Hamas Fire Rockets, Call For Ceasefire, Fire More Rockets

Hamas have offered Israel a ceasefire, but claim that if they wouldn't "respond" to Israeli force, then they "would not have the right to exist".

And Hamas' 50 rockets last week were in response to what? In the past week Israel has been targetting only militants and rocket launching sites (which sadly are often civilian areas), striking terrorists who have or were about to fire rockets into Israel.

This morning, a Hamas rocket hit a family's home in Southern Israel. I'm still waiting for Hamas' explanation as to what made the family a legitimate target.

UPDATE: Sunday morning the IDF struck terrorists in Gaza who were about to fire more rockets, killing two.

Look Up, Rockets Are Falling

Well, probably not where you are.

Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired at least eight rockets, grads and mortars into Southern Israel today, landing in Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod - the furthest so far. This month's tally has reached about 100.

The woman who was killed in the Jerusalem bombing yesterday was Mary Gardner, a British Christian in her late 50s who was in Israel studying Hebrew for her work translating the Bible. Very, very sad. RIP.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai wrote to Goldstone telling him to condemn the Palestinian attacks on Israelis, saying that his report on Cast Lead legitimises the attacks by not holding the terrorists accountable and instead condemning Israel for acting in self-defence.

Nu, Goldstone?

Terror Attack In Jerusalem (Not "Terror Attack")

One woman has been killed and 40 injured in a bombing in central Jerusalem today. The bomb was reportedly left in a bag on the street just outside the bus station.

When the shock began to wear off, I wondered how the media would try and twist this to belittle and justify Palestinian attacks on Israelis. After all, if "illegal settlers" aren't the victims, you'd have to be very creative to find another way to blame Israel for this.

Two patterns have emerged in the coverage. The first, predictably, is to avoid the word "terror" and even "attack". Most likely as well as other media outlets, The Independent, Reuters, and CNN all had this to say: "Police described the explosion as a 'terrorist attack' - Israel's term for a Palestinian strike", as though it was a military exercise.

Which is a funny thing to say considering that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's statement on the bombing was "I harshly condemn this act of terror".

The second pattern is to portray the bombing as part of a "cycle of violence", and I'm pretty sure most of the media have done this. For example the Guardian completely twisted the events of the last few days, not explaining that the reason civilians died in Israel's strikes on Gaza was because they were used as human shields by terrorists; and calling Hamas' firing of 50 rockets into Israel in the space of a couple of hours "sporadic".

A BBC interviewer asked Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief David Horowitz if the bombing would have been a response to the strikes on Gaza. Horowitz had to explain that the murder of the Fogels was followed by rocket attacks on Israel which was followed by Israel striking legitimate terror targets, unintentionally killing some civilians who were on the site where rockets had been fired from.

Melanie Phillips points out that with this huge upsurge in violence from the Palestinians,

"It therefore takes a particular degree of bone-headed malevolence to view this latest attack instead as a ‘tit-for-tat' response to Israeli violence. But then, the BBC and other British and western media have all but ignored the rocket attacks, and minimised the Fogel massacre. As usual, Israeli victimisation is thus denied in an obscene moral equivalence – which invariably turns Israel from a victim attempting to defend itself into the aggressor."

Incidentally, only two weeks ago there was another explosion in Jerusalem in which one Israeli was wounded.

Shortly after today's bomb, terrorists in Gaza fired another barrage of rockets into Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel sent into Gaza over 200 trucks of aid.

I pray for the speedy recovery of all the victims.

Terrorists Fire 70 Rockets Into Israel In Less Than A Week

Gaza terrorists fired 10 mortars and 2-3 grads into Southern Israel today including Be'er Sheva and Ashkelon. One man was wounded by shrapnel, several others were treated for shock.

On Saturday alone 50 mortars were fired into Israel. When the IDF responded with airstrikes on terrorist targets, Hamas accused Israel of "escalating against our people", and asked for a ceasefire. Five terrorists were killed as well as, sadly, four civilians who had been used as human shields by the terrorists - rockets were fired from right behind their house. A Palestinian boy who was injured was transferred to an Israeli hospital for treatment.

Elder of Ziyon provides a calendar of all the rockets that have been fired into Israel so far this month.

Hamas seem set on starting another war with Israel.

IDF Soldier's Music Video

I was sent this video by an American musician called Hayim Ani who recently made Aliya and is now in the Egoz unit in the IDF.

Although he had to leave his band behind in America, Hayim is continuing as a solo musician, and made this very creative music video before he enlisted in the army.



Perhaps people who see it might realise that IDF soldiers are not the monsters they are portrayed as in the media, but are actually humans with different talents and interests and backgrounds, united by their pride of Jews and Israel, and a sense of responsibility to protect its citizens.

They Kill, We Build

Th reaction of most Jews and Israelis' to the terror attack in Itamar probably will have been a deep, sickened feeling of grief and horror followed by defiance and determination to carry on.

Some reacted differently though - condemning settlers through their crocodile tears. Yitzchak Laor writes in Haaretz that the brother of Udi Fogel, murdered in the terror attack in Itamar “sought to remove the murder from any context other than the pain over his brother's death... [but] No one allowed for the murder to be rescued from the sole context in which the right wing placed it.”

But the right have placed the death and the world’s reaction exactly in context – because the brother wouldn’t feel the pain of Udi Fogel’s death if it weren’t for the incitement to murder Jews that takes place in Palestinian society – and the rest of the world that ignores – if not encourages - antisemitism. It’s not about revenge and anger, but to move forward from these things it helps a little to try and understand them. To the surviving family it might feel like the end of the world, but viewed in context it is part of the Jews’ long timeline of persecution and suffering – and our reaction to this is “Am Yisrael Chai”. They have tried again and again to stamp us out but with G-d’s help we still survive. 12 year old Tamar Fogel, who saw the bodies of her parents and three siblings, has shown amazing strength and understanding of this:

But Laor just views this as the right as ‘exploiting’ “its 15 minutes of media exposure to impose its version of ‘history’." On the decision to publish photos of the bodies – the decision which was actively encouraged by the surviving family – Laor calls it “so explicit it is practically pornographic” – yet it is only when Israelis are the victims that the media are so hesitant to give details, in case people might actually feel sympathy.

