It’s about time, no?

The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, (the “Malam”), headed by Colonel (Res). Reuven Erlich, has released a 500 page report refuting the Goldstone Report. In a summary published in the Jerusalem Post, the report is described to mostly focus on Hamas’ activities during Operation Cast Lead, including its use of humanitarian and/or civilian structures, such as “mosques, hospitals, ambulances and schools,” as shields and launch sites. For example, over 100 mosques and hospitals were used as Kassam launch sites. A video, also, shows the use of children as human shields by Hamas.

Rather than tell you all about it, and give you my opinion on it (since I don’t really have time to read and fully analyze it at present), you can find the English version of the document here.  Below is the table of contents:

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Main Findings I

2. Part One: An examination of how the Goldstone Report relates to Hamas and the terrorist threat to Israel from the Gaza Strip before Operation Cast Lead 1

Section I –The historical-security context of Operation Cast Lead 10

Section II – The nature of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations operating in and from the Gaza Strip 13

Section III – Hamas-governmental support for terrorism: the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip 32

Section IV – The Hamas-led military buildup in the Gaza Strip 45

Section V – The increase in terrorism from the Gaza Strip and the events leading to Operation Cast Lead 56

Section VI – Rocket and mortar shell fire during and after Operation Cast Lead 95

Section VII– External support for terrorism: Iran and Syria support the buildup of the military infrastructures 103

3. Part Two: The Use of Civilians in the Gaza Strip as Human Shields during Operation Cast Lead 108

Main Findings 110

Section I – Hamas’ combat doctrine for urban areas and its implementation in Operation Cast Lead 117

Section II – Hamas’ military use of public and administrative institutions and facilities during Operation Cast Lead 143

Section III – Hamas’ combat tactics of fighting in densely-populated areas during Operation Cast Lead 195

4. Part Three: Integrating the Hamas police and internal security services in military-terrorist activity both routinely and during Operation Cast Lead 262

Main Findings 265

Section I – Integrating the police and other internal security services into the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades 268

Section II – Cooperation between the police, other internal security services and the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades during Operation Cast Lead 288

Section III – Police and other internal security operatives with double identities killed during and after Operation Cast Lead 297

Section IV – Sayid Siyyam as a case study: Portrait of the interior and national security minister of the de facto Hamas administration, killed by the IDF in Operation Cast Lead, an example of the double identities of senior security figures 309

5. Appendix I: Analysis of the Ratio between the Military Operative and Civilian Casualties

during Operation Cast Lead 312

Section I: Main findings of a statistical study carried out by the Israeli defense establishment compared with data from Hamas and Palestinian NGOs in the Gaza Strip 315

Section II: Reasons for the statistical divergences 317

Section III: Operation Cast Lead vs. Other Areas of Asymmetric Warfare 323

6. Appendix II: A selection of Intelligence and 325

Terrorism Information Center Bulletins Issued in recent years on issues relevant to the

Goldstone Report Overview 325

Links to Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center Bulletins on key issues 326

The Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip and its significance 326

Hamas’ essential nature and its military buildup 327

The Gaza Strip as focal point for anti-Israeli terrorist activity 327

The lull in the fighting and its unilateral termination by Hamas and subsequent deliberate escalation (June –December, 2008) 330

Using the civilian population as a human shields 331

The military use of administrative and public buildings 332

The police and other internal security services integrated with Hamas’ military terrorist wing 333

Palestinian Casualties during Operation Cast Lead 334

Documents Containing Basic Relevant Information 334

Serial publications 335

Speaking, last night, at the Herzliya Conference, Israeli President Shimon Peres spoke about many different topics.

Speaking briefly of the Palestinians, Peres discussed the Palestinians’ state-building enterprises, and the efforts they are making to build a state and achieve peace. Peres emphasized that the enemy of the Palestinians is Hamas; not Israel.

Discussing the topic of globalization and technology, he said, “Globalization is not an ideology. Globalization is a new situation, almost without any borders, without any distance… [Today] the source of income is not land; it’s science. Science is not conquered by an army. Science is not being stopped in the customs.” Today’s leaders must focus on “innovations not accrued assets.”

Peres spoke about the morality of the Israeli Defense Force. “The IDF,” he said, “is an army of values.” Speaking of Israel’s recent rescue mission to Haiti, he said, “I believe that if there had been an earthquake in Mauritania, where there’s no TV, I’m sure that the IDF would have been there. It is our wish to serve life, serve the living.” He spoke of the military as a tzva ha’am, a military of the people. He described the IDF as a “wonderful school,” and stated his dream that every soldier should complete their army service with a B.A.

