Wednesday, December 31, 2008

IDF GAZA OP UPDATE: Dec. 31, 22:13




Gazan Mosque Used as Rocket Storage and Launching Site Targeted

IDF GAZA OP UPDATE: Dec. 31, 22:13

The IAF targeted a mosque in the Tel El Hawwa neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday afternoon that was used by Hamas as a Grad missile and Qassam rocket storage site. The Gazan mosque was also turned into a staging ground for rockets and for launching missiles.

The most recent rocket launching from the mosque occurred Wednesday morning.
The strike set off numerous secondary explosions caused by the munitions stockpiled in the mosque. In recent days, joint IDF and ISA intelligence efforts brought to light the information that terrorists were stockpiling weapons in the mosque and carrying out rocket attacks against Israeli communities from the mosque’s grounds, as well as using it as a hiding place.

The IDF will continue to attack any target used for terrorist activity and will not hesitate to strike those involved in terrorism against the citizens of the State of Israel, even if they choose to operate from locations of religious or cultural significance.
The IDF is engaged in a battle with Hamas and other terror organizations in the Gaza Strip and does not aim to target the Palestinian civilian population.

Summary of humanitarian aid efforts:
A total of 93 trucks transporting provisions, medical equipment and medicine entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing. Five ambulances also crossed into the Strip. 12 Palestinians, including two children, were transferred to Israeli hospitals.

Since the early morning hours on Wednesday, the IDF has attacked over 25 targets in the Gaza Strip. In addition to the mosque, these targets include the following:. Weapons manufacturing and storage facilities in southern Gaza, including a storage site in the Khan Younis area where Amar Abu Ghalula, a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad's rocket infrastructure, was present. Three additional Islamic Jihad operatives were in the facility at the time of the IAF strike. A tunnel in the Khan Younis area that was used for the smuggling of operatives and weaponry. A Hamas outpost and training camp in Gaza City, which was also used as a weaponry manufacturing site and place of assembly for senior members of the terror organization. Rocket launching sites, several of which were underground, as well as a number of loaded Grad launchers.

So far, throughout Operation Cast Lead, the IDF has so far attacked 450 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. The IDF will continue to operate against terror organizations and will not hesitate to strike those involved both directly and indirectly in attacks against the citizens of the State of Israel.

Link to Video showing Gaza City mosque used as Grad and Qassam rocket storage and launching site...




Humanitarian Activities - Official Report

Ministry of Defense
Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories
Office of the Spokesman

31th December, 2008

12 Palestinians from Gaza transferred to Israeli hospitals for assistance
and 2500 tons of humanitarian aid transferred to Gaza

Today 12 Palestinians accessed Israel for medical treatment in Israeli
hospitals. Two of those evacuated were children injured during the military
activates, the remaining are chronically sick people, and their escorts,
that accessed Israel for treatment that is not available within the Gaza
Strip.

Further more, despite ongoing rocket fire, Israel continues with the
extensive humanitarian effort in coordination with the international
organizations, Palestinian Authority and various donors. Ninety three
trucks, with approximately 2500 tons of humanitarian aid, medical supplies
and medication were conveyed through "Kerem Shalom" cargo terminal. The
World Food Program has informed Israel that they will not be resuming
shipment of food commodities in to Gaza due to the fact that their
warehouses are at full capacity and will last for approximately two weeks.

Since the beginning of operation "cast lead" some 6500 tons of aid have been
transferred at the request of the international organizations, the
Palestinian Authority and various governments. Preparations are underway to
facilitate further shipments expected to arrive in the coming days.

Official Summary of IDF Operations - 12/31/08



IDF Spokesperson Dec 31st, 2008

Evening summary of IDF operations

Operation Cast Lead, which aims to reduce Hamas' capacity to launch rocket
attacks against communities in southern Israel, is now in its fifth day. The
IDF is engaged in a battle with Hamas and other terror organizations in the
Gaza Strip and does not aim to target the Palestinian civilian population.

Summary of humanitarian aid efforts:

A total of 93 trucks transporting provisions, medical equipment and medicine
entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing. Five ambulances also crossed
into the Strip.

Twelve Palestinians, including two children, were transferred to Israeli
hospitals.

Since the early morning hours on Wednesday, the IDF has attacked over 25
targets in the Gaza Strip. These include:

A mosque in Gaza City used as a as a storage site for Grad missiles and
Qassam rockets, as well as a staging ground for launches. The strike set off
numerous secondary explosions, caused by the munitions stockpiled in the
mosque.

