JERUSALEM NEWS
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Events, happenings, and Opinions Concerning
Israel, Israelites, Judah, and Everyone Else
Jerusalem News-828
Jerusalem News-828
3 Tevet 5768, 29 December 2009
Contents:
1. "Only the United States and Great
Britain indicated an understanding for the Israeli action"
2. "Hamas
chief of staff may be dead'
3. Israel at War: A Primer from Honest Reporting
1. "Only the United States and Great
Britain indicated an understanding for the Israeli action"
Most of the world seethes as Israel defends itself
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2597
By Stan Goodenough
December 28, 2008
The international community was in uproar at the weekend following Israel's
decision to finally act against the relentless rain of rockets on Jewish
communities in the south of the country.
Only the United States and Great Britain indicated an understanding for the
Israeli action and laid the blame for the crisis firmly at Hamas' door.
"Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to
stop," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said her country, strongly condemns the
repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible
for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on the Hamas terror group "to cease
all rocket attacks on Israel immediately" and said that he could "understand the
Israeli government's sense of obligation to its population."
Both Britain and America cautioned Israel - which in any case always employs
surgically-precise strikes against the terrorists rather than wide-open attacks
on the terrorist-supporting civilians - to do everything possible to avoid
"collateral damage."
According to the London Sunday Times - the positions adopted by the Bush and
Brown administrations put those nations on "a collision course with their
European allies."
And with other world leaders.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon led a chorus of condemnations,
Saturday saying he was "deeply alarmed" at Israel's use of "excessive" force and
demanding an "immediate halt to all violence?.
His bias was echoed by French President Nikolas Sarkozy and by a spokesman for
the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The European Union demanded "an immediate ceasefire" and the United Nations
Security Council issued a statement Sunday morning expressing "serious concern"
and calling for "an immediate halt to all violence," as Israeli airstrikes
against Hamas targets continued.
In Rome, Benedikt XVI pontificated that "the terrestrial homeland of Jesus
cannot continue to be the witness of such bloodshed which is repeated ad
infinitum."
The pope implored the international community to do "all it can to help the
Israelis and Palestinians on this dead-end road... and not to give in to the
perverse logic of confrontation and violence but to favor the path of dialogue
and negotiations."
Arab responses (see separate story) were predictable.
The press had its say too:
Media analysts believed neither Hamas nor Israel would heed the Security
Council, and that its call really represented a "foundation" on which the
nations would build an increasingly insistent demand for an end to the fighting.
Fumed the Sunday Times: "The wave of attacks marked a violent end to President
George W Bush's sporadic Middle East peace efforts."
A Sky News reporter stated irresponsibly and inaccurately that in Gaza "women
and children are dead and dying simply because of where they live."
And CNN's Ralitsa Vasseliva said the "ceasefire" that had been in place had been
weakened by, among other things, Israel's blockade of Gaza [an Israeli action in
response to the rockets - Ed] and "increasingly hardlined positions by
politicians on both sides."
2. "Hamas
chief of staff may be dead'
YAAKOV KATZ and KHALED ABU TOAMEH , THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 29, 2008
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230456505069&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
Conflicting reports emerged Sunday regarding the fate of top Hamas military
commander Ahmed Ja'abri, who may have been killed in one of the hundreds of
Israeli air strikes against Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
Since Operation Cast Lead began on Saturday, the air force has flown over
300 sorties over the Strip, bombing close to 280 different targets.
Palestinian and Israeli sources said that Ja'abri, the overall commander of
Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, may have been killed in an air strike on
a mosque which he frequented.
Sources close to Hamas in the Gaza Strip said they could neither confirm nor
deny the report. They said that the bodies of many of the victims had yet to
be identified and that several bodies were still under the rubbles of
demolished buildings.
Defense officials said that at least 50 percent of Hamas's underground
rocket launchers had been bombed during the air campaign, as well as a
significant number of weapons warehouses. In addition, almost all of the
Hamas bases and headquarters in the Gaza Strip were completely destroyed.
On Sunday, IAF aircraft bombed a top Hamas security installation, a mosque,
a TV station and dozens of other targets.
But despite the bombings and the relatively low number of Kassam rockets
fired into Israel throughout the day - some 30 in comparison to the earlier
predictions of over 100 - senior officials said that Hamas was still capable
of firing barrages of rockets into Israel.
"Hamas's operational capabilities were damaged, but the group still has
underground launchers as well as the capability to launch attacks along the
security fence and into Israel," said one official.
Officials said that Hamas was believed to still have thousands of Kassam
rockets as well as a significant number of Grad-model Katyushas. Top
officers would not rule out the possibility that Hamas may also have rockets
with ranges greater that 40 kilometers. Hamas is also believed to have
advanced anti-tank missiles as well as a number of shoulder-to-air missiles
capable of downing Israeli aircraft.
The majority of the Palestinians killed in the IDF air raids that began
Saturday were policemen and militiamen belonging to Izaddin Kassam, human
rights activists and medical sources said Sunday.
They revealed that about 160 blue-uniformed policemen were killed in the
first day of the operation. Most of the cadets were attending a graduation
ceremony at the main police headquarters in Gaza City on Saturday. The IDF
said that in total, over 280 Palestinians were killed, most of them Hamas
operatives.
Among the victims: Tawkif Jaber, the director-general of the Hamas-run
"civil" police force in the Gaza Strip, and Ismail Ja'bari, commander of one
of Hamas's most-feared security forces. The two are the most senior Hamas
officials who are known to have been killed since the beginning of the IDF
operation.
A human rights activist estimated that so far at least 60 civilians had been
killed, including nine children under the age of 14 and 20 women. Another
human rights activist said he knew about "fewer than 45" civilian
casualties.
By Sunday night, the Palestinians reported that about 300 people had been
killed and 1000 wounded since the beginning of the operation.
Palestinian journalists in Gaza City said they were facing many difficulties
in collecting information about the casualties because of restrictions
imposed by Hamas and because many of the victims' relatives had buried the
bodies quickly.
3. Israel at War: A Primer from Honest
Reporting
http://www.honestreporting.com/a/gaza2008primer.html
Israel has launched a major military operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza
Strip. Over the coming days and beyond, Israel will come under intense pressure
both in the mainstream media and in online forums and the blogosphere.
Honest Reporting presents a guide to the important talking points to enable you
to answer the questions and issues that will appear.
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