04-Apr-18: In the war against the Gazan terrorists, the sea and "fisherman" have new significance

Israeli security video of naval forces seizing the attack ship

Think for a moment of all the news reports over the years of honest, hard-working, innocent-as-hell Gazan Palestinian Arab fishermen arrested for no reason whatsoever by mean Israeli naval forces.

The IDF and Israel's security establishment in general devotes massive resources to field intelligence. Israel's critics tend to relate to that sort of claim with cynicism, just because. That will probably continue today but for Israelis today brings some very disturbing news that, thankfully, includes something a positive outcome.

A Gazan Palestinian Arab plot to attack an Israeli naval vessel by missile, to then seize the survivors and do bad things to them or with them, was revealed today. It has ended well, at least so far. Here's how one report ["Shin Bet, IDF thwart Islamic Jihad attack on navy boats off Gaza coast", Times of Israel, April 4, 2018] tells it.

Security forces arrested a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group off the Gaza coast suspected of planning to sink an Israeli naval patrol boat and kidnap any survivors last month, Israel revealed on Wednesday. The plan was to use three boats to lure in a navy ship, fire a missile at it and then seize the wounded and slain soldiers, according to a joint statement by the Shin Bet security service and Israel Defense Forces. This plot was foiled on the night of March 12, when the navy’s 916th Patrol Squadron stopped a Palestinian boat that had left the designated Gaza fishing zone.

The video clip embedded above shows the nighttime seizure with well-armed IDF naval special forces boarding the fishing boat and arresting the 10 on board. The boat was impounded in Ashdod's sea-port.

It's likely that more information will emerge in days to come:

The crew was brought into Israeli custody for questioning, including Amin Saadi Muhammad Jumma’a, 24, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who told interrogators that he had received instructions from his commanders to prepare to carry out the attack on Israeli Navy ships... Jumma’a, a resident of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, told interrogators that the plan was for one boat to act as a diversion by leaving the fishing zone so that a navy ship would approach it...  “A second boat would attack the ship, firing a Kornet (anti-tank) missile at it, with the intention of causing injury and death to the soldiers on board,” the statement said. A third boat would then arrive on the scene and take the wounded soldiers hostage and steal the bodies of those killed, the security forces said.

Jumma’a (some reports spell his name as Juma) was indicted in a Beer Sheba court today (Wednesday) on multiple charges including planning to conduct a terror attack, acquiring weapons and belonging to a terrorist organization. The charge sheet says he was recruited into Islamic Jihad in 2016 and a year later agreed - after being promised $5,000 - to conduct the attack.

Of the ten men arrested, seven were released after interrogation by the Shin Bet. Two others are believed to be part of the plot and were not freed. The tenth is Jumma'a who is not going anywhere for now.

Over at Haaretz ["Israel Indicts Gaza Resident for Plot to Attack Navy Vessel and Abduct Troops", today] they say that

Intelligence services believe the plot reflects a desire by terrorist organizations in Gaza to shift their attention to sea in light of Israel's successes against the threat of underground tunnels. The military has deployed a number of methods meant to counteract this growing threat, and is preparing for the possibility that these groups may attempt to target Israel's offshore gas fields. 

In an Associated Press interview with a spokesperson for Islamic Jihad, Daoud Shehab, he "had no information about the Israeli announcement" but offered the not-so-startling insight that PIJ terrorists are involved in "open confrontation" with Israel:

"It's also our right to look for suitable ways to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners," he added.

And Israel's right to do everything necessary to thwart them.

09-Oct-15: The wave of terror attacks goes on

In the aftermath of this morning's murderous attack on an Israeli in the
Kiryat Arba community, the assailant's knife and blood are left behind
after the victim is taken to hospital and the attacker is shot dead [Image Source]

The coordinated eruption of rock-hurlings, stabbings, shootings and assaults by Arabs on Israelis continues in full force today, Friday.

We heard a commentator on BBC's Outside Source, reporting from the Mount of Olives an hour ago, call them lone-wolf attacks (she may also have slipped the word "alleged" into the sentence to flesh out the effect of her political korrectness) but they are nothing of the sort - unless wolves take their orders via shrill voices broadcasting messages of hate-based incitement via the social media and in mosques and prayer rooms.

The direction of the reporting, at a time when Arab-on-Jew attacks are happening at a furious pace throughout the country, is reflected in the precisely-worded lede of a major BBC report at this hour:

Israelis and Palestinians have been injured in a fresh spate of stabbings, including what Israeli police say was an apparent revenge attack on Arabs... The attacks come amid soaring tensions between Israelis and Palestinians...  ["Israelis and Palestinians injured in new stabbing attacks", uploaded to BBC's website around 3:00 pm Friday]

Here's an incomplete summary as of 2:30 pm Friday:

• An Arab woman attacked a security guard with her knife in Afula's bus station around 2:00 pm this afternoon. (Another knifing attack was launched on one of Afula's main streets just last night.) The guard was unarmed according to this report, though he was part of the team responsible for safeguarding passengers moving through this northern city's main transit hub. Friday early afternoon is one of the week's two major public transport rush-hours throughout Israel. Friday is the start of the weekend in Israel, and many travelers want to be at their destination before the sun sets signifying the start of the Sabbath, The attacker, evidently a resident of the predominantly Arab Israeli city of Nazareth, whose name is reported as Asraa Zidan Tawfik Abed, was stopped with a bullet fired by one of two IDF soldiers (says Jerusalem Post), one male, one female, who fired at her legs and brought her down but did not kill her (this is not Syria or Jordan). The knife-woman is now in Afula's Ha'emek Hospital getting the best treatment that Israeli medicine can offer. We wish her a speedy recovery and a very long prison sentence. The guard's selfless actions almost certainly saved lives today.
• In the southern city of Dimona, a Jewish youth of 17 stabbed four Arabs this morning. BBC calls them "two Israeli Bedouins and two Palestinians". The attacks occurred at a shopping center and nearby. A security guard tackled the knife-wielding Israeli and held him till police arrived to arrest him. This Jew-on-Arab attack has caused an uncommon amount of consternation. News reporters often search high and low to spin terrorism and related events in this country as if they were part of some mythical cycle-of-violence, which they are not. The violence in this current wave is like that of previous waves - calculated to deliver a message of hatred-driven terror into the hearts of Israelis. Unfortunately an Israeli engaging in similar-looking tactics, even given the vast gulf that separates Israeli public opinion about terror from Palestinian Arab views on the same subject, makes it that little bit easier for those superficial reports to be made and to sound credible. All four of the Arab victims are out of danger. Two have moderate injuries and the other two are said to have light injuries. Three of them were taken to Beer Sheba's Soroka Medical Center for treatment. According to Associated Press, "Dimona mayor Beni Bitton said the stabber is a "mentally ill man." He told Channel 10 TV that two of the victims worked for City Hall, and that passers-by quickly rushed to help the wounded Arabs and provided first aid."
• On the narrow route that passes the notoriously violent Arab village, Beit Ummar (about which we have written frequently), hails of rocks yesterday and today (and many times in the past) continue to make life dangerous for Israeli traffic traveling on the Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba and Karmei Tzur roads. Numerous vehicles have been damaged during today's violence.
• In Jerusalem around noon today in the haredi Shmuel Hanavi neighbourhood, a Jewish teenager of 16 (according to Jerusalem Post) was stabbed and moderately injured by a Palestinian Arab from Hebron. Israel National News reports that the assailant was tracked down by security personnel and apprehended soon after, The wounded boy is getting treated at Hadassah hospital.
• Also around noon, in Kiryat Arba - close to the spot where a serious very similar attack took place yesterday - a policeman was stabbed and injured by a Palestinian Arab male. The assailant was shot by other officers and died of his wounds.
• We are hearing reports from the coastal city of Ashdod about Arab construction workers hurling rocks and cinder blocks at passing cars in the early afternoon.
• And perhaps feeling out-activisted by the Fatah-controlled crowds of lone-wolves in Judea and Samara, the Hamas overlords of the Gaza Strip appear to be flexing their muscles this afternoon. A Times of Israel report, uploaded around 3:00 pm Friday, says "Hamas’s chief in Gaza on Friday called for additional violence against Israel. "Gaza will fulfill its role in the Jerusalem intifada and it is more than ready for confrontation,” Ismail Haniyeh said during a sermon for weekly Muslim prayers at a mosque in Gaza City. “We are calling for the strengthening and increasing of the intifada… It is the only path that will lead to liberation,” he said." The results were not long in coming: "Some 200 Palestinians approached the fence closest to the Nahal Oz Kibbutz in the northern Gaza Strip. “They began throwing stones and rolling burning tires at Israeli forces,” an army spokesperson said. IDF troops, who remained on the Israeli side of the border, opened fire at the protesters, who were approximately 150 feet (50 meters) away, in order to break up the protest and push them from the fence, the spokesman said."