Weaponry manufacturing and storage facilities in southern Gaza, including a
storage site in the Khan Younis area where Amar Abu Ghalula, a senior
commander of the Islamic Jihad's rocket infrastructure, was present. Three
additional Islamic Jihad operatives were in the facility at the time of the
IAF strike.

A tunnel in the Khan Younis area, used for the smuggling of operatives and
weaponry.

A Hamas outpost and training camp in the Gaza City area, which was also used
as a weaponry manufacturing site and place of assembly for senior members of
the terror organization.

Rocket launching sites, several of which were underground, as well as a
number of loaded Grad launchers.

In all the IDF has so far attacked 450 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF will continue to operate against terror organizations and will not
hesitate to strike those involved both directly and indirectly in attacks
against the citizens of the State of Israel.


Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Stand By Israel! by Ken Joseph Jr.

Stand By Israel!

I will never forget driving by "The Wall" bordering Israel. Outside of Israel it is painted as a much hated and despised division of land that is unacceptable to the region.

As we passed the wall I asked the Palestinian taxi driver what he thought of it.

I of course expected a tirade of hate and venom directed at the hated symbol of Israeli occupation. I was shocked, when he said "My friend, we thank God for it every day! Before the wall we had trouble all the time!

They would come and steal, because trouble and we were always having problems. Now, since the wall there is peace!

I was stunned! Here was a Palestinian, driving by the wall and praising it! What was going on here?

Getting into Israel I was shocked to see an Arab language newspaper with a large picture of the Prime Minister.

What does it say?

I asked someone standing by.

"It says the Prime Minister is a fool."

As I looked at it, I realized the significance.

The only place in the Middle East where an Arab Language Newspaper can say the Prime minister of the country is a fool is . . . in Israel!

Amazing, when you think about it!

Then I remembered where I had just come from. Jordan. Walking into a Palestinian Refugee Camp I was shocked at the squalor and filth, but also the permanence of it.

"How long has this refugee camp been here?"

I asked. "Nearly 50 years" was the response.

One thinks of refugee camps as always temporary.

Having been to many, they are generally months or years - but not generally for decades. As I began to speak with the Palestinian in the refugee camp in Jordan I discovered something truly amazing.

Most of those living in the refugee camps did not have legal papers to enable them to travel, live and work.

They were in essence second-class citizens in a majority Palestinian country. In spite of having been born and raised in the country, the Palestinians amazingly did not have Passports and status.

I was shocked to hear what they said ”We are treated like animals by the Arabs! They say they are defending our rights but with the exception of Iraq under Saddam Hussein all the Arab countries treat us as second class citizens." Now, I was really confused!

In Israel the Palestinians have Passport and live just like everybody else. The reality? For all its problems, Israel is the only "normal" country in the Middle East and ironically the only one that treats the Palestinians under their jurisdiction as citizens.

The reality on the ground is very easy to see.

For whatever its religions merits may be, Islam is a total and complete failure as a political system.

Wherever it dominates under whatever name it may take it destroys the economy, abuses women, takes away hope and initiative and ethnically cleanses.

All you have to do is cross the border from any contiguous border into Israel. The same weather, the same sand, the same opportunity.

On the Arab side it is dry, dusty, failed and hopeless. When you cross the border into Israel suddenly it becomes green, full of life, organized and "normal".

The battle that Israel is fighting for all its mistakes and failures is a battle that the whole civilized world must stand behind.

It is a battle for the rule of law, democracy, equal rights and all that freedom-loving peoples hold dear.

Political islam is frustrated because wherever it lays its hat it brings one consistent result - failure.

As Ronald Reagan said a generation ago at a time when the world community was saying that Communism needed to be "coexisted with", "contained", "respected" and the classic "the philosophy is right - it just that some places don’t practice it correctly", "No, Communism is evil and it must be destroyed."

Days after the fall of Baghdad I had a very enlightening conversation with an Iraqi woman. "Now that Saddam is gone I am not afraid!

They have beaten us and abused us, now we can finally speak." she said. "Nobody will tell the truth, but now we finally can" she continued.

"I am a direct descendant of the prophet. But I will tell you the truth. The real problem is political Islam. It is evil and it must be destroyed."

She was a Moslem, a direct descendant of the prophet.

Somehow on that hot, dusty afternoon in Baghdad she sounded like Ronald Reagan!

