Barrage of rockets target Sderot - at 6 in the morning

[Sylvia]

This morning around 6 in the morning rockets launched from Gaza started raining on the town. The explosions sounded really close and at one point the swish of a rocket filled the house. It was terrifying. I started saying shema' which I haven't done in a long time. The blitz lasted for about one hour and a half.
Now, I am accustomed to rockets. I have been living with the threat since 2001. There were many close calls during those 11 years, many times when it felt my legs had abandoned me.
However, I feel that this time is different. While the homefront command is telling us to remain not more than 15 seconds away from a shelter, this time it seems that it took just two or three seconds between the red alert and the strike, which would indicate either that Hamas have drastically improved the so-called "home-made" rockets, or that the launch site is a lot closer than it used to be.

[Reffo]

This morning around 6 in the morning rockets launched from Gaza started raining on the town. The explosions sounded really close and at one point the swish of a rocket filled the house. It was terrifying. I started saying shema' which I haven't done in a long time. The blitz lasted for about one hour and a half.
Now, I am accustomed to rockets. I have been living with the threat since 2001. There were many close calls during those 11 years, many times when it felt my legs had abandoned me.
However, I feel that this time is different. While the homefront command is telling us to remain not more than 15 seconds away from a shelter, this time it seems that it took just two or three seconds between the red alert and the strike, which would indicate either that Hamas have drastically improved the so-called "home-made" rockets, or that the launch site is a lot closer than it used to be.

I don't want to be the usual opinionated person that people who read this forum have come to know.

So let me ask you. What would you like to see Israel do? I am genuinely interested in hearing from a person like yourself who is directly affected by the atrocities that Hamas is perpetrating against civilian people such as yourself. If you had your say, what would you like Israel to do about it?

[wat0n]

I'm curious about what people in Sderot think too.

Has the Iron Dome been an improvement, overall?

[dayag]

The rockets are still coming from Gaza. Time to clean out that terrorist nest before the Muslim Brotherhood consolidates their control over Egypt and its military. At a bare minimum, the Philadelphi corridor must be reoccupied to prevent the free flow of weapons into the Gaza Strip.

Gaza terrorists continued to fire on Israel over the Sabbath. The Iron Dome rocket defense system successfully shot down 5 rockets, but more than 20 hit southern communities.

source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Ne...9#.T-cdn5B0gfw

Palestinian Authority terrorists resumed firing rocket attacks on southern Israel Sunday afternoon.

Three short-range Qassam rockets were launched at the Eshkol Regional Council district area by Gaza terrorists at about 4:30 p.m.

One of the missiles exploded in a residential area, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, but residents of the area had managed to reach their bomb shelters in time.

source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Ne...1#.T-ccc5B0gfw

[Reffo]

I tend to agree with Donniel Hartman ...

Jews must fight evil

As an Israeli, I want my government to do everything in its power to change the status quo. This requires courageous moves of diplomacy but also audacity on the battlefield. I don’t want a government arrogant enough to believe that it can do anything, and that for every problem there is a military solution.

I do, however, want a government that is willing to experiment with the means at its disposal to make the lives of those who aim to harm me and my fellow citizens both difficult and extremely dangerous. As I said, I cannot judge the military efficacy of each military act, but as a citizen of Israel I embrace the need to act and to attempt to proactively give us the security that we deserve.

Acts of tikkun olam
As a teacher of Jewish law and thought, what do I think about targeted killings? While the Jewish tradition elevates the sanctity of life as one of its highest values and sees all of humanity as equal in value, for we were all created in the image of God, it does not merely allow but obligates acts of self-defense. As human beings, we are endowed with power in order to complete and repair the world. At times this requires of us generosity of spirit and social responsibility and action. At other times, however, it requires that we use that power in order to root out evil

[Sylvia]

I'd rather not be specific about the iron dome so as not to tip off the enemy. Suffice to say that I wished there were more of them to go around.
The Gaza terrorists now fire four missiles at the time, packed with nails, bullets and pellets, within seconds or split seconds of each other. I could hear very clearly that they impacted. The factory worker was wounded while he was in the shelter. But that shrapnel (the pellets and bullets) passed through the seam between the door frame and the wall. I expect from the government more info on all that.

