Day Two of Operation Cast Lead Begins

**5.20am** add @gazanews to your list of twitter resources for following the developing news. Hat Tip to @Slugger41.

**4.37am** It took me two hours to assemble this post, and here is an update as I go to publication:

Hamas is preventing hundreds of Palestinians wounded in Israeli air strikes from leaving Gaza for treatment in Egypt, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Sunday.

"The wounded are barred from crossing" into Egypt, the only country other than Israel that borders the Hamas-controlled territory, Abul Gheit said during a news conference with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Asked why the wounded were not being let through, Abul Gheit said: "Ask those who control Gaza. We are waiting for the wounded to cross -- they're not allowed to cross."

Source: |AfricaAsia.com|, in Hamas stopping wounded from going to Egypt hospitals: FM (Hat Tip to Israel Matzav)

Well, Israel finally started to defend herself against terrorists, and all the lefties, antisemites and pro-terrorist people come out of the woodwork to 'condemn Israel'. I say, "A pox on all those arrayed against Israel! May their days be short and filled with anxiety. May they find the LORD before death finds them."

Here is the roundup of Operation Cast Lead, which is the Israeli response to the terrorist operation known as Oil Stain. Haven't heard of it? Read on, seeker of truth...

The military wing affiliated to Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades released a statement on Thursday morning briefing the group's military activities over the first twenty four hours of an operation they called “Oil Stain” which started Wednesday morning.

According to the statement, a total of 87 shells have been fired at Israeli targets bordering the Gaza Strip including 54 mortar shells, 31 homemade projectiles which Hamas calls “Qassam”, and two Soviet-made Grad missiles.

Al-Qassam Brigades threatened to enlarge the “Oil Stain” to get more thousands of Israelis “under fire”. The group asserted that its fighters are “far greater than surrendering to Israeli threats and that they became much more prepared to counter Israeli aggression and to defend themselves than in the past.”

Source: |the elder of ziyon|, in "Operation Oil Stain"

The Elder of Ziyon also keeps a handy rocket calender that tracks the numbers of Kassams, mortars and other projectiles launched at Israel. Here is December 2008.

There are some Israelis who have been live-blogging Operation Cast Lead, most notably Israelly Cool and Muqata, with Day One and Day Two up so far. I have borrowed from their links and narrative for some of the news in this post. A big Hat Tip goes to them and I pray for the safety of them, their people and their nation as they confront the evil that surrounds their tiny outpost of freedom.

Here is a video of an Israeli warplane taking out a Kassam position. After the target is destroyed, you will see a rocket flying away in the debris:


You can find more at The Muqata, where there are some good photos as well.

For those of you on twitter, there is @QassamCount, and the search terms #Gaza, #Qasam, #Israel, #Hezbollah and #Hamas to keep you up to speed. 






One of the heroines of the Counterjihad movement, Pamella Geller has blogged:

First, pray for the brave Jewish fighters battling the jihad in Gaza. We have many fronts in this ugly war. The international community yawned while Hamas rained rockets and mortars down on defenseless Jews in Israel. During World War II, it was Europe that furiously "cleansed" Europe of its Jews, now we have the entire world attempting rid the world of the Jews. The damn cowards of the UN Security Council members are meeting to discuss the crisis.
Video: UN blasts Israel over Gaza massacre

UN chief calls for immediate halt of violence in Gaza, southern Israel (hat tip Michael)

The emergency meeting was called at the request of Libya, the only Arab member of the council, the AFP news agency said.

"Our main objective is an immediate ceasefire," Libya's deputy ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi, told the agency.

Just before the Security Council gathered, Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, repeated Israel's stance that it was taking action to "protect its citizens from further terrorist attacks".

Source: |Atlas Shrugs|, in WORLD JEW HATE REACHES FEVER PITCH

She has also noted that Islam Online has opened a DC Propaganda Office. These are the same people that boasted that they would return to Europe as conquerors, so Lefties and Ron Paul followers take note.


Yesterday, I blogged about an Islamic event in London (scroll down the post) that is using a poster of New York in flames, and the Statute of liberty nearly decapitated, and the Infidel Bloggers Alliance has more, as does the post I originally linked.

Back to Operation Cast Lead:

Here is an account by the BBC, from "the BBC's Rushdi Aboualouf," their man in Gaza (well, Tim Franks is the primary anti-Israel propagandist in Gaza, but Rushdi Abaoulouf is apparently a member of the local supporting staff), an account meant to be entirely unsympathetic, of course, to Israel and of course meant to win our sympathy for the "Palestinians" who have done nothing to deserve any of this:

"It's hard to find a secure place in Gaza. Gaza has no shelters, it has no safe places. The Hamas security compounds are in the middle of the city - it's not the kind of place where you see compounds outside the cities.

