The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here.
Updated November 30, 2008:
Israel suffered 183 casualties on Sunday, 10 killed and 173 wounded.
9 IDF troops were killed and 90 more were wounded. 9 soldiers were killed and 85 more were wounded in Lebanon in extremely heavy fighting. 5 Israeli soldiers were wounded inside Israel in a rocket attack on their outpost in a town in the Western Galilee.
1 Israeli civilian was killed and 83 more were wounded by Katyusha rockets in Israel.
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172 Israelis were killed in this war, 119 soldiers and 52 civilians. In addition, 1 Israeli was killed in the Diaspora as a result of the conflict.
At least 30 of Israel's famed "indestructible" Merkava tanks were destroyed, mostly by Italian MILAN and Russian M-13 METIS-M anti-tank missiles. AT-3 Saggers were also used to good effect. The version used was an upgraded version called the AT-3 Sagger-2. Hezbollah rained down 3,970 rockets on Israel.
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There is no information yet on how many Hezbollah fighters were killed Sunday, except that Hezbollah said that they lost 1 fighter. They probably lost a lot more than that. There is also no information on Lebanese civilian casualties today.
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Over 1,000 Lebanese were killed so far in this war. Precise figures are not available. At last count, about Hezbollah casualties were 200 KIA. There are no more recent figures for Hezbollah and no wounded figures for Hezbollah.
I feel that Hezbollah sustained some pretty serious losses in this war, maybe not the 525 claimed by Israel but surely more than 200. Let us say between 200-525 for now. The Lebanese military suffered about 30 killed.
A few other combatants were killed - for instance, the Lebanese Communist Party armed wing lost at least 2 fighters, the Amal militia lost at least 10 or so fighters and the PFLP-GC lost at least 1 fighter. Over 3,200 Lebanese were wounded.
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The IDF helicopter that was shot down near Yater on Saturday night still had not been recovered 24 hours later on Sunday night. The crash killed 5 Israeli soldiers, whose bodies had not been recovered yet either. There is very heavy fighting going on around the town that has made it impossible to recover the aircraft or the bodies. It was not until Monday that troops were able to reach the site.
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A UN-brokered cease-fire is due to go into effect early on Monday morning. This resolution has many problems. One is that Hezbollah has to hand over its POW's but Israel does not have to hand over theirs. Since when in wartime, do we demand that one side hand over its POW's without an exchange by the other side.
Also, the Lebanese army is to move into southern Lebanon and disarm Hezbollah. Why must Hezbollah be disarmed but not the IDF? Why are only states permitted to have a monopoly on the use of force? Is this not state imperialism saying that there will be no more rebellion anywhere on Earth?
Why do all state militaries automatically have legitimacy but all non-state forces automatically lack legitimacy? Does it say so somewhere in the UN Charter? The same Charter that insists that people have a right to resist military occupation by force?
All supplies to Hezbollah are to be cut off. Ok, but since when, in wartime, must one side by unilaterally disarmed and cut off from all supplies and the other side left armed and with its supply lines intact?
The major issues are unresolved.
Israel's criminal occupation of the Lebanese Shebaa Farms is not resolved. Crooked US negotiators allied with Israeli colonialism assured Israeli colonists that they would not be forced to surrender their colony in the Shebaa Farms.
The issue of land mines is not resolved. Israel says they will hand them over, but there is no mechanism to force this. Israel has always said they will hand over the land mine maps of the 300,000 land mines they scattered through the south of Lebanon. They never have.
The issue of the 19 Lebanese prisoners held by Israel is left unresolved.
There are some remaining issues, such as that Israel is allowed to engage in defensive warfare, while Hezbollah is order to halt all attacks. Since when, in war, is one side ordered to stop fighting while the other can still wage defensive attacks? Note that all of Israel's wars have been waged as defensive wars. I am not sure if this bit about allowing Israel to wage defensive attacks is still in there, but if it is, that is not good.
In short, plenty of problems, and I do not foresee an end to the fighting soon.
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When the IDF entered the Christian town of Marjayoun at 3:30 AM on Thursday, they were quickly attacked by members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. This party (description here) is popular in town and they have flyers up all over town on telephone polls and walls. Marjayoun is a mixed Druze, Sunni, Maronite and Greek Orthodox town.
Yet the Greek Orthodox are the largest community here, and the town is described as predominantly Greek Orthodox.
The SSNP is a secular Leftist political party. The party fought against Israel alongside the Leftist, nationalist, and PLO forces during the Israeli invasion and later against the Phalangists in the Lebanese Civil War. The party actually engaged in many suicide bombings, proving that those who do such things are not all Islamist fanatics.
A party member assassinated Bachir Gemayal, the Phalangist President of Lebanon, in 1982. It is a member of the Resistance and Development Bloc in Lebanese Parliament alongside the Shia Hezbollah and Amal parties. The party has always been popular with Christians, and in Lebanon it is associated with Greek Orthodox Christians, and it is even said to represent "Greek Orthodox particularism".
The party's founder, Antun Saddeh, was a Greek Orthodox Christian. The party originally borrowed from the principles of fascist parties, as did many political parties formed in the 1920's and 1930's. However, the SSNP was always been ferociously secular - in fact, that has always been its one defining principle.
The party originally strongly opposed both Arab nationalism and Communism, although it was a nationalist and Leftist party. Its popularity amongst Greek Orthodox in Lebanon stemmed from their resentment over the Maronites' domination of the country.
By the time of the Lebanese Civil War, the party had toned down much of its opposition to Communism and Arab nationalism and was fighting alongside both Communists and Arab nationalists against Israel, the Phalangists, and later Israel's puppet South Lebanon Army.
Since Syria's entry into the Civil War, the SSNP has strongly supported Syria. In Syria, the party was legalized in 2000 and is now seen as an ally of the ruling Baath Party.
During the furor over Syria's role in Lebanon in recent years, the SSNP has strongly supported the Syrian role in Lebanon. A beautiful portrait of the town of Marjayoun by Washington Post writer Anthony Shadid is here. Note that even before the latest fighting, the town had lost 92% of its population and was considered to be dying. Most of the residents seem to be immigrating to the West.
After a short battle in Marjayoun, Israel seized the Lebanese Army barracks where 250 Lebanese police and soldiers promptly surrendered. A convoy out of town was later bombed by the IDF in the Bekaa Valley.
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In addition to the MILAN, TOW, AT-3, AT-4, AT-13 and AT-14 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM's) that Hezbollah has been using, we have also learned that they are using an Iranian version of the Russian AT-5 Konkurs ATGM. This seems to be an improved version of the AT-3 and AT-4, although the AT-13 and AT-14 are probably better still.
In Abu Tawil, near Aita Al-Chaab, Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at infantry forces, killing 4 soldiers and wounding 20 more. Abu Tawil could not be located on any map.
In Tel Nachs, just north of Metulla, Hezbollah fired a mortar that scored a direct hit on a Merkava tank, destroying it and killing 1 soldier while wounding 3 more. How does a mortar round destroy a tank anyway?
Night: Hezbollah fighters fired an anti-tank missile at at IDF infantry forces in Kantara, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 10 more. Kantara is 5 miles east of the border near Metulla.
10:42 PM: The IDF shot down 2 Hezbollah unmanned drones fired from Beirut , one over the town of Kabri in northern Israel near Nahariyah and the other over Lebanon.
9:06 PM: A Hezbollah rocket wounded a motorcyclist in Haifa.
7:34 PM: The son of famous Israeli leftwing author David Grossman was killed in the fighting in Lebanon. Grossman's work appears in the US leftwing magazine The Nation. Like many other leftwing authors, Grossman has drifted to the right with the latest Palestinian intifada.
8:06 PM: The IDF announced that its forces had reached the Litani River. Actually, this claim is somewhat dubious. They have reached the river in some parts but not in others.
7:49 PM: 2 more rockets landed in Nahariyah, bringing the total for today to over 250 rockets. 81 Israelis were wounded in the nightmarish, Hellish barrage.
7:32 PM: The IDF is pounding the Dahia District of southern Beirut once again.
7:29 PM: 230 Hezbollah rockets have slammed into northern Israel so far today. 6 rockets fell on Haifa, damaging a building and a number of vehicles. 14 Israelis were wounded in the attack. 7 vehicles are on fire and firefighters are working to put out the blaze.
6:22 PM: Hezbollah rockets landed in open fields near Accra. There were no injuries.
5:40 PM: The IDF destroyed 20 Hezbollah weapons caches in Aita al-Chaab and Taybe. Aita Al-Chaab is right on the border. The IDF is still right on the border?
5:46 PM: 75 IDF troops have been wounded so far today in extremely heavy fighting in Southern Lebanon.
5:30 PM: Over 200 Hezbollah rockets have rained down on Israel so far today. In the past hour, rockets hit Haifa, Krayot, the Jezreel Valley and the Western Galilee.
5:17 PM: 2 Khaibar-1 302mm long range missiles landed in Mishmar Ha Emek, in the Jezreel Valley south of Haifa. The rockets landed in open areas and there was only minor damage.
4:32 PM: A rocket barrage hit Krayot, north of Haifa. 2 Israelis were wounded in the attack.
4:22 PM: A Hezbollah rocket wounded 1 Israeli in Accra.
3:16 PM: Several Israelis were wounded in Kiryat Shemona following the last Hezbollah Katyusha attack.
3:15 PM: An idiot from the US died in custody when he went on a hunger strike. The man, apparently Jewish, declared that he was King David. He was arrested after making a nuisance of himself around Jerusalem in recent days. Thereupon, he went on a hunger strike that killed him.
2:45 PM: There were large rock-throwing attacks against Jewish settlers' vehicles southwest of Hebron. Glad to hear it. Unfortunately, there were no injuries.
2:06 PM: A rocket hit a power line in Safad, resulting in a power outage. Good, now they know what it feels like.
1:53 PM: A suspicious Arab male was arrested after trying to enter the Prime Minister's office. Authorities feel that there is something suspicious on his shoes. This later turned out to be a false alarm.
1:49 PM: Over 150 rockets have slammed into Israel so far today - 75 of them in less than 2 hours since noon.
1:47 PM: A large wave of Hezbollah rockets landed in northern Israel, but caused no damage or casualties.
1:14 PM: There is very heavy fighting north of Metulla right now.
1:13 PM: 40 IDF soldiers have been wounded so far in extremely heavy fighting in Lebanon.
12:11 PM: There were 3 more wounded civilians from the latest Katyusha barrage from Kiryat Shemona. 19 rocket attacks in northern Israel have killed 1 person and wounded 21 others so far. 77 rockets have been fired so far, 35 in Kiryat Shemona, 11 around Maalot, 15 around Nahariya, 10 around Safad and others hitting in the Golan Heights (Yaay for rockets in the Golan).
