Tag Archives: Hamas

When the polls in Israel closed at 10 PM on Tuesday, the air was fraught with tensions.  Various exit polls, notoriously unreliable in any event, were providing such disparate results that there was little clarity on what the outcome would be. The count was announced early in the morning on …

These elections are perhaps the most interesting in recent times, even though there are really only two candidates running. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Bibi. Which side of Netanyahu will figure more prominently in the eyes of the Israeli electorate – the statesman also known as ‘Mr Security’, or the person …

Consumers of the media in Australia were adequately informed of the events of the last few days in Israel and the Palestinian territories – whereby a large rocket fired from Gaza into central Israel on March 25, injuring seven people, triggered a round of violence. Israeli retaliated with air-raids against …

What has unfolded in Gaza should not really surprise anyone willing to face up to the inclement realities. After all, it was not only entirely foreseeable, but easily foreseen. The nightmare stories of the Likud are well known. After all, they promised Katyusha rockets from Gaza as well. For a …

In the past couple of weeks, while we have been having a family health crisis, it has not been quiet and peaceful at all on our borders and within country. The worst attack was a combined shooting and stabbing at Ariel Junction, scene of several previous attacks. A soldier, Gal …

In my last posting I discussed Israel’s failure to be tough enough – to create an environment of deterrence – with regard to terrorists residing in Judaea and Samaria, and inside of Israel. I noted to myself then that I needed to follow up with a similar discussion with regard …

MEDIA STATEMENT. 25 March 2019. Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and voting in the UNHRC. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the peak representative body of the Australian Jewish community is deeply concerned by reports of renewed rocket fire from Gaza, which has caused injuries and loss of property in …

The air in Israel is heavy with tensions, but in many instances, for the wrong reasons. We are subject to so much nonsense: unfortunate sparring between persons in the political sphere; undue attention to the trivial. Perhaps what is currently happening is inevitable during a campaign, but I would prefer …

It would seem futile to conduct yet another indecisive round of fighting, only to return to yet another tense and sporadically violent interbellum for several years—until the next major flare-up of fighting…  Military assessment warns of high risk of war with Gaza – The Times of Israel, Feb. 13. 2019. …

I puzzled for a while over the name for this posting. For I might just as easily have referred to PA hysteria, or hate, or delirium. All apply. Dr. Moti Kedar, in his recent op-ed “The Palestinian Civil War,” provides a translation of an article by one Ra’afat Mara that …

In recent years, Israel has waged a covert war against a large-scale Hamas effort to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip, a Hebrew-language media report has said. The Jan. 6 report, citing unspecified international media sources, was published in Walla News, one of the largest online Israeli news agencies. Since …

The IDF began its Operation Northern Shield at the beginning of December when it revealed Hezbollah attack tunnels leading from within Lebanon into Israeli territory. Since then five tunnels have been exposed and the IDF has begun destroying them. One of the more innovative ways has been to pour liquid …

On November 11, there was a ‘botched’ Israeli special forces raid near Khan Yunis in Gaza. We cannot know exactly what the mission intended, but Nour Baraka, a regional commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (military wing of Hamas) was one of those killed in the exchange of fire. Following …

New Zealand voted for a historic United States-led resolution against Hamas terror at the United Nations, along with 87 other countries.  There were 36 abstentions and 57 nations voted against the resolution. Despite a majority in favour of the resolution, it was not adopted because the general assembly voted to …

In my last posting, I wrote about hope – and I still have hope. We should all have hope. However, while we are in a better place than we were several days ago, we still have a long way to go. A good deal depends on the good will and …

Our government’s premature willingness to stop the attack on Hamas yesterday was distressing and infuriating. Several people confessed to me that they found it nauseating. And I understood. Over the course of many months, we have tolerated too much aggression emanating from Gaza: the fires started in the south, in …

How many times in the last weeks have I written that war with Hamas in Gaza was inevitable and surely coming? And how many times did that expectation fizzle, in spite of what was happening at the fence? On Sunday night, events turned in a blink. An elite IDF special …

The policy of trying to placate Hamas with enhanced humanitarian aid is sadly no less farcical than trying to convert a man-eating tiger into a cuddly bunny-rabbit by offering it a diet of premium carrots Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered…[the] reopen[ing of] the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings in …

This will be a “catch-up” posting to keep my readers in the loop during a process with regard to Hamas that is still unfolding. During the night on Wednesday, two rockets were launched from Gaza. Hamas later said their people did not launch them. But the IDF rejected this out …

As in “really, really…” A report, drawing on Egyptian sources, appeared very recently in Al Araby, an Arabic newspaper in London, with regard to continuing efforts by President Al-Sisi to secure a long-term agreement between Israel and Hamas. This report, cited by YNet, indicated that Egyptian Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel …