OVer 50 rockets launched at Israel in the past few days

One of the rockets launched this morning landed inside a classroom at a high school where students were taking their finals.

Luckily, the classroom was empty since it was not fortified, which is the only reason a huge disaster was averted. Several students were hurt in a nearby classroom and all exams were suspended.

The only students who arrived at school today were those who had to take their matriculation exams, and they were placed in fortified classrooms.

Eli Moyal, the mayor of Sderot, said that although the country and Gaydamak had buses take residents to nearby towns, it was only to “catch a breath” and not to get everyone out of the town.

That would be giving them what they want.

Extensive retaliation is being planned for Gaza.

 

Over 20 rockets lauchned today – dozens injured

And this isn’t a war zone? Watch this video from Channel 10 News in Israel. Someone was video taping one of the rocket attacks and the rocket landed just by him – literally. In their back yard.

Israel is going to plan a retaliation, and I’m normally against it, but seriously – over 40 rockets launched in the past 2 days, and this didn’t just start now. Dozens injured, many “only” shocked, but that’s still not normal.

Again, in case this is the first time you’re reading my blog, these rocket attacks are being carried out by the Palestinian “government” led by Hamas (along with Fatah, but they aren’t the ones trying to annihilate us.)

Over 30 rockets launched into Israel over the past 24 hours

One of the rockets landed in a courtyard shared by several residential apartment buildings, wounding a 70-year-old woman. Emergency medical teams evacuated her to the hospital in Ashkelon with injuries to her limbs and stomach.

Earlier today, rockets landed in and around the city as well as near neighboring kibbutzim where children spent the night in bomb shelters.

Schools remained closed in Sderot on Wednesday, which is a problem since the matriculation exams – the finals – are set to begin in the next few days for the high school students. Officials said these age groups would join their peers in Beer Sheva on Thursday for classes until a better solution could be found.

Residents seeking to flee Sderot wrote to businessman Arcady Gaydamak, asking for his help. Like the last time they asked, the billionaire complied, and he sent buses and arranged for hotel accommodations in Beer Sheva and Ashdod (who had a few rockets yesterday).

Over 20 rockets launched yesterday; 7 already launched today towards Sderot and Ashkelon

Israel said it would NOT go into Gaza, and is not planning retaliation. IDF choppers did fire at open fields in Gaza where the rockets were launched from, but there were no injuries.

You can read more details about it here.

10 more rockets launched; it’s only 12:50 am.

Also, 2 mortar shells were fired earlier today at a kibbutz in the south from Gaza. As a reminder: This group is actually their government.

I’m going to sleep. Unlike the people of Sderot, I will sleep peacefully tonight.

I wonder how many more rockets will be launched before I wake up in the morning.

I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Six Rockets Launched at Israel on Friday

Rockets are still being launched into Israel despite IDF activity in the area that they generally come from (duh!)

Two were launched this morning and an additional four this afternoon.

Luckily, no injuries were reported, though there was structural damage where they landed in residential areas.

In an earlier post, there was a comment about if Israel ends the occupation, then no more rockets will be launched at it.

Thing is (and I added that in my reply), I don’t believe it will end at all even if we pull out today, for the simple reason that these rockets aren’t being launched at us because of the occupation.

They’re being launched as us because we exist.

Four Rockets Launched at Israel Today – Several Wounded

The Israeli Defense Forces’ recent operation in the Gaza Strip has been specifically designed to shut down the operations that keep sending rockets into southern Israel.

In the past year alone, around 300 Qassam rockets have been launched into Israel from the area of Beit Hanun.

For the entire article, click here.

Hamas: Militant Died While Digging Tunnel to Fight Israel

A Hamas militant died today while digging a tunnel to be used in the Islamic group’s fight against Israel, Hamas said in a statement.

A 20-year-old from a refugee camp in Gaza died “while fulfilling his holy mission in an underground tunnel… while he was preparing with his brothers and colleagues… to shake the Zionist entity,” the Hamas statement read.

