Lengthy and risky – Ehud Barak

Israel’s ground incursion into Gaza will be lengthy and risky but is necessary to halt the barrage of Hamas rockets into southern Israel and restore peace to Israelis, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday.

Israel’s defense minister said he “thought and thought” about Saturday’s incursion before giving it the green light, ultimately deciding that it was necessary to protects his people from a barrage of Hamas rockets.

“We do not go to war happily, but we shall not abandon our citizens who are constantly being targeted by Hamas attacks,” Barak said Saturday.

“I know perfectly well what the risks are,” he said. “This will not be short; this will not be easy. I don’t wish to delude anyone. And the coming days will be difficult also for the residents of the south.”

He said Israel is “fully aware” of the challenges, difficulties and fatalities posed by the ground incursion but insisted that the nation “has a duty and responsibility” to its citizens.

“We have bitten our lips for a long time,” Barak said. “But now, the time has come to do what we have to do. … We are ready to deal with a complex battle.”

Filed under: MidEast, Ehud Barack, Gaza raids, Hamas, IDF, Israel, The Terror Journal

Hamas promises a fight to the death

Hamas vowed to “fight until the last breath,” warning Israel that “Gaza will be your cemetery” as ground forces enter the Hamas-controlled territory Saturday night.

As night fell on the eighth day of the bloody conflict, both sides remained defiant, vowing to stand their ground and accusing each other of provoking a clash that has killed hundreds of Palestinians and four Israelis

“We will not abandon the battlefield, and we will stay on the thorny course and we will fight until the last breath,” Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said in a statement on the Palestinian television station Al-Aqsa.

“Your incursion to Gaza will not be a picnic, and Gaza will be your cemetery, God willing. You have no choice but to end this aggression and end the siege without any condition. You will not live in peace until our Palestinian people live in peace,” Radwan said, reading from a statement as Fawzi Barhoum, the Hamas spokesman in Gaza, sat next to him.

“God is great, and the victory will be that of the mujahedeen.”

Source: CNN

Filed under: MidEast, Gaza raids, Hamas, IDF, Israel, The Terror Journal

Creating perceptions of victory on the ground

One of the courses taught to future IDF battalion commanders at the Staff and Command College in Glilot is on the way modern warfare is conducted.

The emphasis, these lieutenant colonels are told, is not about which side conquers more territory or loses more fighters – as was the case in conventional battles, such as the 1967 Six Day War – but rather on perception. In other words, the victor is the side that is perceived to have won.

To demonstrate this idea, one of the instructors at the school decided several years ago to show his students the 2002 Hollywood movie, We Were Soldiers, which tells the story of US Lt.-Col. Hal Moore – played by Mel Gibson – who led a battalion of American soldiers in the Battle of la Drang during the Vietnam War.

Moore leads his 400 soldiers into the “Valley of Death” against an entire division of 4,000 Vietnamese soldiers and, at the last second – after hundreds of bodies have piled up on both sides of the valley, with Moore ready to surrender – the Vietnamese commander decides to withdraw first, fearing that the US army is stronger than it really is.

Source: Jerusalem Post

Filed under: Analysis, Defence, Gaza raids, Hamas, IDF, Israel, Security, The Terror Journal

To all you “embarassed” Jews

When you come and live in israel, that comfortable Diaspora fence you have been perched on all those years suddenly disappears. There is no more grey area; you’re either for us or against us.

It’s ironic that such a symbol of security should also be the symbol of indecisiveness. Such is the nature of The Fence.

It’s easy to criticize Israel from afar, it’s easy to be drawn in by the ludicrous political corectness, western liberalism and, in many cases, a sense of extreme embarrassment forced on and often embraced by Jews in the Diaspora. It’s easy to shout and scream and criticize, worrying what your non-Jewish neighbors or colleagues may think, becoming the ultimate apologists. It’s easy to scream from your comfortable pseudo-Jewish ivory towers. What seems to be harder is for you to muster some sense of loyalty and support for your own people (Jews) and your own country ( Israel). (Just a reminder.) And there aren’t enough righteous gentiles to save us all.

Source: Published in Jerusalem Post Blog by Jeremy Cardash

Filed under: Voice, Israel, Jew, The Terror Journal, Voice

Israeli ground troops enter Gaza

Israeli troops began moving into Gaza on Saturday night, Israel Defense Forces said.

“We have just a short while ago launched the second stage of the operation against Hamas infrastructure,” IDF spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich told CNN.

Earlier, the Israelis used ground artillery for the first time in the eight-day-old conflict when Israeli tanks fired shells into Gaza from the northern and eastern borders.

Troops had been massed along the border since the IDF began its bombardment of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory December 27.

