Nadene Goldfoot
Noam Chomsky commenced in his interview of the time 6 years ago, "by the end of December (2008), a couple of weeks later (of Israel going into Gaza to destroy a tunnel where Gazans were getting ammunition to use against Israel), that Hamas offered to renew the ceasefire". Maybe they wanted to celebrate Hamas' 21st anniversary on December 14th. Hamas leaders really thought of extending the truce while their exiled political leadership, who had fled to Damascus, Syria, said it would end on December 19th.
Olmert was agreeable to a ceasefire IF Hamas would stop militants from firing rockets into Israel. Major Gilad traveled to Egypt to discuss the truce.
In Part IV, I showed the record of the blitzing that Hamas had done to Israel and that the 6 month ceasefire period had ended according to Hamas; not Israel. The only time Israel has found Hamas wants a ceasefire is to renew their ammunition.
Noam stated that the Israeli Cabinet considered it and rejected it. This was a dovish Cabinet, led by Ehud Olmert--rejected it and decided to launch the next major military operation.
Olmert, born in Israel, a Sabra, was from the Likud Party from 1973 to 2006, and when Sharon had a stroke, he was interim PM, then PM from the Kadima Party. Likud was on the right."
The rockets continued every day, nonstop. Israel's Operation Cast Lead started December 27, 2008 and the goal was to go in and take out the launching pads where the rockets and mortars were coming from. Note that Israel doesn't go in with the purpose of killing people, nor killing people indiscriminately, but to put a stop to their access of shooting at Israel. It wasn't to take Gaza but was necessary to do to protect its citizens from harm.
Now Noam's comments about Operation Cast Lead.
"A horrible operation, so much so that it caused a very substantial international reaction, investigations by a UN commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch." .
These organization are all opined on the Arab side. I've already shown in a previous article how AP has kept reporters from writing anything positive about Israel. Read my How the media war stops positive reports about Israel. That's like asking Hitler to report on the Jews.
Noam continues: "In the middle of the assault---the assault, incidentally, was carefully timed to end immediately before President Obama's inauguration. He had already been elected, but he wasn't inaugurated yet, so when he was asked to comment on the ongoing atrocities, he responded by saying that he couldn't do so, the USA has only one president, and he wasn't president yet. He was talking abut lots of other things, but not this. The attack was timed to end immediately before the inauguration, so he therefore could respond to the questions by saying, "Well now, it not the time to look at the past, let's look forward to the future." Diplomats know very well that that's a standard slogan for those who are engaged in serious crime. "Lets forget about the past, let's look forward to a glorious future." Well, that was right in the middle of the assault."
Oh, Noam, were the terrorists upset that Israel finally reacted to being bombed? Read the following to find out about duties of a state to their soldiers and civilians.
May I remind Noam that WAR is hell. When you start something, as Hamas did, they must face the consequences of their actions. Nobody stands around like ducks in a Fair waiting to be hit by the ball. Obama was not ready to comment. It wasn't his place yet to do so. I'm certain that Israel's timing of Operation Cast Lead was not considering what Obama was doing at the time. That's comical. Good joke, Noam. You're showing a few of your Jewish genes after all!
Noam answers my comment by going on with "The Security Council (of the UN) did pass a resolution---unanimously, US abstaining--calling for an immediate ceasefire with the usual terms. That was January 8, 2009. It was never observed, and it broke down completely with the next major episode of "mowing the lawn" in November 2012.
Notice that the UN never said a word about the 8 years of shelling that Israel had lived through, never came to Israel's defense, and by not doing so, gave the green light to the terrorists to attack Israel. However, I note that when Egypt told them to stop, remember, in a previous rebuttal, that they stopped.
