The Gaza operation's ending shakes West Bank security, opens door to Hamas

 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu turned his anger Sunday, Dec. 9, on Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal’s vow to cheering Gazans to “return to Jaffa, Haifa and Safed… Safed… Safed” (where Mahmoud Abbas was born) in a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the Palestinian Islamist group’s founding.

 

 

The Hamas leader swore to “free the land of Palestinian centimeter by centimeter, from the river to the sea and from the south to the north” with no concessions.

 

“Resistance is the basis for unity between the Palestinian factions,” he said.

 

Netanyahu criticized Abbas, as head of the Palestinian Authority for failing to condemn the extremist Hamas leader’s words - unrealistically, because Abbas must have privately applauded every word.

 

“The Palestinian president is striving for unity with the same Hamas that is supported by Iran,” said the prime minister. “We want true peace, but we will not make the same mistake of unilateral withdrawal as the one that brought Hamas to power in the Gaza Strip.”

This sort of rhetoric may account for Netanyahu’s lead in popular opinion polls, but there was one significant point in Meshaal’s inflammatory remarks that he omitted to mention: the boast that Hamas had dared where greater powers had held back, i.e., fired rockets against Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

 

This was a sore point. It underlined the fact that last month, Israel ended its eight-day air offensive against Hamas without delivering the coup de grace for making the offensive an undisputed success or repairing Israel’s deterrence strength against its radical enemies.

 

The Hamas M-75 rocket

As it was, Hamas could triumphantly display at the center of Gaza City, as the backdrop for Meshaal’s rants, an outsize papier maché depiction of the M-75 rocket, which reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It was “the real victor” of the confrontation with Israel, he declared.

 

To underscore the point, bottles of perfume labeled “The Victorious M-75,” went on sale in Gaza shops.

 

Israeli officials dismissed the Hamas leader’s strutting and the depictions as ridiculous antics prompted by efforts to gloss over the profound and damaging impact of Israel’s brief campaign had undoubtedly inflicted on Hamas.

 

However, it is beginning to emerge that Hamas was won over to halt its long missile blitz on southern Israel by three Israeli concessions: The IDF gave up its 300-500-meter wide security belt inside Gaza, established as a safeguard against continuous Palestinian attempts to carry out cross-border terrorist attacks and kidnap Israeli soldiers; a promise to eschew targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders on the understanding that their resumption would end the ceasefire; and the widening of the stretch of Mediterranean water accessible to Palestinian fishermen.

 

The unwritten ceasefire accord negotiated by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and announced on Nov. 21, did not require Hamas to end weapons smuggling into the enclave from Iran, Libya and Sudan. This was covered by an understanding with the US and Egypt to take joint action for stopping the flow of illicit arms. It was confirmed by President Barack Obama in a personal promise to Netanyahu.

Yet, 20 days have gone by and no such action is in sight, aside from a few scattered tours of inspection by American army officers which petered out in early December. Since the ceasefire, Israeli soldiers now patrolling the Gaza Strip border on foot were forbidden to fire on would-be Palestinian trespassers, even when they came at the fence en masse. 

 

Eased restrictions invite Gaza violence

On Nov. 26, a lone Palestinian took advantage of the eased restrictions against the terrorist organizations - including the al Qaeda cells teeming in the Gaza Strip - and walked 8 kilometers into Israel without being apprehended. He entered a home in the Sdeh Avraham moshav and attacked a woman with a knife. Fearing for her four children who were in another room, Yael Matzpun fought hard and drove him away.

 

She was awarded a certificate for bravery by President Shimon Peres. Netanyahu and Barak responded to the incident by turning to Washington with a demand to lean on Cairo to prevent murderers from Gaza using the ceasefire to attack Israeli civilians.

 

The 350,000 Israelis living close to the Gaza border discovered that their safety was no longer in the hands of the IDF but at the mercy of a fragile ceasefire, granted conditionally by terrorist organizations and accepted by the Netanyahu government. They are no longer pursued by media interviewers, but when asked, they will tell you about the life that springs up from the Gaza border fence night by night: Palestinians rockets are fired to explode just short of the border fence and constant alarms signal Palestinians trying to sneak across - harassments that just miss violating the ceasefire fire.

 

There is no question among civilians or servicemen in the area that the ceasefire is too fragile to survive.

