International [Arab-Israeli Conflict, v4] Israel Sets Goal of Doubling the Jewish Population on the Golan Heights

[xHeadx]

My apologies if posted

 

[Rholk]

My apologies if posted

Good thing the people were warned so they had time to set up their cameras.

What a weird warzone that is...

 

[mike bags]

My apologies if posted

that looked like a precision strike to me

 

[Deleted member 512089]

My apologies if posted

Who's the terrorist here...

 

[xHeadx]

Good thing the people were warned so they had time to set up their cameras.

What a weird warzone that is...

This tidbit needs more attention.

that looked like a precision strike to me

Pretty amazing.

Who's the terrorist here...

See 1st quote above.

 

[Garnet_StrongerThanYou]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so riled up.

He’s open about being a conservative Orthodox Jewish type.

lol at “He cancelled the election and blamed THE JEEEEWS!”

 

[Madmick]

 

[Arkain2K]

Good thing the people were warned so they had time to set up their cameras.

What a weird warzone that is...

Lol, and you can bet your ass that most of the high-level Hamas commanders in the building would high-tail it outta there as soon as the Israeli warnings pops up on their phones as well as all the civilians, announcing the exact time and place of the precision strike.

 

[Arkain2K]

Israel Faces Rockets from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria as Conflict Threatens to Spread
BY TOM O'CONNOR ON 5/14/21​

Amid an ongoing barrage of rockets from Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces are engaged in an escalating military campaign against Palestinian factions, Israel has also faced rocket fire from Lebanon and most recently Syria, as a raging Middle East conflict threatens to spread across the region.

"A short while ago, three rockets were fired from Syria into Israeli territory, one of which failed and fell in Syrian territory," the IDF said Friday in a statement sent to Newsweek. "As a result, an alert was activated in open areas only."

The attacking force has yet to be identified, though some self-styled resistance groups, including at least one hailing from Iraq, have claimed responsibility via social media.

The development comes just a day after the IDF reported three rockets fired from Lebanese territory into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Galilee. A Lebanese official told Newsweek at the time that those rockets likely originated from a Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidieh, where the Lebanese Armed Forces later discovered three rockets.

Shortly after that incident, Newsweek reached out to Syria's permanent mission to the United Nations on Thursday asking if a rocket strike may be expected from Syria as well, but has not yet received a response.

IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told reporters earlier Friday that there were "no Israeli casualties and no damage" inflicted by the strike from Lebanon, but said that Israeli forces were keeping an eye on the country's northern borders with Lebanon and Syria.

"We continue, of course, to be very vigilant, looking towards the north, the northeast and assessing everything happening there," Conricus said at the time. "Currently, [there is] no significant change in the situation up in the north, but we are monitoring events closely."

Later that day, however, pro-Palestinian protesters amassed at the country's border with Lebanon and crossed the security fence, prompting IDF tank fire that killed one Lebanese citizen and injured another. The act also prompted condemnation from Lebanese President Michel Aoun and criticism by the country's powerful Hezbollah movement.

As the IDF, Lebanese Armed Forces and U.N. peacekeepers attempted to gain control of the situation, Palestinian refugees of the Ain al-Hilweh camp continued to storm the border, drawing Israeli tear gas fire and the launch of flares.

Meanwhile, the conflict over Gaza continued to intensify. The IDF sought to degrade the rocket-launching capabilities and eliminate senior personnel of Palestinian factions such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. By IDF estimates, nearly 2,000 rockets have been fired at Israel, along with other weapons, and the IDF has launched a land, air and sea campaign of strikes in the worst violence to emerge from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 2014.

And for the first time since, the IDF has prepared a potential ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The current conflict erupted earlier this week when Israeli forces cracking down on protests over an attempt by Israeli families to evict Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem culminated in an Israeli raid on the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque, sparking outrage among Palestinians and other Arab and Muslim countries.

