Operation Cast Lead (Day Eighteen)

Israeli ground forces are on the move pushing deeper into population centers. There have been sitings of IDF soldiers in some of the suburbs, further then they have gone before during this operation. This could be the start of phase 3 or they may call it phase 2.7. What ever its name we seem to be looking at the next step, or half step, in the conflict. (More at http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3655101,00.html.)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told world leaders that he wants to see a diplomatic move spearheaded by Egypt stop the rocket fire and weapon smuggling. A success on that front would negate the need for the third phase. Egypt is reportedly putting a lot of pressure on Hamas to accept the deal and sign the truce. They went so far as to say that if Hamas refused Israel would expand it's operation effectively bringing and end to Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip. Given the above paragraph, the talks have not worked as of yet. (More at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1054915.html and http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3655076,00.html.)

For all of those who thought electing Obama would change the way the world looked at us, PowerLineBlog.com has some pictures to burst your bubble. The pictures can be found at http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022542.php. The protesters were chanting, "Death to Obama" as they torched his photo in front of the Swiss Embassy (more at http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/iranian-regime-torches-bambi.html). This is not the first example, and just goes to show that the other example was not a isolated fluke. The first set can be seen at http://powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022468.php.

There are conflicting reports about an exchanged of fire on the Israel-Jordan boarder. Israeli boarder patrol says that people on the Jordanian side of the boarder opened fire at them and they returned fire. Jordan denies the incident ever took place. No casualties were reported from the incident, but there was some damage to an Israeli boarder jeep. (More at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231774436737&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull and http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1055112.html.)

Please note that unlike the news stories above, not all the videos are from today. That does not mean that they are not worth watching, which indeed they are. They are also not present anywhere else in this serious of posts, meaning no repeats.

The IDF released a video showing that a Mosque was used to stockpile weapons. Among the rockets and explosives that one might expect was a large anti-aircraft gun. The video is in Hebrew, but the it is translated into English through the captions.

Video embedded below.



Just in case you thought the world had moved beyond the Blood Libel (simply put, the notion that Jews eat babies), I present to you a video from England (http://europenews.dk/en/node/18303). Pictures available at the aforementioned site.

Video embedded below.



In New York City, some Hamas supporters ventured over to the pro-Israel rally with a few things to get off their chest. Things like "Hitler didn't do a really good job", "You guys [Jews] did 911", and wishing the Holocaust would start again. Via http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/01/nyc-proisrael-rally-hitler-didnt-do-a-really-good-job-you-guys-jews-did-911-.html

Video embedded below.



LittleGreenFootballs.com (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/32433_Hamas_Supporters_Scream_for_Destruction_of_Israel_-_in_London) reports that Azzam Tamimi joined with British MP George Galloway to spew some hate against Israel in England.

Video embedded below.



Corner.NationalReview.com (http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmZjM2I4M2ViNmI4Nzg1NzQ4NGU3YTM5MjAyN2IxOGY=)links to a video from Canada where pro-Hamas protesters are yelling "Les Juifs sont nos chiens" (translation: "The Jews are our dogs") as well as "Hezbollah! Nasrallah!". The site linked to with the video (http://pointdebasculecanada.ca/spip.php?article836) is in French.

Video embedded below.