New Hamas rocket 'brings Tel Aviv within range'

[bemildred]

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has successfully test-fired a rocket capable of reaching Tel Aviv from the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli general warned on Tuesday.

The rocket, believed to be Iranian-made, has a range of about 60 kilometres (37 miles), putting Israel's major population centres in range, said Major General Amos Yadlin, head of military intelligence.

Gaza's Hamas rulers apparently successfully test-fired the rocket out to sea, Yadlin told a closed-door meeting of parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, according to a participant.

Hamas called the claim a "fabrication" designed to mobilise world opinion against the Islamist group before the UN General Assembly which was on Wednesday to discuss a controversial report on the Gaza war.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hP0g_RSxzVszzw8xGAegiQo9Geuw

[Scurrilous]

1. The doomsday weapon - Gideon Levy

<snip>

"Every few weeks you have to sow fear, every few months you need to make threats, and once every year or two you have to have another little war. Blind cooperation between the defense establishment and the media holds the promise of another round of fighting. In that way, it's possible to escape some of the blame from the Goldstone report and wallow in the conditions we love best: being the victim, feeling threatened and uniting in the face of the great external danger allegedly in the offing.

The Israel Defense Forces will be above it all and cleanse itself of a series of suspicions and failures. This can also translate into huge budgets, glorified importance and influence for both the generals and the military commentators. It also creates good television ratings and sells sensationalist newspapers and advanced weapon systems. What's better than that for us?

The most recent cry of alarm: NASA in Palestine, Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in Gaza. Hamas launches an Iranian rocket - it must be Iranian - 60 kilometers. The head of Military Intelligence reported on it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke immediately about missile systems, and the media immediately broke into its favorite war dance. "Three million citizens within range," "Confrontation in December," "Are you within range?" "Outskirts of Tel Aviv in danger," "Doomsday weapons" - frightening headlines accompanied by no less scary maps. "This is a new dimension confronting the IDF. It's not a simple matter. It's really a different story altogether. We should remember that there will be many casualties on the home front," roared the national baritone - the military commentator on television.

So again we are dealing with the grotesque - a strip of land under siege wallowing in its distress and ruins, with a pitiful paramilitary organization whose weapons arsenal would be an embarrassment to an IDF basic training camp. And it already proved its inadequacy in the last war. But the militants are portrayed to us as a superpower. That's how they create the scenario for the next war. That's how they empower not just the enemy, but first and foremost the IDF, which can beat the enemy."

more

[Vegasaurus]

4. "Pitiful paramilitary organization"?

Gideon, get a grip!

Hamas has only one goal, and they will smuggle in bigger and bigger weapons to achieve that goal.

The goal is, and has always been, to take back "all of greater Palestine" (ie. Israel).

They are a dangerous terrorist group, not a "pitiful paramilitary organization".

[Scurrilous]

5. More:

"The warmongering military commentators say war will come early, maybe even next month. The furious predictions of the commentators will again be a self-fulfilling prophesy. As with the horrible earlier incarnations, we can soon expect a series of "incidents" that are "heating up the front" - bombing a tunnel or shelling a weapons lab. A few helpless peasants who dare approach the security fence, rusty plows in hand, will be killed after being depicted as terrorists laying explosives, and the Palestinians will fire hollow Qassams in response, sowing fear in the Negev and creating pressure on the government to "do something."


IDF tanks opens fire on suspected Gaza gunman, 2 hurt

<snip>

"An IDF tank opened fire Friday evening on a Palestinian who was suspected of planting an explosive device along the Gaza-Israel border fence, in the Nahal Oz area.

Army forces identified a hit, and Palestinian sources in the Hamas-ruled territory said two people were lightly wounded in the incident."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3801330,00.html

[PhD]

2. Maybe a bit dated, but here's an interesting article

About Hamas weapon technology:

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/weapons/q0279.shtml

[bemildred]

6. Good piece, thanks for posting.

:thumbsup:

[proteus_lives]

3. True? Who knows.

But if Hamas lands a rocket in Tel Aviv, the Israelis response will not be pretty.