41 thoughts on “Israel at “Highest State of Readiness” for Gaza Ground Invasion – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
task-attention.png
Comments are published at the sole discretion of the owner.
 

  1. ● RE: “Haaretz reports that the Israeli cabinet is considering calling up as many as 75,000 reservists, which is a massive mobilization many times larger than the call-up for Cast Lead. Even if you discount this report as psy-ops on the part of Israel against Hamas, it appears that Netanyahu wants a massive display of force.” ~ R.S.

    ● SEE: “Another Superfluous War”, By Uri Avnery, OpEdNews, 11/16/2012

    [EXCERPTS] . . . One of the more miserable sights of the last few days has been the TV appearances of Shelly Yachimovich and Ya’ir Lapid. The two shining new stars in Israel’s political firmament looked like petty politicians, parroting Netanyahu’s propaganda, approving everything done.
    Both had hitched their wagons to the social protest, expecting that social issues would displace subjects like war, occupation and settlements from the agenda. When the public is occupied with the price of cottage cheese, who cares about national policy?
    I said at the time that one whiff of military action would blow away all economic and social issues as frivolous and irrelevant. This has happened now.
    Netanyahu and Barak appear many times a day on the screen. They look responsible, sober, determined, experienced. Real he-men, commanding troops, shaping events, saving the nation, routing the enemies of Israel and the entire Jewish people. . .
    . . . the real remedy is peace. Peace with the Palestinian people. Hamas has already solemnly declared that it would respect a peace agreement concluded by the PLO — i.e. Mahmoud Abbas — that would establish a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, provided this agreement were confirmed in a Palestinian referendum.
    Without it, the bloodletting will just go on, round after round. Forever.
    Peace is the answer. But when visibility is obscured by pillars of cloud, who can see that?

    ENTIRE COMMENTARY – http://www.opednews.com/articles/4/Another-Superfluous-War-by-Uri-Avnery-121116-319.html

    PLEASE CONSIDER SIGNING THE “FREE DON” SIEGELMAN PETITION. – http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-please-restore-justice-and-pardon-my-dad

    1. ● P.S. ALSO RE: “Haaretz reports that the Israeli cabinet is considering calling up as many as 75,000 reservists, which is a massive mobilization many times larger than the call-up for Cast Lead. Even if you discount this report as psy-ops on the part of Israel against Hamas, it appears that Netanyahu wants a massive display of force.” ~ R.S.

      ● SEE: “A Pillar Built on Sand”, By John Mearsheimer, London Review of Books, 11/16/12

      [EXCERPT] . . . Israel’s leaders have a two-prong strategy for dealing with their Palestinian problem. First, they rely on the United States to provide diplomatic cover, especially in the United Nations. The key to keeping Washington on board is the Israel lobby, which pressures American leaders to side with Israel against the Palestinians and do hardly anything to stop the colonisation of the Occupied Territories.
      The second prong is Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s concept of the ‘Iron Wall’: an approach that in essence calls for beating the Palestinians into submission. Jabotinsky understood that the Palestinians would resist the Zionists’ efforts to colonise their land and subjugate them in the process. Nonetheless, he maintained that the Zionists, and eventually Israel, could punish the Palestinians so severely that they would recognise that further resistance was futile.
      Israel has employed this strategy since its founding in 1948, and both Cast Lead and Pillar of Defence are examples of it at work. In other words, Israel’s aim in bombing Gaza is not to topple Hamas or eliminate its rockets, both of which are unrealisable goals. Instead, the ongoing attacks in Gaza are part of a long-term strategy to coerce the Palestinians into giving up their pursuit of self-determination and submitting to Israeli rule in an apartheid state.
      Israel’s commitment to the Iron Wall is reflected in the fact that its leaders have said many times since Cast Lead ended in January 2009 that the IDF would eventually have to return to Gaza and inflict another beating on the Palestinians. The Israelis were under no illusion that the 2008-9 conflict had defanged Hamas. The only question for them was when the next punishment campaign would start.
      The timing of the present operation is easy to explain. For starters, President Obama has just won a second term despite Netanyahu’s transparent attempt to help Mitt Romney win the election. The prime minister’s mistake is likely to have hurt his personal relations with the president and might even threaten America’s ‘special relationship’ with Israel. A war in Gaza, however, is a good antidote for that problem, because Obama, who faces daunting economic and political challenges in the months ahead, has little choice but to back Israel to the hilt and blame the Palestinians.
      The Israeli prime minter faces an election of his own in January and as Mitchell Plitnick writes, ‘Netanyahu’s gambit of forming a joint ticket with the fascist Yisrael Beiteinu party has not yielded anything close to the polling results he had hoped for.’ A war over Gaza not only allows Netanyahu to show how tough he is when Israel’s security is at stake, but it is also likely to have a ‘rally round the flag’ effect, improving his chances of being re-elected. . .