Peres spoke of the chutzpah of the Jews. The Jews are 0.2% of the world population, yet 52% of chess champions and 54% of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish. Jews are 2% of the U.S. population, yet 34% of large business owners are Jewish. Jews are never satisfied. Using events from the story of the Exodus from Egypt as an anecdote, Peres explained that it is this eternal “dis-satisfaction” that is the source of Jewish creativity.

In discussing the way Israel is viewed in the world, he joked that Israel, “is the most popular country in the world.” India likes Israel because they, too, suffer from terrorism. China admires Israel, not because of Moses, Abraham, or Marx, but because of Israel’s agricultural achievements and agricultural technology. 62% of the American population supports Israel. Much of Russia supports Israel, as well, after 1.2 million Russians emigrated to Israel, leaving family and friends in the “old country” with ties to Israel.

Peres, also, addressed Iran. Israel, he said, is not the biggest danger in the Middle East; Iran is. Iran, he explained, has two main problems. The first problem is that of the enriched uranium. The second, is the “oppressive regime.” Commenting on the two problems, he said, “I don’t know which one of the two is the most dangerous.” Ahmadinejad acts like a “king,” when in fact he is no more than a “dictator.” The regime, governed by a dictatorship, fires upon unarmed protesters, threatens Israel, denies the Holocaust, finances terrorism, and impoverishes its own country. The regime is “a climax of moral corruption.” Therefore, Peres exclaimed, the world should oppose Iran on moral grounds. Iran, he said is “the source of evil for the peace- and freedom-loving world.”

Peres ended his with a call for social justice and tikun olam.

Uhm. Not so much.

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time I suppose. I mean when you look at any kind of armament you can’t help but notice all kinds of obscure alphanumeric codes that don’t usually mean anything to the end user and certainly don’t affect the effectiveness of said weaponry. So the evangelical Christian owners of Trijicon Inc. probably thought what heck! Why not emboss meaningful alphanumeric codes onto the advanced telescopic sites they sold? The sites, widely used by the US armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as by the IDF in Israel contained the following codes: “JN8:12,” a reference to John 8:12 which describes Jesus as the “light of the world” – and “2COR4:6,” a reference to part of the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians. They were probably thinking that these codes were barely legible! What harm could it do?

Plenty.

Despite the fact that the company had been inscribing their gun sights in this way since 1995, no one noticed until it was brought to light by former U.S. air force officer, Michael Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Reactions? Plenty!

“The Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington said the biblical references violated the nation’s values and would stoke the fires of extremists who accuse the United States of carrying out a religious crusade in Asia and the Middle East… In a letter early Thursday to President Obama, the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, said the gun sights “clearly violate a government rule prohibiting proselytizing” and called the practice “only the latest in a long line of violations of the boundaries between religion and government within the military.” … In Afghanistan, the Al Jazeera news service reported that sights with the Christian references had been distributed to some Afghan soldiers and that this would provide the Taliban with a propaganda coup.

And in Israel?

The IDF Rabbinate told Arutz Sheva that the codes do not violate Jewish law but that it is preferable to remove them because of the “sensitivity” regarding their appearance on weapons used by the army of the Jewish State. The IDF said it was unaware of the codes until the issue was raised in the United States.

Anyhow, Trijicon has sent out kits to remove the offending code and has promised not to do that ever again. Oh those whacky Christians. What will they think of next?

Eretz Nehederet is an Israeli sketch comedy show that I never, ever watch. I think it airs on Friday night when I am usually in the company of my Sabbath posse. Also, I don’t own a television. In any case, they poke fun at pretty much all elements of Israeli society in a way that makes us laugh, squirm uncomfortably or get angry. Or all three at the same time. But I still love those little fuckers. The clip above is a commentary on the media hype that accompanied Israel’s humanitarian mission to Haiti in the aftermath of an earthquake that left over 200,000 people dead and many more injured. And of course there was hype – but the fact that it came equipped with a fully functional and rapidly deployed IDF field hospital manned by experienced staff – makes it hype with substance. That my country was sending help to people who desperately needed it was more important to me than whatever positive publicity we were gaining. And while perhaps the PR angle of this operation made me a tad uncomfortable, again, the most important thing was that we were helping.

