‘Economy for Security’ Plan to Stop Hamas Terror in Gaza

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid laid out his detailed plan to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip through economic and diplomatic means in an address to the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism Conference at Reichman University on Sunday.

“We need to start a large, multiyear process of economy for security,” he said.

Lapid rejected the dichotomy that Israel can either reconquer Gaza or continue to engage in periodic rounds of war against Hamas and other terrorist groups in the coastal enclave that Israel evacuated in 2005.

“Those are two bad options,” he said. “That’s not a reality we can accept.”

Instead, Israel should advance the “economy for security” formulation without negotiating with Hamas, he added. “Israel doesn’t speak to terrorist organizations who want to destroy us,” which puts pressure on the group that controls Gaza.

“We need to tell Gazans at every opportunity: Hamas is leading you to ruin,” Lapid said. “No one will come and invest real money, and no one will try to build an economy in a place from where Hamas fires and that Israel strikes on a regular basis.”

An Israeli plan to improve life in Gaza if Hamas lays down its arms is a way to put pressure on Hamas and end the “absurd situation” in which an antisemitic terrorist organization attacks Israeli civilians and Israel is blamed for it, he said.

That process will take years and will be backed up by the IDF’s might, Lapid said.

 “Our position of strength allows us to initiate instead of sitting and waiting for the next round,” he said.

The foreign minister also vowed that Israel bringing back the soldiers and civilians held in Hamas captivity is part of his plan, which has two stages.

First would come the humanitarian rebuilding of Gaza in exchange for an effort, coordinated with the international community, to stop Hamas’s military build-up.

“The electricity system will be repaired, gas will be connected, a water desalination plant will be built, significant improvements to the healthcare system and a rebuilding of housing and transportation infrastructure will take place,” Lapid said. “In exchange, Hamas will commit to long-term quiet.”

The international community would have to use its influence to ensure that quiet and stop Hamas from arming itself, including preventing smuggling and an oversight mechanism to stop humanitarian funds from getting to the terrorist group that threatens Israeli civilians.

Without that oversight, Israel will not allow funds to be invested in Gaza.

During this stage, Israel would maintain control of electricity and water in Gaza. Only long-term positive results would yield energy independence.

The Palestinian Authority would go back to being responsible for crossings into Gaza, except for Rafah, which is controlled by Egypt. Egyptian support is critical for the process, Lapid said.

More on this at https://tinyurl.com/sbrv3985

The World's Most Moral Army

 Cross posted from Grandma's Army http://agariel33.blogspot.com/ 

 “The only reason Israel goes to war is to defend itself. And it has to defend itself because it is surrounded by countries, and armed groups, that want to destroy it”.

The above was stated by Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired British army officer, who has more experience in war and terrorism than almost anybody. He was Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, and has fought in combat zones around the world, including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq. He was also present throughout the conflict in Gaza in 2014. Among other awards, he was made the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2006

He stated that, nowhere was the essential morality and decency of the IDF more evident than in the Gaza War. In the first six months of 2014, Hamas (designated as a terror organization by the US State Department) launched hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians. If ever there was a purely defensive war, that was it. After repeated warnings from Israel to stop, the Israeli Air Force finally conducted precision strikes to halt the rocket fire. They also advanced into Gaza to destroy a network of terror tunnels that Hamas had constructed to attack Israeli communities near the Gaza border.

It is fascinating to read about the tactical and ethical dilemmas faced by the IDF and the surprising solutions it invented, and deployed, to prevent “collateral damage”.

They took unprecedented measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas. They dropped millions of leaflets, broadcasting radio messages, sending texts and making tens of thousands of phone calls. They even knocked on rooftops with a minor preliminary strike, and then launching the effective second strike only if people evacuated. Never, in the history of warfare, has an army phoned its enemy and told them where they are going to drop their bombs!

Most amazing is the fact that many IDF missions that could have taken out Hamas military capabilities were aborted to prevent civilian casualties, increasing the risk to Israeli citizens and soldiers.

Knowing the extraordinary measures the IDF will take to protect innocent civilians, Hamas deliberately positioned its military assets among the civilian population. They hid weapons in schools and hospitals, placed rocket launchers alongside apartment buildings, then forced those civilians to stay in areas they knew would be attacked. They also instructed their people to report the lie that every Gazan killed was a civilian, even if they were actually fighters. Numerous Internet sites show Palestinians elaborately staging sniper victims and smashed ambulances, among other phony horrors.