Among the most vocal foreign powers has been Israel's archfoe, Iran, which has backed an array of Israel's nemeses including Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, all considered terrorist organizations by both Israel and the United States.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, while strongly condemning the recent criminal acts of the occupying regime in Jerusalem against the oppressed people of Palestine, calls on governments and international organizations to fulfill their duty to end the occupation and the ongoing crimes and aggressions of the Zionists," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

Iran has recently sought to bolster the country's ties across the Arab World, including with regional rival Saudi Arabia. In his latest regional trip, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif traveled to Iran's longtime partner Syria on Wednesday to meet with President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad, with whom he condemned Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip.

Iran and allied militias, including Hezbollah, have backed Assad in his decade-long civil war against rebels and jihadis. Israel has accused Iran of using these groups to set up forward bases, and the IDF has conducted hundreds of airstrikes against suspected Iran-linked targets across Syria.

Israel has also faced several instances of rocket fire from Syria in recent years, operations Israel has largely blamed on Iran's Revolutionary Guard and its elite Quds Force. In one instance deemed an error late last month, a projectile described by the IDF as a stray Syrian military S-200 surface-to-air missile landed in the vicinity of Dimona, home to Israel's nuclear reactor and widely suspected nuclear weapons program.

The IDF has additionally responded to occasional cross-border incursions and attacks by Hezbollah, with which Israel has fought its two most recent major wars abroad, the latest being in 2006.

Hezbollah is believed to have amassed a major missile arsenal, including precision-guided munitions. Newsweek spoke Wednesday with a Hezbollah spokesperson who expressed support for the Palestinian fighters in Gaza, and said its intervention was not yet needed.

"Of course, we are supporters," a Hezbollah spokesperson said at the time. "But I don't think they're in need of our people. The numbers are available. All the rockets and capabilities are in the hands of the resistance fighters in Palestine."

Israel remains in a technical state of war with both Lebanon and Syria, both of which regularly accuses Israel of territorial violations, with the latter especially condemning the occupation of the Golan Heights. The territory was first seized from Syria by Israel during a 1967 war, one of three in which a pro-Palestinian coalition of Arab nations fought with Israel.

Two of those warring states, Egypt and Jordan, have declared peace with Israel in the decades since, and four other Arab countries, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, have normalized ties with Israel over the past several months in deals overseen by former President Donald Trump. These countries continue, however, to express support for Palestinians' claims to lands also claimed by Israel since its 1948 establishment and the previous U.S. leader's policies also stoked tensions by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel despite the Palestinians also viewing it as their capital.

His successor, President Joe Biden, has sought a more balanced approach, though he has repeatedly asserted that Israel had the right to defend itself against Palestinian rockets. Biden issued a message Friday coinciding with the White House's Eid celebration, noting that "the situation in the Holy Land is weighing heavily on Muslims everywhere, including our Muslim communities here in the United States."

"Palestinians—including in Gaza—and Israelis equally deserve to live in dignity, safety and security," the president said. "No family should have to fear for their safety within their own home or place of worship. We think most about the children in these societies who face trauma from a conflict far beyond their control."

He said his administration was in talks with "Palestinians, Israelis, and other regional partners to work towards a sustainable calm."

Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian factions have vowed to press on until they achieved their opposing aims, however.

And while Israel grapples with heightened tensions along borders with Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, it also is faced with a burgeoning domestic crisis as civil unrest broke out throughout the country. Israeli Arabs supportive of the Palestinian campaign and Israeli nationalists backing IDF operations have clashed across the nation, creating added casualties and destruction.

https://www.newsweek.com/israel-faces-rockets-gaza-lebanon-syria-conflict-threatens-spread-1591725

 

[evansusmc2]

Biden calls Netanyahu, says Israel ‘has right to defend itself’ against Hamas rockets
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke separately with Netanyahu to reaffirm U.S. support.
By Steven Nelson , Mark Moore | New York Post​

eeeeeyy!!!! Something I actually agree with Biden on.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

Not sure how anyone can logically look at Israel as the good guys in this situation. They clearly are the bad guys, and our government is funding and aiding them in this. Pretty disgusting, and it's been going on for way too long. With bipartisan support it will never end.