More when we can manage to write and edit. The Sabbath is approaching fast.

29-Sep-15: Ashdod, southern coast of Israel: Incoming rocket evidently intercepted mid-air [Updated 01-Oct-15]

Too soon to be sure of any of the facts, other than what we know from residents in Ashdod.

The incoming rocket warning system (Tzeva Adom, or Color Red) began sounding around 10:50 pm tonight (Tuesday), followed very shortly afterwards by the sound of explosions. Early indications are that at least one in-bound rocket, clearly from the nearby Gaza Strip, was intercepted in midair by the Iron Dome anti-rocket defence system. And here's a posted video showing the intercept. There may have been a second rocket and a second intercept.

Ashdod, home to Israel's main seaport, has a population of about 240,000.

There are reports from residents there hearing considerable aircraft activity over the city and in the direction of the Gaza Strip.

Most news reporting - at least outside Israel - will likely kick in only after there has been a counter-attack by Israel against the rocket-rich forces arrayed in the Hamas enclave. That's the point at which the predictable narrative of allegedly-unprovoked Israeli attacks on the teeming masses of Gaza get started. So predictable, so counter-factual, so unhelpful.

UPDATE 11:45 pm Tuesday 29-Sep-15: From Haaretz -

"At least one rocket was fired at southern Israel Tuesday night, but failed to cause damage or injuries, the Israel Police said. The Iron Dome defense system intercepted the rocket - most likely fired from Gaza Strip - over the skies of the coastal city of Ashdod. It was preceded by two sirens alert of an incoming attack."

UPDATE 3:00 pm October 1, 2015: See "Missile attack on Ashdod gets fifteen words of BBC coverage" via BBCwatch

17-Sep-15: Rocks, rockets, riots, religion, risks

When we pray, Jews face in the direction of Jerusalem, and within Jerusalem
towards the site of the no-longer-standing Temple. This is true no matter where
in the world we are at that moment. Moslems, as this image shows, when in
Jerusalem, turn their backs to the Temple Mount. This photo appeared in a blog
post we published a year ago here 

Here's one small peek into what it means, in practical day-to-day-living terms, to have neighbors for whom terrorism and violence directed both at us and at their own populations, have zero downside.

The decision to open the valve a little or a lot - encouraging or allowing street violence, rocket fire, petrol bombs, stabbings - comes at close to zero cost. Worse, the outbursts of Palestinian Arab violence almost always pay dividends.

Why this works is something few people outside the region understand. But work it most assuredly does, in the satanic terms of the political and social culture embraced by those in charge of those places.

As we have been writing here ["16-Sep-15: Jerusalem Watch | Not-so-new New Year violence"], there is currently a state of serious high tension in Jerusalem. Thuggish young men, and not so young women, have clearly been given the signal to make maximum trouble. Their media, and especially cartoons, are in full incitement mode. Some of their Islamic holy sites are chief among the places where trouble and violence are designed - by them - to erupt.

No mainstream Western journalist, as far as we know, has raised the question this week that Israelis ponder all the time: if these mosques and other religion-rich sites have such holy status to Islamic believers, why do they treat them with what seems to us like naked contempt? Not just piling up rocks inside their mosques and ripping out fixtures to create stockpiles for hurling at Israeli soldiers, but even such prosaic matters as playing football inside and around the place they want us to call the Noble Sanctuary. (When did anyone ever see soccer played by observant Catholics, or anyone else, on the smooth flat surface of St Peter's Square in Vatican City?) There are some startling examples and pictures in a post of ours from a year ago: "06-Oct-14: Oh Jerusalem"

So when Hamas and the Fatah leadership of the Palestinian Authority again threaten to deliver more trouble, more violence, more "anger", it's worrying because we know they pay no price at all for this hold-me-back irresponsibility. And no Western media and very few Western political figures have ever shown an appetite to reign them in.

There is a price, however, that has to be paid. And it's generally paid by Israelis. Here's a clear example. From the Jerusalem Post today:

The Israeli military has deployed the Iron Dome rocket interceptor on the outskirts of the southern city of Ashdod in anticipation of more rioting in Jerusalem, Channel 10 reported on Thursday morning. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has declared Friday "a day of rage" in response to recent developments on Temple Mount.
Palestinian and Arab anger has percolated in recent days over claims that Israel is provoking Muslims on Temple Mount.

Holy Islamic site of vast significance to the Arab people in
general and Palestinian Arabs in particular. Ignore the
football playing - mainstream news reporters surely do. [Image Source]

Note that the pathetically mis-labeled "moderate" PA leadership is right at the center of the rable-rousing, replete with insulting remarks about Jewish souls and Jewish soles:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Wednesday that his countrymen won’t allow Israelis to “desecrate” Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.
“Al-Aksa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet. We won’t allow them to do so and we will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem,” Abbas said in his Ramallah office during a meeting with east Jerusalem activists.
Abbas said the Palestinians were determined to prevent Israel from passing its scheme to “divide” the Aksa Mosque compound.
“There will be no Palestinian state without Jerusalem,” he stressed. “We are in Jerusalem and we will stay in it to defend our Islamic and Christian holy sites. We’re not going to leave our country.”
He praised Muslim male and female worshipers whose job it is to harass Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount.
“Each drop of blood that was spilled in Jerusalem is pure blood as long as it’s for the sake of Allah. Every shahid (martyr) will be in heaven and every wounded person will be rewarded, by Allah’s will.” [Jerusalem Post, September 17, 2015] 

What are the chances that rocket fire directed at anything Israeli in southern Israel is going to happen in the next 24 hours? Your answer will likely depend on how high a price you believe the Palestinian Arabs making the decision to let those rockets blast will be paying. In this neighbourhood, the price is close to zero, which is why an Iron Dome battery is being deployed there at this moment.

20-Aug-15: Rockets from Syria slam into Israel's north

Incoming Syrian fire caught on camera by an Israeli driver somewhere in
Northern Israel early this evening [Image Source]

We learned this afternoon of a heightened state of tension in southern Israel today. The authorities

deployed an Iron Dome missile defense battery to Ashdod in southern Israel. Gaza security coordinators received warnings Wednesday of possible rocket fire from the Gaza Strip... [Ynet]

The rocket fire eventuated, but not in the south. Early this evening (Thursday), four rockets fired from Syrian-controlled territory, landed in northern Israel, causing an outbreak of brush-fire but causing no injuries. According to AP, today was the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur war (when Egypt and Syria invaded Israel on its holiest day of the year) that Syrian rockets have crashed into Israel.

