Watchman Newsletter

Hamas: We’ll broaden rocket targets if air strikes continue

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - JP Staff & Reuters (April 9, 2011)

Group’s spokesman says it didn’t intend to target children; threatens that Hamas attacks will broaden if “Israeli escalation continues amid international silence and complicity.”

Hamas said on Saturday it would escalate it attacks against Israel to include a wider range of targets if the IDF failed to halt its aerial assaults on the Gaza Strip.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri blamed Israel for an escalation in violence. “If the Israeli escalation continues, amid international silence and complicity, the reactions by resistance factions will broaden,” he told Reuters, saying such actions would be necessary to protect Palestinians in Gaza.

Abu Zuhri also said that Hamas operatives did not intend to target Israeli schoolchildren when they fired a rocket at a bus two days ago, critically wounding a teenager and sparking the latest round of border fighting.

Syrian forces reportedly kill 22 as protests flare

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Reuters (April 8, 2011)

Forces open fire in Deraa on protesters demanding end to emergency rule, 75 injured; thousands of ethnic Kurds in east demonstrate for reform.

Protests erupted across Syria against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad on Friday and sources said at least 22 people were killed in the southern city of Deraa, the cradle of unrest challenging his 11-year rule.

In the east, thousands of ethnic Kurds demonstrated for reform despite the president’s offer this week to ease rules which bar many Kurds from citizenship, activists said.

Protests swept the country of 20 million people, from the Mediterranean port of Latakia to Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, as demonstrations entered a fourth week in defiance of Assad’s security crackdown and growing list of reform pledges.

“Freedom, freedom, we want freedom,” thousands of protesters chanted in many Syrian cities. Some shouted: “We sacrifice our blood and soul for you, Deraa.”

Haaretz WikiLeaks exclusive / ‘Hezbollah expected to launch 100 missiles a day at Tel Aviv’

Haaretz (Link) - Yossi Melman (April 8, 2011)

Israel expects the next war against Hezbollah will last two months, during which 24,000 to 36,000 rockets and missiles are expected to be launched at Israel − about 6,000 of them aimed at Tel Aviv, Wikileaks documents reveal.

Telegrams sent from the U.S. Embassy summing up talks between American and Israeli officials in November 2009 cite a Mossad official as saying Hezbollah is expected to launch 400-600 missiles at Israel a day − 100 of which will be aimed at Tel Aviv, over the course of two months.

The talks were held between American and Israeli defense and intelligence officials in Israel, as part of the strategic dialogue between the countries entitled the Joint Political Military Group, which was established in 1983. The American delegation was headed by State Department official Robert Maggi and the Israeli delegation was headed by then-Defense Ministry Director General Pinhas Buchris.

4.2 magnitude quake hits north-central Arkansas

News 9 (Link) - AP (April 8, 2011)

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake has been recorded in north-central Arkansas - the largest quake in the region since two natural gas companies agreed to close nearby injection wells last month.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the quake at 9:56 a.m. Wednesday about three miles northeast of Greenbrier. It's 1 of 10 quakes the U.S.G.S has recorded in the region since a 3.9 magnitude quake recorded at 6:11 p.m. Wednesday.

Greenbrier police dispatcher Steve Priddy said there are no reports of damage or injuries.

Seven tremors of 3.0 magnitude or greater have struck the region since the closure of the injection wells by Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy and Clarion operating. †

Israel Strikes Gaza After Antitank Missile Hits Israeli School Bus

The Wall Street Journal (Link) - Joshua Mitnick  (April 8, 2011)

Violence flared anew on the Gaza-Israel border as an antitank missile fired by Palestinian militants hit an Israeli school bus, prompting retaliatory artillery and helicopter strikes by the Israeli military.

The missile fired by Palestinian militants hit a bus at a road junction three to four miles from the Gaza border, shortly after dropping off school children at nearby kibbutz. Only two passengers were riding on the vehicle at the time. leaving one teenager critically wounded.

The Israeli army immediately responded against Gaza targets Thursday afternoon with artillery fire and attacks from the helicopters, which killed three Palestinians and injured a dozen, according to Palestinian reports. Militants responded by firing 16 mortars.

Though Israel and Hamas stepped back from a broad conflict after a serious escalation two weeks ago, the attacks Thursday highlighted the volatility of the situation along the border. Despite previous statements by Israel and Hamas about a desire to restore stability, the calm that prevailed in the region since a war two years ago has yet to be re-established.

Israel’s next war

YNet News (Link) - Yoel Meltzer (April 7, 2011)

In all likelihood, the Palestinians are going to unilaterally declare statehood in Judea and Samaria within the coming year. This is not a ploy or a desperate attempt on their part but rather a clear, rational decision. By correctly gauging the stark contrast between the massive international support for their cause as opposed to the steadily increasing de-legitimization of Israel the “apartheid state,” the Palestinians have wisely decided to bypass direct negotiations since there is no point in paying for something when you can get if for free.

Thus, with country after country pledging its support, the Palestinians are going to take their case to the United Nations.

There, the Palestinians have nothing to lose for even if the Security Council rejects their bid for statehood, it will most likely be approved by the General Assembly. Although this is less significant than an endorsement by the Security Council, an approval by the General Assembly does nonetheless have some teeth. Most notably, as many commentators pointed out, there is something known as UNGA Resolution 377 that allows the General Assembly to call for sanctions or even military force against a country that fails to implement its recommendations.

If the “civilized world” helps bring the Palestinian plan to fruition then a very likely result of such actions will be the outbreak of war. Thus, in a world turned upside down it will be the UN, a body formed to help foster peace throughout the world, which will be directly responsible for bringing the next great Arab-Israeli war to the Middle East.

