“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122: 6
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Griff Witte and William Booth—Fight in Gaza has no clear winners, but one big loser:
After five days of round-the-clock rocket and missile fire that has left more than 120 Palestinians dead and several Israelis injured, the latest bout of fighting in and around the Gaza Strip has produced no clear winners.
But it has yielded a nearly indisputable loser: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who this spring was Israel’s partner in U.S.-brokered peace talks but has now been relegated to bystander status as his two longtime foes once again slug it out.
The sidelining of Abbas reflects the trajectory of a conflict that has marched steadily away from possible negotiated solutions and toward what many here fear may be an eruption of even greater violence as hard-liners on both sides consolidate power.
Here in the West Bank, where Abbas and his allies have long held sway among Palestinians, residents speak admiringly of the Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, while despairing that Abbas’s advocacy for nonviolence has led nowhere.
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Prof. Hillel Frisch: Hit Hamas Hard to Create a Different Strategic Balance against Islamic Terrorism—Israeli military strategy towards Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) has been vastly different from its strategy towards Gaza. Israel assessed correctly in the second intifada that the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Judea and Samaria was easy to penetrate because of its relatively low density of population, but difficult to contain because of its size and the length of the green line (over 300 kilometers long). Gaza, by contrast, was easy to contain but difficult to penetrate because of its small size and high density of population, especially its very large refugee camps. Israeli moves, consciously or unwittingly, expressed these differences. In 2002, Israel engaged in two massive offensives against Yasser Arafat’s PA, its security forces, Fatah and the other terrorist organizations. It temporarily took over the big Palestinian towns, and has been “mowing the grass” ever since through daily preventive arrests of terrorist operatives across the entire area. This policy, coupled with security cooperation with more pliant PA security services under Muhammad Abbas’ rule, has had a dramatic effect. Terrorism in Judea and Samaria has declined to levels that prevailed before the first intifada and have remained low ever since.
David Blair: History Is Repeating Itself in Gaza, but this Time Israel Can Seriously Damage Hamas—The conflict is grimly familiar to anyone who remembers the last two rounds of the conflict in Gaza – Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09 and Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012. But two vital differences are worth highlighting. The first is that Israel’s defenses against rocket attack, based on the Iron Dome system, are more sophisticated than ever before. Hence the 160 rockets appear to have caused no injuries, let alone fatalities. The second is that Hamas is starting from a position of unprecedented weakness. During the previous operations, it was firmly allied with Hizbullah, Syria and Iran as part of the “axis of resistance” against Israel and the West. Hamas could replenish its stockpile of rockets using an established supply system. Today, by contrast, the “axis of resistance” has been broken on the anvil of the Syrian civil war. Meanwhile, the downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo means that Egypt now has a regime with no qualms about sealing off Gaza or cooperating with Israel. Consequently, Hamas is more isolated than ever before.
Lenny Ben-David: Hamas’ Useless Attempt to Plead Innocence—There is a media campaign underway attempting to wash the blood of three innocent Israeli teens off the hands of the Hamas terrorist organization. Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority urgently seek exoneration to protect the PA-Hamas reconciliation agreement. “The whole issue of who did this, we don’t know, really, even though Israel managed to punish everybody,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a senior PLO official, to The New York Times. “Hamas has never been self-effacing. Whenever they carried out an operation, they always declared it and took responsibility.” According to Israeli reporter Shlomi Eldar, a “rogue” group was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the three boys. Hamas’ denial of responsibility is a longtime tradition in Palestinian terrorist operations. The lies provided “plausible deniability” to the PLO and Yasser Arafat in the early 1970s. In September 1971, Fatah secretly established a terrorist unit called “Black September” to carry out major attacks on Israeli and Western targets, such as the murder of Israeli sportsmen at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Terrorist leader Salah Khalaf (aka Abu Iyad) wrote in his book Stateless that members of Black September “always denied any ties between their organization and Fatah or the PLO.” The decentralization of Hamas today is vital to its operations and the survival of its leadership. Who is responsible for the kidnapping of the Israeli teens and the rocket barrage from Gaza launched at Israel? None of its leaders, Hamas claims. All of them, Israel insists. No one should absolve the terrorists’ leadership, even if the lines of authority are temporarily and purposely blurred.
Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall: “The Father of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Missile Program Is Firing at Tel Aviv”—As the Gaza operation continues, activity on social networks, some of which are identified with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, is intensifying, glorifying the role of Iran in general and of the IRGC in particular in upgrading the Palestinian terror organizations’ ability to launch rockets “into the heart of the cities in Israel.” Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam was in charge of the IRGC’s self-sufficiency program for weapons and military equipment and is considered the “father of Iran’s missile program.” He was killed when an IRGC ammunition warehouse exploded on November 12, 2011.