Ken Joseph Jr. is completing a book about his time in Iraq and directs Assyrianchristians.com


Monday, December 29, 2008

Elections 2009 - Jewish Home - New NRP Candidate List for 18th Knesset

1. Daniel Hershkovitz - Rabbi in Haifa and Professor of Mathematics at the Technion
2. MK Zevulun Orlev, NRP Leader
3. Uri Orbach, radio personality
4. MK Nissan Slomiansky
5. Sar-Shalom Jerby, NRP Secretary-General
6. Liora Minke - Chairwoman, Emunah Women
7. Shella Shorshan
8. Avraham Negosa, (Ethiopian Leader)
9. Ophir Cohen
10. Elyashiv Reichner
11. Elchanan Glatt





Elections 2009 - National Union Candidate List for 18th Knesset




The National Union – Tekuma, HaTikvah, Our Land of Israel, Moledet

1. Ya'akov Katz (Ketzale - Founder of Beit El and Arutz 7)
2. MK Uri Ariel (Tekuma)
3. MK Aryeh Eldad (HaTikvah - former IDF Surgeon General)
4. Dr. Michael Ben-Ari (Jewish Front-Our Land of Israel)
5. Uri Bank (Moledet)
6. Alon Davidi (Sderot Defense Task Force, former director of Sderot Hesder Yeshiva)
7. Avi Rath (Journalist, Author)
8. Prof. Ron Breiman (HaTikvah, former chair of of Professors for a Strong Israel
9. Betzalel Smutrich (Movement to Preserve National Lands)
10.Lior Kalfa (Gush Katif Residents Committee)

One comment we have on first glance at the list is the glaring absence of any female candidates...





Elections 2009: The 34 Lists that will be running for Israel's 18th Knesset







The 34 Lists that will be running in Israel's 2009 General Elections (in order of registration):

1. Aliyah – Our People for a Renewed Israel
2. Da'am – The Democratic Activist Organization
3. Yisrael Beiteinu – Led by Avigdor Lieberman
4. Lazuz
5. Strong Israel – Led by Dr. Ephraim Sneh
6. Power to Influence
7. The Israelis
8. Advanced, Liberal, Democratic
9. Responsibility – One Heart and New Soul
10. Tzabar – The Young Israelis Party
11. Green Leaf
12. Overhauling Education
13. "Or" – Led by Yaron Yad'an
14. Kadima - with Tzippy Livni for PM
15. Shas – The Association of World Torah Observant Sepharadim
16. United Social Activists
17. Gil – Israel's Retirees for the Knesset
18. Labor – Led by Ehud Barak
19. Ra'am – Ta'al
20. The Green Party – Meimad
21. The New Party – Meretz
22. Hadash – The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality
23. The Voice of Money – Rooting Out Bank Control
24. The Greens – for a Green Israel
25. Lev (Heart) – Immigrants for Israel
26. Green Leaf Graduates with Holocaust Survivors
27. Movement for Men's Rights – Ra'ash (Noise)
28. Alta'jmua Alwattani Aldemocrati - Balad
29. Likud – Achi led by Benjamin Netanyahu for Prime Minister
30. Tzomet – The Movement for a Renewed Zionism
31. Universal Covenant for Our Children
32. The Jewish Home – New National Religious Party
33. The National Union – Tekuma, HaTikvah, Our Land of Israel, Moledet
34. Judaism of Torah and Shabbat – Agudath Israel-Degel HaTorah






Gil Candidate List for 18th Knesset

Gil – Israel's Retirees Party

1) Rafi Eitan (MK)
2) Gideon Reicher (Journalist)
3) Yossi Katz (former MK)
4) Yaakov Ben Yizri (Minister of Health)
5) Shimrit Or (Song Writer)
6) Uri Chanoch
7) Avraham Tubol
8) Yehoshua Peretz
9) Yoram Kleiner
10) Meidad Gissin





Yisrael Beiteinu Candidate List for 2009 General Elections

Yisrael Beiteinu Led by Avigdor Lieberman

1. MK Avigdor Lieberman


2. Uzi Landau

3. MK Stas Misezhnikov

4. Yitzhak Aharonovitch

5. Sofa Landver

6. Orly Levi

7. Danny Ayalon

8. David Rotem

9. Anastasia Michaeli

10. Faina Kirschenbaum

11. MK Robert Ilatov

12. Hamed Amar

13. Moshe Matalon

14. MK Lia Shemtov

15. MK Alex Miller




Final Labor Party List for 2009 General Elections

Labor

1) Ehud Barak
2) Isaac Herzog
3) Ofir Pines
4) Avishai Braverman
5) Sheli Yachimovitz
6) Matan Vilnai
7) Eitan Cabel
8) Fuad Ben Eliezer
9) Yuli Tamir
10) Amir Peretz
11) Daniel Ben Simon
12) Shalom Simchon
13) Orit Noked
14) Einat Wilf
15) Raleb Magadela
16) Shiv Schnan
17) Yoram Marziano
18) Leon Litensky
19) Kolet Avital
20) Moshe Samiah
199) Shulamit Aloni
200) Yitzchak Navon