They aren't. But neither are the Palestinians. That's the issue. People want it to be good vs. bad but it's religion vs. religion, extremists vs. extremists and government vs. government. Meanwhile, children and regular people suffer.

What Israel is doing is awful but people are acting like because they are the oppressors, Palestine can do whatever they want to defend themselves. Hamas is a militant Islamist group and is not something to be cheered on.

 

[SanchoMF]

They aren't. But neither are the Palestinians. That's the issue. People want it to be good vs. bad but it's religion vs. religion, extremists vs. extremists and government vs. government. Meanwhile, children and regular people suffer.

What Israel is doing is awful but people are acting like because they are the oppressors, Palestine can do whatever they want to defend themselves. Hamas is a militant Islamist group and is not something to be cheered on.

That is kind of true and it's about politics on both sides and it should be pointed out how Palestine's internal power struggles between Hamas and Fatah around the elections have played a role in each uprisings, violence and attacks . Likud is also a bunch of hardliners and are openly against the establishment of a Palestinian sovereign state due to security threat they pose and aren't too shy to make noise on any given occasion.
Hamas states the ultimatum of never recognising the Jewish state and "taking over" all the land "belonging to them" and Likud believes in the right of settlement, with Palestine free state only existing technically only under Israel's accordance.

So does seem like nothing will change soon, these people hardly seem to seeking a compromise especially since they're invested to keep their supporters..

 

[Kvolcom]

War is just part of life.

History doesn't lie! Pretty much every piece of land was taken through war. I have no problem w two groups of ppl who were born on that land fighting it out.

Now if the natives still lived in America and the europeans came over and started war? I'd have a problem w that but these ppl are fighting over land their ancestors were born on. I'd fight for that land as well

 

[Kvolcom]

The map always changes. How could you think it would never change again?!

 

[Arkain2K]

According to the Jerusalem Post (take the source as you will), that was a ruse to draw Hamas forces out of their tunnel system for a massive air strike.

https://m.jpost.com/israel-news/idf...ive-aerial-assault-on-hamass-metro-668182/amp

International media is NOT happy at the possibility that they may have been used, LOL.

IDF is sticking to the script that the fake news that lured all those Hamas fighters to their doom is a "translation error", but I don't think anyone is buying it.

Israel accused of tricking major news outlets into reporting a fake Gaza invasion to lure Hamas fighters into tunnels that were targeted for massive airstrikes
By Julian Kossoff

​

Reports in the international media that Israel had entered Gaza to battle militants are being viewed by some as the result of a ploy to lure the fighters into defensive positions that made them targets for Israeli airpower.

On Thursday, news that Israel Defense Forces troops were massing at Israel's border with Gaza was widely reported. Then, early Friday in Israel, an IDF statement prompted news outlets to widely report that an invasion had begun. However, it gradually became evident that an attack did take place but did not involve Israeli troops entering Gaza.

Nir Dvori, a military reporter for N12, one of Israel's leading news networks, described the original IDF statement as disinformation meant to prompt Gaza's fighters to enter the tunnel system, known by the IDF as "the metro," to prepare for street battles in the enclave.

"The IDF makes Hamas think that a ground operation is beginning, which causes the organization to bring in all its fighters, including the Nahba, the special force of Hamas, to go down into the tunnels and prepare for combat," Dvori wrote.

"Then for 35 minutes, 160 planes hover over Gaza and drop 450 bombs, which are over 80 tons of explosives, on the entire Gaza 'metro.'"

In London, Michael Stephens, a Middle East specialist at the Royal United Services Institute, echoed that conclusion. He told BBC Radio 4's World at One news segment that it was "a very smart tactic to make Hamas move into the tunnels and get all their preparation ready so that the Israeli military could target them."

The move marks a major escalation amid this week's violence between Israel and Palestinian militants. The region is facing its worst violence since the 50-day war in 2014. The Israeli military has bombarded Gaza with airstrikes, and Hamas — the group that controls Gaza — and other militant groups have fired more than a thousand rockets toward Israel.

