Rocket Salvo Directed At Tel Aviv, Israeli Warplanes Strike Syrian Golan Heights, Liberman Says Ground War Vital

Large Rocket Salvo At Tel Aviv

Hamas fired a large salvo of rockets Wednesday morning at the Greater Tel Aviv area. Four rockets were intercepted.

Sirens and explosions sounded throughout Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, Petah Tikva, Herzliya, Raanana and Kfar Shemaryahu.

There is no report of injuries. Nine people were treated for emotionalshock in Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Holon, Petach Tikva and Kfar Saba.

The sirens sounded at 9:20.

Earlier Wednesday morning, a woman was lightly hurt in one of the communities in the Be'er Tuvia region, from fragments of a rocket that exploded near her. She was taken to Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot. 

Israeli Warplanes Strike Syrian Golan Heights Killing 4

Israeli warplanes have targeted three administrative and military centers in the Syrian Golan Heights region, killings at least four people and injuring several others.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in the UK, says the attack which took place in southern Syria’s Quneitra Province left at least four people dead, including two women.

The attack came after Israel claimed that a rocket fired from Syria hit the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights.

This comes as al-Qaeda-linked militants are fighting the Syrian government forces and stray mortar rounds have hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on several occasions.

Israel has confirmed today’s attacks on the Golan Heights but says it responded with artillery fire without mentioning airstrikes.

As Israeli Cabinet Delays Decision, Palestinians Hammer Tel Aviv With Heaviest Barrage Yet

As the Israeli Cabinet failed to reach a decision about Gaza operation, after a relatively quiet night the Palestinians Wednesday launched their heaviest barrage of rockets in the current conflict to date at Gush Dan. Hamas claimed responsibility for sending M-75s at the region. 

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s ceasefire ploy Tuesday, July 15, instead of calming the violence in Gaza, unleashed a furious spate of 140 rockets from the Gaza Strip, which drew dozens of Israel air strikes after a six-hour lull in operations. By the end of the eighth day of Operation Defensive Edge, the Israeli security cabinet saw it was saddled with a new dilemma: persuading the Egyptian ruler to punish Hamas to the full extent of his power. 

But just as US President Barack Obama stayed clear of the Gaza conflict by hauling Secretary of State John Kerry out of range, so too the Egyptian president would much prefer Israel deal with Hamas, which he regards as the Palestinian branch of his archenemy the Muslim Brothers.

El-Sisi would not mind taking a hand in the all-out campaign against the Palestinian Islamists, so long as Israel takes the lead and conducts a wide-scale military operation to crush them. He would then collect the rewards.

Broad Israeli circles have commended the Netanyahu government for accepting the ceasefire proposed by Cairo – both because it lent Israel unquestioned justification for striking the rejectionist Hamas.

Cairo has its own perception of the situation created by the “truce”: Netanyahu manufactured a favorable international background for military action against Hamas and it was now up to him to go through with it.

Aware of this small crack in the camp ranged against them,  Hamas and Jihad Islami outdid themselves Tuesday in hurling rockets – some 130 – against dozens of Israeli population centers as far as the Jordan Valley.

Egypt, Hamas and Israel are in a holding pattern. Netanyahu and his defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, understand that El-Sisi will not lift a finger until Israel broadens its operation against Hamas. It is up to this duo to make the decisions, since the security cabinet is hamstrung by internal differences and embarrassing leaks.

The Egyptian president will be receiving the Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo later Wednesday. He will decide how far he wants to cooperate with him when he sees how far Israel is willing to go against Hamas. The more devastating the blow, the more amenable he will be to working with Netanyahu rather than Abbas.

Whatever is decided between Cairo and Jerusalem, Hamas and Jihad Islami know they are in for trouble: and so they fall back on their knee-jerk reaction by redoubling their rocket fire on Israel. 

Amid Rocket Fire, Liberman Says Ground War Vital



The Times of Israel is liveblogging events as they unfold through Wednesday, the ninth day of Operation Protective Edge. On Tuesday, while Israel accepted an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire, Hamas rejected it and continued its rocket fire into Israel. An Israeli was killed by mortar fire. In mid-afternoon, Israel resumed attacks on Hamas targets, as Foreign Minister Liberman called to retake full control of the Strip, an idea Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects. After targeting Hamas leadership in a number of overnight strikes, the death toll in the Strip rose to over 200. (Tuesday’s liveblog is here.)

