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May. 12, 2021 7:49 AM
For a few years now a baseless myth has been making the rounds, according to which Benjamin Netanyahu is not a warmonger. “[He] is one of the most pacifist prime ministers we’ve ever had, with a balance sheet of just one initiated war in his dozen years in power.” This was written about him on these pages in November 2018, a few months after hundreds of Gazans were killed and wounded by Israeli military snipers at the Gaza Strip border fence.
A real man of peace. According to the myth, with the exception of one terrible war – Operation Protective Edge, which ended with the horrific killing of thousands of civilians and the destruction of the Gaza Strip – Netanyahu prevented wars, his responses are measured, and his foot is always on the brake. A cautious driver, he maintains a safe following distance, always signals before a turn, stays in his lane, doesn’t curse and doesn’t cut off ot
The IAF eliminated Hassan Kaogi, head of Hamas' military intelligence unit, and his deputy Wail Issa, head of the military intelligence counterespionage unit.
The Israeli military and Palestinian militants are trading airstrikes and rocket fire in a conflict that has killed thousands of people over the past decade.
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May. 12, 2021 10:44 PM
Benjamin Netanyahu’s gray face at 2 A.M. on Wednesday morning said it all. Not that he had expected to be in bed. It was the second day of a major escalation in Gaza, rockets had fallen hours ago on Tel Aviv.
But this wasn’t anything like the many nights he has spent in meetings with security chiefs. He had been called out for a token show of leadership in Lod, the city next to Ben-Gurion Airport, just 10 minutes away from Tel Aviv, which for the second night running had descended into chaos as gangs of Arab residents took to the streets.
The current round of violence that erupted May 10 between Israel and Hamas has two unusual aspects.
The first is unprecedented. For the first time ever, a relatively minor terrorist organization such as Hamas presented a major military power such as Israel with an ultimatum, demanding the withdrawal of all its security forces from two Jerusalem flashpoints Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Hamas even set a specific time 6 p.m.
Israel obviously ignored the threat and went ahead with the annual Jerusalem Day celebrations. But at exactly 6 p.m., Hamas fired six rockets toward Jerusalem. One landed on the city’s outskirts, causing damage but no casualties. However, the sirens warning of the incoming rockets disrupted the annual Jewish flag parade through East Jerusalem, sending participants fleeing for shelter, while lawmakers were evacuated from the Knesset plenary where a special annual session was underway marking the Allied victory over the Nazis. The s