Thursday
Jan012009
Gaza Update (6 p.m. Israel/Palestine; 4 p.m. Britain): Targeted Assassinations and a Lot of Spin
Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 15:53
Later Post: Hamas Strikes Back (Against the Palestinian Authority)
Just back to the UK to learn that an Israeli airstrike on the home of a Hamas leader, Nizar Rayyan, has killed him, his wife, and his three children. The death toll in Gaza is now more than 400 with more than 2000 wounded.
Israel has expanded its attack options, adding drones and naval bombardment to manned bombing. Targets on Thursday included the Parliament building and the Justice Ministry.
In the public relations battle, former Prime Minister and current Prime Ministerial candidate Benyamin Netanyahu has given an interview to Al Jazeera. His prime objective was to counter the image of mounting civilian casualties with the claim, which he has pressed repeatedly since Saturday, that Hamas put its fighters amongst the urban population while the Israeli military fights in the open.
On another diplomatic front, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Lvini is arguing that there is no humanitarian crisis since Israel is allowing some aid into Gaza. (A bit of perspective: Israel did allow 150 truckloads of aid into Gaza on Wednesday. This compares to an average daily supply of 600 truckloads during the truce period.)
For the moment the Israelis --- thanks more to Washington and London than to the merits of their PR campaign --- retain a free hand for their operations. The UN Security Council failed Wednesday to agree on the wording of a draft resolution, as the US and Britain insisted on emphasis on Hamas rocket attacks against Israel.
Just back to the UK to learn that an Israeli airstrike on the home of a Hamas leader, Nizar Rayyan, has killed him, his wife, and his three children. The death toll in Gaza is now more than 400 with more than 2000 wounded.
Israel has expanded its attack options, adding drones and naval bombardment to manned bombing. Targets on Thursday included the Parliament building and the Justice Ministry.
In the public relations battle, former Prime Minister and current Prime Ministerial candidate Benyamin Netanyahu has given an interview to Al Jazeera. His prime objective was to counter the image of mounting civilian casualties with the claim, which he has pressed repeatedly since Saturday, that Hamas put its fighters amongst the urban population while the Israeli military fights in the open.
On another diplomatic front, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Lvini is arguing that there is no humanitarian crisis since Israel is allowing some aid into Gaza. (A bit of perspective: Israel did allow 150 truckloads of aid into Gaza on Wednesday. This compares to an average daily supply of 600 truckloads during the truce period.)
For the moment the Israelis --- thanks more to Washington and London than to the merits of their PR campaign --- retain a free hand for their operations. The UN Security Council failed Wednesday to agree on the wording of a draft resolution, as the US and Britain insisted on emphasis on Hamas rocket attacks against Israel.
tagged Al Jazeera, Benyamin Netanyahu, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Nizar Rayyan, Palestine, Tzipi Livni in Middle East & Iran
Al Jazeera, Benyamin Netanyahu, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Nizar Rayyan, Palestine, Tzipi Livni in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (5)
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It's remiss of you not to mention that Nizar Ryyan was warned that his house would be attacked but decided to remain there and insisted that his wife and children stayed too. This is incidentally from Palestinian sources (below):
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=ar|en&u=http://paltoday.com/arabic/News-32321.html&tbb=1
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34472
I'm too tired to even venture a witty answer but I'm sure that this --- like all items advertised on Enduring America --- is a quality product worthy of your consideration.
'Over the weekend, Kannan's mother received a recorded call on her cell phone from the Israeli military. When she heard who was calling, she hung up. Minutes later, the same call came to the landline in her apartment warning her to leave if she was storing weapons.
In an apartment building across the street from Kannan and her family live four brothers who are Hamas militants. Israeli intelligence called the Hamas members to warn them that they were targets, Kannan said.
Leaders at the local mosque urged neighbors to converge on the apartment building and act as human shields, she added. No one heeded the call, however, so the Hamas militants fled.'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20081229/wl_mcclatchy/3133187
Stephen Bray,
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