Israel moves toward Gaza

The Iron Dome defense system fires to intercept incoming missiles Thursday from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod. Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the army is prepared for a “significant widening” of its operation in the Gaza Strip. Photo by The Associated Press.

By The Associated Press

Friday, November 16, 2012

AZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian militants barraged Israel with more than 200 rockets on Thursday, killing three people as Israel pressed a punishing campaign of airstrikes on militant targets across the Gaza Strip. Three rockets targeted the densely populated Tel Aviv area, setting off air raid sirens in brazen attacks that threatened to trigger an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

Late in the day, Israel signaled a ground operation may be imminent as forces moved toward the border area with Gaza. At least 12 trucks were seen transporting tanks and armored personnel carriers, and a number of buses carrying soldiers arrived. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he had authorized the army to call up additional reservists for possible action. The army said it was prepared to draft up to 30,000 additional troops.

“I ordered the military today to widen the draft of reserve soldiers in order to be able to be ready for any development,” Barak said. Military officials said the moves were to prepare for the possibility of a ground invasion, but stressed no decision had been made. Israel TV stations, however, said a ground offensive was expected Friday.

The fighting, the heaviest in four years, has also killed 15 Palestinians in two days and brought life to a standstill on both sides of the border. School has been canceled and many were huddling indoors.

Israel and Hamas have largely observed an informal truce for the past four years. But in recent weeks, the calm unraveled in a bout of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

The fighting showed no signs of slowing after dark. Israeli aircraft carried out dozens of attacks on militant targets in Gaza, while militants fired barrages of rockets throughout the day. The fighting began on Wednesday after Israel killed Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari in an airstrike, then attacked dozens of rocket launchers. The offensive follows weeks of rocket fire out of Gaza.

Thursday’s attacks on Tel Aviv, some of the deepest rocket strikes from Gaza on record, set air raid sirens blaring and sparked panic in the streets of the normally laid-back commercial and cultural capital. Israeli Channel 2 TV showed panicked Tel Aviv residents running for cover and lying down on the ground after the sirens began wailing. Diners hid under tables in a restaurant, and traffic snarled on the city’s main north-south highway. There were no injuries.

Workers and visitors at offices in a Tel Aviv skyscraper froze for a few seconds in silence as the sound of the sirens wafted through the open windows.

Some murmured “I don’t believe it,” but everyone quickly and calmly rose and walked to the stairwell to go down to the building’s bomb shelter. Many reached for their mobile phones to call loved ones and urge them to run to a protected space, while others kept dialing in frustration as cell networks were overloaded.

One of the rockets landed in an open area of Rishon Lezion, a city on Tel Aviv’s southern outskirts, while police said the other two appeared to have landed in the sea. Although there were no injuries, Israel considers any attempt to disrupt life in Tel Aviv to be a major escalation.

Defense officials say Israel is prepared to launch a ground invasion into Gaza if necessary. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army was prepared for a “significant widening” of its Gaza offensive.

“No government would tolerate a situation where nearly a fifth of its people live under a constant barrage of rockets and missile fire, and Israel will not tolerate this situation,” he said. “This is why my government has instructed the Israeli Defense Forces to conduct surgical strikes against the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. And this is why Israel will continue to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people.”

Israeli officials say they have not yet decided on whether to launch a ground invasion in Gaza.

While southern Israeli areas near Gaza have long coped with rocket fire, the attacks on the Tel Aviv area illustrated the significant capabilities that Hamas militants have developed. Gaza militants had previously hit Rishon Lezion before but never reached Tel Aviv, roughly 70 kilometers, or 50 miles, north of the strip.

Israel launched the offensive on Wednesday, killing the head of Hamas’ militant wing and destroying dozens of rocket launchers. Israel has made special efforts to destroy launchers for Hamas’ Iranian-made “Fajr” rockets, which are believed capable of flying even deeper into Israel.

More like this story

JCLifer 6 months ago

So when does Obama order the US military to start dropping bombs on Israel? I'll bet it starts within the next day or two. Sadly, another Jihad is on.

eileen10 6 months ago

Why would we drop bombs on Israel?

connor 6 months ago

Because the lefty liberal Obama supporters hate Israel. Even the ones who are not anti-Semitic Hidden Muslims Like Rev. Wright and know nothing about religion, hate Israel because it still has White Male leaders.