I have witnessed one of the compounds - which is 20m away from my house - I was standing on the balcony and I have seen the Israeli airplanes hitting the place. "

Source: |New English Review|, in Never Such Pinpoint Bombing In The History Of Warfare, As The BBC Inadvertently Makes Clear

And, as further evidence of the success of the Israeli operation, the slimy Saudis are are asking for President Bush to reign in Israel. But there is still even more good news, Hamas' Al Aqsa TV Building is 'completely destroyed'! Hallelujah!!!

I wonder what President-elect Barack Hussein Obama has to say about this situation? Yid With lid has some commentary about the Silence of Obama:

The President elect, was strangely silent. SOS Condoleezza called the President-elect on Saturday about the violence in Gaza and here is what he had to say "The president-elect appreciated the call and the information from Secretary Rice," one aide said, adding that Obama initiated the eight-minute phone call. "He will continue to closely monitor these and other global events."

THAT'S IT!!!??? No "Israel has a right to defend itself against the missiles but I really think there should be a cease fire". No "Hamas brought this upon itself". Not even a comment bashing terrorism or the fact that Hamas uses the civilians in Gaza as human shields.

Why would such a big friend of Israel be so silent about the nation defending herself? Well, here's a message to the gullible 78% of Jews that voted for Obama--He is NOT pro-Israel. That's why he was strangely silent today. The man who's Mid-East advisers include the Israel-hating Samantha Power, Robert Malley and Richard Lugar was quiet when he could have shown Israel some support. That silence speaks volumes. If he was pro-Israel he would have said something. That's because the President-elect is not ready to play his anti-Israel hand. But don't worry he won't be silent in the future, but supporters of Israel will WISH he stayed silent.

Source: |Yid With Lid|, in Obama's Silence on Gaza Speaks Volumes

Things are looking better as Hamas accuses the Palestinian Authority and Egypt of collusion with Israel! The Jerusalem Post is an excellent source of new information, and the RSS Feeds have kept me busy, monitoring the situation over there, including the continued firing of rockets into Israel by terrorists.


Dave Bender has a challenge for you lefty supporters of Islamic Terrorism:

Read this, and then feel free to come back and talk to me about the "disproportionate" Israel response to over 10,000 rockets, mortars and terror incursions that have gone largely under and just plain unreported by the international press for, oh, 'bout the last 7-8 years.

I'm here. Listening. Waiting. I dare you. Really.

Source: |ISRAEL AT LEVEL GROUND|, in Gaza: The real reasons Israel - finally - retaliated (Update 3)

Here is analysis in the Post:

The Israeli air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday mark only the beginning of an ongoing operation aimed at restoring long-term calm to the Kassam-battered South, Israel's leaders say. The policy of restraint, officials add, is over.

The goal, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Saturday night, is to put an end to more than seven years of "insufferable" rocket attacks and "indiscriminate terror."

Olmert was presumably seeking to differentiate from the failures of the war against Hizbullah in south Lebanon, two and a half years ago, when he stressed that this operation had been thoroughly planned and prepared. But the memory of that misstewarded resort to force looms large over this conflict.

And the key questions today include those that, it turned out, had not been effectively addressed when the first air assault on Hizbullah was ordered in July 2006: Are the goals clear and realistic? Do they provide for a viable exit strategy? And has the political and military leadership truly prepared for the complications, surprises and failures that surely lie ahead. One key difference: Hamas is plainly far less well equipped than Hizbullah was.

Source: |David Horovitz|, in Analysis: Fighting Hamas in the shadow of 2006's mistakes

Echoing the Old Testament’s verses from Ecclesiastes regarding Israel’s massive offensive against Hamas terrorists today, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, “There is a time for calm and there is a time for fighting, and now is the time for fighting.” Hamas, and possibly other Palestinian terrorist groups, have launched approximately 300 rockets and mortars into southern Israel just during the past week. Previously, Gaza terrorists have fired more than 2,300 rockets and mortars into Israel since since January 2008, and launched at least 2,000 at the Jewish State in 2007. Any other democratic nation faced with a rain of terrorist projectiles aimed at its civilian population would be expected to act forcibly to stop such attacks, yet once again many in the “international community” are pressuring Israel to show “restraint.” This is not like Mumbai in late November, where India is still trying to figure out exactly who planned and executed the terrorists attacks. Palestinian terrorists work out in the open, flaunting international law, when they launch their lethal projectiles against Israeli civilians

Source: |Andrew jaffee|, in Israel’s long-overdue strike against Hamas: A time for war

The Lefty Media just can't handle reporting the truth any more, can they? Read this evidence from Carl in Jerusalem:

For those of you who have watched the videos further down the page, I am sure that you noticed that all of the victims in the live shots were adult males. Now, even the New York Times is confirming that the 'vast majority' of those killed are Hamas police and security men (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
...

The center of Gaza City instantly became a scene of chaotic horror, with rubble everywhere, sirens wailing, and women shrieking as dozens of mutilated bodies were laid out on the pavement and in the lobby of Shifa Hospital so that family members could identify them. The vast majority of those killed were Hamas police officers and security men, including two senior commanders, but the dead included several construction workers and at least two children in school uniforms.
Omri reports at Mere Rhetoric that during the night, the Times scrubbed the story.
Here's the thing though: if you click through to that story those paragraphs have disappeared. But you know that the article existed because even the hand-wringing anti-Israel morons at Feministe quoted it. This kind of post-hoc media sanitation is becoming something of a trend.
Trend? I'd say it's become the norm.

Source: |Israel Matzav|, in The New York Times scrubs a story; Fauxtography at WaPo

And they wonder why we have cancelled our subscriptions and quit buying their papers from the rack? I still read their websites, and when i make a purchase, I think twice about buying from businesses who advertise with the lefty papers.

Here is a report of a call for a third Intifada:

Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, has called for Palestinians to wage a new intifada against Israel, including a return to suicide missions.

In an interview on Al Jazeera, Meshaal said: "We called for a military intifada against the enemy. Resistance will continue through suicide missions."

Meshaal's call came after Israel hammered Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 220 people in one of the bloodiest days of the decades-long Middle East conflict.

Meshaal said Hamas had accepted "all the peaceful options, but without results."

He said that for there to be any talks with the people of Gaza, "the blockade must be lifted and the crossings [from Israel] opened ... notably that in Rafah," which leads to Egypt.

Source: |Gateway Pundit|, in Hamas Calls For 3rd Intifada & Suicide Missions Against Israel

Predictably, lefties are doing whatever tapdance they can to aid their terrorist friends. Witness this gem of utter stupidity in the HuffPo:

Why did today's events occur? The list of causes is a long one and of course depends who you are asking. Here are five of the most salient factors as I see them:

(1) Never forget the basics - the core issue is still an unresolved conflict about ending an occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state - everything has to start from here to be serious (this is true also for Hamas who continue to heavily hint that they will accept the 1967 borders).

(2) The immediate backdrop begins with the Israeli disengagement from Gaza of summer 2005, ostensibly a good move, except one that left more issues open than it resolved. It was a unilateral initiative, so there was no coordinating the 'what happens next' with the Palestinians. Gaza was closed off to the world, the West Bank remained under occupation and what had the potential to be a constructive move towards peace became a source of new tensions - something many of us pointed out at the time (supporting withdrawal from Gaza, opposing how it was done).

(3) U.S., Israeli and international policy towards Hamas has greatly exacerbated the situation. Hamas participated in and won democratic elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006. Rather than test the Hamas capacity to govern responsibly and nurture Hamas further into the political arena and away from armed struggle, the U.S.-led international response was to hermetically seal-off Hamas, besiege Gaza, work to undemocratically overthrow the Hamas government and thereby allow Hamas to credibly claim that a hypocritical standard was being applied to the American democracy agenda.

Source: |Daniel Levy|, in What next on Gaza/Israel and Why Americans Should Care

Death toll is now over 220. Were these policemen the ones who fired the rockets? I doubt it. And I doubt that they could have done anything about it. Recently, the rocket firers hit two Palestinian girls and killed them. It is beyond stupid and very evil for them to fire rockets at Israel.

But is it vastly more evil for Israel to do this in response, and vastly more stupid too. It will only result in a continuation of the violence.

Source: |dancewater|, in Evil is walking on our land

Israel’s plans to not simply stage a quick, narrow strike but to “change the rules” follows what Ha’aretz today reported was a six month preparation period:

Long-term preparation, careful gathering of information, secret discussions, operational deception and the misleading of the public - all these stood behind the Israel Defense Forces "Cast Lead" operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, which began Saturday morning.

The disinformation effort, according to defense officials, took Hamas by surprise and served to significantly increase the number of its casualties in the strike.

Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

So much for good faith negotiations.

--==SNIP==--

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi issued a statement concerning the Israeli operation in Gaza in which she wrote that "When Israel is attacked, the United States must continue to stand strongly with its friend and democratic ally."

Sounds like Speaker Pelosi needs to hear from us - (202) 225-0100.

Source: |FireDogLake|, in It’s Already Sunday in Gaza: “IAF strikes mosque, TV station”

This is the primary reason I stack the idiot supporters of Ron Paul with the terrorist-loving lefties and progressives...their mutual hatred of Israel. Just peruse this thread or even this thread on the Ron Paul Forums, which drips with hatred of Israel. Most of the ron paul supporters have no clue what constitutes freedom, nor do they have the intelligence to recognize that Israel is the good guy in this battle with evil, and they have set themselves on the side of evil. As Aussie dave on Israelly Cool commented, the Ron Paul people are where anti-Semitism and Stupidity collide.

They would do well to remember that they stand with terrorists, like these.

Previously:

Live Blogging Operation Cast Lead

Operation Cast Lead Begins in Gaza