by Barry Rubin
I have repeatedly pointed out that as of now the Obama Administration has never put any material pressure on Israel. There are wild rumors and irresponsible materials floating around to the contrary. They aren't true. As proof, for example, take the article by Barbara Opall-Rome in Defense News, May 3, 2010, "U.S. Backs Israeli Munitions Upgrades." She writes of "ever-expanding bilateral security ties unharmed by the unusually high-profile political rift" that took place temporarily.
In fact, the United States is equipping Israel with GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs for its F-15I fighter-bombers and this will be followed by the same system on F-16I planes. These 250-pound bombs are called bunker busters because they are smart bombs that will go through more than six feet of reinforced concrete.
In addition, Israel has equipped F-15Is to carry the 5,000-pound-class GBU-28 Hard Target Penetrator, designed to burrow 100 feet into earth or 20 feet into concrete.
The Israel Air Force is also receiving the Laser-Guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions (LJDAM), developed by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems and Israel's Elbit Systems and able to direct smart bombs more accurately.
To put it bluntly, GBU-39s can be used against simpler installations like arms-smuggling tunnels dug by Hamas between Egypt and the Gaza Strip along with Hizballah field fortifications.
The GBU-28s could be fired at stronger Hizballah installations. They could also be used on Iranian nuclear weapons or missile installations some day. Clearly, the U.S. government is neither urging nor advocating such an action and may never do so. But it has not blocked the possibility in terms of weaponry either.
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), with Walter Laqueur (Viking-Penguin); the paperback edition of The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan); A Chronological History of Terrorism, with Judy Colp Rubin, (Sharpe); and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley). To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books, go to http://www.gloria-center.org. You can read and subscribe to his blog at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Showing posts with label rockets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rockets. Show all posts
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Saturday, December 12, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: IDF Says Rocket Fire Down, Hamas Threat Present
by David Bedein
JERUSALEM - Exactly one year after Israel’s incursion into Gaza, assessments are being made of the results of the operation.
There has been a 90 percent drop in rocket fire at Israel since the end of its military operation in Gaza, according to figures assembled by the Sderot Media Center for Information in the Western Negev and also by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson’s bureau.
The figures show that since the last of the soldiers left the Gaza Strip, 282 rockets were fired at Israel, but only a very small number exploded in populated areas.
In February, immediately after the operation, 88 rockets were fired at Israel, in March, 76 rockets were fired, and then the fire dropped significantly.
In June and July, for example, only three rockets were fired at Israel and, in November, 13 rockets.
Since the end of the operation, the IDF attacked 143 targets throughout the Gaza Strip in response to high-trajectory fire. Among the targets were tunnels used for arms smuggling and for smuggling activists. The majority of the attacks took place in February and March, when the rocket fire was greater.
The IDF believes that the quiet in the Gaza Strip in the past year is fragile, since Hamas continues to operate without pause underneath the surface and is renewing its smuggling practices through Philadelphi Road and by sea.
The IDF also continues its preparations for a future threat against the home front. The IDF Home Front Command is preparing to brief the population living at a distance of up to 60 miles from the Gaza Strip for a possible confrontation. The IDF does not rule out the possibility that Hamas has rockets which could reach that population area.
View the original article in the
JERUSALEM - Exactly one year after Israel’s incursion into Gaza, assessments are being made of the results of the operation.
There has been a 90 percent drop in rocket fire at Israel since the end of its military operation in Gaza, according to figures assembled by the Sderot Media Center for Information in the Western Negev and also by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson’s bureau.
The figures show that since the last of the soldiers left the Gaza Strip, 282 rockets were fired at Israel, but only a very small number exploded in populated areas.
In February, immediately after the operation, 88 rockets were fired at Israel, in March, 76 rockets were fired, and then the fire dropped significantly.
In June and July, for example, only three rockets were fired at Israel and, in November, 13 rockets.