Thane Rosenbaum: Numbers Don’t Tell the Mideast Story—Retaliatory responses in the Gaza settings will invariably result in equations that simply won’t add up to equivalent losses. Hamas fires rockets the way Brazilians dance: all over the place. They have launched thousands of them at Israel since 2005-unsuccessfully but indiscriminately, without any regard to where they might land. When it comes to its retaliatory airstrikes, Israel calls the cell phone numbers of the Palestinians whose houses are about to be bombed. Paradoxically the world is holding Israel responsible for Hamas being unable to shoot straight. Israel’s moral position would be stronger if the casualty count was more equal. But under what moral principle must a nation mimic both the madness and the misdirection of its enemy?
Maj. Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan: Ground Operation Necessary—A mere year and a half after Operation Pillar of Defense, we now, unsurprisingly, find ourselves facing another “round” of terrorist rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. The range of the rockets has expanded, with more than half of Israel’s population now under threat. This time, a lesson must be taught. “Returning the quiet” will not be enough. We must change the current situation, in which a terrorist group can shower rockets on a strong country like Israel. The purposes of Operation Protective Edge must be defined precisely: the toppling of the Hamas regime and the elimination of all rockets in Gaza. Is it possible to defeat a terrorist group? Can these objectives be achieved using military force? The answer to both questions is yes. Will this require a ground operation? Will such an operation involve the loss of troops? Yes and yes. Every military commander knows the challenge is to fulfill the mission and protect soldiers, in that order. Israel has a national need, a mandate from the people and a strong military. Now we need to win — to topple the Hamas regime and cleanse Gaza of rockets.
David Pollock: PA and Other Arab Reactions to the Gaza Crisis—The most striking aspect of ongoing Arab reactions to the latest Hamas-Israeli clashes is an act of omission: the Palestinian Authority (PA) and President Mahmoud Abbas are not calling for Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israeli cities. This contradicts Abbas’s recent declarations that the new PA government and its Hamas backers would honor past PA commitments regarding nonviolence against Israel. A new statement from Abbas’s office claims that “the Palestinians have the right to defend themselves by all legitimate means” against “Israeli escalation.” In today’s latest twist, Abbas and the PA are not just calling for Israel to stop its airstrikes against Hamas targets inside Gaza. According to several plausible press reports, they are also threatening to haul Israel before the International Criminal Court for the “war crime” or “genocide” of responding to Hamas rocket attacks. High-level U.S. statements, from President Obama on down, have so far not asked Abbas to account for the PA’s failure to oppose the Hamas rocket fire. Washington should unconditionally demand that Hamas stop shooting rockets into Israel — and that the PA fulfill its longstanding commitment to precisely that position.
Joel B. Pollak: Hamas’s Last Stand? 5 Reasons This Israel-Gaza War is Different— Operation Protective Edge may look like its predecessors–Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 and Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012–in that it is a response to Palestinian terrorism launched from Gaza against Israeli civilians. The previous two rounds of the conflict ended with Hamas still in power in the Gaza Strip, weakened but able to re-arm over time and to project a strategic threat. There are five reasons, however, this time may be different. 1. By Attacking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Hamas Has Invited Its Own Destruction. By launching its Iranian-and Syrian-made missiles against Israel’s two major cities–especially Tel Aviv, normally a safe distance from conflict–Hamas has broken the unwritten rules of the game. It has long been known that Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north had the ability to reach those cities. But those groups had not exercised it. Now that Hamas has shown it is willing to attack Israel’s commercial, spiritual, and political centers, the terror group has left Israel no choice but to destroy it completely. There is no way Israel can accept life under an active threat of rockets, enjoying safety only at Hamas’s whim. Attacking border towns like Sderot–or even, as in 2006, a northern city like Haifa–is one thing. Attacking Tel Aviv is a provocation Israel cannot ignore.
The Local: ‘The Americans have humiliated us again’—Marcel Dickow, from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, said ordering America’s top spy to leave Berlin was “unprecedented” in the German-US relationship. But he told The Local: “I don’t think it will have a negative effect long-term on German-US relations. The message sent is not ‘don’t stop talking to us’; it is rather ‘talk to us’. “Talk more seriously with us Germans. It is more an attempt to send a signal that something has gone wrong, from a German perspective, over the last few months.”
Simon Shuster: U.S. Spy Scandal in Germany Is Music to Putin’s Ears—The American habit of spying on its European allies turned out to be one of the more memorable topics to come up in April when Vladimir Putin held his annual call-in show on Russian television. Toward the end of the four-hour marathon of questions for the Russian President, Putin was asked about the tone of his conversations with European leaders. He gave a wry response. “It’s hard to talk to people who speak in whispers to each other even when they’re at home, because they’re scared the Americans are eavesdropping,” Putin said, causing a wave of laughter spread across the studio audience. “Listen, I’m being serious,” he deadpanned. “I’m not kidding.”… The depth of the outrage left no one laughing in the German capital, though there was no doubt something comical in the whole affair. As Thomas de Maiziere, the German Minister of Interior, put it in a statement on Thursday: “The information reaped by this suspected espionage is laughable.” He did not say exactly what the information was, but German media have reported that it pertained to a parliamentary investigation into past allegations of American spying in Berlin. “That’s so stupid that one can only cry at the foolishness of it,” the influential German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said, adding in televised comments that Chancellor Angela Merkel is “not amused” by the latest scandal.