That's interesting, Noam, because the NY Times had an article on January 17, 2009 stating that Israel declared that a unilateral cease fire was starting within hours, but that they would keep their troops in place for the time being. They had had 22 days of war against Hamas. The result was more than 1,200 Palestinian deaths and 13 Israeli deaths (Israel puts money into bomb shelters)-preserves life). Olmert insisted that they had reached their goals of the war and beyond. Hamas had suffered a major blow and it if continued to fire rockets into Israel, "THE ISRAELI ARMY WILL REGARD ITSELF AS FREE TO RESPOND WITH FORCE."
Hamas's response was that they would continue as long as Israeli troops occupied Gaza. Israel was not going to be surprised if rocket launches continued, hopefully for only a short time. The fighting continued until an Israeli tank fire killed 2 young brothers at a UN school in Gaza's Beit Lahiya were killed in their shelter. Israel's investigation showed that troops were returning fire from near or within the school.
It took President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to initiate peace efforts and Israel was responding to it positively. This was supported by the USA, France, Britain and Germany to stop the smuggling of arms, explosives, cash and men into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt.
Hamas's attacking Israel's result hurt themselves in leaving large areas of Gaza in ruins and without basic services like potable water and electricity. Condoleezza Rice expected all parties, not only Israel, to cease attacks and hostile actions immediately.
Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in hiding, said, "WE WILL NOT ACCEPT THE PRESENCE OF A SINGLE SOLDIER IN GAZA. THE ZIONIST ENEMY MUST STOP ALL ITS AGGRESSION (fighting back against being bombed) COMPLETELY WITHDRAW FROM THE GAZA STRIP, LIFT THE BLOCKADE AND OPEN THE CROSSINGS."
As for Israel occupation of Gaza, this was put in the hands of Hamas, who do not seem to get it that it's their actions that have brought in the Israelis who are trying to protect themselves. The Israeli government are not fools. They will not sign any deal with Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction and whose rule over Gaza is something Israel won't recognize no more than they are recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. At this point in time, Israel saw Hamas as likely to reassert political control over Gaza. Both Israel and Egypt would be under great pressure to re-open its crossings into Gaza for goods. A lot of reconstruction in Gaza was needed after this war and the people wanted the crossings.
The USA and Israel signed a MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING where Washington called for expanded cooperation to prevent Hamas from re-arming through Egypt. The agreement was vague, but promises increased American technical assistance and international monitors to be based in Egypt to crack down on the smuggling. The USA agreed to work with NATO partners to interdict arms smuggling into Gaza by land and sea from Syria and Iran, and in a letter, Britain, France and Germany also offered to help.
A summit meeting in Egypt included Italy, Spain, Turkey, the UN's Ban Ki-moon , a representative of the PA from Judea-Samaria, and USA ambassador to Egypt, Margaret Scobey. Mr. Sarkozy began the process towards a cease-fire with Mr. Mubarak, it was really shaped by Egypt and Israel. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been openly critical of Hamas and pressed them for a cease-fire. Qatar (who houses Qaradawi-the evil one who wants all Jews dead) talked with Syria, Iran, Mauritania and Hamas's leader, Khaled Meshal. I note that Qatar is close with the USA and Iran, and even Hillary Clinton who has visited there many times.
The obstinacy of Hamas has caused 1,600 displaced Gazans to go to UNRWA and become refugees. Israel needs Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the Arab world to see them as strong and powerful, too strong to threaten or attack. The Arabs take their cues from Israeli responses. Deterrence is about how Israelis feel, whether they feel they've won or lost. In the 1973 war on Yom Kippur, Egyptians celebrated and Israelis mourned. That ended with Israel's counterattack. So did the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the North. Hassan Nasrallah declared his war a victory when he saw the Israelis on TV declaring defeat. This war will hold the results for Israelis about withdrawing from Judea and Samaria and what would happen if they did. Gaza has been the test case of whether Israel feels they can defend themselves within the 1967 boundaries. Hamas has been attacking Israel, not villages and towns. They question even if the international community will let Israel defend themselves. From the looks of 2014 today, I would say, No, they wouldn't. We cannot count on the international community at all.