The Israeli media has noted the possibility of a disinformation strategy in the Friday-morning attack, with The Jerusalem Post publishing an article with the headline "Did IDF deception lead to massive aerial assault on Hamas's 'Metro'?" and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz publishing another titled "Israeli Army tells foreign media it has ground forces in Gaza — then apologizes for misleading them."

Foreign correspondents and reporters had received a WhatsApp message at 12:17 a.m. that seemed to inform them that Israeli ground troops were in Gaza. But then, two hours later, the IDF started to disassemble the message.

Felicity Schwartz, a Wall Street Journal correspondent covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, wrote:



Steve Hendrix, The Washington Post's Jerusalem bureau chief, added:



The IDF has blamed the confusion on a translation error, but Dvori was among those skeptical of that account, describing it as "not a mistake, but a planned ploy whose role is to help eliminate Hamas."

Dvori noted that Israeli security officials had previously threatened that the tunnel system used by militants in Gaza would one day become their "mass cemeteries."

A frustrated Daniel Estrin, NPR.'s correspondent in Jerusalem, expressed frustration, told the New York Times:

"If they used us, it's unacceptable. And if not, then what's the story — and why is the Israeli media widely reporting that we were duped?"

Insider has approached the Israeli Embassy in London for comment.

https://www.businessinsider.com/gaz...ports-lure-hamas-fighters-into-tunnels-2021-5

 

[aus101]

It's funny how predictable this all this. Every blue check, Hollywood, celebrity is crying over Palestine while every right winger or Jewish person is acting like Israel is defending itself and did nothing wrong.

I really wish these people would realize that the world is not black & white. This is not a left vs. right issue. No one is "right" in this debate. It's a land dispute on top of religious dogma which escalates it even further.

Here's an analogy. The Native Americans lived in North America for 1000s of years. Europeans started coming over in droves and settling on their land and eventually took over the entire region. North America is now inhabited by French, German, Scottish, Irish, English, Africans, etc. We are now considered "Americans". Whether right or wrong, we consider ourselves the land owners and current occupiers of America. Some of our families have been here for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Imagine if instead of wiping out most of the Native Americans, they got spread around the world and started coming back to North America in the 1000s and then millions. What do you do as Americans? Technically, the Natives have a right to the land or do they? Who actually owns land? They were there first but we took over. This happens everywhere in the world. You can disagree with the means on how we took it all day but this is happened throughout the course of humanity. Do you give the Natives a state? What if they started spreading out and taking more states? What if both sides starting having violent attacks over certain land? Who is right and who is wrong?

As the current occupiers of America, we'd defend ourselves and fight back. At the same time, the Natives do deserve the right to live here with us so what's the solution? If you give them land, they want more because they see the entire country as belonging to them. If you split the country, you'll still have war because each side is going to want more and demand certain areas. On top of that - religion. The Zionists believe that God has given them the land. When you believe in God and religion that deeply, nothing will stop you. On the other hand, the Palestinians have a different faith that is diametrically opposed. They've been on the land for 1000s of years now and like Americans, feel like they own it.

I just find it funny how anyone can pick a side and stick with it. This is complicated and there are no good answers. Anyone that is completely pro-Palestine or Israel is missing the nuance.

1000s of years? The Arab invasions started in the dark ages, less than 1500 years ago. Still a long time to be sure but let's not exaggerate here. The ottomans took it from the eastern Romans (who inherited it from Alexander's successor states), but the Jews have a truly ancient claim to the region stemming back to 1000 bc, and since the ottomans threw their lot in with Germany in WW1 (and subsequently lost) the Brits took control, leaving it to the Jews and Arabs to fight it out. After Germany caused a mass exodus of Jews to the region following ww2 (only to be invaded and then found victorious) imo the Jews have by far the strongest claim to the region.

