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5) All about
Israel: https://youtu.be/jAAHvQTXK3E
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6) Families
Rush to Bomb Shelters in Tel Aviv as Palestinians Fire Rockets at Major
Israeli Cities
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2021/05/11/families-rush-to-bomb- shelters-in-tel-aviv-as-palestinians-rockets-fired-at-major-israeli-cities/
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7/8)
7/8) 41 Israelis injured after rockets
strike homes in Ashkelon, Ashdod
Tel Aviv Municipality opened bomb shelters amid concern that
Hamas and Islamic Jihad will try to launch rockets toward the center of the
country on Tuesday.
Over 41 people were
injured on Tuesday after rockets, fired from the Gaza Strip,
slammed into a number of homes in Ashkelon and Ashdod. Four of the injured
were members of the same family.
The four were
evacuated to Barzilai Hospital. Authorities said that the father, 40, was
in moderate-to-serious condition and suffering from injuries to his head.
The mother, 39, was in moderate condition and the children suffered from
light injuries. Of those injured on Tuesday, five were children, 26
were in light condition, 13 were suffering from anxiety, one person was
moderately injured and another person was seriously injured.The scene where
an apartment building was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in
Ashkelon, southern Israel, on May 11, 2021. (Fire and Rescue)Under orders
from the IDF Home Front Command, local councils - within a 40 kilometer
radius of the Gaza Strip - shut schools on Tuesday and banned large public
gatherings. Under the restrictions, only 10 people can gather outside and
50 inside, as long as there is a bomb shelter nearby that can accommodate
all participants.
Residents of
Ashkelon were asked by Home Front Command on Tuesday afternoon to remain in
bomb shelters until further notice.
For more on Hamas
attacks and IDF operations read hereFor
more on rocket attacks against Israel read here
For more on Israeli
strikes on Gaza read here.For
more on world reactions to Gaza violence read here
For more on Israeli Politician Gaza reactions read here
The municipalities
of Rishon Lezion, Holon, Bat Yam, Rehovot, Lod and Ness Ziona also decided
to cancel studies for Tuesday.
Both Hamas and
Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the rocket fire saying
that it was "in response to [Israeli] crimes and aggression against
the holy city and harassment of our people in Sheikh Jarrah and the Al-Aqsa
Mosque, and this is a message that the enemy should understand
well."Smoke and flames rise after an Gaza rocket hit a school in
Ashkelon. (Fire and Rescue)
The IDF closed a
number of roads near the Gaza border and instructed farmers to stop all
work near the border on Monday afternoon. Additionally, train traffic
between Ashkelon and Beersheba and to Sderot, Netivot and Ofakim was
temporarily halted on Monday afternoon after orders by security officials.
In the center of the country, restrictions were also placed on large
gatherings due to concerns that Hamas and other terrorist groups would fire
rocket barrages on Tuesday in the direction of Tel Aviv.
Due to the fears,
the Tel Aviv Municipality opened bomb shelters late Monday night. The
cities of Givatayim, Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak made similar
announcements.
Tel Aviv added that
people should not enter the bomb shelters unless there was an active order
to do so. If a siren sounded, the city said, all residents should enter the
bomb shelter closest to them.
The announcement
added that schools will operate according to Home Front Command
regulations.
Locate your closest
Tel Aviv bomb shelter here. +++
Tinderbox that is Jerusalem has
burst into flames - analysis
Rockets will pound Israel, and a Hamas or PIJ cell in the West
Bank or from Gaza could attack the IDF or Israeli civilians.
It could have gone
either way. Calm could have returned, or Israel could have found itself at
war.
Though the past week
has seen hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli police officers and civilians
injured, the defense establishment still thought that the situation could
have returned to normal.
But that was wishful
thinking.
More than 300
Palestinians and several Israelis were injured in clashes with police
officers on Monday in violence that the city has not seen in years. While
Israel has been condemned for how it is dealing with the crisis in Jerusalem,
the situation could have been much worse.
As of this article’s
writing, while blood has been spilled at the Temple Mount and grenades have
been thrown inside al-Aqsa Mosque, no one had lost their life.
Nevertheless, on
Monday evening, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad decided they could no
longer be quiet. They fired more than 50 rockets toward Israel, including
seven at Jerusalem.
According to
Palestinian reports, Israel struck back quickly, including a strike on Beit
Hanun in northern Gaza that killed three children, although others said it
was a failed launch from Gaza.
Palestinian
terrorists have recently tried to carry out other attacks, such as at the
Salem Border Police base on Friday, but none have been successful.
Hamas and
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have threatened Israel, but before Monday
evening, fewer than 10 rockets had been fired over the past week from the
blockaded coastal enclave.