As I look at all these preparations after Cast Lead, I wonder if they held their promises, since Israel had to repeat this same thing all over again in our recent 2014 Operation Defensive Edge. I just shake my head. Hamas models itself on Hezbollah, calling on Iranian support. That's where the arms have been from. That's why Netanyahu worries about Iran's power.
Noam ended this segment saying, " Now, you can get a good sense of what was going on by looking at the casualty figures for the year 2012. 79 people were killed; 78 of them Palestinians---the usual story.
Israel explains "Proportionality is not a numerical comparison, but an assessment of existing threats and the measures that must be taken in order to avert them. Proportionality is justifiability of the collateral damage on grounds of the military advantage gained. 3
In plain terms, you can't use proportions; Example: Hamas had 100 die to Israel's 1. Look at the threat involved. It was Hamas attacking all the time with their bombardment of rockets and mortars and missiles. The whole southern Israel was under attack. Their whole lives were disrupted. Israel keeps their people alive while Hamas seeks deaths to hold over Israel's head just for this reason. The results of this war should tell Hamas something; they're not gaining a good life for their people by attacking Israel. Hamas terrorism only results in killing their own people.
Resource: http://www.haaretz.com/news/olmert-to-haaretz-two-state-solution-or-israel-is-done-for-1.234201
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-media-war-stops-positive-reports.html 2
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/castleadKasher.html 3
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 4
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| 2008's Raining of rockets on southern Israel during Chanukah |
Noam Chomsky commenced in his interview of the time 6 years ago, "by the end of December (2008), a couple of weeks later (of Israel going into Gaza to destroy a tunnel where Gazans were getting ammunition to use against Israel), that Hamas offered to renew the ceasefire". Maybe they wanted to celebrate Hamas' 21st anniversary on December 14th. Hamas leaders really thought of extending the truce while their exiled political leadership, who had fled to Damascus, Syria, said it would end on December 19th.
Olmert was agreeable to a ceasefire IF Hamas would stop militants from firing rockets into Israel. Major Gilad traveled to Egypt to discuss the truce.
In Part IV, I showed the record of the blitzing that Hamas had done to Israel and that the 6 month ceasefire period had ended according to Hamas; not Israel. The only time Israel has found Hamas wants a ceasefire is to renew their ammunition.
Noam stated that the Israeli Cabinet considered it and rejected it. This was a dovish Cabinet, led by Ehud Olmert--rejected it and decided to launch the next major military operation.
Olmert, born in Israel, a Sabra, was from the Likud Party from 1973 to 2006, and when Sharon had a stroke, he was interim PM, then PM from the Kadima Party. Likud was on the right."
The rockets continued every day, nonstop. Israel's Operation Cast Lead started December 27, 2008 and the goal was to go in and take out the launching pads where the rockets and mortars were coming from. Note that Israel doesn't go in with the purpose of killing people, nor killing people indiscriminately, but to put a stop to their access of shooting at Israel. It wasn't to take Gaza but was necessary to do to protect its citizens from harm.
 |
| Long ranged rockets hitting Israel |
"A horrible operation, so much so that it caused a very substantial international reaction, investigations by a UN commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch." .
These organization are all opined on the Arab side. I've already shown in a previous article how AP has kept reporters from writing anything positive about Israel. Read my How the media war stops positive reports about Israel. That's like asking Hitler to report on the Jews.
Noam continues: "In the middle of the assault---the assault, incidentally, was carefully timed to end immediately before President Obama's inauguration. He had already been elected, but he wasn't inaugurated yet, so when he was asked to comment on the ongoing atrocities, he responded by saying that he couldn't do so, the USA has only one president, and he wasn't president yet. He was talking abut lots of other things, but not this. The attack was timed to end immediately before the inauguration, so he therefore could respond to the questions by saying, "Well now, it not the time to look at the past, let's look forward to the future." Diplomats know very well that that's a standard slogan for those who are engaged in serious crime. "Lets forget about the past, let's look forward to a glorious future." Well, that was right in the middle of the assault."
 |
| Israel hits their target in Gaza |
Oh, Noam, were the terrorists upset that Israel finally reacted to being bombed? Read the following to find out about duties of a state to their soldiers and civilians.
