Free Republic

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday said that the international community was supporting Israel’s response to Hamas’s rocket attacks against Israeli cities. Peres said, “Terror is a global threat – like us, the leaders of the world stand against terrorism.” Peres was speaking to journalists at the President’s Residence, in Jerusalem, where Israeli children from the country’s southern cities, closest to Hamas-run Gaza, were visiting for a respite from the bombardments and to enjoy carefree summer camp activities. “We are doing all we can to bring this indiscriminate rocket fire against Israel to an end,” Peres said. “We want the...

Either the Islamists accept near-humiliating terms, or they risk isolation and a stepped-up Israeli military assault [O]ne thing is certain: This is the darkest hour for the Hamas leadership in Gaza and abroad If they accept the Egyptian proposal, they will be perceived as having been heavily defeated in the latest round of conflict with Israel; a defeat that is close to a humiliation. That’s because the conditions in the Egyptian proposal do not include any of the demands that Hamas has been repeating day and night in the last few days. As reported in the Egyptian media, there is...

Despite days of punishing airstrikes, Israel’s military campaign has failed to inflict serious damage on the Hamas war machine, several sources said Monday. Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, nearly a week old, has been hobbled by insufficient intelligence, an unwillingness to inflict mass harm on Gaza’s civilian population, and Hamas advancements based on takeaways from the last major armed conflict in 2012, according to current and former officials. “They still have almost 90 percent of their rockets,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Calling the operational changes made by Hamas “incredible,” two senior intelligence...

Cabinet seen likely to accept ceasefire terms As ToI’s Raphael Ahren reported late last night, signs are the cabinet, meeting this morning, may accept the Egyptian ceasefire, terms — despite opposition on the right. Whether Hamas will do so is far less clear. “Those proposals are being considered very seriously,” diplomatic sources told the Times of Israel a few hours ago. Other Israeli media sites are also now quoting Israeli diplomatic sources suggesting that Jerusalem is inclining to accept, though Jewish Homes Naftali Bennett is opposed. The terms, as published by Egyptian media require that: 1. Israel stops all its...

Egypt launched an initiative on Monday to halt fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants, proposing a ceasefire to be followed by talks in Cairo on settling the conflict in which Gaza authorities say more than 170 people have died. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his decision-making security cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the proposal on the Gaza violence, an Israeli official said. [An] Israeli official seemed to put a positive face on the proposed truce, saying that Israel's week-old offensive in Gaza had weakened the Islamist Hamas group militarily. Two members of Netanyahu's security cabinet suggested a truce...

Egypt sources offer cease-fire deal starting 9 A.M. on Tuesday; top IDF officer says Hamas ready for cease-fire; two sisters hurt by rocket in south; soldier and boy lightly wounded; IDF downs Gaza drone over southern Israel; Israeli military shells Lebanon after cross-border rocket attack. Since the start of the operation, more than 700 rockets have landed within Israel. Only a fraction landed in urban regions. The Iron Dome, which is only meant to intercept rockets that are headed for such areas, has an 87 percent success rate. The inner cabinet met late on Sunday to discuss a ground operation....

The Palestinian Authority is trying to promote the idea of convening an international peace summit between the Israelis and the Palestinians that would take place in conjunction with a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip The PA is requesting that a ceasefire agreement provide not only for the cessation of hostilities, but also include a number of measures that would restart the stalled peace process, senior Palestinian officials told The Times of Israel on Monday. Aside from convening an international summit that would include representatives from the PA, Israel, Arab states and other actors, the Palestinian proposal includes a number of...

The incessant bombing raids and the casualties inflicted on civilians have re-cast the Gaza extremists as a pillar of Palestinian resistance against the evil Zionists. There are three major types of symbioses in nature: mutualism, in which both sides benefit; commensalism, in which one side benefits and the other remains unharmed; and parasitism, in which one side feeds off the other and at its expense. In the turbulent, belligerent but nonetheless symbiotic relations between Israel and Hamas, all three types have been observed. It was Israel that allowed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin to unite and to galvanize the separate Muslim Brotherhood...

In the past few days, Egypt has increased its efforts to secure a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, but large gaps remain between the two sides in light of Gaza and Jerusalem’s irreconcilable demands, sources involved in the proceedings told The Times of Israel The demands Israel is presenting as part of truce negotiations, at least since Friday, are that Hamas accept the terms of the 2012 agreement that came after Operation Pillar of Defense, empty the Gaza Strip of rockets, and close down the tunnels that run between the coastal enclave and Israel. Hamas is demanding that 56 prisoners...

The Mukhtar (Islamic religious leader) of a Jerusalem neighborhood praises Israel for defending Arabs. The Mukhtar (Islamic religious leader) of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher on Monday praised Israel for defending the city – and particularly the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount – from Hamas rockets. Just days after wide-scale riots by Jerusalem Arabs over the murder of Arab youth Mohammed Al-Khedr, Zuheir Hamadan said that Hamas, which claimed to be “defending” the Arabs of Jerusalem, was doing quite the opposite. “Israel is the one defending Al-Aqsa from the missiles of Hamas,” Hamadan said. Speaking to Israel Radio's...