Keep in mind that Israeli hospitals and medical teams have treated streams of wounded and injured Syrians ["12-May-14: Opting for humanity in an ocean of savagery"] caught up in the Arab-on-Arab bloodbath during the past two years. That humanitarian policy remains in effect as of today, with no sign of it changing.

Times of Israel, quoting the IDF, says all four of this evening's rockets landed in Israel's northern Galilee region and in Israel's Golan Heights. No injuries are reported. And no Arab party has sought to claim credit so far, though it's early. Associated Press attributes the rocket fire to "militants" on behalf of "the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad group". Ynet says the rocket-fire originated in the Quneitra area

which is under Syrian President Bashar Assad's control and in which according to reports, Hezbollah operatives Samir Kuntar and Mustafa Mughniyeh have free rein [Ynet, tonight]

Previous in-coming rockets from Syria have been described as accidental by-products of the savagery devastating that country, but that's not the case this time. Commentary on Israel's Channel 2 news this evening said today's rockets were fired at Israeli territory with deliberate intent; they are not a "mere' spillover from Syria's civil war bloodbath.

Nor were they "merely" mortars (which are of course lethal). According to Israel Radio (here) these rockets were artillery shells. Later this evening, there have been reports of Israel responding with artillery fire on the Syrian settlements of Baath and Khan Arnabeh.

Israelis living in communities organized under the Upper Galilee Regional Council have been told to remain near safe places.

14-Jun-15: Israel's anti-rocket defence system gets wider deployment

Taking cover on a road in Israel's Negev as incoming Gazan rocket
warning is heard, July 2014 [Image: Reuters]

Rockets being flung into the sky in the general direction of Israel might sound (if people hear about them at all) like a vague and trivial threat. The media repetition of how few Israelis, relative to the dead and injured on the Arab side, have been hurt reinforces that impression.

In reality, vast parts of southern Israel are under actual threat of attack by them right now. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis live in communities in those parts, and anxiety levels are running high. Relying on the good sense of the terrorists to avoid self-damaging escalation is generally perceived, based on overwhelming evidence, as not getting our side very far.

Hence:

[Israeli S]ecurity officials decided last week to deploy four Iron Dome air defense system batteries in Ashdod, Netivot, Ashkelon and Beersheba... ["More Iron Dome batteries deployed in light of renewed rocket fire", Jerusalem Post, tonight]

According to an article that appeared last summer (see "15 things you didn't knw about the Iron Dome")

The cost of launching a missile from the Iron Dome at a threatening rocket has been reported to cost anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 [while] the rockets fired by terror groups at Israel are estimated to cost between a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. 

A 2013 report in TIME Magazine looked at the cost on a per-battery basis:

At about $50 million per battery — the launchers with 20 missiles each, ground radar and command-and-control center, led by an officer equipped with an abort button — Iron Dome still costs plenty, especially since Israel estimates it would need at least 13 of them to protect the entire country.

14-Jul-14: Monday and the rockets

Barnea quarter of the city of Ashkelon [Image Source]

Here's our ongoing track of the events of the day as they unfold.

• 08:20 am: Reports that an armed drone penetrated Israeli airspace and was brought down by IDF fire in the Ashdod area. Developing drones calls for the sort of investment in technology and education that is entirely foreign to the jihadist thugs of Hamas. It's likely to be a gift from Hamas' funders, sponsors and masters in Iran. Times of Israel says the Israeli Navy is examining the remains of the drone now.
• 08:25 am: Hearing a series of Tzeva Adom sirens from Ashkelon and the area around it.
• 08:30 am: And now in Ashdod. And Ashkelon once more.
• 08:40 am: A house in Ashkelon took a hit in that lost volley of rockets. Property damage but people safe [Ynet]
• 08:50 am: The morning rockets keep coming. Times of Israel says the communities affected are "smaller villages on the Gaza periphery...  (and) Ashkelon, Ashdod, Yad Mordechai, Zikim and throughout the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council." For most of our readers, these place-names will be less familiar than they are in our circles. But the general principle of what Hamas are doing ought to be clear to everyone: hit ordinary civilians, disrupt the lives being conducted by Israelis, and try to exact a price in blood such that the Islamist sense of honour is respected and, if such a thing were possible, satisfied. This is not war in the sense most of us have of that word. Confronting and fighting the other side's military plays a marginal role other, perhaps, than in the stirring songs played endlessly in the Islamist media. The reality of being a fighter in the service of Hamas is principally about evading the other side's soldiers, searching for vulnerable children and women, and hurting them any way you can. There are no red lines. But as endangered as our families are by the barbarism of Hamas, there's another population far more threatened by them: the Gazans, especially Gaza's children. We wonder how well those who support Hamas from the safe vantage point of the Western countries in which they live understand how this works.
• 10:30 am: Seeing online reports now that IDF has closed off access to area around Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, near border with Gaza. Declared "closed military area".  UPDATE 12 noon: "The IDF is continuing to build up ground forces on the Gaza border, but no decision has been made by the cabinet — as far as Israeli media outlets know — to enter Gaza with significant ground forces." [Times of Israel]
• 10:40 am: From an Associated Press syndicated report published this morning: "...militants have fired more than 800 rockets at Israel at a rate that hasn't slowed down. [IDF] spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the military estimated 20 percent of the rockets in Gaza have either been fired or destroyed by Israel. Besides diminishing Hamas' future capabilities, he said Israel's assaults were mostly aimed at convincing Hamas never to try it again. "When they come out of their bunkers and they look around, they are going to have to make a serious estimation of whether what they have done was worth it," he said. "And people will look in their eyes and say 'Why did you do this? What did you gain from this?'"
  It's tempting to think Lerner is right, but it's hard to overlook the decades-long willingness of the Palestinian Arabs to allow their leaders to abuse and manipulate them. What chance this is about to change?
• 10:43 am: Again hearing now of Tzeva Adom sirens in Ashkelon area, and Be'er Tuvia which is much further away from Gaza.
• 10:50 am: Just now reviewing IDF summary of the measures it took overnight in Gaza and saw this: "Among the terror targets struck overnight, was an ammunition and weaponry storage facility, concealed within a mosque, in the central Gaza Strip."
• 10:55 am: And yet again, hearing of Tzeva Adom sirens now in Ashkelon area and surrounding region. Another tough day for the hundreds of thousands living there for whom ordinary daily life is on hold while the blood-lust of the absentee Hamas ruling clique runs its course.
• 11:25 am: Another round of Tzeva Adom alerts being sounded right now in and around the siuthern city of Ashkelon.
• 12:20 pm: If you are among the ranks of Israel's many friends who want to do something concrete that positively helps the people living under terrorist rocket-fire, can we make a suggestion? Keren Malki, the foundation we created in memory of the life of our daughter Malki, has a unique and effective program that sends highly-qualified therapists (physical, occupational and speech) into the homes of Israelis living in communities far from Israel's center. There, in those homes, they deliver vital para-medical therapy sessions to children challenged by often-severe special needs. Currently we send therapists to Be'er Sheva, Sderot, Ashkelon and other places that are in the cross-hairs of the Hamas terror-rocket campaign. In these difficult days, the professional team who run Keren Malki's operations are doing everything possible so that the special-needs children in those places don't miss out on therapies that are so vital to their well-being. To know more and to give support to Keren Malki's Zlata Hersch Memorial Therapists on Wheels Program, please visit here.
• 12:30 pm: A cluster of multiple Tzeva Adom warnings now in and around Ashdod and a swathe of communities (including Kiryat Malachi and Gan Yavne) in the center and south.

