Free Republic

A spokesman said Israel holds Hamas responsible for the attack. One hour ago, sirens went off in southern Israel, causing people to seek shelter in their security rooms and in public shelters. In Israel, most houses have a specially built security room that can survive chemical attacks and all sorts of conventional attacks. A short time later, a rocket – probably a home-made M-75 missile with a range of 75 km or a Grad missile – landed in the city of Gan Yavne, east of the coastal city of Ashdod.

A major Israel TV station on Sunday night broadcast a detailed report on how Israel will go about attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities in the event that diplomacy and sanctions fail and Israel decides to carry out a military strike. The report, screened on the main evening news of Channel 10, was remarkable both in terms of the access granted to the reporter, who said he had spent weeks with the pilots and other personnel he interviewed, and in the fact that his assessments on a strike were cleared by the military censor. No order to strike is likely to be...

The Israeli Shin-Bet security service foiled a suicide terrorist attack last month in Jerusalem, it emerged Wednesday. An explosive belt was seized only 24 hours before the planned attack, after it was already smuggled into Jerusalem. The interception of the planned attack was part of a large-scale operation by the Shin Bet, the IDF and the police against the Hamas military infrastructure in the West Bank and Jerusalem. During the operation, dozens of Hamas activists – operating in alleged 13 separate units – were arrested.

Nation: FBI suspects Virginia men planned Israel attack By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press WASHINGTON (March 26, 2002 4:51 p.m. EST) - Two men under federal investigation for possible ties to terrorist groups were denied entry to Israel in December after one was found carrying a letter the FBI believes indicated plans to commit a suicide attack there, according to sworn court papers. The papers, made public by the U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria, Va., Tuesday, accused one of the two men, Mohammed Osman Idris, 24, of Annandale, Va., of lying to a grand jury. He and his traveling companion, identified...