Category Archives: Israel

The IDF’s beleagured boys

Posted on August 2, 2014 | Comments Off on The IDF’s beleagured boys

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Hard enough to fight a war against Islamic terrorism in July-August and in the Gazan desert. But especially for the IDF’s beleagured  boys. The enemy is not only trying to kill them but to capture them for bargaining chips.

“Every Hamas squad that ventured into Israeli territory through underground tunnels to carry out an attack was accompanied by a second squad with orders to capture, armed with anesthetics, syringes and handcuffs.”

May the Guardian of Israel bless them all, the living and the fallen.

Via Haaretz.

UPDATE:  Two touching funerals stand for all of the fallen.

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Posted in Israel, The War, Troops

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Those “civilian” death totals

Posted on August 1, 2014 | 2 comments

The Obamalamadingdong administration and the Democrat news media in general solemnly intone the figure of the day-week-month, now over 1,000 and  counting and usually adds that 75 percent or more are Palestinian civilians. How do they know they’re civilians? Hamas tells them so.

The IDF, by contrast, only says it knows that “hundreds” of them are Hamas soldiers.

“How does the [NY]Times keep such an accurate count of Palestinian deaths? A footnote discloses ‘Palestinian death tallies are provided by the Palestinian Health Ministry and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.’

“OK. So who runs the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza? Hamas does. As for the U.N., it gets its data mainly from two Palestinian agitprop NGOs, one of which, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, offers the remarkably precise statistic that, as of July 27, exactly 82% of deaths in Gaza have been civilians. Curiously, during the 2008-09 Gaza war, the center also reported an 82% civilian casualty rate.”

Leave it to CAMERA to vet these suspect figures. CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (good luck with that), analyzed the ages and genders of fatalities reported by the Palestinians in Gaza during the Israeli military operation from July 7 through July 26.

Their findings: the largest portion were young males between 17 and 30 years old...”and a particularly noticeable spike occurs between males ages 21 to 27, a pattern consistent with the age distribution typically found among combatants and military conscripts… adult female fatalities were less than 10% of total fatalities for a group that comprises a quarter of the total population.”

Remember that the next time you see a talking head pull a face and intone the latest Hamas-provided figures.

Via Bad Blue Uncensored News.

UPDATE:  Reminds me of the old Nightline’s intoning: “Day [a number], America Held Hostage” which brought down the Carter administration. This time it encourages Hamas’ use of human shields.

MORE: As always, The Truth Is Very Different, from what you hear & read.

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Posted in Israel, Obsessions, The War, War Without End

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The 160 children Hamas killed

Posted on July 31, 2014 | 2 comments

One hundred sixty of them died, according to a 2012 study by the Institute for Palestinian Studies, as forced labor—child labor—in building the attack tunnels Israel is now trying to find and destroy.

“The author, Nicolas Pelham, explains that Hamas uses child laborers to build their terror tunnels because, ‘much as in Victorian coal mines, they are prized for their nimble bodies’. Human rights groups operating in Gaza raised concerns about child labor in the tunnels as far back as 2008. Hamas responded by saying it was ‘considering curbs.’”

Much as it is now “considering” a ceasefire which never seems to arrive or stay for long. While Hamas policy once again forces Palestinian children to face death.

When are we going to hear the White House and the UN call that “horrifying” and “criminal”? Ever?

Via Tablet Magazine.

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Posted in Israel, The Culture, The War, War Without End

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Explosions photo from space is a sham

Posted on July 31, 2014 | 2 comments

German astronaut Alexander Gerst, with the European Space Agency, “who is in orbit around the earth, posted a tweet that read ‘My saddest photo yet. From the International Space Station we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over Gaza and Israel.'”

Gerst’s little bit of politics (he tweeted no similar photo of fighting in Syria, for instance) backfired when Utah Valley University professor Michael Harper tweeted a reply, with a link to a pre-war nighttime space photo whose details and contours match Gerst’s.

Harper said they showed “the lights mainly of Tel Aviv, and as far away as Beersheba in Israel’s south.”

“Speaking to The Times of Israel, Harper said that it wasn’t necessarily the politics of the thing that bothered him – but the inaccuracy and ignorance it highlighted.”

No kidding. Next time, NASA, how about sending up an astronaut who can interpret space photos correctly. That would seem to be a minimum requirement.

Via Times of Israel.

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Posted in Israel, Science/Engineering, Space, The War

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Rule 5: Tzipi Hotovely

Posted on July 30, 2014 | 2 comments

Deputy-Minister-of-Transportation-Tzipi-Hotovely The Israeli deputy transportation minister and member of the Likud party is as hot as the first syllable of her surname. Her politics are pretty hot as well.

A fair reminder of the curious fact that conservative women generally are a lot better looking than Progressive ones.

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Posted in Israel, Rule 5, The War

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The Bibi-Barry tape

Posted on July 29, 2014 | 2 comments

Sure sounds like the imperious Wormtongue “demanding” an Israeli ceasefire in this transcript by Arutz Sheva:

Obama: Within a week of the end of Israel’s military activities, Qatar and Turkey will begin negotiations with Hamas on the basis of the 2012 understanding [following the end of Operation Pillar of Defense – ed.], including Israel’s commitment to removing the siege and restrictions on Gaza,

Netanyahu: Qatar and Turkey are the biggest supporters of Hamas. It is impossible to rely on them to be fair mediators.

Obama: I trust Qatar and Turkey, and Israel is in no position to choose its mediators.

Barry’s and Bibi’s minions have issued denials, calling the tape/transcript a fabrication. Curiously, however, according to Artuz Sheva, the wording of their denials is almost exactly the same. Makes you wonder what’s really up with that.

UPDATE:  More on the denials at Times of Israel. Don’t miss the comments below the report. I repeat, sounds just like Wormtongue. He always makes demands. He doesn’t negotiate with anyone.

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Posted in Israel, Obamalot, The War, Troops, War Without End

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Refusing to ride on an M-113

Posted on July 29, 2014 | 3 comments

That’s what thirty IDF reservists have done, using the Israeli military reservist reputation for independent (okay, insubordinate) action, to help get their fellows out of the death traps laughingly called M-113 “armored” personnel carriers.

Funny only if your life doesn’t depend on them, like the six seven Golani soldiers (one of them from Texas) killed in one a week ago. The first time I rode in a 113, way back in Army training in 1967, I thought: how efficient, cheap and convenient, all the soldiers inside can be quickly buried in the thing.

Then I heard that the slab-sided, box-on-treads—an easy target for even a pathetic marksmen—was even worse: it was made of bullet-permeable aluminum. I vowed to walk when the real time came and always did.

UPDATE:  According to Haaretz: “Chief of Staff Benny Gantz is already leveraging the attack on the obsolete armored personnel carrier, in which seven Golani soldiers were killed, to ask for an upgrade of all the army’s APCs.”

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Posted in Infantry OCS, Israel, The War, Troops

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