[Continuing]

13-Jul-14: Sunday and more in-bound victim-seeking rockets

Iron Dome battery, somewhere in Israel

In the three hours of daylight this morning, Israel's skies have already been pierced repeatedly by yet more Gazan rockets. Thankfully the price paid on our side in personal injuries and property damage - while unbearably high - might easily have been far, far worse. Details to follow.

We plan to update this post through the morning hours of Sunday, and pray the reports become ordinary and boring. (We're again working from a Tablet; please excuse the deficient spelling and formatting.)

• 08:35 am: The IDF, summing up the events of the past 24 hours of the latest phase of this ongoing war, says 129 rockets were fired into Israel during Saturday, 9 of the intercepted in midair by Iron Dome. They don't report on how many lives were threatened or saved or rendered paralyzed by fear.
• 08:50 am: Khaled Abu Toameh tweets: "Egyptians ban European medical team from entering Gaza Strip to treat Palestinians." [His source]
• 09:15 am: Not now but earlier this morning, around day-break, in-bound terror rockets were intercepted in the skies over Ashdod and Rishon Leziyon in central Israel. Calling them terror rockets is critical to understanding the strategy of the jihadist practitioners of terror who fire them: in terms of a military strategy, assuming Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the other terror groups even had one which is doubtful on the evidence, they make near-zero effort to attack the IDF and its resources. Their war - by disgraceful choice and shameful ideology - is waged principally against ordinary people and ordinary places. Israel's Iron Dome missile-defense system stopped and destroyed multiple rockets over Israeli cities today in the course of fighting off a missile barrage from Gaza that began this (Sunday) morning around 06:00 am.
• 09:20 am:  Israelis are geing reminded this morning by Israel Police that Iron Dome throws those rockets off course but does not always succeed in detonating their warhead. "Anyone who finds a fallen rocket is asked to call the police so that trained sappers can safely remove the warhead." It's a message worth passing along.
• 09:30 am: Apologists for what the Gazans do like to call it one of the world's most densely populated places. The facts plainly contradict this claim but let's pretend for a moment that it's true and relevant. One of the more revealing stats just disclosed in an IDF media briefing in the past hour is that Israeli forces have so far targetted and successfully neutralized “735 concealed rocket launchers, 64 training bases and militant compounds, 58 weapons storage and manufacturing facilities, 32 Hamas leadership facilities, 29 communications infrastructures". Given the compact dimensions of the Hamas death-cult's Gazan domain, it boggles the mind to imagine  an urban landscape so densely populated with the instruments of murder.
• 09:50 am: Additional data from the IDF briefing: "635 rockets have hit southern Israel since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, with 147 interceptions by the Iron Dome..."
• 10:00 am: Over at jpost.com, this bulletin went up during the small hours of Sunday morning: "3:50 a.m. Israel Navy commandos raided a facility from which Hamas fired many long-range rocket at Israeli cities, the IDF said. During the raid, the commandos were shot at by Hamas gunmen, and returned fire. "The facility was hit and damaged," the army said."
• 10:07 am: Tzeva Adom sirens right now in a huge swathe of central and southern Israel including the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod.
• 10:45 am: Be'er Sheva sirens now.
• 10:50 am: Tzeva Adom in Merhavim region.
• 10:55 am: Ynet says Iron Dome downs one rocket over Ashkelon.
• 11:12 am: Several Tzeva Adom focuses at this moment in Ashkekon area.
• 11:50 am: Israel Radio is reporting that the call by the IDF to residents of the northern part of the Gaza Strip has had an effect... of sorts. Its estimate is that about 4,000 Gazans have evacuated, leaving their homes and taking refuge with UNRWA.
• 02:20 pm: Tzeva Adom sirens are being heard right now in Ashkelon, the Hof Ashkelon region and the city of Ashdod. A boy of 16 was critically injured in one of the earlier attacks on Ashkelon today. Times of Israel says "he was playing outside when the sirens went off, and did not seek shelter. He was injured by shrapnel from the projectile."
• 03:00 pm: Times of Israel says "a teenager armed with a knife" attempted to stab a security guard at the Jerusalem  Light Rail station outside the Mahaneh Yehuda market on Jaffa Road. It's referred to as a foiled terror attack: "The culprit attempted to stab the officer, who responded by aiming his gun and directing the youth to lie on the ground. The security guard, along with Border Police who arrived at the scene, disarmed and detained the youth." He is now being questioned. Here's a photo of the incident's immediate aftermath, as it appears on The Muqata's Facebook Page:

• 03:15 pm: In the past twenty minutes or so, three more rockets fired by the terrorists from Gaza were shot down and destroyed in mid-flight by the Iron Dome missile defense system over the southern Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon [Ynet].
• 04:30 pm: Times of Israel: A rocket has hit a residential area in Ashkelon, sparking a fire. Police and fire fighters are at the scene. Three missiles land in the Eshkol region. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
• 04:35 pm: Channel 2 broadcasting live reports on sirens in Hadera, Haifa and Nahariya, and rocket crashes in the Western Galilee. Tel Aviv heard sirens a few minutes before, as did a large number of communities in the center and north of Israel.
• 05:15 pm: Times of Israel: "The missiles that hit Hadera and the northern city of Nahariya, over 170 kilometers from the Gaza Strip, were launched from the Gaza Strip, Channel 2 reports. Hamas TV claims it fired an R160 rocket at Nahariya, which has a range of 160 kilometers. Analysts have claimed over the past week that Hamas and Islamic Jihad empty long-distance rockets of their warheads in order to increase their range."
• 06:30 pm: We wrote in the early hours of this morning [here] about how the IDF has been warning people who live in the northern Gaza Strip communities to leave the area as fast as possible. Gaza's Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry responded with its own counter-announcement telling Gazans not to heed the Israeli army warnings and to stay put. In other words, telling them to become human shields. If you were wondering how this all worked out, here's how. According to a Times of Israel note this evening, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (the notorious UNRWA, about whom we have written frequently) now says some 10,000 Gazans from the Beit Lahiya area have abandoned their homes and have moved out. Those Hamas directives are being ignored on a very large basis.

Back soon.

11-Jul-14: Friday afternoon and a war rages on

Running for shelter in Ashdod yesterday as another rocket's arrival
is announced via the Tzeva Adom siren [Image Source]

It's a hot Friday afternoon, and terrorist rockets are penetrating almost all parts of Israel.