Monday, Dec. 10, an organization identified with al Qaeda announced triumphantly that Hamas had released its leader, Abu Hafez al-Maqdasi, from jail. An exceptionally violent and radical Salafist, al-Maqdasi has close ties with the Salafi terrorist groups marauding Sinai. His release portends the revival of terrorist incursions and Grad missile attacks on Israel from the Egyptian peninsula.

 

And so the clock is ticking backwards to the pre-Gaza operation days of unremitting violence. But the negative fallback from the way the prime minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak handled the Gaza operation - and the terms they accepted for the ceasefire - are here to stay: They are apparent in the upsurge of Palestinian violence against Israelis on the West Bank and the intolerable situation confronting Israeli troops responsible for security in the territory:

 

Toll on IDF morale, boost for Palestinians

The damage is palpable in three areas:

1. Its toll on IDF morale, which was negatively influenced by the government’s action in calling up and holding 50,000 reservists outside the Gaza Strip for a week, ready and willing to pursue a ground offensive to round off the air operation at great sacrifice, and then sending them home without firing a shot. Their low spirits soon affected other reserve units serving on the West Bank and the Lebanese and Syrian frontiers.

 

 

2. Its encouragement to West Bank Palestinians, who were quick to catch on to the new rules of engagement: After witnessing Israel soldiers standing helpless in the face of Palestinians trying to smash through the Gaza border, they staged five incidents since last week to test the ground: Although armed, Israeli soldiers faced with stone-throwing Palestinian mobs on the West Bank screaming insults, did not open fire. Instead they ran for their lives. One of those incidents at Qaddum near Nablus was filmed and broadcast.

The soldiers could only complain that, on the one hand, the rules about opening fire were unclear, while on the other, they were exposed to violent Palestinians buoyed up by Netanyahu’s Gaza policy.


It was therefore not surprising to hear Monday, Dec. 10, that the Palestinian Authority ruled by Mahmoud Abbas had given Hamas permission to celebrate its 25th anniversary with a mass assembly in the West Bank town of Nablus on Thursday, Dec. 13.


By foregoing its security control of the violent Gaza Strip, Israel is also beginning to lose its security footing in the West Bank too.


The talk in the air of “Palestinian unity and brotherhood” encourages Palestinian extremists to hope that Hamas will soon be able to overrun the West Bank as it did the Gaza Strip – “the same Hamas that is supported by Iran,” as Netanyahu pointed out.

But will he stop the assembly taking place when the speakers no doubt plan to assert that the Hamas “victory” in Gaza was fought equally for all its Palestinian brethren?

 

 

http://www.debka.com/article/22602/The-Gaza-operation-s-ending-shakes-West-Bank-security-opens-door-to-Hamas



Why are we involved in this???

Obama to start sending US F-16 fighter jets to Egypt – on Israel’s election-day

 

 

 

The Obama administration took a careful look at the political calendar before announcing that the first four F-16 fighter planes - of the 20 approved in a $1 billion US foreign aid package to Egypt - would be delivered Jan. 22.

The announcement came Tuesday, Dec. 11, as Cairo and other Egyptian towns were set for massive rival demonstrations for and against President Mohamed Morsi’s decision to hold a referendum on a pro-Islamist constitution Saturday. It therefore came in for rising criticism in Washington of the wisdom of sending the jets to an unstable Egypt in the grip of a strong political confrontation.

A broad range of opposition groups – pro-democratic, liberal, secular, women and Christian – are demanding that President Morsi cancel the referendum. The Muslim Brotherhood is mobilizing its supporters to counter this protest. As the first anti-Morsi groups began gathering in Tahrir Square Tuesday, nine were hurt by masked gunmen.

The opposition has clipped President Morsi’s wings once by making him annul the near-dictatorial powers he gave himself. Forcing him to forego the referendum would further undermine his authority.

So the president fought back by authorizing the military to secure state buildings and arrest civilians in the incendiary days leading up to Saturday’s referendum. debkafile’s military sources report that Monday, six Egyptian Air Force F-16 fighters flew symbolically over Cairo.

However, the 2nd and 9th Divisions stationed around Cairo stayed in their barracks and the only uniformed personnel visible on the street were the Republican Guard troops on permanent duty in the capital’s center.

By approving another 20 F-16 jets for Muslim-ruled Egypt on the day of the competing demonstrations, President Obama showed the Egyptian people that he stands foursquare behind President Morsi and that more US military aid is on the way.

