#Terror balloon lands in kindergarten in Israel

[eretzyisrael]

Fight, damn it!

Losses are part of war. There’s no escaping it. The tragedy is immense. A person has precisely one chance at life, to love, to have children, to learn, to have a profession, to do all the things that a person aspires to do, and to have it all taken away when it has barely begun is catastrophic.

Whenever a life is lost, especially a young life, families and friends grieve painfully. In Israel, which has been at war without a break since her establishment in 1948, there is a phenomenon of national grief, which I haven’t seen elsewhere. Funerals of soldiers, police, and terror victims are sometimes attended by thousands of people, many of whom did not know the deceased. The media devote much time and space to each case. Memorial day in Israel is full of ceremonies, all across the country, to remember and honor the fallen.

Jewish Israelis (with some exceptions) understand that they have an obligation to pay a price for the existence of the state, and that part of that price is that some of our children will lose their lives. Nothing demonstrates more conclusively how important the state is to the Jewish people.

So you can imagine the anger when a young life ends because somebody in authority was incompetent or lazy. War is war and soldiers die, but one of the things a good military organization does is analyze its defeats and failures, learn lessons from them, and make changes so that future outcomes will be better. When a preventable casualty occurs, it is because someone failed to do their job.

There are micro- and macro-failures. For example, if a soldier dies because his weapon wasn’t properly maintained, that is a micro-failure. If many lives are lost because an enemy that could be defeated is allowed to continue to re-arm, over and over, and the result is an unnecessary war, that is a macro-failure. They are both the result of someone not doing their job.

The tragic death of Border Police 1st Sgt. Barel Hadaria Shmueli, z”l, traumatized the entire nation, because it was unnecessary, a combination of micro- and macro-failures. Shmueli, a sniper, was placed at a slit in a wall that forms part of the border between Israel and Gaza. The slit was improperly located (too low) and inadequately surveilled by cameras on the Gaza side. The location was known to be dangerous. Sniper weapons are carefully adjusted to fit the individual, and for some reason he was not using his personal weapon. It jammed several times at critical moments. There is a buffer zone along the border that is supposed to be clear of Arab “demonstrators” (i.e., Hamas fighters and human shields), and somehow a number of them were allowed to enter it and come up against the wall, where they could not be seen by the defenders. They attempted to grab Shmueli’s weapon from outside, and in the struggle one of them placed a pistol up to the slit and fired; the bullet struck Shmueli’s head (information from a Hebrew article in Israel Hayom, 1 September).

These are some of the micro-failures, which the IDF promises to deal with. There is also an ongoing macro-failure.

Consider the overall situation. The “demonstrations” orchestrated by Hamas and other terrorist factions in Gaza are not demonstrations; they are attempted human wave attacks against Israel’s border. IDF Soldiers and Border Police defend it; they try to use non-lethal weapons to control the crowds, as well as “less-than lethal” live fire from .22 caliber Ruger rifles, and more deadly weapons if necessary to prevent a breach of the border. Such a breach could result in a disastrous terrorist attack against the numerous small communities in the area.

Hamas and its allied factions, who are supported and financed by Israel’s enemies in Iran, Turkey, and Qatar, are constantly working on ways to attack us. They dig tunnels, release incendiary balloons, stage “demonstrations” to penetrate our border, produce and launch rockets, try to land terrorists on the beaches north of Gaza, shoot antitank missiles at vehicles on our roads, teach their kindergarteners to hate us (so this will go on forever), and more. They are creative and proactive.

On the other hand, the IDF – which has the power to scrape the entire 365 km2 of Gaza into the sea – does not even hunt down the few dozen top leaders of Hamas and other factions and kill them. When rockets are fired at random into Israel’s cities in the hope of creating mass casualties, we prefer to intercept the rockets, and only shoot back when absolutely necessary, and with great care to kill as few people as possible. When incendiary balloons burn hundreds of acres of cultivated lands and nature preserves, the Air Force bombs empty enemy installations. And when a young soldier is killed protecting the border, the IDF prefers to improve procedures and shore up the border – that is, to deal only with the micro-failures.