In the words of Colonel Richard Kemp: “Firstly, Israel is a decent country with Western values, run on democratic principles. Secondly, Judaism, with its unsurpassed moral standards, remains a major influence on the citizens of Israel. I say this as a non-Jew. Thirdly, Israel is a small country, with a small professional army. To fight a war it depends on its conscripts and its reservists. These are ordinary citizens, from professors to plumbers, called upon to defend their homes. They don’t want to be fighting and they don’t want to harm others.

                                                                    

No army takes such risks in order to protect civilians in the history of warfare as the Israeli army does. I say this as a professional soldier. I say it because it’s true. And people who care about truth should know it”.

 

Southern Israel Gets Hit Again

Gaza terrorists are at it again. They are back to their incendiary terror balloons. And of course, Southern Israel is the closest target. Can you imagine living like this? Can you imagine looking out your window and seeing fire balloons headed toward where you live?

The Israeli people deserve to live safely and peacefully. They deserve to live without fearing what Gaza terrorists will do next.

Iran's Renewed 'Promise' to the Palestinians

 by Khaled Abu Toameh  •  August 18, 2021

• [T]he leaders of various Palestinian factions are seeking Iran's support for their jihad (holy war) against Israel.
• This means that Iran under Raisi will continue to provide the Palestinian terrorist groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with financial and military aid.
• Iran did not promise to contribute to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of last May's 11-day war between Hamas and Israel. Iran did not promise to build new hospitals and schools in the Gaza Strip. Iran did not promise to help the two million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip cope with the rising number of Covid-19 infections.
• Iran's renewed promise to help the Palestinians in their fight against Israel shows that the mullahs in Tehran feel emboldened by the perceived weakness of the Biden administration and other Western powers in dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat.
• The silence of the US and the rest of the international community towards the latest threats from Iran and its Palestinian proxies signals that it is only a matter of time before the Palestinian terror groups' jihad toward Israel, most likely enthusiastically assisted by Iran, resurges in a way that is entirely expectable.

Raging Fire Brought Under Control

 

After 52 hours the fire is finally under control.
1500 firefighters fought valiantly to stop the fire reaching 

the Hadassah hospital.

From our front line view we saw the massive Hercules plane 

dropping the blue flame retardent on the last pockets of 

fire near the hospital.

This was a asuccessful experiment since the average 

firefighting plame can only drop 3000 litres of flame 

retardent wheras the Hercules can drop 18000 litres

What a world!!: Taliban on Twitter, yet Trump banned

 The Taliban Spokesman has a Twitter account without any problem. Meanwhile, President Trump is banned from the platform, in addition to many pro Israel activists

 “The Taliban who treats women and girls worse than dogs, kills gays, and is beheading people in the streets in Afghanistan right now can tweet. But not me said one activist, I’m suspended on Twitter for saying people should be able to choose to take the COVID vaccine or not.

Many pro Israel activists are banned for reporting facts but terror groups are given free reign on the social media

The Raging Fire Continues---

 As we watched the fire in our neighbourhood develop yesterday, it was clear that the whole valley would be destroyed. On the other side of the valley are a number of small communities, including a psychiatric hospital where all residents had to be evacuated. Eliyahu a Metzuda winery in Givat Ye’arim that went up in flames. “It’s dust and ashes. Nothing is left” said the manager. Around 150 barrels were burned. Last Thursday, a consignment of 30,000 new bottles were delivered that were due to be filled.

The fire – which is still burning as of this writing on Monday afternoon – is being called one of the largest blazes ever recorded in the wider Jerusalem area. It appears to have been started near the town of Beit Meir, an area targeted by arsonists in the past. Due to the strong westerly winds prevailing on Sunday, it spread rapidly to nearby communities which were swiftly evacuated – some 10,000 people were directly affected.

The manager of the winery stated that “It was going to be a day of harvesting the grapes,we started work indoors that morning, and suddenly, the world seemed to be going dark outside. The skies looked strange, but we didn’t realize the reason why, and we went back to work.”

“After around a quarter of an hour, the electricity went down, and we started to get worried. We went outside and then we saw the flames – they were already approaching – and there was an acrid smell of smoke. Then we realized what was going on. All of us – all the winery workers – ran for our cars and fled for our lives.

 “A quarter hour later or so, I tried to see what was going on at the winery from a distant vantage point, and I saw it going up in flames and I could actually hear the sounds of explosions as the bottles of wine shattered.”

And in that time the livelihoods of all in that business were shattered