20-Dec-15: Sunday evening rocket volley is fired into northern Israel

Following the demise of a notorious terrorist earlier today, there has just now been a rocket volley fired into northern Israel. Israel National News says:

At least three rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, the army has confirmed. Air raid sirens sounded in communities throughout the western Galilee in northern Israel, at 17:42 local time Sunday, including in Rosh Hanikra and Nahariya. Locals report hearing at least one explosion; three rockets struck within Israel. There are no reports of injury or damage. IDF forces are scanning the area. The strikes follow Hezbollah vowing revenge for the assassination of its notorious commander Samir Kuntar, in what is believed to have been an Israeli airstrike near Damascus.

There were four incoming rockets, according to Times of Israel. It quotes Lebanon’s Naharnet saying that

two rockets were fired at Israel from the al-Hinniyeh area and two others were fired from Tal al-Maaliyeh. Some reports suggest one rocket landed in the sea. There are also initial reports of IDF artillery fire into Lebanon following the attack. There is no official confirmation of a counterattack...[A]t least one rocket landed in an open area near Nahariya. It’s not clear where the other two landed. “Forces are searching the area,” the IDF says in a statement. There are no reports of injuries or damage.

We noticed at least one Western reporter, tweeting here, who said this morning that Syrian state media had blamed "a hostile terrorist missile strike," and not Israel, for the elimination of Kuntar. In any event, no government, and certainly not Israel, has owned up to any involvement at this stage.

UPDATE - Monday, December 21, 2015: Times of Israel says communal bomb shelters are now operating in several northern Israel communities following the Sunday night multiple-rocket attacks. The Israeli assessment is that three rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon, with all three landing near Shlomi, a small town near the Lebanese border. Inbound-rocket sirens were heard across a broad swathe of the northern border area. UNIFIL radars detected three rockets being launched and one of them landing in the sea, according to the IDF. Credit for the attack has been claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a Syria-based Palestinian terror group. There are so far no reports of injuries or damage from the rocket strikes. A Lebanese source quoted by AFP says the rockets were Katyushas.

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.

22-Jul-08: The once and future child murderer

Today's Jerusalem Post (for Tuesday 22nd July 2008) carries this op-ed by one of this blog's two authors. It's also published online by the Jerusalem Post. Additional background about the murderer mentioned in Frimet Roth's article can be found on the website that honors the memory of her daughter.

The once and future child murderer | Jul. 21, 2008 | Frimet Roth | The Jerusalem Post

With the specter of another Ron Arad-type tragedy looming, the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit has taken center stage. Yet the impending prisoner release could spell a hero's welcome for my daughter's murderer, one even more chilling than that for Samir Kuntar.

Hamas has repeatedly said that one of its iron-clad conditions for Schalit's return is the release of all female and teenage Palestinian prisoners. And after Hizbullah's emboldening success in freeing Kuntar, Hamas is certain to be more extortionist than ever. But the government must plumb the ramifications of this purportedly "humanitarian" demand.

WHO ARE those anonymous female terrorists? And for what crimes are they imprisoned?

Women have acquired enviable status in the world of terrorism. They enjoy the best of both genders. On the one hand, their organizations deem them strong enough and clever enough to mastermind, coordinate and execute terror attacks. Then, once convicted, they morph into delicate, fragile creatures deserving early release by dint of their femininity.

In October 2003, Ahlam Tamimi was sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences for her role in the terror bombing of Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant. Fifteen men, women and children perished in that explosion on a hot August afternoon in 2001.

Tamimi, a communications student and a television news reader for the Palestinian Authority, was the linchpin of that atrocity. She had the prior practical experience of planting a bomb in a trash bin at a Jerusalem supermarket, one that was detected before it detonated. Tamimi was not apprehended at the time.

Several months later, she tried again. This time, she carried 10 kg. of explosives concealed in a guitar case. Izzaddin al-Masri, the suicide bomber, sat beside her in a taxi until they neared the Israeli checkpoint. Exiting alone, he approached the Israeli soldiers empty-handed. He sailed through the security check.

Meanwhile Tamimi, 23, attractive, dressed in Western-style clothing and chatting in English, aroused no suspicion. She passed unhampered through the Kalandiya checkpoint on Jerusalem's edge.

Once inside Israel, Masri got back into the taxi. He rode with Tamimi to the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, and from there they walked together into west Jerusalem. At the intersection of Jaffa Road and King George Avenue in the city's center stood Sbarro, a pizza restaurant. Why Tamimi selected it as the target is not hard to figure: On that vacation afternoon, it was filled with women and children.

In separating from her "weapon," Tamimi asked Masri to wait 15 minutes before detonating the bomb. She wanted to be far enough from the explosion to escape unscathed. He complied.

DURING THESE past five years, Tamimi has received all the perks that the Prisons Service offers: the right to dress in clothes of her choice, the right to visitors, the right to socialize with fellow prisoners, the right to decorate her cell as she sees fit, the right to study, the right to practice her religion and the right to wed (she recently married a male terrorist murderer, her cousin Nizar Tamimi). Tamimi has also been permitted two interviews. The first, in March 2006, was reported in the press. The second was videotaped and included in an award-winning documentary film, Hothouse. Some of the film's reviews, including one in The New York Times, featured a glamorous, smiling photograph of Tamimi.

I have tried to detect signs of suffering during Tamimi's five years of imprisonment - but in vain.

Nor has a hint of remorse surfaced. During her Hothouse interview, Tamimi learned that her act cost the lives of eight children, rather than the five she had believed died. She smiled upon hearing the updated tally.

In the first interview she had declared: "I'm not sorry for what I did. We'll become free from the occupation, and then I will be free from prison." Israel's past willingness to release convicted terrorists has made them confident of an early release.

TAMIMI IS no anomaly in the world of terrorism. At the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in 2006, Juliette Shedd of George Mason University delivered a study entitled "Understanding Female Terrorists: An Analysis of Motivation and Media Representation". She culled myriad reasons that terrorist organizations avidly recruit women:

Terrorist organizations play upon the stereotypes of women to achieve their goals; popular opinion considers women as victims of violence... rather than perpetrators... The lore that arises around female terrorists can also provide an advantage... Because women are often not part of the terrorist 'profile,' they are able to get through security check points... and can provide cover for male terrorists by assuming mother or girlfriend roles...

Women... often display ruthlessness, dominance, and calm under pressure... In fact, 'shoot the women first' is reportedly an instruction given to counterterrorist recruits in West Germany and other Interpol squads...

A mystique also arises around female terrorists... There is a general sense that women are more likely to receive the media attention needed... In addition, women seem to inspire the question 'Why?'... journalists search for explanations for the violent activities of women [providing] a venue for the terrorist group to spread their message.

Writing in a 2006 academic study by the Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz's special correspondent for Arab affairs, pointed out that "the lives of female suicide terrorists are no less tragic than those of male suicide bombers, yet the media accords women more sympathy and treats them with kid gloves."

WE ISRAELIS need to stop using lines like: "No price is too high to free our captive soldiers" or, as Minister-without-Portfolio Ami Ayalon put it last week: "Returning the abducted soldiers is above all else." Such assertions are hackneyed and patently false. Plainly there are demands with which no civilized government would comply.

If, for instance, Hamas instructed us to execute one Israeli child to gain Gilad Schalit's freedom, would we? Is releasing a mass child murderer, able and eager to kill more Jewish children, very different from that?

On the morning that the returned hostages Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were buried, Defense Minister Ehud Barak intimated that there is a red line when he said: "We will do everything that is possible and appropriate to bring Schalit home." But did he mean it?

Before the early release of an "ordinary" murderer, the judicial system ensures that the victims' voices are heard. Yet in the context of terrorist murders, the only concession to families of the victims is the publication - a mere 48 hours prior to the release - of the names of the prisoners being set free. Furthermore, the High Court has never once granted a terror victim's petition to block such a release.

Nevertheless, Smadar Haran, the wife and mother of Samir Kuntar's victims, revealed last week that her wishes had been factored into past government calculations. Even as she expressed her approval of Kuntar's release, she told the nation she had lobbied tirelessly to keep him behind bars for 27 years. She was motivated, she said, by a sense of duty to her murdered loved ones.

I also feel an obligation to my daughter Malki to do everything I can to keep her murderer behind bars. And the rest of Israel owes the same obligation to Tamimi's future targets - their own children.

---

The writer and her husband founded the Malki Foundation (www.kerenmalki.org) in memory of their daughter, murdered in the Sbarro restaurant massacre in Jerusalem in 2001. The foundation provides concrete support for Israeli families of all faiths who care at home for a special-needs child.

16-Jul-08: So what's the right way to relate to a freed psychopathic thug?

What's the right way to describe the Lebanese man called Kuntar, an unrepentant convicted murderer of children, a vile terrorist serving a 542-year prison sentence, a thug who swears that as soon as he is free he will seek out his next murder victims?