Since the end of the operation, the IDF attacked 143 targets throughout the Gaza Strip in response to high-trajectory fire. Among the targets were tunnels used for arms smuggling and for smuggling activists. The majority of the attacks took place in February and March, when the rocket fire was greater.
The IDF believes that the quiet in the Gaza Strip in the past year is fragile, since Hamas continues to operate without pause underneath the surface and is renewing its smuggling practices through Philadelphi Road and by sea.
The IDF also continues its preparations for a future threat against the home front. The IDF Home Front Command is preparing to brief the population living at a distance of up to 60 miles from the Gaza Strip for a possible confrontation. The IDF does not rule out the possibility that Hamas has rockets which could reach that population area.
View the original article in the
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Israel Warned To Prepare For Ballistic Missile Threats
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - Israel has been urged to prepare for ballistic missile threats from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
A senior defense executive warned that Israel’s military and Defense Ministry might not have been allowed to prepare its missile defense umbrella to combat possible future threats from Middle East states, which are not directly threatening Israel at this time, due to political constraints.
The executive, who works closely with the Defense Ministry, said the threat could come from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which have been developing or procuring medium- and intermediate-range missiles.
“We are not paying attention to what is going on in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey,” Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) vice president Yair Ramati said.
Mr. Ramati, who for years headed IAI’s Arrow missile defense program, cited Turkey’s growing missile and rocket capabilities.
He said Ankara has been acquiring U.S. and Chinese systems as well as developing Turkish weapons.
This included the Chinese-origin 302 mm rocket, with a range of 150 kilometers.
The Israel Defense Ministry has never cited Egypt or Turkey as threats. Egypt has maintained a peace treaty with Israel since 1979, and Turkey was regarded as a strategic ally of the Jewish state from 1996 until 2008. Over the last year, Turkey increased ties with neighboring Iran and Syria.
In a presentation to the International Aerospace Conference and Exhibition-Israel on Nov. 17, Mr. Ramati said Egypt and other Arab states could constitute missile threats by 2020. He said Saudi Arabia, concerned over Iran’s military modernization effort, was expected to replace its Chinese-origin intermediate-range CSSS2 for an advanced modern ballistic missile.
Yet, leading strategists in Israel forget that Saudi Arabia remains in a state of war with Israel. Saudi Arabia is the only neighboring country contiguous to Israel to have never signed a peace treaty or even an armistice with Israel since 1948.
Mr. Ramati stated clearly that Israeli missile defense exercises do not take the Egyptian, Saudi and Turkish capabilities into account.
He suggested that the Defense Ministry and military were under political constraints from the government.
“Are these scenarios politically correct?” Mr. Ramati asked.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Jerusalem - Israel has been urged to prepare for ballistic missile threats from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
A senior defense executive warned that Israel’s military and Defense Ministry might not have been allowed to prepare its missile defense umbrella to combat possible future threats from Middle East states, which are not directly threatening Israel at this time, due to political constraints.
The executive, who works closely with the Defense Ministry, said the threat could come from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which have been developing or procuring medium- and intermediate-range missiles.
“We are not paying attention to what is going on in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey,” Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) vice president Yair Ramati said.
Mr. Ramati, who for years headed IAI’s Arrow missile defense program, cited Turkey’s growing missile and rocket capabilities.
He said Ankara has been acquiring U.S. and Chinese systems as well as developing Turkish weapons.
This included the Chinese-origin 302 mm rocket, with a range of 150 kilometers.
The Israel Defense Ministry has never cited Egypt or Turkey as threats. Egypt has maintained a peace treaty with Israel since 1979, and Turkey was regarded as a strategic ally of the Jewish state from 1996 until 2008. Over the last year, Turkey increased ties with neighboring Iran and Syria.
In a presentation to the International Aerospace Conference and Exhibition-Israel on Nov. 17, Mr. Ramati said Egypt and other Arab states could constitute missile threats by 2020. He said Saudi Arabia, concerned over Iran’s military modernization effort, was expected to replace its Chinese-origin intermediate-range CSSS2 for an advanced modern ballistic missile.