This is actually the first time Hamas has officially announced that one of its members had died while digging tunnels used tboth to smuggle weapons from Egypt and to enter Israel to carry out terrorist attacks.

For perspective, in June Hamas militants used one of these tunnels to enter Israel and atack a military post, killing two soldiers and kidnpaping Gilad Shalit who, so far, has not returned home.

5 Qasam Rockets Launched at Israel

Two rockets were launched on Saturday and three more this morning at Israel. One of today’s rockets landed in Palestinian lands.

For more details, click here.

Israeli Defence Forces Present: Anti-Missile Tables

This ain’t no joke, folks. Due to the enormous amount of missiles being launched at Israel, the IDF has decided to place concrete tables in classrooms across Ashkelon. In the event of a missile launch at Ashkelon, students would be able to hide under their tables.

Sderot, which has been hit significantly more times than Ashkelon, already has fortified classrooms in all their schools.

The problem with Ashkelon, however, is that there are too many schools in the city, therefore making them safe will take years.

Ahskelon schools all have shelters in them, however the ones in the south of the city are old and don’t have enough room for all the students.

The problem in the newer schools isn’t much better, seeing as the shelters are too far away for the children to reach them with the short (under a minute) warning system that is currently in place.

Click here for a full article about this from Ynet.

Israel to Upgrade Security in LA Airport

A team of Shin Bet and Ben Gurion Airport security experts recently reviewed the security arrangements at Los Angeles International Airport and suggested recommendations for improvement.The original initiative for the visit was brought up by Jack Weiss, a Los Angeles City Council member who participated in a homeland security conference held by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, during which he was very impressed by the security arrangements at Ben Gurion Airport.

Upon his return to the United States, Weiss contacted the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles to arrange a visit of Israeli security experts.

The Israeli team made patrols and held meetings with those responsible for airport security, which is about to go through a USD 500 million upgrade. The Israeli team pointed out a number of weak points and holes in the airport security system and passed on a list of recommendations to their American counterparts.

President of the Los Angeles Airport Board of Airport Commissioners Alan Rothenberg said that the Israelis had at least six suggestions to improve security, some of which were relatively easy to carry out, and others that necessitate sophisticated technological developments.

Israeli Consul General in Los Angeles Ehud Danoch said that this is an unprecedented project in which the commissioners of an Israeli governmental body, as opposed to experts from the private sector, have come to an American airport for an extensive examination of the security arrangements.

Danoch’s deputy, Yaron Gamburg, said that the visit signifies a new stage of cooperation in homeland security with the US.

For the original article, click here.

Terrorist Attack In Israel Thwarted

Gaza resident tries to sneak 6 kg of explosives into Israel through Karni Crossing, to Palestinian resident of Tulkarm. Police: ‘We have no doubt we prevented terror attack in Israel’

The Shin Bet, in cooperation with Southern District Police, in recent days thwarted an attempt to smuggle explosives from the Gaza Strip into Israel through the Karni Crossing, it was released for publication Wednesday.  

A number of Palestinian laborers tried to smuggle the explosives with the apparent aim of carrying out a terror attack in Israel. At the start of the week security forces discovered six kilos of standard TNT hidden inside an iron cage used to transport goods from Gaza into Israel.

The same day, three Israeli truck drivers from the Negev were detained for questioning for suspected involvement in transporting the explosives. 

An interrogation of the suspects revealed that Mahmoud Samih Abu Nagi, a Palestinian residing in Sheikh Radwan in Gaza who works at the Karni Crossing coordinated the transfer of the explosives into Israel.

Meanwhile, the same night Rami Samir Abid, 25 from Tulkarm, who was allegedly supposed to collect the TNT once it reached Israel, was arrested at his home.

