One the one side, we have Hamas, claiming its first suicide bombing in almost two years, using a 64 year old grandmother as the vehicle of their vengence...Gateway Pundit reports:
64-year-old Palestinian grandmother blew herself up near Israeli troops sweeping through northern Gaza on Thursday, and eight other Palestinians were killed in a day of clashes and rocket fire.
The militant Hamas, which is in charge of the Palestinian government, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack and identified the bomber as Fatma Omar An-Najar. Her relatives said she was 64 — by far the oldest of the more than 100 Palestinian suicide bombers who have targeted Israelis over the past six years.
Israeli forces were moving through the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on the second day of an operation to stem rocket fire from the coastal strip into southern Israel.
They spotted a woman acting suspiciously, the military said. Soldiers threw a stun grenade, a weapon that makes a loud nose but causes no damage. The woman then set off explosives she was carrying, killing herself and slightly wounding two soldiers.
It kind of reminds me of the waning days of WWII, when the Germans were drafting old men and teenage boys into service to defend Berlin, as there was no one else left. Nevertheless, between the non-stop shelling of Israeli cities and now Hamas-supported suicide attacks coming out of Gaza, Israel is essentially engaged in what may be a ceaseless military operation on that particular border - ceaseless, becuase they don't have the will to outright call it a war, and/or to go out and win it. Can you imagine the Allies being afraid to enter Berlin because they may shoot irregular infantry? We'd still be fighting...just like Israel is!
And now on the Lebanese border, the French - who were originally sent to protect Israel from Hezbollah - SUCKERS! - now are authorized to fire on Israeli aircraft patrolling the portions of Southern Lebanon that the French fear to tread:
French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive Israeli overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets, a high-ranking French military officer told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday, several days after meeting with an IDF general in Paris to discuss what he said was a “blatant violation of the cease-fire.”
Last weekend, Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan, head of the IDF Planning Directorate, traveled to Paris and met with military officials to explain why the IAF flies over Lebanon despite the UN-brokered cease-fire.
Nehushtan, new to his post and previously deputy commander of the air force, told his French counterparts that Israel was conducting the flights to collect intelligence on Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon.
The French told Nehushtan they would view further aggressive flyovers as a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. “No assurances were made to us that they [the IAF] would stop [the flights],” the French officer said. “The orders that the [French] soldiers have is that their weapons are for self-defense and if a commander will feel threatened, as it was about to happen on the 31st of October, he would have the right to use force.”
I guarentee the French will fire on Israeli aircraft; from their perspective, the Jews are easy pickings and instigating a conflict is a political no-brainer. Attacking Israeli jets, goes the feeling in French ministry/military circles, will help solidify France as an Arab "partner" that offers the Muslim world a clear alternative to American influence. Of course, the imminent intifada that is simmering in the major cities of France is always top of mind, and the French functionaries feverently hope that an act of dhimmitude like pitting the French army against the Jews may help settle the natives down, for a while...
Remember, Ehud Olmert invited the French in - an act of military stupidity that will go down in infamy hand in hand with his fear of actually fighting Hezbollah, and winning. Debka reports that Olmert is planning a similar "war" against Hamas in Gaza, with the aim of destroying their rocket arsenal (sound familiar?) :
DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that Israel’s security cabinet decided Wednesday, Nov. 22, that there is no option but to launch a major offensive against Hamas and its terrorist allies in the Gaza Strip - both to pre-empt their war build-up and reduce Qassam missile attacks which climbed to 80 in the last ten days. The date remains to be set.
As I said above, I don't believe a UN-fearing Europhile like Olmert is capable of launching or winning a war against anybody; he will cave to international pressure as soon as the French release a Photoshopped picture of a civilian casualty. Israel is doomed to fight a war of attrition, one that they can only lose (and the Arabs know this), until they elect a leader that is more concerned about the lives of his/her countrymen than the snarky words of some hate-filled UN Comissioner...
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