Yet, leading strategists in Israel forget that Saudi Arabia remains in a state of war with Israel. Saudi Arabia is the only neighboring country contiguous to Israel to have never signed a peace treaty or even an armistice with Israel since 1948.
Mr. Ramati stated clearly that Israeli missile defense exercises do not take the Egyptian, Saudi and Turkish capabilities into account.
He suggested that the Defense Ministry and military were under political constraints from the government.
“Are these scenarios politically correct?” Mr. Ramati asked.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Friday, November 6, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Tunnel Smuggling into Gaza Increases
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - The Middle East Newsline confirms that the Hamas regime has approved a huge increase in the number of smuggling tunnels from the Gaza Strip to neighboring Egypt.
Palestinian sources said tunnels that span the Gaza Strip to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula have more than doubled this year.
They cited the Israeli and Egyptian closure of their borders as well as increasing Gazan demand for consumer goods.
“We can get anything for anybody at almost any time,” a Palestinian source said.
The Hamas regime approved the sharp increase of tunnels in wake of the war with Israel in January. They said the number of tunnels skyrocketed from about 700 to 1,500 over the last eight months.
“Hamas directly controls about 100 tunnels and this supplies the government and security forces,” the Palestinian source said. “Whenever they need something fast, they turn to private tunnel operators.”
In August, tunnel operators began smuggling luxury cars from Egypt to Gaza. Over the last two months, the sources said, about 100 late model cars were dismantled in Egypt, transported through the tunnels in parts and reassembled in the Gaza Strip. The price per car was reported at $20,000.
Tunnels are a part of the smuggling industry, the largest industry in the Gaza Strip.
About 30,000 people are employed in the smuggling industry, with diggers earning about $30 day.
The number of tunnels discovered and destroyed by Egypt or Israel marked less than one percent of the smuggling network.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Jerusalem - The Middle East Newsline confirms that the Hamas regime has approved a huge increase in the number of smuggling tunnels from the Gaza Strip to neighboring Egypt.
Palestinian sources said tunnels that span the Gaza Strip to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula have more than doubled this year.
They cited the Israeli and Egyptian closure of their borders as well as increasing Gazan demand for consumer goods.
“We can get anything for anybody at almost any time,” a Palestinian source said.
The Hamas regime approved the sharp increase of tunnels in wake of the war with Israel in January. They said the number of tunnels skyrocketed from about 700 to 1,500 over the last eight months.
“Hamas directly controls about 100 tunnels and this supplies the government and security forces,” the Palestinian source said. “Whenever they need something fast, they turn to private tunnel operators.”
In August, tunnel operators began smuggling luxury cars from Egypt to Gaza. Over the last two months, the sources said, about 100 late model cars were dismantled in Egypt, transported through the tunnels in parts and reassembled in the Gaza Strip. The price per car was reported at $20,000.
Tunnels are a part of the smuggling industry, the largest industry in the Gaza Strip.
About 30,000 people are employed in the smuggling industry, with diggers earning about $30 day.
The number of tunnels discovered and destroyed by Egypt or Israel marked less than one percent of the smuggling network.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Sunday, September 27, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Hamas Continues Rocket Strikes on Israel
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - Israeli Military sources that the Hamas regime in Gaza continues to aid terrorists who launch missile, mortar and rocket attacks Israel.
“Hamas wants to show that it is a major player and that it can torpedo any agreement,” an Israeli military source said.
The Hamas regime has launched 261 aerial attacks on southern Israel since the January 18 cease fire
The fact that no one has been killed in these attacks has resulted in nearly no press coverage of the fact that Israel’s southern region remains on high alert.
On Monday, Hamas fired several times into Israel. The Israeli military responded with air force strikes on three suspected Palestinian weapons tunnels in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, which borders Egypt.
