216 Missiles and Mortars: A Final Look at the One-Day War

Tweet

17 Sivan 5778

31 May 2018

Most Revealing Quote of the Day

“We attacked very valuable, very important targets that we have waited a long time for the opportunity to hit. I think that at this point in time we have made a very big achievement.”

Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Head of the IDF Southern Command

Why is this quotation revealing? Because it reveals the absurd lengths to which the IDF high command will go to obscure the truth.

What was the achievement in destroying empty buildings and empty sand dunes? What was the achievement in not hitting a single missile or mortar launcher? What was the achievement in 250,000 Israelis having to spend 34 hours in bomb shelters?

In point of fact, as we noted yesterday, IDF actions in Gaza were an utter failure, and everyone knows it.

The News on the Israeli Street

Palestinian terror in the last 72 hours outside of Gaza . . .

*The Abud Bypass Road, Hevron, Hizma, Tekoa, Qalqilya, the Migdalim Junction, Halhul, the Horseshoe Junction in Binyamin, Silwad, Silwan, all along the Gush Etzion Road, Ramat Hovav, between the Al-Khader Junction and the north entrance to Efrat, Ofra, Beit Ummar, Huwara, the Yitzhar Junction, the Lieberman Bridge, Har Homa, Kiryat Arba, Mt. Hevron, Kochav Hashachar, Shechem, Tikkun, and Road 443: these are but 25 of the more than 100 locations at which Palestinian terrorists have attacked Israelis in Judea and Samaria during the last three days.  

*The Molotov kite attacks continue along the Gaza border today, but are spreading to Judea and Samaria. Palestinian terrorists in Bil’in used a kite to set fire to agricultural fields near Modi’in Illit.

*Two days ago there was a major infiltration of the Jewish community of Har Bracha. Two Palestinian terrorists breached the security fence; one was shot and wounded in the thigh; the other was captured. The wounded terrorist was rushed to Beilinson Hospital. Once there, astonishingly, an Israeli child that was being operated on was taken out of surgery so that the terrorist could have surgery on his leg.

May weather in Israel sets records . . .

According to the Israel Meteorological Service, May was both the hottest and wettest May ever, or at least since the Service began keeping records.

More rain is expected this week–as the temperatures continue to rise.

Netanyahu news . . .

Now that the excitement of May is beginning to dissipate, the Israeli television news has returned to its day in and day out “reportage” of alleged Netanyahu scandals. Breathless reporting of new information in Case 4000, breathless reporting of Sara Netanyahu and the household expenses, breathless reporting of nonsense after nonsense.

Meanwhile, PM Netanyahu announced this past week (before the outbreak in Gaza) that he is setting up a team to build upon the fact that Israel has become a major cyber power in the world. This new team will focus on turning Israel into a super-cyber power via quantum computing, a field considered critical to Israel’s security.

To better understand quantum computing, your humble servant refers you to this lecture given by an Israeli scientist in Israel last year (click here to watch the lecture):

Click on the above link to watch the lecture.

TODAY’S BLOG:

216 Missiles and Mortars: A Final Look at the One-Day War

Let’s begin our summary today with an extremely important number, the number of missiles and mortars that were launched at Israel during the 34 hour period which ran from Monday night until early Wednesday morning.

From the beginning, we all knew that the IDF was hiding the extent to which southern Israel was under attack. The initial number that the IDF spokesman gave out was 25 missiles and mortars.  At that time, israelstreet was already reporting 82.

Next came the number 50; at which time we knew from reports on the ground that there had actually been at least 125.

Finally came the number of “approximately” 100. As we noted at that time on israelstreet, the number had to be between 150-200. 

And that is where the IDF number has stayed.  But yesterday, amazingly, we got the real number from (of all places) UN Middle East Envoy Nikolay Mladenov. He told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that Hamas and Islamic Jihad had fired 216 missiles and mortars at Israel.

Your humble servant finds it dangerously flabbergasting that Israelis cannot get true statistics from our own government. We either have to piece together information from reports on the ground (as israelstreet does) or we find out from other sources what really happened.

An important question we have to ask ourselves as we conclude our coverage of the one-day war is why was there no significant IDF response?

There are several theories floating around southern Israel:

Theory 1:

There was coordination between Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the IDF. As ludicrous as this seems, consider the fact that the IDF held a meeting with Israeli community leaders in the Gaza envelope before the missile and mortar fire began in which the leaders were told to expect a missile and mortar attack.

Also consider the fact that not one single Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorist was killed or even wounded. At the very least, this suggests that both terror groups had precise knowledge about which buildings and sand dunes would be hit in Gaza.

Theory 2:

Israel was hoping for a public relations coup. After all of the bad press we received from the events at the Gaza border during May, this was a chance for Israel to retake the pr initiative.

In fact, that is precisely what has happened. Never mind that 250,000 of our citizens were put in danger of death and injury, the western world largely agrees that the blame for this mini-war rests with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Theory 3:

Israel was willing to let the attacks “slide”, realizing that they were the payback that Iran has promised for Israel’s continuing attacks on Iranian forces and proxies in Syria.

According to this theory, Israel knew from the beginning that the missiles and mortars were Iranian in origin and that funding from the attack came from Tehran.  In short, our government was willing for citizens of Israel to be missile fodder in exchange for northern and central Israel not being hit by more powerful Iranian missiles from Syria.

Theory 4:

As noted on this blog yesterday, Israeli Security Cabinet member Yoav Gallant clearly expressed the idea that the missiles and mortars coming from Gaza were just not that important. 

According to Gallant, who was presumably speaking for the Cabinet, Israel has more pressing priorities on the Syrian and Lebanese borders and could not afford to get bogged down in a war with Palestinians in Gaza.

Theory 5:

The IDF does not have the ability to stop missile and mortar fire from Gaza. After all, we have been through three wars with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and in none of the wars was the IDF able to stop the missile and mortar fire.

In every war, both terror groups were still standing and still launching when the wars came to an end.

In reality, this is the scariest of all the theories.

So which theory do you subscribe to dear reader?

Your humble servant suspects that the reality is some combination of elements from all five.

Whatever the truth is, it is a devastating indictment of the unwillingness and inability of our government to protect our citizens in southern Israel. 

Significantly, this ED treatment is reported to be safe viagra professional 100mg and allowed by FDA to facilitate through authorized pharmaceutical stores. There are no second thoughts when it comes to preferring get viagra prescription rather than opting for any other medicine. To http://mouthsofthesouth.com/locations/toys-and-advertisement-auction/ purchase levitra online benefit from Kamagra tablets you should exercise daily, take healthy foods high in nutrients; take adequate sleep and maintain your mental health. It slows down linked here viagra 25 mg wear / tear of your body tissues.