12:08 PM: Large fires were burning in the Western Galilee after the latest Hezbollah rocket barrage it.
11:48 AM: A number of people were wounded by the rocket barrage that hit Shlomi a little while ago.
11:42 AM: Palestinian guerrillas opened fire on IDF forces near the Central Gate in Gaza, but there were no casualties.
11:28 AM: A Hezbollah rocket landed near Shlomi and wounded 1 Israeli civilian. A Galilee panhandle community was damaged by another rocket. The civilian, a man, later died of his wounds.
11:26 AM: A Katyusha rocket slammed into a home in Kiryat Shemona and set it on fire.
11:22 AM: A Katyusha rocket hit a military base in northern Israel. It landed in the parking lot and damaged dozens of vehicles.
11:13 AM: A huge rocket attack is raining down rockets on the entire north of Israel. Explosions were heard around Zichron Yaacov, which is south of Haifa. This is one of the farthest south the rockets have hit so far.
10:55 AM: A number of wounded have been reported in the rocket attack on Safad .
10:45 AM: A Katyusha rocket slammed into a building in Safad. There appear to be injuries.
10:25 AM: A Hezbollah rocket hit a home in Misgav Am, damaging it.
8:56 AM: Hezbollah fired a number of rockets that landed in open areas in northern Israel.
8:08 AM: Guerrillas threw a large number of firebombs at IDF forces in the Jenin area during the night.
7:18 PM: The IDF arrested a Fatah guerrilla Nablus..
2:22 AM: 3 Arabs were wounded in Hebron when a bomb they were making in their home went off.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Middle East War Report for Saturday, August 12
The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here.
Updated November 30, 2008:
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24 IDF soldiers were killed and over 100 more have been wounded in Lebanon today. There was extremely heavy fighting going on. This one of the worst days yet for Israeli casualties.
Late in day, a Yasur Sikorsky helicopter was shot down with a surface to air missile over the town of Yatar, 3 miles north of the border near Ramiye. 5 soldiers on board the helicopter were killed.
Hezbollah detonated an antitank mine against an IDF tank in Al Tiri, destroying the tank and killing all 4 of the crew. Hezbollah also detonated a roadside bomb on an armored vehicle here, killing 1 IDF soldier. Another anti-tank missile attack wounded 1 IDF solder here.
An anti-tank missile destroyed another tank in Hirbet Kisif (probably Khirbat Silim) in the eastern sector, killing all 4 crew aboard. Khirbat Silim is 8 miles west of Magaliyyot on the border.
A tank crew backed into its own troops in Haddatha, killing 2 IDF troops and wounding 2 more. 1 more soldier was killed in a shootout with Hezbollah in Haddatha. Haddatha is 7 1/2 miles north of Dovev on the border.
3 soldiers were killed and many more were wounded in Randouriya (probably Randiye) in the west. Randiye is 1 mile southwest of Qana. Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a building where an IDF soldier was hiding. The missile blasted through the building and killed the soldier.
Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a Merkava tank in Wadi Sluki in the eastern sector, destroying the tank and killing 3 IDF soldiers. Wadi Sluki could not be located on a map.
1 IDF soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile attack on his tank near Kantara, 3 miles west of Taybe. The tank was destroyed.
3 IDF soldiers were wounded when an anti-tank missile hit their tank in Dir Yassin in the eastern sector. This town could not be located.
3 more IDF soldiers were wounded in anti-tank missile attacks on an armored vehicle and a tank near Tyre and Deir Sirin. Deir Sirin could not be located.
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Israel claims they killed at least 45 Hezbollah fighters today.
IDF air attacks and artillery barrages killed 19 Lebanese and wounded at least 24 more today.
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There is reportedly a videotape airing on Al Jazeera TV of an Israeli boat in flames and pouring smoke after being hit by a missile on Friday night in the coast off Lebanon. Israel has no word on this incident.
Here is a photo of what is said to be an Israeli ship that was hit by a Hezbollah missile off the coast of Lebanon yesterday evening. The ship reportedly had 12 sailors on board. This video is playing on Al Jazeera TV and LBC Europe (which is probably Lebanese Broadcasting Company Europe). For now, it looks like the ship definitely got hit. Photo is from this website.
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Hezbollah launched major Katyusha barrages on northern Israel, hitting Haifa, Krayot, Accra, Kiryat Shemona, Carmiel, Safad, Shlomi and Maalot, and wounding 26 people. 13 rockets hit Maalot. 2 of them hit homes and 17 people were wounded. A number of rockets hit around Shlomi, starting fires.
Rockets hit Kiryat Shemona, damaging 2 buildings and wounding 1 person. A rocket his Safad and 2 people were wounded. 5 rockets hit Carmiel, damaged a home, and wounded 3 people. 6 rockets hit Krayot, but landed in open areas. 4 rockets hit Accra.
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IDF attacks on Rasef leveled several homes, killing 15 civilians. The IDF fired missiles at a village called Kharayef, 1/2 way between Beirut and the border, killing 3 people and wounding 5 more.
The IDF bombed a military base of the sissy Lebanese Army in the Bekaa Valley, who won't even fight when they get attacked, nor will they surrender. They just sit there and wait to get killed or wounded. 1 Lebanese "soldier" was killed in this attack. The IDF bombed Insariyeh, 1/2 way between Sidon and Tyre, wounding 1 Lebanese journalist.
The IDF bombed a Hezbollah charity in Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, wounding 3 people. The IDF bombed a home east of Baalbek, wounding 3 people. IDF attacks knocked out electricity in Sidon and Tyre. IDF bombings knocked out the last road between Syria and Lebanon.
The IDF carried out a number of raids in Akkar Province, 60 miles north of Beirut. The IDF was bombing Tlaile, Taraya, Maraboun and Janata near the Baalbek Valley. 1 person was killed and 12 more were wounded. The attacks targeted residential areas and clinics, homes and shops.
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AM: 3 IDF soldiers were wounded in fighting at At Tiri, 5 miles north of the border at Dovev and 2 miles northwest of Bint Jbeil. This was apparently a friendly fire attack.
AM: IDF troops said they killed 4 Hezbollah fighters north of Bink Jbeil.
Early AM: Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a tank, wounding 3 IDF soldiers.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Updated November 30, 2008:
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24 IDF soldiers were killed and over 100 more have been wounded in Lebanon today. There was extremely heavy fighting going on. This one of the worst days yet for Israeli casualties.
Late in day, a Yasur Sikorsky helicopter was shot down with a surface to air missile over the town of Yatar, 3 miles north of the border near Ramiye. 5 soldiers on board the helicopter were killed.
Hezbollah detonated an antitank mine against an IDF tank in Al Tiri, destroying the tank and killing all 4 of the crew. Hezbollah also detonated a roadside bomb on an armored vehicle here, killing 1 IDF soldier. Another anti-tank missile attack wounded 1 IDF solder here.
An anti-tank missile destroyed another tank in Hirbet Kisif (probably Khirbat Silim) in the eastern sector, killing all 4 crew aboard. Khirbat Silim is 8 miles west of Magaliyyot on the border.
A tank crew backed into its own troops in Haddatha, killing 2 IDF troops and wounding 2 more. 1 more soldier was killed in a shootout with Hezbollah in Haddatha. Haddatha is 7 1/2 miles north of Dovev on the border.
3 soldiers were killed and many more were wounded in Randouriya (probably Randiye) in the west. Randiye is 1 mile southwest of Qana. Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a building where an IDF soldier was hiding. The missile blasted through the building and killed the soldier.
Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a Merkava tank in Wadi Sluki in the eastern sector, destroying the tank and killing 3 IDF soldiers. Wadi Sluki could not be located on a map.
1 IDF soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile attack on his tank near Kantara, 3 miles west of Taybe. The tank was destroyed.
3 IDF soldiers were wounded when an anti-tank missile hit their tank in Dir Yassin in the eastern sector. This town could not be located.
3 more IDF soldiers were wounded in anti-tank missile attacks on an armored vehicle and a tank near Tyre and Deir Sirin. Deir Sirin could not be located.
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Israel claims they killed at least 45 Hezbollah fighters today.
IDF air attacks and artillery barrages killed 19 Lebanese and wounded at least 24 more today.
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There is reportedly a videotape airing on Al Jazeera TV of an Israeli boat in flames and pouring smoke after being hit by a missile on Friday night in the coast off Lebanon. Israel has no word on this incident.
Here is a photo of what is said to be an Israeli ship that was hit by a Hezbollah missile off the coast of Lebanon yesterday evening. The ship reportedly had 12 sailors on board. This video is playing on Al Jazeera TV and LBC Europe (which is probably Lebanese Broadcasting Company Europe). For now, it looks like the ship definitely got hit. Photo is from this website.*****
Hezbollah launched major Katyusha barrages on northern Israel, hitting Haifa, Krayot, Accra, Kiryat Shemona, Carmiel, Safad, Shlomi and Maalot, and wounding 26 people. 13 rockets hit Maalot. 2 of them hit homes and 17 people were wounded. A number of rockets hit around Shlomi, starting fires.
Rockets hit Kiryat Shemona, damaging 2 buildings and wounding 1 person. A rocket his Safad and 2 people were wounded. 5 rockets hit Carmiel, damaged a home, and wounded 3 people. 6 rockets hit Krayot, but landed in open areas. 4 rockets hit Accra.
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IDF attacks on Rasef leveled several homes, killing 15 civilians. The IDF fired missiles at a village called Kharayef, 1/2 way between Beirut and the border, killing 3 people and wounding 5 more.
The IDF bombed a military base of the sissy Lebanese Army in the Bekaa Valley, who won't even fight when they get attacked, nor will they surrender. They just sit there and wait to get killed or wounded. 1 Lebanese "soldier" was killed in this attack. The IDF bombed Insariyeh, 1/2 way between Sidon and Tyre, wounding 1 Lebanese journalist.
The IDF bombed a Hezbollah charity in Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, wounding 3 people. The IDF bombed a home east of Baalbek, wounding 3 people. IDF attacks knocked out electricity in Sidon and Tyre. IDF bombings knocked out the last road between Syria and Lebanon.
The IDF carried out a number of raids in Akkar Province, 60 miles north of Beirut. The IDF was bombing Tlaile, Taraya, Maraboun and Janata near the Baalbek Valley. 1 person was killed and 12 more were wounded. The attacks targeted residential areas and clinics, homes and shops.
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AM: 3 IDF soldiers were wounded in fighting at At Tiri, 5 miles north of the border at Dovev and 2 miles northwest of Bint Jbeil. This was apparently a friendly fire attack.