More than 100 targets eliminated on Monday alone; rocket count tops 1,000. The IDF has struck more than 100 terror targets on Monday, officials announced Monday afternoon, totaling 1,535 targets eliminated since Operation Protective Edge began seven days ago. Targets tackled Monday include 33 rocket launchers, eight missile production sites, four civilian homes used as command posts, and seven terror tunnels. The Israeli Navy also attacked several medium-range rocket launching sites. "The IDF is determined and will continue to attack terrorist targets systematically to cause significant damage to the Hamas terrorist organization, and will work for the destruction of terrorist...

Militants in Egypt's northern Sinai fired mortar rounds late Sunday at a military post in the provincial capital of el-Arish, killing a soldier as well as seven civilians, including two children, in a nearby residential complex, security and hospital officials said. A senior security official said the attack late Sunday hit the military post, killing one soldier. The military post is located near a compound of residential buildings in the al-Salam district. The main security headquarters and the local government offices are also located in the same area. The attack comes as Israel's offensive against the neighboring Gaza Strip enters...

The year 2014 was gearing up to be the best ever in Israel’s history for incoming tourism, with estimates of arrivals climbing 10% from last year’s 2.96 million. In a few short days, however, Operation Protective Edge has put an end to that. “Until the first siren in Tel Aviv, everything was normal. The day after the first siren, a few tourists left the hotels here and there, but a lot fewer than during Operation Pillar of Defense,” said Eli Ziv, director of the Tel Aviv Hotel Association, referring to Israel’s November 2012 military operation in the Gaza Strip. “I...

Court lifts gag order on grisly murder of Palestinian teen, reveals suspects' desire to avenge murder of 3 Jewish teens; victim's cellphone found in one suspect's home. The suspects in the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir two weeks ago planned the abduction in advanced, purchasing gasoline and other material, before snatching the 16-year-old off the streets of East Jerusalem and burning him alive – it was revealed on Monday, after the gag order on the incident was partially lifted. According to a statement issued by the Jerusalem District Police on Monday, an investigation has revealed that three of the six...

As rockets continued to be fired on southern Israel on Monday morning Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon emphasized the great losses that Hamas had suffered in the seven days since Operation Protective Edge began. "When Hamas comes out of their hiding places they will discover the extent of the destruction and the damage that we have caused the organization that will make them regret that they entered this round of fighting against Israel," Ya'alon said at an IDF briefing. "We continue to smash Hamas and its infrastructure. They have suffered great damage. We have destroyed weapons-production capabilities, tunnels, terrorists' homes, and...

As the sixth day of Operation Protective Edge came to a close Sunday evening, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave no indication of whether the campaign was nearing its end or whether Israel is on the verge of a ground operation. The security cabinet met Sunday evening, as it has on an almost daily basis since the campaign began, with the options on the table ranging from sending IDF troops into Gaza to working with a third party – such as the US, Egypt, Qatar, or Turkey – to broker a cease-fire, to a unilateral cease-fire to gauge how Hamas reacts....

If Netanyahu emerges from Operation Protective Edge with what could be characterized as a victory, he could take advantage of his post-war popularity. If Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu succeeds in ending rocket fire from the Gaza Strip without losing any Israeli lives, he could advance the next leadership race in his Likud party, sources in the party said Sunday. The Likud must hold a leadership race ahead of every general election. While such races tend to be held in proximity to general elections, Netanyahu moved up the last two races to much earlier in order to catch his potential competitors...

At times it seems almost inevitable that the order will come, the dead-end situation leaving no other alternative. Then it seems increasingly unlikely as all the many factors, drawbacks and risks are added up. The Israel Defense Force could enter the Gaza Strip at literally any moment. A number of brigade combat teams are deployed around Gaza's borders; infantry battalions, tanks, engineers, armored personnel carriers, and all the logistic echelons to keep them supplied. The operational plans have been ready since last week, authorized by IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz. Every day that passes, there will be...

Despite devastation in Gaza, and its inability to inflict Israeli casualties, the organization is in robust shape — personnel unharmed, rocket supplies plentiful, popularity soaring. headquarters and the IDF have been repeating over the past two days assertions like “Hamas is frustrated” and “Hamas wants a ceasefire.”In principle, they’re right,but those statements must be accompanied by two critical caveats that in practice prevent a halt in the fighting. True, Gaza’s Hamas rulers are frustrated to a certain extent. They aren’t happy that the almost 1,000 rockets they’ve fired at Israel so far have caused few injuries and haven’t even significantly...

Cairo is probably relieved that Israel is carrying out the operation so that it does not have to do so itself. Egypt has condemned the IDF’s attacks on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, calling for them to stop, though in truth it is probably content that Israel is hurting a group it blames for involvement in the Islamist insurgency on its own soil. On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and agreed that all military action should stop, Ahram Online reported. A Foreign Ministry spokesman called on Israel to “contain the situation by...