War in Gaza Update #15

Welcome to the War in Gaza Update #15.

Previous editions of the round up can be found below:1* 2 *3* 3.5* 4* 4.5* 5* 5.5* 6*6.5 *7* 7.5* 8* 8.5.*9, *9.5, *10, *10.5, *11, *11.5, *12, *12.5, *13, *13.5, *14 and 14.5.

From the traditional media we have:

CNN: Israel tightens grip on Gaza City; Hamas stays defiant.
NY Times: Israelis United on War as Censure Rises Abroad
WSJ: Mubarak Struggles as Middleman in Gaza Cease-Fire Effort
Telegraph: Analysis: Egypt key to Gaza breakthrough
Commentary Magazine: An Obama Peace Process?
Commentary Magazine: The Economist vs. Israel
JPost: Haniyeh: We'll deal positively with any cease-fire initiative
JPost: Hamas raids aid trucks, sells supplies
JPost: Leaflets may counter 'war crime' claims

Just for kicks take a look at this story from CNN about what was happening in Gaza in January of 2006. Just a few months after the disengagement the world watched as the following took place:

• Three Palestinian government offices were occupied by gunmen.
• Armed militants detonated explosives in a United Nations club.
• Three British nationals were kidnapped at gunpoint.
• An Italian man was abducted.
• Two rival families unloaded weapons at each other in a personal dispute.
• A Palestinian police officer was killed in a shootout between police and militants.
• The Palestinian-controlled border crossing was shut down by police angry at the death of their colleague, prompting European Union monitors to leave.
• Palestinian police took over government offices in their continuing protest.
  

From The Blogosphere we have:

Aussie Dave and The Muqata continue live-blogging the war.

The IDF Blog has a summary of today's events and a picture of weapons discovered in Gaza.

Yourish has Iranians pulling Hamas strings and We are all Georgians now. Over at Seraphic Secret there is a Gaza Flashback.

Speaking of flashbacks here are a few things that some of you might remember:

In this post here I said that I was wrong about the disengagement. I made a big mistake in my stance about it, but I learned. That leads to a post that Daniel Gordis wrote about making mistakes. Here is an excerpt to share with you:

"But sometimes mistakes are worth making. Take the Disengagement. It is now clear that the Disengagement from Gaza was a horrifying, costly and still painful mistake. But – and I realize that this is not a popular position – it was a mistake that Israel needed to make. It was the mistake that proved, once and for all, that the enemies we face have no interest in a state of their own. They just want to destroy ours. That is what Israelis learned, now without a doubt, as a result of the Disengagement. There’s almost no one left around here myopic enough to imagine even for an instant that further retreats will get us peace. OK, there are still a few arm-chair peace-niks in the States, insisting that there is simply no conflict that cannot be resolved. But here? Precisely the opposite. Now we know that the right was correct – further retreats will only embolden our enemies. They’ll demand more. And more. Until we’re gone.

The benefits of that lesson are understandably of no consolation to the families who paid so dearly in the summer of 2005, who are still living in temporary housing, whose marriages didn’t survive, whose livelihoods have never been restored, whose children hate the country that did that to their parents – but despite all that, the Disengagement was probably a horrifying mistake that Israel needed to make. For now we know, even those of us (and I include myself) who were naïve enough to imagine something else. Peace is not around the corner. Peace is not a year or two away. Peace is not possible. Not now. Not a year from now. Not a decade from now. Because their issue isn’t a Palestinian State it’s the end of the Jewish one. We learned that through the mistake we made in 2005, a mistake that we probably needed to make."

Back to the update.

At Mere Rhetoric you should read:

Video: Hamas Broadcasts Tells Gaza Children To Form Human Shield Around Weapons Cache

Israeli Flag Now Functionally Illegal In Germany And Britain Because It "Provokes" Violent Anti-Semitic Mobs

Iranian Mullahs Wringing Their Hands As IDF Dismantles Hamas's Army (Plus: NPR Wonders About "Real Connection" Between Iran And Hamas)

The Volokh Conspiracy shared this ditty about the New York Times. The Spine has a post called In The Conflict.

The so called progressive blogs make me wonder if there is a single person in there who has a shred of sense. I know that is not nice and I have said many times that you can criticize Israel without being antisemitic, but this crap here makes me wonder if the progressives are capable. Moral relativism, hypocritical positions about humanitarian crises and remarks that show they are ignorant about the history.

Dr. Helen discusses Anti-semitism is mainstream. Daled Amos has Hamas: Democratically Elected, Yet Illegal and Gaza: Where Is The Exit? (Updated).

Soccer Dad takes on the White Phosphorus Lies. Yaacov jumps into the questions about ceasefires in Are Ceasefires Good?

Israel Matzav shares Why Israel is playing hardball with Hamas. The Elder has the Hamas Lie of the Day and Al Jazeera sermon: "Allah, kill all the Jews".

At the Right Truth read The dogs that are not barking. Don't forget to see what is happening at some of the protests Non-Jewish Pro-Israel Couple Attacked By Muslim Mob in NYC 1/11/09.

From At Level Ground 'One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other' .

At Jewish Current Issues read Netanyahu Bloggers Conference Call and Moral Questions in War.

Daniel Saunders covered a Pro-Israel Rally in London. Good News from Israel shared Pictures of Israel Support Rallies from around the World.

Frume Sarah shared Word Selection. Letters of Thought has CNN's iReports lets vile Antisemitism through - "Thank you Hitler".

At Shiloh Musings you can read The Truth About The IDF, Operation Cast Lead and Youtube. On the Fringe submitted Doesn't a brick to the brain kill just as readily as a bullet?

Baka Diary discusses Why Children Die In Gaza. Soccer Dad blogged Leave hamas alone.

Check out Jewlicious The Need for Israel Solidarity Rallies and Anti-Semitism and Gaza.

Gateway Pundit discusses Anti-Israel, Pro-Hamas, Far Left Rally in San Fran... and Islamists Chant "We Want to Kill All the Jews" At ....

Some more posts to go read Today I Am A Jew!, from Adloyada "We are all Hamas": the real voice of its messengers in London.

This ends the round up. Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TheJackB.