I doubt Obama will actually bomb Israel. He will posture and say he supports them while doing nothing. If Israel gets crushed by Muslim forces he will secretly rejoice. If Israel manages to defend itself and begins pushing the Muslims back Obama will then support a UN (Muslim) backed DE-militarized zone designed to trap Israel within borders the United Na...errr I mean United Muslims can control.

Obama's weak foreign policy is going to destroy us all before it is over.

Paroquet 6 months ago

I know plenty about religion; Ibrahamic monotheists are all flippin' sociopaths of some stripe, except when surrounded by their own.

connor 6 months ago

You can believe whatever you wish. Name any religion that has not committed some atrocity. Or more to the point one that hasn't ahd something done in it's name. Even Polytheistic ones. I do know this however if Christianity was as bad as most of the others, including Islam, you wouldn't be writing what you did or enjoying the "spiritual" life you proclaim to have, at least not openly and without oppression.

Paroquet 6 months ago

" Name any religion that has not committed some atrocity. "--Connor

Mine. Another reason I got my Ordainment. While not a pacifist by any stripe, I just try to right by others.

On Christianity, you're right. It isn't bad. But a very wise teacher once said; "Your Christ? I like your Christ, but you Christians or so unlike him."

I do practice openly, but I don't proselytize. Somewhere floating around is a picture of me with my arms around a Muslim and a Catholic--taken in front of the Missouri WWII memorial in D.C. I tend to be able to get along.

I'm a pretty tolerant guy. I'm right for me.

And as for the Poly quip; What is the word for God on the lips and hearts of all children? "Mommy".

I'm not one who takes exception to the devout. Of any faith. Right up until they think to force their doctrine upon me or others. Pretty easy going otherwise. Like I mentioned before; I, a Pagan, married a Catholic to a Baptist. I don't care what a person believes for themselves, except where it exists to subjugate the will of others to their own.

Had a bumpersticker, way back when, that read "Pro free speech, pro-gun, pro-choice, pro-freedom". I kinda liked it.

It's okay to believe. It gives you a kind of personal fulfillment. Just don't force your own stuff down other's throats and render them thralls to your take on what it means to truly be. Leave them find their own truths. Follow St. Christopher, and help others overcome barriers to where they most want to be.

Fairly certain me and Big J. would've gotten on pretty well. We even got the same hairstyle. They say mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery.

connor 6 months ago

Pagan. Hmmmm that covers alot of territory there most of which have participated in some form of killing and themselves at least before the Christians grew stronger. So all you are really doing is hiding either behind time forgetting OR simply making up your own religion by picking and choosing what you want (Kinda like Feminism imagine that) and then proclaiming it has done no wrong when the reality is it has no history.

Your post, as usual, seem to mostly be about you, or your perception of the digital you,

Otherwise your entire post said basically nothing.

dokeus6 6 months ago

"Otherwise your entire post said basically nothing." Don't know Connor, after reading his post, Paroquet seems like a pretty intelligent, down to earth and easy going dude in my book. I can read how he is trying to say who he is without casting any expulsion towards anyone else. He seems like a dude that would do what he says. After reading several posts that you two have written, I can understand why you have problems identifying what he says. You two don't talk the same language. Paroquet is one of peace and at ease with himself while your speech is filled with intolerance toward fellow man. Got to learn to relax Connor. That much intolerance leads to high blood pressure. High blood pressure leads to stroke. Stroke leads to untimely death.

connor 6 months ago

Fantasy life can lead to an untimely death and like Parquet you really aren't saying a whole lot either except hypocritical moral judgement calls. You defend someone who attacks pretty much every major religion on this planet calling them sociopaths and then want to call me intolerant and claim he is laid back?

Such narrow obvious agendas. You cannot think past your own selfish desires and attempt to paint others with your own colors.

Not happening here.

TickledPink 6 months ago

I don't usually correct people, but this is one of my favorite quotes and I just can't help myself.

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Paroquet, the more you "talk" the more I think I may know you. :)

Paroquet 6 months ago

Mahatma Gandhi. :)

I appreciate the eloquence and accuracy of your clarification on my abbreviated & mangled quote.

