STANDING FOWARD TO SERVE

Standing Forward to Serve

Tens of thousands of reservists have been mobilized. Under normal circumstances some of them must be abroad, others sick, still others can't be bothered and will find some plausible excuse to get them off, and so on. They're all in the middle of their normal lives, and would prefer not to be torn away from their studies, vocations, families and routines to go and get shot at by fanatic murderers.

The army knows all this, which is why reserve units generally call up a larger number of men than they'll really need, and balance the numbers.

The news broadcast earlier this evening (sorry, no link) told that more than 100% have responded, including many who weren't called but came; hundreds have been sent home.

Although additional units are still be called up. Meir called a couple hours ago to say he's been told to expect to be called later this week.

Bloggers who google until they find obscure sources that prove Israeli's resolve is flagging, take note.

taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

TENTH OF TEVET : ON DETERMINATION AND RESOLVE

Tenth of Tevet: On Determination and Resolve

Today is the 10th of Tevet, the Hebrew month which according to the ancient, Biblical way of counting, is the tenth month of the year. As in

And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. (Jeremiah 52 verse 4)

If you prefer to use the Gregorian calender, that would have been January, 588 years before the counting began. After six months of siege Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed. Later it was rebuilt, and served as the center of the Jewish world for another 600-some years. I don't know when the tradition marking the Tenth of Tevet as a day of fasting and mourning began, but the Talmud gives Rabbi Akiva's opinion on it, and he was in the first generation after the destruction of the Second Temple, say, about the year 100 (though no-one was counting that way yet).

One way or the other, this Tenth day of Tevet has been a day of fasting and communal mourning for more than 1,900 years, commemorating an event that happened 2,597 years ago, about a mile from where I sit right now.

I'm not going theological on you, don't worry. There are religious blogs out there of all sorts and types, some of them make for interesting reading, but this isn't one of them. This is a political blog written by a lapsed historian. As a historian, it's interesting to note living traditions with pedigree of millenia. Especially when they have such burning urgency to them.

For 1,700 years most Jews fasted on the tenth of Tevet. Occasionally they'd add a layer of meaning to the day. One was as the annual day of commemoration for anyone whose date of death was unknown. In the late 1940s hundreds of thousands of Jews needed it, and the Tenth of Tevet became an early version of Holocaust Commemoration day. Yet it was preferred mostly by orthodox Jews, who needed a day on which to say Kaddish. Secular Jews who didn't feel that need, didn't relate to the date, and after a number of years of fascinating political haggling the Knesset enacted Yom Hashoah, the official Holocaust Commemoration Day. The Haredi still prefer the Tenth of Tevet.

The story of the Tenth of Tevet demonstrates one of the supreme ironies of Jewish history: that for almost 2,000 years it was religious belief that preserved the dream of returning to the ancestral homeland, using many traditions including fast days for mourning long-long-gone events; no sooner had majority of Jews modified or abandoned their religious tradition it was secular Jews who invented Zionism and determined to come back (though of course there had been some Jews here all along).

A blog post is the wrong place to describe how all that happened, but it actually can be summed up very pithily. The Jews are the longest-living cultural group in the world except perhaps the Chinese; unlike the Chinese they spent long periods spread as a minority in many lands, often (though not always) under severe persecution. The reason they survived was because they were determined.

Here's how it works on this Tenth Day of Tevet, 2009.


---------------------------------------

Last night we went to hear a lecture by a retired medical professor with whom I'm friendly, in spite of his being 30 years my senior. His theme was the contribution of German academia to the crimes of Nazism. As the public came in we chatted, and I asked if I'd see his son, Efraim, a 40-year-old budding history professor whom I taught when he was in high-school. No, he told me, his voice quivering, Efraim (a father of four) has been called up with his reserve paratroop unit, and they're preparing to join the younger men in Gaza.

When he got up he started by dedicating his lecture to the memory of his father, Efraim, who had been murdered in Budapest on the tenth of Tevet, 1945.

