better, quiet for extended quiet.

But with over 1000 sorties, Hamas is still not deterred by Israel.

This is unacceptable and it is the reality.

The question comes up, why does Israel not seek to destroy Hamas Now is the time when Islamists are preoccupied elsewhere.

Evidently 4000 Gazans heeded Israel’s warning to leave their homes in the north. That’s a good thing. But Israel failed to demolish the area which she should have done. Then move on to another area.

If Israel settles for calm, it will show weakness and be the opposite of maintaining deterrence.

By the way, Max Blumental, no friend of Israel wrote,

Israeli police, intelligence officials and Netanyahu knew within hours of the kidnapping and murder of the three teens that they had been killed. And they knew who the prime suspects were less than a day after the kidnapping was reported.

I never heard that before. is it true.

By Jonathan Lerner, INSS

With Israel and Hamas continuing to attack each other, the government of Israel seeking at least “to restore quiet to the country’s population,” and Hamas wanting achievements that will ensure its rule, there are a number of possible scenarios regarding the continuation and conclusion of the fighting. The range of possible scenarios demonstrates the extent of the uncertainty in the current situation.1

1. The fighting continues over time within the current parameters. In this scenario, the two sides will avoid escalation beyond Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli aerial strikes, or initiatives and actions of a different kind will be thwarted. There is even a possibility that Israel will decide to cease its attacks unilaterally in order to test Hamas. In such a scenario, a cessation of hostilities is possible if, as a result of Israeli strikes, the Gazan population begins to pressure Hamas. It is difficult to imagine that such pressure will develop in the coming days, and therefore, the fighting will likely continue for some time. Other possibilities for ceasing hostilities could develop if the two sides move to one of the following four scenarios.
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Despite devastation in Gaza, and its inability to inflict Israeli casualties, the organization is in robust shape — personnel unharmed, rocket supplies plentiful, popularity soaring

BY AVI ISSACHAROFF, TOI July 14, 2014, 12:51 pm 2

A picture taken from the southern Israeli Gaza border shows a rocket being launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Friday, July 11, 2014. (photo credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP)

More than a few senior people in Jerusalem, the Kirya military headquarters and the IDF have been repeating over the past two days assertions like “Hamas is frustrated” and “Hamas wants a ceasefire.”In principle, they’re right,but those statements must be accompanied by two critical caveats that in practice prevent a halt in the fighting.

True, Gaza’s Hamas rulers are frustrated to a certain extent. They aren’t happy that the almost 1,000 rockets they’ve fired at Israel so far have caused few injuries and haven’t even significantly disrupted life in Israel. Hamas also had far-reaching plans for terrorist attacks inside Israeli territory, but so far they’ve all been thwarted. Even attacks on communities and army bases by way of tunnels that were dug over years did not bear fruit, thanks to Israeli intelligence efforts.

However – and this is a major reservation – the damage to Hamas from Israel’s air campaign, at least so far, has been minimal. Not one senior member of the movement’s political or military echelons has been as much as scratched by Israeli fire.
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EXCLUSIVE: INSIDE BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY’S FACULTY LISTSERV

BREITBART

According to its mission statement, Brandeis University was founded to “embody its highest ethical and cultural values and to express its gratitude to the United States through the traditional Jewish commitment to education.” The school pledges that its faculty will “bring newly minted knowledge straight from the field or lab to the graduate and undergraduate classrooms.”

But newly uncovered emails distributed to an official university faculty listserv, comprised of a number of well-known Brandeis professors, show the narrow agenda of the professoriate. That agenda was on full display when 87 professors signed onto a petition protesting the honorary degree slated for women’s rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali. “We cannot accept Ms. Hirsi Ali’s triumphalist narrative of western civilization, rooted in a core belief of the cultural backwardness of non-western peoples,” the petition stated. Read more…

SHILLING FOR THE JIHADIS

BREITBART

Just this week, on the same day, the New York Times and the Washington Post simultaneously decided to take sides in the current war in the Middle East. Unfortunately, they chose the Islamists.

On Thursday, as rockets were landing on Israeli suburbs, two pieces were published by the so-called “papers of record,” that sided with the Muslim Brotherhood. Writing in the New York Times, Kareem Fahim focused ostensibly on the Egyptian response to the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. The author focused on what he saw as the lack of Cairo’s response, especially to helping those in Gaza.

Fahim, who has been in trouble in the past for his less than objective writing on the “rebels” in Syria, pushes a narrative in which the guilty party is the new democratically elected President of Egypt. Retired General Abdel Fattah el Sisi is painted as obsessed with the security threat in the Sinai when in fact he should be reprising the 2012 role of his predecessor, Mohammad Morsi, as mediator between Israel and the terrorists of Hamas.

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YNET reports
Israel’s intention appears to be to continue crushing Hamas from the air for at least two or three more days before the cabinet decides, if at all, to launch a ground operation and what kind of operation.

Until then, the decision to bomb entire areas in the northern Strip after warning the residents indicates a move from tweezers to a 5-kilogram hammer. The goal is not just a military one – moving from individual destruction to wholesale destruction – but is also aimed at signaling to Hamas that Israel is climbing one more step up the ladder, that “we control the escalation,” as a very senior officer has said.