      ENTIRE COMMENTARY – http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2012/11/16/john-mearsheimer/a-pillar-built-on-sand/

      PLEASE CONSIDER SIGNING THE “FREE DON” SIEGELMAN PETITION. – http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-please-restore-justice-and-pardon-my-dad

  2. There was a siren here at the beginning of the Sabbath in Jerusalem. Apparently a missile hit the Gush area, 20 km from Jerusalem. It’s the first time I have ever heard such a siren in Jerusalem since 1998.

  3. I’ve joined and shared your page on Facebook, Richard. Thank you with all my heart for all the work you are doing. Keep it up!

  4. I agree that the looming finale with Iran may be relevant here but in a different sense. An important part of Iran`s ability to counteract was having friendly bases near Israel. The main one, Syria, is now by and large Kaput (which has also made Hezbollah reconsider how deeply it may want to be involved). That leaves Hamas, which although seeking now Egyptian clout is still an intransigent anti-Israel force (not willing to recognize Israel or talk to it) and it is also in possession of a huge arsenal of missiles that it got from Iran. Dealing with alone is one thing and having it as a potential missiles base in the case of a war with Iran is another.

    1. Gaza is an Iranian “base??” If you want to see a real base go to the 5th Fleet’s base in Bahrain or the UK’s in Diego Garcia or any Israeli air base. Those are bases. Please don’t make laugh & get serious.

      As for non-recognition look at yourself in the mirror. You Israelis are the ones who’ve refused to recognize Hamas, which has come a whole lot closer to recognizing Israel than the other way round.

  5. Although talks are said to be deadlocked, it was quite a show of solidarity to see Tunisia, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey all showing strong support for Gaza. (All are affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood). It also has let the US know its influence in the region has waned considerably. Whether this is enough to discourage Israel from any large scale ground offensive in Gaza remains to be seen, but it certainly was a dramatic bit of political theater.

  6. Yes, Israel doesn’t want peace except that variety Tacitus referred to when he said of his robbing, killing and plundering compatriots: “They left a desert and called it peace”.

    Presently the only half-way legitimate cover this latter day mediterranean robber has for its brutal aggression and oppression is the mantra that “Israel has the right to defend itself”. One hears it being said by politicians of all nationalities and backgrounds – sometimes through clenched teeth one hopes. So from that point of view the rockets are indispensable.

    Ahmed Jabari’s interest in a long term truce might have contributed to his demise. I recall that Operation Cast Lead followed not long after Khaled Meshaal showed, in an interview with a French journalist, an interest in the Arab Peace Initiative (to which Israel has never seriously reacted).

    The on again off again conflict with Hamas has to Israel the value of “the beggar’s wound”. It has to be left continuously open to be politically lucrative. So my hunch is that it will take good care not to destroy Gaza’s missile capacity in its entirety. The homemade ineffective ones will be allowed to remain.

    1. Do you think Hamas wants peace and the Israelis don’t? Or do you think neither side wants real peace for their own reasons?

      1. I’ve wondered about that too, Bob. What is Hamas? a resistance organization that rules Gaza, some say with an iron fist but it depends on who you talk to. One thing that I’ve heard quite often is that Hamas has made the siege and occupation into a business venture, just as Mahmoud Abbas has done in the West Bank with the PA. Neither the PA nor Hamas is of any practical use to the Palestinians and seems to exist to fill the pockets of its officials. Were the status quo to change, so the gravy train may stop, but so, too may the situation for the Palestinian people change for the better. Corrupt politicians are a dime a dozen, unfortunately, especially in the middle east.

