Blankfort: Why did Israel break truce on our Election Night?

[grassfed]

It occurs to me that this war was also intended to not only crush the Palestinian resistance and restore Israel's tarnished macho image but to make sure Obama could not push the "peace process," as phony as that was, but that his support for Israel will quickly destroy his popularity throughout the world, something which would have given him, in the minds of the Israelis, a lever to exert pressure on them to actually withdraw from the West Bank and the Golan Heights. Israel is the only country in the world where George W is popular and the Israelis like it that way. However deep he is into the pockets of the Jewish establishment, I am sure Obama is steaming at them. That Israel broke the truce on the night of his election was their way of sending the message.

source
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/01/blankfort-why-did-israel-break-truce-on-our-election-night.html

[elleng]

1. Sure hope Obama IS steaming at them,

and he says something that pisses them off on day one!

Doubt that he'll do that; he's too smart and cautious, but I do expect him to set a different approach, like, SANITY.

[Skip Intro]

2. When does being "smart" turn into leadership?

[elleng]

3. January 20, 2009

.

[Skip Intro]

4. Well, all we have at this point is hope.

We'll see what that gets us soon enough.

[grassfed]

5. Change meant Hillary (Cluster Bombs are OK) Clinton as SOS

with Dennis Ross by her side. Some fucking change.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. They didn't.

I love the lies and anti-Semitic remarks sprinkled in, makes it so much more believable for some.

[smalll]

7. Yup. "Washington is Occupied Territory" ... "The Jewish establishment" ...

IBTL.

On Edit: Well, "Washington is Occupied Territory" has disappeared, but "the Jewish establishment" still remains. :shrug:

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Interesting, huh?

Though it doesn't change the fact the original quote still contains it, but the "quoted" version omits it without indicating anything is missing. I think Colbert calls this "truthiness."

ETA: Only 4 mins. to delete the "Jewish establishment" remark and make it complete, or rather, incomplete.

[cliffordu]

8. Well....

:popcorn:

[oberliner]

10. Truce was broken in June

Rockets were fired into Israel just a few days after the agreement was reached.

As for the November incident - both sides violated the agreement at that time (though neither believed their actions were in violation from their perspective). Israel hit the tunnels that they believed were being used for a planned kidnapping attempt, Hamas responded by firing rockets randomly into Israel.

After that, both sides pretty much went back to observing the truce until Hamas officially called it off in December and launched a barrage of rockets into Israel.

[grassfed]

11. the world disagrees but think what you want

UN official says Israel responsible for breaking truce with Gaza
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1051211.html

Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians

CNN Confirms Israel Broke Ceasefire First
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KntmpoRXFX4

[oberliner]

12. Your first link has nothing to do with the initial cease fire

The first link is about a lull that was supposed to have been agreed to AFTER the barrage of rocket attacks from Hamas. It has nothing to do with who broke the initial ceasefire. The claim from the UN official is that Israel broke this new 48 hour truce, not the original one.

The second link talks about the violations of the truce which took place in November. First Israel raided those tunnels in Gaza as I mentioned, and then Hamas responded by launching a bunch of rockets at Israel. It notes that after both violations, the ceasefire was most likely going to be reinstated. These incidents in November came several months after the initial violations in June when rockets were launched at Israel a few days after the truce was agreed to.

Your third link is an interview with a Palestinian representative on CNN citing the November incident and then the CNN news anchor reads some printouts from US News and World Report and other news sites that mention that November incident.

Israel did not believe that incident was a violation of the truce since they claimed they were preventing an imminent attack, which they reserved the right to do as part of the agreement.

In any case, Hamas responded to Israel's actions with a rocket barrage against Israel.

So they both broke it, and then both went back to observing it, and then Hamas officially ended it.

Incidentally, here's an article from June about that initial violation from The Washington Post:

Gazan Rockets Threaten Truce

JERUSALEM, June 24 -- Palestinian fighters lobbed rockets into southern Israel on Tuesday, jeopardizing a six-day-old truce in and around the Gaza Strip.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062400616.html