But of course, those that hate us glommed on to the PR angle while almost completely diminishing the actual good that was done by the IDF. And that’s the beauty of this clip. Watch it carefully and note that while it’s fairly critical of the PR aspect of Israel’s mission, it is equally if not more critical of those idiots out there who claim that the mission was 100% PR driven and meant solely to deflect world attention from the never ending plight of the Palestinians as they suffer from the jack booted oppression of racist Israeli Apartheid military machine. Blah. The journalist in this clip is clearly so over the top, you’d have to be an idiot to take his depiction seriously.

So uhm, yeah. Go Israel! Heh…

With the world in awe of the Israeli response to the tragedy in Haiti, much energy has focused on the reason that Israel is good at this kind of disaster relief. Yes it is true that Israel deals with these traumatic crisis on a regular basis. But experience alone cannot simply account for excellence.

It turns out that three Israeli officers that are part of the rescue efforts – who trained the people on the ground in Haiti – all went to the same school, Boys Town Jerusalem.

As the world intently watches the horrifying earthquake destruction in Haiti, three Israeli Army colonels are closely following the events from 6,500 miles away—with an eye on gaining know-how that will save lives in future catastrophes. The three officers, experts in human rescue, have worked closely in training and equipping the Israeli rescue team who rushed to the scene in Port-au-Prince, and with whom they maintain 24-hour-a-day contact from afar. All three men are on alert to be dispatched to Haiti at any moment. And all three share a personal bond: each graduated from Boys Town Jerusalem where they developed a mission to save human lives, anywhere in the world.

“The Israeli rescue and medical team was among the very first to arrive in Haiti, even though they traveled a much farther distance than the others. And with each hour, they are gaining world renown for working miracles,” explains Colonel Ben-Tzvi Elyassi, who serves as a commander in the IDF Home Front Command. One of Israel’s top experts in rescue and relief operations, Elyassi’s 25-year military career has provided him with “hands-on” experience in saving human lives in disasters of untold proportions. Col. Elyassi assumed second-in-command control of Israeli search-and-relief missions and was dispatched to the 2002 earthquake in India, the 1999 earthquake in Turkey, and the 1999 earthquake in Greece—in addition to a host of military and civilian disasters in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Nothing’s ever that black and white.

Traffic all across Israel has ground to a snarl as police are checking cars looking for an IDF soldier that may have been kidnapped today at noon. Stay tuned as we’ll try to update you with the latest news as it becomes available. The police have yet to reveal any details to the press and have not officially mentioned any potential kidnappings.

UPDATE: The Jerusalem Post now reports that there was a nationwide roll call of all soldiers after a female soldier reported seeing 2 civilians forcing a soldier into a car last night near an air force base. A Palestinian group has already claimed to have successfully kidnapped a soldier:

The Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported that a previously unknown group calling itself the “Al-Quds Army” claimed responsibility for the reported capture in a statement sent to it… “A group of our resistance fighters captured an Israeli soldier near Ben Gurion Airport and withdrew with the soldier without incident . we will provide details about the captured soldier later,” the statement quoted on Ma’an’s Web site said.

FINAL UPDATE: False alarm! Thank goodness. Though I must say, having had to slog through all that traffic, I can’t help but be impressed by the efforts expended at saving just one soldier from the fate currently suffered by Gilad Shalit who has been held in captivity by Hamas for just over three years now, without a single visit from the Red Cross.

UNIFIL – the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. They are the peace keeping force in Southern Lebanon. Part of their job is to monitor what Hezbollah does in the South of the country. While they often attest that it is not their job to stop Hezbollah from doing things (and what could they possibly do to stop them even if they acknowledged that its their job), yet they are supposed to watch and if violations occur, report them.

The IDF Speakers Unit has released footage from 7 months ago which demonstrates that Hezbollah was creating and maintaining a series of store houses connected by tunnels, despite the fact that UNIFIL has claimed, since 2006, that no such activity has occured.
IDF Footage of Hezbollah Resuming Activities in Violation of UN Resolution 1701

On Tuesday morning (July 14, 2009), according to the IDF, a house in “Hirbet Salim in Southern Lebanon, approximately 7 km from the Israeli border, exploded on 14 July 2009 at 0730 exposing the large quantity of munitions stored in the building. The many holes on the roof and walls attest to the destructive power of the weapons being stored and accumulated by the Iran-backed Hizbullah in Southern Lebanon. This is a clear and blatant violation of UN Resolution 1701, which prohibits the use and storage of weaponry south of the Litani River in Lebanon.” The footage attached is of the house, prior to its explosion.
Hezbollah Munitions Store House

Imagine how UNIFIL feels now. UNIFIL, on Wednesday, stated that this incident was a “serious violation.” Lebanese Security Services have confirmed the explosion, but Hezbollah has not yet commented. It would appear that UNIFIL is not doing a very good job at watching. If things are going on under their watch, one must question what it is that they are actually doing. Hezbollah is clearly stockpiling arms and munitions, many of them gifts from their friends in Iran, as well as training their “soldiers” for a not-too-future war. It is rather dubious that the United Nations’ Force is unaware of this. Between tacit compliance and simple incompetence the options are not too great.