- The ethical doctrine which follows from the IDF Ethics Code mandates that, whenever possible, you must warn non-combatants that they are residents of a neighborhood where it is dangerous to stay. In Gaza, the IDF employed a variety of unprecedented efforts meant to minimize injury to non-combatants, including warning leaflets, phone calls, and non-lethal warning fire.
- There is no army in the world that will endanger its soldiers in order to avoid hitting the warned neighbors of an enemy or terrorist. Israel should favor the lives of its own soldiers over the lives of the well-warned neighbors of a terrorist when it is operating in a territory that it does not effectively control, because in such territories it does not bear the moral responsibility for properly separating between dangerous individuals and harmless ones.
- Compare the Gaza operation to the U.S. Marine operation in Fallujah, Iraq, in late 2004. During the operation, about 6,000 Iraqis including 1,200-2,000 insurgents were killed. Of the city's 50,000 buildings, some 10,000 were destroyed, including 60 mosques. Thus, the U.S. left a trail of destruction in Fallujah far greater than anything Israel inflicted on Gaza. Comparing IDF activities to those of military forces of Western democracies is an essential part of any present attempt to use international law.
- We in Israel are in a key position in the development of customary international law in this field because we are on the front lines in the fight against terrorism. The more often Western states apply principles that originated in Israel to their own non-traditional conflicts in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, then the greater the chance these principles have of becoming a valuable part of international law.3
- In Israel, a combatant is a citizen in uniform; quite often, he is a conscript or on reserve duty. His state ought to have a compelling reason for jeopardizing his life. The fact that persons involved in terrorism are depicted as non-combatants and that they reside and act in the vicinity of persons not involved in terrorism is not a reason for jeopardizing the combatant's life more than is required under combat conditions.
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| Aftermath of Hamas Leadership in Attacking Israel |
Noam answers my comment by going on with "The Security Council (of the UN) did pass a resolution---unanimously, US abstaining--calling for an immediate ceasefire with the usual terms. That was January 8, 2009. It was never observed, and it broke down completely with the next major episode of "mowing the lawn" in November 2012.
Notice that the UN never said a word about the 8 years of shelling that Israel had lived through, never came to Israel's defense, and by not doing so, gave the green light to the terrorists to attack Israel. However, I note that when Egypt told them to stop, remember, in a previous rebuttal, that they stopped.
That's interesting, Noam, because the NY Times had an article on January 17, 2009 stating that Israel declared that a unilateral cease fire was starting within hours, but that they would keep their troops in place for the time being. They had had 22 days of war against Hamas. The result was more than 1,200 Palestinian deaths and 13 Israeli deaths (Israel puts money into bomb shelters)-preserves life). Olmert insisted that they had reached their goals of the war and beyond. Hamas had suffered a major blow and it if continued to fire rockets into Israel, "THE ISRAELI ARMY WILL REGARD ITSELF AS FREE TO RESPOND WITH FORCE."
Hamas's response was that they would continue as long as Israeli troops occupied Gaza. Israel was not going to be surprised if rocket launches continued, hopefully for only a short time. The fighting continued until an Israeli tank fire killed 2 young brothers at a UN school in Gaza's Beit Lahiya were killed in their shelter. Israel's investigation showed that troops were returning fire from near or within the school.
 |
| Gaza gets Israel's Answer to Being Hit by Rockets, Mortars, Missiles |
Hamas's attacking Israel's result hurt themselves in leaving large areas of Gaza in ruins and without basic services like potable water and electricity. Condoleezza Rice expected all parties, not only Israel, to cease attacks and hostile actions immediately.
Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in hiding, said, "WE WILL NOT ACCEPT THE PRESENCE OF A SINGLE SOLDIER IN GAZA. THE ZIONIST ENEMY MUST STOP ALL ITS AGGRESSION (fighting back against being bombed) COMPLETELY WITHDRAW FROM THE GAZA STRIP, LIFT THE BLOCKADE AND OPEN THE CROSSINGS."