It’s almost as if we are afraid to fight back, because then we might make them mad. We are satisfied to merely push them away. God forbid that we should hurt somebody.

But it’s far, far worse than just that. Yesterday, the day Sgt. Barel Shmueli was buried, Israel allowed “dozens of truckloads” of building materials into Gaza for the first time since the last mini-war. Today the government announced further loosening of restrictions. If I weren’t too embarrassed by the idea, I might say we are paying them for “protection.” Nice border you have there, we wouldn’t want it to experience a violent “demonstration.”

I have heard the argument that if we did respond more aggressively, then our soldiers and leaders would have to face charges in the International Criminal Court. Perhaps – but what came first? Maybe we have trained the world to think that attacks on Jews are the normal order of things, and Jewish self-defense is the true crime. Somehow the Russians and the Iranians don’t seem to worry about the ICC. Why do we?

Sgt. Shmueli gave his life fighting for the State of Israel. Why doesn’t the State of Israel want to fight for herself?

Abu Yehuda

[endtimeheadlines]

Terror balloon lands in kindergarten in Israel, No casualties reported …

As tensions continue to rise in Israel, According to reports, a burning “terror balloon” was launched from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and landed in a kindergarten in nearby Sdot Negev while children were

reportedly playing in its yard. The report indicated that a kindergarten teacher nearby kept the children away from the balloon and called firefighters to intervene. As of now, No casualties were reported.

[jacobsvoice]

Israel on Fire and the NY Times

“All the News That’s Fit to Print,” the venerable motto of The New York Times ever since publisher Adolph Ochs made it his newspaper’s pledge in 1896, has become malleable over time. The most egregious violation of its pledge came during World War II when the Holocaust, in the title of Laurel Leff’s scathing indictment, was Buried by the Times. While every newspaper must be selective about what it reports, when it comes to Israel the Times occasionally bends over backward to evade a story that might otherwise challenge its liberal base — and bias.

To the Times, Israelis are now the bad guys, perpetual perpetrators of harm to innocent Palestinians. A prime example is the Times‘ omission of the damage inflicted by Hamas-inspired kite terrorism from Gaza. Last month, it provided four-column front page photo coverage of a dead Gazan baby brought to the border by a family member and reported (falsely) to have died from inhaling tear gas fired by Israel. But its reporting of the damage from Hamas rockets, and fire kites and balloons, to kibbutz farm land and nature preserves has been less than minimal.

Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief David Halbfinger, joined by reporter Isabel Kershner, made their favored story line clear early on. Israel’s security barrier, they wrote (May 15), “fences off the Gaza Strip like an open-air prison.” The “fundamental imbalance — heavily armed soldiers firing on mostly unarmed demonstrators, many of them bent on breaching the fence” drove their narrative. On the perceived apathy of Israelis to the harm their soldiers were inflicting (by defending the border), they cited Etgar Keret, one of the left-wing Israeli writers the Times delights in quoting for criticism of their county. About their own apathy toward Hamas arson inflicted on Israel, they remained silent.

Two weeks later (May 30), a Hamas rocket and mortar attack struck a kindergarten playground shortly before the youngsters arrived, pockmarking school walls with shrapnel. With dozens of incoming projectiles intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, local residents were advised not to stray further than a 15-second run to the nearest shelter. A Gaza political scientist explained to Kershner that Israel had tried to change the rules of the 2014 ceasefire by bombing Hamas attack tunnels. She compliantly noted Israel’s “aggressive action” to deter its enemies.

In an article mostly comprised of his tweets (June 9), Halbfinger reported “vast stretches of scorched earth,” while dismissively noting that the fire kites “seem like child’s play.” Had he interviewed even a single resident of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, he might have learned how it felt to live surrounded by flaming kites. Instead, he described “a day of peaceful protests, or violent riots, depending on which side you support in the conflict.” For Halbfinger, there was no reality — only competing versions of truth. His tweets described “plumes of smoke billowing from [Israeli] farmland” and “vast stretches of scorched [Israeli] earth.” He reported “repeated efforts to inflict harm on the Israelis” with the qualifier “military officials said.” But “the kites seem like child’s play” — at least until their “flaming tails turn them into weapons.” Halbfinger prudently kept his distance from such “child’s play.”