AM: IDF troops said they killed 4 Hezbollah fighters north of Bink Jbeil.
Early AM: Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a tank, wounding 3 IDF soldiers.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Middle East War Report for Friday, August 11
Updated November 30, 2008:
2 Israeli soldiers were killed and 12 more were wounded in fighting in Lebanon.
40 Israeli civilians were wounded by rocket attacks on Israel. Over 120 rockets slammed into Israel, 70% of them hitting Kiryat Shemona. There was extensive property damage to roads, homes and vehicles.
11 Lebanese were killed and 11 more were wounded in IDF bombing raids in Lebanon.
The IDF said they killed 2 Hezbollah fighters in Rajmin, on the border with Israel.
Fighting in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon wounded 4 IDF soldiers.
6:15 PM: 45 Israeli civilians were wounded in the Hezbollah rocket barrage today.
5:28 PM: Hezbollah fired a rocket that hit a multistory building in Kiryat Shemona, wounding 1 person.
3:42 PM: Hezbollah fired a Khaibar 302mm missile that hit Haifa, but there were no casualties. This was apparently a new type of missile that had not yet been fired before.
2 PM: Hezbollah fired 16 rockets at Haifa and Krayot, causing extensive property damage to many homes and wounding over 40 people.
3:41 PM: Hezbollah fired a rocket that hit a chicken coop on a dairy farm near Kiryat Shemona, causing major damage.
2:30: Hezbollah rockets scored direct hits on homes in Kiryat Shemona and Safad. There were a number of injuries in these attacks.
2 PM: Hezbollah fired 16 rockets at Haifa and Krayot, causing extensive property damage to many homes and wounding over 40 people.
1:05 PM: There is heavy fighting in the Eastern sector of southern Lebanon.
12:50 PM: There was heavy fighting in the western sector of southern Lebanon and 5 IDF troops were wounded. 1 was injured by an anti-tank rocket.
12 PM: 1 IDF soldier was killed and 1 more was wounded in fighting in Rashef, 3 1/2 miles north of Shetula on the border. Rashef is 1 mile north of Dibel.
AM: Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at IDF troops, killing 1 IDF soldier.
11:22 AM: Hezbollah fired Katyusha rockets into Nahariyah, Haifa, Accra and neighboring cities. There were a number of civilians who were wounded Western Galilee and there was property damage.
10:50: Hezbollah fired a number of Katyusha rockets into Kiryat Shemoma, wounding 4-5 Israeli civilians.
10:44 AM: Hezbollah fired a rocket at Haifa, and 2 Israeli civilians were wounded.
10:25 AM: The IDF fired a missile at the home of a Popular Resistance Committee leader in Gaza, but he fled his home before the attack and was not hurt.
9:33 AM: The IDF hit 100 targets in Lebanon, including 9 buildings supposedly used by the organization. Lebanese authorities report 11 killed and 11 more wounded in these attacks.
9:11 AM: Hezbollah detonated a bomb on IDF troops in Qantara, wounding 5 soldiers .
8:50 AM: The IDF attacked weapons storage facilities of the Popular Resistance Committees in the Shajeyah and Jabalya districts of Gaza Strip.
8:39 AM: 2 IDF soldiers were wounded in fighting against Hezbollah guerrillas in the Western part of Southern Lebanon. Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a convoy.
7:27 AM: Hezbollah fired rockets at Accra. There were no injuries in these attacks.
7 AM: Hezbollah fired a number of Katyusha rockets into areas in parts of the Western Galilee. There were no injuries in these attacks.
5:15 AM: Palestinian guerrillas fired a Qassam missile at Sderot. There were no injuries and there was no damage.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Middle East War Report for Thursday, August 10
4 Israelis were killed and 33 more were wounded. 7 Hezbollah guerrillas were said to have been killed.
2 Israeli civilians were killed and 11 more were wounded in Katyusha attacks.
2 Israeli soldiers were killed and 22 more were wounded. 122 Israelis have been killed so far - 83 IDF soldiers, 38 Israeli civilians and 1 Israeli civilian in the Diaspora.
Israel said that they killed at least 7 Hezbollah fighters.
An Italian tourist was stabbed to death by a Palestinian in the Old City. He was apparently mistaken for an Israeli Jew.
There was fighting in Labouna, Kfar Kila, the El Marj Valley, Marjayoun, Khiyam, Qulayah, Markava, Ainata, Labouna, Taybe and Ayta Al-Chaab. At least 2 tanks were destroyed in the El Marj Valley by antitank missiles. 18 soldiers were wounded in Markava, Ainata, Labouna and Marjayoun.
Sorry for the poor pic, but this photo was very hard to find. It shows 2 Merkava tanks in flames between Marjayoun and Khiyam, probably in an area called the Khiyam Plains. You won't find this pic in the New York Times! Photo from the Assafir website in Lebanon, whatever that is.
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My good friend Simon Jones, he of the Canadian expat in temporary residence in Uzbekistan, has a long-awaited new article up on his blog, The Tail Really Does Wag the Dog. Simon is smarter, more educated and a better writer than I will ever be, so it is always a humbling experience to head on over there.
In this piece, he seems to be pointing out how the US is trying to assert control over Israel's foreign policy, as opposed to the status quo, which is vice-versa. What he is referring to here, though not explicitly spelled out, is that the hardline neoconservatives in the Bush Administration (especially those in Cheney and Rumsfeld's offices), are actually more extreme and rightwing than the Israeli government itself.
They are actually aligned with the rightwing of the rightwing Likud party, while the Olmert/Peretz Administration is what passes for Centrism in Israel.
On the other hand, left out by Simon, is that there is a split in the neoconservative movement, with the "moderates" refusing to criticize Israel's War (this is a longstanding trend in US Jewish thought - "We have no right to criticize Israel on any issues" - see Elie Wiesel) and the bomb-throwers aligned with Cheney and Rumsfeld egging Israel on to an even more all-out war in Lebanon and also on to Iran and Syria.
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A very provocative article in the Norwegian paper Aftenposten by Joostein Garnder, a Norwegian philosopher, God's Chosen People, is raising a firestorm around the world, with Jewish organizations and PC whackjobs like Angry Arab alike falling all over themselves to call it anti-Semitism.
As'ad is just a typical Leftist. These PC Leftists spew the anti-Semite accusation around like sunflower seed shells. In the lunatic PC netherworld that As'ad inhabits, if I repeat the Jewish jokes my Jewish gf tells me all the time, I am another Hitler. Is that nuts or what?
Worst of all, (for a case in point, see Joseph Massad on Israel Shahak here), these types cannot handle any critique of the Jewish religion, which itself is a violation of Left principles. We Leftists critique everything - all religions, all cultures - nothing is sacred. Radical critique of Islam, Christianity and of course Judaism are all acceptable.
So is radical critique of all cultures - Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, Jewish or otherwise. As'ad and the PC Zombies rising from the tombs of the Identity Politics Movement of the 1960's are turning the history of the Left on its head in invalidating all cultural and religious critique, and hence end up in bed with the conservatives.
Thorstein's article is very provocative and not carefully written, but most of it is not really anti-Semitic. It is more a radical Christian Replacement Theology critique against fundamentalist Judaism (not Reform Judaism or Judaism itself).
The message, like Marx's The Jewish Question, which is linked on the right side of this blog (Hey As'ad, is that anti-Semitic too?) is that the liberation of the Jews and their religion lies through the assimilation of the Jews to the rest of the society. That means leaving the ghettos that Massad and As'ad are perfectly content to leave them in.
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There is new information about how Hezbollah survives. They use a huge tunnel network. The IDF will go into a village, clear it out, leave, and then Hezbollah will come back later, popping up out of tunnels. The tunnels are very deep and some are even air-conditioned. Many tunnels are very well camouflaged. Fighters pop up out of tunnels, shoot and disappear.
Hezbollah's techniques are classic guerrilla warfare. IDF forces say that they rarely see Hezbollah fighters and usually just hear them. Hezbollah is also using some sort of long cylindrical antitank mines to kill Merkava tanks. In addition, some reports say that they have US TOW missiles, though this needs to be confirmed.
The IDF will go into a village that seems deserted and walk right into an ambush. Hezbollah attackers will pop up out of windows, fire and disappear. Interviews with UNIFL observers indicate that Israel is not winning at all and that "it is difficult to imagine an end to the fighting."
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Jonathon Cook points out, first, that Katyushas are not so inaccurate as one may think, and second, that there is evidence that not only are IDF forces also "hiding behind civilians" but that many of Hezbollah's Katyushas seem to be aimed more at strategic targets as opposed to just recklessly trying to kill civilians.
For instance, in Haifa, most of the rockets are hitting the port area, which has mostly been abandoned. The port area contains the naval docks, oil refinery and other strategic installations. In Kiryat Shemona, a recent TV tape showed a reporter in the center of town being drowned out by the sounds of an IDF tank firing into Lebanon from very close by. I think at least this is called "hiding behind civilians", eh?
He also points out that Hezbollah's rockets are not "indiscriminate" at all, or at least in many cases they are not. Rather, lacking good guidance systems, they are inaccurate.
It strikes me as an imperialist conceit that armies with the luxury of modern guidance systems (state armies) are free from war crimes allegations if they fire at legitimate targets, but that poor, guerrilla, non-state armies are guilty of war crimes simply for being poor compared to a state and unable to invest in state-of-the-art guidance systems.
Because they are poor, they are not allowed to use the only weapons they can afford, and if they do use the only weapons they can afford, they are war criminals because those are imprecise.
I would like to take this opportunity to condemn Human Rights Watch (the head is Kenneth Roth, clearly a highly-conflicted US Jew whose organization relies for its survival on donations from large Zionist, often Jewish, donors) for utilizing this imperialist conceit and condemning guerrilla groups for not being rich enough to afford top-of-the-line guidance systems.
Not that Roth can mention his ethnic dilemma or anything. Why, that would be racist!
Cook's on-the-ground reports on this war are superb and essential. He is reporting from out of Nazareth, where he has lived for the past 5 years.
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If you want to know why Hezbollah is so hard to defeat, look no further than here. Hezbollah is secretive to the point of paranoia and has a strict split between the military and political wings. Most political wing members cannot tell you who the fighters are. They have eliminated all of the leadership between Nasrallah and the regional commanders. The structure is flat, not triangular.
They, in general, do not do media interviews, and when they do, they are strictly staged, more like "Hezbollah guided tours". Local cells are free to take actions on their own, fight in the same towns they live in, and are hard to differentiate from local civilians. Hezbollah has a very healthy respect for Mossad (Israeli intelligence), and has gone to extreme lengths to guard themselves from infiltration.
The Palestinians, on the other hand, are constantly being infiltrated by Shin Bet.