Hamas instead
resorted to launching hundreds of incendiary balloons that have wreaked
havoc on fields and nature reserves. It’s a strategy that shows the
terrorist group supports Palestinians in Jerusalem but does not want to
risk serious retaliation from Israel.
The IDF has
increased its troop deployment to the West Bank, where it has been
expecting more violence.
The military
believed that even with the threats by Hamas and PIJ, the Islamists are
more deterred than previously thought.
But they aren’t.
Although Israel and
terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip have clashed several times over the last
three years, the past year has seen far less violence, due in part to the
coronavirus pandemic.
But with the country
seemingly over the worst of the deadly pandemic, things are back to their
old ways. And the political deadlock that Israel is facing, compounded by
the cancellation of Palestinian elections, has not made the situation any
easier.
Two and a half weeks
ago, when some 36 rockets were fired toward Israel, IDF Chief of Staff
Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi ordered an extensive aerial operation to be prepared.
The planes were armed and the pilots were ready, but then they were ordered
to stand down.
On Monday, the IDF
postponed the largest drill in its 73-year history. Thousands were set to
take part in the exercise, dubbed “Chariots of Fire,” which would have seen
all commands, as well as political bodies, simulate a multifront war
against Israel’s enemies.
Kohavi had earlier
decided that the drill would go ahead despite the growing security crisis
in Jerusalem and subsequent tensions on the northern and southern borders.
However, due to the current violence, one battalion that was expected to
take part was redeployed to the West Bank.
Instead ofrting
a “war month,” the IDF could have been at war, a senior officer said.
And on Monday evening,
all indications pointed to just that.
Rockets likely will
pound Israel, and a Hamas or PIJ cell in the West Bank or from Gaza could
attack the IDF or Israeli civilians.
Jerusalem is a
tinderbox on slow burn. And because of that, the country looks like it will
be dragged into another round of violence with terrorist groups. +++++++++++ 9) Violence is Abbas’ way of distracting attention and seeking concessions from BidenPresident Joe Biden is determined to reverse everything President Donald Trump did — not least, what many Democrats consider his misguided tilt toward Israel. Yet this week the world got a good look at what overturning Trump’s policies there means, with the eruption of fresh clashes of violence in Jerusalem, new missile attacks and fires raging in south Israel. Democrats are hard-pressed to dispute Trump’s historic achievement in brokering the normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries, known as the Abraham Accords. But liberals despised his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, his demand for accountability from the Palestinian Authority for supporting terrorism and his cut of funding to UN agencies hopelessly biased against the Jewish state. They wanted a return to an Obama-era “even-handed” approach that would signal to the Palestinians that, once again, they have a friend in the White House. And Team Biden has been moving in that direction. The result: emboldened Palestinians, from their leaders on down. For several days, Palestinians have resorted to violence in the streets of Jerusalem, supposedly over concerns about the mosques on the city’s Temple Mount and a controversial property dispute. The Biden administration responded in exactly the way its predecessor would not have: with statements calling for restraint on both sides, plus an indication that it was taking sides in the property case in favor of the Palestinians. The lawsuit involves Arabs who have been squatting in homes from which Jordanian forces evicted Jewish residents in 1948 when they invaded and sought to destroy the newborn Jewish state. Since the city’s reunification in the 1967 Six Day War, Jews have sought to reclaim property in which Arabs have been living for years without ownership rights or paying rent. With Israel’s Supreme Court about to give a final ruling on the case, Palestinians are trying to ramp up pressure to prevent the squatters from being evicted — by threatening to make the optics bad and by providing a pretext for Palestinians to engage in violence. That’s the context of the current violence, ginned up by the Palestinian Authority and its Hamas rivals. Both are also demanding that as Israel celebrates the anniversary of the city’s unification, Jews be prohibited from even visiting the city’s Temple Mount, the holiest spot in Judaism as well as the site of mosques that are important to the Islamic world. All this has brought down on Israel condemnations from politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who both think it is “abhorrent” that Jewish property rights be respected in Jerusalem. It’s also sparked assorted moral-equivalence noises from the Biden administration. “We call on Israeli and Palestinian officials to act decisively to deescalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “It is absolutely critical that all sides exercise restraint, refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric.” Meanwhile, let no one be fooled about the biggest reason for the violence: Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas wants to divert attention from his decision to postpone elections again as he serves the 17th year of a four-year term to which he was elected in 2005. He fears defeat at the hands of Hamas or more militant members of his own Fatah Party. Distracting Palestinians from the misrule and corruption of their leaders by fomenting hate against Jews is an old trick but a useful one. Hamas’ firing of rockets into Israel, including toward Jerusalem, and launching incendiary balloons in the south is its way of competing with Abbas. When Americans fall for these tactics by condemning Israel, they aren’t promoting a two-state solution (which Abbas and Hamas have proven they don’t want in any case). They’re just validating rejectionism, and so making any possibility of peace even more remote. It’s no coincidence that this is happening in 2021 rather than on Trump’s watch. Abbas is hoping to leverage this violence to win concessions from Biden. But the president needs to understand that the clashes and rockets are, at bottom, signs of Palestinians’ refusal to accept Israel’s existence, not a need for a more even-handed American policy. Washington needs to tell the Palestinians, as Trump did, that they must stop the violence and accept the reality of Israel. Biden’s moral equivalence will only prolong the agony of Palestinians who are again being misled and betrayed by their leaders. Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS.org. ++++++++++++++++++++ Before the Biden's vacate The White House, whether because he dies or they just depart, the damage his lunatic policies will do will be something to behold:
The Real Infrastructure ProblemThe Colonial Pipeline shutdown is a warning of worse to come.The economic damage from the cyber attack that shut down the 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline—the country’s largest fuel pipeline—should be limited. But it’s a glaring reminder that cyber vulnerabilities in U.S. energy and other systems are the real infrastructure problem that President Biden should be addressing. Colonial transports about 100 million gallons of refined products each day from the Gulf Coast to New York Harbor, supplying nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel. The pipeline’s private operator says it learned Friday that it was hit by a ransomware attack and took “certain systems offline to contain the threat.” In ransomware attacks, criminals use computer code to seize control of information systems and then extort businesses to unlock them. Sometimes they also threaten to dump sensitive intel on the web. The FBI says the DarkSide criminal network believed to be based in Eastern Europe perpetrated the attack. Some in the media are minimizing the attack by noting that DarkSide is only after money and purportedly doesn’t extort schools and hospitals. Small consolation. These thieves are bent on causing damage and have exposed an enormous vulnerability in the U.S. energy system by taking down a critical fuel artery. Fortunately, there was plenty of fuel in storage before the shutdown, and the pipeline should be back online this week. But meantime gasoline will have to be transported by trucks, which is less efficient. Tankers are temporarily storing gasoline off the Gulf Coast. Transportation bottlenecks were already snarling supply-chains, and the pipeline shutdown won’t help. ***Yet this is the world that the climate-change lobby wants. The Biden Administration should be putting money into shoring up cyber vulnerabilities, but instead it’s using the “infrastructure” label to remake the energy economy, squeeze fossil fuels, and make the grid more vulnerable, not less. Texas’s nearly week-long power outage in February showed how grid problems can cascade. After wind turbines froze, gas power plants couldn’t make up for the lost generation and surging demand from homes that use electric-powered heaters. Some gas pipelines and compressors also froze or shut down because they rely on electricity. Power outages also affected water treatment systems in Texas and rippled across the Midwest, which relies on gas from Texas for power and heating. The outage exposed how the U.S. grid is becoming less reliable as it becomes more reliant on intermittent renewables and natural gas to back them up. Nuclear and coal plants that provide baseload power are shutting down because of environmental regulations, and they can’t compete with cheaper gas or subsidized solar and wind. The Energy Information Administration says 2021 could set a record for the most nuclear retirements. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the Indian Point nuclear plant, which has historically provided a quarter of the power to New York City and Westchester, to shut down last month. So now fossil fuels—namely natural gas—will make up 93% of downstate New York’s electric capacity. Mr. Cuomo has severely compromised the grid’s reliability in New York and Northeast by blocking pipelines to deliver more gas to power plants and heating fuel to households. The result is the region is becoming more reliant on gas compressors to push more fuel through pipelines. Pipelines and compressors are vulnerable to bad weather and cyber attacks. The Department of Homeland Security reported in February 2020 that a ransomware attack shut down a natural gas compressor facility for two days, though it didn’t say where. An attack on gas infrastructure during the winter will have the potential to cause more damage as more coal and nuclear plants retire. This will be obvious to hackers offshore, whether they are independent criminals or state-affiliated groups. Russia’s foreign intelligence may have picked up more leads on America’s cyber vulnerabilities when its proxies penetrated SolarWinds software and purloined information from government agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Energy Department. Many utilities and energy companies also use SolarWinds. The U.S. government could help companies harden their information systems, but the risks to infrastructure will grow unless the U.S. makes the energy system more resilient and redundant. That won’t happen with Mr. Biden’s 500,000 new EV charging stations and rooftop solar panels on every home. Just the opposite. The grid and other infrastructure will become more vulnerable as more systems get electrified and connected. The Government Accountability Office warned in March that home solar panels, EV chargers and “smart” appliances that companies control remotely are creating new entry points for cyber criminals to take over the grid. Defending the U.S. against cyber attacks is the Biden Administration’s most important infrastructure job, but that’s not what its $2.3 trillion proposal would do. +++++++++++++++++++++++++
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