Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Israeli-Palestine War Imminent?!

Israeli-Palestine War Imminent?!

By John Kettler On


Israeli-Palestine War–Maybe Worse–Any Time Now

Israeli-Palestine War will result if Israel invades the Gaza Strip?! Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons via Gringer
Israeli-Palestine War. Again? That’s exactly how things look through the eyes of JKI’s stellar insider military-intelligence contacts. They notified JKI that  on July 7, 2014, the US detected signs Israel was gearing up to attack the Gaza Strip, from which has poured a deluge of Hamas rockets, whose range is such that most of Israel, including Tel Aviv, can now be hit. Tel Aviv, for example, is a daily target.
Word has also been received suicide bombings/homicide bombings/martyrdom operations against Israeli buses have been revived. One just took place in northern Israel, killing seven.This is a pointed message to Israeli leaders that even the super effective Iron Dome (reportedly 90%)  antirocket/antimortar system, built not just with US money but lots of US tech and expertise, can’t save Israel from the wrath of al Fatah, Hamas and other jihadists. In a recent rocket attack, Iron Dome killed outright two of four rockets which would otherwise have struck Tel Aviv, as well as apparently diverting the trajectories of two others, which harmlessly fell short of the city. The trajectory diversion information was supplied to JKI by its highly sensitive sources.
As noted in the prior link, ironically, Iron Dome may be too effective, causing Israel to look like it is the problem, what with the havoc unleashed primarily on innocent Palestinian civilians. Israel is, pardon the expression, drawing fire from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as Human Rights Watch, for illegal attacks on civilians. Mind, Hamas is creating much of this by deliberately operating from high population density urban areas for manufacturing, stockpiling and firing rockets. Hamas has no qualms, either, about putting civilians atop buildings at gunpoint in order to deter Israeli attacks or reap a bloody propaganda victory to vilify Israel and swell the Hamas ranks. And while terse words on the news encapsulate the dire situation, Hamas and Israel maul each other with rockets (Hamas) and rockets and missiles (Israel), with results which look like this ( see picture series). Best not to view those images while eating!
These Hamas deep strike rocket attacks have forever altered Israel’s military calculus, for now practically all of Israel’s people are at direct risk of becoming casualties, rather than those in border areas living in isolated kibbutzes, settlements and cities such as Sderot, Ashdod and  Ashkelon. The upshot? The IDF (Israeli Defense Force) is on the border, in strength, tanks ready to roll, opposite the Gaza Strip and could attack at any time.
This conclusion is buttressed by the fact that Israel is blanket jamming all TV, radio and cell phone frequencies–any two-way communication channel, including police, emergency services, taxis and trucks– in the planned assault  zone. As one insider waggishly but also seriously put it, “Now would be a good time to sell your Hamas stock.”
On the heels of the initial IDF assault warning subsequently came a not-for-attribution alert that Israel was conducting much more than a local mobilization and deployment of forces. Instead, it now appears that Israel is conducting a full war mobilization. Such a mobilization will cost Israel tens of millions of dollars a day in lost productivity and disruption of normal societal functioning, since roughly a quarter of the work force will leave work and immediately report for duty. With that die cast, bellicose Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has now put his political career and reputation on the line. He must deliver solid results or go down in flames. There can be no repeat of the national humiliation resulting from the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the butchering of the practically untouchable Merkava tanks by the shockingly effective Russian-supplied Kornet-E antitank missiles.
Kornet-E manufacturer KBP Tula’s marketing video
Combat footage of Kornet-E vs Merkavas in Lebanon, 2006
Nor should Israel count on its apparent success in later having Russia stop supplying these weapons. Why? Hamas sponsor Iran, which previously copied the early version of the US TOW antitank missile, now evidently has copied the Kornet-E! Worse, Kornet-E has previously been tellingly used before in the Gaza Strip (2010), so it is wholly reasonable for Israel to expect to run into the copy this time.
An invasion of the Gaza Strip might result in the first large scale clash between antitank missiles and the Rafael Trophy/Windbreaker APS (Active Protection System). Here is the manufacturer’s marketing video. You would be well advised not to swallow the “safe for nearby soldiers and civilians” claim. What it really means is that rather than having a danger zone of, say, a hundred foot radius, it is more like a twenty foot radius.
Instead of an Israeli-Palestine War, we may be looking at something of far greater scope and impact. What that might be even JKI’s superb sources do not know.  At the very least, Israel seems to determined to destroy Hamas infrastructure in the Strip so thoroughly that the combined arms (mechanized forces, artillery, air and maybe naval)  attack will end the daily rocket salvoes.
Expect to see an all-out effort to destroy rocket stockpiles, manufacturing facilities, launchers, tunnels into Israel and miles of tunnels inside the strip and above all capture or kill the key personnel without whom the rocket strikes couldn’t be planned and executed. Israel wants the commanders, the rocketry specialists, the engineers; the ordnance specialists and machinists who make possible Israel’s daily nightmare. Expect to see the protective forces which guard the rocketeers crushed, too.
Thus, whether Israeli combat actions are confined to just the Gaza Strip or embrace a much broader series of planned military actions, there is a very real likelihood of there being an Israeli-Palestine War. As the Wiki shows, Israel has been pounded by Hamas rocket and mortar attacks for years, with most them not getting any kind of real international reportage. Effectively, they are invisible. Nor, as the Wiki notes, is Hamas the sole maker of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. Also, because Israel has only around eight million people, the relative impact of any casualty there far exceeds the absolute numbers of losses. The US population is ~318, 429,000. Israel has but ~8,134,000 people. The US thus has ~ 39 times the population of Israel. So, when you read about an Israeli casualty from an attack, multiply the figure by 39 and see how that feels when viewed from an American perspective!
As this post was being wrapped up, news came via the Jerusalem Post that Israel is now facing the J-80, a new long range rocket which had never seen combat. Hamas said on its website Tel Aviv would be hit by them at 9 p.m. Saturday, July 12th, and there is now a report that rockets were launched from Gaza Strip in the correct time window. Results? Three of three apparent J-80s were blasted from the Tel Aviv skies by Iron Dome.

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