Leaflets signed by the commander of the Israeli military were dropped over northern Gaza on Saturday morning, warning residents to “leave the area immediately” to ensure their safety.

“Due to the terrorist actions undertaken by terrorist elements from the region of your residences against the state of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces are compelled to respond immediately in the region of your residences. For your safety, you are ordered to leave the area immediately,” the leaflets said.

Source: CNN/Associated Press

Filed under: MidEast, Breaking News, Gaza raids, Hamas, Headlines, IDF, Israel, News, The Terror Journal, World News

India to give Mumbai 26/11 dossier to major nations

The dossier will be given to Pakistan, China, US, UK and other key countries. The evidence will be given to their ambassadors in India as well as in their capitals simultaneously. “We expect Pakistan to act on the evidence we provide,” said senior government sources.  The other countries will be expected to use the dossier to push Pakistan to act against the terrorists.

PM Manmohan Singh said “I hope some sense will prevail on the leadership of Pakistan to recognise that tackling terrorism is an area that needs cooperation.”

“It (Pakistan) has to take action on the demand from all civilised countries that the perpetrators (of Mumbai attacks) are brought to book. We hope that these criminals will be handed over to us to face trial,” Singh said.

The dossier contains the detailed confession of the lone terrorist held in the Mumbai terror attack Amir Ajmal Kasab, photographs and identities of all the terrorists, phone call logs, the GPS device’s information and phone call intercepts, logbook recovered from the vessel in which the 10 terrorists came from Karachi, records of satellite phone used by the attackers and transcript of conversations between the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan during the attack.

Sourece: Times of India

Filed under: Asia, China, India, Manmohan Singh, Mumbai, Mumbai 26/11, Pakistan, The Terror Journal, U.S.A, UK

Over 10,000 protest Gaza action in Sakhnin

Over 10,000 people demonstrated against Operation Cast Lead in the Arab town of Sakhnin on Saturday, waving Palestinian flags and calling on Israel end its action in the Gaza Strip. According to organizers, this was the largest protest held by the Israeli-Arab sector in many years.

The protest opened with a minute of silence, in memory of the Palestinians who have been killed in Gaza by the military since the operation began. It was attended by many Arab Knesset members including Muhammad Barakei (Hadash) and Jamal Zahalka (Balad), as well as Arab mayors and other public officials from the Arab sector. Zahalka demanded that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi be tried in an international tribunal for what he called “war crimes in Gaza”.

Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman said “The demonstration in Sakhnin in which ten thousand protestors are participating proves that their loyalty is to Hamas and to those who want to destroy Israel,”

Source: Jerusalem Post

Filed under: MidEast, Gaza raids, Hamas, Israel, Protests, Sakhnin, The Terror Journal

Israeli artillery pounds Gaza as night falls

The Israeli military has stepped up its attacks on Gaza, as the offensive on Hamas enters its second week.

Israeli artillery began to bombard the territory for what is thought to be the first time during the offensive, and more air strikes were launched.

Correspondents say the activity could be an indication the Israeli military is preparing to launch a ground attack.

In one attack, at least 10 people were killed when a shell hit a mosque in Beit Lahiya, Palestinian sources said.

Witnesses said more than 200 people had been inside the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque for evening prayers when it was struck.

Source: BBC News

Filed under: MidEast, Gaza strip, Hamas, Israel, Israeli artillery, Palestine, The Terror Journal

Palestinians staged ‘Day of Wrath’ rallies

Thousands of Palestinians poured into the streets in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Elsewhere, stone-hurling youths clashed with Israeli police in Jerusalem (al-Quds) after Hamas called for marches to follow Friday prayers.

In a message posted on its website, the Islamic movement called for marches following the weekly Muslim prayers, starting off from the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem (al-Quds) and from “all the mosques in the West Bank.”

“Let Friday be a day of solidarity with our people in Gaza and a day of wrath against the Zionist occupation and its settlers,” AFP cited Hamas as saying Thursday.

Source: Press TV/AP

Filed under: MidEast, Demonstrations, Hamas, Palestine, Protests, Rallies, The Terror Journal

Israeli air strike kills top Hamas military leader

An Israeli air strike killed a senior commander of Hamas’s armed wing on Saturday while the Islamist group’s leader warned the Israeli army, currently massing on the border, would be defeated if it invaded Gaza.

The overnight air strike in Gaza killed Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, a senior leader of Hamas’s armed wing, the Islamist group said. The Israeli army said only that it carried out a series of air attacks throughout the night.

On Thursday, an Israeli air strike killed another Hamas leader, Nizar Rayyan. Most of Hamas’s top officials have gone into hiding, anticipating assassination attempts by Israel.

Source: Reuters

Filed under: MidEast, Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, Gaza raids, Hamas, Israel, Israel Air Force, The Terror Journal