Obama sends Clinton to Middle East amid Israel-Gaza conflict
(JNS.org) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is heading to the Middle East to foster negotiations to end the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza. Clinton was set to depart Tuesday from Cambodia, where she was on an official Southeast Asia visit with President Barack Obama, according to the State Department.
Clinton will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, as well as Palestinian officials in Ramallah. She will then head to Cairo to meet with Egyptian leaders. Her visit will support “de-escalation of violence and a durable outcome that ends the rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns and restores a broader calm,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, according to the Washington Post.
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Hamas videos display showcase core mission of killing Israelis
(JNS.org) As its rockets rain down on Israel by the hundreds, Hamas has released a video on its channel, Al-Aqsa TV, telling Israelis: “From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionist soldiers: The Al-Qassam Brigades love death more than you love life,” Palestinian Media Watch reported.
In another video, Hamas says “The price will be high, Sons of Zion. Are you willing to pay the price?… All of Palestine is ours. There’s nothing here for you but death. There’s nothing here for you but to be killed and to leave. …If your eyes look [at us], they will be gouged out… In the land that you came to live, you will end as body parts. That is Allah’s promise.”
In addition, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported in August that Hamas’s education ministry launched a training program for boys teaching jihad and combat skills. An official poster about the program states that its goals are “preparing the believing youth for a life of loyalty, honesty, faith, courage, sacrifice and love of jihad… ; raising awareness of [the values of] resistance, in order to cultivate a generation of young people capable of serving the resistance, once they join it… and preparing the pupils in terms of faith and physical [fitness] to [serve as] resistance fighters.”
The program has been met with criticism from many Palestinians. As one parent said, the program is an “indirect [means of] forced recruitment, meant to prompt our sons to enlist in the police force immediately after graduating from school.”
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Survey: Democrats show lower support (40%) for Israeli actions in Gaza
(JNS.org) Most Americans are supportive of Israel’s actions during Operation Pillar of Defense, but a national survey by CNN shows lower support (40 percent) among those identifying themselves as registered Democratic voters.
“Only four in ten Democrats think the Israeli actions in Gaza are justified, compared to 74% of Republicans and 59% of independents,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
Despite the partisan differential, America remains a staunchly pro-Israel country, with nearly six in 10 Americans remaining firmly sympathetic to Israel, while only 13 percent say they side more with the Palestinians.
“That’s nothing new,” said Holland. “The number of Americans who sympathize more with the Palestinians has never been higher than 18% since the question was first asked in 1988.”
However, the lower numbers amongst registered Democrats might suggest a larger and more troubling long-term sign for Israel.
Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic discussed these concerns on his popular blog leading up to the Nov. 6 election.
“I think it is true that Israel remains popular across a large swath of America. I also think it’s true that this could change, as it already has among many liberals, including among some liberal American Jews,” Goldberg wrote.
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Hamas fires more rockets at Jerusalem
(JNS.org) Hamas again fired rockets at Jerusalem on Tuesday, marking the second time the Israeli capital was targeted since the current conflict began.
One rocket landed in the Jewish community of Gush Etzion—about 10 miles south of Jerusalem—and another rocket that went astray hit an open area in a Palestinian village, according to the Israel Defense Forces’ Twitter feed and Israeli police statements. No injuries or damage were reported.
Nov. 16 had marked the first time a rocket alarm sounded in Jerusalem, resulting from rockets that also landed in Gush Etzion.
Jonathan Nevo, a 26-year-old student living in Jerusalem, told JNS.org in reaction to the Nov. 16 alarm that although the city is not accustomed to rockets, the area “is very connected to everything that’s happening because during the Intifada a few years ago there were a lot of suicide bombings here.”
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As Gaza rockets persist, Israeli military and citizens stay composed
(JNS.org) More than 70 rockets were fired at southern Israel on Tuesday, severely wounding an Israeli military officer and causing damage to several buildings, Israel Hayom reported.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer was hit by shrapnel from a mortar and rocket barrage in the Eshkol area. A Magen David Adom ambulance crew treated him on the scene, which saved his life, before he was airlifted to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. He was listed in moderate condition.
On Monday, IDF Homefront Defense Minister Avi Dichter told Israel Hayom that the military’s Homefront Command has operated “maturely and responsibly” amid the continued violence.
Dichter said, “Under very difficult conditions, with more than 1,000 rockets launched from Gaza and endless alerts wearing down the public, we still do not see the mass abandonment of homes or hysteria that we witnessed in the past. The people of Israel understand very well the nature of this emergency situation.”
In Beersheba, a bus and a car caught on fire after being hit by rockets. A house was also completely destroyed, but no injuries were reported. Some 30 rockets were fired into the city since Tuesday morning, with 16 rockets fired in just a single barrage. Three of the rockets scored a direct hit, causing damage.
In Gaza, the Israel Air Force continued to strike terror sites. Five people were reportedly killed in the strikes, and three were injured in the town of Dir El Balach. By Tuesday, civilians accounted for 54 of the 113 Palestinians killed since Israel began Operation Pillar of Defense, the Associated Press reported. Some 840 people have been wounded, including 225 children, Gaza health officials said.
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Soldiers from around the world enlist to help Israel
(JNS.org) Young people from all over the world who served in the Israeli army and have since returned to their home countries have contacted the Israel Defense Forces asking if they can return to Israel to join in the fight against Gaza terrorists, Israel Hayom reported.
