Operation pillar of cloud. Israeli assault on Gaza

[elbows]

Is reporter safety the only concern on the BBC world services mind during the following broadcast? If I were the reporter I would have been very unhappy to have been cutoff.

http://soundcloud.com/jondonnison/on-air-when-airstrikes-in-gaza

 

[TitanSound]

Because it's daft and there are other groups apart from Hamas who could be responsible.

It's not as daft as you think. And I wasn't pointing fingers squarely at the Israelis. Just saying it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[elbows]

Because it's daft and there are other groups apart from Hamas who could be responsible.

Indeed, and apparently despite the broadcast from Gaza mosques, Hamas have not confirmed they were responsible.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Fuck. Israel may use the bus bomb as the green light to stomp into Gaza. Spiraling ugliness.

Well maybe, but if not there will be other activities by Gaza, not necessarily just Hamas. Israel has prepared its citizens for a ground war and I hear that the number of recruits to their army has now reached 80,000 so I guess they do intend to invade. They have put themselves in a position where they have no option. When Israel threatens, it acts. Perhaps it is a sign that they will do this as a substitute for attacking Iran now that they are having problems getting the Americans to support an attack on Iran.

 

[nino_savatte]

Because it's daft and there are other groups apart from Hamas who could be responsible.

Exactly. The AAMB have a history of this sort of thing.

 

[elbows]

Trying to answer my own question about the frequency of bus bombings in Israel. A wikipedia page about attacks doesnt go past 2008, and the nearest I've got so far is this article from March 2011:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/23/jerusalem-bus-bom-tensions?intcmp=239

Wednesday's bus bomb in Jerusalem was a shocking reminder of a time when such attacks were an almost daily occurrence, at the height of the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, against the Israeli occupation 10 years ago.
Its impact will be felt far beyond the people injured in the blast and those who witnessed the explosion. It will take Jerusalemites – and the residents of other Israeli cities – back to a time when simply boarding a bus felt like a game of Russian roulette, and when drivers and passengers in private cars waited nervously at traffic lights if a bus was sitting in the next lane.
Many hoped those days were behind them. There has not been a bombing in Jerusalem since 2004, and there have been only a handful of suicide attacks in other Israeli cities in the past five years. The most recent was three years ago, when a woman was killed in a suicide bombing in the southern town of Dimona.

Meanwhile Gaza seems to have been pretty quiet for the last hour or so but recently the sound of drones retuned and I am hearing some dull thuds on the video feed again (AP feed via RT here http://rt.com/on-air/gaza-violence-hamas-israel/ )

 

[ViolentPanda]

They are targeting Arab journalists. Particularly Gaza journalists. Its flows into this horrific narrative they are trying to spin that there are no civilian institutions in Gaza. See Regev justifying the attacks on Al Quds journalists because they are not "real journalists". They attacked banks too using a similar argument (financing "terror") It allows for attacks on civilian institutions and individuals.

Effectively Regev does give justification for his own liquidation, though.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Mark Regev yesterday.

Regev is nowhere near as subtle, although he's probably twice as demented, to compensate.

 

[elbows]

Hamas not best pleased that 'collaborators' were executed in full view of journalists yesterday. From the BBC Live updates page:

Hamas' deputy leader Musa Abu Marzouk has condemned the killings of six alleged collaborators in Gaza in Tuesday as "unacceptable". "Punishing collaborators... must only be carried out in accordance with the law and through the legal procedures," Mr Abu Marzouk said in a statement on his Facebook page.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Which is why it wouldn't surprise me if it's got something to do with the IDF in the first place.

It's not inconceivable, given that a handful of bus-bombings have been traced back to Israeli civil or military intelligence.

 

[Sirena]

That I wouldn't put it past the IDF cunts to stage a false flag incident. I'm not saying they have, merely that it's possible.

