Jerusalem News (4 September, 2014, 9 Elul, 5774)
Gaza War Information, News and Views from Israel, New Evidence about the Ten Tribes and Phoenicians in Scandinavia
Duration: 17.51 minutes. To Read News Items Please Scroll Down!
Contents:
1. Weekly Commentary: Gaza War - Concerns Legitimate Dr. Aaron Lerner
2. Here's what really happened in the Gaza war (according to the Israelis)
3. U.K. Can Hit ISIS Without Assad, PM Says
4. Jews to Build Thousands of Homes for Arabs in Jerusalem. Severe Shortage of Houses for Jews.
5. Reaction by Reader. Clifford Riley:Â Â we'd have a nuclear winter
6. Free Kurdistan Region Almost Doubles in Population
7. Abbas Refused Offer to Resettle Refugees in Sinai
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1. Weekly Commentary: Gaza War,  Concerns Legitimate Dr. Aaron Lerner
From: imra@imra.org.il
Date: 4 September 2014
Extracts:
The typical narrative of those writing favorable reviews and assessments these days about what transpired during the Gaza war (yes, it was a war) try to give the impression that this was a fantastically thought out plan. That we were witness to some tremendously intricate chess match playing itself out with the Israeli chess master having anticipated his opponents every move. I would love to think this was the case. It would certainly make it easier to sleep at night. That's because many of the turning point events were anything but intended by Israel. We most certainly did not plan, for example, to have IDF forces trapped in circumstances that would require a massive response that, in turn, radically changed conditions in the neighborhood being scoured for tunnels. I would also daresay that it is wishful thinking to believe that Israel was simply following a playbook that IDF's legal advisors had mapped out in advance based on which circumstances would allow the IDF clear ever more sensitive targets from the 'target bank' for destruction. I suspect that the more likely truth is that if Hamas had accepted 'quiet for quiet' at the early stages of the conflict that they would today have almost all of their tunnels intact as they continued in earnest manufacturing ever better missiles.
 Yes.Â
We are stronger than Hamas.
Yes.Â
They suffered magnitudes greater damage than we did. But, then again, they did move up the military learning/capabilities curve well beyond what we thought they did. And I don't see any indication of any concern that we screwed up on our assessments.
Instead I read statistics on the number of missiles left in Gaza and how much of their missile production capabilities remain intact. Figures presented as if Hamas invited in a team of Israeli surveyors with clipboards to take an inventory count.
Again. We are stronger than Hamas.
But I, for one, am clueless as to what local/regional challenge we may face in the coming months and years. And while Hamas in isolation may be something to simply 'mow down' every couple of years, I have enough respect for our enemies to be willing to entertain the possibility that another 'quiet for quiet' could enable them to advance far beyond our expectations on the military learning/capabilities curve and serve as an important force multiplier and forward force in a conflict directed by leaders whose names don't even show up today in a search of GoogleNews. That's why what happens in the coming months, when we can ultimately find ourselves in a 'quiet for quiet' with arrangements on the ground that enable Hamas to prepare for the next round, is so critical.
Don't get me wrong.
 I am not sitting in sackcloth and ashes over the performance of the IDF.
They can deliver.
And the Israeli public showed its willingness to fight and continue fighting.
I do, however, strongly believe that narratives that seem to encourage complacency over the need to address the challenges ahead are dangerously counterproductive.
Dr. Aaron Lerner,
 Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava) Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS:
imra@netvision.net.il Website: http://www.imra.org.il
 IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations
Website: www.imra.org.il
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2. Here's what really happened in the Gaza war (according to the Israelis)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/09/03/heres-what-really-happened-in-the-gaza-war-according-to-the-israelis/
Extracts:
TEL AVIV Â On a high floor of the Israeli defense ministry, a top intelligence officer sat down with a small group of foreign journalists Wednesday night to run through his slide show on the 50-day Gaza war, Â what surprised the Israelis about their enemy Hamas and what did not.
With the condition of anonymity, the Israeli general discussed casualty figures, tunnel architecture and rocket deployment for Hamas and other belligerents.
He presented himself as a grandfatherly wonk, a numbers guy. He conceded that intelligence is not an exact science.
Here is what he said:
Those rarely seen Hamas rocket launchers? Turns out they were buried.
Journalists who covered the war in Gaza have been panned by Israel supporters, including former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, for their failure to document Hamas militants firing rockets from civilian areas.
Critics have suggested that the reporters were cowards, dupes or intimated. Israel's top military intelligence officer had another explanation: There was nothing to see.
'Most of the rocket launchers were underground,' he said.
Hamas cadres did not gather around a cannon and light a fuse. That was two wars ago. In the current conflict, they buried their launchers and fired by remote control from concealed locations, often hundreds of yards away.