  7. Bob,read Avnery’s article referred to above by Dickerson. Jabari’s interest in a long term truce seems to have been genuine. I don’t know about Hamas as a business venture, Mary. No doubt, the species of homo sapiens being what it is, there are officials there who are mainly after their own interest. On the other hand Hamas’s elected (!) officials are in an occupation with high risks not easily compensated for by illegally filled pockets. Hamas is of no “practical use to the Palestinians'”? Then who or what is? It seems to have taken some of its governmental tasks seriously though Israeli scuttle-butt knows otherwise. Also, if there is no organisation at all that keeps up some resistance to Israeli depredations what are the Palestinians going to do? Allowing themselves to be chased off the premises entirely? Lie down and die?

    1. Hamas is of little practical use to the Palestinians because they serve themselves more than the people. I have heard this so many times from Gazans themselves. And it’s the story of the typical middle eastern politicians – corrupt, self serving and oblivious. Hamas makes a lot of money from the tunnels, working with Egyptians. It charges huge taxes and fees for all goods brought in through the tunnels, and almost everything Gaza needs comes in that way. I am merely relating what I’ve been told by people living in Gaza who would have no reason to lie.

      The reason Hamas was elected is that the PA is even more corrupt, and Hamas still resists the occupation while the PA and Fatah do not. Hamas is working towards a more moderate position politically, to counter the rise of other groups, some of whom are more fundamentalist.

  8. To avoid misunderstandings: when I spoke about high risks not easily compensated for by illegally filled pockets I didn’t mean to imply that the loot thus gained would be some kind of just reward. What I meant to say is who would want to do these things if there was not some other motivation there ? Rage about an injustice without end, hatred, thirst for revenge or genuine concern? “Following the money trail” would in such cases lead nowhere.

  9. ” … some of whom are more fundamentalist” … you are not implying that Gazans would be better off under them, are you?

    It doesn’t surprise me at all that you found Gazans complaining about Hamas. Living in an open air prison, deprived of most essentials, would lead to general querulousness anyway. How can people keep their eyes continuously on “the bigger picture” in such a situation?

    During the Indonesian struggle for independence (1945 – 49) there were two governments in Java : the Dutch one with its centre in Jakarta (then Batavia) and the Indonesian one which had its main seat in Jogyakarta. I guess that you would have been able to find more Indonesians then complaining about their masters in the latter place than in the former. The proto-Indonesian regime was no doubt more corrupt – it was also ruthless in eliminating supposed collaborators. Nevertheless it led the struggle for independence and you would find very few Indonesians today claiming that they would have been better off without it.

    1. No I am not implying any such thing, Arie, puhleeze.

      So, you think the Gazans are merely whining about Hamas because they aren’t “keeping their eyes on the bigger picture”?

      You really do need to do some homework. Or better yet, get to know some Gazans.

  10. When (maybe ‘if’) the IDF invades with all their heavy armaments, I wonder if they might forget to leave — you know, sort of undue what many fundamentalist Israelis think was Sharon’s great blunder.

    1. And then what? Put up checkpoints and mount patrols? No, this is about kicking weak people around, firing guns, and leaving – or threatening to do that. The constant tension gives the army something to do and keeps the Israeli population in a bunker mentality. I have the expectation that, if things go in the “right” pattern, that the Egyptians might become involved and this will start a new war between Israel and Egypt.

      1. of course, I expect they will shoot up the place and do a lot of terrorizing and destruction and then leave. But, this is the second time around and, by virtue of that, it would seem to be an excuse for Netanyahu et. al to start the occupation process to supposedly prevent all the bad guys for firing rockets … etc. and then maybe a few outpost ‘settlement’ might spring up … etc.

        Probably not; there’d be way too much flak, maybe.

        1. oh, and by the way, unfortunately I don’t think Egypt and Turkey are going to do squat, no matter what Israel does to poor Gaza. though, it sure would be mud in Netanayahu’s evil eye if his gaza adventure actually go some heavy lifting cooperation by Egypt and Turkey to actually stand by Gaza with more than words. That would really shut Netanyahu up.