• 2:00 pm: The Iron Dome missile defense system [source] intercepted three Gazan missiles in the skies over Ashdod and Gan Yavne in the past half hour. Residents of these south-of-Tel Aviv suburbs are having a hellish day as rocket barrages race towards them from concealed launchers embedded inside Gazan schools, mosques and homes.
• 3:45 pm: What's behind the Hamas escalation, and why now? In an analytical piece ["Israel Under Attack"] for Weekly Standard, Lee Smith writes:
  If Hamas is pacing its missile fire, it means they’re in it for the long haul. If they’re crossing red lines by firing missiles at Dimona as well as Ben Gurion airport, it means they’re going all out. The question is why. Some analysts point to likely Iranian involvement— indeed use of the long-range M-302, not previously in the arsenal of Hamas, underscores that suggestion. It’s true that Hamas’s relations with Iran have been somewhat cooler since they fell out over the Syrian civil war (Hamas sided with their Sunni co-religionists; Tehran has thrown its full weight behind the Assad regime)... If Iran is not in fact driving the campaign, then Hamas may be putting on a demonstration for Tehran of how helpful it can be to the Islamic Republic. With Hezbollah tied down in Syria fighting alongside Assad, Hamas is more useful to Iran than ever—especially since Hamas is now in possession of long-range missiles capable of striking anywhere inside Israel, making it another tool of Iranian deterrence should the Israelis consider striking Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities.
• 3:50 pm: Israel National News reports that Tzeva Adom sirens were heard in Be'er Sheva around 3:30 this (Friday) afternoon, as well as in the Merhavim region, Omer, the Bnei Shimon region, Ofakim, and Tel Sheva. A Gazan rocket crashed to earth soon afterwards in an open area near Be'er Sheva.
• 4:40 pm: As the Sabbath approaches, the city administration in Ashdod has announced a ruling:  Prayers in synagogues that lack a bomb shelter should not take place and the buildings should be shut. Ashdod Mayor Yechiel Lasri says, according to Times of Israel quoting a Haredi newspaper: “Shabbat prayers must not be held in synagogues where there is no protection... anyone who wants to pray should choose a synagogue that has [a bomb shelter].”
• 4:45 pm: We Tweeted this earlier today:

Everyone knows what's meant when we say "women and children first". Now pause to think what it means when the men of Hamas say it.

— This Ongoing War (@ThisOngoingWar) July 11, 2014

• 5:06 pm: Another rocket barrage on Ashkelon city and nearby area and Sha'ar Hanegev region at this moment [Ynet]. A few minutes earlier, Tzeva Adom in Sdot Negev and Sha'ar Hanegev
• 5:20 pm: Ynet reports that the IDF has fired smoke shells at empty areas of southern Gaza
• 6:00 pm: Again, a heavy wave of rockets across parts of Israel's south in the last few minutes
• 6:02 pm: Elhanan Miller in Times of Israel has an intriguing report: "Hamas has requested that citizens not share photos of rockets launched from residential areas in downtown Gaza lest Israel strike those areas. The ministry’s social media department published a video in Arabic Thursday containing guidelines for “cautious and effective” social media engagement on Facebook and Twitter during Operation Protective Edge. The ministry calls on residents to be wary of repeating Israeli “rumors,” and of adopting “the occupation’s narrative.” “Always doubt it and dispel it,” the video advises. “Beware of posting photos of missiles launched from the center of town directed at Israel. This is used as a pretext to strike residential areas in the Gaza Strip,” it continues.
• 6:50 pm: In the skies above Rishon Leziyon, Israel's shopping hub, two Hamas rockets are brought down by the great work of the Iron Dome crews and their machines [Ynet]. Channel 2 News is showing a rocket that landed on one of Rishon's streets just a few minutes ago. 

10-Jul-14: Thursday: Israeli life in the terrorists' crosshairs

At the Highway 5 security checkpoint today: sappers take
the suspect's car apart [Image Source: Ynet]

This is a continuation of our earlier Thursday post.

• There have been many rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns today - more than we can track and recount here.
• 3:00 pm: Signs that a serious terrorism attack has been foiled: A short time ago, Ynet reported that two Palestinian Arabs driving on one of Israel's major central arteries, Highway 5, in possession of "a makeshift explosive device", were detained at a security checkpoint and arrested today (Thursday). The suspicion is that he was en route to conduct a terror attack against Israelis. They found a gas cylinder with electrical wires protruding from it in the vehicle. "Sappers were alerted to the scene and security forces closed down the checkpoint." Times of Israel adds that explosives were found in the vehicle.
• 4:50 pm: The IDF, quoted by Times of Israel, says "84 rockets slammed into Israel since midnight, and 12 were intercepted by the Iron Dome. Six others were fired from the Gaza Strip but did not reach Israeli soil." We call that last category Fell Shorts, and have learned over the years that they sometimes kill Gazan Palestinian Arabs but are never reported in the mainstream media. GANSO, the European-funded service oriented to the needs of foreign workers in the Gazan NGO industry, reports Fell Shorts quite frequently. But Operation Protective Edge underway, and in accordance with their fairly obvious anti-Israel sentiments and pro-Hamas-regime bias, they have stopped reporting them, at least for now.
• 5:45 pm: Tzeva Adom in Sha'ar Hanegev region, and a home is reported to have been hit [Ynet]. Times of Israel says the home took a direct hit and has a photograph of the damage.
• 6:00 pm: Tzeva Adom sirens just now have brought Jerusalem to a stop. One Twitter report says four incoming rockets, two of which were intercepted by Iron Dome. UPDATE: Lazar Berman's Times of Israel update says the two rockets that were brought down by Iron Dome were intercepted over the village of Abu Ghosh which stands astride the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway just a kilometer from the entrance to the capital.
• 6:25 pm: An Arabic website has a brief video clip [here] recording either a rocket or a post-intercept rocket fragment impacting and exploding in a village near Ramallah, which is just a few kilometers north of Jerusalem. More details soon. 
• 6:30 pm: The Rotter,net site has an Arabic video clip [here] capturing the enthusiastic cheers of Arabs congregating outside the Damascus Gate (we know it as Sha'ar Shechem, in Hebrew) entrance to Jerusalem's Old City as the incoming rocket siren is being sounded across the city. For those of us building our families and our lives in this wonderful city, their joy is blood-chilling.  
• 6:30 pm Update: Many more rocket attacks in the south during the past half hour.
• 6:55 pm Rocket alerts (multiple) in Ashkelon
• 7:15 pm: Yoni Alper's (Hebrew) Facebook site is reporting that in Gaza, they're selling their people the message that in Jerusalem there are now some 30 wounded resulting from the cluster of rockets that descended on the nation's capital city a little over an hour ago. Assuming this is a form of psychological warfare, we're neither confirming nor denying the accuracy of what they say in Gaza. But Alper's headline (translated from שקרים בע"מ) is "Lies Incorporated".

Cameron Cardow cartoon from November 2012 [Image Source: The Cagle Post]

• 7:55 pm: A barrage of Gazan rockets has rained over many of Israel's southern communities in the past half hour. Ynet's bulletin reports them crashing into Be'er Sheva just now, with several people treated for shock; at 7:53 pm Tzeva Adom in Yavne, Lod, Ramla, Ness Ziona; at 7:49 Tzeva Adom in Rishon Lezion, Holon, Bat Yam; at 7:45 pm Tzeva Adom in Eshkol region; at 7:42 pm, initial reports of four people injured following rocket fire on Be'er Sheva; at 7:39 pm, Tzeva Adom throughout southern Israel; at 7:36 pm, Tzeva Adom in Mitzpe Ramon and Yeruham, desert communities located far from Gaza. More details to come.
• 7:58 pm: According to Ynet, the Iron Dome system has just now intercepted six rockets in the air over central Israel's Gush Dan region, which is where Tel Aviv is.
• 8:00 pm: Ynet says a barrage of some 20 long-range rockets was fired into the Negev from Gaza in the past minutes. We're waiting now for updates on what is happening in those Negev communities.
• 8:05 pm: Again from Ynet: Hamas is boasting of having fired 10 powerful long-range Grad rockets at Be'er Sheva. No confirmation at this stage.
• 8:10 pm: Times of Israel, in a despatch time-stamped 7:47 pm, reports that "Sirens blare in the Dan region, including Bat Yam and Holon, and in the city of Rishon Lezion. The Iron Dome intercepts at least one rocket."
• 8:42 pm: A Channel 2 (Israel) TV news report just now, which is running in the background as we work, makes the point that the blunting of the Hamas long-range rocket attacks via the Iron Dome system makes it essential, in Hamas eyes, that they pull off a showcase terror attack directed at Israelis. (No one reading this blog needs us to speculate for them on the specifics of what is conveyed by that idea.) 
• 8:45 pm: And while we're on the subject of massive terrorist actions, a reminder of what the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas, president of the "peace partner" Palestinian Authority, has been saying to the Arab world. This is from an AFP report yesterday:
  Headline: "Abbas: Israel committing 'genocide' in Gaza". Here's the text: "Agence France Presse | RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas accused Wednesday Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza during its military campaign which has so far killed 43 Palestinians. "It's genocide - the killing of entire families is genocide by Israel against our Palestinian people," he told a crisis meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. "What's happening now is a war against the Palestinian people as a whole and not against the (militant) factions. "We know that Israel is not defending itself, it is defending settlements, its main project," said Abbas."
• 8:56 pm: Channel 2, reporting from Ashdod, has just shown live video of what they estimated to be 9 incoming rockets, 7 of which are destroyed in mid-air by the Iron Dome system. It adds that a vehicle took a direct hit, and a person in the car is badly hurt (thankfully, that appears to have been refuted in the meantime). Times of Israel says there were no fewer than 20 rockets in the barrage just now, and 9 were stopped by Iron Dome. [Israel's Channel 2 can be accessed on-line via this link.]