Another thing which the enemy knows and takes full advantage off is that except for the medics and the firefighters, on Saturdays and holidays all the government people, press, spokespeople, etc, are off. This is when we are most vulnerable not only to attacks, but to slander as well and no one is there to respond. Haaretz posted that there were some rockets and one wounded two hours after the pounding started at 8. I want a full staff of competent people at hand ready for any situation. I can foresee the day when they'll emerge out of their tunnels and attack people in their houses. What then? There isn't a single army base in this town.

Frankly, I don't think that the person responsible for the homefront, Matan Vilnai and General Gantz would have come if it were not for the mayor Bousquila who called them and demanded a meeting. The fact that Matan Vilnai was Director of Minorities Department when the second Intifada broke (and found him at the games in Sydney) and that the same Matan Vilnai was Environment Director when the Carmel fire took place, that he is now Director of the Homefront Command doesn't exactly reassure me. And I want to be reassured.

Just a few thoughts

[Reffo]

We need to ask why the Arabs do it ... ?

First and foremost, it is a form of psychological warfare. Militarily, it will never get the Arabs even a milimeter closer to their goal of destroying Israel. But psychologically it boosts their own [the Arabs] morale and debilitates Israeli morale.

That should give a clue to the type of response that Israel should consider. First, instead of publicizing the horrible effects on Southern Israel's population, Israel should copy what the Brits did during the Blitz when the Germans subjected British civilians to merciless bombardment. All the news stories emphasized the bravery of the British population, their stiff upper lip and their determination and individual acts of bravery. Israel and Israelis need to react the same way. It's public face needs to display defiance and determination. Hey, I know it's easier said than done. We Jews have always been a bunch of individualists and there are always voices of dissent from amongst us who would beg to differ. That's why I know that it would not be easy to build such a response. But we need to try it and we need to coordinate closely with the civilians of Southern Israel. They need to be persuaded to buy into it. I know it's easy for the likes of me to preach such tactics from the safety of Australia but believe me that I mean well and that I know that it is very very far from easy ...

Conversely, Israel needs to also act to affect THEIR [the Arab's] morale adversely. I agree with Donniel that Israel should randomly target the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The operative word is "randomly" and I might add relentlessly. I might also add that they should take as much care as possible to minimize Arab civilian casualties because every time one of their civilians dies the bad guys find it easier to recruit more terrorists (not to mention that Israel should not allow itself to stoop to THEIR level morally - even though many Arab civilians gladly support the murder of Israeli civilians).

Finally, Sylvia, I apologize if once again I sound opinionated. I don't mean to be preachy and I definitely know that what I advocate would not be easy to implement. However, Israel needs to try something new. This has been going on for far too long and it is obvious that Israel's past tactics have not been all that effective. Time to try something new ...

[JerichoMissile]

im not an engineer, but if it were up to me i would invent an iron dome that would shoot down all the missiles fired from gaza, and for every 1 missile it shoots down, it would fire back 10 missiles at the same co ordinates the missile it shot down was launched from.

but israel wont do this because its too worried about hostile world opinion.

[Reffo]

The following article sums up the hypocrisy that Israel faces which ties Israel's hands behind it's back and impedes it from formulating a really effective response to the rocket attacks from Gaza. I guess there is a case for Israel to ignore the hypocrites and just do what is necessary to clean up the vipers nest once and for all ...

The more vexing question, both morally and strategically, is what Israel ought to do about Gaza. The standard answer is that Israel's response to the Kassams ought to be "proportionate." What does that mean? Does the "proportion" apply to the intention of those firing the Kassams -- to wit, indiscriminate terror against civilian populations? In that case, a "proportionate" Israeli response would involve, perhaps, firing 2,500 artillery shells at random against civilian targets in Gaza. Or should proportion apply to the effects of the Kassams -- an exquisitely calibrated, eye-for-eye operation involving the killing of a dozen Palestinians and the deliberate maiming or traumatizing of several hundred more?