The first four jets will arrive in Egypt the day after Barack Obama’s Jan. 21 swearing-in for a second term as US president at the Capitol – and not by chance. That date also coincides with Israel’s Jan. 22 general election.
Obama is therefore using those warplanes as a signpost for the Muslim-Arab Middle East – and the Israeli voter – to show them that he is sticking unswervingly to his policy of support for the region’s Muslim Brotherhood – and especially the Egyptian president - even if Morsi did slip up by a grab for sweeping powers that alienated most of the opposition.

The US promise of new fighter planes was also a recommendation to the Egyptian army to pick the right side and opt for President Morsi if they wanted US military assistance to keep coming. Washington was also ready to consider providing them with more high-tech items in addition to those already supplied.

At all events, President Obama has made his choice, opting for Egypt’s Islamists against the pro-democracy and liberal opposition – a choice that he might have found embarrassing when he campaigned for his second term.

Israel had a dark premonition of what was coming. Obama began laying the background for his strong alignment with Islamist Egypt last month with the dramatic announcement of a ceasefire in Cairo on Nov. 20, that was delivered jointly by Morsi and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

By this announcement – and by maneuvering Israel into abstaining from a ground operation in the Gaza Strip to complete its air operation against Palestinian terrorist targets – Obama pulled the Egyptian president out of his hat as a fully-fledged international figure ready to jump to the top of his newly-minted Sunni Muslim Middle East coalition. In addition to Egypt, its chosen members were to be Turkey, Qatar and the Palestinian Hamas. Israel was to be a secret partner and contributor of high-grade intelligence.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was ready to fit into the role cast Israel by the US president. He therefore chose to hold back from a ground incursion in the Gaza Strip and then agreed to the radical Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal visiting Gaza last week.

His reward came at the same time as Washington’s announcement of the 20 F-16 fighters for Egypt: The US has appropriated $650 million worth of ordnance to refill the Israeli arsenals depleted by the massive Pillar of Defense air offensive in Gaza.

Under this deal, the US will supply the Israeli Air Force with 6,900 satellite-guided “smart bombs;" 10,000 mixed bombs - including 3,450 one-tonners and 1,725 bombs weighing 250 kilograms - as well as two kinds of buster-bunkers - 1,725, GBU-39 bombs and 3,450 BLU-109s.

http://www.debka.com/article/22604/Obama-to-start-sending-US-F-16-fighter-jets-to-Egypt-%E2%80%93-on-Israel%E2%80%99s-election-day

Syria is going crazy still...The rebels fighting the government....Both sides are a disgrace! I saw an article where the rebels made a child DECAPITATE an unarmed prisoner..I will spare you the sight you can look it up for yourself!

Rebels kill 35 in takeover of Syrian military base

 

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels took full control of a sprawling military base on Tuesday after a two-day battle that left at least 35 government troops dead, an activist group said.

 

It was the second major base captured in the country’s north by the rebels, who have been racking up victories in the area in recent weeks and making inroads further south toward Damascus, seat of the government they are fighting to overthrow.

 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the battle for the sprawling Sheik Suleiman military base, near the northern city of Aleppo, ended when the rebels took over the site’s main compound and warehouses that housed a military research center. They had first breached the base perimeter on Sunday afternoon, after weeks of fighting with soldiers loyal to President Bashar Assad.

 

The Observatory relies on a network of activists inside Syria. It did not give figures on rebel casualties from the battle.

 

Also Tuesday in Aleppo — the country’s largest city and commercial center — four mortar rounds hit the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Sheik Maksoud, killing 11 and wounding a dozen. The dead included three children and two women, the Observatory said.

 

The conflict started nearly 21 months ago as an uprising against Assad, whose family has ruled the country for four decades. It quickly morphed into a civil war, with rebels taking up arms to fight back against a bloody crackdown by the government.

 

According to activists, more than 40,000 people have been killed since March 2011.

 

The Observatory said fighters from the jihadi groups, including Jabhat al-Nusra, Mujahedeen Shura Council and The Muhajireen, took part in the battle for the base.

 

Jabhat al-Nusra, which counts both Syrians and foreigners in its ranks, is one of the most effective fighting units on the rebel side.

 

But the West is wary that such jihadi groups could hijack the uprising.

 

On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton designated Jabhat al-Nusra a foreign terrorist organization. The move freezes any assets its members may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from providing the group with material support. The designation is largely symbolic because the group is not thought to have holdings or support in the United States, but officials hope the penalties will encourage others to take similar action and discourage Syrians from joining.