America’s Most Successful Company

What is America’s biggest employer? Here is a hint: It has added 200,000 jobs to the economy over the past two years! That might sound like a good thing, but the opposite is true. This gigantic corporation is sucking America dry. And it is a sign that the dollar is headed for collapse, and America with it.

So who is this corporate behemoth? It pays tens of thousands of people to build gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. Its payrolls include tens of thousands who sell life, property and investment insurance to customers. This powerful corporation also provides banking services to millions of Americans. It has bases of operation around the world. It even probably owns your mortgage.

The people in this company are desperately trying to educate your children too, though in many cases they are failing terribly. This company is so big, that over the next generation, it will add 80 million retirees to its pension ranks. To pay for this looming expenditure, this company boasts the largest revenues in the world. However, it is also currently running the largest deficits the business world has ever seen.

The headquarters of the corporation is located in Washington, D.C., and its primary shareholder—soon to be impoverished shareholder—is you.

Rabbi calls for sacrifice on Temple Mount

YNet News (Link) - Kobi Nahshoni (April 5, 2011)

The annual attempts to resume the Passover sacrifice received a first significant rabbinical backing recently. Safed’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, a prominent religious Zionism leader, has called on the public to perform the sacrifice mitzvah on the eve of the Jewish holiday, in about two weeks.

Speaking during a Halacha lesson in Jerusalem last week, the rabbi warned that Jews evading the mitzvah were risking “Kareth” - a supernatural punishment for transgressing Jewish Law.

According to Rabbi Eliyahu, there is a halachic, legal and public possibility to offer a Passover sacrifice these days. During the lesson, he quoted senior rabbinical authorities, adding that Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalisher – one of the founders of modern and religious Zionism – had asked the Turkish sultan to allot an area on the Temple Mount for the erection of an altar for a Passover sacrifice.

U.N., France strike at Ivory Coast leader’s forces

The Washington Post (Link) - Colum Lynch (April 5, 2011)

U.N. peacekeepers and French troops launched military operations against loyalists of Ivory Coast’s longtime strongman Monday, a significant escalation of force that effectively placed peacekeepers on one side of the West African country’s deepening civil war.

The United Nations and France authorized helicopter gunships to target key installations and heavy-weapons sites after days of attacks by loyalists of incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo on peacekeepers and civilians, according to U.N. officials.

Two U.N. Mi-24 helicopters, piloted by Ukrainian peacekeepers, attacked two military bases controlled by Gbagbo’s forces. U.N. officials said French forces targeted heavy weaponry near the presidential palace and residence in Abidjan, as well as other installations under Gbagbo’s control.

The attacks marked a dramatic development in the international community’s efforts to force Gbagbo from power and provided a boost to Ivorian forces backing Gbagbo’s political rival, Alassane Ouattara, who is widely recognized as the winner of the country’s Nov. 28 presidential election.

March Madness: U.S. Gov’t Spent More Than Eight Times Its Monthly Revenue

CNS News (Link) - Terence P. Jeffrey (April 4, 2011)

The U.S. Treasury has released a final statement for the month of March that demonstrates that financial madness has gripped the federal government.

During the month, according to the Treasury, the federal government grossed $194 billion in tax revenue and paid out $65.898 billion in tax refunds (including $62.011 to individuals and $3.887 to businesses) thus netting $128.179 billion in tax revenue for March.

At the same time, the Treasury paid out a total of $1.1187 trillion. When the $65.898 billion in tax refunds is deducted from that, the Treasury paid a net of $1.0528 trillion in federal expenses for March.

That $1.0528 trillion in spending for March equaled 8.2 times the $128.179 in net federal tax revenue for the month.

The lion’s share of this federal spending went to redeem Treasury securities that had matured during the month—most of which were short-term Treasury bills that have terms of one year or less.

Goldstone Retracts War Crimes Claim against Israel

Bridges For Peace (Link) - BFP Israel Mosaic Radio - Joshua Spurlock (April 4, 2011)

The chairman of the UN Human Rights Council fact-finding team that accused Israel of possibly committing war crimes during the 2008-09 Gaza war effectively retracted those claims on Friday [April 1] in an Op-Ed in The Washington Post. Judge Richard Goldstone, of the UN’s Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead, said in The Washington Post that if he had known then what he knew now, the report would have been different. He said Israel’s own investigations into the war which were recognized in a UN follow-up committee’s report have indicated that “civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.”

The Israelis welcomed Goldstone’s comments, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying in a statement posted on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site that the UN should shelve the original Goldstone Report.

“Everything we said has proven to be true: Israel did not intentionally harm civilians, its institutions and investigative bodies are worthy, while Hamas intentionally fired upon innocent civilians and did not examine anything [of accusations of war crimes],” said Netanyahu. “The fact that Goldstone backtracked must lead to the shelving of this report once and for all.”

Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Mark Regev, in an interview with Bridges for Peace, noted the importance of Goldstone’s comments. “We think that this is a very significant admission,” said Regev. “Ultimately, if the author of the report says the report is not accurate, there’s no reason for the United Nations to lend any credence to this report.”

‘Israel to Become a Religious State in 19 Years’

Israel National News (Link) - Maayana Miskin (April 3, 2011)

Professor Arnon Sofer, chair of Geo-strategy at the University of Haifa, has published a report predicting a religious majority in Israel by 2030.

Professor Sofer sees this as a negative development.

His study assumes natural growth of 6-7% in the hareidi-religious sector, which would lead to a hareidi population of more than one million by 2030. The national religious sector, which is involved actively in all spheres of Israeli productivity, is not given separate treatment, leading to a skewing of the predicted outcomes.

In one possible outcome, says Professor Sofer, the secular majority would band together in time to create a “secular revolution.”

If not, Sofer said, the second outcome would be the rise of a religious majority that would force the secular minority to learn to live in a religious world.