Israpundit

by Omri Ceren

Qassams have a 10km range and can pack up to 20kg of explosives and shrapnel. The time between the red alert siren and the rocket’s impact is about 15 seconds. So the Palestinians routinely launch rockets at Sderot at around 7:45am to target kids who are walking to school and are too far from buildings to get to a shelter. Now that power is back on in Gaza, Palestinian soldiers are right back at it:

Two barrages were fired shortly before 8 am, as Sderot’s children were making their way to school. Nine Qassam rockets and 13 mortar shells were fired at the western Negev communities on Monday afternoon. Three of the mortars landed in the Palestinian territories.

Surreal. No country on the planet would tolerate that for a day, let alone for the months upon months of that Israelis have been subjected to.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

by Omri Ceren

Maybe “makes them” is a little strong. But there’s certainly something in the way of an intriguing correlation:

Barak consented to ease the near-complete closure imposed on the Hamas-controlled territory, authorizing the entry of humanitarian aid and a one-time shipment of diesel fuel to power Gaza’s electricity station less than a day after it was shut down. Shortly after Barak’s pronouncements the relative respite in rocket attacks on southern Israel seemed over, with nine Qassam rockets and 13 mortar shells landing in and around communities in the western Negev.

On the day before the lockdown - which involved a less than staggering 30 percent energy cut and no fresh fruits or vegetables - the Palestinians launched forty rockets at Israeli schools and hospitals. Immediately after the lockdown, the number of Qassams dropped to one because Hamas got the message that the Israelis were serious about protecting Sderot. Then Barak lifted the closure ever so slightly, and the Palestinians immediately launched over 20 more Qassams and mortars. This is surreal. These people are lunatics. And the UN is set to condemn Israel. Of course they are.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

by Omri Ceren

Remember that time when Hezbollah started a war with Israel and then went crawling to the rest of the world begging them to call off the IDF? If you do, then this might seem vaguely familiar:

The exiled leader of Hamas appealed to Arab leaders and his rival, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday asking them to forget their differences and help the beleaguered Gazans, who saw Gaza City plunge into darkness after Israel blocked a shipment of fuel that powers its only electrical plant. The plea was rare show of emotion for the hard-line Khaled Mashaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, Syria. “All Arab leaders, exercise real pressure to stop this Zionist crime…” In addition to the fuel it receives from Israel to power its electrical plant, Gaza gets about two-thirds of its electricity directly from Israel. Israeli officials said that supply would not be affected.

If Hamas returned Gilad Shalit and stopped dropping mortars and rockets on Israeli schools and hospitals, everything would get turned back on tomorrow.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

From an email I received:

Dear Friends,

Sderot, which is home to a large population of Jewish immigrants from around the world, is only 3 miles from the Gaza border. The families in Sderot live with the daily threat of rocket attacks. Over 6,000 missiles have been launched at this small city during the past 7 years.

These families need to know that they are not alone.

On Tuesday December 11, 2007 the last day of Chanukah when the eight candles will shine in all Jewish Houses we will go to Sderot with hundreds of volunteers.

(more…)

First extended-range Palestinian missiles to hit Negev town of Netivot early Sunday identified as Russian-made Grad 20-km range surface missile

Debka File, October 7, 2007

No one was hurt by the four-missile salvo, one of which exploded 90 meters from the town’s western houses. Also attacked Sunday were Sderot and a number of kibbutzim bordering on Gaza by four Qassam missiles and 12 mortar shells, which damaged a house in Kerem Shalom.

DEBKAfile’s military sources say that whereas until now, the Palestinian organizations their Israeli neighbors from Gaza with Qassam missiles whose maximum range is 10 km, Sunday, Oct. 7 they extended their radius by firing 20-km Grad missiles able to reach towns farther afield and more substantial than Sderot: Netivot (pop. 23,000), first but also Ofakim the center of Ashkelon and the southern fringes of the big port town of Ashdod.

Last week, Hamas tested Israel’s military reflexes by experimenting with extended-range missiles against Kibbutz Yad Mordecai, coupled with the influx of 85 freshly-trained Hamas commandos from Iran and Syria, whose entry to the Gaza Strip was approved by Egypt. After Israel failed to respond, Hamas saw its way clear to further escalating its missile offensive against southwestern Israel.

In mid-2006, DEBKAfile began reporting that the Grad medium-range surface missile had been introduced to the Gaza Strip, purchased by Iranian agents in Serbia and Bosnia for smuggling in via the Suez Canal and Sinai. Israel made no effort to put a stop to the traffic beyond pleas to Cairo from Jerusalem and Washington which fell on deaf ears.

JPOST covers the story.