Posted on 07/23/2014 6:25:39 AM PDT by Star Traveler
Israel’s mood at the start of this war with Hamas was one of confident assurance. We wouldn’t be deterred by the rocket threat, and Hamas would be contained.
That’s utterly changed. The rockets turned out to be the least of our concerns. And the national mood now is a mixture of anguish at the growing toll of IDF dead, anger at the feckless response of parts of the international community — notably the US — and confidence in the troops and (atypically) the political leadership.
To lose the lives of 30 Israelis to terrorism is, appallingly, nothing new in a country that survived the suicide bombing onslaught of the second intifada. As the former Shin Bet intelligence chief Avi Dichter pointed out on Tuesday, 30 Israelis were killed in a single Hamas suicide bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya on Passover Eve March 27, 2002. That was the worst, but still only one of dozens upon dozens of bombings that battered Israel’s buses, restaurants and shopping malls a decade ago.
But to lose 30 soldiers battling vicious Islamic extremists in Gaza produces anguish of a different nature. Our soldiers are our future. They’re the youngsters among us, who have been required because of Israel’s unique geographic and geostrategic peril to place themselves on the front line for years of service before their young lives have really begun. We feel guilty that we’ve pitched them into war. We, the safe civilians, draw our strength from the sky-high level of their determination and motivation to protect us. We wish it were us, the grownups, who were on the front line. We’d have much preferred for the rockets, targeting all of us, to have been the chief threat.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
Did not break Germany, and didn't break Japan till we graduated to nukes.
The terror bombing of cities, especially in Germany, killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, but had little impact on the German war effort, at least relative to our resources used. It arguably was a war crime, at least in modern terms, and certainly by those of the 19th century.
Are you willing to have this criteria applied to America? If so, terrorist attacks here by an enemy with which we are at war would be legitimate, at least if the enemy donned uniforms before attacking.
I can see you still confuse both humanitarian aid or aid to the Palestinian Authority, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lobbied and urged Congress to continue supporting (because Israel doesn’t want it’s soldiers administering the PA territories).
And I see you’re also confusing the “unity pact” which is nothing but a “paper document” for foreign consumption ... with Hamas ... when it is the Palestinian Authority” and Abbas who are fully in control of Judea and Samaria.
The problem you have is that you can’t see the details and distinguish what is going on. And you confuse criminals and criminal actions of terrorists with support that the USA is giving to Palestinians, versus the terror groups.
You ignore that Prime Minister Netanyahu has no problem with humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians and he also wants support for the Palestinian Authority to continue so Israel won’t have to administer the territories.
What neither the USA or Israel wants is any money or arms to the terrorist organization and neither one of them is doing that.
You can call support for Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the IDF, and being against Hamas and their terrorist attacks, and for the fact that it has to be disarmed (as Netanyahu says) and for continued foreign aid for anything that Israel needs for it’s security and safety and even economy — by any name you want — but whatever you call it, that support remains.
If that did, it would have been through the former Muslim Brotherhood President of Egypt (that Obama backed, by the way) — who has now been deposed by the Egyptian military and is arrested and on trial. Egypt has also arrested almost all the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood that they can find.
Now, with this new President of Egypt, that border has been closed off to Hamas and most of the tunnels have been destroyed (they probably haven’t found them all). In addition, Egypt wants the Palestinian Authority in control of the Gaza side of the border, and not have Hamas there!
Guy did win a majority in a reasonably free and fair election.
Mega dittos! :-)
It’s kind of like Obama ... :-) ...
Of course over in Egypt, everyone didn’t realize that the Egyptian government was going to be turned into an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and have it working against the national interests of Egypt, and instead, for the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood.
I refer you back to Post #15.
NOW it looks like the MB is about to swallow up Hamas and is aligned w/the PA. Their (all of them) hatred for Israel is by degrees and they are fighting for power. Who is going to control the “humanitarian aid” and have so-called legitimacy in the world. MB probably will win out.
As you know, these things are going to be used by God to bring His purposes to fulfilment, whether we fully understand them or not. There are some definite things we can know from His Word—like some major events and their timing AND outcome—a pretty big revelation from God.
Exhibiting your lack of knowing what the Israelis are about, is not a “plus” ... :-) ...
I again refer you to post #15.
