What Is This World Coming To?

The title says it all . . .

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayeh addressed more than 5,000 supporters rallied in Gaza on Friday, declaring;  “We say proudly that Gaza has won the war, the resistance has won the war, and Hamas has won the war.” 

I don’t know anything about the UFO abduction thing, but it is about as meaningful as the Hamas declaration of victory.   Hamas has been decimated.  According to some Israeli estimates,  its top level organization has been shattered.  

The fighting left 1,284 Palestinians dead, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.  But according to Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas, the figure is less than half that.     President Barack Obama immediately authorized $20 million of US taxpayer money to aid Gazan efforts to rebuild.  

The Jerusalem Post reported today;  “Hamas cabinet minister carried a carton stuffed with checks worth nearly $2 million into a Gaza tent camp pitched on the ruins of the Salam neighborhood, close to the Israeli border. 

But before hundreds of homeless residents could collect, they had to listen to a political speech. Social Affairs Minister Ahmed al-Kurd told them Israel’s military machine was defeated and that the Hamas government would rebuild their neighborhood bigger and better.”

Good thing those taxpayer dollars are going to a worthy cause.  Besides, its just a measly $20,000,000.00 — America’s got deep pockets. 

The Center for Strategic and International Studies said the Israeli air force combined manned and unmanned aircraft to target and strike Hamas operatives and facilities throughout the Gaza Strip.The Washington-based center, said to be close to members of the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama, said the air force has eroded much of the Hamas command.

“One should not underestimate Israeli success in purely military terms,” the CSIS report, titled “The Fighting in Gaza: How Does It End?” said. “The IAF flew roughly 150 sorties on December 27, the first day, and over 100 the next three days. Hamas quickly dispersed both its personnel and weapons and equipment, but the IAF has continued to have excellent targeting support from its unmanned aerial vehicles and other technical intelligence assets, and support from anti-Hamas elements inside and outside of Gaza.”

The report, authored by former Defense Department official Anthony Cordesman, said Israeli air strikes have eroded Hamas’s military command. Cordesman cited such air force targets as Hamas weapons tunnels, shelters and other facilities.

“The IAF may not be able to find and hit every target, and some tunnels and sheltered areas, but Hamas has clearly lost some key leaders and is losing most of its key facilities and much of its equipment,” the report said. “It may be able to fire limited numbers of rockets indefinitely into the future, but it will lose a significant amount of its weapons, as well as its training facilities and communications facilities.”

Cordesman said Hamas has failed to reach the military capabilities of the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah. The report said Hamas does not have the training, experience or the equipment of the Lebanese-based militia.

“Hamas is not Hizbullah,” the report said. “It has not fought the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] for years. Its forces are limited in training and experience, and do not seem to have had anything like Hizbullah’s access to the more modern and lethal manportable and crew served weapons — although it may well have some anti-tank guided weapon and manportable surface to air missiles in reserve.”

CSIS determined that the Israeli military could quickly overpower Hamas in urban strongholds in the Gaza Strip. The report cited the lack of a Hamas military infrastructure, hampered by the refusal of the rival Fatah movement to battle Israel.

Israel bombed a mosque used to store weapons and destroyed homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives Friday.

There was no letup in violence Friday, with Israel attacking new targets and Palestinians firing at least 30 rockets into southern Israel. But Israel opened its border with Gaza to allow nearly 300 Palestinians with foreign passports to flee.

Before the airstrikes Friday, Israel’s military called some of the houses being targeted to warn residents to flee.  In other cases, Israel fired a ’sound bomb’ first to warn civilians away from a target.   Contrast that with Hamas’ suicide bombers and you find an object lesson in the difference between the two sides. Read the rest of this entry »

Sixty plus rockets flew from the Gaza Strip into civilian areas of Israel as Israeli warplanes continue to pound at Hamas targets inside Gaza.   Five Israelis were wounded today - one critically, one seriously and three lightly - when a rocket fired by Gaza terrorists hit an Ashdod bus stop. 

Hamas took responsibility for firing the missile and reported that a “Zionist” was killed in the attack. 

“If Hamas doesn’t immediately stop the criminal and intentional firing of rockets, Israel will use all the legal resources and courses of action at its disposal to force the enemy to stop its aggressive and illegal action against its citizens,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday following a security assessment at the Defense Ministry.

UN Secretary General Condemns Israel’s Disproportionate Use of Force

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned Israel’s “excessive use of force” in the Gaza Strip and said that international powers were not doing enough to force a ceasefire on the two sides.

Ban made the statements at a press conference held at the UN’s headquarters in New York.

 “I am deeply alarmed by the current escalation of violence in and around Gaza. This is unacceptable. I have been repeatedly condemning the rocket attacks by Hamas militants against Israel. While recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself, I have also condemned the excessive use of force by Israel in Gaza.

No similar concern was expressed for the practice by Hamas of hiding among civilians, or using them as human shields in direct violation of UN conventions and international law.  

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The Jerusalem Post is reporting, under the curiously-worded headline, “Palestinian factions in Gaza agree in principle to cease-fire” that about a dozen small Palestinian factions ‘agreed in principle’ to a ceasefire with Israel.

What made the headline ‘curiously-worded’ was that the report later explained that it wasn’t really a ‘cease-fire’ at all, but rather, a ‘hudna’. What is a hudna? Read the rest of this entry »