          1. I would be surprised if Egypt actually did anything. Its economic situation prohibits anything right now, and Morsi has that big IMF loan he’s working on getting, which he could very well jeopardize by engaging in any aggression against Israel. But you never know.

      1. It’s been all over the news. Here’s an excerpt and link:

        Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi said at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday that “there are indications of an imminent cessation of combat between Israel and the Palestinians.”

        http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4307362,00.html

        I see you now have a new post about the cease fire as well.

        1. There is no ceasefire, although an Israeli envoy was flown into Cairo today and is in a huddle with the Egyptians, Turks, Tunisians, Qataris and Palestinians as I write.

          This morning 50 Egyptian peace activists with 8 trucks of aid traveled to Gaza as well.

          No one knows what is going to happen until it happens.

        2. I doubt that’s what he said in Arabic. At any rate, there is no imminent ceasefire. On the contrary, there may began invasion before there’s a ceasefire. Bibi would love nothing more than to pick off Hams Leander’s one by one & then get himself an immediate ceasefire so he pays no price. I’m afraid the only way this asshole learns a lesson is for someone to hit him over the head really hard. That’s the way Rottweilers are. That’s the only way he’ll back down.

          Do I relish this option? Do I want Israeli dead? No. But what if the only choice to stop thousands more Palestinians dying is for Israelis to die. It’s a horrible thought. But not as horrible as Bibi’s current policy of unanswered slaughter.

          And if anyone thinks that Israel isn’t exponentially increasing the level of hate, hostility & violence it will face down the line from Arabs, they’ve got their heads up their behinds.

          1. It would be prudent for Bibi to bear in mind that Egypt is not always going to be economically hamstrung and that it would behoove Israel not to play with fire when dealing with Mohammed Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood is well allied with several Arab countries including Tunisia and Qatar, and is also on excellent terms with the Turks. Whoever is an ally with Egypt is an ally with Palestine. US influence in the region is decreasing by leaps and bounds, which is one reason Obama and Hillary are in Myanmar today and why Obama called Gaza a “crisis du jour.” Obama is expected to lose interest in Israel/Palestine in his second term and concentrate on creating his legacy based on domestic issues.

  11. Dead child in photo was killed by errant Hamas missile, not the IDF!

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/world/middleeast/in-gaza-tragic-result-for-misplaced-hopes-of-cease-fire.html?_r=1&

    Around 9:45 a.m., family members and neighbors said, an explosion struck a doorway near the Abu Wardah home, killing Aiman Abu Wardah as he returned from his errand, as well as Mahmoud Sadallah, 4, who lived next door.
    The damage was nowhere near severe enough to have come from an Israeli F-16, raising the possibility that an errant missile fired by Palestinian militants was responsible for the deaths. What seems clear is that expectations for a pause in the fighting, for at least one family, were tragically misplaced.

    The IDF did not launch any airstrikes in Gaza while Egyptian PM Kandil was in Gaza. AP adds:

    Mahmoud Sadallah, the 4-year-old Gaza boy whose death moved Egypt’s prime minister to tears, was from the town of Jebaliya, close to Gaza City.

    Mahmoud’s family said the boy was in an alley close to his home when he was killed, along with a man of about 20, but no one appeared to have witnessed the strike. The area showed signs that a projectile might have exploded there, with shrapnel marks in the walls of surrounding homes and a shattered kitchen window. But neighbors said local security officials quickly took what remained of the projectile, making it impossible to verify who fired it.

    If it was an Israeli missile, you can be sure that it would have been shown to the media! Furthermore, PCHR, which is keeping track of everyone killed in Gaza (and which admits that most of the dead have been “militants,”) did not list Mahmoud Sadalha or Aiman Aby Wardah in their list of victims of Israeli airstrikes, although they even include one person who died of a heart attack.

    Put this together with the fact that Hamas and other terror groups were firing rockets throughout Friday morning while the IDF did not, plus the fact that over 100 rockets have fallen short in Gaza (both using past performance and IDF statistics as proof), and the fact that the shrapnel in the video matches almost exactly the shrapnel damage we have seen from rocket fire into Israel, and it is very clear: this child was killed by Gaza rocket fire, not by Israel.