If you think you know me, you probably do. Or at least, someone I might have touched, or who touched me.

You weren't with the Police force for the chicken fiasco, were you?

And Connor? Yeah, Pagan is a generic term. I use it for ease of others' interpretation. Basically it says I don't subscribe to the doctrine of a Church. I don't try and convince anyone of anything. I leave them make-up their own mind, and help them when I can, if they like.

I am a Gaian. The Earth is my Mother. Did you ever, as a child, cry out in the dark for "Mommy" before anything else? And it takes two, generally, to make a child--if you want to go for "Daddy" instead, and press the matter further.

May Harmony find you. :-)

connor 6 months ago

Ahhh Gaian. Like the same who embed railroad spikes into tree trunks in an attempt to kill mill workers? That kind of Gaian?

Not even a religion, at best it is an individual belief system just as susceptible to misuse and violence as any other religion. In fact more so.

asb 6 months ago

Conner broken . . .

dokeus6 6 months ago

That is last part of your statement is so laughable connor. I think the crusades, the pope recognizing hitler and the ensuing aftermath of the holocaust are more violence than any one religion has accomplished on this earth. They were brought on by greedy men waging war using the excuse of religion for their own desires.

connor 6 months ago

As opposed to the cleansing of the Tribes by Mohamed? Genocide, especially against the Jews even before the Muslim's allied with Hitler. Armenian Christian hunted and exterminated by the Muslim Turks?

As I said your views, like your ideology, is entirely one sided.

JCLifer 6 months ago

Please don't anyone bring up Tammy Faye Baker...

eileen10 6 months ago

I'm staying out of this because the only thing I know or actually read was that our ties with Israel are stronger than they've ever been. Geez. I need to learn to keep my yap shut.

connor 6 months ago

Too late, you supported the man. Your gonna own what is coming the same as the rest of them.

eileen10 6 months ago

Okay. But what if things get better. What if President Obama does really good things for us. And you know I'm not as good at things as the rest of you so don't pick on me ya big bully. When the day comes that I can sling it fast and furious I will but that day isn't here.

JCLifer 6 months ago

When is any of this gonna start? We've been waiting for four years, but all he does is failure. Things are worse now than they were four years ago, and they are getting even more worse by the hour. How many more jobs have to be lost this month? How many more lives need to be lost in Afghanistan? How much more in taxes and Obamacare are we gonna have to pay? How many more children have to graduate from high school and not know basic English, math, writing, or speaking skills, let alone the advanced skills they are going to need to compete for 21st century jobs? How much more debt is Obama gonna get us so that our children, grandchildren, and on do not have nearly as good of quality of life as we have, and our quality of life is not as good as our parents had?

Things are very bad, and they are getting much worse. In four more years the pain and suffering will be immeasurable thanks to the Failure in Chief.

connor 6 months ago

Ok eileen find one time ever where a government raised taxes on any segment of the population and things got better? There have been a few temporary taxes that applied to everyone for emergencies that worked in the short term but more of them were never removed after the fact than went away. We still pay taxes on items levied because of WWII.

Leaving aside the reasons for these taxes and not even cracking the welfare and government social engineering problems once a government goes down the tax road it never comes back. Even if we tax all the people who make over 250K a year at a 100% basis we won't have enough money to pay the interest on the debt.

At this point we are simply waiting on foreign countries decide to pull the plug. They haven't needed to because Obama and his policies are doing the work for them but if things start to turn around (which they won't under Obama) they will make sure it fails.

eileen10 6 months ago

Okay okay. I get it. Well. Kind of. I don't know much of what you talked about and I've been reading but there's things from all the way back to world war 2 and more than likely I slept through my American history class when that was taught. Not that I'd remember anything all these years later but what exactly do you see say in two or three years from now. What kind of shape will we be in do you think.