SnyderTalk Comment: Imagine getting caught red-handed collecting manure. I can see why it’s so funny to the Russians and the Germans, but I’m an American. To me, it’s humiliating.
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The ruinous results of restraint
No Holds Barred: Fed up with dead Jews
Report: Putin praises Goebbels at meeting with Jewish leaders
Beduin attack in Negev town shocks residents
Hamas officials denounce ‘criminal’ Abbas as ‘Likud member’
ABC News gaffe invites ridicule from pro-Palestinian Twitter users
Two Israelis hurt as rocket slams into home in south; Palestinians fire 50 rockets
Tourists react to Friday morning rocket barrage in Tel Aviv
Jordan’s king warns of ‘dangerous Israeli escalation’ against Palestinians
Liberman says Israel must ‘go all the way and eradicate Hamas regime in Gaza’
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Liberman: Time to Put an End to Hamas’s Rule Over Gaza
Thousands Protest Against Israel in London and Paris
IAF Hits Rocket Launcher, Hamas Gathering in Gaza
IDF Gets New Iron Dome Battery
Two More Rockets Intercepted Over Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv Targeted; Islamic Jihad Claims Attack
Hamas ‘Scare Song’ Vows Genocide on Israel
Netanyahu Vows Operation Will Continue Until Rockets Stop
Egypt Slams ‘Oppressive’ IDF Operation
Erdogan Slams Israeli ‘Lies’ Over Hamas Aggression
SnyderTalk Comment: The Turkish prime minister must be smoking too much hashish.
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Netanyahu: Gaza conflict proves Israel can’t relinquish control of West Bank
Israel, Hamas resist truce as ground operation looms
IDF commander seeks God’s help to fight ‘blasphemous’ Gazans
Arab foreign ministers to meet Monday to talk Gaza
Palestinians draft UN resolution urging ceasefire
Hamas to Gazans: Don’t show Israel where we’re firing from
IDF footage reveals efforts to spare civilians in Gaza
Egypt shuts border with Gaza, thwarts bid to smuggle rockets into Sinai
Ex-Hamas PM’s 2 nephews among 6 killed in Israeli air strikes
International protests against Israel gather steam
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Israel warns northern Gaza residents to evacuate
The Independent Absurdly Claims That Israeli Self-Defense is Violating Jewish Values
Rockets from Both Gaza and Lebanon Strike Israel
Hamas False Reports Begin as Desperation Increases
Hizbullah Profits from Hash as Syria Goes to Pot
Sanctions Against a Hizbullah Front Company
One Arrested in Lebanon in Connection to Rocket Fire on Israel
Video: When Hamas Puts Civilians in the Line of Fire
Video: CNN’s Jake Tapper Challenges Palestinian Spokeswoman on Human Shields
US lab mistakenly mixes a common flu strain with a deadly bird flu
SnyderTalk Comment: Healthcare, the border crisis, the IRS scandal, et.al. And the feds want to run our lives. That’s a bit presumptuous, don’t you think?
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Genesis 18: 1-8
1 Now Yahweh appeared to him [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamre [Hebron], while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, 3 and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. 4 Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; 5 and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.” 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.” 7 Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. 8 He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.
SnyderTalk Comment: Yahweh “appeared to” Abraham in Hebron. That means Yahweh has human form. Yahweh also ate a meal beside Abraham’s tent under a tree. Today, Hebron is an Islamist stronghold. The bodies of the three murdered Jewish teenagers were found near Hebron. You know how that must make Yahweh feel. Read His Name is Yahweh.
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His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important. It’s available in eBook format and in paperback. It’s also available for free in PDF format.
- God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
- “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
- “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)
- Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8: 58)
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Hamas is No Peace Partner for Israel
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Blessings in the Book of Revelation is a book that you need to read, especially now. There are blessings throughout the Scriptures but Revelation is the only book in the Bible actually containing a specific blessing for reading it. It’s repeated twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. This is the reason that I believe Revelation should be the first step toward studying biblical prophecy. Though not easy to do, Revelation can be broken down and understood by anyone, not just the academic elite. So, Revelation’s blessings are for everyone. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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Other Books by Neil Snyder
- Stand! is a suspense novel that exposes the lies, corruption, and greed underlying the theory that man-made CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming. Professor Wes Carlyle and Karen Sterling, his research collaborator, carefully scan the audience for their would-be attacker—a member of the enviro-gestapo who has been following them for days. Wes spots his man in the back of the room leaning against the wall. Suddenly, another man in the audience steps forward and moves toward Karen at a menacing pace. With a vicious stroke, he swings a billy club at her head. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life? Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide. It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided. They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