About 11:30 this morning, as I was leaving a meeting, my wife called: Nitai Stern was killed in Gaza last night. 12 or 13 years ago Achikam and Nitai had been best friends, who often spent the nights at each others house, talking for hours after bedtime. They went to different high schols, and eventually we moved to a different part of town and they drifted apart, but Achikam still often goes back to the old neighborhood and Nitai was still part of his old group. Achikam can't go to the funeral, so we went in his stead.

Near the end of the ceremony Reuven, Nitai's father, got up to speak. What does a father say on the grave of his son? What can he possibly say?

He read Psalms. The ones about warriors, and the ones about mourning. His voice was strong despairing and clear. Then he said "I'm going to sing now, and you can sing with me"

תהה השעה הזאת
שעת רחמים
ועת רצון
מלפניך


The final prayer of the Yom Kippur service:
May this hour
Be an hour of mercy
And a moment of goodwill
From You


-----------------------------------


Newsflash:

To the Palestinians: we'd love to live in peace alongside you, but if not, you'll never ever beat us.

To the antisemites of the world: our distant descendants will still be here, tut-tutting over your malice, centuries after your own descendants won't even remember who you were.

That's how we've done it so far, and that's how we'll do it still.


taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

PROPORTIONALITY AND WAR

Proportionality and War

I know a thing or two about Just War theory, and even once wrote a book about its application in the Israel-Arab conflict. I find it hard to sleep these days, so I've spent the predawn hours carrying out a little experiment. Since by now there seem to be thousands of readers of this blog, I earnestly invite any of you who wish to join me in this, to strengthen or weaken my findings, either way. I'm serious, not facetious.

As is customary when Israel goes to war, the media fills up with pseudo-learned discussions of proportionality, just-war theory, and sermons of self-anointed human rights organizations. I'm interested to investigate whether this phenomenon happens all the time but I notice only when Israel is the target, or perhaps something else is going on. So I've gone to various news-related web sites, and have used their own search engines to seek proportionality war, a combination which seems plausible, wouldn't you agree? There undoubtedly are other possible searches one could use, and it would be possible to dig deeper than what I've done, so that's where the rest of you are invited to pile in and prove me right or wrong.

The New York Times search engine:The first 20 results contain six articles about Israel's actions in Lebanon in 2006 or Gaza now. Three are from the 1970s, and talk about Vietnam; a fourth, from 2003, reviews a film about Vietnam. The rest, so my impression after skimming over them, focus one way or another on the war in Iraq, though interestingly they're concentrated in the second half of the list. Vietnam trumps Iraq and Israel trumps Vietnam when you look at the order of appearance.

The Guardian (and note, here I arranged the results using their "most relevant first" function):Like in every other aspect, the Guardian and I see the world differently; even their search engine. Else how to explain that the first seven (!) have nothing to do with the matter, but include articles about the tour de France, private schools, and downloading a book by Cory Doctorow. The next six seem to deal either with Afghanistan or terrorism in Britain. The next seven items all deal with Israel.

The BBC:

Seven items seem to be about the War on Terror, including the first three. Four (all in the first ten) are about a film on Vietnam. three are about Israel. The rest I can't explain (more teachers and schools).

The Economist:

Their search engine, thankfully, doesn't send results merely for the purpose of showing results. So my query gave only 7 results. Four are about Israel. One is a book review of a relevant book (which sounds good), and the last two - well, I'm not sure why they got onto the list.

The Independent:

Their search engine is even stranger than that at the Guardian: ten of the first ten items had nothing to do with the matter (though there is one item about how an Israeli shipping magnate, Sammy Ofer, donated money to rebuild the Cutty Sark).

OK, enough for this morning, there are other things to do in life besides blogging. Before signing off, however, a quick summary:

1. Israel is disproportionally represented. Surprise.

2. More nuanced searches are required, since each media outlet uses different terminology. A website that rants only about Israeli crimes, never about its proportionality or lack of it in waging war, won't register in my search parameters. Ergo, comparisons need to address the varying vocabularies in different organizations and over time.

3. I didn't see any mention of Russia, nor or the Iraq-Iran war (remember that one? With more than a million dead?), nor of anything beyond the same recurring three: Israel's wars, America's and Britain's. Given that the publications I looked at were American or mostly British, this means the only foreign country, seen from the perspective of the publications, was Israel.