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The Israeli Merkava tank is one of the best on Earth.
The Merkava-4 is the latest iteration, from 2002. It is the best of the Merkavas. Only about 50 M-4 tanks a year are produced in Israel, and about 200 M-4's have been produced by mid-2006. The Palestinians have only very rarely been able to destroy a Merkava, typically with an anti-tank mine weighing about 400-600 pounds. This is not an easy weapon to acquire or deploy.
The Merkava utilizes reactive armor (the armor explodes anything hitting it on contact, preventing penetration into the tank). It is apparently also protected by something called the Trophy Active Prevention Strategy, an anti-antitank technology that enables tanks to actually explode missiles before they even get to the tank.
This system is state-of-the-art and cutting edge, and only came online at the first of the year. Yet another excellent system from Rafael Armorment Development Authority, one of the best arms manufacturers in the world, TAPS is advertised as the "most advanced tank protection system in the world".
Well, that may be so, but it is to Hezbollah's credit that they are able to blast past the world's finest defenses. No matter what you think of Hezbollah as an army, I think it is proper to respect their fighting abilities, which are far beyond what anyone felt they were capable of.
Hezbollah is not only one of the best guerrilla armies on Earth; they may well be the best guerrilla force around. For that, any student of warfare ought to give them a tip of a hat.
Apparently, even TAPS is not working well, as 20% or so of the anti-tank missiles and RPG-29's are making hits, destroying and damaging Merkavas, and killing and wounding IDF forces in the process. About 1/2 of the IDF soldiers who have been killed in this war have been in Merkavas!
Shall we discuss here how to kill a Merkava-4 tank? Why not, as we are not hindered by Israeli censorship rules that hamper reporters in Israel.
If you look at the photo below, you will see an air intake for the 1500 horsepower diesel engine on the forward upper right flank of the tank. There is obviously limited armor in this area and the fuel tank is nearby. Just aim the RPG or antitank missile for that air intake.
See that air intake on this Merkava-4 beauty here? Aim that AT-3, AT-4, AT-13, AT-14, MILAN, TOW or RPG-29 right inside that air intake, ok? Ready, aim, fire. Ok, fedayeen, today's lesson is over. Head on over to the shooting range and test your new skills.
Perusing comment threads on Israeli news sites, Jewish supremacists seem to think that Israel, being in direct connection with God and all that, should be able to quickly fix their tanks so they are once again the Chosen Tanks, indestructible by any mere animal-like non-Jewish humans.
These Jews (let us forgive their ultra-arrogance for a moment) do not understand. The commenters typically shout for more armor on the Merkavas. That is a fantasy. The thing is already as armored as a tank can get, plus add-on armor.
They don't understand that Hezbollah's missiles can penetrate a full 3 feet of the world's best armor. And they fail to realize that there is a Law of Diminishing Returns when it comes to armoring tanks. That is, at some point, you have slabbed so much armor on thing that it can barely even move.
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I have been spending some time at the Free Micheal Kilo Now blog, run by a Syrian named Fares. His English is not the best, but it is intelligible and he is smart. The comments section has some great stuff, with a lot of play between Jewish Zionists out for blood and secular Arab supporters of Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. To see how real decent Syrian Arabs think, head on over.
I must say, as a caveat though, that he and his commenters are non-Zionist Arabs of the Arafatist ilk, seeking ways to make peace with "peaceful Israelis", supporting the unworkable 2-state solution, and condemning mysterious "Arab radicals" and "Arab fascists" for refusing to accommodate with Zionism in any way.
They need to point out these ghostly forces to me, as they cannot include Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Hamas, the PFLP or the DFLP. All of these movements and both states have made tactical agreements to accept a 2-state solution for the time being as the only workable solution, while still opting not to accept the Jewish super-racist colonialist robber state's existence.
We have seen since June 12 what the Israeli "peace movement" is all about - an impotent movement in a society controlled by the military - the officer corps and retired officer corps, as the always excellent Israeli author Uri Avnery notes. As Angry Arab says, "Don't ever say 'The Israeli Peace Movement' in my presence". Cheers, As'ad.
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Another cool blog I just found is called Zionists Out of the Peace Movement. Now, there is a place for these folks and their principled line. But at this time, we need to make alliances with all Jewish and Zionist voices who are opposing the current disasters and looming disasters in the region.
The blog points out how many Jews in the Jewish Peace Movement are supporting this current asinine war. Now that is a valid subject for sure. But nitpicking the 2-staters to death because they are not ideologically pure one-staters, at the moment, is counterproductive. For Chrissake, even the 2-staters' 22% solution would be a great leap forward from the nightmare of our current 1938 deja vu moment.
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Hey, check out the nervous Jewish Democrats on this Daily Kos thread. Here we have a Jewish liberal Zionist Democrat squirming and warning Daily Kos folks that Daily Kos is "starting to make Jews nervous". The implicit threat here really needs to be noted, for I have seen it before.
This is what the game is, ok? They are threatening to leave the Democratic Party if we do not ease up on our criticism of Israel! It is heartwarming to note that the left wing of the US Democratic Party is finally tiring of that s-tty little state, for, after all, it only capsizes most every liberal principle on Earth by its very "Jewish South African" existence.
I smile when I see these liberal Jewish Zionists fret that The Progressive and The Nation are "Jewish-hostile" publications. Of course they are no such thing, but the fact that Zionists think they are shows these magazines are finally moving in the right direction.
The wicked (pretty much unstated) threat here, and I mean wicked, is something like this: You Democrats waver in your support of Israel and we liberal Jews will take off and...what? Join the Republican Party, I guess. And take all our Jewish money (wink wink) with us.
Except that most Jews need a permanent barf bag affixed to their face to vote Republican, not to mention the abasing act of registering Republican in the first place. So most ain't goin' nowhere.
On the chance that some may go Republican, I say, Good riddance! Go! And take all of your dirty money with you! I am sick and tired of dirty US Jewish money, tainted with Zionism, used as a political threat against the Democratic Party. Go! Get out! You will not be missed!
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7 Israeli soldiers were wounded when Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli supply convoy in Marjayoun.
4 IDF soldiers were wounded when Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at 2 Merkava tanks in Ainata. At first, one tank was hit and 3 soldiers were wounded. A second tank arrived and it too was hit by an anti-tank missile and 1 more soldier was wounded. Both tanks were damaged or destroyed in the attacks.
Heavy fighting raged for hours in Markava (the Lebanese border town, not the tank) and 10 IDF troops were wounded.
PM: The IDF reported that 18 soldiers were wounded in fighting in Lebanon.
PM: 1 Israeli soldier was killed and 1 more was wounded in fighting in Labouna, on the border in the western sector. Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile in the attack, hitting a Merkava Siman-2 tank and destroying it. Hezbollah also fired on other armored vehicles in this battle.
8:53 PM: Heavy fighting at Al Qulayah, 3 1/2 miles north of Metulla on the border, killed 1 IDF soldier and wounded 2 more. The casualties occurred when Hezbollah fighters fired antitank rockets at Israeli tanks.
8:14 PM: A lone Arab terrorist attacked a tourist in Jerusalem. The tourist, a 24 year old man from Italy, later died. Later, 2 Arabs were arrested on suspicion of committing the crime. The man later apologized and said he thought the tourist was a Jew. Yuck!
6:22 PM: Hezbollah fired 3 rockets at Acre. They landed without causing any damage or injuries.
6:09 PM: There was an attempted hijacking of a Qatari Airlines plane going to Jordan. The hijack attempt was thwarted. This later turned out to be a false alarm. The fuss was all about a conflict between a passenger and the pilot. On the other hand, Angry Arab suggests that the hijack attempt actually occurred, but was covered up by the authoritarian Jordanian state.
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5:52 PM: The IDF was engaged in raging battles with Hezbollah guerrillas around the Christian village of Marjayoun. The IDF is moving towards the Shia village of Khiyam in an area known as the Khiyam Plains.
Hezbollah is fighting with mortars and anti-tank weapons and the IDF is providing bombardment from artillery and the air to cover the ground advance. Marjayoun is 5 miles north of Metulla on the border and Khiyam is 4 miles northeast of Metulla.
Israeli bombardment of the town of Khiyam. Zionists, mostly Jews, are agitating on Israeli news forums for Israel to "take the gloves off", "quit holding back" and "flatten every village". Based on this photo, would you say that they are fighting with gloves on, holding back, or not flattening villages? Also, has there been any comparable destruction of Israeli towns and cities? If it is ok for Israel to do this to Lebanese towns, why is it not ok for Israel's enemies to treat Israeli towns like the photo above?
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5:22 PM: IDF aircraft attacked West Beirut for the first time, knocking out a government radio transmitter. This was the first time that the IDF had attacked West Beirut. Sounds like an "act of war" to me, eh? Oh where are you, Lebanese Army? You will not even defend your land from invaders?
5:04 PM: Hezbollah fired 10 rockets at Maalot. Hezbollah has fired 140 rockets at Israel so far today.
4:49 PM: Hezbollah fired a Katyusha rocket at a suburb of Haifa and the rocket hit a building, wounding 1 Israeli.
4:34 PM: The IDF killed 3 Hezbollah fighters in Ayta Al-Shaab and 4 more in western villages.
4:20 PM: Guerrillas fired on IDF troops in Ramallah. There were no casualties.
4:14 PM: Katyusha rockets hit Maalot and Rosh Hanrika. Fires were burning as a result of the attack.
3:05 PM: A Katyusha rocket hit a home in Maalot but there were no casualties.
2:29 PM: Fires burning out of control from Katyusha attacks in both the Galilee and the Golan Heights caused serious property damage.
2:08 PM: A Katyusha attack hit Kiryat Shemona, landing on a chicken coop and killing a number of chickens.
1 PM: 4 Katyusha rockets landed in Krayat, near Haifa. 4 people were wounded in this attack.
12:03 PM: A woman who was seriously wounded in the Katyusha attack earlier on Dir al-Assad, an Arab village near Carmiel, died. 2 Israeli civilians were killed and 2 more were wounded in this rocket attack.
11:51 AM: A Katyusha attack on Safad wounded 4 Israelis and caused serious property damage.
11:49 AM: A child was killed by a Hezbollah rocket fired at the Arab village of Dir Al-Assad. In addition, a rocket slammed into a home in Carmiel.
9:54 AM: Very heavy fighting was reported in the western part of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah guerrillas were firing large numbers of antitank rockets at IDF forces. No word on any casualties yet.
9:56 AM: The IDF reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guards were among the dead in recent battles in southern Lebanon. They were apparently identified by their papers. This report has later been found to be unsupported by evidence.
8:13 AM: The IDF surrounded a building in Ramallah, apparently because guerrillas were holed up inside.