Surely this isn't what advocates of proportion have in mind. What they really mean is that Israel ought to respond with moderation. But the criteria for moderation are subjective. Should Israel pick off Hamas leaders who are ordering the rocket attacks? The European Parliament last week passed a resolution denouncing the practice of targeted assassinations. Should Israel adopt purely economic measures to punish Hamas for the Kassams? The same resolution denounced what it called Israel's "collective punishment" of Palestinians. Should Israel seek to dismantle the Kassams through limited military incursions? This, too, has the unpardonable effect of resulting in too many Palestinian casualties, which are said to be "disproportionate" to the number of Israelis injured by the Kassams

The Sderot Calculus

Oh and one more thing. Those who unleashed Goldstone and his report, can go to HELL! I notice there is still no "Goldstone" in Syria, go figure ...

[Pleepleus]

The idea that war should be "proportionate" is b.s. Throughout recorded history, it has never been that way ever. Nor should it. Destroying Hamas would send a clear message and make peace easier to achieve with the P.A.

[Reffo]

The idea that war should be "proportionate" is b.s. Throughout recorded history, it has never been that way ever. Nor should it. Destroying Hamas would send a clear message and make peace easier to achieve with the P.A.

I agree. The only thing that is proportional is whatever it takes to solve the problem. Everything else is "fiddling while Rome is burning", figuratively speaking.

The funny thing is that the Brits, the USA and Russia understand that concept fully. Otherwise there would not have been a Dresden, Hiroshima/ Nagasaki and I won't even mention what the Russians did in response to what Nazi Germany did to them. Or even Grozny Chechnya ...

[Aliyah1995]

Bottom line: Hamas and their radical left cheerleaders consider ALL of Israel (including Sderot) a "settlement". So Alice Walker and her ilk (forget about Hamas) won't be happy until Israel is no more. No sympathy from them to be expected and very little from the European parliamentarians, who begrudgingly accept Israel's right to exist ONLY because they realize that most Israelis are not suicidal and millions of Jews who were born in Israel and know no other country (many no other language) are not just going to get up and migrate to another country.

[dayag]

The government's response is underwhelming.

Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired four Grad-model rockets at the southern town of Netivot on Tuesday night, ending a brief period of calm.

The Iron Dome anti-rocket system intercepted two of the rockets. Two more exploded in open fields outside of the town...

source: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=275340

[Reffo]

I just finished watching an extensive coverage on SBS TV (the multicultural TV in Australia) of the following ...

In Sep 2011, a UK delegation of 9 lawyers from the fields of human rights, crime and child welfare, travelled to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to assess the treatment of Palestinian children under Israeli military law

Contrast that to the stubborn silence that they maintain about the plight of Sderot's civilians who have been subjected to ongoing indiscriminate rocket barrage by Palestinian Arab thugs for the last decade. Why is that not just as newsworthy, SBS?

I won't even bother to pose the same question to the "illustrious" British lawyers. Obviously Jewish civilians are not worthy of human rights according to some.

[Reffo]

Israel is overwhelmingly stronger militarily than the Palestinian Arabs yet it seeems that even it's "friends" expect it to do nothing about the cowardly indiscriminate attacks against it's civilians in Southern Israel. No other country, with such a military superiority, would put up with such a situation. Yet Israel is expected to because whatever it does in response, some bastard/s crawls out from under a rock and says ...

• Targeted assassinations are illegal.
• The military response is disproportianate.
• A security fence is illegal.
• A military blockade is illegal.
• Arrest of trouble makers is illegal
• The list goes on, everything that Israel does in response is illegal or "immoral"

and the rocket fire against Israeli civilians continues. Oh it gets cursorily condemned occasionally but there is obviously no conviction in the condemnation of what Arabs do to Israeli civilians. There are no special committes no commissions of enquiry no reports no resolutions there is only a nudge and a wink to the Palestinian Arabs telling them that they may proceed without any likely consequences from the international bodies and certainly no adverse reports by most of the media. Contrast that to the implied threats to Israeli leaders about being hauled in front of international tribunals if they try to defend Israeli civilians. Franky, it's disgusting.