Perhaps, eventually, you’ll “get it”.
It’s Israel you don’t get ... :-) ...
True. However, American mythology holds that winners of elections are generally the good guys and we should support them.
What, we should decide to oppose a freely elected leader, presumably supporting the loser of the election?
Yep, I totally opposed Morsi as President of Egypt and was glad the Egyptian generals deposed him and then arrested and jailed him!
Probably the best outcome from a host of bad alternatives.
However, I’m sure you’ll agree that in general military coups are a bad idea. The military virtues are great for many things. Effectively running a country is not generally one of them.
Anyway Arab armies are not particularly noted for being loaded with the military virtues.
The USA doesn’t send Hamas billions a year. The USA doesn’t send a penny a year to Hamas in Gaza.
(Oh, really ?)
Kerry is even throwing in additional money for Gaza to help seal the deal. On top of the half a billion dollars that the Obama administration is continuing to send to the Palestinian “unity” government in which Hamas is a partner, Kerry has just offered a $47 million bribe in the form of so-called “humanitarian” aid for Gaza. Some of the $47 million would flow through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This is the very same agency which found at least twenty Hamas rockets in one of its schools and which is reported to have returned those rockets to the “local authorities.” In Gaza, the “local authorities” are presently the Hamas operatives who govern Gaza. Presumably, UNRWA will be sharing the Kerry-provided windfall with those same “local authorities.”
Why would Hamas negotiate with John Kerry after getting $47 million from him?
This is what U.S. Gaza assistance includes as of Monday, July 21, 2014:
An initial $15 million contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in response to UNRWA’s $60 million Gaza Flash Appeal; (this is after rockets were found in two UNRWA schools);
$3.5 million in emergency relief assistance from USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA);
$10 million in existing USAID bilateral funding, redirected to meet immediate humanitarian needs; and
$18.5 million in new USAID bilateral funding for humanitarian and emergency relief assistance.
You confuse “humanitarian aid” - which the USA sends through UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) ... with “support for Hamas”, which neither the USA or Israel does.
The Israeli Ambassador made it clear yesterday that Israel does not have a problem with the Gaza residents, but with Hamas ...
— — —
Manor, the Israeli ambassador, vowed that Israel would “destroy” Hamas’s military infrastructure.
“However, the Gaza residents are not our enemies. Israel is fully committed to international law,” he said.
— — —
He spoke at the UN Human Rights Council and said that.
AND ... Israel has an embargo around Gaza to stop all weapons from getting through to Hamas -BUT - Israel allows all humanitarian aid to go through their checkpoints from UNRWA - through which the USA sends its aid.
Don’t let a “little knowledge” become a dangerous thing ... LOL ... you need to get fully informed ... :-) ...
If that were true, Hamas would have run out of 'weapons' by now.
Israel does not have a problem with the Gaza residents, but with Hamas ...
But many of the Gaza residents ARE HAMAS.
You confuse “humanitarian aid” - which the USA sends through UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) ... with “support for Hamas”,
Oh yeah... the UN is so 'trustful'.
Would you consider giving a guess as to the percentage of 'money' given to the UN which actually goes for 'humanitarian aid' ?
Do you think the UN 'supports' Israel in this conflict ?
UN launches inquiry into possible Israeli human rights violations in Gaza
By 'little knowledge' do you mean things like PAST PRACTICES, CURRENT MINDSET, BEHAVIOR OF LYING THEIVES ?
Remember FOOD FOR OIL ?
... LOL ... you need to get fully informed
The only way I could be better informed would be to move to Israel.
Do you really believe that the money is going JUST to humanitarian aid?
Could you cite even one example ?
So... where do these 'hamas' people live ? Do they wear 'hamas' uniforms , or dress in 'civilian' clothing ?
Hamas is the 'government' of GAZA. How are we sending money to Gaza civilians without it going through HAMAS ?
Can We Give To Gaza Without Giving To Hamas?
"And so, despite a record which suggests that decades of aid to the Palestinians–bilateral, multilateral, you name it–have fostered not peace, but continuing violence, here we go again. The plan this time seems to be to flood the Palestinian Authority with funds that might somehow grease the way toward somehow easing Hamas out of the cockpit in Gaza."
Methinks that the 'picture' of the world that exists in your head does not match reality.
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