6:56 AM: The IDF arrested 7 Palestinian guerrillas in the West Bank overnight. The arrests occurred in Hebron, Nablus, Qalqilya and Jenin and involved guerrillas from the PFLP, Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
6:30 AM: The IDF attacked a home in the Beit Hanoun area of Gaza that housed an Islamic Jihad fighter. The IDF telephoned his home and told the family to leave, before destroying the home with an air raid . There were no casualties in the attack.
5:55 AM: Palestinian guerrillas fired a number of Qassam rockets towards Sderot outside Gaza. All of them landed in open areas and there were no injuries or damage.
2:22 AM: The IDF arrested a female guerrilla south of Nablus who was supposedly planning to carry out some sort of terrorist attack inside the Green Line.
2 Israeli civilians were killed and 11 more were wounded in Katyusha attacks.
2 Israeli soldiers were killed and 22 more were wounded. 122 Israelis have been killed so far - 83 IDF soldiers, 38 Israeli civilians and 1 Israeli civilian in the Diaspora.
Israel said that they killed at least 7 Hezbollah fighters.
An Italian tourist was stabbed to death by a Palestinian in the Old City. He was apparently mistaken for an Israeli Jew.
There was fighting in Labouna, Kfar Kila, the El Marj Valley, Marjayoun, Khiyam, Qulayah, Markava, Ainata, Labouna, Taybe and Ayta Al-Chaab. At least 2 tanks were destroyed in the El Marj Valley by antitank missiles. 18 soldiers were wounded in Markava, Ainata, Labouna and Marjayoun.
Sorry for the poor pic, but this photo was very hard to find. It shows 2 Merkava tanks in flames between Marjayoun and Khiyam, probably in an area called the Khiyam Plains. You won't find this pic in the New York Times! Photo from the Assafir website in Lebanon, whatever that is.****
My good friend Simon Jones, he of the Canadian expat in temporary residence in Uzbekistan, has a long-awaited new article up on his blog, The Tail Really Does Wag the Dog. Simon is smarter, more educated and a better writer than I will ever be, so it is always a humbling experience to head on over there.
In this piece, he seems to be pointing out how the US is trying to assert control over Israel's foreign policy, as opposed to the status quo, which is vice-versa. What he is referring to here, though not explicitly spelled out, is that the hardline neoconservatives in the Bush Administration (especially those in Cheney and Rumsfeld's offices), are actually more extreme and rightwing than the Israeli government itself.
They are actually aligned with the rightwing of the rightwing Likud party, while the Olmert/Peretz Administration is what passes for Centrism in Israel.
On the other hand, left out by Simon, is that there is a split in the neoconservative movement, with the "moderates" refusing to criticize Israel's War (this is a longstanding trend in US Jewish thought - "We have no right to criticize Israel on any issues" - see Elie Wiesel) and the bomb-throwers aligned with Cheney and Rumsfeld egging Israel on to an even more all-out war in Lebanon and also on to Iran and Syria.
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A very provocative article in the Norwegian paper Aftenposten by Joostein Garnder, a Norwegian philosopher, God's Chosen People, is raising a firestorm around the world, with Jewish organizations and PC whackjobs like Angry Arab alike falling all over themselves to call it anti-Semitism.
As'ad is just a typical Leftist. These PC Leftists spew the anti-Semite accusation around like sunflower seed shells. In the lunatic PC netherworld that As'ad inhabits, if I repeat the Jewish jokes my Jewish gf tells me all the time, I am another Hitler. Is that nuts or what?
Worst of all, (for a case in point, see Joseph Massad on Israel Shahak here), these types cannot handle any critique of the Jewish religion, which itself is a violation of Left principles. We Leftists critique everything - all religions, all cultures - nothing is sacred. Radical critique of Islam, Christianity and of course Judaism are all acceptable.
So is radical critique of all cultures - Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, Jewish or otherwise. As'ad and the PC Zombies rising from the tombs of the Identity Politics Movement of the 1960's are turning the history of the Left on its head in invalidating all cultural and religious critique, and hence end up in bed with the conservatives.
Thorstein's article is very provocative and not carefully written, but most of it is not really anti-Semitic. It is more a radical Christian Replacement Theology critique against fundamentalist Judaism (not Reform Judaism or Judaism itself).
The message, like Marx's The Jewish Question, which is linked on the right side of this blog (Hey As'ad, is that anti-Semitic too?) is that the liberation of the Jews and their religion lies through the assimilation of the Jews to the rest of the society. That means leaving the ghettos that Massad and As'ad are perfectly content to leave them in.
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There is new information about how Hezbollah survives. They use a huge tunnel network. The IDF will go into a village, clear it out, leave, and then Hezbollah will come back later, popping up out of tunnels. The tunnels are very deep and some are even air-conditioned. Many tunnels are very well camouflaged. Fighters pop up out of tunnels, shoot and disappear.
Hezbollah's techniques are classic guerrilla warfare. IDF forces say that they rarely see Hezbollah fighters and usually just hear them. Hezbollah is also using some sort of long cylindrical antitank mines to kill Merkava tanks. In addition, some reports say that they have US TOW missiles, though this needs to be confirmed.
The IDF will go into a village that seems deserted and walk right into an ambush. Hezbollah attackers will pop up out of windows, fire and disappear. Interviews with UNIFL observers indicate that Israel is not winning at all and that "it is difficult to imagine an end to the fighting."
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Jonathon Cook points out, first, that Katyushas are not so inaccurate as one may think, and second, that there is evidence that not only are IDF forces also "hiding behind civilians" but that many of Hezbollah's Katyushas seem to be aimed more at strategic targets as opposed to just recklessly trying to kill civilians.
For instance, in Haifa, most of the rockets are hitting the port area, which has mostly been abandoned. The port area contains the naval docks, oil refinery and other strategic installations. In Kiryat Shemona, a recent TV tape showed a reporter in the center of town being drowned out by the sounds of an IDF tank firing into Lebanon from very close by. I think at least this is called "hiding behind civilians", eh?
He also points out that Hezbollah's rockets are not "indiscriminate" at all, or at least in many cases they are not. Rather, lacking good guidance systems, they are inaccurate.
It strikes me as an imperialist conceit that armies with the luxury of modern guidance systems (state armies) are free from war crimes allegations if they fire at legitimate targets, but that poor, guerrilla, non-state armies are guilty of war crimes simply for being poor compared to a state and unable to invest in state-of-the-art guidance systems.
Because they are poor, they are not allowed to use the only weapons they can afford, and if they do use the only weapons they can afford, they are war criminals because those are imprecise.
I would like to take this opportunity to condemn Human Rights Watch (the head is Kenneth Roth, clearly a highly-conflicted US Jew whose organization relies for its survival on donations from large Zionist, often Jewish, donors) for utilizing this imperialist conceit and condemning guerrilla groups for not being rich enough to afford top-of-the-line guidance systems.
Not that Roth can mention his ethnic dilemma or anything. Why, that would be racist!
Cook's on-the-ground reports on this war are superb and essential. He is reporting from out of Nazareth, where he has lived for the past 5 years.
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If you want to know why Hezbollah is so hard to defeat, look no further than here. Hezbollah is secretive to the point of paranoia and has a strict split between the military and political wings. Most political wing members cannot tell you who the fighters are. They have eliminated all of the leadership between Nasrallah and the regional commanders. The structure is flat, not triangular.
They, in general, do not do media interviews, and when they do, they are strictly staged, more like "Hezbollah guided tours". Local cells are free to take actions on their own, fight in the same towns they live in, and are hard to differentiate from local civilians. Hezbollah has a very healthy respect for Mossad (Israeli intelligence), and has gone to extreme lengths to guard themselves from infiltration.
The Palestinians, on the other hand, are constantly being infiltrated by Shin Bet.
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The Israeli Merkava tank is one of the best on Earth.
The Merkava-4 is the latest iteration, from 2002. It is the best of the Merkavas. Only about 50 M-4 tanks a year are produced in Israel, and about 200 M-4's have been produced by mid-2006. The Palestinians have only very rarely been able to destroy a Merkava, typically with an anti-tank mine weighing about 400-600 pounds. This is not an easy weapon to acquire or deploy.
The Merkava utilizes reactive armor (the armor explodes anything hitting it on contact, preventing penetration into the tank). It is apparently also protected by something called the Trophy Active Prevention Strategy, an anti-antitank technology that enables tanks to actually explode missiles before they even get to the tank.
This system is state-of-the-art and cutting edge, and only came online at the first of the year. Yet another excellent system from Rafael Armorment Development Authority, one of the best arms manufacturers in the world, TAPS is advertised as the "most advanced tank protection system in the world".
Well, that may be so, but it is to Hezbollah's credit that they are able to blast past the world's finest defenses. No matter what you think of Hezbollah as an army, I think it is proper to respect their fighting abilities, which are far beyond what anyone felt they were capable of.
Hezbollah is not only one of the best guerrilla armies on Earth; they may well be the best guerrilla force around. For that, any student of warfare ought to give them a tip of a hat.
Apparently, even TAPS is not working well, as 20% or so of the anti-tank missiles and RPG-29's are making hits, destroying and damaging Merkavas, and killing and wounding IDF forces in the process. About 1/2 of the IDF soldiers who have been killed in this war have been in Merkavas!
Shall we discuss here how to kill a Merkava-4 tank? Why not, as we are not hindered by Israeli censorship rules that hamper reporters in Israel.
If you look at the photo below, you will see an air intake for the 1500 horsepower diesel engine on the forward upper right flank of the tank. There is obviously limited armor in this area and the fuel tank is nearby. Just aim the RPG or antitank missile for that air intake.
See that air intake on this Merkava-4 beauty here? Aim that AT-3, AT-4, AT-13, AT-14, MILAN, TOW or RPG-29 right inside that air intake, ok? Ready, aim, fire. Ok, fedayeen, today's lesson is over. Head on over to the shooting range and test your new skills.These Jews (let us forgive their ultra-arrogance for a moment) do not understand. The commenters typically shout for more armor on the Merkavas. That is a fantasy. The thing is already as armored as a tank can get, plus add-on armor.
They don't understand that Hezbollah's missiles can penetrate a full 3 feet of the world's best armor. And they fail to realize that there is a Law of Diminishing Returns when it comes to armoring tanks. That is, at some point, you have slabbed so much armor on thing that it can barely even move.
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I have been spending some time at the Free Micheal Kilo Now blog, run by a Syrian named Fares. His English is not the best, but it is intelligible and he is smart. The comments section has some great stuff, with a lot of play between Jewish Zionists out for blood and secular Arab supporters of Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. To see how real decent Syrian Arabs think, head on over.
