Isreal Responds

[Aesop]

Netanyahu still isn't taking my calls, but apparently the Israeli leadership has decided enough of this crap is enough.
Link

IDF starts Gaza ground offensive
After days of waiting and deliberation, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday night directed the IDF to send ground troops into Gaza to strike the terror tunnels into Israel.

Signaling that the initial phase of the ground attack would be limited, a statement put out by the Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon directed the IDF to prepare to expand the ground operation.

The statement said the security cabinet approved the operation after Israel agreed to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal on Tuesday, which Hamas rejected. In addition, the statement said, Hamas even fired rockets during Thursday’s five-hour humanitarian cease-fire.

The dramatic decision followed, by less than 24-hours, an attempted massive attack by 13 terrorists who burrowed into Israel through a tunnel near Kibbutz Sufa, but were discovered and repelled.

Infantry, Armored Corps, Engineering Corps, artillery and intelligence units are taking over various areas in Gaza, and are all working with one another and the air force. They are operating in central, and southern Gaza, where Hamas has dug an extensive terrorist tunnel network. The IDF’s Southern Command is overseeing the ground offensive.

The ground operation began following a massive wave of combined air and artillery strikes up and down Gaza on Thursday night. Gazans fired heavy barrages of rockets at central Israel and the Shfela regions, all of which were intercepted by Iron Dome. Egyptian officials blamed Hamas for the deterioration in the situation and Israel’s ground incursion into Gaza.

Egypt thus having completely washed their hands of the fate of those in Gaza, Hamas is about to get the same view of the IDF that Yasser Arafat and the PLO got in Beirut in 1982. Except this time there'll be no Reagan and the USMC to save Hamas from what they have coming.

Boo frickin' hoo.

Additional food for thought:

Also on Thursday, a drone from Gaza was detected over the Ashkelon area. The IAF fired a Patriot surface-to-air missile at the craft, destroying it. It was the second Hamas drone to be shot down in recent days.

So, just out of curiousity, does your nearest city have a handy Patriot battery nearby for that eventuality...?

[Weetabix]

When they handed Gaza over, I knew this would be how it would work out. Anybody with half sense knew it. The first thing the Palestinians did was break the glass out of all the amazingly productive greenhouses and figuratively shit all over the whole place. They weren't there to build anything. Just to destroy.

[Yogimus]

But for the price of a few miles of land, israel can operate with full moral authority, even among the arab nations.

[BDK]

You are familiar w Arab culture, I think.

Would they respect an Israel more which left people keep launching rockets at them on a regular basis, or one which destroys those who attack it?

I think this is a "neighbors v roommates" thing.

Israel, culturally, will want it's Biblical borders, and to have that area free of any non-Jews.

And, many of them, will want all Jews to move there. It is a fundamental aspect of their culture and religion.

[Rod]

You are familiar w Arab culture, I think.

Would they respect an Israel more which left people keep launching rockets at them on a regular basis, or one which destroys those who attack it?

I think this is a "neighbors v roommates" thing.

Israel, culturally, will want it's Biblical borders, and to have that area free of any non-Jews.

And, many of them, will want all Jews to move there. It is a fundamental aspect of their culture and religion.

I take exception with your part that Israel wants an area free of non-Jews. There are many Muslims living there peacefully already. All who wanted to leave were given the choice in 1949.

[blackeagle603]

Israel, culturally, will want it's Biblical borders, and to have that area free of any non-Jews.

nah, not now and not even in Biblical times. Foreigners were welcome and special injunctions were made to love the strangers in their midst (no, not THAT way Yogi... sheesh)

[Kommander]

Just out of curiosity is it possible for a non Jew to emigrate to Israel and get full citizenship? It seems like they could use all the honest help the could get.

[Steamforger]

There's some method to get over there and lend a hand but I've never heard of anyone but Jewish people doing so. I remember this question coming up in the past and Seekher answering that if you do, and they accept, your lack of fluent Hebrew and understanding/experience with IDF tactics means you'll be fixing trucks to free up more effective personnel to actually go fight.

[D5CAV]

Just out of curiosity is it possible for a non Jew to emigrate to Israel and get full citizenship? It seems like they could use all the honest help the could get.

Why bother?

Just stay here. They're coming to you. No need to go to them.

This is where the "unaccompanied children" are coming from: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/world/un- ... der-rates/

This is where other "unaccompanied children" are coming from:
http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/07/10 ... -s-border/

You have to have a "Trusted ID" to get on an airplane, but not them: http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texa ... trol-Union

That "Notice to Appear" is so much harder to forge than a Louisiana driver's license.

I'll just take off my shoes now, because it makes us all so much safer.

[PawPaw]

In an amazing run of bad luck, it seems that the same family has been killed both by Assad's forces in Syria, and by the IDF in Gaza.

From The American Thinker:

From De Lowe in Israel, we learn of this amazing run of bad luck. Pictures show that the same family that was killed in Syria by Assad, was also killed by IDF bombing Gaza few days ago, according to Arab media.

trigger warning. Disturbing photos

[spoiler]
What are the odds that the same children would be killed in different countries, hundreds of miles distant, several weeks apart. Horrible run of bad luck.

And, Arab media is simply despicable.[/spoiler]