Message to Washington. Your even-handed messages to all sides are NOT welcomed in #Israel and will be received by many as malevolent.
All in or nothing.
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2/ #BREAKING#HAMAS may have believed #Israel is is weak because of government disfunction, or #Israel can no longer depend on US b/c of the new Administration.
They are deadly mistaken. Israel's resolution - and anger - have never been higher.
And US even-handedness be damned
3/ BREAKING #HAMAS may discover tonight that its leaders Deif, Sinwar, and others are buried under family homes.
Hamas has been stockpiling & improving weapons, storing them in residential areas.
Maybe the IDF must change terminology: Hamas hides civilians amid military targets
4/ #Breaking#Hamas and Islamic Jihad have the audacity to declare where & when they will attack. Their new deadline is 9 PM Israel Time.
THAT WILL NOT STAND.
Islamic Jihad & Hamas are Iran's proxies.
Israel is planning a multi-day campaign, not the standard multi-hour orders.
5/ #Hamas declared war again & are pulling out their arsenal of rockets. Here's their order of battle (missing their Ababil drones.)
I suspect the rocket that hit a community west of Jer'm today was an M-75. That rocket fell in the Etzyon bloc south of Jer'm 7 yrs ago.
6/ #Hamas' rocket fire from #Gaza at #israeli communities will force closing of schools in a 40 km radius.
Parents, whose kids were home for months during Covid-19, will have to find the few strands of hair left from their earlier hair pullings.
2 minutes til Jihad's ultimatum
7/ #Hamas & Islamic Jihad unleashed a large volley of rockets toward the city of Ashkelon on their 9 PM deadline.
Reporters say number of launches more than 100 so far.
The IDF told residents of Tel Aviv to prepare shelters
The IDF recommended that ppl update their Red Alarm apps.
New updates can issue warnings to specific neighborhoods.
Lessons so far from #HamasAttack: 1/ 1. Hamas has been arming, planning for a major war for yrs. 2. Israel misjudged Hamas' intentions, believing that it would always be same-old w/out need for major Israeli campaign. 3. Hamas massed rockets for major barrages vs single target.
Lessons 2/ 4. #Hamas sought to overload Iron Dome with major barrage vs Ashkelon, & it succeeded. 5. Israel will not fall into trap of looking for ceasefire or a 40-day war. 6. Hamas (like Hizb in Leb) has 100+ dug-in rocket batteries. Israeli airforce hunting them.
Lessons 3/ 7. Israel cannot permit a return to Hamas rocket drizzle. It will require "root canal treatment" to go after launchers, HQ, warehouses, etc. Will that mean an IDF ground operation?
8. Israel will attempt to cut off heads of snakes & destroy Hamas' infrastructure.
1/ Tonight, Jews in Israel commemorate Lag B'Omer (the 33rd day of 49 days b/w Passover and Shavuot).
The Talmud says on Lag B-Omer a plague stopped killing 12,000 pairs of Rabbi Akiva's students.
Celebrations in Meron & Jerusalem at graves of sages. Pics from ~ 120 yrs ago.
2/ Lag B'Omer. One sage is Shimon Hatzadik, buried in Jerusalem. Easier to reach than the Meron celebration in the Galilee.
To this day, schools take their kids for hikes into nature, like the rabbis who hid to learn Torah.
I found & colored this pic & ID's it as Lag B'Omer, 1918
3/ Now mix some Talmud & history: 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva's students died in a plague because they didn't "show each other respect." No one else hit by plague?
He was known for "love your neighbor as yourself." His disciples didn't show respect for their fellow students?
1/ Remember this NYT-Administration
Collaborative leak on the #Saviz
sabotage?
"Israel-Iran Sea Skirmishes Escalate as Mine Damages Iranian Military Ship"
It is so dangerously wrong & stupid on many levels. The Administration official who outed Israel... nytimes.com/2021/04/06/wor…
2/ Administration official who "outed" Israel gave legitimacy to Iranian retaliation & regional escalation.
NYT called #saviz a "military" ship. It was registered and presented itself as a civilian cargo ship. A more correct description would be "pirate" ship.
The official...
3/ The NYT/official said the #Saviz sabotage was timed to coincide with the US resumption of the #Irandeal negotiations in Vienna.
Balderdash! If #israeli naval commandos were responsible, such a mission 1500 km from Israel would have had months of planning, a ship/sub in ..
Where does the humiliation of Saudi Arabia originate?
“Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru, @brhodes NYT, May 5, 2016
"By eliminating the fuss about Iran’s nuclear program, the administration hoped to eliminate a source of structural tension between the two countries, which ...
1/n
@brhodes: eliminate tension bw US and #Iran
"would create the space for America to disentangle itself from its established system of alliances with countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, and Turkey." 😱
3/ @brhodes & the humiliation of #Saudi:
“The Democratic Renewal,” Foreign Affairs, October 2020
"The US has never been more tightly aligned with Israel, Saudi Arabia, & the UAE…. US has never been more hostile toward Iran. Terminate the..."
#SaebErekat played a big role in a presentation I made to the @CNN Board of Directors in Atlanta in 2002.
I had finished a month-long content analysis of CNN's coverage of the Palestinians' terror war against Israel's civilians and Israel's Operation Defensive Shield.
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2/ I went thru many pages of transcripts. CNN's ME/West Bank correspondents were horribly biased.
CNN's Atlanta crew was stellar, starting w @BillHemmer. He challenged #SaebErakat's fake news.
The Board was impressed that the Atlanta crew was also challenging CNN's reporters.
3/ Let's go to the transcripts. Hemmer & Erekat, Apr 14, 2002.
HEMMER: You brought up Jenin, & you used the word massacre there. Earlier this wk, you said 500 Palestinians were killed there. Do you still stand behind those numbers in the refugee camp?..."
Munib al-Masri's law suit is insane, particularly so when you see his palace in Nablus. "We live in a big prison."
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2/ Pictures of Nablus (Shchem). That's Masri's palace that overlooks the overcrowded Balata refugee camp with ~30,000. Balata's area is probably smaller than Masri's estate.
Masri's worried about the Balfour Declaration when he should be worried about "Après moi, le déluge."
3/ Masri & his Nablus palace.
The alleys of Balata refugee camp nearby.
Who lives in "a prison?"
Who should be suing whom, Munib?