In addition, Hamas has been targeting Israeli military deployment along the Gaza security fence
On Tuesday, Israeli tanks fired at two Palestinians who were planting bombs along the security fence around the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-aligned Popular Resistance Committee and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine took credit for the attempt to plant the bombs, identifying the two dead Palestinian combatants as Mahmoud Nazir and Abdul Al Silawai. The statement said Nazir and Al Silawai were responsible for firing three rockets into Israel on Aug. 24.”The soldiers on the scene fired tank shells and mortar fire, and identified hitting the suspects,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, European nationals in Israel have filed suit against the EU for relaying hundreds of millions of euros to the Gaza Strip. The 15 plaintiffs said the Hamas and Palestinian militia attacks on their homes in Israel’s Negev Desert violated the European Treaty, which obligated the protection of EU nationals regardless of their residence.
“The European Union gives hundreds of millions of euros every year to aid groups in Gaza,” Mordechai Tzivin, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said. “This money cannot be allowed to target European citizens.”
Tzivin said the EU must reply to the eight-page suit by 14 Britons and an Italian national, submitted in August 2009. He said that unless the European Commission accedes to the demands of the plaintiffs the suit would be filed in the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg.
In 2008, the EU relayed 55.6 million euro in aid to the Gaza Strip. EU states have pledged separately more than 41 million euro in additional funds to Gaza.
The European plaintiffs live near the Gaza Strip and their communities have come under missile fire over the last five years.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Jerusalem - Israeli Military sources that the Hamas regime in Gaza continues to aid terrorists who launch missile, mortar and rocket attacks Israel.
“Hamas wants to show that it is a major player and that it can torpedo any agreement,” an Israeli military source said.
The Hamas regime has launched 261 aerial attacks on southern Israel since the January 18 cease fire
The fact that no one has been killed in these attacks has resulted in nearly no press coverage of the fact that Israel’s southern region remains on high alert.
On Monday, Hamas fired several times into Israel. The Israeli military responded with air force strikes on three suspected Palestinian weapons tunnels in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, which borders Egypt.
In addition, Hamas has been targeting Israeli military deployment along the Gaza security fence
On Tuesday, Israeli tanks fired at two Palestinians who were planting bombs along the security fence around the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-aligned Popular Resistance Committee and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine took credit for the attempt to plant the bombs, identifying the two dead Palestinian combatants as Mahmoud Nazir and Abdul Al Silawai. The statement said Nazir and Al Silawai were responsible for firing three rockets into Israel on Aug. 24.”The soldiers on the scene fired tank shells and mortar fire, and identified hitting the suspects,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, European nationals in Israel have filed suit against the EU for relaying hundreds of millions of euros to the Gaza Strip. The 15 plaintiffs said the Hamas and Palestinian militia attacks on their homes in Israel’s Negev Desert violated the European Treaty, which obligated the protection of EU nationals regardless of their residence.
“The European Union gives hundreds of millions of euros every year to aid groups in Gaza,” Mordechai Tzivin, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said. “This money cannot be allowed to target European citizens.”
Tzivin said the EU must reply to the eight-page suit by 14 Britons and an Italian national, submitted in August 2009. He said that unless the European Commission accedes to the demands of the plaintiffs the suit would be filed in the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg.
In 2008, the EU relayed 55.6 million euro in aid to the Gaza Strip. EU states have pledged separately more than 41 million euro in additional funds to Gaza.
The European plaintiffs live near the Gaza Strip and their communities have come under missile fire over the last five years.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Sunday, August 23, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Iranian Rockets Attack US Base
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - In what may lead to a possible Iranian-American military confrontation, Pentagon sources have revealed that Shi'ite insurgents fired Iranian rockets in an attack on a U.S. military base in southern Iraq.
Iranian-backed Shi'ites fired Iranian-origin rockets on a U.S. base near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. That rocket strike on Aug. 17 was the latest in a spate of Iranian backed attacks on the U.S. military presence in the Basra region in mid-2009.