Hamas Map (Ynet)

Earlier today, the IDF unveiled a Hamas map found by a unit of the Paratroopers Brigade in the al-Atatra neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip. The map is hand-drawn, and depicts the neighborhood being broken down into three color-coded sections. According to Chief IDF Intelligence Officer Brigadier-General Yuval Halamish, “Inside the map, the terrorists also marked sniper positions, as well as the location of roadside bombs, anti-tank bombs and landmines.” They specifically marked civilian cites, such as mosques, gas stations, fuel depots, houses, et al, for use in guerrilla tactics. For example, some entrances to civilian homes were marked with booby traps. In others, dolls or mannequins dressed in military garb were placed in the entrances to draw Israeli troops into the homes, where they would be ambushed and kidnapped. Moreover, next to a gas station, a large explosive device was planted so that if it had been detonated, it would have likely exploded the gas station and injured many civilians. Throughout the three regions, sharp shooter positions were, also, labeled. Hamas uses civilians as shields, and intentionally places their citizens in harm’s way. This map, clearly, testifies to this fact, in no uncertain terms.

Something close to 140 rockets have been fired into the western Negev from Gaza over the past two weeks. Only yesterday, another 10 rockets were fired into Israel. Color Red Alerts (the rocket warning system in place in the southern communities located in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip) have been heard in multiple communities, including those of Ashdod, Sderot, and Sha’ar HaNegev (also referred to as Otef Aza). Hamas and the Al-Quds Brigadeof the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have, respectively, taken credit for various rocket launching.

It all started when the IDF discovered a tunnel linked with the Gaza Strip which could be used to smuggle supplies, weapons, and people into and out of the Gaza Strip. Should it be used to allow terrorists out of Gaza, this would be of great danger to Israeli security. In response to the destruction of the tunnel, rockets have been fired into Israel, which has warranted Israeli air strikes against the rocket launchers. Minister of Defense Ehud Barak has said, “No country can accept the consistent shelling of its citizens from a foreign entity. Israel won’t accept this. When conditions are ripe and there is a necessity to do so, we will act.” Perhaps this has led to the most recent incursion into Gaza this morning, in which Palestinian militants fired mortars at IDF tanks which briefly entered the Strip.

Technically the cease-fire is still in effect, as it has not yet been called off by either side. In case that the questions were not lacking prior to the beginning of the ceasefire, they ought to be asked now. It is clear that the ceasefire is simply giving Hamas and the other militant groups time to rearm and regroup. This being said, what is the purpose of the ceasefire. While most Israelis would like to have peace with their neighbors, and this, in fact, is a part of Israel’s Grand Strategy towards all of its neighbors (in particular, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon), Israelis, in general, are split as to what is a reasonable cost. The Ehud Baraks of the Israeli government would like Israel’s Grand Strategy towards Gaza to be one which brings quiet for the short term. It does not matter for them if, in 5, 10, or ever 20, years time, Hamas will be more powerful than it ever was and in even less of a position to accept Israel’s existence. Thus, they will be willing to make whatever concessions are necessary in order to maintain this ceasefire. This being said, the objective ought not be quiet, but rather containment.

A terrorist organization uses force against a civilian population with a political motive. Allowing such an organization to grow stronger will not yield peace, nor will it yield tranquility in the long term (or even the short term, as the renewed rocket barrage ought to show). Jabotinsky argued that the only way to have peace with those who want to push you into the sea is to prove to them, beyond any measure of doubt, that you are going nowhere, and that you will not be pushed into the sea. He, as did the Talmud, also, argued against meeting those halfway, who have no wish to even take a baby step in your direction. A ceasefire, or defacto recognition of Hamas’ right to use acts of terror against Israel’s civilian population cannot result in peace. Rather, it will probably result if far more death and destruction than would direct confrontation.