Jumping the gun
If an explosion happens in Gaza, a small place full of armed terrorists and the manufacture of explosives, it is automatically blamed on Israel. This is for two reasons, first the Palestinians have a sophisticated and experienced PR organization (that's one of the few things they are good at, blaming Israel) and second the world is primed to believe that Israel is the bad guy, that Israel is using excessive force.
Now since the media do not report the daily barrage of Kassam rockets falling on southern Israel, particularly Sderot a town of ca. 20,000 people, there is little understanding of the reason why the IDF has to attack Gaza. In fact, if you believe the IDF Report given last night by two Generals that the ordnance that exploded on the Gaza beach last Friday, killing 7 members of a family, was not of Israeli origin, as judged from the shrapnel in two victims sent to Israel for medical treatment, then you will know that the initial reports blaming Israel were wrong. But, too late, the damage has been done. From respected western newspapers to obscure local rags in the Middle East, every paper in the world blamed Israel for this killing. Photographs of the event show no crater as would have been seen from a shell, and a review of IDF actions shows that no shells were fired for at least 10 mins before the explosion. But, since the PA refuses to cooperate with Israel, there is no way of knowing for sure. Also, one of the so-called Peace (read pro-Palestinian) Committees held a press conference in Gaza with a former Pentagon expert, definitely attributing the shell to Israel, so there is not much Israel can do. But, after the fake "massacre" in Jenin in 2000, the staged murder of Mohammed Dura, the boy who was supposedly pinned down by IDF fire in 2002, and the explosion of a bus in the Jabalya camp in 2004 that killed 20 and was blamed on Israel but turned out to be due to shells being transported in a bus by Hamas, how many times does it have to happen before the media gets the message and learns not to jump the gun?
Another case in point happened on Tuesday, when a van was struck by a missile in northern Gaza city. It was transporting Grad (long range) Katyusha rockets (not the much shorter range Kassams). Three Islamic Jihad terroists were killed, including their top rocketeer Hamoud Wadiya, but another 8 civilians were also killed including two children. This was of course attributed to Israel. But, as the IDF pointed out, the first missile shot did not destroy the van, so a second one was fired, but in the minutes before this hit, a crowd rushed to the van to see what had happened, and the rockets inside also exploded, hence the civilain casualties were higher. The terrorists do this deliberately, attach a second bomb to kill civilians who come to investigate, but there is no doubt that this was not a deliberate attempt by the IDF to kill civilians, since their strict policy is to avoid civilian casualties, and they know how the media handle that.
In war sometimes there are accidental casualties, and in Sderot 12 people have been killed over a period of 6 months from the constant rain of rockets, now increased to ca. 30 a day (!) because Hamas has cancelled its (nonexistent) ceasefire, in response to the beach killings that they were probably responsible for (by burying ordnance in the sand to catch Israel commandos coming ashore). Such is the cynicism of the terrorist murderers. Now Sderot is a "ghost town," the schools are closed and people are scared to walk in the street. The Mayor, Eli Moyal, has pleaded with the Min. of Defense, Amir Peretz, who lives in Sderot, to retaliate against Beit Hanun in Gaza from where the rockets come, but so far he has preferred restraint, while threatening, as all Israeli leaders do. Maybe they are waiting for PM Olmert to finish his European tour, but I hope that they will retaliate thus: drop pamphlets to warn the inhabitants and then demolish a part of the town. Also, turn off the electricity and the water that Israel is giving the PA while they are bombarding us! Does this make any rational sense? When they are trying to kill you the only sensible thing to do is kill the bastards first.
Meanwhile, Olmert is touring Europe, visiting the UK and France, but he is not emphasizing the rain of terror of rockets on Israeli civilians, he is trying to sell his unilateral realignment plan, but so far noone is buying.
Now since the media do not report the daily barrage of Kassam rockets falling on southern Israel, particularly Sderot a town of ca. 20,000 people, there is little understanding of the reason why the IDF has to attack Gaza. In fact, if you believe the IDF Report given last night by two Generals that the ordnance that exploded on the Gaza beach last Friday, killing 7 members of a family, was not of Israeli origin, as judged from the shrapnel in two victims sent to Israel for medical treatment, then you will know that the initial reports blaming Israel were wrong. But, too late, the damage has been done. From respected western newspapers to obscure local rags in the Middle East, every paper in the world blamed Israel for this killing. Photographs of the event show no crater as would have been seen from a shell, and a review of IDF actions shows that no shells were fired for at least 10 mins before the explosion. But, since the PA refuses to cooperate with Israel, there is no way of knowing for sure. Also, one of the so-called Peace (read pro-Palestinian) Committees held a press conference in Gaza with a former Pentagon expert, definitely attributing the shell to Israel, so there is not much Israel can do. But, after the fake "massacre" in Jenin in 2000, the staged murder of Mohammed Dura, the boy who was supposedly pinned down by IDF fire in 2002, and the explosion of a bus in the Jabalya camp in 2004 that killed 20 and was blamed on Israel but turned out to be due to shells being transported in a bus by Hamas, how many times does it have to happen before the media gets the message and learns not to jump the gun?
Another case in point happened on Tuesday, when a van was struck by a missile in northern Gaza city. It was transporting Grad (long range) Katyusha rockets (not the much shorter range Kassams). Three Islamic Jihad terroists were killed, including their top rocketeer Hamoud Wadiya, but another 8 civilians were also killed including two children. This was of course attributed to Israel. But, as the IDF pointed out, the first missile shot did not destroy the van, so a second one was fired, but in the minutes before this hit, a crowd rushed to the van to see what had happened, and the rockets inside also exploded, hence the civilain casualties were higher. The terrorists do this deliberately, attach a second bomb to kill civilians who come to investigate, but there is no doubt that this was not a deliberate attempt by the IDF to kill civilians, since their strict policy is to avoid civilian casualties, and they know how the media handle that.
In war sometimes there are accidental casualties, and in Sderot 12 people have been killed over a period of 6 months from the constant rain of rockets, now increased to ca. 30 a day (!) because Hamas has cancelled its (nonexistent) ceasefire, in response to the beach killings that they were probably responsible for (by burying ordnance in the sand to catch Israel commandos coming ashore). Such is the cynicism of the terrorist murderers. Now Sderot is a "ghost town," the schools are closed and people are scared to walk in the street. The Mayor, Eli Moyal, has pleaded with the Min. of Defense, Amir Peretz, who lives in Sderot, to retaliate against Beit Hanun in Gaza from where the rockets come, but so far he has preferred restraint, while threatening, as all Israeli leaders do. Maybe they are waiting for PM Olmert to finish his European tour, but I hope that they will retaliate thus: drop pamphlets to warn the inhabitants and then demolish a part of the town. Also, turn off the electricity and the water that Israel is giving the PA while they are bombarding us! Does this make any rational sense? When they are trying to kill you the only sensible thing to do is kill the bastards first.
Meanwhile, Olmert is touring Europe, visiting the UK and France, but he is not emphasizing the rain of terror of rockets on Israeli civilians, he is trying to sell his unilateral realignment plan, but so far noone is buying.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:13 PM
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