Tziki Aud, 59, founder of the Lone Soldier Center in Memory of Sgt. Michael Levin (who was killed in the 2006 Second Lebanon War), which supports soldiers from abroad, said on Sunday that he had received more than 100 inquiries from former soldiers seeking to assist their comrades in Israel. Fourteen have already arrived in Israel at their own expense to join their combat units, Aud said.
On Monday, Aud went to the airport with Yoav Ziskind, a member of the Lone Soldier Center’s management, to greet two more soldiers who flew in from New York: Sgt. Shmulik Lazarov, 24, and Staff Sgt. Shalom Leikin, 21.
“I heard what was happening and decided to come here,” Lazarov said. “I feel a sense of belonging here, a responsibility and a desire to contribute to the war effort.”
And Leikin said, “Every Jew in the world has a responsibility to protect Israel. I didn’t have to come back to Israel, but there’s nothing that would stop me from coming.”
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Amid conflict, Israel’s hospitals treat Gazan patients
By Judy Siegel-Itzkovich
(The Jerusalem Post/JNS.org) Israeli hospitals, amid the ongoing conflict, are treating dozens of patients of all ages who came to Israel from Gaza to get healthcare unavailable there, and are making provisions for accompanying persons.
“We at Rambam Medical Center are taking care of sick children and adults, and we are not looking at their religion or where they come from. At the moment, we have four—a baby girl in the nephrology department, two children in oncology and an adult in urology,” Rambam director-general Prof. Rafael Beyar said.
The Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem said that in the past month, it has hospitalized six Gazan patients.
Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer said that it provides medical center to several dozen Palestinians each month, and even now, there is no change. Most are children who are hospitalized for long periods or youngsters who underwent treatment and return periodically for follow-up, Sheba spokesman Amir Marom told The Jerusalem Post.
“Just two days ago, a nine-year-old girl from Gaza who was hurt in her palm was brought to Sheba. Her father is an Arab journalist who writes from Gaza for an Israeli newspaper. She was accompanied by her mother. An Israeli boy who was wounded by a Gazan rocket that fell in Kiryat Malachi last week is in the same room with a Gazan girl whose fingers were amputated due to injury,” Marom said. “We regard our hospital as a bridge to peace.”
Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center said 50 patients and their accompanying relatives from Gaza are now hospitalized—both children and adults. Most of them are cancer patients. The relatives live in the hospital’s hotel, and there is a hospital employee who serves as a contact person and helps them.
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Obama: Resolution of conflict starts with end to Gaza rockets
(JNS.org) U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday said the resolution of the Israel-Gaza conflict “starts with no more missiles being fired into Israel’s territory.”
There is “no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders,” Obama said, according to the White House.
America is “fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself from missiles landing on people’s homes and workplaces and potentially killing civilians,” the president said, adding that “we will continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself.”
“Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,” Obama said.
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Turkish PM labels Israel a ‘terrorist state’
(JNS.org) Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled Israel as a “terrorist state” during a speech on the Gaza conflict, harsh remarks signaling a new low between the former allies.
“Those who speak of Muslims and terror side by side are turning a blind eye when Muslims are massacred en masse,” the prime minister told a gathering of the Eurasian Islamic Council.
“For this reason, I say that Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts,” he said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Ties between Israel and Turkey have been deteriorating for a number of years under the leadership of Turkey’s Islamist AKP party.
Erdogan has been a vocal critic of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians and strongly backs Palestinian statehood, especially following the 2010 Gaza Flotilla incident, in which Israeli commandoes killed nine activists—including eight Turks and one Turkish-American, who violently attacked the commandoes as they bordered the ship, Mavi Marmara, headed for Gaza.
Later, Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and froze military cooperation after Israel refused to apologize following a United Nations report that largely exonerated Israel. More recently, a Turkish court has begun a trial of four high-ranking Israeli officers in absentia for their involvement in the flotilla incident.
Erdogan’s harsh comments come amid pressure from the U.S. for Turkey and Egypt to do more to broker a ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters while in Asia, U.S. President Barack Obama said he has told Egyptian and Turkish leaders that “those who champion the cause of the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future,” the Associated Press reported.
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Lebanese army disarms two rockets aimed at Israel
(JNS.org) Two Katyusha rockets aimed at Israel from southern Lebanon were discovered and disarmed by the Lebanese army, a security official told the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star.
“An Army patrol unit discovered this afternoon in the area between the village of Halta and Mari in the qada of Hasbaya two 107 mm Grad rockets set to launch,” the Lebanese Army said in a statement.
According to the security source, the rockets at full power could have reached at least seven kilometers into Israel.
Southern Lebanon is another potential flashpoint for Israel. In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a bitter conflict.
While Hezbollah is the main threat from the region, other Palestinian or Islamic terrorist groups also operate inside Lebanon. During Operation Cast Lead in 2008, several rockets were launched by terrorists from Lebanon into northern Israel, provoking a brief Israeli response.
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Rocket hits empty Ashkelon school
(JNS.org) A rocket from Gaza directly hit an empty school building in Ashkelon on Monday, Israel Hayom reported. Classes in Israel’s south have been canceled since the start of Operation Pillar of Defense Nov. 14.
More than 120 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel on Sunday. On Monday, the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted three of four rockets fired at Ashkelon.
Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yoav (Poli) Mordechai said IDF attacked 40 arms smuggling tunnels between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org