    1. This is a lie. All that the articles claim is that no one could verify who killed the child, not that an errant Hamas missile did. Essentially, no one knows what happened. Possibly an errant shell killed him or it could be an IDF shell or another cause. Also, another lie is that the IDF remained silent during the so called truce. It did not, as reading farther in the very article you linked to above would have shown you. You haven’t even offered evidence to prove the IDF maintained the ceasefire, which almost every media outlet confirms didn’t happen. Liar much, Joel? Or did your propagandistic zeal simply get the better of you?

      As for the PCHR list, you haven’t offered a link to it so no one can verify your claim there either.

      Also, use quotation marks so we can tell what’s from the article you quote and what’s your own personal tendentious propaganda.

      I’m going to remind you in future to document all claims you make, to quote sources fully & in context, & to differentiate original sources from your own opinion. I’ll be measuring your future comments here against this benchmark to determine whether you’re being a fair participant in the reader community or whether you have an axe to grind. Axe-grinders don’t last here.

      1. If you go to the PCHR website, you should be able to find the names of all those who have been killed thus far in Gaza over the past few days. They update fairly regularly.

      2. A lie? I don’t think so.

        http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/9685564/Israeli-forces-prepare-for-war-as-troops-mass-on-Gaza-border.html

        But there were signs on Saturday that not all the Palestinian casualties have been the result of Israeli air strikes. The highly publicised death of four-year-old Mohammed Sadallah appeared to have been the result of a misfiring home-made rocket, not a bomb dropped by Israel.
        The child’s death on Friday figured prominently in media coverage after Hisham Kandil, the Egyptian prime minister, was filmed lifting his dead body out of an ambulance. “The boy, the martyr, whose blood is still on my hands and clothes, is something that we cannot keep silent about,” he said, before promising to defend the Palestinian people.
        But experts from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights who visited the site on Saturday said they believed that the explosion was caused by a Palestinian rocket.
        In the chaos, it is highly unlikely that Mr Kandil or anyone else at the hospital suspected that the death was the result of anything but an air strike.
        Sharif Khalah, 26, was standing at the end of the alleyway by the road when the explosion happened.
        “Suddenly there was this whistling noise, a whoosh and then bang,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.”I couldn’t see anything for about 10 minutes because there was so much dust and smoke. Then I saw the little boy.”
        Less than 24 hours after her youngest son’s death, Esmat Sadallah, Mohammed’s mother, was too bereft to apportion blame. It was possible he was struck by a rocket fired by Palestinian fighters, she said. It was also possible he was killed in an Israeli strike, she added, although nobody had heard the sound of a drone or plane in the sky just before the explosion.

          1. Stick to the point. You claimed it was a lie. I showed otherwise. Issue a correction instead of deflecting.

          2. I don’t see any reason for a correction as it is not conclusive he was killed by a Palestinian rocket. This is moot anyway. You could talk about the Dalou family instead.

  12. I wonder why did you choose a photo of palestinian child and did not put a photo of injured or dead Israeli child?!
    I think you don’t really want peace.. you just hate Israel.. both sides should be well presented if you really want peace!!

      1. If not killed, but injured.. It doesn’t make it any better. Unlike IDF, HAMMAS fire rockets to get civilian casualties and as many as they can. Unlike HAMMAS, Israelis do regret a loss of innocent palestinian child.

      2. It almost seems that you are happy that 3 more Gazan children wre killed today… You remind me the Hamas leaders and their use of children in this conflict.

  13. I guess you even missed the fact that “During the fighting, Hamas held meetings inside the hospital and distributed the payroll from the hospital” (taken from wikipedia). Just for you to understand how hard it is to get the responsible for rocket firing without hurting the innocent that are being held as hostage by Hamas. Stuff that in your pro-Terrorist pipe and smoke it.

  14. It feels like you do support Israeli innocent casualties.. I cant find anywhere that you condemn rocket firing into civilian area… That just makes it clear what you are all about.

  15. “You really do need to do some homework.”

    Oh dear, Mary, that crushing argument is too schoolmarmish for me to seriously enter into.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *