May 1 to 15, 2006: The Daily Chronicle

2006-05-15	Hit: If there's a polar opposite to the scattershot daily firing of lethal missiles every-which-way into Israel by Gaza-based terror groups (we have numerous reports below), it's what Israel did today. An Israel Air Force missile hits a pickup truck filled with terrorists from the Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad. This happens east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, less than 1 Km from the border with Israel. It's where Palestinian terrorists fire Qassam rockets daily into Israel - hundreds of them since Hamas came to power. Four terrorists are wounded in this strike; their vehicle is left a wreck of twisted, burnt metal. The contrast between the terrorists and the Israeli military is sometimes falsely described by reporters in terms of equipment; one side has "nothing but their bodies" and the other has sophisticated American equipment. The real difference is that the terrorists among the Palestinian Arabs have, for generations, been destroying whatever they can on the Israeli side, with no regard for the humanity of their victims: killing and terror for their own hate-filled sake. Israel's military, by contrast, has decades of experience applying the smallest amount of force needed, as accurately as circumstances permit, to take out the evil. Today's hit appears to illustrate this well.
2006-05-15	Ashqar dispatched terrorists to Israeli cities, guided by Palestinian Islamic Jihad headquarters in Syria. His murderous career is now officially terminated. Neutralized: The 'militant' 'activist' who engineered the Palestinian terror massacre in Tel-Aviv that cost the lives of eleven innocent civilians last month is found by Israeli forces yesterday in Qabatiyeh, near Jenin. Elias Kheri Muhammad Ashqar (picture right) dies in the shoot-out that follows. Ashqar was a dominant terror figure in the Northern Samaria district. The American teenager who died yesterday after struggling to stay alive this past month was one of his 40+ victims. Mahmud Abbas (described, it should be noted, in AFP's report as "moderate') responds today by calling Israel's neutralization of the terrorist a "crime" amounting to a "dangerous escalation [that] will lead the region to more violence and instability". Strangely, the deaths of eleven Jews is not a "dangerous escalation" for AFP or Abbas. However Israel's success in locating him and taking the needed steps to prevent additional terror outrages is. Note: there was no "innocents-killed-in-cross-fire" dimension in even one of the eight terror attacks ascribed to al-Ashkar because the Syria-sponsored Islamic Jihad with whom he was affiliated deliberately sought out (seeks out) civilians in Israeli urban settings, expressed delight that in the Passover massacre they managed to kill not only Israeli Jews (and 2 Romanian visitors) but an American Jew, and proudly claimed the deaths and destruction in Tel-Aviv as a glorious victory that advances their cause. A Hamas delegate to the Palestinian legislative assembly (who happens to be a clansman of our daughter's murderer) is quoted today calling Israel's elimination of this terrorist “a war crime”, helpfully suggesting that "the world must intervene to stop the massacre". Fatah, Abbas' party, also call yesterday's events in Jenin a massacre. It pays to understand the local lexicon; otherwise a reader of news reports might fail to fully grasp what's being said here.
2006-05-14	Baruch Dayan Emet: Daniel Wultz from Miami, 16 years old and visiting his Israeli cousins, was critically injured in the Passover terror bombing near Tel Aviv’s Old Central Bus Station. Daniel died of his injuries at Ichilov Hospital today, making the toll from that massacre 11 dead and dozens still seriously injured and maimed.
2006-05-14	Palestinian fishing boats off Gaza Not Fishing: Just 5 days ago, we wrote about a fishing-boat-load of weapons and high-grade explosives spotted and seized by Israeli naval forces off Gaza. Today there is a replay. Again the Palestinian arms smugglers dump the explosives (nearly half a ton) into the sea; again the Israeli forces retrieve them; and again, no one even dreams of demanding that the government of the Palestinians lives up to its responsibilities to police its own territory. The PA and Hamas are in the middle of a truce, after all, right? The Jerusalem Post says today's haul is the fifth naval intercept since Israel abandoned the Jewish communities of Gaza last August. Abbas, the then-head of the PA, said last August as the Israelis marched out of Gaza, that "Today is the beginning of the fishermen's journey to Jerusalem". He probably had today's attempt (and the others like it) in mind. That leaves us wondering how long before AFP, Reuters and other context-less originators of news reports treat us to heartbreaking stories of starving fishermen and aggressive Israeli naval blockades. Not long, we fear. UPDATE: The head of Israel's navy says: "There is no intention of halting Palestinian fishing at this stage... This is their only source of income, and most have no connection to the smuggling. As long as we have solutions, we prefer to let the fishing continue."
2006-05-13	This picture comes from an anti-Israel website purporting to illustrate the cruelty of Israel's checkpoint system Seized: Following concrete warnings (what in Israel are called hatra'ot hamot) last week of a terror attack, a special IDF mission enters Nablus where suspects are apprehended today; an explosive belt (the kind used by terrorist bombers) weighing seven to 10 kilograms (15 to 22 pounds) is seized and detonated by army sappers. Also today: wary young soldiers at an IDF checkpoint near Ramallah - a checkpoint of the sort universally condemned by critics of Israel - stop a Palestinian yellow taxi for inspection and find several pipe bombs. No injuries in either event. Over recent weeks, the number of security warnings in effect at any given moment has stood at fifty or more. That these particular explosives, and the people carrying them into Israeli towns and cities, were intercepted is a quiet blessing that we Israelis take for granted, that most news media ignore, and that people outside Israel almost never hear about. (And by the way, two more Qassam missiles crashed into Israel's Negev region tonight.)
2006-05-12	Doha?: An international conference officially titled 'Muslim Scholars Gathering for the Support of the Palestinian People' met in Doha, Qatar, this week. The conference's final statement supports "the right of the Palestinian people ... to wage holy war to regain all their homeland and liberate their land from the river to the sea." The phrasing, as Haaretz's Arnon Regular points out, means that the conference, and the small army of top-level Islamic religious figures (including the head of the International Confederation of Islamic Scholars, pictured) assembled there from all parts of the world, does not recognize Israel's right to exist. Haaretz's insight leaves us to ask of these prominent Islamic scholars: how do their views differ from those of Ahmadinejad of Teheran? A key leader of the allegedly-truce-observing Hamas regime, Khaled Mashaal, speaking in Doha, called on Fatah (whose people boycotted the conference) and Hamas to close ranks on "liberating Palestine, not recognizing Israel and adopting the path of Jihad and resistance." Viewed in this light, the steady barrage of missiles falling daily on southern Israel amounts to a statement of religious piety. (UPDATE: Another Qassam strike at 4pm this afternoon.)
2006-05-12	Ignorance: Four more Qassam rockets slam last night into open fields near Israeli towns. They are fired from an area of Gaza evacuated last summer by Israel and controlled now by Hamas. Qassam explosions are now so common, a daily occurrence, that most news media, and policy makers too, find it convenient to ignore them. But for the people living in the target zone, other people's ignorance (and the media's insistence of an ongoing truce by Hamas) is not making these lethal threats to their lives and the lives of their children go away.
2006-05-11	Nabbed: The Jerusalem Post reports today on the IDF's interception and arrest of two armed self-admitted Hamas agents carrying several thousand dollars in cash and planning (by their own proud confession) to establish a terror cell in Ramallah, a few minutes drive from our Jerusalem home. Quoting the Shin Bet, the report says the terrorists acted on direct orders from the Hamas leadership. (But how true can this be, when TIME Magazine, Reuters, BBC, Telegraph UK, Al Jazeerah and other impeccable and worthy sources say Hamas is still "observing a unilateral ceasefire"? Truly, a puzzle.) Now here's the really intriguing part: under current Hamas/PA policy, having been arrested by the Israelis, these Hamas agents (or unwitting tourists, depending on whom you want to believe) now start to receive substantial monthly payments (US$1,000 and up) while in Israeli jails. This is because of a policy revealed by the independent Funding for Peace Coalition, administered by the Palestinian Minister for Prisoner Affairs and funded by donor states, mostly European. Keep this in mind when you next hear of Gaza children suffering (and they do) because the PA's budget for medical treatment has dried up.
