Transportation minister suggests return of ‘targeted killing’ method used during his terms as IDF chief of staff, defense minister

Roni Sofer

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said Sunday that Israel must “stop talking and launch a personal targeted killing policy, against the Hamas government” following the renewed rocket attacks on Gaza vicinity communities and the city of Ashkelon. 

“We must form a plan and bring it to the cabinet’s approval immediately,” he told Ynet.ollowing a weekend of rocket attacks, two Qassam explodednear a kibbutz in the Eshkol Regional Council on Sunday morning. There were no injuries. In response, the Israel Air Force attacked a rocket lancing cell, killing four gunmen and injuring at least six. 
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, “We are not eager to fight, but we do not fear a battle. In any event, we shall not tolerate the price tag the terror organizations are attempting to set.” 
When Mofaz served as IDF chief of staff and defense minister, the Israeli army made a lot of use of the “targeted killing” method against senior terror activists during the second intifada, in the West Bank as well. On Sunday, he slammed the Israeli leadership and demanded change. 
“There is not right way to deal with the issue of a Hamas government in Gaza. There is need for an urgent cabinet meeting to determine our policy against the Hamas government. The current reality is that Israeli deterrence is wearing out.”
Mofaz explained, “It turns out that Israel’s policy – cutting the supply of goods, electricity and water, is failing to yield the desired results. Moreover, it appears that we are the ones acting like the ones interested in a truce, not Hamas. This approach and policy is wrong. 
“I don’t support reoccupying Gaza at the current period of time, but we must operate and deal with the Hamas leaders. Are they allowed to violate (the truce) while we are not allowed to defend our citizens against kidnappings and injuries? 
“And when we do operate, we get a wave of Grad missiles on Ashkelon and Qassam rockets and mortar shells in response.” 

According to the minister, “We must take a targeted killing policy against the Hamas leadership. It must be part of our overall policy, which should determine concrete actions against all the terror organizations. 
“We must convene immediately, form a policy and bring it to the cabinet’s approval as soon as possible,” Mofaz said

Israeli troops clash with Hamas gunmen as army enters Gaza to collapse tunnel terror groups planned to use for kidnapping soldiers, four soldiers wounded by mortar shells. Palestinian sources confirm at least six gunmen killed

IDF troops have completed their operation in the Gaza Strip, and are currently preparing to leave the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory. Two soldiers were moderately wounded and two others sustained light injuries from a mortar shell, they were evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba for treatment.

For the first time since the ceasefire took effect in June, IDF forces operated deep in the Gaza Strip Tuesday night in a bid to collapse a tunnel located 250 meters (273 yards) from the border – and which terror groups intended to use for kidnapping Israeli soldiers.
Palestinian sources have reported that six gunmen were killed in the clashes that ensued during the operation.
Clashes erupted in the area and at least six Palestinian gunmen. Palestinians reported a female bystander also sustained injuries.

The force arrived at a structure near the al-Bureij refugee camp which the tunnel had been dug in adjacent to. Palestinian gunmen alerted to the soldiers’ presence arrived at the scene and a fierce gunbattle ensued. Shortly afterwards a loud explosion occurred, which toppled the structure. The army said the intensity of the blast was due to the large amount of explosives stored in the building. No casualties were reported among IDF troops.

Six mortar shells were fired at the troops during the operation, all landing in open areas near the Kissufim border crossing. No injuries or damage were reported.
The Air Force launched two separate strikes on cells launching mortar shells, killing at least five Hamas gunmen.
Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesman, Abu Obeid, said Tuesday that Hamas “will fight off any Israeli operation,” adding the organization will retaliate on the operation. Security officers at the Gaza vicinity communities were subsequently warned of possible rocket attacks on the western Negev region.
IDF sources said that the operation was “an innately defensive one and not an offensive one; but we have rescue teams on standby, ready for any possible scenario.”

According to the information available, the force was approaching a building near the suspected tunnel entrance, when a large explosion occurred, causing the building to collapse. None of the soldiers were hurt.

‘IDF committed maintaining ceasefire’

The magnitude of the explosion was an indication of the amount of explosives used, said a security source, adding that the building was probably booby-trapped ahead of time, in order to prevent the force from entering it.
A senior military source called the incident “a ticking tunnel,” adding that “this is a pinpoint operation. Once we are done, the forces will leave Gaza.”

Palestinian sources told Ynet that IDF forces had recently arrested a Palestinian who was hurt while attempting to carry out a suicide bombing in the same area and that they assumed the man told the security forces about the tunnel dug in Gaza during his interrogation.

That information is believed to be the catalyst for the operation.

Sources within the defense establishment noted that several meetings with senior security officials were held prior to the operation due to the sensitivity of the matter.

“The IDF is committed to maintaining the ceasefire and is acting accordingly,” Ynet was told. “In this case, we had a credible threat indicating soldiers might be kidnapped and we had no choice but to act in order to thwart it.”

As for the chances of the operation effectively ending the ceasefire, the sources said that while that was taken into consideration, the defense establishment believed the chances of that happening were slim but that risking a kidnapping attempt “was not an option.”

In third such incident in three days, soldiers open fire at three Palestinians carrying Molotov cocktails northwest of Ramallah, injuring one of them. Palestinian sources say 19-year-old man died of his wounds at hospital.

