The challenge of Avoiding Civilian Casualties

This is an inside look at Israeli drones and what they do. 

The world needs to see the truth. 

Look at the challenges Israel has when fighting Hamas!

Blinken's Fantasized Diplomacy

 

Thanks to Ruthie Blum  full article at https://tinyurl.com/5n8bndke 

In a press conference on Thursday in Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his opposition to an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, saying that such a move would be a “mistake.”

An invasion into the southern Gaza city, he stated, was “unnecessary” to achieving the goal of defeating Hamas. This attitude, which the Biden administration has been expressing with increasing fervor, runs counter to Israeli assessments.

It has become the key bone of contention between Washington and Jerusalem since the start of the Oct. 7 war, spurred by a massacre of Jews that hadn’t been seen since the Holocaust.

Other disagreements—surrounding the use of Israeli force, civilian Palestinian casualties and plans for “the day after”—have been mild in comparison. Or at least they’ve been treated by Israel as arguments that can be addressed through a presentation of the facts.

This hasn’t been simply a tactical ploy to avert discord. On the contrary, the justice of destroying the genocidal terrorist organization that controls territory along Israel’s southern border and vows to repeat the atrocities of Oct. 7 “again and again and again” is irrefutable.

Anyone disputing Israel’s duty to eradicate Hamas—for the survival of the Jewish state, as well as for the benefit of the region and the world—is on the wrong side of history. Period.

Furthermore, Israel has the data to support the extreme measures it employs to avoid non-combatant deaths in Gaza. It has proof of the huge quantities of humanitarian aid entering the Strip. It also has evidence of its efforts to prevent Hamas from stealing the goods.

Blinken is fully aware of the above. He is equally cognizant that the war would end in an instant if Hamas surrendered unconditionally and released the remaining 134 hostages, among them U.S. citizens, held in its sadistic, sexually abusive captivity.

But since the only pressure Hamas understands is that exerted by Israel Defense Forces bombs and troops, America’s top diplomat has no recourse but to powwow with Qatar and Egypt. The former has close ties with Iran and provides refuge for “exiled” Hamas bigwigs.

The latter shares a border with Gaza. Though porous enough to have enabled the flow of materials for the construction of hundreds of miles of Hamas terror tunnels, it has been totally impenetrable for Gaza residents who wish to leave.

Has Blinken raised these issues during his shuttle diplomacy excursions to the Middle East to “mediate” a deal for the release of the hostages that involves a halt in the fighting? Of course not.

No, “as a Jew,” he’s been too busy warning Israel about the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza and pushing for a “sustained” ceasefire. Apparently the White House believes think that it’s possible to win this war without killing any more terrorists or the human shields behind whom they hide. Talk about music to Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s ears. No wonder his ultimate demand is for a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza and continued Hamas reign in the enclave. He doesn’t want to agree to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for hostages.

His having done so in November was due to two factors. One was IDF might. The other was the assumption that Israel wouldn’t have the wherewithal or legitimacy to resume fighting. He was right about the first and wrong about the second. Today, however, thanks to U.S. admonitions about Rafah, Sinwar has cause to up any ante on offer.

It’s not clear, then, what Blinken meant by announcing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and in Egypt the following day that the “gaps are narrowing” in the negotiations. Perhaps he can explain how he reached that baseless conclusion when he meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday in Israel.

EU Claim That ‘Starvation Is Being Used as Weapon of War’

Israel Furiously Counters Top EU Official’s Claim That ‘Starvation Is Being Used as Weapon of War’ - Algemeiner.com

Israeli officials reacted with outrage on Monday in the face of a claim by the EU’s foreign policy chief that Jerusalem is imposing a famine on Palestinian civilians in Gaza as the war in the beleaguered territory continues to rage.

The accusation comes from Josep Borrell — a Spanish official who serves as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy “In Gaza we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” — said at the opening of a conference in Brussels on humanitarian aid for Gaza. “This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine,” Borrell continued.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded :    “Despite Hamas violently disrupting aid convoys and UNRWA’s collaboration with them, we persist.” “Israel allows extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, air, and sea for anyone willing to help,”      In a blunt posting on the same platform, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy noted that on Sunday, “8 million lbs. of food entered Gaza by land. That’s ~4LBS. OF FOOD PER CAPITA. That’s not famine, starvation, or catastrophic food insecurity.”

 

Levy added tartly: “I’m sorry if the facts are awkward for your efforts to help Hamas rapists survive 10/7 and live to fight another day.”