Please feel free to broaden the search.


taken from : Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)

BEYTSIM...??? WHAT'S BEYTSIM !....

Beytsim...??? What's Beytsim! Whatever it is...Israel has it!

Wow! Israel has its beytsim back!

By Arlene Peck

For the past couple of years, I haven’t felt like even reading the paper. Not only because the news was so bad but there has been absolutely no leadership. Not here in America and, especially not, in Israel. That, folks has bothered me.

Finally, the politicians, not statesmen, who have been at the helm in Israel, seem to have awakened. I was astounded to see that, finally, they remembered the ‘rule of retaliation’. Someone must have told them that a country that is being attacked by vicious terrorists, day after day, year after year, actually has the right to fight back.

The timing of their incursion into Gaza was brilliant! Everyone has been so busy in celebrating their holiday season that I can hardly find any news about what’s happening in the Middle East on the evening news.

However, I have also noticed that many of the journalists who have been reporting on the “war in Gaza” have Arab names and are anything but impartial in their reporting. I find their reactions so predictable they are almost comical. For instance, today’s LA Times had an article written by two Arab journalists who wrote, “the mounting toll of civilians has alarmed world leaders. Prompting what they call a disproportionate response to Hamas attack and to urge renewal of a truce that “unraveled’ last month.” Let’s see, how did it ‘unravel’? Could it be that Hamas absolutely, positively refused to stop the terrorist attacks or to stop lobbing their steady stream of missiles into nearby Israeli towns? And, the benevolent guys from the United Nations were thrilled when their leader, Secretary-General Ban Ki-mon was quoted as saying, “I have continuously stressed the need for a strict observance of international humanitarian law”. I don’t think so. This group is usually ready to pass out sweets and candies whenever Israel is attacked. In six years, I don’t remember one comment, much less ‘demand’, that the Palestinians stop their constant bombing of Israeli towns. Do any of your remember any of their emergency meetings? The only difference is the Israelis do everything they can to avoid hitting civilians. While the Palestinian enemy set up shop and mortars in the middle of busy civilian streets, hospitals and schools. The mosques that I’m delighted to see are finally being bombed are usually weapons warehouses. Frankly, I don’t give a diddly-squat. As ‘politically incorrect” as I tend to be I’d move them all out and keep the lights turned off. The only humanatarian aid I’ve give would be to help them pack and get out. Transfer? It’s not the dirty word it once was and, I’m all for it!

Frankly, I find it difficult to feel any remorse for a people who elect an organization with its goal of destroying Israel. It doesn’t bother them, however, that Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, yet Western governments have shunned them as a terrorist organization. Not the least because of their constant refusal to change their charter devoted to the demise of Israel or to formally accept Israel’s right to exist.

When I say these people are savages, I know from which I speak. I was in Beirut for a few weeks during the Lebanon War in June of 82. And again to Gaza as a journalist posing as a “Christian writer” because sometimes I’m too curious for my own good. The impression that I gained from that ‘rat hole’ was the boredom and hate-filled eyes of the children. Truly, I have never seen such 'old eyes' in kids in my life. All the teenagers seemed to have to do was burn tires. I remember, I drove in with an Arab cab driver and even his car was stoned. And speaking of that, the older ones were sitting around everywhere smoking that ‘laughing water’. I believe they are trained from birth as terrorists. I remember when Egypt was offered Gaza and they didn’t want it because they knew what trouble these people are.

Obama says he is a strong alley of Israel despite rumors that he would be more receptive to the Palestinian position. During the election, I was appalled that the Jewish community here was the financial base of his success. I won’t even go into my disgust that I felt about the Israeli community here who told me non-stop how politically incorrect I was. It was an election that you lost friends over. Now, nothing would make me happier to say that I was wrong. It’s happened beforeJ my being wrong that is.

But, one thing I’m sure of. That being, that no matter what, Israel shouldn’t give any credence to what the world has to say when it comes to the Jewish state defending itself . I know what would happen if the residents of Tiajuana would suddenly start lobbing rockets into SanDiego.

