Operation Cast Lead (Day Fourteen)

CNN has reposed the video that is being generally seen as a fake in the conservative blogesphere. Besides the lack of chest compressions and other medial inconsistency with a critically wounded boy and a resuscitation attempt, there are other things in the video that do not make sense. The first goes to the claim itself. Namely that Israel has drones flying around with special missiles meant to kill children playing on the roof. As absurd as the claim is, the physical evidence shown seems to counter their own claim. The damage is not consistent with a missile strike. It looks more like someone took a pick axe to the roof and pounded the block for about five minutes. Ask yourself if this makes sense. Gaza is very densely populated, and Israel which has one of the most advanced military's in the world is intentionally trying to exterminate the population of Gaza, yet they for some reason are just unable? Israel could flatten Gaza and turn the whole area into a parking lot. Yet instead they risk putting their troops on the ground, use precision attacks, and warn people in the danger area to leave before dropping their munitions. If someone can mesh that for me it would be greatly appreciated. You can read CNN's defense of the video at http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/09/gaza.video.accusations/index.html#cnnSTCText.

The United Nations has passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire. The vote was 14-0 with the United States abstaining (for more go to http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1231424898919&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull). Neither side has given any indication of abiding by it. Indeed, both have singled the opposite.

The IDF has put together a new map to show the current range of the rockets from Gaza laid over a map of the region. You can see it at http://idfspokesperson.com/2009/01/09/idf-map-of-rocket-ranges-9-jan-2009. It is a little hard to understand, but rockets from Gaza are now capable of hitting some areas in the West Bank.

Israel is being accused of bombing a house which they had told civilians to take shelter in. Despite the lack of details, direct evidence, and/or understanding of the circumstances involved, that is not stopping The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights from calling for an independent war crimes investigation. In other news, the Commissioner is calling for an independent war crimes investigation for the intentional targeting of Israeli civilians by Hamas firing thousands of rockets at Israeli populations centers. Scratch that; can not blame one for hoping though. You can read more about the incident at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1054217.html, http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/09/zeitoun.gaza.israel/index.html, and http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieVUkWZeyBTYws258fKn2UJfICxAD95JMMA82.

http://muqata.blogspot.com has an updated body count. I can not verify the accuracy, but it seems to be in line with the other estimates I have seen.

"9:03 AM The War in Numbers - Day 14 Cast Lead. (source/Hebrew)

Israel:

13 killed (10, soldiers, 3 civilians)
131 Wounded (44 still in hospitals)
200 in "Shell shock" (psychological trauma)
450 Qassam rockets, GRAD, Katyusha, and mortars from at Israel from Gaza.

Gaza:

776 killed Palestinians
3150 Wounded (200 in serious condition)
4000 Houses destroyed
10 missile bunkers Mosques
12 School partially damaged
125 smuggling tunnels on the Philidephi corridor destroyed
900 Targets destroted
120 Hamas captives
43,000 have left their homes"


I end this post with some political humor from http://www.israellycool.com.

"18:30PM (Brian of London): Anyone want something funny for a change?

This joke explains all you need to know about Israeli-Palestinian politics.

What happens when a fly falls into a coffee cup?

The Italian - throws the cup, breaks it, and walks away in a fit of rage.

The German - carefully washes the cup, sterilizes it and makes a new
cup of coffee.

The Frenchman - takes out the fly, and drinks the coffee.

The Chinese - eats the fly and throws away the coffee.

The Russian - Drinks the coffee with the fly, since it was extra with no charge.

The Israeli - sells the coffee to the Frenchman, the fly to the
Chinese, drinks tea and uses the extra money to invent a device that
prevents flies from falling into coffee.

The Palestinian - blames the Israeli for the fly falling in his
coffee, protests the act of aggression to the UN, takes a loan from
the European Union to buy a new cup of coffee, uses the money to
purchase explosives and then blows up the coffee house where the
Italian, the Frenchman, the Chinese, the German and the Russian are
all trying to explain to the Israeli that he should give away his cup
of tea to the Palestinian.

"