Two predictable developments: A violation of the "calm," and Olmert's assertion that there's nothing they can do about it -- c'est la vie. "Tahdia" Update. "Rockets fired at Sderot," by Shmulik Hadad for YNet News:
Will truce last? At least eight Qassam rockets were fired at Sderot from the northern Gaza Strip Wednesday night following a brief lull in attacks on southern Israel communities.
Two rockets landed in town, near a school and next to a warehouse, and caused some damage. Security forces were attempting to pinpoint the landing site of another rocket that apparently fell in a residential area. One rocket landed in the Strip, while the others landed in open areas outside Sderot. [...]
First rocket attack since Tuesday
Wednesday night's barrage marks the first rocket attack since mid-day Tuesday, when Palestinians in Gaza fired a rocket at Ashkelon shortly after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited the southern city.
During his visit, Olmert said that rocket attacks on Ashkelon are likely to continue.
This has been Israel's reality for the past 60 years, and this demands restraint as well as strength," the prime minister told board members of the Barzilai Medical Center in the city."The Grad is heavier than the Qassam, and we have no way of preventing these things (rocket attacks) from recurring."
"The Grad is heavier than the Qassam, and we have no way of preventing these things (rocket attacks) from recurring."
-- Ehud Olmert, quoted above in his unreassuring reassurance to the people of Sderot
Nothing? Did the Allies figure out a way to prevent Nazi aggression "from recurring"? See pictures of Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin circa 1945. Did the Amerians figure out a way to prevent aggression by Japanese militarists, devotees of Kodo, "from recurring"? See pictures of Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, circa 1945.
Any hints there, any possibilities come to mind? Or is what other countries did to protect themselves simply unthinkable if the endangered country, the country under permanent siege, is Israel? Are there special rules, special constraints, that Israel -- and Israel alone, apparently -- is expected to observe?
Why?
This only validates the theory of former CIA officer and now author Marc Sageman, that terrorism is caused by BOREDOM. http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/020246.php
Any calm period would naturally lead to boredom and voila...terrorism happpens!
Hugh,
Since Israel's most recent anemic response to the daily rocket launches has already been denounced by the Arab press as "disproportionate", can you imagine the rhetoric generated by a "fat-man" type device, detonated 500 meters above Gaza City?
Why why why why WHY does Olmert still have a job? This is just pathetic.
People of Israel, if you value your safety at all, impeach this coward NOW!
As an Israeli, I would like the I.D.F to fight back more assertively.
However, these in the west how ask why does Olmert still have power, well,
be productive and help reducing international presser on Israel.
Thanks
Yair
"But what can we do?" the Jews of Israel ask. They must think outside the box that has them confined and paralyzed.
Organization and action. The form of government that perpetuates rule by the same cliques must be changed.
Why No Revolution in Israel
Israel's Ruling Elites and Politics
Dialogue on Revolution
What form of government does Israel need?
Foundation for Constitutional Democracy
"But what can we do?" the Jews of Israel ask. They must think outside the box that has them confined and paralyzed.
Organization and action. The form of government that perpetuates rule by the same cliques must be changed.
Why No Revolution in Israel
Israel's Ruling Elites and Politics
Dialogue on Revolution
What form of government does Israel need?
Foundation for Constitutional Democracy
Unbelievable.
We're now into 'nation building': we're financing mosques, madrassahs, dams, electricity, drinking water & sewers in the Islamic sewers of Afghanistan & Iraq. Even in our own countries we treat Muhammedans like rotten kidz, with velvet gloves. Our polit-props cater to them as if we owed them our lives..
Collective insanity, we throw billions at them in the hope that they don't hurt us.
And every day they hurt us. On the double.
Last time I checked, wars were fought to destroy the enemy. What does it take to grow a spine?