Terrorists: Major Attacks Against Israel on Their Way

 How can you say we’re not being provoked? How can you say the Palestinians want peace when they themselves are treatening us with rocket attacks and suicide bombing with the sole purpose of provoking at attack on Israel???

This is an article from WorldNetDaily

By: Aaron Klein, WND

Several senior terror leaders in Gaza told WorldNetDaily that terror groups allied with Hamas in the Gaza Strip are planning a series of large-scale attacks against Israeli positions near Gaza “within the coming days,” including rocket attacks, suicide bombings against Jewish communities and raids of Israeli military posts.

Palestinian and Israeli security officials said they are aware of the attack plans. Israel said it beefed up security at Gaza border crossings.

The Palestinian officials said the threatened large-scale attacks, which they claimed may be imminent, are meant to provoke an Israeli military response in Gaza that would unite the Palestinians and thwart any attempt by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to dissolve the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Kidnapping is Terrorism

I’m not talking about kidnapping for the sake of kidnapping (not that that’s right either). I mean kidnapping as a means to get money or to settle personal disputes with local authorities authorities.

Today’s kidnapping (and subsequent release) of AP photographer Emilio Morenatti in Gaza today ended well, as (thankfully) have previous kidnappings.

Palestinian militants in Gaza have frequently kidnapped foreign journalists and aid workers in the past two years, usually seeking money or to settle personal disputes with Palestinian authorities.

What I don’t understand here is why. Why kidnap the people who are trying to help you? I can “understand” the kidnapping of an enemy (though in our case it usually results in murder). But why and aid worker or a journalist?

A previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades claimed responsibility. Its demand for the release of Muslim prisoners held by the United States raised fears that foreign extremists, perhaps al-Qaida, had infiltrated Gaza.

Palestinian security officials, however, said the name was a front for local militants.

Either way, this is not the way to gain sympathy. Alienating those who want to help isn’t the way to go. Even the Palestinian government knows that – that’s why they condemn these acts.

It’s time the people face up to the government they have elected and allow them to do their job. Otherwise, anarchy will prevail, and no type of peace will be possible.

CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) Executive Director Joel Simon said today in response, “We’re dismayed that journalists have become pawns of Palestinian groups seeking to exploit them for political purposes. These blatant attacks on journalists will have a chilling effect on their ability to do their work and will ultimately deprive the world of information about this critically important story.” 

If you don’t like what your government is doing, elect a different one. Or run yourself. Just take into consideration that terrorising those who are on your side isn’t quite the way to go.

A Response to Bloggers Seeing Israel in the Wrong

This post is actually a comment I left on someone else’s post. I’ve decide to post it on my blog as well since I feel that it contains a lot of important information and points I would like to make. I have posted several other similar comments on other sites, so I will probably post these in the future. This is the post in almost its entirety (minus a personal commendation to the blogger himself).

Not ALL Israeli soldiers are saints, but hardly any army in the world can claim that. It’s enough just to mention the pictures from Iraq with the
US and British soldiers to prove that point. However for the most part these are 18-year-old kids and 35-year-old men who would like nothing more than to be at home.

As for the wall. If you ask almost any Israeli (and I’m not talking about any extremists or fundamenstalists), you will hear that in an ideal world we wouldn’t need to wall. It’s uglying up our country as well. We don’t want it. but the documented proof is that stince that wall has gone up, the amount of suicide bombers making it into Israel has decreased dramatically.

The Palestinian government is doing a great job (I’m being completely serious here) in stopping terrorists. I know they do a lot to make sure they don’t get through, and they work religiously with Israel on this. (Again, I am being serious.) When you couple that together with the roadblocks and the border points, they are extremely efficient together at stopping ALMOST all the suicide bombers from getting through into
Israel.

Unfortunately, the system is not yet working perfectly. In an ideal world, and the world that Israelis hope is nearby, Israel won’t have to put up roadblocks anymore and we would be able to depend 100% on the Palestinian government to stop any potential terrorism from entering our country.