Tonight in Ashdod: impact site of one of the rockets [Image Source: Ynet]

Ashdod: A residence took a hit tonight [Image Source: Ynet]

• 10:20 pm: In the midst of one of the most serious outbreaks of fighting in a generation, official Israeli channels presided yesterday (Wednesday) over the delivery into Gaza via overland crossing from Israel of 94 freight truck loads of a variety of vital goods along with 106 tons of gas [source]. These were delivered through the Kerem Shalom Crossing. Arrangements like these are a mostly-unpublicized daily matter, managed by COGAT on the Israeli side, and the Coordination and Liaison Administration on the Gaza side. What's COGAT? "The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Unit is subordinated to the Minister of Defense and is part of the General Staff. The unit carries out and implements civilian policy of the Government of Israel in the West Bank and vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip in coordination and conjunction with the Prime Minister's Office, other government ministries, the security forces and the IDF General Staff." Yesterday's delivery (including 1,200 tons of food, 290,000 litres of fuel) was smaller in scope than the average traffic into Gaza (as we noted in this post a while back: "4-Mar-13: Trucks filled with food and essential goods are lined up outside Gaza. Would it surprise you to know the role that money plays in this?" But on the whole, we think it's not so shabby given the way the rockets were whizzing by overhead and the general circumstances.
• 10:30 pm: Flights into and out of Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv are, says Ynet, "experiencing delays due to changing IAF directives on the closure of Israeli air space. "We call on the public to check for updates from their airline," the Israel Airport Authority said."

Writing this from a Jerusalem hospital ward where a sick relative is being cared for. Taking a short break now.

9-Jul-14: Wednesday afternoon log

Ashdod: Vehicle struck by a Gazan missile
[Image Source]

The rocket attacks keep coming and the life of a vibrant society continues to be conducted here in Israel despite the intense challenges. This post is updated as often as we can manage as the day's events happen. (It follows on from this earlier post.)

• 2:10 pm: Two incoming rockets were intercepted in the skies over Kiryat Gat in the past few minutes, according to Ynet. In additionto the thousands of homes in the area, some significant civilian businesses are located there.
• 2:20 pm: Haaretz says multiple Gazan rockets were intercepted in mid-air over Sderot and Kiryat Gat.
• 2:45 pm: Reports of Hamas claiming to have fired at Haifa. No indication that they either say they hit it or that it was in fact hit. There are also reports (including via Haaretz) of Tzeva Adom rocket sirens being heard in the Zichron Yaakov area on the Israeli coast north of Tel Aviv about 110 km north of Gaza. UPDATE: Haaretz now says two rockets crashed and exploded in open areas near Zichron Yaakov, injuring one person. That's the furthest north those Hamas rockets have reached so far. Haaretz says the rockets are probably M-302 rockets, "the same make that struck Hadera on Tuesday. On March 5, Israeli naval forces intercepted the Klos-C, a ship carrying 40 Syrian M-302 rockets from Iran to the Gaza Strip."
• 2:55 pm: Additional rockets intercepted in the skies above Sderot (Haaretz).
• 3:15 PM: Anshel Pfeffer from Haaretz tweets: "Media lesson from Op. Cast Lead #Israel allowing foreign journos into #Gaza - Government prefers unfriendly reports to rumors of "genocide"
• 4:05 pm: Tzeva Adom - Ashkelon city, and the Hof Ashkelon region (some details at this Hebrew-language forum)
• 4:15 pm: Tzeva Adom - Bnei Shimon and Merchavim regions (more details here for Hebrew readers)
• 4:45 pm: Tzeva Adom, according to Times of Israel, in the city of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem
• 5:00 pm: The IDF is claiming [Haaretz] an extraordinary impact for its Iron Dome anti-missile system: which "is activated only when the rockets fired by Palestinian militants at Israel appear likely to hit populated areas. It has been activated to intercept about 27 percent of the approximately 180 rockets fired between Monday night and midday Wednesday. Of the times when Iron Dome was activated, it successfully intercepted the rockets nearly 90 percent of the time, and there have been few rocket hits or serious injuries. The success of the defense system marks an improvement over the 84 percent success rate during Operation Pillar of Defense."
• 5:05 pm: Times of Israel reports that Iron Dome brings down a rocket over the central Dan region. Another in the same area is believed to have crashed in an open area. Immediately before, the Tzeva Adom sirens were heard in Bat Yam and Holon, two satellite cities of Greater Tel Aviv.
• 5:30 pm: At Haaretz, they are now reporting that 6 mortars were fired into the Eshkol region.
• 5:30 Tzeva Adom in Sdot Negev and Sha'ar HaNegev regions
• 5:40 pm: At Rehovot's Kaplan Medical Center, patients from the cardiology and intensive care wards are now being moved to fortified rooms because of the Gazan rocket fire [source]
• 6:00 pm: Haaretz quotes sources in the IDF saying they have bombed 31 tunnels in Gaza since this (Wednesday) morning, plus 60 concealed rocket launchers and rocket storage sites, and 12 buildings used as command centers by the forces at work in Gaza.
• 6:05 pm: Mahmoud Abbas, the "moderate" Fatah chief and president of the Palestinian Authority, is quoted this evening by the AFP newsagency in a syndicated news report in which he says Israel's actions in attacking Gaza amount to genocide. And let's be clear about this: Mahmoud Abbas knows about genocide. "Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza during its military campaign which has so far killed 43 Palestinians. "It's genocide -- the killing of entire families is genocide by Israel against our Palestinian people," he told a crisis meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah."
• 6:10 pm: At Ynet, they say there has been a massive rocket attack on the Eshkol region in the past hour: 9 rockets in total, and there is some serious damage.

The firing has not taken a break but we have, to go take care of family matters.

9-Jul-14: Wednesday in the target zone

File photo: IDF servicemen firing an
Iron Dome intercept rocket [Image Source: UPI]

We're away from anything resembling a desk and working on a small tablet. So apologies in advance for the limitations this imposes on our posts. We plan to keep updating this one at intervals during the day when circumstances allow.