Look what's happening in Malaysia:
http://sheikyermami.com/2008/03/13/as-predicted-malaysias-pm-warns-chinese-dont-fkc-with-dhimmitude/
State Department thinking seems to be that if aid is upped to the PA and Israel freezes settlement activity, the rockets and terrorism will disappear eventually. That's because moderates will come to have the upper hand.
But why change your behavior if you can get what you want without doing so?
On the other hand, the roadmap is undermining Israel's relationship with the US, which in turn provides another reason to keep the pot boiling.
Olmert's position is a difficult one.
Israel should use whatever force it has, not just to fight Hamas but to clear its territory of its enemies. That is its right.
However, Israel is held in check by three knaves:
The UN, The USA, and The EU.
Isn't it funny how the term "disproportionate response" is applied to Israel and yet, it didn't apply to "Shock and Awe" nor did it apply to the criminal high-altitude bombing against deliberately chosed civilian targets in Serbia by NATO. Remind me, how many rockets did the Serbs fire at any NATO country? Utterly nauseating hippocrisy.
The UN and The EU are both dominated by marxist and/or Islamic leaders so Israel will find no friends in either. As for the USA, they will sell out Israel for their energy needs, just as they did with Serbia.
I don't hold much hope for Israel no matter what path they choose. My opinion FWIW is that they are damned if they do and damned if they don't so they might as well accept their fate and go down fighting as hard as they can.
I could weep buckets for Israel (and Serbia too) for what the west and Islam is doing to it. But when Israel falls, the west will reap what it has so disgracefully sown.
"Why why why why WHY does Olmert still have a job? This is just pathetic."
Im surprised he is still alive
Meanwhile, Bush-Karzai heroin is destroying 3 continents.
http://illustratedpig.blogspot.com/2008/03/poppy-no-good-and-red-fascists.html
War is deceit.
Since Israel's most recent anemic response to the daily rocket launches has already been denounced by the Arab press as "disproportionate", can you imagine the rhetoric generated by a "fat-man" type device, detonated 500 meters above Gaza City?
Posted by: Xero G
Seen in that light, then surely America's response to a single attack on a naval facility in one of its territories (Hawaii wasn't a state) was also disproportionate.
We didn't worry about what the Japanese press would say so why should Israel worry about the reaction of those who seek its destruction? Either they believe their country is worth defending or they don't. If they don't, then they might as well pack up and move out of the neighborhood.
Maybe Israel can't prevent the rocket attacks from recurring (without going to war with Egypt and without completely blockading Gaza) but there are always economic pressures: how about cutting off the electrical power that goes to Gaza? Why does Israel, in effect, feed the bear that wants to kill it?
Since Israel's most recent anemic response to the daily rocket launches has already been denounced by the Arab press as "disproportionate", can you imagine the rhetoric generated by a "fat-man" type device, detonated 500 meters above Gaza City?
Posted by: Xero G
They have conventional weapons that would annihilate Gaza completely. Problem solved. Or expel them.
Cutting off their electricty is a no brainer, doing anything positive for the arabs occupying Gaza is absurd to the point of insanity.
Israel has to stand up to world pressure, if they don't start doing it, making a case for themselves, then nobody else will. It starts with Israel, their PM, and right now their PM is a US puppet, infected with the disease of Political Correctness.
Every Israeli life lost is a tragedy to Israel. Every arab life lost is reason to celebrate for the Mohammadans. A war of attrition will only tear Israel apart, and there's no patience like Islamic patience.
Solution: Expel every single gazan except for the small christian population, or extract the christians from Gaza and obliterate it.
After that, give the EU, UN, and the "Quartet" the bird.
Word magick...Disproportionate...
Is it possible to have 'proportionate' warfare? If such a thing exists, can either side ever claim victory? Perpetual warfare is proportional warfare.
A winner can never emerge because no one is ever defeated. How would the doctrine of proportionality apply to a boxing match? Or any competitive sport where a winner is supposed to emerge? War is one big body contact event, it's not a sport, but it is competitive. Proportionality takes the competition out of it, and guarantee's stalemate. In the case of Gaza, stalemate is not acceptable to either side, so disproportionate attacks will continue...
