IDF starts Gaza ground offensive

By YAAKOV LAPIN and HERB KEINON, JPOST— After days of waiting and deliberation, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday night directed the IDF to send ground troops into Gaza to strike the terror tunnels into Israel. The statement said the security cabinet approved the operation after Israel agreed to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal on Tuesday,…

The Palestinian Blessing

BY Bret Stephens, WALL STREET JOURNAL— From time to time Israel and her supporters should give thanks for having as enemies the Palestinians and their supporters. As of midday Monday, Hamas had fired more than 1,000 missiles at Israel, aimed more or less indiscriminately, without inflicting a single Israeli fatality. It isn’t every enemy whose…

Wish I’d said that

“As the historian of Anti-Semitism looks back over the millennia of horrors he has recorded, an inescapable conclusion emerges: Anti-Semitism is the longest and deepest hatred of human history. Other hatreds may have surpassed it in intensity for a historical moment, but all in their turn have assumed—or presently commence to assume—their proper place in…

Operation Protective Edge: Summary and notable incidents

BY JEWISH POLICY CENTER— Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge following the kidnapping of three Israeli teens and an increase in rocket fire from Gaza. Israel launched strikes against 1,576 targets destroying Hamas’s command and control centers, missile launchers, tunnels and other assets. Some 1081 rockets have been launched at Israel, with approximately 191 intercepted by…

Friendless in the Middle East

By JONATHAN SCHANZER, POLITICO— One week after the start of Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge,” also known as Hamas’ “10th of Ramadan War,” Washington is looking on helplessly. President Barack Obama offered to mediate a ceasefire last week, but the move fell on deaf ears—on both sides. Secretary of State John Kerry then made a surprise…