Third Palestinian killed in three days: A Palestinian holding a Molotov cocktail was shot Wednesday night by an IDF force in the village of Kufr Malik, northwest of the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Ramallah hospital reported that the man died of his wounds.
Two other Palestinians carrying Molotov cocktails were killed by IDF soldiers in the past three days.

The army reported that a force belonging to the Kfir Brigade spotted three Palestinians, two of them about to hurl incendiary bombs. The soldiers fired at them, identifying a hit. There were no injuries among the soldiers.
Palestinian sources reported that the man killed was 19-year-old Aziz al-Haj, who was shot in his leg and was left to bleed for a long time before being rushed to the Ramallah hospital, where he died of his wounds.

Three wanted Palestinian terror suspects were arrested by the IDF in the West Bank on Wednesday night.
Two of the suspects were detained in the Nablus area and the third was arrested near Bethlehem. They were all taken in for questioning by the security forces.
Muhammed al-Ramahi, 17, was critically wounded on Wednesday evening after being shot by IDF troops in the Jilazun refugee camp near Ramallah. He was evacuated by Palestinian paramedics to the Ramallah hospital, but died of his wounds in the late evening hours.
The army said the soldiers opened fire after the youth hurled a Molotov cocktail.
The incident occurred in close proximity to where 16-year-old Abdel Rahman Badwi was killed on Tuesday under similar circumstances. Badwi and two other youths had been pelting Israeli cars with rocks and, the army said, Molotov cocktails.

Thousands attended Badwi’s funeral on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority continues to maintain that the incidents are not part of a renewed intifada, and accuses the IDF of creating provocations.

A PA official from Ramallah told Ynet that the army was conducting patrols in the refugee camp with no apparent reason, and this in turn provokes youths to attack the troops – a phenomenon which has faded in recent years.

Syrian president says Russia’s conflict with Georgia underlines need for Moscow and Damascus to tighten their defense cooperation

Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Wednesday he will use a visit to Russia to expand military ties with Moscow, whose arms sales to the Middle Eastern state have angered Israel and the United States.
He told Russia’s Kommersant newspaper that Russia’s conflict with Georgia, in which Moscow says Georgia used Israeli-supplied equipment, underlined the need for Russia and Syria to tighten their defense cooperation.
Assad is expected to have talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during his visit this week.
“Of course military and technical cooperation is the main issue. Weapons purchases are very important,” he said. “I think we should speed it up. Moreover, the West and Israel continue to put pressure on Russia.”

Russia’s military said this week Israel supplied military vehicles and explosives to Georgia and helped train its army.
Israel says it does not supply arms to other countries as a government but private firms conduct equipment sales and training with the defense ministry’s approval.
Assad said Israel’s role would only encourage countries like Syria – a US foe and ally of Iran – to step up cooperation with Russia.
“I think that in Russia and in the world everyone is now aware of Israel’s role and its military consultants in the Georgian crisis,” Assad told Kommersant.
“And if before in Russia there were people who thought these forces can be friendly then now I think no one thinks that way.”
Israel has long urged Russia not to sell weapons to Syria. Damascus was a Moscow ally during the Cold War and is now key to the Kremlin’s ambitions to reviving its Soviet-era role in the region.
The West and NATO have sharply criticized Russia over its military action in Georgia this month. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Russia was turning into an outlaw in the conflict and accused Moscow of targeting civilians in Georgia.

The conflict between Georgia and Russia erupted when Georgia tried to re-impose control over the breakaway, pro-Russian South Ossetia region earlier this month. Russia responded with a counter-attack that overwhelmed Georgian forces.
Russia then moved troops beyond South Ossetia and a second separatist region, Abkhazia, and deep into Georgian territory.

Again Joel C. Rosenberg is right!
Let’s pray for Israel and his goverment

Published:     08.20.08, 10:29 / Israel News

Lebanese unity government authorizes policy draft affirming right of ‘the resistance’ to liberate territories under Israeli control. Pleased with achievement, veto-wielding Hizbullah already sets sights on new goal – ending IAF sorties

Roee Nahmias
08.05.08, 02:15 / Israel News

The Lebanese unity government unanimously approved the draft of its future policy statement, voting in favor of allowing Hizbullah to retain its weapons arsenal and continue its campaign to “liberate all its
territories” – i.e. the Shebaa farms and the village of Ghajar.
The position paper will now be brought before the Lebanese Parliament for its vote of confidence.
In recent days Hizbullah has drawn attention to its newly focused efforts on ending Israeli Air Force sorties over Lebanon.

The clause in question was the main point of contention between the country’s political factions as they sought to draft the policy proposal. Section 24 of the draft now assures the “right of Lebanon’s people, the army and the resistance to liberate all its territories.”

Many officials in the anti-Syrian, pro-Western bloc had argued that statement should not include the word ”resistance” and that it should make ”liberating the occupied lands” solely the national army’s responsibility. But Hizbullah and its allies strongly opposed those demands.

Hizbullah said it was satisfied with the decision: “The government’s decision proves that the resistance, which won in July 2006, and completed its victory in Operation Radwan (the prisoner-exchange deal with Israel), and is now going from victory to victory,” said Lebanese MP for Hizbullah, Hassan Haballah.
Information Minister Tareq Mitri said that four ministers had expressed reservations over the clause related to “resistance against Israel.”