Amazingly, I know that what ‘they’ think is always such a big issue. And, I’ll admit, a few years back it was a big concern. But that, folks, were before the rest of the world found out what the Jews have known about the culture of Islam for a long, long time. Then, the news reports and radio talk shows were dominated by the ‘plight of the poor Palestinian’. Since then, however, the Sunday people have experienced the terrorists attacks also and now realize what a cruel and barbaric nation we’re dealing with in this war.

Instead of hearing about the use of ‘excessive’ force, I’m listening to the reporters and call-in stations expound on how every country has the right to defend itself. Even Israel! I’m not hearing a lot of sympathy for the Arab side this time around.

And, the same way that I could even be wrong about Obama, who knows? Olmert, a man disgraced bycorruption charges has surprised me. Maybe the Three Stooges learned from the past war in Lebanon. At least, so far they’ve seemed to put a muzzle on Peres. “This is something I never even dreamed of (said a Gazan who only gave his name as Samch).”We expected some retaliation from Israel, but not like this.” Well, to tell the truth, neither did I. But I couldn’t be more delighted. Israel finally has her beytsim backJ

You may also want to view this exclusive interview with Wafa Sultan on U-Tube by Arlene Peck:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haDnKKpI2yU

TAKEN FROM : b'nai elim (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

HYPOCRITICAL ANTI-ISRAEL MEDIA EXPOSED

HYPOCRITICAL ANTI-ISRAEL MEDIA EXPOSED!

Hypocrisy of anti-Israel Headlines Exposed!


by Steven Shamrak

Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev recently announced that : "The main goal is to destroy completely this terrorist gang, which makes people on both sides of the border, in Gaza and in Israel, suffer daily." Nothing wrong with the annulling of Hamas as another Islamic terrorist organization, but we must not forget that it is the population of the PA controlled territory, which elected Hamas to lead them. The unwillingness of the so-called Palestinian population, in Israel or the territories, to live in peace and their support for terror against Jews is the main problem!

The 'Coalition of the Willing' has been trying for seven years to destroy al Qaeda. Surprisingly, there are no UN resolutions of condemnation of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in spite of heavy casualties among civilians, or calls for restraint and negotiating peace with Taliban or al Qaeda. We must remember the reason why Americans are still dying in Iraq: the population of Iraq had hated Sadam, but they hate us, Western democracy and the Crusaders, even more!

"UN demands international action to stop Israeli strikes on Gaza" - For many years 'Ugly Nothing' and other international organizations, as well as governments, were peculiarly mute when Israel was under continuous attacks from Gaza. There were no condemnations or call to end them. There are 192 members of the UN. Israel is only country which is not allowed to defend itself!

"UN chief calls for ceasefire as Israel pounds Hamas targets" - Was the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon so prompt when for several years Hamas terrorised Jews in Israel with daily rocket and mortar fire?

"Syrian-Israeli Negotiations Halted" - There were no negotiations! Syria demanded the return of the Jewish Golan Hights without any commitment of ending support of terrorism or even peace with Israel! Both sides just played the PR game of 'Peace Negotiation'.

"Top PA negotiator: No peace talks with Israel during Gaza assault" - Daily rocket attacks, suicide bombings, rock throwing and kidnappings - This is the peace process that Israel has endured from the PA. There is no difference between these two terrorist organizations: Hamas and Fatah. Hamas is targeting support from the Islamic world, Fatah has mastered the better PR spin, aiming at the Western countries.

"UN official says Israel attacked during lull." - What an idiotic comment! It would be difficult to start major military operation precisely at the time when Hamas chose to send another wave of rockets.

"Good Question: Why Is Israel Bombing Hamas?" " For many years nobody asked why Hamas attacks civilian population in Israel.

Creating Human Disaster Artificially. "Egyptian border guards have opened fire on Palestinians who breached the border to escape Israel's assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip." - As usual, no international outcry!

Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak

The only reason why Israel is losing support of Jews and non-Jews world-wide, even conservative ones, is because no one likes to be associated with a 'Loser' who is able but unwilling to fight back and defeat the enemy!