Laor accused the right of displaying “joy in pouring salt on our wounds, all in the name of Israel's hasbara. But this isn't hasbara; it's a desperate need to impose ‘our’ version of events, under cover of the horror.”

What he just said is Hasbara. Giving the real version of events because the world constantly ignores our side of the story. In the days following the attack, the media has made it very clear what they view as the “obstacle to peace” – and it is not the murder of sleeping Jewish babies. “Israel approves more settlements”, the headlines read – adding, as an afterthought “oh and by the way this might have something to do with the mysterious deaths of hardline extremist Jewish settlers who asked for it”.

As I have already demonstrated here, the settlements are irrelevant. Someone who murders babies, and those who celebrate this act, are not looking for peace or negotiations. There are no excuses. Daniel Greenfield wrote a great piece on this for Arutz Sheva.

Meanwhile in Itamar in the week of the Shiva, a Palestinian woman went into labour. IDF soldiers together with settler paramedics delivered the baby, taking care of her and the mother. You would never read this sort of thing in the Western media, because there the IDF and settlers are constantly dehumanised. But IDF decency to Palestinians is not at all an unusual occurence in Israel.

Incitement And Violence

The BBC and Guardian reported that many Palestinians were "shocked" by the Itamar attack, with no evidence for this, and conveniently forgetting about the handing out of sweets in Gaza, and Hamas spoksman Samu Abu Zuhri saying they "completely support the resistance against settlers".

Abbas did condemn the attack, but his words are meaningless whilst his government continues to incite hatred and violence against Jews and Israelis, glorify terrorists and spread antisemitic propaganda in Palestinian schools, media, mosques and on the streets.

Here are just a few examples of this incitement from recent weeks:

- On the day that the Fogels were buried, Fatah members named a town square after the female terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who led a bus hijacking in 1978 that killed 37 Israelis – including 13 children. Summer camps in 2008 and this past summer have also been named after her.

- Two days before the Fogels were murdered, Abbas’ advisor Sabri Saidam said in a speech that Palestinian weapons must be turned towards Israel.

- The day before that, the PA announced a youth football tournament named after Wafa Idris, the first female Palestinian suicide bomber. Among other things, a student group and a UNICEF-funded summer camp have also been named after her.

- On March 4th, Fatah held a procession commemorating suicide bombers including Muhammad Daraghmeh who killed nine Israelis in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, and Ayyat Al-Akhras, the youngest female suicide bombing at 17, who killed two Israelis.

- Three weeks ago, Palestinian Authority TV (under control of Abbas’ office) broadcast a video tribute to “martyrs” – including Habash Hanani, who in May 2002 entered Itamar (where the Fogels were killed), and murdered three Israeli students at the local high school.

- In December, Abbas awarded $2000 to the family of a terrorist who tried to attack Israeli soldiers with pipe bombs.

Details on more similar incidents here.

The Palestinian leadership are raising another generation of children to believe that their religion calls for the murder of Jews and that this will bring wealth and honour for them and their families.

For too long the world has been ignoring this, focusing incessantly on Israel building houses – but suicide bombings and rockets aren't aimed solely at settlers - and there is absolutely nothing that makes it ok to slash the throat of a three month old sleeping baby, killing her, her 4 and 11 year old brothers, and their parents.

The issue of settlements is irrelevant until the Palestinians stop teaching their children to hate and murder, and teach peace instead.

Meanwhile yesterday the IDF discovered tonnes of Iranian-made weapons on a ship that was headed from Turkey to Egypt, with Hamas being the intended recipient.

Also yesterday, Egyptian security forces intercepted five vehicles loaded with weapons that were headed from Sudan to Gaza.

Palestinians Murder Jewish Family And Children In Their Beds

Palestinian terrorists have stabbed to death five Jews of the same family as they slept in their beds. The victims are Udi Fogel (36), his wife Ruth (35) and three of their children: Yoav (11), Elad (4) and Hadas (3 months old).

Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigade claimed responsibility; Hamas handed out sweets in Gaza to celebrate the murder.

The Fogel family lived in the West Bank town of Itamar, with sick irony after having been forced out of their home in Gush Katif in the 2005 disengagement from Gaza. Giving up land brings peace? Really?

The Guardian does not once mention that Palestinians committed this terrorist attack, but calls the town "home to some of the West Bank's most fervent settlers" and "intensely naiontalist-religious" as though that makes it ok for Palestinians (who The Guardian do not refer to as hard-line or intensely naionalist-religious) to stab a three-month old baby to death while she sleeps.

Meanwhile the BBC claims that the attack "has shocked many Palestinians", ignoring the fact that actually the Palestinians' reaction was default: handing out sweets in Gaza, calling it "heroic and courageous", and justifying their joy as "a natural response".

Netanyahu has observed: "I noticed that some of the states who rushed to the Security Council to condemn Israel, the Jewish State, for planning to build a home somewhere are slow in issuing a harsh condemnation over the murder of Jewish babies."

Slow is an understatement. If all the people that ever criticised the settlements had an ounce of compassion and morality in their bones, they would unequivocally condemn this sickening murder and the incitement of violence and hatred towards Jews that takes place in the Palestinian schools and mosques, bringing up a new generation of Jew-hating terrorists.