On Aug. 18, Iraqi security forces found a launcher with 13 Iranian rockets in the eastern portion of Basra. The rockets appeared to have been smuggled from Iran to Iraq over the last few weeks.
In 2009, the U.S. military replaced the British contingent in Basra. Since then, U.S. forces have come under rocket attacks against their base.
The U.S. military sources say that they have determined that Iran continued to smuggle weapons and insurgents into southern Iraq throughout 2009 and that the Iranian smuggling effort was meant to prepare for a Shi'ite takeover of Iraq's southern oil sector amid a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem - In what may lead to a possible Iranian-American military confrontation, Pentagon sources have revealed that Shi'ite insurgents fired Iranian rockets in an attack on a U.S. military base in southern Iraq.
Iranian-backed Shi'ites fired Iranian-origin rockets on a U.S. base near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. That rocket strike on Aug. 17 was the latest in a spate of Iranian backed attacks on the U.S. military presence in the Basra region in mid-2009.
On Aug. 18, Iraqi security forces found a launcher with 13 Iranian rockets in the eastern portion of Basra. The rockets appeared to have been smuggled from Iran to Iraq over the last few weeks.
In 2009, the U.S. military replaced the British contingent in Basra. Since then, U.S. forces have come under rocket attacks against their base.
The U.S. military sources say that they have determined that Iran continued to smuggle weapons and insurgents into southern Iraq throughout 2009 and that the Iranian smuggling effort was meant to prepare for a Shi'ite takeover of Iraq's southern oil sector amid a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Gaza Rockets Strikes Sderot
by David Bedein
Attack Occurs after Netanyahu Meeting with Obama
A Qassam rocket fired from Gaza slammed between two homes around 5:30 p.m., local time, yesterday. The Tzeva Adom, Color Red siren, blared twice in the city, sending residents fleeing to area bomb shelters. After the second Color Red siren, an unusually loud explosion sounded throughout the city.
The sound of the rocket explosion shocked no one more than Ilan Dahan. Ilan was sleeping when the Qassam rocket crashed into his backyard, right outside his bedroom.
“I slept right through the Color Red siren,” said Ilan. Ilan, dazed and shocked, walked into his bedroom. His bed was full of broken glass, from a window right above the bed, which shattered from the impact of the rocket slamming into the ground.
“It’s a miracle that all I got was this small scratch,” Ilan told the Sderot Media Center. A piece of broken glass struck Ilan’s back, leaving behind a red mark.
Both of Ilan’s parents were home when the rocket struck. His father raced into Ilan’s bedroom after the rocket struck, picked his son up and carried him outside to safety. “At that point, I didn’t even realize that the rocket hit right outside our home,” said Ilan, who is 18 and getting ready to enter the army.
Shula, Ilan’s mother, looked tearfully at her son.
“I never expected this to happen to us during a cease-fire,” she said. The family was sitting outside in the front of the home to cool off from the heat of the evening when the siren sounded.
“We didn’t react quickly enough to the siren,” said Shula. “If we had reacted, we would have raced to the back of the home where our new shelter is located. Most likely, one of us would have been injured because the rocket exploded right outside the shelter.”
The back of the Dahans’ home suffered severe damage from the rocket blast. Broken glass and debris littered the floor, while holes from rocket shrapnel marked the ceiling and walls. Outside, the Dahans’ shelter was also covered with shrapnel marks.
The rocket explosion also damaged the home next to the Dahans.
Family members from both sides suffered shock, as did neighbors further along the street. Several people were treated for trauma on the scene.
The rocket attack comes as the Sderot Mental Health Center is shutting down. Dr. Adrianne Katz, the head of Sderot Mental Health, told the Sderot Media Center that the mental health center is closing due to budget cuts. The Sderot Mental Health Center has provided therapy treatments to thousands of Sderot trauma victims and has 5,500 patients on file.
The Gaza rocket attacks on Sderot came in the wake of the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama in the White House on Monday.