RobHunterJohnson 6 months ago

Eileen, when you are paying off your credit card do you just pay the minimum, or do you throw an extra $10 or $20 at it? It is called you have to raise taxes, and cut spending! You cannot give any of us a break, we have to pay for what we have recieved, or will get! The Rich don't see it that way? What did we get from the Tax cuts Bush 2 put into play for over the last 10, or so years? How much of that money could have been applied to the Debt? How much money trickeled down to the working class families? Rob

eileen10 6 months ago

I think I started world war 3. I see what you mean and that's how I see it I guess because I'm not rich. What I was taught was that Democrats fight for the poor and Republicans fight for the rich. If I were rich I'd want someone to fight for me and The poor want someone to fight for them which means a big fight. I know we have to get out of the mess we're in and talking about what other President's did may give some in-sight but there again there's not much agreement about what has to be done. So what do we do?

JCLifer 6 months ago

The question is; Would you rather be poor or rich? Nothing is guaranteed, but why would you want everyone to be poor? Poor people do not hire others. Poor people do not run companies. Poor people do not build anything. Poor people do not pay taxes. I'm not knocking the poor, and I do think we need to help give the poor opportunities to better themselves, but I sure don't think we should aspire to be poor. I don't think we need to put the boot of government down on the throats of those who want to become wealthy.

The wealthy already pay most of the taxes anyway. When is enough enough? 47% of the population has no skin in the game at all. Why not make them pay a small token amount so they have some skin in the game and they can be proud of our country because they contribute to it?

RobHunterJohnson 6 months ago

Jc lifer, you know where I stand, fair shake from all, and get this mess cleaned up! Lets not break down everything we as a nation have worked for such as MC,and SS! A national sales tax might work to get us out of debt, along with a modified tax code! A national sales tax would catch the underground economy which really does exist? Rob

JCLifer 6 months ago

I would support eliminating income, property, capital gains, inheritance taxes and changing over to a sales tax at all levels of government. A sales tax would be much more fair. Exempt food, meds, doctor visits, etc. if you want.

connor 6 months ago

Of course now the not so rich get to pay for the not so industrious. That isn't taxation it is wealth redistribution and goes well beyond a use tax.

RobHunterJohnson 6 months ago

No I figure since I already bought the new stove! That would be where the tax modification would come in? Whats the price for a bale of fescue this year? Rob

connor 6 months ago

Four foot or five foot Round bale or i-diot cubes? Price is high if you can even find them for sale. I get at least one person stopping every few days just asking if I have any available out of the blue. That hasn't happened in years usually it is referral if someone asks. My guess is we are going to be importing hay in by January like mad but the mild Fall so far has caused the pastures to continue growing so maybe it won't be so bad.

I have seen some locals selling five foot round bales for $100 already which is almost double or more of the normal amount. Some years I have seen those same bales go for 35 bucks.

RobHunterJohnson 6 months ago

Hey conner when George Bush 1 said read my lips no new taxes, and he had to eat those words, after those new taxes came to play, the economy did get better for almost 9 years! Rob

connor 6 months ago

So which is it? It got better and Obama ruined it or it got worse and Obama inherited it? Seems to me you are implying the first.

JCLifer 6 months ago

I remember things going very well for our country until the 6th year of Geo W's term. Howver, that was when Frank and Pelosi took over, and things went to heck in a hurry. Obama has just continued the downward spiral, but that isn't a surprise because it was apparent from day one that he doen not like our country. Even his wife has never been proud of the USA until the taxpayers moved her into the White House and started to pay for her expensive vacations and parties.

RobHunterJohnson 6 months ago

conner are you so young you don't know who Bush 1 is? I just answererd your question to eilleen10! The problem is you are so caught up in the Obama reply to everything you must be experiencing old timers? Rob

connor 6 months ago

No I actually didn't see the 1. I actually remember Bush saying that now. Oh how I miss Ronny and Bush 1. Anyway. Bush 1 caved but was lucky he had Reagan's legacy wave to carry him and Clinton through to 2000.

Ahhh I miss the 80's

TickledPink 6 months ago

ehow.com/info_8424860_presidents-raised-taxes.html

asb 6 months ago

And I've found that the Dome is about 70-80% effective, and that's against the missles/mortars it chooses to intercept. Improvement to over 90% expected within the next twelve months. Rafael, the company that is building the Iron Dome, is state owned, so surely this system will fail. Funny, We're funding a lot of the Jewish defense, and the Hamas Missles too (SUV food). Life is weird eh?

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