Mosque was a Rocket Warehouse. The IDF has released images of a mosque exploding in a fireball after being hit by a missile...proof say authorities that Hamas has been storing rockets in their mosques, sure that Israel would not hit a religious institution.

Sane Voice of the True Friend. The Czech Republic has backed Israel's right to defend itself. Czech foreign minister Karel Schwartzenberg said ''Hamas has progressively stepped up its rocket launchings onto Israel since the end of the truce, and the situation is unacceptable.'' (This is the same country which helped Israel to win the War of Independence by supplying weapons during the international anti-Semitic blockade of Israel in 1948 while the world waited indifferently for the second Holocaust which was planned by the advancing Muslim states.)

Listen Hamas and Leave. Hamas has called, on Hamas TV, on Egyptians and Jordanians living in Israel to leave the country. The radical Islamic group has repeated threats to re-commence suicide attacks. (The The same calls were made in 1948, in order to make killing of Jews easier for advancing Muslim armies! Yes, all of those so-called Palestinians, including the Jordanians and Egyptians, Syrians, Bosnians from the western Balkans , Circassians from the northern Caucasus, Iranian and others who live in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and who have been occupying Jewish land.)

Air Force Hits over 40 Tunnels. The Israel Air Force said on Sunday evening that it hit 40 of the hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egyptian border near Rafah.

The Fifth Column Must be Removed. Since the start of military action in Gaza, more than 150 Israeli Arabs have been arrested in the north of the country for violent protests.

Emotinal Blackmail. An Egyptian newspaper has reported that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was wounded in an Israel Air Force attack on southern Gaza. The extent of his reported injuries was not reported, and there were no other confirming sources. (No "Proof of Life" has been given and during the two years no international representative has been allowed to visit Gilad!)

Quote of the Week: " If someone was sending rockets on my house where my daughters were sleeping at night, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." - President-elect Barack Obama, July 2008. - Must we trust his words, spoken in the heat of an election campaign, and wait for another flip-flop spin?

Soldier Charged for Self-Defence. Army corporal Nachum Ben-Yaakov has been charged for making threats and for firing his weapon in the air twice when surrounded by hostile Arabs during a disturbance between Jews and Arabs next to Hevron. (Soldiers who sadistically had bitten Jews during the army assault on the "Peace House" were taped, but not charged by the army. Since when has the IDF become the protector of the enemies of Jews? Stop this legal terrorisation of IDF Soldiers for fighting our enemies! Put Olmer, Barak and Livni on trial for fighting Jews and destroying Israel's future!) Injustice Under the Cover of War. The judge of the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court dismissed the indictment of Yassam Special Forces officer David Atyah, the first police officer to be indicted for the violent evacuation of Jews from the expanded community of Amona, located near Ofra. The Yesha Human Rights Organization responded to the dismissal of charges against the Yassam officers that the judge's decision is a mockery of the severity of police brutality violations.

Hamas Leadership of Cowards. Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin said at a security cabinet meeting that some Hamas heads are hiding in hospitals in Gaza and even disguising themselves as doctors, in order to melt into the general population. ( They use an ideological demagogy to agitate anti-Israel feelings among so-called Palestinians and are perfectly happy for more civilians to die for the fake cause! They - Hamas, Fatah. Hisbollah, Iranian government, Al Qaeda... - do not care about the Geneva Conventions and have cynically been using dead civilians to draw sympathy from an anti-Semitic or brainless international community.) Negotiations, What Negotiations? "Why would we continue with these negotiations?" said Abbas, whose 'moderate' Fatah movement lost authority in Gaza after Hamas took control of the coastal territory by force in June 2007, but still undemocratically holds on to power in Judea and Samaria. "We will not hesitate to end them if they continue to be a cover for Israeli aggression." ( For 15 years, since the Oslo agreement, Israel has been negotiating with terrorists being under fire. This political idiocy must end now and the government should stop being a political wimp!) Hypocrisy of the 'Loaded' Headlines:

"Killing a two-state solution" - Editorial, The Guardian - It is impossible to kill something that has never been alive. For the enemies of Israel, Islamic and anti-Semitic ones, the 'two-state solution' is just a step toward the destruction of the Jewish state!