Since late April, flaming kites and firebomb balloons from Gaza, some connected to explosive devices, have ignited nearly 900 fires, decimating more than 8,000 acres of Israeli forest and agricultural land. Nearly 25% of Israeli nature reserves near the Gaza border have been destroyed. The other Times — The Times of Israel — reported (July 7) that a large fire, caused by incendiary kites, was raging near Kibbutz Or Haner on the Gaza border. Nine firefighting teams, supported by firefighting aircraft, fought the blaze. Given Times reporter Isabel Kershner’s compassionate coverage of grieving Palestinians, readers might expect at least one interview with a resident of Kibbutz Or Haner or Nahal Oz, whose leaders considered evacuating the community in anticipation of cross-border Hamas raids. This reader is still waiting.

The Algemeiner (July 10, 2018)

[investmart007]

JERUSALEM  | Israel strikes Hamas after heavy rocket attacks from Gaza

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/I4xT0j

JERUSALEM  | Israel strikes Hamas after heavy rocket attacks from Gaza

JERUSALEM  — Israeli warplanes struck Hamas positions in Gaza after Palestinian militants there fired dozens of rockets and mortars at southern communities early Wednesday, the military said.

The Palestinian fire came hours after the Israeli military said it struck Hamas infrastructure in response to “arson balloons” launched from Gaza into Israel.

Israel has been battling large fires caused by kites and balloons rigged with incendiary devices or burning rags, launched by Palestinians in Gaza that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed wildlife and livestock.

Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, praised the rocket attacks calling them “a legitimate right that bombing is met with bombing,” but did not take responsibility for them.

The Israeli military said Palestinians fired about 45 rockets and mortars at Israel. Seven projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system and at least three fell prematurely, landing inside Gaza, it said. Fighter jets targeted about 25 Hamas targets overnight in response to the heavy Palestinian fire, it said.

The exchange early Wednesday was the biggest flare-up between the sides in weeks. However, no casualties were reported in Israel or Gaza.

Some rockets exploded inside Israel damaging property. Channel 10 TV showed footage of Israeli houses and cars peppered with shrapnel and said one mortar exploded next to a kindergarten.

Israeli police said its bomb disposal unit dealt with a rocket that landed in a populated area.

“The Hamas terror organization targeted Israeli civilians throughout the night with a severe rocket attack and is dragging the Gaza Strip and its civilians down a continually deteriorating path,” the military said.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said many Israelis spent the night in bomb shelters in communities near Gaza.

Conricus wouldn’t elaborate on open-fire regulations regarding the kite and balloon threats but said those who launch such devices “are engaged in hostile activity.” He said so far the army has fired near those launching the devices and at infrastructure but added Israel has warned it “will not tolerate” the current situation of daily airborne attacks on its territory.

Tensions are high along the Gaza border after months of weekly mass rallies led by the Islamic militant group that rules the territory turned violent. Over 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since they began.

Israel says it is defending a sovereign border and nearby communities and accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover for attempts to breach the border fence and carry out attacks.

The protests are aimed in part at drawing attention to the decade-long Israeli-Egyptian blockade on the territory imposed after Hamas, a group sworn to Israel’s destruction, seized control of Gaza.

__

By Associated Press

___

[eretzyisrael]

Eleven fires broke out from morning until this hour (Monday) in the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip - all of them from incendiary balloons launched into Israel.

Firefighting teams, together with KKL-JNF personnel, have been operating since morning to control the flames and extinguish them.

One of the balloons landed in a kindergarten in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, a few minutes after the end of the school day. There were no casualties and no damage was done.

In the Nir Am reservoir fire broke out and burned the memorial site of Assaf Siboni, who was killed in the helicopter disaster.

Sdot Negev Regional Council head Tamir Idan said "the incendiary balloon that fell today in the kindergarten in the council could have caused disaster had it landed a few minutes earlier.

"Every day there are fires in the vicinity, and there's no proper response from Israel," said Idan.

