Israeli soldiers stand on their tanks near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza with more than 50 strikes overnight after Hamas militants fired scores of rockets over the border.
By Bill Chappell
July 8, 2014
..."Of the 60 rockets fired from Gaza overnight, several rockets reached Beersheva and Ashkelon, some 25 miles from Gaza, in what Israeli officials saw as an escalation.
"Israel called up some 1,500 reservists, which seemed to mean that Israeli officials believe the tensions with the Islamist Hamas in Gaza will continue.
"An Israeli army spokesman said that in the Israeli airstrikes overnight, Israel destroyed the homes of several senior Hamas military men. Palestinian medics reported that at least nine people were wounded, including seven children.
Can Palestine have an anti-missile system, too? That would be helpful. This attack was completely uncalled for.
"In Israel, the anti-missile system Iron Dome shot down some of the rockets headed for populated areas. There were no reports of casualties or damage."
The Israeli Defense Force has posted video online of two airstrikes from last night, attacks that it says targeted the "activity sites" of two Hamas members involved in conducting rocket fire from Gaza. Helicopters and warplanes took part in dozens of other attacks.
It seems that in at least one case, the activity site was a house — and that the occupants got a phone call telling them to get out before it was bombed....
Telephone calls do not mean it is okay to fire missiles at Gaza. One has to stop to realize how much of a strategy his aggression is and how much it is promulgated by USA right wing politics that leads to huge militarization of Israel. A USA politician has to 'buy in' to the genocide of a people before it can be a political dogma for elections to USA President. Let there be no doubt about it, if USA right wing politics didn't carry Israel on their sleeve, this would not have happened. The people most responsible for this tragedy of nations is Mr. Romney and the right wing media.
I cannot say Hamas is wrong in the way it views the world. I once thought that, but, the killing is unreasonable when considering the decades of time this spans. Israel is a secure nation and Palestine is not.
Yes, genocide. That is exactly what will happen here as Israel continues to build settlements and carries out military attacks. Is there a different EQUATION I should be looking at stating it is not the problem of Israel we are looking at?
Israel has been denied nothing by the USA so it feels secure. It is time to reconsider that directive. 60 airstrikes in Gaza and dearly few Hamas rockets made it to ANY target in Israel.
..."No time limit was put on the operation, but senior diplomatic officials said it could be 'for a long time,' " reports the Jerusalem Post. The newspaper adds that Netanyahu says the time has come to "take off the gloves" to fight Hamas....
It is such a joke. Israel defines rockets stopped by The Iron Dome an escalation. Israel defines an escalation. Are settlements an escalation? Who defines where Israeli settlements are built? Do the Palestinians define the escalation of settlements and call it an escalation of hostilities? It would seem not. Israel defines settlements, too.
The Palestinians have to fight for ever inch of land THEY KEEP. But, their defense of their land is an escalation. There is no morality in these circumstances and the USA plays a very defined role in the deaths of Palestinians.