The Israeli intelligence officer said, 'It made it very hard to find and target.'
Harder still to get a photograph.
Did Israel kill a lot of civilians or a lot of combatants? (Or both?)
The Israelis say there were 2,127 casualties on the Palestinian side during the Gaza war, Â a total that is very close to the numbers provided by the United Nations.
To date, the Israeli military has determined with '100 percent certainty' that Israeli forces killed 616 combatants and 'terrorist operatives.'
The intelligence officer said the Israeli tally includes 341 from Hamas, 182 from Islamic Jihad and 93 from smaller factions.
The general said Israeli forces have confirmed that they killed 706 civilians. This number likely includes many of the 253 women and 495 children in the U.N. tallies.
In the end, the general said the Israelis believe that 45 percent of the dead will be combatants or 'terror operatives,' and 55 percent civilians.
Hamas was hit hard, but not that hard
If the percentages hold, the intel chief said, Israeli forces killed no more than 5 percent of the enemy, of an estimated total of 16,000 Hamas and 5,200 Islamic Jihad soldiers in the field, plus those from the smaller factions.
A handful of senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders were killed. The general would not comment on whether the supreme commander of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, died in an Israeli airstrike or not.
Hamas wants a SEAL team
The general said that Israeli intelligence knew that Hamas was training amphibious assault teams.
'They weren't Navy commandos,' the intelligence officer said. 'But they were in very, very good shape.' They received training outside Gaza; the general would not say where.
They managed to swim in SCUBA gear two or three kilometers underwater, transporting duffels bags with light arms and RPGs, before emerging on a beach near an Israeli military installation, he said.
Hamas now has its own 'birds'
The Gaza militants launched several drones into Israeli airspace. At least two were shot down; one appears to have returned to the Gaza Strip with aerial photographs.
'They were not Western-style UAVs,' the intelligence officer said. 'It had an engine and it flew.'
There were miles and miles of tunnels
During the war, the nightmare of jihadis popping out of tunnels in the middle of a kibbutz drove Israeli public opinion that the war was necessary. There were 32 offensive tunnels dug with the intention of putting Hamas militants under the border fence. Fourteen of the tunnels reached the Israeli side.
In addition, there were 'dozens and dozens of kilometers' of tunnels under the Gaza Strip, the general said.
'It allowed them to move, conceal, surprise and disappear,' he said. 'It is low-tech but effective.'
Despite reports in the Israeli media of vast 'underground cities' in Gaza, the intelligence officer described more limited accommodations. In a few, there were 'small ditches' where a cadre of militants could survive in an underground cave, living off boxes of dates. One group was down there 10 days, he said.
The general said Israeli intelligence believes that there are also tunnels beneath the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. He declined to say whether that is where top Hamas political and military leaders spent the war.
Syringes with tranquilizers and plastic handcuffs were found in two offensive tunnels and on the body of one suicide attacker. The intel chief suspected that the prize targets were Israeli soldiers, not civilians.
Hamas dropped rockets on its own people
The intelligence chief said Hamas and the other factions started the war with more than 10,000 rockets. He estimated that they have 2,500 or 3,000 rockets left, as well as 'thousands and thousands' of mortars.
Most were assembled in Gaza.
The intelligence chief said it is not important how lethal the rockets were. He said the aim was to instill terror, to force a million Israelis to run into shelters, he said.
So Hamas succeeded, in part.
Of the 4,500 rockets fired by Hamas and allies, 875 fell inside Gaza. Many were lobbed at Israeli soldiers during the ground offensive, but others were duds or misfires that landed short, meaning Hamas dropped explosives on its own people.
It is even possible, the intelligence chief said, that some of that fire was intentional.
The intelligence officer said it was clear, Â and he had the videotape from drones to prove it, that Hamas and the other factions fired their rockets from, and sometimes within, the courtyards of mosques, hospitals, cemeteries and schools.
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3. U.K. Can Hit ISIS Without Assad, PM Says
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2014/09/04/uk-could-hit-isis-without-assad-pm-says.html
Stefan Wermuth/AFP/Getty
David Cameron says that in going after ISIS inside Syria, the West does not need an invitation from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, insisting that Assad's government is not legitimate. The British prime minister said at the start of the NATO summit in Wales that ISIS represents a direct threat to the U.K., and a decision on strikes in Syria would be based on Britain's national interest. So far, only the United States has launched airstrikes against the extremist militants of the Islamic State. Cameron's comments raise the prospect that London may be putting together a case for the British to join the effort. There are concerns that British subjects who have joined ISIS may return home to conduct terrorist operations.
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4. Jews to Build Thousands of Homes for Arabs in Jerusalem. Severe Shortage of Houses for Jews.
