war

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Can't see this being a big problem Balan, I would think they know exactly what the Mad Mullahs are up to, and do they usually give a FF what their citizens think, the Saudis Royals don't for one.

No-one in their right mind can deny genuine, self-defence efforts by Israeli military forces, such as the use of the Iron Dome system. The system can de-escalate reciprocal military interventions by taking out Hamas’ rockets before they can fall on Israeli civilians, like our old mate Balan.

However, I am not quite sure how an IDF response that kills twenty times as many Palestinian civilians in addition to the use of the Iron Dome protection, is helping to achieve any sort of short- or long-term peace. Can you sinkov?

[sinkov]

No-one in their right mind can deny genuine, self-defence efforts by Israeli military forces, such as the use of the Iron Dome system. The system can de-escalate reciprocal military interventions by taking out Hamas’ rockets before they can fall on Israeli civilians, like our old mate Balan.

However, I am not quite sure how an IDF response that kills twenty times as many Palestinian civilians in addition to the use of the Iron Dome protection, is helping to achieve any sort of short- or long-term peace. Can you sinkov?

There is no prospect of long term peace in sight BT, Iran and their proxies have only one goal, the elimination of the Jewish State of Israel and the Jewish people. The Israelis are not so foolish as to think there can be some sort of accommodation with Hamas, there can't be, there won't be, so they are taking the opportunity to degrade the military capability of Hamas as far as they possibly can. They have no choice, it is the primary duty of every state to protect it's citizens, Hamas has launched thousands of missiles indiscriminately into Israel, Israel has the right to respond, indeed it is their duty to respond, to protect their citizens from missile attack as best they can.

They are doing this with as much surgical precision as they can, very decent of them imo, when the Germans launched V2 rockets towards London in WW2, our response was to fire bomb German cities and incinerate all their inhabitants. Fortunately for the inhabitants of Gaza, the Israelis are far more civilised than we were in a similar situation.

[ClaretinBudapest]

There is no prospect of long term peace in sight BT, Iran and their proxies have only one goal, the elimination of the Jewish State of Israel and the Jewish people. The Israelis are not so foolish as to think there can be some sort of accommodation with Hamas, there can't be, there won't be, so they are taking the opportunity to degrade the military capability of Hamas as far as they possibly can. They have no choice, it is the primary duty of every state to protect it's citizens, Hamas has launched thousands of missiles indiscriminately into Israel, Israel has the right to respond, indeed it is their duty to respond, to protect their citizens from missile attack as best they can.

They are doing this with as much surgical precision as they can, very decent of them imo, when the Germans launched V2 rockets towards London in WW2, our response was to fire bomb German cities and incinerate all their inhabitants. Fortunately for the inhabitants of Gaza, the Israelis are far more civilised than we were in a similar situation.

Yes Sinkov but Israel bombed Gaza first before any rockets were fired so according to your logic Hamas has the right to protect its citizens.

[sinkov]

I wouldn't know CiB, I only know what the media says. Al Jazeera is no friend of Israel and they say " Hamas action came in response to an Israeli crackdown on Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque – Islam’s third holiest site – by Israeli forces." No mention of any Israeli bombing raids on Gaza.

[Balanbam00]

Very true and nicely written sinkov.

BT: There are 'taps' in pubs in Bolton if I remember -right. There are taps in Gaza too. But different than yours there.

The building watchman spoke on his mobile intently, pacing up and down a quiet street in Gaza. In video footage caught by an onlooker, Jamal Nasman showed no panic. Yet what he was hearing was deadly serious. He later told Reuters an Israeli officer had been giving him advance warning that the 13-storey block he looked after would be the target of an air strike. Israel said Hamas militants used the building.
"How much time do you want?" Nasman stops to listen. "Two or three hours? You said two or three hours and then no one should be there?" Pause. "So I'll go to the block and say no one should come?" "Ok, got it. The drone will hit it once and then two more times." Pause. "Then you'll strike the block." The 67-year-old father of eight stops again. "Yes, right, no problem, just a moment ... everyone has exited the building, even those from the buildings around are standing on the road - there is no one."


First, small missiles 'tap or strike the block in Gaza City's Rimal district, then boom, the building crumpled, footage showed. Hours after it was destroyed, Israel confirmed it had given a prior warning for civilians to leave.

This is not what always happens when Israel strikes what it deems a military target.

It says it makes every effort to preserve civilian life and accuses Hamas - the group that rules Gaza and which it deems a terrorist organisation - of using civilian areas to mount operations, such as planning attacks or firing rockets at Israeli towns and cities.

Yet the mobile exchange that preceded the strike on the Rimal block has become a more common feature of conflict since the 2014 escalation in Gaza: Israel's army makes a call, tells residents to evacuate, tap-tap-tap go the small missiles as a final warning - and then a big one brings the building down.
"We select warheads with the necessary lethality to hit those who need to be hit, and to reduce the impact on others," said an Israeli official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, saying careful intelligence preceded the strikes.

