Editor Note: Phil Weiss and Scott Roth are in southern Israel today, following the story of the Israeli assault on Gaza. Roth has been tweeting during the trip:
Headed to the south of Israel now.
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
People in Kiryat Malachi seem pretty relaxed.
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
Some stores are closed but things seem pretty normal in Kiryat Gat.
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
Woman from Perth, Australia in Kiryat Gat says there’s no fair coverage, everyone complaining about people dying in Gaza but not the rockets
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
Heard siren in Ashkelon followed by an explosion in the distance.
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
2 assholes drinking beer and smoking cigarettes while they watch Gaza get bombed. Fun times! twitter.com/scottroth76/st…
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
The guy with the white T- Shirt came to the watch point to “see fireworks.” What a fun day!! twitter.com/scottroth76/st…
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the people hanging out to watch the Gaza bombing as sport are a bunch of virulent racist pigs.
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
This guy with the pony tail told me “Arabs are less than dogs, kill them all.”What a nice day. twitter.com/scottroth76/st…
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
That smoke is from a bomb that just went off in Gaza. twitter.com/scottroth76/st…
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
Iron Dome interceptions right above us. Kind of scary. twitter.com/scottroth76/st…
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
The stench of urine and feces inside this bomb shelter in Sderot is appalling. twitter.com/scottroth76/st…
— Scott Roth (@scottroth76) November 15, 2012
Ain’t technology and the social media wunnerful? Bigotry, racism, a lust for violence and hatred for all to see. Ambassadors for Israel.
Excellent reports, Scott, which include the kind of revealing details that I didn’t find in my New York Times this morning. But please be careful.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Pam Geller’s racist ad against Arabs is popping up all over Chicago in transit ads: link to bnd.com
Remember the gentle American folks who came out all in genteel picnic garb to watch the Battle of Bull Run from a safe hill?
Rabbi Eric Joffie on why Israeli military nihilism is progressive
link to haaretz.com
And if progressive American Jews ask me why Israel can’t just muddle through, my answer is this: Israel came into being so that Jewish children would never again have to huddle together in fear, terrorized by enemies of the Jewish people, while their parents stood by helplessly. Helping those children is a progressive cause. And doing nothing for them undermines the sovereignty of the Jewish state and strikes a fatal blow at the very raison d’etre of Zionism.
Israelis are used to impunity . They worship technology. With iron sieve malfunctioning they realise barak can’t say they are safe .
Afraid of a few interceptions, are we? Oh puh leeez! Imagine phosphorous and 5 ton-bombs raining down. Gazans live with that and more!
For all the PR and bragging Israel was doing, it turned out that Iron Dome has a 20% sucess rate.
Really?
Supposedly they’ve knocked down over 130 Hamas rockets thus far. But more importantly:
Jeffrey Goldberg
✔
@JeffreyGoldberg
A source says that Israel has destroyed 90 percent of Hamas’s longer-range missiles. Seems to be a main tactical goal of Israeli operation.
Looks from here that Iron Dome saved a lot of Israelis already, and worked in conjunction with Israel’s other long range resources to preempt any significant damage by Hamas’s latest more long range and sophisticated missiles. Israeli state 1 of a 2 stage preemption process, with Iran in Israeli crosshairs. Israel planned all this, and we will see more, with Palestinian bodies paying their usual high price, and USA aiding Israel even more–US funded Iron Dome, and will do more for Israel, no matter how sad American material life becomes. Nobody is even suggesting cutting aid to Israel while US is at the fiscal/debt cliff.