It was the first thing that crossed my mind, too. The Israelis know how to play the long game and how to wring every benefit out of every opportunity. They have Clinton and Morsi desperate for a result. It would make very practical sense in the long game.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Interesting article by Seamus Milne in the Guardian entitled "It's Palestinians who have the right to defend themselves"

He roundly criticises the automatic support that Britain and America always have for Israel in this conflict.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/20/palestinians-have-right-defend-themselves

 

[Treacle Toes]

@BBCWorld: US "strongly condemns terrorist attack" on bus in Tel Aviv+is ready to help Israel - Hillary Clinton http://bbc.in/Se3JFE ”

 

[weltweit]

It's not inconceivable, given that a handful of bus-bombings have been traced back to Israeli civil or military intelligence.

BBC R4 news just said that Hamas have claimed responsibility for the bus bombing. Can't see any web links yet though.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Israeli soldiers at prayer today on the Gaza border. From Sky News.

 

[ViolentPanda]

BBC R4 news just said that Hamas have claimed responsibility for the bus bombing. Can't see any web links yet though.

At present, some mosques in Gaza have claimed responsibility on HAMAS' behalf. HAMAS themselves haven't.

 

[dylans]

At present, some mosques in Gaza have claimed responsibility on HAMAS' behalf. HAMAS themselves haven't.

Guardian reporting that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade have claimed it.

 

[nino_savatte]

Guardian reporting that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade have claimed it.

The other AAMB in that case.

 

[DotCommunist]

The other AAMB in that case.

been meaning to ask this- do you or any one else posting have a run down of the factions/interests within the gazan political or mil (such as it is) sphere? I did google but for obvious reasons its swamped atm..

 

[ViolentPanda]

Guardian reporting that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade have claimed it.

Although no doubt Israeli intelligence will argue that AAMB was/is part of HAMAS, despite most of them having split off around 2006-2007.

 

[nino_savatte]

been meaning to ask this- do you or any one else posting have a run down of the factions/interests within the gazan political or mil (such as it is) sphere? I did google but for obvious reasons its swamped atm..

I'll do my best to find some stuff but what I know is there's:

Fatah - armed wing is Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) armed wing is Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades. PFLP is Marxist. Not to be confused with PFLP-GC, a splinter group of the former.
Hamas - armed wing is Qassam Brigades
Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Palestine Liberation Front (rather small)

They're all members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) except for Hamas

Useful Wiki list here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization

 

[elbows]

From the accounts I've heard so far it was a rather small bomb.

 

[Balbi]

It'll be played as if Palestine just 7/7'd or 9/11'd Tel Aviv.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Hillary Clinton on behalf of the Americans has condemned the bus bombing as if that was the main thing that had happened in this war.

 

[Random]

It was the first thing that crossed my mind, too. The Israelis know how to play the long game and how to wring every benefit out of every opportunity. They have Clinton and Morsi desperate for a result. It would make very practical sense in the long game.

Their long game is simply to exhaust the Palestinians' energy, decimate their political leadership and make the OPTs as uninhabitable for Palestinians as possible. Bus bombings here or there are not needed for this.

 

[elbows]

The Guardian have a piece on why the ceasefire agreement unravelled yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/21/how-imminent-gaza-ceasefire-unravelled

 

[frogwoman]

i've been daydreaming of ways to troll zionist forums - think it might be time to revive the legendary "pizza4theidf"

 

[frogwoman]

i think i want to pose as a used car salesman who wants to get a celebrity like Mark Regev to star in an advertising campaign

 

[nino_savatte]

The Guardian have a piece on why the ceasefire agreement unravelled yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/21/how-imminent-gaza-ceasefire-unravelled

From that article

In Israel, according to some reports, a cabinet split saw the defence minister, Ehud Barak, prepared to accept the ceasefire originally on offer while the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, were opposed.

Quelle surprise.

 

[nino_savatte]

i've been daydreaming of ways to troll zionist forums - think it might be time to revive the legendary "pizza4theidf"

CiF Watch is always a good place to go for a bit of trolling.