• 07:30 am: A status update from the IDF says the number of Gazan rockets fired at Israel since January 1, 2014 is 450. Everyone knows the impact of a number like that is close to zero; it's beyond normal human empathy to think in such terms because, while a single rocket attack that you personally endure causes you to quake with fear, 450 of them happening to other people is really just a number.
• 08:05 am: Incoming rocket warning is now being heard in Sderot. How people who live there cope is beyond us.
• 08:18 am: Tzeva Adom now in Sha'ar HaNegev region, yet again.
• 08:35 am: IDF spokesperson says more rockets heading into Tel Aviv now. It's morning rush hour. See Tweet. Other parts of Israel's metropolitan area also hearing sirens. [Around 9:00 am, the IDF says two in-bound Gazan rockets were intercepted in mid-flight thanks to Iron Dome. Fair to assume they were en route to inflict serious damage.]
• 09:00 Tzeva Adom being heard now in Merhavim region of the northern Negev. And 3 minutes later also in Eshkol region.
• 09:20 am: There's a very timely reminder to us Israelis - those of us able to read news reports in between running to shelters and checking in to see that family members are alright in these angst-inducing times - of how we ought to be improving ourselves. The invaluable insight comes from an authority by the name of Philip Gordon, President Obama's special assistant and White House coordinator for the Middle East. Israelis, he declared yesterday at a conference in Tel Aviv as dozens of rockets were fired at our homes, "should not take for granted the opportunity to negotiate... a peace with Abbas, who has shown time and again that he’s committed to non-violence and co-existence and cooperation with Israel.” He made clear that we're actually guilty of worse than "taking for granted". In his words: “How will Israel remain democratic and Jewish if it attempts to govern the millions of Palestinian Arabs who live in the West Bank? How will it have peace if it’s unwilling to delineate a border, end the occupation and allow for Palestinian sovereignty, security and dignity? How will we prevent other states from supporting Palestinian efforts in international bodies, if Israel is not seen as committed to peace?” [Source]   How indeed? Thankfully the Obama administration with its endless run of Middle East and Eastern Europe successes is here to guide us.
• 10:05 am: Several rounds of Tzeva Adom sirens in Ashdod and Ashkelon vicinities. Scant details at this stage of what has happened on the ground but there does appear to be damage.
• 10:30 am: Some interesting issues raised in an article on the Al-Monitor site, written in Gaza, on how the Palestinian case is doing in the media (title: "Palestinian press losing media war in current crisis") while the utterly-indiscriminate rocket fire keeps raining down on our homes and cafes, here. Did we say interesting issues? Actually it provides some insights into the delusional spinning that is a necessary part of running a mini-state on the principles of jihad and child abuse.
• 11:00 am: From AFP: "Jordan calls for immediate halt to air strikes | Jordan, one of just two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, has demanded an immediate halt to deadly Israeli air raids against Gaza. Government spokesman Mohammad Momani said that the raids that killed more than 20 Palestinians in purported response to rocket fire that has killed no one in Israel were "barbaric". Jordan "condemns the military aggression that Israel has launched in the Gaza Strip" and calls for "its immediate halt", Mr Momani said. He said the "barbaric aggression" had "negative repercussions on the Gaza Strip and the whole region".
• 11:30 am: Thanks to Adam Levick for pointing us to this sharp takedown of certain voices of "peace" in these peace-free days through which we are passing. It's from David Suissa, posted early this morning in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal. The whole piece ["The honesty of war"] is thought-provoking and unforgiving, which is a highly appropriate standpoint in view of all that is happening. Here's an extract: "There’s something about war that can make intelligent people look foolish. I’m thinking right now of all those smart people in Tel Aviv who analyzed the subtleties of peace at the Haaretz Peace Conference—only a few hours before Jew-hating terrorists from Hamas began firing rockets all over Israel. I wonder if they even considered having a session at the conference called, “What happens when people want to kill you no matter what you do?” That session might have included, for example, a panel of experts discussing the Hamas Charter, which calls for “the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.” But there was no such panel at the conference. Instead, they had exclusive contributions from important people like President Barack Obama, who expressed the well-worn mantra of the sophisticated man: “Peace is the only true path to security” ...The Middle East is one of those places where you can’t always rely on the thinking of sophisticated, intelligent people – it’s a place where the brutality of life creates its own dynamic, its own logic, its own rules."
• 11:50 am: Two additional rounds of rocket sirens within a couple of minutes of each other in the Eshkol region, very close to the Gaza fence.
• 12 noon: The Tzeva Adom system reports another hail of rockets in the Lachish region. Times of Israel says Ashdod and Be'er Tuvia as well.
• 12:10 pm: Tzeva Adom in Hof Ashkelon
• 12:25 pm: Tzeva Adom in Eshkol region.
• 12:45 pm: Times of Israel says incoming rocket sirens being heard yet again in Hof Ashkelon region.
• 12:55 pm: Again, Tzeva Adom in Eshkol region.
• 1:00 pm: From Iran via the AFP newsagency, some constructive ideas about how to address terror-fixated jihadists: "Iran urges end to 'human catastrophe' in Gaza | AFP Published 07.09.14, 12:15 | TEHRAN - Iran's foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip, calling on the West to urge the Jewish state to prevent a "human catastrophe." "We are, unfortunately, witnessing the escalation of savage aggression by the Zionists in recent days against the innocent and defenseless people of Palestine," said ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham. Iran calls on "Western countries and supporters of the Zionist regime (to) take firm a stance and prevent a human catastrophe and stop the attacks," she added, while questioning an "unrealistic excuse of the kidnapping of three Zionist settlers..."
• 1:20 pm: Tzeva Adom is heard in Sderot.
• 1:25 pm: The vaunted "moderates" of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization want the Arabic-speaking world to know they too, and not only their jihad-minded rivals in Hamas and the like, are fully engaged in serving up rockets to the Israelis. This is reported by Khaled Abu Toameh in another revealing piece of his on the Gatestone Institute site today:
  "Fatah has several hundred militiamen in the Gaza Strip, some of whom are members of the Palestinian Authority security forces, who continue to receive their salaries from Western governments. At least two Fatah armed groups announced that they had started firing rockets at the "settlements" of Ashkelon and Sderot, cities inside the pre-1967 borders of Israel, with another Fatah group claiming responsibility for firing 35 rockets into Israel since Sunday. So far as Abbas is concerned, "it all started when Israel fired back" in response to hundred of rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip during the last few days. [But] he seems concerned that if the world hears about the role of Fatah in the rocket attacks, the news will affect Western financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by Fatah."
• 1:35 pm: From Times of Israel, this mid-day summary. Forty rockets have been fired from Gaza so far today up until 1:00 pm. (Yesterday's full-day total was 160.) The defensive Iron Dome system succeeded in intercepting eight of today's rockets in mid-flight. We assume that's a statistic that implies many saved lives. In the right hands, super-advanced technology has the power of the divine.
• 1:50 pm: Tzeva Adom again, heard in Kiryat Gat and Hof Ashkelon regions.

Closing this post now and about to open a new one.

8-Jul-14: A torrent of incoming rockets

Thankfully it's quiet outside now. From Times of Israel in the past few minutes (it's now a little after 10:00 pm Tuesday night):

Israel just underwent a massive volley of some 30 rockets, with sirens blaring in southern Israel and as far north as Binyamina, as well as in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Several rockets were reported shot down by Iron Dome, but shrapnel from an interception causes damage to a wedding hall in Ashdod where nuptials are taking place. No injuries reported. In Jerusalem conflicting reports indicate rockets may have been shot down or impacted outside the city. Residents report hearing a series of three explosions.

