We seem to not really have a good answer to the missiles from Hamas. Our main answer seems to be to try to pound them from the air as hard as possible (taking into consideration many different factors) and expecting them to stop just in order to avoid our harsh response. We also try to destroy as many rocket caches as possible.. but that will just hurt their capabilities and not really take them away. So we don't really have answer other than hopefully they will one day decide it is just not worth it.

Professor Yisrael (Robert) Aumann, on the other hand, says he is working on a real response, a real answer. And it is one that nobody will really be able to legitimately complain about.

Aumann says, in an interview in NRG (via INN, which is where I saw it):

Nobel laureate Professor Yisrael (Robert) Aumann has an idea that could turn the tables on Hamas's rocket terror against Israel.
In a recent lecture, he described his vision for a fully automatic system that would fire a rocket back at Gaza immediately, whenever Gaza terrorists fired a missile at Israel. Presumably, these missiles would be randomly or automatically aimed in a way that would inflict civilian casualties on the Arab side, just as Hamas seeks to cause civilian casualties on the Israeli side.
Asked about the idea in an interview by NRG, Aumann said: “I'm working on it. The goal is truly that the system will be without any human involvement, no human control. This is very important, because if there is control, they will tell us that we are criminals and murderers and cruel.”
However, he explained, if there is no control of the system on the Israeli side, the responsibility for civilian deaths caused on the Arab side falls on the people who fired the missiles that set off the Israeli system. Prof. Aumann compared this to a situation in which the Arabs “take their women and children and force them to walk through a dangerous minefield.”
Would the system keep the world from blaming Israel? Prof. Aumann says that there will probably be criticism in any case, “but at least then we will feel more at ease with ourselves. If the response fire is automatic, the [Israeli] threat is convincing: when Hamas fires a rocket at Israel, it also fires a missile at Gaza.”

Will it work? An automated system that fires a missile back every time an incoming missile is detected, and it would in turn target a civilian population? I am not sure why he thinks automating it will remove the possibility of criticism, or even just put us more at ease. It would still be our system, that we programmed, that is shooting at civilians.

True, it means Hamas is directly triggering our missile as well by shooting their own, but it still would be our system shooting at Gazan civilians. It does not seem to me to solve the moral dilemma or to be the answer that will prevent international criticism.

Perhaps something even less controlled by us is a better answer. Something like a rubber wall or an iron trampoline, of sorts, where the missile shot by Hamas is turned around somehow and redirected into Gaza. The missile would sort of hit the trampoline or rubber wall and bounce back toward Gaza. Then they are the only ones shooting the missiles and it would be their missiles falling on civilians in Gaza.

.

Hamas has invested in film-making, and has released a couple new videos in an attempt to scare Israelis..

one was telling the residents of Beer Sheva to flee.. and the other is telling the residents of Judea and Samaria that their homes are within range of Hamas rockets...

I heard from a number of people that the Iron Dome will be protecting the Sharon funeral today in Southern Israel. Yes, it is true and is in the news.

The added point is that plenty of people seem to think it would be fitting, because Sharon gave away Gaza, for Kassam rockets (or Grads also perhaps), to fall during the funeral. God forbid to hurt anyone - to be shot down by Iron Dome or to land in open areas, of course. The irony of Sharon having given away Gaza and now his funeral being threatened by rockets from Gaza tickled some people pink. And not just his funeral, but Sharon's grave will from now on be within range of falling Kassam rockets. It is not just an issue of some people being tickled pink , but also some are concerned that now there is a "national target" for the Hamas shooters..

Personally I hope no rockets are shot - not during the funeral and not anywhere else or at any other time. I fail to see why it is worse for them to shoot rockets at a grave site than at people living in houses in Sderot or in the towns and villages in the region. Sharon's grave being disturbed is a horrible thought, but people's lives being disturbed and threatened is, in my opinion , more of a concern.

It couldn't hurt to try, but using the incoming Kassam and Grad rockets as an excuse to try to get out of a speeding ticket did not work for one taxi driver.