Separately, in a statement on Friday, COGAT — the Israeli agency that assists with humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza — noted that since the beginning of March, “an average of 126 food trucks entered Gaza daily. This is 80 percent more food trucks entering compared to before Oct. 7. 500 trucks entered Gaza daily before Oct. 7, carrying building, agriculture, and industrial supplies; only an average of 70 carried food.”

Gaza Market with Abundance of Food

 From this video taken in Gaza one can see how Gazans 

are profiting from the aid bring sent into Gaza.

There seems to be an abundance of food available.

Bedouin Family Member Who Rejects Hamas, Urges Palestinian Peace with Israel

 This is a story about a remarkable Bedouin Arab family who

suffered, along with Israelis, from the murder, kidnapping,

and mayhem perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th.

One family member engaged in a heroic rescue of Jewish

people trying to escape the slaughter at the Nova Music Festival

near Gaza. Other family members were killed or kidnapped. And

the most articulate and vocal family member, Bashir Alzayadni,

told CBN News of his hopes for peace between Palestinians

and Israelis, Jews and Arabs.

Tunnels and The Philadelphi Corridor

(With thanks to IDSF, Habitchonistim )

A smuggling industry with a turnover in the billions:

In recent years, smuggling from Egypt into Gaza has become central to the Gazan economy and key to the strengthening of Hamas. Even today the city of Rafah is full of smugglers, who bribe the Egyptian police and run a business sector with a turnover in the billions.

The smuggling still continues during wartime, as war materiel and other goods flow from Sinai into Gaza every day. And there is fear that such smuggling is, or will be, accompanied by smuggling in the other direction. Senior Hamas figures are likely to try to escape into Egyptian territory, with hostages, and from there to Iran.  

Control  of food distribution is to control Gaza.

Besides the problem of smuggling, absence of Israeli control at the Philadelphi Corridor also causes a severe problem of supervision over the humanitarian aid to Gaza. Since the start of the war, thousands of trucks have entered Gaza with humanitarian supplies and food. The distribution of aid is managed officially by UNRWA and by “charitable organizations,” but in practice, behind all that management, Hamas is pulling the strings. It is important to understand that as long as Hamas wields control over the supplies, they are channeled first and foremost to its own purposes, and in that way Hamas succeeds in operating more forcefully while also gaining the population’s acknowledgement of its authority.

Israel Must Defeat Hamas in Rafah

Both the history of Rafah and its current situation show that if Hamas is to be defeated as a governing body, the IDF must control the Philadelphi Corridor, Israel must have full authority over the entry of all goods into Gazan territory, and there must be a ground operation in Rafah.

Such a ground operation is indispensable, because Rafah is the last stronghold of the Hamas leadership and the only place where its battalions still are active as organized military units. Currently the Israeli public is concerned that the IDF, despite attaining many, many successes, has not laid its hands on the senior Hamas figures and has not located the hostages. The entry into Rafah will be the decisive battle, leading us to the top Hamas commanders and to their last military stronghold, and to the hostages. Therefore we must enter the city, and as promptly as possible. Contrary to the widespread conception, Rafah is not a difficult military objective. Tougher places have already been taken, so this task is certainly doable.

10 IDF Couples Wed Simultaneously

In a unique ceremony, ten IDF soldiers married their partners at a mass wedding in the Tel Aviv Port. It was part of Chabad of Savyon’s “Marrying the Warriors” initiative and included 10 wedding canopies. Each couple invited 100 guests. 10 glasses were simultaneously smashed.

A delegation of visitors from Canada raised over $1 million in support .

This wedding was mind blowing, highly emotional

See also https://tinyurl.com/3vsy7sru  

UNRWA to Change its Name?

Meme created by www.benherskowitz.com

 

UN Official Refuses to Disclose Sources Accusing IDF of Sexual Abuse

In its inimitable way, the UN continues to invert the truth on anything to do with Israel. Based on the concept of attack being the best form of defense, a  Jordanian national and U.N. special rapporteur manages to avoid condemning Hamas for the atrocities committed on Oct 7th.

This report  without any credible  sources attributed to the claims gives food to the anti-Semitic activists

The following analysis is by  Mike Wagenheim, JNS

Another United Nations special rapporteur is using her platform to deny terrorist attacks against Israel.

Reem Alsalem, a Jordanian national and U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, is an author of a Feb. 19 report listing alleged abuses by Israel against Palestinian women and girls, including reports of “multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers.”

It adds that “at least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence.”

The report also alleges that the Israel Defense Forces kidnapped Palestinian babies.

In an interview on an Israeli news program, Alsalem refused to detail even the most basic of information about the accusations, including the identity of the accuser or accusers, that she called “reasonably credible.”