As for Israel occupation of Gaza, this was put in the hands of Hamas, who do not seem to get it that it's their actions that have brought in the Israelis who are trying to protect themselves. The Israeli government are not fools. They will not sign any deal with Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction and whose rule over Gaza is something Israel won't recognize no more than they are recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. At this point in time, Israel saw Hamas as likely to reassert political control over Gaza. Both Israel and Egypt would be under great pressure to re-open its crossings into Gaza for goods. A lot of reconstruction in Gaza was needed after this war and the people wanted the crossings.
The USA and Israel signed a MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING where Washington called for expanded cooperation to prevent Hamas from re-arming through Egypt. The agreement was vague, but promises increased American technical assistance and international monitors to be based in Egypt to crack down on the smuggling. The USA agreed to work with NATO partners to interdict arms smuggling into Gaza by land and sea from Syria and Iran, and in a letter, Britain, France and Germany also offered to help.
A summit meeting in Egypt included Italy, Spain, Turkey, the UN's Ban Ki-moon , a representative of the PA from Judea-Samaria, and USA ambassador to Egypt, Margaret Scobey. Mr. Sarkozy began the process towards a cease-fire with Mr. Mubarak, it was really shaped by Egypt and Israel. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been openly critical of Hamas and pressed them for a cease-fire. Qatar (who houses Qaradawi-the evil one who wants all Jews dead) talked with Syria, Iran, Mauritania and Hamas's leader, Khaled Meshal. I note that Qatar is close with the USA and Iran, and even Hillary Clinton who has visited there many times.
The obstinacy of Hamas has caused 1,600 displaced Gazans to go to UNRWA and become refugees. Israel needs Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the Arab world to see them as strong and powerful, too strong to threaten or attack. The Arabs take their cues from Israeli responses. Deterrence is about how Israelis feel, whether they feel they've won or lost. In the 1973 war on Yom Kippur, Egyptians celebrated and Israelis mourned. That ended with Israel's counterattack. So did the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the North. Hassan Nasrallah declared his war a victory when he saw the Israelis on TV declaring defeat. This war will hold the results for Israelis about withdrawing from Judea and Samaria and what would happen if they did. Gaza has been the test case of whether Israel feels they can defend themselves within the 1967 boundaries. Hamas has been attacking Israel, not villages and towns. They question even if the international community will let Israel defend themselves. From the looks of 2014 today, I would say, No, they wouldn't. We cannot count on the international community at all.
As I look at all these preparations after Cast Lead, I wonder if they held their promises, since Israel had to repeat this same thing all over again in our recent 2014 Operation Defensive Edge. I just shake my head. Hamas models itself on Hezbollah, calling on Iranian support. That's where the arms have been from. That's why Netanyahu worries about Iran's power.
Noam ended this segment saying, " Now, you can get a good sense of what was going on by looking at the casualty figures for the year 2012. 79 people were killed; 78 of them Palestinians---the usual story.
Israel explains "Proportionality is not a numerical comparison, but an assessment of existing threats and the measures that must be taken in order to avert them. Proportionality is justifiability of the collateral damage on grounds of the military advantage gained. 3
In plain terms, you can't use proportions; Example: Hamas had 100 die to Israel's 1. Look at the threat involved. It was Hamas attacking all the time with their bombardment of rockets and mortars and missiles. The whole southern Israel was under attack. Their whole lives were disrupted. Israel keeps their people alive while Hamas seeks deaths to hold over Israel's head just for this reason. The results of this war should tell Hamas something; they're not gaining a good life for their people by attacking Israel. Hamas terrorism only results in killing their own people.
Resource: http://www.haaretz.com/news/olmert-to-haaretz-two-state-solution-or-israel-is-done-for-1.234201
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-media-war-stops-positive-reports.html 2
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/castleadKasher.html 3
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 4
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