According to Ynet, this driver was caught speeding 51 kmph over the speed limit. He was caught by the police using a laser gun reading his speed, and his driver's license was immediately suspended for 30 days.

During Operation Pillar of Defense, this taxi driver was driving in between Red Alert sirens. You can imagine how harried he must have felt, along with so many other people, trying to get to cover every few minutes with tens of rockets shot at Israel, the majority of them in southern Israel, every day.

When the driver went to court, he asked the court to take into account the special circumstances that everywhere he went there were sirens and he was scared. He says he even knew that on the road on which he was caught there are regularly police, but he drove there anyway, and he drove fast, because of the pressure he was under due to the incessant sirens.

He asked the courts to take that into account and to cancel the ticket and give him his license back.

Unfortunately for him, the prosecutors pulled out his records and discovered that this driver has had plenty of  speeding tickets in the past, and was involved in a traffic accident a couple of years ago. Considering his many tickets and four serious speeding tickets along with three accidents in the past 15 years, the judge rejected his petition.

You can only use the rockets as an excuse if you were a fairly safe and patient driver prior to the rockets.

This is dangerous, and probably criminal. The people who put the sign on this door definitely have qualified for the status of "Chassid Shoteh".




The image is of the door to a public bomb shelter in Ashdod. Ashdod, as we all know, is very close to the Gaza border and has been hit badly by Kassam rockets. Bomb shelters in Ashdod are necessary, and their accessibility must be assured.

The sign on the door says, "Under the direction of the rabbonim, shlit"a, this bomb shelter is designated for men and bachurim (male students) alone".

Meaning, women who find themselves in the area when a Code Red siren blares, can't go into that bomb shelter but will have to spend their 45-60 seconds or so running a couple blocks over to the next bomb shelter.

The stupidity of those responsible for this sign is in direct contrast to the hassidim from a couple of days ago who made the effort to help save a woman who needed assistance when the siren went off. Those are chassidim, while these are chassidei shoteh.

Many theories have been talked about as to what is the cause, the reason we deserve, the incessant rocket attacks. Just like reasons were given for Hurricane Sandy, and for every other tragedy that ever hits a community or the Jewish people, people have been coming up with reasons for the rockets as well, though I must say they have not been given as much press-time as they are given in other tragedies..

This one though is one that I don't think I have heard before, at least not in any direct relationship.

Pashkevils out and about are blaming the rockets on the grave disturbing (for the purpose of building housing or hotels or whatnot) around the country, and specifically in the Nesher area. The linkage is defined as the destruction of ancient cemeteries, and the largest one in Eretz Yisrael, done even with "supervision"... removing the bones from their graves in a disgraceful way, so the houses of Jews are destroyed and turned to dust by the rockets.
(source: Kikar)

This image was sent to me yesterday. It is being passed around described as a Kassam rocket that was shot to Israel. The body of the Kassam rocket was made from a pole of a bus stop or light pole that was cut and stolen from Bnei Braq, and the Hamas rocket makers somehow forgot to remove the tzedaka boxes that were welded on before making and shooting the rocket into Israel.

this Kassam rocket sponsored by Kupat Ha'Ir

It is a pretty funny story and picture, and worth posting just for the laughs.

Clearly it is a "photoshopped" picture. There is no way they could have not noticed the tzedaka boxes, or forgotten to remove them. And leaving them on, while I am not an engineer, I do not believe there is any way such a rocket could have been shot, let alone travel with any accuracy or distance with that unbalanced extra weight on it...

Still, it is pretty funny.

running for cover from an incoming rocket, hassidim helping an elderly woman in the process

photo credit: Rabbi Dov Lipman

Rabbi Dov Lipman led a delegation today from Bet Shemesh to Sderot to show solidarity and support for the people who are living under tremendously difficult conditions, with a renewal, once again, of the rockets being shot from Gaza. The picture above is from the visit, and a siren alerted the public to an incoming rocket. With not enough time to run for a bomb shelter, the visitors went diving to the ground..