 

That step was part of a package intended to help the leadership of the newly formed Syrian Opposition Council improve its standing and credibility as it pushes ahead with planning for a post-Assad future.

 

The Observatory also reported clashes and shelling in several Damascus suburbs, including Aqraba, near the international airport where fighting started early this month.

 

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said five people were killed during clashes between troops and rebels in the Damascus suburb of Rankous.

 

The Observatory and the LCC said there were casualties in clashes in the northwestern Jisr al-Shughour area near the border with Turkey.

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/rebels-kill-35-in-takeover-of-syrian-military-base/

This is no way to live folks! I feel so sad for the life the MIDDLE EAST as a whole has raised their children up in! All because they ALL have defied Jesus Christ!

IDF to begin giving its medics chemical weapons antidote

 

 

The IDF has acquired tens of thousands of doses of a drug used to combat nerve agent chemical poisoning and will distribute them to all combat medics in the coming months, according to a report in the new issue of the army’s Bamahane weekly magazine.

 

The drug, diazepam, is an anti-convulsant, halting seizures caused by nerve agents such as VX and sarin. Until now, the IDF supplied all medics with atropine, a drug that counters attacks on the respiratory system, but diazepam, which protects the central nervous system, was available only in intravenous form and was distributed only to rear echelon battalion medical centers.

 

“Now the medics receive auto injectors, enabling treatment half an hour to an hour earlier than before, and also enabling treatment to 10 times more people,” the head of nonconventional warfare medicine in the IDF’s medical corps, Lt. Col. Dr. Micah Ksirer, told this week Bamahane.

 

The report comes amid widespread international concern regarding the stockpiles of chemical weapons belonging to the teetering government in Syria.

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that “an increasingly desperate Assad regime” could either try to use chemical weapons against its own people or “lose control of them to one of the many groups that are now operating within Syria.”

 

The latter option, particularly the proliferation of the weapons to Hezbollah, is “a clear casus belli” for Israel, according to Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.

 

Key Israeli officials, largely mum on the threat of internal use, have expressed doubt that Assad would use the weapons against Israel.

 

“We see no sign that this weaponry is being pointed at us,” Moshe Ya’alon, minister of strategic affairs and a former IDF chief of staff, told Army Radio earlier this week. “Syria has been armed for the last decades with chemical missiles and weapons, but our deterrent factor is stable and the proof is that they haven’t used them against us yet.”

 

Diazepam and atropine are carried by all US combat troops operating in areas where there is a reasonable threat from chemical weapons. Each soldier carries a kit and is expected to self-administer the drugs or, in the case of diazepam, to administer it to a friend in need.

 

“Shortening the duration [prior to] treatment can save the injured from brain damage and death,” said Ksirer.

 

IDF medics will begin receiving treatment on how and when to administer the new drug as part of their intensive 13-week combat medic course.

 

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office added that the army “constantly reevaluates the medical gear necessary to provide medical care for soldiers in the battlefield. Military medics must be prepared for every eventuality; the gear that they carry reflects this principle.”

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-to-begin-distributing-chemical-weapons-antidote-to-all-combat-medics/

This is right! WHERE THE HELL IS THE UN WHEN PALESTINIANS ARE HOLDING RALLYS TO GET RID OF ISRAEL? They are No where because the UN is made up of a bunch of anti-semitic NAZI illuminati members that are the off springs of SATAN themselves!

Israeli leaders slam as one-sided EU condemnation of settlements

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman asked where the Europeans were when Hamas leaders called for Israel’s destruction over the weekend. Why weren’t Palestinian envoys in their capitals summoned for explanations? Netanyahu: the Palestinians can avoid negotiations with Israel because the international community exacts no price for Palestinian “rejectionism.” He challenged as “not true” the EU ministers’ charge that building in the E1 corridor linking Maaleh Adummim to Jerusalem blocked the two-state solution.
The European ministers meeting in Brussels Monday night called for full implementation of existing EU legislations and bilateral arrangements applicable to settlement products from the West Bank and Golan.
They were “deeply dismayed by and strongly oppose Israeli plans to expand settlements in the West Bank, including in east Jerusalem, and in particular plans to develop the E1 area."

 

http://www.debka.com/#

Endtime News Updates 12-11-12 with Hummingbird027

Hey folks! I am sorry I haven't posted in a few days....I needed a mental break from all the UGLY in the world! I love you all who stop by and will pick up today and post some news! God bless you all!