I must say, as a caveat though, that he and his commenters are non-Zionist Arabs of the Arafatist ilk, seeking ways to make peace with "peaceful Israelis", supporting the unworkable 2-state solution, and condemning mysterious "Arab radicals" and "Arab fascists" for refusing to accommodate with Zionism in any way.
They need to point out these ghostly forces to me, as they cannot include Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Hamas, the PFLP or the DFLP. All of these movements and both states have made tactical agreements to accept a 2-state solution for the time being as the only workable solution, while still opting not to accept the Jewish super-racist colonialist robber state's existence.
We have seen since June 12 what the Israeli "peace movement" is all about - an impotent movement in a society controlled by the military - the officer corps and retired officer corps, as the always excellent Israeli author Uri Avnery notes. As Angry Arab says, "Don't ever say 'The Israeli Peace Movement' in my presence". Cheers, As'ad.
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Another cool blog I just found is called Zionists Out of the Peace Movement. Now, there is a place for these folks and their principled line. But at this time, we need to make alliances with all Jewish and Zionist voices who are opposing the current disasters and looming disasters in the region.
The blog points out how many Jews in the Jewish Peace Movement are supporting this current asinine war. Now that is a valid subject for sure. But nitpicking the 2-staters to death because they are not ideologically pure one-staters, at the moment, is counterproductive. For Chrissake, even the 2-staters' 22% solution would be a great leap forward from the nightmare of our current 1938 deja vu moment.
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Hey, check out the nervous Jewish Democrats on this Daily Kos thread. Here we have a Jewish liberal Zionist Democrat squirming and warning Daily Kos folks that Daily Kos is "starting to make Jews nervous". The implicit threat here really needs to be noted, for I have seen it before.
This is what the game is, ok? They are threatening to leave the Democratic Party if we do not ease up on our criticism of Israel! It is heartwarming to note that the left wing of the US Democratic Party is finally tiring of that s-tty little state, for, after all, it only capsizes most every liberal principle on Earth by its very "Jewish South African" existence.
I smile when I see these liberal Jewish Zionists fret that The Progressive and The Nation are "Jewish-hostile" publications. Of course they are no such thing, but the fact that Zionists think they are shows these magazines are finally moving in the right direction.
The wicked (pretty much unstated) threat here, and I mean wicked, is something like this: You Democrats waver in your support of Israel and we liberal Jews will take off and...what? Join the Republican Party, I guess. And take all our Jewish money (wink wink) with us.
Except that most Jews need a permanent barf bag affixed to their face to vote Republican, not to mention the abasing act of registering Republican in the first place. So most ain't goin' nowhere.
On the chance that some may go Republican, I say, Good riddance! Go! And take all of your dirty money with you! I am sick and tired of dirty US Jewish money, tainted with Zionism, used as a political threat against the Democratic Party. Go! Get out! You will not be missed!
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7 Israeli soldiers were wounded when Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli supply convoy in Marjayoun.
4 IDF soldiers were wounded when Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at 2 Merkava tanks in Ainata. At first, one tank was hit and 3 soldiers were wounded. A second tank arrived and it too was hit by an anti-tank missile and 1 more soldier was wounded. Both tanks were damaged or destroyed in the attacks.
Heavy fighting raged for hours in Markava (the Lebanese border town, not the tank) and 10 IDF troops were wounded.
PM: The IDF reported that 18 soldiers were wounded in fighting in Lebanon.
PM: 1 Israeli soldier was killed and 1 more was wounded in fighting in Labouna, on the border in the western sector. Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile in the attack, hitting a Merkava Siman-2 tank and destroying it. Hezbollah also fired on other armored vehicles in this battle.
8:53 PM: Heavy fighting at Al Qulayah, 3 1/2 miles north of Metulla on the border, killed 1 IDF soldier and wounded 2 more. The casualties occurred when Hezbollah fighters fired antitank rockets at Israeli tanks.
8:14 PM: A lone Arab terrorist attacked a tourist in Jerusalem. The tourist, a 24 year old man from Italy, later died. Later, 2 Arabs were arrested on suspicion of committing the crime. The man later apologized and said he thought the tourist was a Jew. Yuck!
6:22 PM: Hezbollah fired 3 rockets at Acre. They landed without causing any damage or injuries.
6:09 PM: There was an attempted hijacking of a Qatari Airlines plane going to Jordan. The hijack attempt was thwarted. This later turned out to be a false alarm. The fuss was all about a conflict between a passenger and the pilot. On the other hand, Angry Arab suggests that the hijack attempt actually occurred, but was covered up by the authoritarian Jordanian state.
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5:52 PM: The IDF was engaged in raging battles with Hezbollah guerrillas around the Christian village of Marjayoun. The IDF is moving towards the Shia village of Khiyam in an area known as the Khiyam Plains.
Hezbollah is fighting with mortars and anti-tank weapons and the IDF is providing bombardment from artillery and the air to cover the ground advance. Marjayoun is 5 miles north of Metulla on the border and Khiyam is 4 miles northeast of Metulla.
Israeli bombardment of the town of Khiyam. Zionists, mostly Jews, are agitating on Israeli news forums for Israel to "take the gloves off", "quit holding back" and "flatten every village". Based on this photo, would you say that they are fighting with gloves on, holding back, or not flattening villages? Also, has there been any comparable destruction of Israeli towns and cities? If it is ok for Israel to do this to Lebanese towns, why is it not ok for Israel's enemies to treat Israeli towns like the photo above?5:22 PM: IDF aircraft attacked West Beirut for the first time, knocking out a government radio transmitter. This was the first time that the IDF had attacked West Beirut. Sounds like an "act of war" to me, eh? Oh where are you, Lebanese Army? You will not even defend your land from invaders?
5:04 PM: Hezbollah fired 10 rockets at Maalot. Hezbollah has fired 140 rockets at Israel so far today.
4:49 PM: Hezbollah fired a Katyusha rocket at a suburb of Haifa and the rocket hit a building, wounding 1 Israeli.
4:34 PM: The IDF killed 3 Hezbollah fighters in Ayta Al-Shaab and 4 more in western villages.
4:20 PM: Guerrillas fired on IDF troops in Ramallah. There were no casualties.
4:14 PM: Katyusha rockets hit Maalot and Rosh Hanrika. Fires were burning as a result of the attack.
3:05 PM: A Katyusha rocket hit a home in Maalot but there were no casualties.
2:29 PM: Fires burning out of control from Katyusha attacks in both the Galilee and the Golan Heights caused serious property damage.
2:08 PM: A Katyusha attack hit Kiryat Shemona, landing on a chicken coop and killing a number of chickens.
1 PM: 4 Katyusha rockets landed in Krayat, near Haifa. 4 people were wounded in this attack.
12:03 PM: A woman who was seriously wounded in the Katyusha attack earlier on Dir al-Assad, an Arab village near Carmiel, died. 2 Israeli civilians were killed and 2 more were wounded in this rocket attack.
11:51 AM: A Katyusha attack on Safad wounded 4 Israelis and caused serious property damage.
11:49 AM: A child was killed by a Hezbollah rocket fired at the Arab village of Dir Al-Assad. In addition, a rocket slammed into a home in Carmiel.
9:54 AM: Very heavy fighting was reported in the western part of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah guerrillas were firing large numbers of antitank rockets at IDF forces. No word on any casualties yet.
9:56 AM: The IDF reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guards were among the dead in recent battles in southern Lebanon. They were apparently identified by their papers. This report has later been found to be unsupported by evidence.
8:13 AM: The IDF surrounded a building in Ramallah, apparently because guerrillas were holed up inside.
6:56 AM: The IDF arrested 7 Palestinian guerrillas in the West Bank overnight. The arrests occurred in Hebron, Nablus, Qalqilya and Jenin and involved guerrillas from the PFLP, Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
6:30 AM: The IDF attacked a home in the Beit Hanoun area of Gaza that housed an Islamic Jihad fighter. The IDF telephoned his home and told the family to leave, before destroying the home with an air raid . There were no casualties in the attack.
5:55 AM: Palestinian guerrillas fired a number of Qassam rockets towards Sderot outside Gaza. All of them landed in open areas and there were no injuries or damage.
2:22 AM: The IDF arrested a female guerrilla south of Nablus who was supposedly planning to carry out some sort of terrorist attack inside the Green Line.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
"Hinduland" - A Thought Experiment
Let us deal for a moment with a particular piece of Israeli propaganda - that Zionist colonization and dispossession of the natives was valid because it was ratified by international law - the League of Nations Mandate in 1922 and the UN Partition Resolution in 1947.
This is a particularly difficult bit of Zionist propaganda to deal with because it requires us to oppose the UN and the League of Nations. Furthermore, it wraps the Zionist conquest of Palestine in the patina of legality.
First, I do not consider either the LON Mandate or the UN partition (which violated the UN's own charter) to be valid, and they are definitely not moral. Basically, the UN and the LON decided it would give away land that was not theirs (Arab land) to people who in general had no right to it.
I may acknowledge that Jews had a right to live on the 6% of Palestine that they had bought, often from corrupt absentee landowners, in 1948, much as I disagree with their goals. But the UN did not give the Jews 6% of Palestine - it gave them 55% of Palestine!
Look. Let us attempt a thought exercise. For this exercise, we need to suspend belief.
First, the Palestinians will be transformed into Americans. Palestine and Israel will be transformed into the USA. And the Zionist Jews will be transformed into something called "Hindus", a category that is purely theoretical and has no basis in reality.
Canada will become Syria, Mexico will become Egypt, Guatemala will become Lebanon, Brazil will become Iraq and Argentina will become Iran. Islam will become Christianity. Like I said, suspend belief.
Suppose many "Hindus" immigrated en masse to the US over about a 30-yr period, to the point where the "Hindu" population was now 30% of the US population. They had gotten permission of some world power to do so and the US was somehow unable to stop them.
These "Hindus" came here with the explicit intention, stated early on, to dispossess, supplant, disperse and replace all of the Americans living here now. Why? "Hindus" need a state. They had been repeatedly pogromized and millions had been killed. There was an extermination attempt.
Besides, "Hindus" used to live here 2000 years ago - in fact, between 2000-3000 years ago, most of the US had been a "Hindu" state. But most of the "Hindus" had long since departed, though a small minority stayed on. And the "Hindu" religion always said the US was their homeland, though most Americans scoffed at this notion and were hostile to it.
As "Hindus" immigrated here, they belligerently tried to acquire as much land as possible. As soon as they bought up a town, a business, a farm or an apartment block, they would fire all of the Americans or throw them out. They turned their "Hindu" settlements into armed camps.
Some patriotic Americans started using violence to resist this nonsense and started attacking and killing some of these settler-colonist "Hindus", who frankly, the adults anyway, deserved to be killed. This was soon referred to as terrorism. The "Hindus" formed their own militias and fighting became generalized.