2006-05-10	Bad Neighborhood: Jordan reveals today it has arrested 20 Hamas 'activists' planning to carry out attacks, and to stockpile a vast cache of weaponry including Iranian-made rockets, in the kingdom. Jordan has already scrapped a planned visit to Amman by the Palestinian foreign minister, a Hamas activist himself. Jordan says this is all part of a Hamas push to recruit 'activists' from the Palestinian territories and send them to Syria and Iran for "military, security and intelligence" training. Jordanian intelligence services say there are still weapons hidden in the kingdom "that represent a big threat to national [Jordanian] security". AFP says "Jordan is due to broadcast the confessions of some of the suspects arrested on state television on Thursday". We wonder if this will induce TIME Magazine to modify the assertion in its current issue that Hamas "is currently observing a unilateral ceasefire". Some ceasefire.
2006-05-10	Restraint: The rocket barrages continue: 3 Qassam missiles fired from Gaza land in Israel this morning; no damage reported - but that, of course, is unintentional. The targets, as hundreds of previous times in the past several months, are the town of Sderot (never "occupied", never disputed) and the southern outskirts of the city of Ashkelon. Speaking yesterday to the residents of Ashkelon, the IDF's chief says: "I cannot offer you a timetable for a solution to the problem... because it takes time, but we also have capabilities. The implementation of these capabilities demands that we cross lines that we do not want to cross; we do not want to fire into population centers (in Gaza), and unfortunately they (Palestinian terrorists) are taking advantage of the fact that we are not a terror state and never will be. However, we have the option, should the need arise, of a ground operation.” From personal experience, awareness by non-Israelis of this self-imposed restraint on Israel's part in the face of constant deadly attacks is close to zero.
2006-05-09	Airport? There are still-sketchy reports tonight (around midnight) of a Lau missile being discovered on Highway 40 near Kibbutz Naan. YNet is reporting that police "found the missile after an anonymous message regarding suspicious activity in the area... sappers were working to neutralize the explosives." Lau is Hebrewish for LAAW, meaning Light Anti-Armour Weapon. Naan is located a few minutes drive from, and under the flight path of aircraft using, Ben Gurion airport. Sounds alarming, but could be a simple misunderstanding. Alternatively another of those miraculous near-misses that are buried in the rush of other news and forgotten.
2006-05-09	Alert: As a result of concrete intelligence, an elevated terror alert is in effect in much of the country including Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem since mid-morning. An unofficial report says Magen David Adom, the country's ambulance service, pushed its own alert status up to the second-highest level at about noon. Unclear by evening whether the alert level has been reduced. Another day, another round of worries for ordinary Israelis trying to decide whether to go by bus, whether to avoid shopping centers, whether to keep the children indoors.
2006-05-09	Explosives: It is announced today (after a news blackout is lifted) that three 'innocent' Palestinian fishing vessels were intercepted a week ago, smuggling half a ton of weapons-grade explosives into Gaza. The Palestinians dumped sacks of TNT into the sea when intercepted by alert Israeli naval forces - who promptly retrieved them. Haaretz says "the damage such a high amount of explosives could have caused is immeasurable." Had the immeasurable happened, this story might have appeared on your evening news. But it surely won't.
2006-05-09	Fair Warning: Islamic Jihad proudly claims responsibility for yesterday's missile barrage on the southern flank of Ashkelon. YNet says they "issued a statement claiming that three of the rockets were of the Quds 3 series, missiles with an improved fire range" and that "should the Ashkelon power station (right) suffer a direct Qassam hit, Israel will likely launch a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip." So that's the name of the game, ladies and gentlemen. Tag. With real-life targets. Based on the tenor of the news reports we see, and those which don't happen (see below), it's evident that most of the media, and most governments, think it's right and proper that Israel should hold its hand and wait for the destruction to happen. What an absurdity.
2006-05-08	Missiles: 4 more Qassam missiles (and according to some reports, 8 missiles) rain down on Israeli communities (Zikkim, Karmiya, Yad Mordechai) and their surrounding fields and it's not even 10am. There is no doubt where they emanate from (PA territory) and no doubt who is in charge in PA territory (Hamas). So why do reporters and their editors insist, up until this morning, on repeating the mantra that Hamas is observing a truce? (Could it be something religious?)
