The seventh day is now winding down on the current shoot-out between Israel and Gaza, with no end yet in sight. Earlier I had posted a short vid taken from my balcony of a couple of rocket volleys headed for Tel Aviv this afternoon (Sunday, July 13). I saw two intercepts, one directly above my head but heard five or six explosions, so some rockets had clearly landed, but there have been no reports of casualties or damage. There were also sirens all day yesterday (Sat) and sounds of many explosions, but there was only minor property damage from falling debris. https://facebook/photo.php?v=10203629468750626&l=8628893527202803267 Altogether over 800 rockets have been fired from Gaza on Israel in these past seven days, most of them on the nearby cities of Ahskelon, Sderot, Beer Sheva, and Ashdod and the many smaller towns and villages around them - but many have also been shot towards Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Jerusalem, and as far north as Haifa, about 90 km up the coast from me. The Hezbollah in Lebanon has now also joined the fight, and since yesterday several barrages had been released on the northern Israeli city of Nahariya. Big property damage has been caused in several places in the bombarded locations, but so far Israel has fortunately taken very few casualties. A 70-year old man died of a heart-attack in Haifa yesterday when rushing to a bomb shelter, and several other elderly people had been hospitalized. A teenager suffered heavy injuries form a nearby explosion in Ashdod today, and a dozen others across the country were lightly hit by shrapnel. It should be pointed out that Hamas is not trying to target Israeli military bases, many of which are located in the south of the country, and whose exact coordinates are well known to all. They are aiming only at pockets of Israeli civilian population. This simple factoid should be remembered when you live far away and are trying to make up your mind about this conflict. Nonetheless, as I persistently point out, the situation in Gaza is MUCH worse. They have had over a hundred casualties already (not clear how many of them civilians - but definitely many families with children among them.) They have also sustained massive property damage, with scores of buildings and installations destroyed. Their markets and shops are deserted and practically all economic activity has stopped, as people stay home and close to bomb shelters. Their economy will crumble if this persists for another week or two. So the rockets on Tel Aviv, which take no casualties and cause little damage, may seem like a joke in comparison - yet there is absolutely no way that we can tolerate being shot at, without shooting back. Israel has no desire or need whatsoever to hurt the Palestinian civilian population, despite the awful lies being promulgated about this around the world. The Palestinians have no army to speak of, no air-force, no navy. Israel could wipe all of Gaza off the map in a matter of minutes, if the goal was to destroy the Palestinian People, as is claimed in many places. Instead, Gaza is being subjected to pin-point bombardment by small rockets, about the size of those being fired at us, and guided by top of the line precision instrumentation, which can zero in on a specific person even in a crowded room. Nonetheless many civilian casualties result because of the great population density there. And mainly because the Hamas leadership is headquartered in their own living rooms with their families present, while their rocket-launchers are hidden inside school kitchens and mall bakeries. It is a very sorry state of affairs, for which every liberal bleeding-heart leftist Israeli is deeply suffering inside, I assure you. But the stated goal of Hamas is to destroy Israel - so alas, we cannot let them do that. Much as I respect and support the Palestinian cause which does not involve my destruction - but I dont want to die, either.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:31:04 +0000
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