Within 30 years, by 1947, the population of the US (48 million) was 30% Hindu (14.5 million) but they only owned 6% of the land, because hardly any Americans had sold land to them once we caught on.
But for at least 16 years now, armed "Hindu" gangs had been invading American towns at gunpoint and throwing the Americans out, or sitting on hilltops sniping at us until most of us fled. Then they would move into our homes, businesses and farms and steal them for themselves.
At some point, the UN stepped in and decided to give 55% of the US to these "Hindu" invaders, who had no right to be here in the first place. The UN drew the line around the Mississippi and gave the "Hindus" the Western US for their "Hindu" state.
Now, over 90% of Americans violently opposed the UN giving away 1/2 of America to a bunch of invaders, but the "Hindus" used this UN decision as a legal fig leaf for their plans.
A war ensued and the "Hindus" won.
The war went something like this: The "Hindus" conquered their whole 55% of the Western US that the UN gave them plus most of the rest. All the rest of the Americans were crammed into 30% of the territory, all on the East Coast. Most of the Americans living in the West (80% of them) were thrown off the land. They moved to the East. Some fled to Canada and Mexico where the UN set up refugee camps for them.
After 30% of the Americans living in the West had been thrown off their land and much of the Western US was already conquered, the "Hindu" state unilaterally declared its existence.
A bunch of weak countries allied with the US thought this was outrageous and attacked in support of the Americans. They were routed and another 50% of the Americans in the West, and many Americans in the western part of the East as well, were tossed off the land. The Americans who were thrown out fled to the East, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, even all the way to Brazil.
80% of American towns were eradicated by the "Hindus", who simply bulldozed the smaller towns.
The "Hindus" rebuilt the towns and cities and renamed everything with names in "Hindi". They made "Hindi" an official language of "Hinduland" and declared that "Hinduland" was the state of all "Hindus" on Earth, and any "Hindu" could immigrate here and come here to live. It was not the state of its citizens.
"Hinduland" refused to define its borders and aggressively laid claim to all the rest of the US for "Hinduland". Not only that, but it also claimed part or all all of Canada, all of Mexico, and even a lot of Central America and South America. Most of the nations of the Americas became alarmed and soon "Hinduland" was on hostile terms with all its neighbors.
After the war, 93% of all land in "Hinduland" was confiscated by the state for the use of "Hindus" only. Americans could not buy, sell, rent or own this land.
Vast numbers of Americans continued to live on this 93% of the land. All of their towns were declared illegal and were denied all government services. Periodically, the state would invade these illegal towns and just steal them outright for the "Hindus", throwing out all the Americans.
Americans were forbidden from expanding their towns, cities or even homes. All such expansions were declared illegal. If the state found out you were building on your property, they would demolish your home with a bulldozer.
Some smaller US "illegal towns" were just bulldozed. "Hindus" would come in and give the Americans 10 minutes to leave, and then just bulldoze the whole town with all of our homes and possessions burying in the rubble.
Many US farms were also declared illegal since they were on "Hindu" land. "Hindu" planes often flew over these farms, spraying them with poison. All citizens were required to carry ID cards saying either American or "Hindu". A card saying "Hindu" granted you much more rights than the other. Only "Hindus" could serve in the military, and many of society's benefits were reserved for those who had military service.
Over time, many Americans in the East, their army smashed, had joined armed organizations, many of which degenerated into carrying out terrorist attacks. At the same time, the military of the "Hindu" state was one of the most menacing on Earth.
The "Hindu" state carried out repeated policies of "Hinduization" in which American communities were forbidden from expanding and surrounded with Hindu communities in a blatant racist effort to drown them out or surround them.
Many towns were "Hindu"-only towns and most schools were "Hindu"-only schools. The Americans had their own schools and towns, but they were given only a fraction of the state funds that "Hindu" towns and schools got. Despite being one of the most racist states on Earth, "Hinduland" claimed it was the World Headquarters of Anti-Racism.
A lot of violent resistance started up against "Hinduland" and even its "Hindu" residents, who were seen by many Americans as usurpers. There were frequent attacks on so-called innocent "Hindu" civilians.
There were more wars. In one war, "Hinduland" conquered about 15% of Mexico and built settlements there. Mexico went on a permanent war footing against "Hinduland" as a result. For this behavior in defense of their stolen homeland, Mexicans were compared to Adolf Hitler.
After another huge war in which Canada and Mexico were routed, 20 years after the UN resolution, 100% of the US was under "Hindu" control. The Hindu state now covered 78% of America. The rest of the Americans were hanging on on the East Coast, but now that was all under "Hindu" military occupation.
There was another war, and "Hinduland" conquered a good slice of Canada (10%) and promptly annexed it and settled it. Canada went on a permanent war footing against "Hinduland" and aggressively funded US armed and terrorist groups to attack "Hinduland". For this action in defense of their lands being annexed by an invader, Canada was compared to Hitler's Germany.
In the 3rd war, "Hinduland" also conquered part of Guatemala but refused to give it back because it said it was really Mexico, not Guatemala. Guatemala was transformed into a permanently hostile state and "Hinduland" waged repeated wars against it, including a long occupation that it finally abandoned after suffering casualties.
After a while, "Hindus" started to build colonies in the Occupied Eastern Territories, stealing most of the water, making "Hindu"-only roads and military bases all over, continuously destroying more and more US homes, businesses and ag fields, all for the continuing expansion of the "Hindu" colonies in the East. By this time, many Americans were living in refugee camps.
A lot of Americans were really angry at these "Hindus" for good reason. They were accused of racism and compared to Hitler and Nazis and the worst racists on Earth, all because of their justifiable anger at these "Hindus".
The "Hindus" waged wild propaganda campaigns the world over against something called anti-"Hinduism" which was coincidentally exploding around the world in tandem with "Hindu" colonization of the US. This was said to be the worst form of vile racism and was compared to KKK and all forms of wicked and murderous racism down through time.
Americans who resented the colonization of their land were accused of being genocidal and wanting to kill all 150 million "Hindus" in the US. After they got done exterminating the 150 million "Hindus", the Americans, often armed only with rocks and pieces of concrete which they haplessly hurled at top of the line armored vehicles, would supposedly proceed to wipe out every single last "Hindus" on Earth.
It was never really explained why Americans would conduct such a dastardly campaign, and few, if any, Americans even talked about it, despite what the "Hindus" had done to them. Yet still, the Americans were constantly accused of harboring genocidal wishes every time they picked up a gun to defend their lands against the invaders.
The general assumption was that Americans were just bizarre, genocidal, clinically insane criminals who were out to exterminate "Hindus" out of blind, vicious hatred.
In reality, the Americans were just resisting the colonization of their land. Furthermore, in fighting the colonizers of their land, most Americans were said to be religious bigots who hated the "Hindu" religion, though before colonization, most never cared anything about "Hinduism".
After a while, a peace treaty was signed with Mexico and a few Caribbean states. In return, "Hinduland" gave back the part of Mexico it had annexed. A bizarre historiography was created in which America and Americans never existed. Americans, due to their terrorism, were said to represent primitivism and barbarism, while "Hinduland" represented the force of Worldwide Modern Civilization.
Over time, "Hinduland" gained the support of the largest world powers, including one whose military was larger than that of the rest of the world combined.
"Hinduland" and its huge ally decided to wage a worldwide war against "terrorism", which was really mostly just a war against Americans fighting colonization and dispossession. It was also a war against Guatemala and Canada, whose lands were still occupied, annexed and colonized by "Hinduland".
Other large powers, Brazil and Argentina, became involved in the conflict and starting funding US terrorist organizations due to the fact that they were also Christians, like the Americans. The war had degenerated into "Hindus" versus Christians. Since Christians were engaging in terrorism, the entire Christian religion was said to be a gutter religion out to dominate the world by force.
Soon, it was said that Christians wanted to exterminate or forcibly convert all non-Christians on Earth. This made-up lie was inferred due to their resistance against non-Christians in "Hinduland". The war on terrorism was soon transformed into a war of Hindus against Christians in general. Many Christian states were targeted by "Hinduland" and its allies in one war or another.
"Hinduland"'s imperial partner invaded Brazil but the whole invasion and occupation turned into a massive debacle and soon Brazil was wracked with Civil War, with Catholics and Protestants killing each other. The imperial power wanted out of Brazil.
In June 2006 a fake pretext was made for "Hinduland"'s invasion of Guatemala. "Hinduland" soon set about destroying most of the country. Canada and Argentina started supplying Guatemala with weaponry and Guatemala fired missiles at "Hinduland". This missiles caused some deaths, but "Hinduland" killed 20 times more civilians with their invasion of Guatemala.
"Hinduland" waged this war of aggression and choice because tiny Guatemala was said to be intent on destroying "Hinduland" and slaughtering all 150 million "Hindu" residents, even though this was not possible with its puny arsenal.
The real reason for the war was to try to drag Argentina and Canada into the conflict. Argentina was said to be developing nuclear weapons and the world would not allow this, even though the world stood by while "Hinduland" acquired 300 nuclear weapons. The future looked bleak. A huge "Hinduland" force was in Guatemala but was making little headway amidst heavy casualties.
There were continuing efforts to drag Argentina and Canada into the war so that they could be destroyed by "Hinduland" and its imperial partner.
It was August 2006 and but it may as well have been 1939 or 1914.
A terrifying yet exhilarating edge was in the air. The older folks were saying, "I remember the last time the world felt this way". The world seemed on the edge of, if not world war, a major world conflict.
This is a particularly difficult bit of Zionist propaganda to deal with because it requires us to oppose the UN and the League of Nations. Furthermore, it wraps the Zionist conquest of Palestine in the patina of legality.
First, I do not consider either the LON Mandate or the UN partition (which violated the UN's own charter) to be valid, and they are definitely not moral. Basically, the UN and the LON decided it would give away land that was not theirs (Arab land) to people who in general had no right to it.
I may acknowledge that Jews had a right to live on the 6% of Palestine that they had bought, often from corrupt absentee landowners, in 1948, much as I disagree with their goals. But the UN did not give the Jews 6% of Palestine - it gave them 55% of Palestine!
Look. Let us attempt a thought exercise. For this exercise, we need to suspend belief.
First, the Palestinians will be transformed into Americans. Palestine and Israel will be transformed into the USA. And the Zionist Jews will be transformed into something called "Hindus", a category that is purely theoretical and has no basis in reality.
Canada will become Syria, Mexico will become Egypt, Guatemala will become Lebanon, Brazil will become Iraq and Argentina will become Iran. Islam will become Christianity. Like I said, suspend belief.
