In their first meeting since the 50-day Israel-Hamas war, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a cordial tone.
Netanyahu praised President Obama for his commitment to destroy the Islamic terrorist group ISIS and his willingness to stand with Israel against Islamic terror. Obama said that Israel was dealing with a “turbulent neighborhood.”
Obama said there needs to be new and different efforts to end violence in the region.
“We have to find ways to change the status quo so that both Israeli citizens are safe … but also that we don’t have the tragedy of Palestinian children being killed as well,” Obama said.
Netanyahu also took time to praise Obama and the U.S. Congress for their support of more funding for the Iron Dome rocket defense system. The PM said the system saved “so many lives” during the conflict with Hamas.
However, the PM took a more aggressive tone when he said that further steps need to be taken to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
A Hamas barrage before the beginning of an open-ended cease-fire struck a home in Ashkelon and a playground in Ashdod.
Initial reports from emergency personnel say that 28 people have been injured in the barrage. The family in the home had just reached their safe room when the rockets struck the roof and were not injured. However, those in the area were wounded by debris.
At least one rocket made it through the Iron Dome defense system and struck the middle of a kindergarten playground. No children were harmed in that attack.
Hamas claims the attack was in retaliation for the IDF destroying an apartment complex in Gaza Tuesday.
The IDF launched an attack before the cease-fire that targeted a boy’s school in Gaza City where Hamas launched a rocket assault that killed 4-year-old Daniel Tragerman. The IDF warned officials in Gaza of the attack so they could make sure no children were inside the building at the time of the attack.
Three times during the conflict Hamas was found to be hiding weapons inside UN schools in Gaza.
Islamic terrorist group Hamas lived up to their threat and broke the 72-hour cease-fire Friday by launching rockets toward residential areas of Israel.
According to sources within the Israeli Defense Forces, Hamas terrorists fired over 45 rockets Friday morning. The “Iron Dome” defense system only stopped two of the rockets from striking within Israel.
IDF spokesman said that Israel has resumed air strikes at rocket launching sites in response to the Hamas attacks.
“We will continue to strike Hamas, its infrastructure, its operatives, and restore security for the State of Israel,” Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said in a statement.
Egyptian negotiators have called for a resumption of the cease-fire because negotiations are close to reaching a solution. However, Hamas has refused to agree to stop their assaults because they demand all of their demands be met.
The U.S. Senate has approved $225 million dollars for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.
“We could not go out for a month or five week [on vacation] and not act to help the Israelis replenish their supply of Iron Dome missiles,” Senator John McCain of Arizona said at a press conference.
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma who objected to the bill because of budget concerns had originally held the bill. However, Coburn relented after speaking with McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham to see the urgent need for Israel.
“[The Israeli people need to know] we will stand with them and that we will provide them with what they need in order to defend themselves,” said McCain.
The House approved the bill 395-8 on Friday. The eight representatives who voted against it were Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Zoe Lofgren of California, Jim Moran of Virginia, Justin Amash of Michigan, Walter Jones of North Carolina, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Beto O’Rourke of Texas.
Iran’s supreme leader has been reported by Iran’s official news agency as saying the only way to achieve peace in Gaza is to destroy Israel.
The declaration came the same day that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said they have a new missile system that can completely destroy Israel’s Iron Dome system and leave them vulnerable to rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a group of college students Israel’s existence is the reason for the conflict in Gaza.
“These crimes which are beyond imagination and show the true nature of the wolfish and child killer regime, which the only solution is its destruction,” the ayatollah declared to his audience. “However, until that time, the expansion of the armed resistance of the Palestinians of the West Bank is the only way to confront this wild regime.”
He then attacked the U.S. and England for supporting Israel.
“We believe that the West Bank needs to be armed just like Gaza and those interested in the future of Palestine must become active in this field [guerrilla warfare] so that the suffering of the Palestinian people through their strength and their weakness due to the Zionist regime is reduced,” he said. “Some Western countries including America and filthy England defend with clarity the crimes that no ordinary person would. The President of America in the face of these child killings, destruction, torture and suffering of the people in Gaza, with a comical logic states that Israel has the right to defend itself! Don’t the Palestinians have the right to defend their lives and security?”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that Hamas is conducting a double war crime in firing rockets at Israeli citizens while at the same time using innocent Palestinian citizens as human shields.
The prime minister spoke to reporters this morning taking questions about the ongoing Israeli response to Hamas’ continual terrorist attacks.
“Israel will continue to do what it needs to do to defend itself until peace and quiet are restored,” Netanyahu said. “[The] most important step for the international community to insist on is the demilitarization of Gaza.”
Hamas said today they rejected the peace proposal that Israel had accepted from Egypt because “Egypt has too many interests within Israel” to be impartial.
Hamas fired over 60 rockets Wednesday, 37 of which made it through the Iron Dome defense system. Two Israeli citizens were slightly injured when a rocket destroyed by Iron Dome fell to the ground.
A Hamas rocket that made it through the Iron Dome defense system struck a home in Beersheba today, injuring two people including an 80-year-old grandmother who had to be rushed to a local hospital.
The rocket came an hour after Iron Dome has intercepted two rockets over Tel Aviv and at least two over Herzliya. The Israeli Defense Force says that the percentage of rockets shot down by Iron Dome is around 70 percent.
The IDF says that more Iron Dome batteries will be deployed throughout the country to try and increase the interception percentage of the system.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon spoke with the people who manufacture the system to encourage them as they increase their output to meet the current battle situation.
“Your efforts, and those of your people in this operation is very impressive, and inspirational,” Ya’alon added. “In recent days, you and your people are working with dedication, day and night, to instantly set up more Iron Dome batteries, which will go into operation during [the current] Operation Protective Edge, and will defend the Israeli people.”
At least 90 rockets from Hamas have been fired into Israel in the last 24 hours.
Officials say that half of the Israeli population is in bomb shelters because of ongoing rocket attacks in central Israel by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. The terrorist group has declared in a public statement “all Israelis have now become legitimate targets.”
The leaders of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem opened their city’s public bomb shelters because of the level of the attacks. Officials also told residents to open and prepare their private bomb shelters for the possibility of a prolonged assault.
An Iron Dome battery was able to successfully shoot down an incoming rocket over Tel Aviv. Hamas announced they had fired four rockets at the capital but there was no evidence of three more rockets impacting in the city.
According to the Israeli Defense Force, over 120 rockets struck within the Israeli borders during the night. Iron Dome destroyed 23 rockets in Ashdod, Ashkelon and communities along the Gaza border.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev told reporters that Israel had reached out to the terrorist group in an attempt to de-escalate the situation and found that the terrorist group was not interested in ending the current conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called world leaders to tell them their position that they could not sit by and allow their country to be attacked by a terrorist organization and not respond to their provocation.
The Israel Defense Force has a new weapon in the battle against missiles.
The system uses lasers to blow up short range rockets and mortars according to a defense industry official. The system is designed to deal with targets with a trajectory too small to be engaged by the Iron Dome system.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems said that Iron Beam’s laser will super-heat warheads of shells in a range of 4.5 miles from the laser’s base.
The laser system is called the “fifth layer” of missile defense for the country. The Iron Dome is being backed up with the Arrow II and Arrow III rocket interceptors along with another rocket interceptor named David’s Sling. The Arrow III and David’s Sling are still being tested by the military.
The United States has extensively underwritten the cost of the systems.
At least four rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel on Thursday afternoon with one confirmed to strike near Nahariya.
No one was killed in the assault although several residents were treated by hospitals and clinics for “shock.” Continue reading →