MK Alon Shuster of the Blue and White Party blamed the government for the situation. "This time, terror hit a particularly dear spot: the Asaf Siboni Observation Point, the epicenter of the helicopter disaster that was set up by Shlomit Siboni, his mother, was burned down today by fire terror. I spoke now with her and her daughter, Dafna, and I was encouraged by their determined spirit, which is indeed in pain but they're already considering the next steps to refurbish the point.

"Of course it doesn't move the Prime Minister and Defense Minister. Burning of memorial sites for fallen IDF soldiers or agricultural fields - just like the deaths of four civilians in the previous round of fighting - is not a sufficient incentive to change the status quo policy vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip, and the only future he promises to Gaza area residents is 'what was is what will be'," Shuster says.

[eretzyisrael]

Sheep and goats have nowhere to graze. Fox, deer and many small animals that live in the forest have suffocated or been burned to death. It will take years for the land to be rejuvenated.

Since 2001, Palestinian terrorists have fired 15,000-plus rockets and mortars at Israel from the Gaza Strip as part of their plan to drive Israelis out of Israel and have them drown in the sea.

In August 2005, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the IDF to expel 10,000 Jewish citizens from their homes and land in Gush Katif, the thriving Jewish communities of Gaza.

The Sharon government was convinced that if they move the Jewish residents out of Gaza, Hamas would stop firing rockets and become good citizens. He was also out to please the American president and the world.

The government destroyed their homes but left community centers, schools, land to build apartments, greenhouses, all to improve the lives of the Gazan people.

How did Hamas say thank you? By firing thousands of rockets at communities in the South.

And the land for apartments, well, it became terror-training camps. The everyday people received no improvements to their lives.

Being a terrorist is a job and a well-paying job at that. There is a set monthly allowance for injuring and maiming Israelis, and if you kill an Israeli, there is a big bonus. If you are arrested and in prison, your family will receive a monthly allowance. If you are killed, your family will be looked after for life.

Hamas has no respect for life. Young children act as human shields for cowardly terrorists, dig tunnels, have bomb belts strapped to their little bodies and become suicide bombers when the bomb goes off remotely. Nice people, right?

Women are dispensable and are told by their husbands to be terrorists. They hide knives under their clothes and stab Israeli soldiers.

Where is PETA When You Need Them?

Donkeys have had bomb belts attached to their bodies, and when they get near a soldier, they blow up. Where is PETA when you need them?

The newest terror weapons are children’s kites. Hamas terrorists build kites, attach a Molotov firebomb to the tail and let the wind gently float across the Gaza fence. When they fall in Israel, they explodes on southern farmers’ fields.

And when they run out of kites, they use balloons. They fill the balloon with helium – stolen from hospitals – attach a molotov bomb to the string and again let the wind blow it into Israel and explode.

No more kites or balloons, no problem, Hamas is now using condoms as balloons.

According to reports, because of kite terrorism, approximately 400 fires have consumed more than 30,000 hectares of crops, forests and nature reserves. The damage to the farmers and their property is estimated at more than NIS 7 million and growing.

Sheep and goats have nowhere to graze. Fox, deer and many small animals that live in the forest are suffocated or burned to death because they have nowhere to run and hide. It will take years for the land to be rejuvenated.

Families Sleep in Bomb Shelters

On Tuesday, after a day of many fires, at 1:15a.m., when everyone was asleep, Hamas fired 45 rockets at southern communities until 5:30 a.m. Many families slept in their bomb shelters.

One rocket exploded next to a kindergarten. The explosions of rockets broke windows in houses and cars and caused other damage. Thank God there were no physical injuries reported – but emotional injuries, I’m sure there were many.

The IDF answered the rockets with 25 hits in Gaza. We heard booming all night, and the Iron Dome did its job.

As I write this blog, there are fires still burning.

I am posting a video of the burnt land. It is heartbreaking to look at but very necessary in order to understand what Israelis are living with. The video has some Hebrew, but the truth is that no language is necessary. The video speaks for itself. After you view the video, please share it. The title: “Two Months of Fire”