Suppose many "Hindus" immigrated en masse to the US over about a 30-yr period, to the point where the "Hindu" population was now 30% of the US population. They had gotten permission of some world power to do so and the US was somehow unable to stop them.
These "Hindus" came here with the explicit intention, stated early on, to dispossess, supplant, disperse and replace all of the Americans living here now. Why? "Hindus" need a state. They had been repeatedly pogromized and millions had been killed. There was an extermination attempt.
Besides, "Hindus" used to live here 2000 years ago - in fact, between 2000-3000 years ago, most of the US had been a "Hindu" state. But most of the "Hindus" had long since departed, though a small minority stayed on. And the "Hindu" religion always said the US was their homeland, though most Americans scoffed at this notion and were hostile to it.
As "Hindus" immigrated here, they belligerently tried to acquire as much land as possible. As soon as they bought up a town, a business, a farm or an apartment block, they would fire all of the Americans or throw them out. They turned their "Hindu" settlements into armed camps.
Some patriotic Americans started using violence to resist this nonsense and started attacking and killing some of these settler-colonist "Hindus", who frankly, the adults anyway, deserved to be killed. This was soon referred to as terrorism. The "Hindus" formed their own militias and fighting became generalized.
Within 30 years, by 1947, the population of the US (48 million) was 30% Hindu (14.5 million) but they only owned 6% of the land, because hardly any Americans had sold land to them once we caught on.
But for at least 16 years now, armed "Hindu" gangs had been invading American towns at gunpoint and throwing the Americans out, or sitting on hilltops sniping at us until most of us fled. Then they would move into our homes, businesses and farms and steal them for themselves.
At some point, the UN stepped in and decided to give 55% of the US to these "Hindu" invaders, who had no right to be here in the first place. The UN drew the line around the Mississippi and gave the "Hindus" the Western US for their "Hindu" state.
Now, over 90% of Americans violently opposed the UN giving away 1/2 of America to a bunch of invaders, but the "Hindus" used this UN decision as a legal fig leaf for their plans.
A war ensued and the "Hindus" won.
The war went something like this: The "Hindus" conquered their whole 55% of the Western US that the UN gave them plus most of the rest. All the rest of the Americans were crammed into 30% of the territory, all on the East Coast. Most of the Americans living in the West (80% of them) were thrown off the land. They moved to the East. Some fled to Canada and Mexico where the UN set up refugee camps for them.
After 30% of the Americans living in the West had been thrown off their land and much of the Western US was already conquered, the "Hindu" state unilaterally declared its existence.
A bunch of weak countries allied with the US thought this was outrageous and attacked in support of the Americans. They were routed and another 50% of the Americans in the West, and many Americans in the western part of the East as well, were tossed off the land. The Americans who were thrown out fled to the East, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, even all the way to Brazil.
80% of American towns were eradicated by the "Hindus", who simply bulldozed the smaller towns.
The "Hindus" rebuilt the towns and cities and renamed everything with names in "Hindi". They made "Hindi" an official language of "Hinduland" and declared that "Hinduland" was the state of all "Hindus" on Earth, and any "Hindu" could immigrate here and come here to live. It was not the state of its citizens.
"Hinduland" refused to define its borders and aggressively laid claim to all the rest of the US for "Hinduland". Not only that, but it also claimed part or all all of Canada, all of Mexico, and even a lot of Central America and South America. Most of the nations of the Americas became alarmed and soon "Hinduland" was on hostile terms with all its neighbors.
After the war, 93% of all land in "Hinduland" was confiscated by the state for the use of "Hindus" only. Americans could not buy, sell, rent or own this land.
Vast numbers of Americans continued to live on this 93% of the land. All of their towns were declared illegal and were denied all government services. Periodically, the state would invade these illegal towns and just steal them outright for the "Hindus", throwing out all the Americans.
Americans were forbidden from expanding their towns, cities or even homes. All such expansions were declared illegal. If the state found out you were building on your property, they would demolish your home with a bulldozer.
Some smaller US "illegal towns" were just bulldozed. "Hindus" would come in and give the Americans 10 minutes to leave, and then just bulldoze the whole town with all of our homes and possessions burying in the rubble.
Many US farms were also declared illegal since they were on "Hindu" land. "Hindu" planes often flew over these farms, spraying them with poison. All citizens were required to carry ID cards saying either American or "Hindu". A card saying "Hindu" granted you much more rights than the other. Only "Hindus" could serve in the military, and many of society's benefits were reserved for those who had military service.
Over time, many Americans in the East, their army smashed, had joined armed organizations, many of which degenerated into carrying out terrorist attacks. At the same time, the military of the "Hindu" state was one of the most menacing on Earth.
The "Hindu" state carried out repeated policies of "Hinduization" in which American communities were forbidden from expanding and surrounded with Hindu communities in a blatant racist effort to drown them out or surround them.
Many towns were "Hindu"-only towns and most schools were "Hindu"-only schools. The Americans had their own schools and towns, but they were given only a fraction of the state funds that "Hindu" towns and schools got. Despite being one of the most racist states on Earth, "Hinduland" claimed it was the World Headquarters of Anti-Racism.
A lot of violent resistance started up against "Hinduland" and even its "Hindu" residents, who were seen by many Americans as usurpers. There were frequent attacks on so-called innocent "Hindu" civilians.
There were more wars. In one war, "Hinduland" conquered about 15% of Mexico and built settlements there. Mexico went on a permanent war footing against "Hinduland" as a result. For this behavior in defense of their stolen homeland, Mexicans were compared to Adolf Hitler.
After another huge war in which Canada and Mexico were routed, 20 years after the UN resolution, 100% of the US was under "Hindu" control. The Hindu state now covered 78% of America. The rest of the Americans were hanging on on the East Coast, but now that was all under "Hindu" military occupation.
There was another war, and "Hinduland" conquered a good slice of Canada (10%) and promptly annexed it and settled it. Canada went on a permanent war footing against "Hinduland" and aggressively funded US armed and terrorist groups to attack "Hinduland". For this action in defense of their lands being annexed by an invader, Canada was compared to Hitler's Germany.
In the 3rd war, "Hinduland" also conquered part of Guatemala but refused to give it back because it said it was really Mexico, not Guatemala. Guatemala was transformed into a permanently hostile state and "Hinduland" waged repeated wars against it, including a long occupation that it finally abandoned after suffering casualties.
After a while, "Hindus" started to build colonies in the Occupied Eastern Territories, stealing most of the water, making "Hindu"-only roads and military bases all over, continuously destroying more and more US homes, businesses and ag fields, all for the continuing expansion of the "Hindu" colonies in the East. By this time, many Americans were living in refugee camps.
A lot of Americans were really angry at these "Hindus" for good reason. They were accused of racism and compared to Hitler and Nazis and the worst racists on Earth, all because of their justifiable anger at these "Hindus".
The "Hindus" waged wild propaganda campaigns the world over against something called anti-"Hinduism" which was coincidentally exploding around the world in tandem with "Hindu" colonization of the US. This was said to be the worst form of vile racism and was compared to KKK and all forms of wicked and murderous racism down through time.
Americans who resented the colonization of their land were accused of being genocidal and wanting to kill all 150 million "Hindus" in the US. After they got done exterminating the 150 million "Hindus", the Americans, often armed only with rocks and pieces of concrete which they haplessly hurled at top of the line armored vehicles, would supposedly proceed to wipe out every single last "Hindus" on Earth.
It was never really explained why Americans would conduct such a dastardly campaign, and few, if any, Americans even talked about it, despite what the "Hindus" had done to them. Yet still, the Americans were constantly accused of harboring genocidal wishes every time they picked up a gun to defend their lands against the invaders.
The general assumption was that Americans were just bizarre, genocidal, clinically insane criminals who were out to exterminate "Hindus" out of blind, vicious hatred.
In reality, the Americans were just resisting the colonization of their land. Furthermore, in fighting the colonizers of their land, most Americans were said to be religious bigots who hated the "Hindu" religion, though before colonization, most never cared anything about "Hinduism".
After a while, a peace treaty was signed with Mexico and a few Caribbean states. In return, "Hinduland" gave back the part of Mexico it had annexed. A bizarre historiography was created in which America and Americans never existed. Americans, due to their terrorism, were said to represent primitivism and barbarism, while "Hinduland" represented the force of Worldwide Modern Civilization.
Over time, "Hinduland" gained the support of the largest world powers, including one whose military was larger than that of the rest of the world combined.
"Hinduland" and its huge ally decided to wage a worldwide war against "terrorism", which was really mostly just a war against Americans fighting colonization and dispossession. It was also a war against Guatemala and Canada, whose lands were still occupied, annexed and colonized by "Hinduland".
Other large powers, Brazil and Argentina, became involved in the conflict and starting funding US terrorist organizations due to the fact that they were also Christians, like the Americans. The war had degenerated into "Hindus" versus Christians. Since Christians were engaging in terrorism, the entire Christian religion was said to be a gutter religion out to dominate the world by force.
Soon, it was said that Christians wanted to exterminate or forcibly convert all non-Christians on Earth. This made-up lie was inferred due to their resistance against non-Christians in "Hinduland". The war on terrorism was soon transformed into a war of Hindus against Christians in general. Many Christian states were targeted by "Hinduland" and its allies in one war or another.
"Hinduland"'s imperial partner invaded Brazil but the whole invasion and occupation turned into a massive debacle and soon Brazil was wracked with Civil War, with Catholics and Protestants killing each other. The imperial power wanted out of Brazil.
In June 2006 a fake pretext was made for "Hinduland"'s invasion of Guatemala. "Hinduland" soon set about destroying most of the country. Canada and Argentina started supplying Guatemala with weaponry and Guatemala fired missiles at "Hinduland". This missiles caused some deaths, but "Hinduland" killed 20 times more civilians with their invasion of Guatemala.
"Hinduland" waged this war of aggression and choice because tiny Guatemala was said to be intent on destroying "Hinduland" and slaughtering all 150 million "Hindu" residents, even though this was not possible with its puny arsenal.
The real reason for the war was to try to drag Argentina and Canada into the conflict. Argentina was said to be developing nuclear weapons and the world would not allow this, even though the world stood by while "Hinduland" acquired 300 nuclear weapons. The future looked bleak. A huge "Hinduland" force was in Guatemala but was making little headway amidst heavy casualties.
There were continuing efforts to drag Argentina and Canada into the war so that they could be destroyed by "Hinduland" and its imperial partner.
It was August 2006 and but it may as well have been 1939 or 1914.
A terrifying yet exhilarating edge was in the air. The older folks were saying, "I remember the last time the world felt this way". The world seemed on the edge of, if not world war, a major world conflict.
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