FEBRUARY 7, 2011
It's bad enough that defensive measures taken by beleagured Israel are reflexively condemned by critics of this country's actions as a matter of routine. It's worse when attacks by terrorist groups equipped with rockets and explosives and jihadist hatred are simply ignored - erased from the record. Our experience is that this happens routinely and that's one of the reasons we keep recording those attacks here.
Yesterday just after dark, two Qassam rockets (possibly mortars - we're awaiting details) crashed into southern Israel. They originated in Gaza whose ideological proponents delight in misleadingly calling the most densely populated place on earth - when it suits their purposes.
One Hebrew report says the explosives were mortars, fired from the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and landed in the Western Negev, in the region administered by the Eshkol Regional Council. Gulf Times published in Qatar says much the same, but it adds:
"Gaza’s main militant factions last month agreed to observe a period of calm after weeks of increased rocket fire and rising tensions along the border which prompted a warning from Arab leaders that there was a risk of a major new Israeli invasion."
Try to find any mention in the news media on which you rely.
Gulf Times' editors somehow forgot to add that despite this so-called agreement "to observe a period of calm", the terror attacks from Gaza keep coming at the rate of more than one a day.The numbers - In December 2010: 38 attacks. In January 2011: 30 attacks, including 17 rockets and 26 mortar shells, launched into Israel. Wouldn't you think agreements to observe calm, when said to have been made by avowedly terrorist groups, deserve at least a tiny measure of skepticism by objective observers? Not enough of those working in this neighbourhood, sad to say.
Yesterday just after dark, two Qassam rockets (possibly mortars - we're awaiting details) crashed into southern Israel. They originated in Gaza whose ideological proponents delight in misleadingly calling the most densely populated place on earth - when it suits their purposes.
One Hebrew report says the explosives were mortars, fired from the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and landed in the Western Negev, in the region administered by the Eshkol Regional Council. Gulf Times published in Qatar says much the same, but it adds:
"Gaza’s main militant factions last month agreed to observe a period of calm after weeks of increased rocket fire and rising tensions along the border which prompted a warning from Arab leaders that there was a risk of a major new Israeli invasion."
Try to find any mention in the news media on which you rely.
Gulf Times' editors somehow forgot to add that despite this so-called agreement "to observe a period of calm", the terror attacks from Gaza keep coming at the rate of more than one a day.The numbers - In December 2010: 38 attacks. In January 2011: 30 attacks, including 17 rockets and 26 mortar shells, launched into Israel. Wouldn't you think agreements to observe calm, when said to have been made by avowedly terrorist groups, deserve at least a tiny measure of skepticism by objective observers? Not enough of those working in this neighbourhood, sad to say.