During a White House press conference after the meeting, President Obama said: “[T]here is a recognition that the Palestinians are going to have to do a better job providing the kinds of security assurances that Israelis would need to achieve a two-state solution, [and] gain additional legitimacy and credibility with their own people, and delivering services.”
Mr. Obama also called the situation in Sderot unacceptable and recalled his experience visiting the city during last year’s presidential campaign.
When Mr. Obama visited Sderot last year, he stated in a Sderot press conference: “I will work from the moment that I return to America, to tell the story of Sderot and to make sure that the good people who live here are enjoying a future of peace and security and hope.”
The president emphasized Israel’s responsibility to protect its citizens.
“If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing,” Mr. Obama said.
Yesterday marked the fifth month since the Hamas-Israel cease-fire in mid-January. Since then, over 210 rockets have been fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza at Israel.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Attack Occurs after Netanyahu Meeting with Obama
A Qassam rocket fired from Gaza slammed between two homes around 5:30 p.m., local time, yesterday. The Tzeva Adom, Color Red siren, blared twice in the city, sending residents fleeing to area bomb shelters. After the second Color Red siren, an unusually loud explosion sounded throughout the city.
The sound of the rocket explosion shocked no one more than Ilan Dahan. Ilan was sleeping when the Qassam rocket crashed into his backyard, right outside his bedroom.
“I slept right through the Color Red siren,” said Ilan. Ilan, dazed and shocked, walked into his bedroom. His bed was full of broken glass, from a window right above the bed, which shattered from the impact of the rocket slamming into the ground.
“It’s a miracle that all I got was this small scratch,” Ilan told the Sderot Media Center. A piece of broken glass struck Ilan’s back, leaving behind a red mark.
Both of Ilan’s parents were home when the rocket struck. His father raced into Ilan’s bedroom after the rocket struck, picked his son up and carried him outside to safety. “At that point, I didn’t even realize that the rocket hit right outside our home,” said Ilan, who is 18 and getting ready to enter the army.
Shula, Ilan’s mother, looked tearfully at her son.
“I never expected this to happen to us during a cease-fire,” she said. The family was sitting outside in the front of the home to cool off from the heat of the evening when the siren sounded.
“We didn’t react quickly enough to the siren,” said Shula. “If we had reacted, we would have raced to the back of the home where our new shelter is located. Most likely, one of us would have been injured because the rocket exploded right outside the shelter.”
The back of the Dahans’ home suffered severe damage from the rocket blast. Broken glass and debris littered the floor, while holes from rocket shrapnel marked the ceiling and walls. Outside, the Dahans’ shelter was also covered with shrapnel marks.
The rocket explosion also damaged the home next to the Dahans.
Family members from both sides suffered shock, as did neighbors further along the street. Several people were treated for trauma on the scene.
The rocket attack comes as the Sderot Mental Health Center is shutting down. Dr. Adrianne Katz, the head of Sderot Mental Health, told the Sderot Media Center that the mental health center is closing due to budget cuts. The Sderot Mental Health Center has provided therapy treatments to thousands of Sderot trauma victims and has 5,500 patients on file.
The Gaza rocket attacks on Sderot came in the wake of the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama in the White House on Monday.
During a White House press conference after the meeting, President Obama said: “[T]here is a recognition that the Palestinians are going to have to do a better job providing the kinds of security assurances that Israelis would need to achieve a two-state solution, [and] gain additional legitimacy and credibility with their own people, and delivering services.”
Mr. Obama also called the situation in Sderot unacceptable and recalled his experience visiting the city during last year’s presidential campaign.
When Mr. Obama visited Sderot last year, he stated in a Sderot press conference: “I will work from the moment that I return to America, to tell the story of Sderot and to make sure that the good people who live here are enjoying a future of peace and security and hope.”
The president emphasized Israel’s responsibility to protect its citizens.
“If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing,” Mr. Obama said.
Yesterday marked the fifth month since the Hamas-Israel cease-fire in mid-January. Since then, over 210 rockets have been fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza at Israel.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
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