Operations by Hamas turn the buildings into legitimate targets.

Footage by residents using smartphones, or recorded by Israel's military or the media, including Reuters, have shown some blasts that are contained to a single apartment or bring down a tower block while buildings next door stay standing.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

I watched a bit of news footage on CNN last night, tracer trails heading towards Israel, on the other screen great big f*cking explosions in Gaza.

This is not a war, it's wholesale slaughter.

[Balanbam00]

.......but Israel bombed Gaza first before any rockets were fired so according to your logic Hamas has the right to protect its citizens.

Check it out on Wikipedia.

(6 May,) The renewed violence started on 6 May, when Palestinian protests began in Jerusalem over an anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Israel on the eviction of six Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah.

(7 May,) On 7 May, Israeli police stormed the compound of the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, located on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. The police used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades against stone-throwing Palestinians.
(Please note: 'stormed the compound', and not 'stormed inside the mosque', otherwise how could they throw stones, they were outside

(10 May,) after Israel ignored an ultimatum to withdraw security forces from the Temple Mount complex and Sheikh Jarrah, two Palestinian militant groups, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, began firing rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, hitting multiple residences and a school. Israel began a campaign of airstrikes against Gaza; by 16 May, some 950 targeted attacks had demolished, completely or partially: 18 buildings including four high-rise towers, 40 schools and four hospitals, and also struck the al-Shati refugee camp.

My first post was on 11th May, (If this is not war i do not know what is! Over 250 rockets fired towards Israel)
The BBC on the conflict:
The outbreak in violence began after weeks of rising Israeli-Palestinian tension in occupied East Jerusalem that culminated in clashes at a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews. Hamas, which controls Gaza, began firing rockets after warning Israel to withdraw from the site, triggering retaliatory air strikes.

Hamas or Islamic Jihad were the first to fire !

[sinkov]

I watched a bit of news footage on CNN last night, tracer trails heading towards Israel, on the other screen great big f*cking explosions in Gaza.

I watched a filmed report on Al Jazeera, they were talking to this young lad, around 8 years old, he'd filmed a demonstrator lying dead in the road below his apartment, after being allegedly shot by an Israeli soldier. Given the poverty he and his family were obviously living in, I was impressed by the state of the art mobile phone he owned, he must have been a very brave lad as well, IDF soldiers had come to the apartment and demanded the Sim card from his phone, but he refused to hand it over, good lad. I was also impressed by the rest of his story, he said he stopped filming when a 64 year old Settler pointed a rifle at the apartment window he was filming from. I know you can have infant prodigies, and I suppose an Israeli Settler is identifiable enough to a Palestinian kid, but how the feck did he know he was 64 years old ?

I'm still trying to work that one out.

[Supersub6]

I watched a filmed report on Al Jazeera, they were talking to this young lad, around 8 years old, he'd filmed a demonstrator lying dead in the road below his apartment, after being allegedly shot by an Israeli soldier. Given the poverty he and his family were obviously living in, I was impressed by the state of the art mobile phone he owned, he must have been a very brave lad as well, IDF soldiers had come to the apartment and demanded the Sim card from his phone, but he refused to hand it over, good lad. I was also impressed by the rest of his story, he said he stopped filming when a 64 year old Settler pointed a rifle at the apartment window he was filming from. I know you can have infant prodigies, and I suppose an Israeli Settler is identifiable enough to a Palestinian kid, but how the feck did he know he was 64 years old ?

I'm still trying to work that one out.

Easy, he was a Beatles fan!

[Balanbam00]

Claret in Budapest: There is no logic in Israel bombing Gaza the first to start ! Why should it ? Gaza is not our business. Just no entry from there, except in special cases ,( i.e. being brought to a hospital.)

This Pandemic is finishing and Israel is the first to open ,(maybe after Gibraltar ) Tourism is as great economic source, Europeans, yes the Brits, can come here, in fact open to all where they have a Covid pass. So why start a war ,when that would stop any tourism?? There is no logic in that ! The leadership would have to be crazy to have started that war.

Also yesterday, the firing stopped, we could have done to them more damage, there may be also more tunnels, more weapons stored etc? But just think if we open for tourism! There has to be a state of peace! We did not start this war.( remember for 1 year no tourism!)

Also, Hamas spoke of ''turning Israel into a living hell,'' With having even a hundred rockets they could say this ?? No, they had this planned, Iran wants to break that connection that Israel is constructing with the Gulf states and later the Saudis. Iran being Shiite, and Saudia Arabia, Sunni, "two Muslim sentiments'' ( in football Rovers and Burnley ) would you like both clubs to join??I think they hate each other! So it is with Sunni and Shia.

The Israeli connection with those Gulf states was not good for Iran ,it had destroy it. The rest is history ! But if you say we started first ,what was the cause?