Jerusalem's City Hall approved a massive development plan for Palestinians in the eastern part of the city. Mayor Nir Barkat told the Jerusalem Post the plan will hopefully rein in illegal construction and boost the standard of living.
The plan will feature 2,200 housing units and 130 hectares for the development of infrastructure, including parks, roads, schools, cultural institutions and businesses.
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Meanwhile in ALL of Israel and especially Jerusalem there is an extremely severe shortage of houses.
It costs an Arab less than one third what it costs a Jew for a house of equal value.
The reason for the shortage of housing for Jews is due to bureaucracy, ineptitude, and corruption in high places.
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5. Reaction by Reader. Clifford Riley:Â Â we'd have a nuclear winter
re
JN-1088. Jerusalem News
http://hebrewnations.com/features/jn/jn1088.html
#1. Putin Threatens Nuclear War Over Ukraine
Clifford Riley commented:
Clifford wrote: "If it goes to nuclear war we'd have a nuclear winter. The debris thrown into that atmosphere will prevent sun light for 200 years, killing all surface life. Russia is doing this because it wants to return the Cold war, when people lived in fear. When the Cold War ended we in the West discovered that the Russian people were always one step away from starvation.
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6. Free Kurdistan Region Almost Doubles in Population
http://basnews.com/en/News/Details/Refugee-Arrival-Increases-Kurdistan-Region-Population/32757
The Kurdistan Region's Department of Statistics revealed that the region's population has reached 9.8 million, since Islamic State (IS) militants began attacks on the disputed territories. According to the data released by the same department, the regio's population was estimated to be 5.4 million in 2013. However, due to continuous attacks by Islamist militants, the Kurdistan Region received more than 1.5 million refugees, most of whom are Kurds from the disputed territories. According to the Head of the Department of Statistics, the recent flow of refugees has pressured the regional government to provide services to a nearly doubled population. He also added that, apart from the difficulties the regional government has already been facing in providing accommodation, water and power for the newly arrived residents, it will soon begin to face pressure on the education system as well.
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7. Abbas Refused Offer to Resettle Refugees in Sinai
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/abbas-refused-offer-to-resettle-refugees-in-sinai/2014/09/04/
By: Jameel@Muqata
Published: September 4th, 2014
PA President Mahmoud Abbas has refused an offer by a senior Egyptian official to resettle 'Palestinian refugees' in the Sinai, according to a report in the Middle East Monitor on Monday.
According to Abbas, the plan was first proposed in 1956 by Egypt, and was just put back on the table again, in an attempt to help resolve the Arab-Israel conflict.
The idea was that the PA would receive a 618 square mile area adjacent to Gaza (the Gaza strip is 139 square miles) to resettle Arabs who claim refugee status. This would finally resolve the entire Palestinian refugee issue.
Abbas made it clear that he only wants to resettle refugees into Israel.
According to the report, Abbas proudly told the Fatah committee on Sunday that he refused the generous Egyptian offer to end the refugee problem.
Abbas said he refused the offer to settle them in the almost empty Sinai, as the plan 'is absolutely unacceptable and the Palestinians will not accept it'.
Abbas clearly prefers to instead take money from the EU and the US to perpetuate the conflict.
Part of the PLO plan to eradicate Israel has always been founded on flooding Israel with 'refugees'.
The refugees being referred to are primarily the 2nd and 3rd generation descendants of Arabs who were displaced from their homes when the Arab states attacked Israel in 1948.
At the time, the invading Arabs states told the Arabs in Israel to flee, so the invading armies could then wipe out the Jews unhindered. Others Arabs fled, thinking Israel would take revenge on them for what they did to the Jews over the years.
Most of these current 'refugees', and their parents, were born in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and other Arab countries.
UNRWA (remember them?) has perpetuated these people as refugees instead of rehabilitating them in their birth countries, where in fact many of their grandparents and great grandparents also originated from before migrating into Israel looking for work, once the Jews began to rebuild the country's economy.
No other UN agency passes on refugee status to descendants like UNRWA does.
During the post 1948 period, an equivalent number of Jews were also forced to flee the Arab countries they had called home for thousands of years, long before Islam came on the scene.
Many of those Jews moved to Israel, where they were fully integrated as Israeli citizens. These Jewish refugees and their descendants have not yet received financial compensation from the Arab countries they were forced to flee from.
In the early 1970s, Israel attempted to build modern housing projects to improve the living conditions of Arab refugee through resettlement and economic development. This plan was rejected by the Arab as they claimed that socio-economic solutions cannot solve the Palestinian problem.
For the Palestinian Authority, the refugee issue is a time bomb to be used to extend the conflict until they win.
Hebrew Nations Note:
The Prophet Isaiah (11:14) predicted that Ephraim and Judah TOGETHER would cause the Palestinians to fly away to the west.Â
See: Transfer the Palestinians!Â