Israeli diplomatic officials vigorously dispute the accusations and believe the information in Alsalem’s report originated with Euro-Med Monitor, a virulently anti-Israel NGO operating under the human rights banner and headed by Richard Falk.

Falk is a noted conspiracy theorist and former U.N. special rapporteur, who was deported from Israel in 2008 after arriving to purportedly investigate Israeli crimes.

Euro-Med Monitor published its own similar report in late February.

Falk’s appointment to the U.N. position was controversial, given his extensive history of anti-Israel rhetoric.

Alsalem refused to admit that Hamas carried out sexual violence on Oct. 7, saying that she had not received the information necessary to carry out her work. She made that claim despite an extensive fact-finding mission and report released this week by Pramila Patten, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict.

The report found “clear and convincing information” of sexual violence carried out against hostages in Gaza and “reasonable grounds” to believe Israeli women were raped at three separate locations on Oct. 7.

“We cannot rely only on digital material or material produced online or by the media,” said Alsalem when asked if she watched Hamas’s extensive video documentation of its Oct. 7 terrorist acts, which are widely available for viewing.

“I’m not a technical expert on videos, so I on my own will not be able to assess those videos. I will also need to seek technical expertise,” Alsalem said.

She intimated that she either calls into question the authenticity of footage of Hamas’s Oct. 7 crimes—much of it taken from the GoPro cameras by Hamas terrorists themselves—or that she is incapable of locating and playing videos online without expert assistance.

Pressed as to whether she believes Israeli women had been raped on Oct. 7, Alsalem would only allow: “It may have happened, indeed.”

She also initially denied that Hamas and Hezbollah have launched regular missile attacks during the current war. The United Nations has documented those attacks.

“At this point, I have not seen that, no,” Alsalem said.

She then conceded, when pressed, “I have seen missile attacks.”

Aid Driver Killed by Gazans

  “Innocent Palestinian civilians” kill the driver of an Egyptian

humanitarian aid truck, and looted the truck

Douglas Murray Calls a Spade a Bl....dy Shovel

 Douglas Murray discusses the Israel-Gaza war and the cowardice
of the West in confronting Islamist terror. Is it too late for the West?

Ramadan is Approaching Again

 Ramadan is approaching again as Israel is at war in Gaza and in Lebanon.

Israel is wisely seeking a ceasefire that will coincide with Ramadan, knowing the unfortunate history of attacks on Israel during the Muslim holy month.

The dangerous lies that resurface every year, claiming that Jews are planning to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque and replace it with a Third Temple, are bound to resurface in incitement from Palestinian leaders and religious figures.

This antisemitic libel was originally manufactured and disseminated in 1921 by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, and has continued to be spread over the past century. It has been used as an excuse for violence too often

In August 1929, Palestinian Muslims, incited by rumors of an imminent Jewish plot to destroy al-Aqsa, rampaged throughout the land. In total, 133 Jews were killed over six days, including 67 members of the ancient Jewish community of Hebron.

In 1990, the “Al-Aqsa is in danger” libel inspired 3,000 Muslims to gather on the Temple Mount after a rumor was spread that a Jews were planning to march on the site. This devolved into the October riots, which led to the deaths of 17 Muslims and many wounded on both sides.

In 1996, following the opening of an exit for the Western Wall Tunnels in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. Arafat and the PA accused Israel of purposely endangering the Aqsa Mosque. This led to three days of rioting and 17 IDF soldiers and about 100 Palestinians were killed.

In September 2000 a visit to the Mount by Ariel Sharon, just a few months before he was elected to be prime minister, was used as an excuse to launch the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Aware of this history, Israeli and Palestinian Authority security officials have been meeting to prepare and cooperate on how to prevent violence.

But there are figures on both sides who have other interests. And Iran, the patron of Hamas and Hezbollah, could try even harder to inflame a multi-front regional war. The police will once again do their best to avoid conflict and maintain calm.

But when false accusations are inevitably made against Israel during Ramadan this year, how will the international media handle it?

Will they repeat the mistakes that they made last year? Will they again promote the libel, fan flames, and increase tension that in the current climate could possibly spark WW III?

We await with bated breath. 

Drone Footage of Chaos in Gaza

Over 100 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured
in the Gaza Strip Thursday, Hamas-affiliated health officials said
– which Israel blamed on a massive stampede among
people desperately clamoring for aid.

About 104 people were killed while waiting for aid at the
al-Nabusi roundabout to the west of Gaza City,

Israeli troops have been accused of opening fire.

However initial investigations show that Gazans tried

to storm the soldiers who were stationed well away

form the aid convoy.