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

I have no horse in this race.
I‘m fond of neither religion whatsoever if I’m honest, and here’s my take on recent events (not going back the past 100 years, just the very latest conflict, so don’t pull any of this past stuff up because until recently it was relatively peaceful and it’s all kicked off in part due to the Jewish revellers gloating).
Seems to me this is what went down:

1) The Jewish revellers were monumentally insensitive and were asking for some kind of reaction, at this stage Israeli police appeared to be doing everything they could to maintain peace and safeguard the Palestinians

2) Predictably the Palestinians overreact and begin attacking Tel Aviv

3) Israeli defence do the exact job they are instilled to do and attempt to neutralise the threats by targeting buildings linked with Hamas

4) Hamas indiscriminately fire rockets into Israel with no pre determined target, intentionally killing civilians

5) Israeli forces continue to defend their country from terrorist attacks by flattening more buildings associated with terrorist leaders

This is basically where we are at now?
The really sad thing is that it is innocent people on both sides, just normal people trying to live their lives whom are being attacked.

Personally I don’t see how Israel can be criticised in this instant. Not unless you want to continually drag up the past, which isn’t going to move us forward.
At least Israel are targeting Hamas and not just launching rockets indiscriminately into Gaza. Whereas Hamas appear to have no goal other than to destroy Israel as best they can by any means necessary.

The obvious solution unfortunately is to just keep shelling targets in Gaza until the terrorists are removed. That troops have not entered on the ground yet does kind of tell us of Israeli restraint.

I can’t see how anyone has any sympathy for the plight of Hamas, that’s just absurd. They are a terrorist outfit whom need to be removed for the sake of both Israeli and Palestinian people. Anything less than absolute destruction of this terrorist group is not going far enough.

 

[Supereem]

I have no horse in this race.
I‘m fond of neither religion whatsoever if I’m honest, and here’s my take on recent events (not going back the past 100 years, just the very latest conflict, so don’t pull any of this past stuff up because until recently it was relatively peaceful and it’s all kicked off in part due to the Jewish revellers gloating).
Seems to me this is what went down:

1) The Jewish revellers were monumentally insensitive and were asking for some kind of reaction, at this stage Israeli police appeared to be doing everything they could to maintain peace and safeguard the Palestinians

2) Predictably the Palestinians overreact and begin attacking Tel Aviv

3) Israeli defence do the exact job they are instilled to do and attempt to neutralise the threats by targeting buildings linked with Hamas

4) Hamas indiscriminately fire rockets into Israel with no pre determined target, intentionally killing civilians

5) Israeli forces continue to defend their country from terrorist attacks by flattening more buildings associated with terrorist leaders

This is basically where we are at now?
The really sad thing is that it is innocent people on both sides, just normal people trying to live their lives whom are being attacked.

Personally I don’t see how Israel can be criticised in this instant. Not unless you want to continually drag up the past, which isn’t going to move us forward.
At least Israel are targeting Hamas and not just launching rockets indiscriminately into Gaza. Whereas Hamas appear to have no goal other than to destroy Israel as best they can by any means necessary.

The obvious solution unfortunately is to just keep shelling targets in Gaza until the terrorists are removed. That troops have not entered on the ground yet does kind of tell us of Israeli restraint.

I can’t see how anyone has any sympathy for the plight of Hamas, that’s just absurd. They are a terrorist outfit whom need to be removed for the sake of both Israeli and Palestinian people. Anything less than absolute destruction of this terrorist group is not going far enough.

It’s trendy to hate Israel, that’s why.

 

[Arkain2K]

Israeli military accused of using media to trick Hamas
By JOSEF FEDERMAN | May 15, 2021

JERUSALEM (AP) — Early Friday, just after midnight, the Israeli military put out an ominous statement to the media: “IDF air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip.”

The vaguely worded statement set off frenzied speculation that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza — a much-feared scenario that would mark a bloody escalation of this week’s operation against Hamas militants. Some reporters were even told outright the incursion had begun.

Hours later, the military issued a “clarification.” There were no troops inside Gaza. But by then, several major news outlets had erroneously reported the ground offensive was under way.

While the army attempted to play down the incident as a misunderstanding, well-placed Israeli military commentators said the media had been used as part of an elaborate ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap that may have killed dozens of fighters.