Final Likud Knesset List for 2009 Elections

Likud – Achi led by Benjamin Netanyahu for Prime Minister

1) Binyamin Netanyahu
2) Gideon Sa'ar
3) Gilad Erdan
4) Reuven Rivlin
5) Bennie Begin
6) Moshe Kahlon
7) Silvan Shalom
8) Moshe (Bogi) Ya'alon
9) Yuval Steinitz
10) Leah Nass
11) Yisrael Katz
12) Yuli Edelstein
13) Limor Livnat
14) Haim Katz
15) Yossi Peled
16) Michael Eitan
17) Dan Meridor
18) Tzipi Hotobeli
19) Gila Gamliel
20) Ze'ev Elkin
21) Yariv Levine
22) Tzion Piyan
23) Ayoub Kara
24) Danny Dannon
25) Carmel Shama
26) Ophir Akoonis
27) Miri Regev
28) Alali Adamso
29) Itzik Danino
30) David Even-Zur
31) Kathy Shitrit
32) Keren Barak
33) Sagiv Asulin
34) Boaz Hetzni
35) Gai Yifrach
36) Moshe Feiglin
37) Michael Ratzon
38) Ehud Yatom
39) Shalom Lerner
40) Hila Mark
41) Assaf Hefetz
42) Yechiel Leiter
43) Daniel Ben-Lulu
44) Uzi Dayan
45) Edmond Hasin
46) Pnina Rosenblum
47) Zeev Jabotinsky
48) Michael Kleiner
49) Zalman Shoval
50) Nurit Koren
120) David Levy

34 Lists Register for 2009 General Elections


Registration closed last night at midnight for parties wishing to run in Israel's 2009 general elections. 34 parties registered to run. Over the next few days The Galilean Word will post party lists, comments and insider polls to get its readers back up to speed now that all the dust has settled.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Operation "Cast Lead" Against Terror Infrastructure Continues



IDF Spokesperson's Office Dec 27th, 2008 "Cast Lead" Operation against Terror Infrastructure in the Gaza Strip Continues Since this morning, the IDF attacked dozens of targets affiliated with the Hamas terror organization in the Gaza Strip.

The targets included command
centers, training camps, various Hamas installations, rocket manufacturing facilities and storage warehouses.

The vast majority of the casualties are terror operatives; most of whom were wearing uniform and working on behalf of terror organizations.

The operation is ongoing and will continue for as long as is necessary, pending security assessments by the General Staff the IDF Chief of Staff.

The IDF wishes to emphasize that secrecy and the element of surprise were
central to the implementation of the operation.

The IDF also wishes to inform the Israeli public that it must prepare itself
for continued rocket fire by Hamas. The patience and resilience of the Israeli public is required.

The Israeli public is requested to listen to IDF Spokesperson Announcements and follow directions given by the Home Front Command in order to ensure their safety.


Friday, December 26, 2008

IDF Launches Gaza Action - Official IDF Statement



The IDF Spokesperson wishes to emphasize that anyone sponsoring terror,
hosting terror in his house, housing terror in his basement and sending his
wives and children to serve as human shields- is considered a terrorist.

Dec 26th, 2008
IDF SPOKESPERSON ANNOUNCEMENT

Israeli Air Force aircraft, attacked a short while ago, a series of Hamas
targets and infrastructure facilities, in the Gaza Strip. All Israeli pilots
returned safely to their bases. The IDF will continue its operations against
terror in accordance with constant state assessments held be the IDF Chief
of General Staff. This operation will be continued, expanded and intensified
as much as will be required.

The Air Force activity came as a result of the continuation of terror
activity by Hamas terror organization from the Gaza Strip, and the duration
of rocket launching and targeting Israeli civilians.

The targets that were attacked were located by intelligence gathered during
the last months and include Hamas terror operatives that operated from the
organization's headquarters, training camps and weaponry storage warehouses.

The Hamas government leaders and operatives, which activate terror from
within civilian population centers, are the sole bearers of responsibility
for Israel's military response. This response is crucial for preserving
Israel's security interests.

The IDF Spokesperson wishes to emphasize that anyone sponsoring terror,
hosting terror in his house, housing terror in his basement and sending his
wives and children to serve as human shields- is considered a terrorist.

The IDF will continue its activity against terror activities according to
operational assessments held by the Chief of the General Staff.

The IDF is ready to widen and deepen its activity against all terror
organizations in the Gaza Strip, as long as it is necessary.

In addition, the Homefront Command and emergency authorities, took all
necessary measures for preparing the civilian population.