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| Week ending Shabbat, December 10, 2005 |
9 Kislev, 5766 |
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Military strike on Gaza:
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) retaliated against "Palestinian" Kassam rockets that were fired into the Negev (southern Israel) last weekend. A missile was fired into the offices of a "Palestinian" terror organization in Gaza City. Earlier, Israeli jets fired on rocket launch sites in three separate bombings. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered the army to take immediate steps to intensify its response to the rocket attacks. Additionally, the Israeli navy sank a fishing boat off the Gaza coast after an exchange of gunfire. Navy officials said the boat had entered forbidden waters and ignored orders to stop. "Palestinians" on the boat and on land fired on the navy ship. The ship returned fire, killing one.
Israel Returns to Targeted Assassinations:
On Monday, and in response to the second consecutive day of intensifying "Palestinian" rocket attacks, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered the army to resume the policy of targeted killings. The intention behind the harsher steps is to stop the rocket attacks. An Israeli was wounded in the attack and several other residents were treated for shock. A resident said, "This attack was not like others in the past, and it was much stronger in its intensity than the (rockets) that fell here previously." An Israeli Air Force (IAF) officer said that while the terror organizations are trying to improve the rockets' distance capability, they currently have an approximately ten-kilometer range and that seventy percent of the "Palestinian" fired rockets have fallen in Palestinian-controlled areas in Gaza.
On Wednesday evening, after more Palestinian rockets were fired at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, Israeli forces struck rocket launching sites and access roads in the Gaza Strip. Sderot residents identified Wednesday night as one of the most difficult they could remember. Eli Moyal, Mayor of Sderot said he was unable to sleep "As a result of the dozens of phone calls by frightened residents and particularly heavy shelling by the IDF." An Israeli Air Force aircraft also fired missiles at a car in a refugee camp in southern Gaza, killing a commander in the Popular Resistance Committees.
Thursday evening an enemy barrage of rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza aimed at targets in the western Negev (southern Israel). The attack came shortly after the IDF fired a missile into a building in Beit Lahiya (northern Gaza), killing at least two Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorists in yet another targeted killing. Arab sources reported that a third terrorist died of his wounds. The IDF said the terrorists, belonging to a branch of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas' ruling Fatah organization, were involved in rocket attacks and were planning another assault on Israel. One of those killed was Iyad Mahmad Abdullah Kadas, who was involved in planning dozens of terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings and shootings, in cooperation with the Popular Resistance Committee and Hamas. He served as the assistant to Hassan Mad'hun, a senior terrorist in the group who was killed in an IDF operation last month.
Israel To Strike Back:
In response to the deadly suicide bombing at Netanya's HaSharon Mall on Monday, Israel's national security establishment held high-level meetings and decided on a prolonged counter-terror operation. In preparation, IDF soldiers will be deployed in northern Samaria. The security establishment will also renew targeted killings of terror leaders. Effective Tuesday night Judea, Samaria, and Gaza were closed, and at the same time a curfew went into effect (also in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) banning Arabs from entering Israel's pre-1967 borders. The three Gaza crossings however, will remain fully operational due to commitments made to the United States by Israel. The permits for 500 Christian worshippers to enter Jerusalem during the Christian holidays also remain valid. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said he would ask Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to allow the IDF to resume the destruction of the homes of suicide-bombers.
Five Jewish residents were murdered (pictured right) and around fifty more were wounded (some critically) in the attack when an Arab terrorist blew himself up just outside the entrance of the shopping mall. At 11:30 a.m. a female police officer identified a man approaching the Sharon Mall in Netanya as a suicide bomber, and shouted out warnings. Security guards stopped the man, pushing him up against the wall, and nearby police officers rushed to help. At that point, the bomber detonated the explosives he had in his bag. Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the bombing. This past July the same organization carried out a similar attack in exactly the same place. In that attack, four civilians were murdered and around ninety injured.
On Monday night (following the attack), residents of Netanya assembled at the site of the attack to mourn the dead and the maimed, and to protest the security situation. Many believe Prime Minister Sharon's actions reward Arab terrorism.