"Lack of condemnation as good as approval for Israel" independent.co.uk - This not approval but an embarresment, created by continuous international anti-Israel policy and years of silence while Israel was under endless rocket attacks from Gaza!

Half-Hearted War Again. Defence minister Ehud Barak has given the green light for humanitarian aid to cross into Gaza. Some 80 trucks carrying food and medical supplies passed through the Keren Shalom crossing. (Name any other country which has done this in the heat of initial military action against the enemy?) Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said ''Israel has not learned its lessons from the war in Lebanon.'' He added, ''the goals are not clear, and the air force acting alone cannot win the war." (This enemy of Israel is right! They know well the gutless habits of the current Israeli government.)

Massacre in Congo.

Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has massacred close to 500 villagers in the Democratic Republic of Congo since Christmas. The LRA, which has plagued northern Uganda for 20 years is now threatening villages in Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic. The United Nations refugee agency says villages are being set alight, women raped and children abducted.

On Dec 26 2008, the LRA guerrillas massacred dozens of people in a church, according to Ugandan military sources and aid workers. The guerrillas used machetes, swords and clubs to kill the people - amongst them women and children. (This atrocity is being committed at the same time as Israel began its anti-terrorist operation in Gaza. Interestingly, there is no international condemnation, outcry from the world press or the UN Security Council emergency special session! Is this indifference of the world to the suffering of the people of Africa a manifestation of international racism? Why is there such a "disproportionate" preoccupation with Israel? Is it a deep brotherly 'love' for Jews?)

Note: This independent editorial letter is published by volunteers. We present politically incorrect, alternative to mainstream media Zionism point of view. We need your support: via PayPal (Visa or MC) or $18, $26, $36 , $60, $180 Please, visit our site www.shamrak.com

taken from : B'NAI ELIM :(http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

ON ISRAEL :TAKING DEFENSIVE ACTION

On Israel: Taking Defensive Action

Frank Gaffney, Jr.

Ever since Israel launched its air campaign last month against targets associated with the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, politicians, diplomats, military experts and pundits have been consumed with a debate over whether the Israeli assault was legitimate. The final judgment about the legitimacy of Israel's Operation Cast Lead may ultimately be determined not by the grounds for that assault or its conduct. Rather, it may depend on how this conflict ends. History is, after all, written by the victors.

To be sure, for many in this debate, the question seems to turn largely on whether the Jewish State has taken justified – and justifiable – "defensive" action or whether it engaged in an unwarranted "offensive" attack, whose brunt is being unfairly borne by innocent Palestinian civilians. For others, the issue has been whether Israel's now combined air-, sea- and ground-assault was "proportionate" to the rocket and mortar attacks it has suffered.

By any reasonable definition, Israel's operations in Gaza are defensive in that they are a response to the roughly 8,000 rocket and mortar rounds that Israeli sources say have been fired from the Strip into the southern part of their country over the past eight years. These attacks increased after Israel withdrew in 2005 from this tiny bit of forlorn real estate with its teeming masses living in deplorable conditions – thanks as much to Arabs who refused to resettle Palestinians elsewhere as to Israelis trying to contain suicide and other attacks from that quarter.

In 2008 alone, Israel was subjected to more than 3,000 incomings – before, during and after the six-month "cease-fire" between Israel and Hamas brokered by Egypt last summer. In fact, that so-called cease-fire amounted to nothing more than a hudna, a short-term truce associated since Mohammed's time with a tactical suspension of hostilities that is used by the Islamic party to regroup, rearm and prepare for the next stage of murderous hostilities. Despite virtually daily incoming rounds from Gaza during the cease-fire, Israel rarely responded, affording Hamas the opportunity to follow the example of its Lebanese Shia counterpart: the Iranian-backed terrorist group, Hezbollah.