“They didn’t lie,” said Or Heller, a veteran military correspondent on Israel’s Channel 13 TV. “It was a manipulation. It was smart and it was successful.”

This is how it unfolded:

Late on Thursday, after days of airstrikes, Israel announced it was calling up thousands of reservists and amassing troops along the border ahead of a possible ground invasion. In another sign of escalation, Israel began firing artillery shells across the border at targets inside Gaza, according to residents.

In previous rounds of fighting, ground incursions have resulted in widespread destruction in Gaza and heavy casualties on both sides.

That set the stage for the late-night deception. According to Heller, Israel began scrambling forces along the border in what appeared to be final preparations for an invasion. Then came the announcement to the media, issued simultaneously in Hebrew and Arabic on Twitter. There followed alerts in major outlets, including the New York Times, that the invasion was under way.

The Israeli moves sent Hamas fighters rushing into defensive positions in an underground network of tunnels known as “the Metro,” according to Heller and other Israeli reports.

Israel called in 160 warplanes and bombarded the tunnels for 40 minutes, the military said. Heller said it was his understanding that scores of militants had been killed, though he said it was impossible to say.

“What we saw tonight was a very sophisticated operation that had a media aspect to it,” Heller said.

Hamas has not commented on the incident, and it was impossible to confirm the Israeli reports.

Heller said veteran Israeli correspondents, who have close ties to the military and in many cases have served themselves, knew that there was no way Israel was sending troops across enemy lines at this stage. Heller and other military correspondents even put out statements on Twitter assuring the jittery public that there was no ground operation.

The Associated Press, based on its analysis of the army’s statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.

But others said the military had misled them or even lied when asked to clarify the initial statement and its ambiguous use of the word “in.” Some felt the foreign media had been turned into an accessory of sorts.

Felicia Schwartz, correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, said she alerted news of a ground offensive after receiving explicit confirmation from Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman.

In a statement posted on Twitter, she said Conricus “told me directly, `There are ground troops in Gaza.’ That was the basis for a first story saying so. He retracted that statement two hours later and I changed the story to reflect that, and that is noted in the text and will be corrected.”

Speaking to reporters on Friday morning, Conricus blamed an “internal miscommunication.”

“These things can sometimes happen in the midst of a complex operation with many moving parts and with an unclear picture of what was happening,” he said. “As soon as I understood that I had the wrong information, I updated the relevant people with a clarification.”

But some correspondents still had questions.

“If they used us, it’s unacceptable. And if not, then what’s the story — and why is the Israeli media widely reporting that we were duped?” said Daniel Estrin, NPR’s correspondent in Jerusalem, who was also told by the military that an invasion had begun.

Militaries around the world have long used deception and trickery against their enemies. Two years ago, the Israeli military reportedly faked the injuries of soldiers at the scene of a Hezbollah missile strike, going so far as to evacuate them in bandages to a hospital in a helicopter.

According to reports at the time, the army staged the injuries to trick Hezbollah into thinking it had inflicted casualties and therefore agree to a cease-fire.

Friday’s misleading statement further strained what has often been a rocky relationship between the IDF and the foreign media.

Peter Lerner, a former military spokesman to the foreign media, said the Israeli public in general has long felt the international media focus too heavily on the Palestinian side of the story while minimizing Israeli concerns and suffering -- and the army is similarly inclined.

Lerner said he felt it was unlikely the military intentionally lied, but damage was done regardless.

“Your currency is credibility,” he said. “I think this is a crisis of that credibility in the way it’s being portrayed.”

https://apnews.com/article/hamas-middle-east-israel-media-4d942411c64c8ae1e919ae93401f8919

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

It’s trendy to hate Israel, that’s why.

Gotcha.
That makes sense.

Because I like to think I’m an impartial kind of guy, however none of the Palestinian alligned news makes a lick of sense. It’s so clearly born from hate that they don’t even really try to disguise it as anything other than flagrant propaganda.
It’s embarrassing.