As an Israeli, I would like the I.D.F to fight back more assertively.
However, these in the west how ask why does Olmert still have power, well,
be productive and help reducing international presser on Israel.
Thanks
Yair
Posted by: zion
For us to be “productive” Israel needs to show they are really fighting jihad. Olmert is not more of a problem then the previous lot.
Zion, what you, Israelis, are afraid of? UN sanctions? Economic blockade? Military strikes?
It will not happen. There will be a lot of talk, condemnations but no action. Israel will have too much support on the ground, especially in US.
No American president can be openly hostile to Israel and stay in the office.
You will get twice or three times more money from the ordinary people, then you are getting now. People like winners and will help you to stay on top.
Israelis have to show “guts” for us to support you. Look at this blog: even those who support Israel are not sure you are staying or going. The word “pathetic” has been used to describe Olmert, but the same word can describe Israel as well.
Do what has to be done – we will support you.
The core of the problem with lack of response is this foolish notion that the opposite of war is peace. We have been raised to see war/violence as bad. I recently heard a statement that there is no situation that cannot be resolve with talk. That is childish at best, completely disasterous at worst. There are times when peace is not an option. WWII was a prime example. Look where all that "talk" got the world. Every country is faced at times in its history with the difficult decision of going to war. Israel has had and still has it's fair share of those choices, and not of there own accord. It high time .for Israel to take matters into its own hands and realize that there can be no peace. For those in charge of the "PA", etc., want no peace. The American state department is so filled with lemmings of the leftist peace agenda that it's worthless. The EU, hell they are the standard for appeasement. Maybe it is time to bring back total war. It worked in 1864 and 1944. It'll work still. The fallacy of "disproportionate response" is just another term fostered upon the world by the gutless. There are some things worth fighting for and Israel as a nation needs to recapture that ideology to survive. I don't believe Hugh was advocating using the massive glass production process of nukes, but rather the concept of total war. Hard for the terrorists to operate when Israeli boots are walking on the rubble of what was once a "building." The two state option was never a realistic option. But it refuses to die since each successive administration the world over thinks there are the truly intelligent ones who will make it work. Right, human nature is so easily managed.
More on this "calm"
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1205261318531&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Pong
I disagree.
The USA is dependent on Arab oil. If Israel attacks using all of its might, what do you think the Arab states will do?
If the USA backs Israel the Arabs will destroy the US economy. If the USA then retaliates by using military means - hello Russia, hello EU, hello China, hello India.
As much as the USA likes to to think it is the world super-power, in this situation it is very much the lapdog.
That's why it is selling Israel out, that's why Dubya and Condi make stupid speeches about the plight of the Palestinians and a two state solution and why they demand that Israel show restraint.
And it's also why the US responded disproportinately - criminally - against the Serbs and workd with Al Qaeda and Iran to create an Islamic state in Europe.
What happened to the Serbs will happen to the Israelis. The world has turned on them anyway so they might as well fight IMHO.
However, Israel is held in check by three knaves:
The UN, The USA, and The EU....
nabi ZK proclaims the fourth knave, to wit, the innate decency of the Israeli people who will not reply to the Kassams with overwhelming force causing total death and destruction, at least for now, even tho' they can at any time unleash a major can of whoop ass on the so called palestinians at any time even. So they have hamstrung themselves.
Fourth knave is Israel itself.
Now I know Talib and all those other trolls will say, "But nabific one, the Zionists ARE ALREADY unleashing major cans of genocidal whoop ass on our heroic Palestinian brothers". I am your nabi Talib and other trolls. So I know your heart and I know you think this way. But I also know truth, since I'm a nabi and all. So, Talib and other trolls, trust me on this one. The major can of whoop ass of which the nabific one speaks has not yet been opened. As they say, "Stay tuned to this station for further developments".
nabi ZK
...get a new improved fatwa today...it's free and worth every penny too!...