That really depends on who you are.

A columnist for the Haaretz newspaper wrote this week that he is "a monster convicted of a crime so brutal that even the designation terrorist is too good for him". On an earlier occasion, the same writer said Kuntar "may never have deserved a life."

A columnist writing in The Atlantic magazine said Kuntar "is perhaps the most terrible person held in an Israeli prison, a man who crushed the skull of a Jewish child against a rock. Sometimes, these prisoner exchanges don't seem worth it."

How true that is can be seen in a Pakistani paper today that quotes someone from Hamas saying "there was no reason to soften its demands in light of the heavy price that Israel agreed to pay in its deal with the Lebanese group Hizbullah. "

The same thought had occurred to us.

Some people might be surprised to know that the "moderate" leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, odiously and publicly "extended congratulations" today to the killer’s family on his being "liberated".

Actual 'moderate' quotation: "He [Abbas] extends his congratulations to the family of Samir Kantar, the dean of Arab prisoners, and the families of the other released prisoners".

It's plain that Abbas wants people to know he's delighted that Kuntar is back on the streets.

Ismail Haniyeh, the slightly-less-moderate leader of the globally-outlawed Hamas regime in Gaza, says the child-killer is "a great hero".

Additional words are unnecessary. Kuntar delivers the goods. Period.

The killer's brother says getting him out of jail is "a historical achievement". You'd expect him to say that. But in Ramallah, heartland of Palestinian-Arab "moderation" and ground-zero for the in-pouring of massive quantities of foreign aid from Western Europe to the enlightened PA government, Mahmoud Abbas's own Fatah party organized a celebratory rally. "This is an historic victory over Israeli arrogance," says Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a top Fatah official and official advisor to the "moderate" Abbas.

Many ordinary Palestinian Arabs feel so uplifted by Kuntar's story that they are reported to be distributing candy in the streets in honour of his release from prison. This is not to be taken for granted; Palestinian towns already have too many child-killers walking their streets. But this one, perhaps because of his having bashed a four year-old Jewish child's head to pieces on rocks and killing her after first murdering her father in cold blood in front of her eyes, is special. He's a successful, authentic role model.

The government of Lebanon, a genuine member of the family of nations, a seat-holder at the UN, a sovereign state with its own flag and postage stamps and everything, officially rolled out the red carpet. Its government declared Wednesday to be an official public holiday. It's simply incredible to us that three of its most prominent politicians - Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri - are going to provide an honour guard to celebrate the return of the child-murderer. Have Lebanese everywhere swallowed their moral compass? Where's their outrage? Have they no pride? Don't they care what this says about them?

As for Kuntar himself, a graduate of an Israeli university (tertiary studies are routinely made available for free to terrorists in Israeli prisons), let's give him a moment to help us understand why those who support him are so enthusiastic.

In Kuntar's own words:

"I give you my promise and oath that my only place will be in the fighting front soaked with the sweat of your giving and with the blood of the shahids (martyrs), the dearest people, and that I will continue your way until we reach a full victory."

And this:

"I return today from Palestine, but believe me, I return to Lebanon only in order to return to Palestine".

He means it and he needs to be believed. His credibility is not in question.

The Chinese newsagency Xinhua accurately terms Kuntar a "convicted Lebanese killer". Sky News refers to him correctly and properly as a "Lebanese terrorist". But cooler, more mature, heads, like those at the cooler, more mature BBC, see things differently. The BBC has long referred to Kuntar as a "Lebanese militant" who was imprisoned because of his involvement in a "deadly guerrilla raid". Agence France Press news service, constitutionally incapable of attaching "terrorist" to the terrorist's name, also calls him a militant. And Associated Press can't bring itself to call the murderer anything more pointed than "Lebanese gunman".

We'll let Smadar Haran-Kaiser's words close this entry with a cold dose of water in our faces. Mrs Haran-Kaiser was a wife and the mother of two little girls aged 4 and 2 when Kuntar thrust himself into her apartment and her life in 1979. She has lived with the deaths of all three for the past 29 years. She watched the man who erased her loved ones walk to freedom this morning.

"This man, he is more than a killer to us, he is a symbol of the viciousness, the brutality, the hatred, of this fight against us. The demands for his freedom expose the evil faces from behind the mask, and show we cannot trust these people."

So sad. So true. How can it be that so many people fail to understand this? How can the lessons of terror be so consistently ignored, forgotten, twisted and misunderstood?

And who really pays the price?