The Israeli Army has begun ground operations into the Gaza Strip.
Initial reports from both Israel and Gaza indicated that Israel Defense Forces troops had killed dozens of Hamas gunmen as they traded heavy fire upon entering the Strip.
“The objective is to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure in the area of operations,” said Israel Defense Forces Major Avital Leibovitch, a military spokeswoman, confirming that incursions were under way. “We are going to take some of the launch areas used by Hamas.”
The IDF Spokesperson’s office issued a statement, emphasizing that this stage of the operation will further the goals of the eight-day offensive as voiced by the IDF until now: To strike a direct and hard blow against the Hamas while increasing the deterrent strength of the IDF, in order to bring about an improved and more stable security situation for residents of Southern Israel over the long term.
Large numbers of forces are taking part in this stage of the operation including infantry, tanks, engineering forces, artillery and intelligence with the support of the Israel Air Force, Israel navy, the Shin Bet security service and other security agencies.
Meanwhile, the cabinet has authorized an emergency call up of tens of thousands of IDF reservists.
Mark Steyn points out the rocket scientists of Hamas:
In Gaza, they don’t vote for Hamas because they want access to university education. Or, if they do, it’s to get Junior into the Saudi-funded, Hamas-run Islamic University of Gaza, where majoring in rocket science involves making one and firing it at the Zionist Entity. In 2007, as part of their attempt to recover Gaza from Hamas, Fatah seized 1,000 Qassam rockets at the university, as well as seven Iranian military trainers.
At a certain unspoken level, we understand that the Huntington thesis is right, and the Rice view is wishful thinking. After all, when French President Sarkozy and other European critics bemoan Israel’s “disproportionate” response, what really are they saying? That they expect better from the despised Jews than from Hamas. That they regard Israel as a Western society bound by civilized norms, whereas any old barbarism issuing forth from Gaza is to be excused on grounds of “desperation.”
Hence, this slightly surreal headline from The New York Times: “Israel Rejects Cease-Fire, But Offers Gaza Aid.” For whatever that’s worth. Wafa Samir Ibrahim al-Biss, a young Palestinian woman who received considerate and exemplary treatment at an Israeli hospital in Beersheba, returned to that same hospital packed with explosives in order to blow herself up and kill the doctors and nurses who restored her to health. Well, what do you expect? It’s “desperation” born of “poverty” and “occupation.”
These are the rockets Hamas rains down on civilians – a war crime under the Geneva conventions. If these were falling on San Diego from Tijuana, that city would cease to exist. If these were falling on Berlin from France, Paris would be no more. (Or the reverse.) The “elites” who are attacking Israel over their response to the Hamas war crimes have a seriously skewed moral compass. Or none whatsoever.
Via Memeorandum.
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“The “elites” who are attacking Israel over their response to the Hamas war crimes have a seriously skewed moral compass. Or none whatsoever.”
The “elites” referred to are simply proving that virulent anti-semitism is alive and well in the world and thriving especially well at the UN. The examples Gaius cites are very apt. I would expand it to say that if ANY country other than Israel was having rockets fired across its border and responded militarily to stop the attacks, no one would blink an eye. But because it’s Israel that is defending itself the “elites” charaterize their response as ‘disproportionate’ and ‘naked aggression’. And our liberal media in this country goes right along with the crowd. Sometimes I’d like to just reach through the TV screen and throttle these nuts. And I’m not even Jewish.