Britannia's Lion,
We may be dependent on Arab oil (actually, we buy more of our oil in this hemisphere than from the Arabs) but they need us just as much. If they destroy our economy they'll destroy their own as well. China needs the US economy to stay afloat. In any case, does that mean we surrender to their blackmail? If it's not this then there will be another issue on another day where they will threaten us. They've said in the past that the Palestinians are merely a prop. Even if Israel disappeared the war against the West wouldn't stop. Where does the extortion end?
It's amusing to read Britannia's Whinging Lion blame the Islamification of Europe on America. Are you all infants over there? Apparently so if big bad (criminal) America can make the widdle piddle people of Europe (including Britannia) Islamicize as they clearly have done with abandon.
Well, we all know his delusional paranoid rant is indicative of the type of seething insanity which grips many (but certainly not all) in Europe these days -- and it is quite ironic that this kind of simplistic demagogic anti-American trolls is largely the type responsible for Europe degenerating to the extent it already has. If pathetic self pitying sad sacks like Britannia's Whinging Lion ever grow a pair and stop blaming America for their deteriorating society, if they then would join their few fellows in Europe who already are fighting the anti-Jihad, then, perhaps, the tide may turn. But it is very late in the day, and Islam is relentless, the Muslims are eating you like cancer from within, bit the pathetic whingers of Europe flail like impotent pinwheels.
The USA is dependent on Arab oil. If Israel attacks using all of its might, what do you think the Arab states will do? Britannia's Lion
They will condemn Israel in UN, call the meeting of Arab League and give support to The Palestinian Brothers (short of help).
The arabs dependant much more on US economy. Economic problems in US means economic problems in EU, China, Russia, really the hole world. Billions invested by the arabs in US and EU economies. What, they will stop selling oil when they get $100+ for a barrel?
Situation with Israel is different from Serbia. Saudis are scared of Iran. Lebanon of Syria. They do not trust each other.
Look, the things now are so bad and getting worse. Israel does not have a choice.
P.S. BTW, my apology for taking you before for someone else with the same name.
First rocket attack since Tuesday
Wednesday night's barrage marks the first rocket attack since mid-day Tuesday
.....................................
Since *Tuesday*?
So this is what a truce looks like with Hamas? You get a little over 24 hours of "calm" before the shelling begins again?
Of course, any Israeli response will be regarded as threatening the historic truce.
PONG: problems in EU, China, Russia, really the hole world.
Well that's about right. There is a hole in the world and it sucks up money. A whirlpool of cash sucked into some unknown corner of the abyss.
Everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it. The Arab investors in the west, have every bit a chance that their money will find it's way to a rat hole. Happens to American investors all the time. Going broke is an equal opportunity, anyone can do it...
Jsla:
I think your comprehension skills are in lack. Or maybe you're so covered in fith from the sewer you crawl in you are unable to understand English.
Have I said the USA are to blame for Europe's Islamification? I don't think so. They are not, why you suggest this only you know.
But did the US - thanks to a president who turned the Whitehouse in to a brothel - criminally attack Serbia and collude with Al Qaeda to create Kosovar? Without any doubt.
Is that what upsets you and muddles your thinking so you resort to a quite frankly assinine post that contributes nothing to the debate the rest of us are having. Well done, you must be so proud of yourself.
As for not fighting the jihad - do shut up you imbicile, we have movements of our own of which I fully support and have defended on here many times. And we are now reaching more and more people. We haven't folded yet, not by a long way. And the way we fight certainly beats making idiotic assumptions about people I don't know and it's way more effective than hurling childish, pathetic insults.
Make an effort to clean the filth from your eyes, step out of the sewer and contribute to the debate like an intelligent adult. JW deserves better postings than the crap you've just dished up that's for sure.
Pong:
So why is when Dubya went to the Saudis and begged for a reduction in oil prices he was flatly refused? Seems to me the Arabs call the shots here. The US economy is in no state to be messed with by OPEC at the moment. It also doesn't explain why the USA continually pursues the 2 state solution and demand Israel show restraint.
I agree that they don't trust each other. But when it comes to each other v great satan, they will -in fact are - siding with each other.
No need to apologise for the mix up btw.
PMK:
The arabs would still have the EU to prop up their economy. You're right, I've said often that if Israel falls the full focus of jihad will swing to the west. The blackmail will continue, the USA will support Kosovar and put pressure on Israel to court favour with the Arabs and the jihad will continue apace.
I suppose the bottom line is that unless the west unites and fights the jihad being waged against it we can expect more of the same.
The poster above doesn't deserve a reply, but his slanders against America are repugnant, and those require a response. Above, the poster refers to the US as one of "three knaves" who hamper Israel's ability to defend itself. Strange -- the US has a 100% record of support for Israel in the UN defending her at every historic vote - often the US is the single veto sqelching various votes in that body -- the poster's Palestinian enthralled terror apologising Britannia certainly cannot boast of a similar record of support for Israel -- let's not even begin to discuss Britain's scandalous resistance to the establishment of Israel at her beginning! Israel exists because of America and despite the UK.
Many would agree that the UK is the most Islamized Palestinian loving antisemitic nation in Europe today. It's rich reading lectures at this site from Britons accusing America of stabbing Israel in the back.
Further...
The slander that America "deliberately chosed (sic) civilian targets in Serbia" is detestable, a lie, and illustrates a rank bigoted anti-Americanism.
The slander that "the US will sell out Israel for their energy needs, just like they did with Serbia" is as absurd. First, as pointed out above, America obtains the vast majority of energy needs from our own hemisphere -- nearly half from our own oil and coal reserves, and nearly all the rest from Canada, Mexico, and a few others. It is revolting to know that much of American sacrifice in the ME is to keep European energy supplies flowing -- how disgusting to then be kicked in the teeth and smeared by a paranoid European ingrate.
There is more of the same sloppy swill in the posts, but it should suffice for now that the poster in question is far out of line posting such poisonous idiocy.
Jsla
Au contraire.
What I have raised merits a reply and you in your blind, one sided US loving rant won't disguise that.
Even someone as myopic as yourself cannot deny that the US is demanding Israel show restraint despite being attacked on a daily basis? This is happening NOW. And have you conveniently forgotten that Condi Rice likened the plight of the "Palestinains" to that of the negroes in the USA?
I agree that the British - in fact the whole EU - is anti-Israel, that's why I fight it and why I hate everything it stands for. But whatever the wrongs of my country, they do not excuse the criminal behavior of your country.
You then accuse me of lying about what happened in Serbia. The one lying here is you. The USA - and NATO and the UN - is up to its neck in war crimes against the Serbs. They also colluded with Al Qaeda and Iran to supprt the UCK. Oh, and as Britain is part of NATO, you may put 2 and 2 together and make 4 - I hate what my country did also.
You clearly know very little about this. NATO - under US command - targeted the Serb TV station, trains, villages and Belgrade from high altitude using cluster bombs. The fact that the bombing was based on lies and was also illegal under international law means nothing does it?
Before you call people liars and resort to the gutter to hurl your abuse, get yourself an education:
1. http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=5860186121153047571&q=Yugoslavia+avoidable&total=29&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
2. http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6371060303901674397&q=Yugoslavia+avoidable&total=29&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
Watch and listen to the people who were there. You will discover that I have not uttered a word of a lie.
You say the USA isn't dependent on OPEC? You tell me then why Dubya begged for a reduction in oil prices from the Saudis and was sent packing?
OPEC could severely impact the US economy. Now is not the time for the USA to get cute with OPEC and fully support Israel's right to defend herself with force.
And if you still believe I'm wrong about the importance of energy for the US, go find about about Camp Bondsteel.
I will not descend to your gutter level of personal insult. That you do says far more about you than it does me.