2006-05-06	Law and Order: Against a background of almost-daily attempted (often frustrated) bombings, and missile and rocket attacks on Israel, the Palestinian Interior Ministry provides valuable insight today into how it deals with violent lawlessness: a new campaign to confiscate "illegal" weaponry in the Gaza Strip. The Jerusalem Post's ever-reliable reporter on Arab affairs, Khaled Abu Toameh, quotes the Palestinian ministry's spokesman clarifying that the campaign will ensure that the only people to carry weapons will be police "...and members of the resistance groups who are confronting Israeli aggression." Can you imagine being the neighbor of a country with an official policy of this sort? Welcome to the new middle east. The appointment of a head for this new force was widely reported last week because he's a notorious terrorist, but the details of this explicit policy are getting far less coverage.
2006-05-05	Foiled: Israelis are totally jaded when it comes to 'unidentified suspicious objects'. Traffic in Israeli cities is disrupted frequently while army sappers are called to examine what usually turn out to be harmless objects: forgotten brief-cases or shopping bags. But not always. Today, Sabbath Eve, one of the more pressured times of the week, the authorities are called to Gush Etzion junction after people waiting for a bus at the intersection spot what they think might possibly be a dangerous... something. The busy junction is closed to traffic while the object is gingerly examined. This time, it's the genuine article: a bomb connected to a timer. It's defused by Border Guard sappers in the nick of time: 20 minutes before it was set to explode. One of our children happens to be right at the spot, en route to a school Sabbath away. Everyone's journey is delayed, but thank goodness the outcome is not worse. Somewhere nearby, there is a bomber planning his next attempt, along with his driver, his financier, his look-out, his logistics planner, his raw-materials supplier - in fact an entire industry of hatred, all tying to live up to Meshaal's dictum of four days earlier (see below).
2006-05-05	Rocket Attack: Almost unreported, and 100% consistent with what we reported yesterday, 5 lethal Qassam rockets crash into Israel this morning, near several communities. No one is injured - but that's entirely a matter of circumstance, luck and time. The terrorists make explicit what we know from other sources: their goal is to rain destruction down on Ashkelon which is well within their range but somewhat beyond their skill level, for the moment at least. UPDATE: And they continue this afternoon, according to Israel Radio, as more Qassam rockets land near Jewish towns.
2006-05-04	Taking Credit: Islamic Jihad, one of the highest-profile terror organizations, routinely engages in self-promotion efforts including reporting on its successes. Today, they issue a press release, picked up by fringe Israeli media and, as far as we can tell, by no one else. IJ boasts that 56 of its Qassam missiles were shot into southern Israeli towns and communities during April 2005. The explicit goal, they say, is to damage the city of Ashkelon (pictured, right), home to a power plant serving all of Israel and, by the way, tens of thousands of residents - and based on their track record they ought to be believed. By IJ's own account, not one day passed last month without at least one Qassam being fired into Israel. Serious question: if none of these acts of war was reported in your newspaper or TV news (and this includes the Israeli media), how meaningful or informed is the analysis you and your neighbors are getting? Jihad's spokesman says the terror will continue because this is the way “to liberate holy Palestinian land and remove the occupier”. This has little to do with post-1967 occupation (Ashkelon is not disputed territory) or politics... but everything to do with ongoing hatred, intolerance, barbarism and terror.
2006-05-03	Independence Day Missiles: Little reported, 2 Qassam rockets are fired from the northern Gaza Strip into area of Sderot, briefly interrupting Independence Day celebrations in the south of Israel. One woman, visiting family in the area, suffers an anxiety attack on hearing the "Red Dawn" alert system and is treated by a Magen David Adom ambulance team; no other injuries or damages -- not from lack of intent on the part of the authorities in charge of the Gaza Strip: the Hamas government.
2006-05-01	Suicide as Strategy: AFP identifies Khaled Meshaal (right) as "Hamas supremo" and quotes these memorable words of his: "Our enemies don't understand that a suicide operation is a natural right." Having published this helpful clarification, AFP shows its deep knowledge of what happens daily in this area by adding: "Hamas, which is responsible for the majority of suicide bombings during the five-year intifada, has not carried out any such anti-Israeli attacks since agreeing to a temporary period of calm early last year." If you know the name and email address of AFP's fact-checks editor, send him/her to us please. Meanwhile those of us concerned with understanding what's really going on need to internalize the contents of this piece of authoritative analysis; it's an article from a respected research establishment, describing Hamas' strategy of masquerading for the benefit of a compliant media while continuing (via selected sub-contractors) the deadly business it boasts about to its Arabic-speaking constituency.