As calls for a new cease-fire in Gaza intensify, it is instructive to recall the repercussions of the insistence by the "international community" that the Israelis halt their efforts in the summer of 2006 to prevent what the media misleadingly calls Hezbollah "militants" from raining death and destruction on civilian communities in northern Israel: The self-styled Lebanese Army of God has reconstituted its terrorist infrastructure, acquired a vast new arsenal from Iran, Syria and China and consolidated its position politically.

It would be foolish in the extreme, based on Hamas' performance during its last hudna, to expect those Palestinian terrorists to do otherwise if they are allowed to survive, thanks to the international imposition of yet another "cease-fire."

Today, there are roughly a million Israelis within range of the rockets and/or mortars in Hamas' arsenal. Inevitably, all other things being equal, the lethal capabilities available to terrorists who vow to destroy Israel – and who, by the way, cry "Death to America" with equal vehemence – will only grow.

Such will surely be the case if the Israeli government not only agrees to a new cease-fire that leaves Hamas in place but, far worse, allows international monitors to be installed in the Gaza Strip. While the ostensible justification for the Israelis to accede to the presence of such foreign observers would be to ensure that Hamas does not engage in further attacks against Israel, in practice they wind up playing a very different role. If history is any guide, these monitors will serve as shields for Hamas' terrorist build-up and operations, not an impediment to them.

Such has been the experience, for example, with United Nations forces in southern Lebanon, European Union monitors who were deployed for a time at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza and even U.S.-led multinational forces deployed to monitor the demilitarization of the Sinai. In each case, activities threatening to the security of Israel have taken place under the noses of the observers. The latter have typically looked the other way, reserving their vigilance and condemnations for any evidence of Israeli infractions.

With Israel's successful – and, yes, proportionate – insertion of ground forces into Gaza, it is in a position to dictate terms. Unlike Hezbollah in Lebanon during the 2006 war, Hamas is cut off from resupply. It cannot now be rearmed by sea or via underground tunnels; electricity, water, phone service, medicine and food are only available at the sufferance of the Israelis.

Hamas has brought the Palestinian people nothing but grief. Unless it is saved by foreigners – including some like the European Union and United States who have condemned the organization as a terrorist group – Hamas may be unable to maintain its control over Gaza, let alone extend it to the West Bank and Jerusalem.

The last thing the Jewish State should do is jeopardize the legitimacy, let alone the strategic benefits, of its defensive campaign in Gaza by leaving Hamas in place behind international shields. The Shariah-adherent Hamas cannot and will not abandon its oft-stated determination to destroy Israel and the Jews. Allowing it to live and fight another day is to ensure that fewer Jews, and probably other freedom-loving people, will be left to do so.

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. is president of the Center for Security Policy and a columnist for The Washington Times. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.

taken from ; B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)

Israel Matzav: How Hamas wins by losing#links#links

Israel Matzav: How Hamas wins by losing#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF Captain tells BBC Israel has no choice#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF Captain tells BBC Israel has no choice#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: 'I wish I could bite the heads off Jews with my teeth'#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: 'I wish I could bite the heads off Jews with my teeth'#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Egypt bars doctors from entering Gaza Strip#links#links

Israel Matzav: Egypt bars doctors from entering Gaza Strip#links#links

Israel Matzav: Operation Cast Lead's Qana moment?#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Operation Cast Lead's Qana moment?#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: IAF planes over Lebanon?#links#links

Israel Matzav: IAF planes over Lebanon?#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF gets another big fish; Hamas kills 'collaborators'#links#links

Israel Matzav: IDF gets another big fish; Hamas kills 'collaborators'#links#links

Israel Matzav: The difference between Hamas and the Nazis#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: The difference between Hamas and the Nazis#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: What really happened in the Middle East#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Video: What really happened in the Middle East#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Dear World, If you are bothered by us, here is one Jew in Israel who could not care less#links#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Dear World, If you are bothered by us, here is one Jew in Israel who could not care less#links#links#links#links#links

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Israel Matzav: Hamas shows its concern for civilians#links#links

Israel Matzav: Hamas shows its concern for civilians#links#links

Israel Matzav: Hamas threatens to target Israeli and Jewish children#links#links#links#links

Israel Matzav: Hamas threatens to target Israeli and Jewish children#links#links#links#links