A  Berry Sakharof musical concert underway at the Sultan's Pool outdoor amphitheatre in Jerusalem, next to the walls of the Old City, was interrupted and the 6,000 people attending were evacuated [Ynet].

Israel's Channel 2 TV station is providing non-stop news coverage with plenty of on-location views. They screened a striking video showing a torrent of perhaps thirty rockets dispatched by the terror-masters of Gaza, piercing the skies over Israel en route to any possible target. (The jihadists don't care who or what.)

If it's true (we don't know at this stage) that Binyamina was hit, that would validate Hamas' claims that they can strike virtually any location in Israel from their Gazan vipers' nest. Binyamina is close to Haifa, on Israel's northern coast.

Here in Jerusalem, the municipal authorities have just announced that the city's public bomb shelters are being opened up in the next few hours. Their location will be posted on the municipal website. Their official notification goes on to say:

The municipality also recommends that residents open their private shelters. In the case of a siren or explosion, residents should go to the closest protected area within a minute and a half and close all doors and windows and stay indoors for 10 minutes. All residents are asked to continue to listen to instructions from the Home Front Command. As of now, all municipal events will take place as scheduled.

The Home Front Command has followed that decision up now by issuing a directive that public shelters in the Sharon area, the city of Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem, and the communties of Israel's coastal plain be opened up.

Ynet says a residence in the Jerusalem area's Mateh Yehuda region suffered a hit in the past hour's attack. More details when we have them.

7-Jul-14: And now a night in the life...

We will be updating this post as Monday evening wears on.

• Around 8:30 pm, Tzeva Adom siren warnings are heard in a huge swathe of the country including (in no particular order) Ashdod, Nes Ziona, Rehovot, Kiryat Malachi, Beer Tuvia, Kibbutz Brenner, Gederot, Beit Shemesh, Kibbutz Gezer, Gan Raveh, the Yavneh region, Har Hevron area, Hof Ashkelon, Lachish, Nahal Sorek and Emek Hefer. That list includes places that can legitimately be thought of as the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
• In the Ashdod attacks, we know of one person lightly injured by shrapnel. 
• Haaretz's rocket/mortar count for the day has reached 70. Not much expectation that it is going to taper off without something decisive from the Israeli side.
• A Haaretz report around 9:00 pm makes the astounding statement that the Iron Dome system has just made seven mid-flight rocket intercepts over Ashdod and five over Netivot. This is serious fire. 
• 9:00 pm: An estimated 60 rockets were fired into Israel during the past hour alone. Hamas takes credit (source: Times of Israel). 
• Seven people are treated for shock in the wake of this latest rocket barrage, according to Israel's Channel 2 TV news which also reports Israeli air activity in southern Israel's skies.
• The US State Department says "the US condemns rocket fire from Gaza and supports Israel's right to defend itself". Astonishingly, this does not slow down the incoming rockets.
• 9:20 pm: Incoming-rocket warnings again, this time Hof Ashkelon and Eshkol regions.
• From the BBC, background on Israel's version of what ended the careers of several Hamas terrorists today: "Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said the tunnel where the men died had been bombarded on Thursday. He said the militants were killed as they went into the tunnel on Sunday to assess the damage and meddled with some explosives, which were apparently detonated accidentally. The Israeli military believes the militants planned to use the tunnels to infiltrate Israel, kill or abduct residents of nearby communities and troops."
• A Tweet just now from NGO Monitor's Prof. Gerald Steinberg (@GeraldNGOM) reminds @HRW @amnesty @btselem @EUinIsrael @kenroth that 65 rockets from Gaza, directed at Israeli civilians, amount to 65 war crimes. The silence from the highly-politicized, self-appointed guardians of human rights is considerably more eloquent than their carefully framed occasional crocodile-tear expressions of regret and sympathy when Israeli victims unavoidably need to be addressed. And in case they want to hide behind professed doubt as to who is doing the rocket firings, Haaretz's Jack Khoury reports that Hamas is proud to take full credit tonight.

• And newsagency reports say the same.
• Train travel throughout Israel's south is severely impacted by today's fighting. Many train services are cancelled (Ynet).
• A guest at an outdoor wedding in Netivot tonight (outdoor weddings suit our climate well) captured a video clip of a Hamas rocket being destroyed in mid-flight. Check it out even if Hebrew's not your first language.
• 9:45 pm Another incoming rocket report from Sderot and Sha'ar Hanegev regions, followed a few minutes later by reports from the same two places plus Hof Ashkelon. No reports yet of results on the ground.
• 10:00 pm: In Ashdod, all school classes for tomorrow are canceled. And at Be'er Sheva's Ben Gurion University of the Negev, they have just announced that exams set for tomorrow are postponed until further notice. Same goes for Sapir Academic College in Sderot.
• 10:20 pm Physical damage in the wake of an incoming Gazan rocket that crashed into the Yoav region.
• Around 10:30 pm, says Times of Israel, the Iron Dome system brings down another in-flight Gazan rocket. This one was pointed at Sderot. Three others land crashed and exploded in open areas in Sha'ar HaNegev region and near Sderot.
• A Grad rocket crashed and exploded somewhere close to Kiryat Malachi. There's damage.
• The national ambulance service, Magen David Adom, is now officially on high alert in central and southern Israel. Further Gazan attacks are expected overnight and they need to be ready.
• At Soroka Medical Center, the Be'er Sheva hospital that serves a huge area in Israel's south including (naturally) a very high percentage of Arabs, and is reputed to have more births each year than any other Israeli hospital, they announced in the last hour [Hebrew report] that all preemie babies and newborns have been moved urgently to rocket-protected parts of the hospital buildings. There's no statistical breakdown of the respective number of Moslem, Christian and Jewish mothers/babies because, being Israel, that has no relevance to anything worth talking about.
• Rock-throwing Arabs from Beit Safafa, a generally quiet West Jerusalem neighbourhood, have been causing serious problems ronight for drivers and for the police [Hebrew report]. 
• Acknowledging the way the social media and the Internet can mould people's perceptions, and sometimes manipulate them, a BBC article tonight points out that many of the most-widely circulating images purporting to show Gaza in flames are fakes. "A #BBCtrending investigation has found that many of these images are not from the latest conflict and not even from Gaza. Some date as far back as 2009 and others are from conflicts in Syria and Iraq."
• 11:00 pm Another round of incoming-missile siren warnings from the IDF's Tzeva Adom system. Awaiting details from the areas impacted, principally Sderot and Sha'ar Hanegev. 
• 11:25 pm Yet another rocket attack on Sderot (perhaps on other places too). This one must have been on-course to do real harm because the Iron Dome system was deployed again, and intercepted one of those rockets in mid-flight. The bad news is that the thugs with the rockets have far, far more rockets than Israel has anti-rockets. At Times of Israel they quote Yaakov Amidror, former national security adviser: Hamas has “about 10,000 rockets” in its arsenal (he tells Channel 2) and “we may be in for many more nights” of rocket attacks. And the "good" news? Hamas “does not have any kind of game-changing Doomsday weapon” so we can breathe... easier?
• 11:50 pm Tzeva Adom sirens sounding in Hof Ashkelon region.
• 12:30 am More Jerusalem area clashes tonight involving Arab neighbourhoods - this time Beit Hanina on Jerusalem's north side where some of the locals are hurling firebombs at police.
• 12:30 am Tzeva Adom siren warnings again, and they're unlikely to be the last of the night, being heard now in Hof Ashkelon region again.
• 12:35 am Initial and unconfirmed report [Hebrew] of a shooting attack in a Jewish neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.