France proposes EU observers at Gaza-Israel crossings

France says the European Union could set up observer missions at border crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel to try to encourage a lasting truce between the two sides.

“Europe… is ready to do things, particularly through what we call EUBAM, which are forces that could monitor movements between Gaza and Israel,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius tells French radio.

2 rockets intercepted over Ashkelon; 1 hits city

The Iron Dome intercepts two missiles over the southern city of Ashkelon.

A third rocket falls outside a house in a residential area, close to where Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende are located, according to Ynet.

The structure is damaged, but no injuries are reported.

IDF Hits 100 Targets In 24 Hours


The IDF Spokesman said Wednesday morning that the military attacked 39 terror targets in Hamas-run Gaza overnight. Over 1,750 terror targets have been hit since Operation Protective Edge began, on July 7.

In particular, last night the IDF carried out targeted attacks on fourprominent terrorist leaders, and additional attacks on operationalinfrastructures that serve as part of Hamas's base for terror activity against Israel.

In addition, the Navy carried out an attack on a terrorist position on the coast, from which operations were launched against Israel. Tank fire was also directed towards a terrorist position in Khan Yunis, killing one terrorist.
The IDF attacked about 100 targets in the last 24 hours, including 47 buried rocket launchers; "terror tunnels" used to store and transport weapons and facilitate infiltrations into Israel; sites for production and storage of weapons; and military compounds.

Among the targets struck overnight was the operational infrastructure of Hamas co-founder Mahmoud Al-Zahar, the operational infrastructure of Ismail al-Ashkar, a senior Hamas leader, and the operationalinfrastructure of Nasser Abu Nasser, a senior member of Hamas in central Gaza, which serves for the drawing up of wide ranging operationalplans.

In addition, a compound that serves Hamas's Interior Ministry was struck. The Interior Ministry is in charge of all of Hamas's security mechanisms, except its "military wing" the Ezzadine al-Qassam Brigade. These mechanisms are deeply involved in the organization's military activity and many of the structures serve for storage of weapons, launching of rockets at Israel, coordinating combat in times of emergency and more.

UN Hush-Hush About 'Refugees' In U.S.

[The key is this: The UN must declare these illegal aliens as 'refugees' in order to take action and have a presence within the U.S.]

A news blackout appears to have descended over a two-day meeting on Central Americans crossing the United States border with Mexico that was attended by representatives of the U.S., Mexico and eight other unidentified countries.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, appears to have no real explanation for why a press release not been issued on a meeting that, according to Spanish-language press, considered classifying the Central Americans crossing the U.S. border with Mexico as “refugees.”

The application of international law would press the United States to grant asylum.

On Monday, Francesca Fontanini, a UNHCR representative in Colombia, explained to WND via email that the issuance of a press release was being delayed until Tuesday afternoon because of “normal internal procedures” in the Nicaraguan government.

When no press release was issued Tuesday, Fontanini recommended WND contact Fernando Protti, a UNHCR representative in Panama.

On July 8, CBS News published an Associated Press story reporting that Protti was among the UNHCR officials hoping the 10-nation meeting last Thursday and Friday in Nicaragua would see a movement toward a regional agreement on treating the Central Americans entering the United States illegally as refugees seeking asylum, “a designation meant to increase pressure on the United States and Mexico to accept tens of thousands of people currently ineligible for asylum.”

On Monday, the U.N. confirmed to WND that representatives of UNHCR were “intensely discussing in meetings” the possibility of extending U.N. international protection to the Central Americans as “refugees” seeking asylum from political and domestic violence in their home nations.

Officials privy to the U.N. discussions have explained to WND it’s “a tricky situation,” because the Central American immigrants are not part of any group the U.N. has designated as victims of political or religious persecution.

A UNHCR official confirmed to WND Monday via email that unnamed representatives of the governments of the U.S. and Mexico, as well as eight other unnamed Central American countries, attended the Nicaragua meeting.

According to reports published in Spanish-language newspapers in Mexico and Central America before the meeting, it was expected to conclude with a declaration that the Central Americans are refugees, citing the United Nation’s 30-year-old declaration on the rights of refugees.

Also see: 

EU In East-West Divide On foreign Affairs Job

The Day We Got EU Parliamentarianism

Government Trolls On The Internet

20 Signs That The Epic Drought In The Western United States Is Starting To Become Apocalyptic