Free Republic

The Israeli military said in a statement that the objective of the ground campaign was “to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas,” the militant Islamic group that controls the area, “while taking control of some of the rocket launching sites” that Hamas uses to fire at southern Israel

After a week of air assaults on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian retaliatory rocketing of Israel’s southern cities, the Israeli leadership was at a crossroads. It had to decide whether to embark on a ground offensive or to call it quits and find a face-saving diplomatic endgame (which would leave Hamas with most of its military manpower and firepower intact). A third alternative was to continue the air campaign while sending in ground forces with limited objectives, designed to curtail Hamas rocketing in specific sectors and to interdict Hamas resupply from Egypt through the tunnels under the Philadelphi...

"For the Palestinian people death became an industry, at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire death as you desire life." --Hamas Legislator Fathi Hamad: There's the rub, Israel is fighting an enemy who wants her destroyed and the entire nation replaced by a radical Islamic state. How can you "make peace" with people...

EREZ CROSSING, on the Israel-Gaza border — As Israel’s tanks and troops poured into Gaza on Saturday, the next phase in its fierce attempt to end rocket attacks, a question hung over the operation: can the rockets really be stopped for any length of time while Hamas remains in power in Gaza? And if the answer is determined to be no, then is the real aim of the operation to remove Hamas entirely, no matter the cost? After her visit to Paris on Thursday to explain to French authorities why she thought this was not the time for a quick...

As I watch the war versus Hamas develop and the ground invasion roll out I am thinking to myself, what is the purpose of all this? Some of the effects are quite clear, others are a bit muddied. Clear effects are the easily tangible and observable ones. A most striking and obvious phenomenon is that everyone has an opinion. The blogosphere is rife with opinions some angry and passionate some muted and somber. Coverage is non-stop and the pundits offer a bouquet of insight and opinions. What is clear to me at least, is that this particular war that started...

Here is a video news report from Jerusalem's Channel 2 on the Israeli Military Operation against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. It is in English, and is an excellent summary from Israel, which includes news of Hamas rocket attacks across Israel. Click Play on the video above and the report begins after the 5 second ad. . . . (see video)

Israel launched a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after a week-long air campaign against Hamas militants firing rockets into the Jewish state. The Palestinian death toll, before tanks moved in, reached nearly 450. Gaza rocket attacks have killed four Israelis. Here are some questions and answers about the conflict: Q - Where do things stand now? A - Columns of Israeli tanks backed by helicopters crossed the boundary fence from at least four points into the Gaza Strip under darkness. Israeli military affairs commentators said troops were unlikely to move into Gaza City, the largest population centre...

Ground Operations are underway in the Gaza Strip.I wish the IDF the very best of luck and every success in this phase of Operation Solid Lead.This paragraph from the Jerusalem Post is key: The IDF warned that terrorists using civilians as human shields would bear full responsibility for their fate. The IDF spokesperson emphasized that "anyone who hides a terrorist or weapons in his house is considered a terrorist," adding that "the residents of Gaza are not the target of the operation." This is precisely what separates the "good guys" from the "bad guys." It is what distinguishes terrorists from...

For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, IDF ground troops entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening, exchanging fire with Hamas gunmen. Dozens of Hamas fighters were killed by IDF infantrymen. The army issued no official statement confirming the report. Channel 2 reported that the Navy was imposing a blockade on the water near Gaza to prevent Hamas from receiving assistance through Gaza's coastline. The IDF said that a large amount of troops from the Armored Corps, Engineering Corps and Infantry Corps entered the territory with the purpose of destroying Hamas infrastructure and preventing rocket fire...

Over 10,000 people demonstrated against Operation Cast Lead in the northern town of Sakhnin on Saturday, by far the biggest such protest in Israel so far. In fact, according to organizers, it was the largest protest held by the Israeli-Arab sector in many years. Marchers held Palestinian flags and even a smattering of green Hamas flags. They also held pictures of children said to have been killed during the IDF operation. There were no reports of violence.

Professor Barry Rubin is not only my friend and teacher but he is a Tel Aviv resident with his finger on the pulse of the Israeli Government. He just sent me this report about the Israeli incursion into Gaza: Israel didn’t want to attack the Gaza Strip from the ground or from the air. Hamas, which had long broken the ceasefire, canceled it altogether. Then it began large-scale attacks on Israel. This is a war of defense. And it is being conducted just 30 miles from here, Israel’s main city. According to the just-released Israeli government statement on the offensive:“The...

A Hamas spokesman says in a televised speech that Gaza will "become a graveyard" for Israeli soldiers. The spokesman, Ismail Radwan, appeared on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV shortly after Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza late Saturday. It was not clear if the appearance was live or taped. After the invasion, Hamas spokespeople and militants fired off fiery warnings to the Israeli forces. In another message, Hamas warned Israeli forces that "Gaza will not be paved with flowers for you, it will be paved with fire and hell." Hamas has long prepared for Israel's invasion, digging tunnels and rigging...

EREZ CROSSING, on the Israel-Gaza border — Tanks and armored personnel carriers were lined up in rows in a makeshift camp here, their muddy tracks still fresh on the main road. Their crews huddled in small groups, talking on cellphones and walkie-talkies, waiting. It was one week after Israel, seeking to end rocket attacks from Hamas militants, began a devastating airstrike campaign on Gaza that has also killed and wounded Palestinian civilians, including children. The scope of the assault, and the days of buildup at the border, hint at an unstated but profound question: can the rockets really be stopped...

Here is a CNN video report on the news that Israeli troops have begun a major ground offensive into Gaza to root out Hamas Terrorists. . . . (See Video)

For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, IDF ground troops entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening, exchanging fire with Hamas gunmen.

There is something especially nauseating about the latest Middle East war — scenes of worldwide Islamic protests with photos of Jews as apes, protesters (in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida of all places!) screaming about nuking Israel and putting Jews in ovens, parades of children dressed up with suicide vests and fake rockets, near constant anti-Semitic vicious sloganeering, Gaza mosques stuffed with rockets to be used against civilians — all to be collated with creepy Hamas rhetoric about the annihilation of Israel. This is the world in which we now live. Almost no other issue in recent memory has illustrated the moral...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli defense officials said Saturday that ground forces are crossing the Gaza border. Artillery units joined Israel's Gaza offensive for the first time Saturday, while warplanes and gunboats pounded more than 40 Hamas targets and a mosque where 10 people were killed.

Today, unfortunately, we are seeing the re-emergence of this kind of thinking by those who condemn Israel for its attack on Gaza, and who accuse it of being as responsible as Hamas for the fighting and the deaths of innocent civilians. What is most galling, however, is that this confused thinking is coming from liberal quarters in the “progressive Jewish community,” in particular, the group known as J-Street. The organization was founded last year as a self-proclaimed alternative lobby to AIPAC, which according to the new group’s founders, was too in line with the Bush Administration’s foreign policy and too...

20:26 Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza (Channel 2)

Open fields near the north Gazan town of Beit Hanoun were churned up by the impacts of 155 mm shells fired by M109 self-propelled howitzers. It raised expectations of an Israeli ground assault as artillery is often used to clear territory of booby traps and enemy combatants prior to a land invasion.(Snip) Some witnesses saw large numbers of Israeli Merkava main battle tanks moving toward the border and the Israeli government broadcast a warning to all Israeli civilians near the border to expect an intensification of rocket fire from Gaza. (Snip) Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting are likely...