Wednesday night, wanted terrorist Mahmoud Al-Arkan was killed in an IAF guided missile attack in Gaza. He was at least a participant in many attacks against Israelis, including the murder of David and Rachel Kol this past July, the murder of IDF soldier Avi Karuchi a month earlier. Israeli forces also arrested more than twenty wanted terrorists, most of whom were Hamas members in Judea and Samaria.
Overnight Thursday into Friday Israeli troops arrested nineteen "Palestinian" terrorists during raids in Judea and Samaria. An army official said that ten of the detainees are members of Islamic Jihad, the group responsible for Monday's bombing in Netanya. The focus of the raids were villages near Palestinian-ruled Tulkarem, the identified residence of the bomber.
Canada takes a stand for Israel:
In an effort to change the United Nations' policy of consistently voting against Israel, Canada voted against three of the multitude of anti-Israel resolutions that are introduced every year at the December meeting.
As an example of how bias the UN has become, a map labeled the "map of Palestine" was prominently displayed between the United Nations and "PLO" flags (right). The map, with "Palestine" written in Arabic across the top, does not include the nation of Israel, even though Israel has been a member of the UN for fifty-six years. The map does not even identify the partition lines of November 29, 1947, marking a Jewish state alongside an Arab state. The partition was dictated by the UN General Assembly itself.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said, "We're thankful the Canadian government has rethought some of its attitudes." Specifically, Canada questioned the use of language that "suggests that it is only Israel that has obligations," and "emotive and provocative language in place of the straight facts," as stated by Canada's deputy United Nations ambassador Gilbert Laurin. Canada is one of few countries that join the United States in opposition to resolutions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict renewed by Arab states every year at this time. In the past, Canada voted with European countries and either abstained or even supported these resolutions.
Israel Warns Iran:
Iran has presented itself a nuclear threat for years, but recent evidence shows Iran is close to nuclear capability, which has become a hot issue in Israel. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, "We cannot allow a situation in which Iran becomes a nuclear power." "We see Iran as a great threat. This is an international problem, and not just ours. I think it's clear that we cannot allow a situation in which Iran becomes a nuclear power. Israel is not the one leading the process, but it is a partner with those countries that are concerned about this dangerous development. We are working together with Europe and the United States."
International Atomic Energy Agency Chairman Mohammed El Baradei told the a British newspaper that once Iran resumes the enrichment of uranium, it will be only 'a few months' away from manufacturing an atomic bomb. El Baradei estimates that the Iranians will resume uranium enrichment at its reactor in Bantaz over the next few days.
Israeli Defense Force Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz said that he does not believe that diplomacy will solve the problem of the Iranian threat. Halutz said he does not believe American and European pressure on Iran regarding ongoing nuclear enrichment efforts will bear fruit. The IDF commander pointed out that Iran has continued its nuclear program to date, despite international pressure. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Hamid Riza Asaffi said, "The Zionist authorities are well aware that if they make a foolish mistake against Iran, Iran's harsh response will be destructive and determined."
Shteinitz Condemns Egypt:
On Tuesday, MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), severely criticized and accused Egypt of supporting terror against Israel by letting the security situation on the border deteriorate. Shteinitz, who heads the influential Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, supports the establishment of a security barrier along the 200-kilometer Israel-Egypt border, from the Gaza district southeastward to Eilat. "Over the past few years, we have witnessed a deliberate effort on the part of the Egyptians to turn the Sinai Peninsula into a paradise for smuggling weapons into Israel and the Gaza Strip," said Shteinitz. The Egyptians have been smuggling drugs, terrorists, weapons for terrorists and criminals, and even prostitutes into Israel at an alarming rate.
Shteinitz said that Egypt was "aiding and abetting" terror against Israel "in exactly the same way as Syria and Iran." This statement places Egypt in the category of nations who have no diplomatic relations with Israel in spite of the so called peace treaty of 1979. "The time has come to invest in a border fence with Egypt and for condemning its behavior in the international arena," he said.
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