Quote Of The Day

Definitely no [the Disengagement was not a mistake]. People forget that Kassam rockets have been shot in the area from the year 2000 with absolutely no connection to the Disengagement. From the moment they signed n the Oslo Accords, we did not sit in Gaza. We only sat in enclaves in Kfar Darom and Gush Katif. The Kassam rockets were shot then from the area of Betit Hanoun until Jabalya or from within Jabalya. The mortars were shot over Gush Katif from Khan Younis. It is not something we created today. I am sure that the Disengagement was the right thing. It is one of the most right things, and the most important things, that my father [Ariel Sharon] ever did.

  -- Omri Sharon

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There is an interesting debate going on as a result of the incessant rocket fire from Gaza on Southern Israel. The question was presented to Rav Chaim Kanievsky by a number of different yeshiva bochruim. The question asked repeatedly is whether someone from Ashdod who is studying in yeshiva in Bnei Braq (or anywhere, but the questions mentioned referred to Bnei Braq), should go home for Shabbos to his family in Ashdod. Considering the increased level of danger currently in Ashdod, and other areas of the south, can one put himself in danger and go "home". The question was also posed the other way - a student from bnei Braq who is in yeshiva in the south but was home for Shabbos - could he go back to yeshiva.

According to the report on Kikar, Rav Kanievsky's opinion on this has consistently been that a person should stay where he is - if he is in the south (where it is dangerous), he should not leave. If however he is somewhere else, even if he only went there temporarily, he should not go to the south. The yeshiva student in Bnei Braq should not go home to Ashdod (for now), and the student in Netivot should not leave and go home to "safety" in Bnei Braq.

Srugim, on the other hand, reports that the rosh yeshiva of the yeshiva in Sderot Rav Dovid Fendel, disagrees, Rav Fendel is of the opinion that now is the time for the yeshiva students to "step up to the plate" and to show that they really believe that the Torah protects. They should now show that they too are soldiers on the front lines, remaining with the people, not abandoning their cities. Rav Fendel points out that people use the excuse of "parnassa" regularly, rightfully so, to put themselves in different types of danger. Rav Fendel also discusses the necessity of not abandoning the city in distress - the soldiers can't leave, the mayor would never leave even temporarily, etc.

I would suggest that there might not be such an argument. Rav Kanievsky also said people should not leave, though his focus was mor eon the question of whether one should go to the city in danger - Rav Kanievsky said if you are not in the city, you should not now go to it. Stay in Bnei Braq, or wherever, temporarily, and go back when things quiet down. He did not say those currently in Ashdod should leave.

It's not an easy decision when rockets are falling nearby.


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Picture Of The Day

kids sleeping together for comfort in southern Israel with no bomb shelter nearby as over 100 rockets have been shot from Gaza since Friday afternoon

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one example of a menorah made from kassam rockets

I was just perusing the items at Rockets into Roses and saw that they have menorahs, or chanukiyot, of various sizes, made from the scrap metal of Kassam Rockets. That is in addition to the other beautiful pieces the skilled craftsman makes.

These menorahs come in small and large sizes and are really stunning. This is really turning terror into life.

Take a look at the product page of Rockets into Roses and see the various menorahs.

In light of the recent increase in rocket attacks, we at LII are speeding up production of our Lulav Guidance System (TM) prototype to begin importing lulavs from Gaza immediately in time to have cheap lulavs for the holiday.

Here is the first image to be displayed in public...

Here is a cute game to destroy the incoming Kassam rockets...

There is now a new risk for those participating in the Breslav "Suicide Runs". The "suicide run" is when a few Breslavers sneak into Shchem to daven at Kever Yosef without permission from the army.

It seems a Yeshiva student from Yitzhar built his own "kassam style" rocket, based on information he found on the internet, and shot it towards Shchem.

The incident happened two weeks ago. It landed in a field outside of the Arab village by Shchem and exploded. The rocket landed and exploded a few meters away from a Breslaver who was there sneaking into Shchem davening. He was lucky to escape unharmed.

Today we had an amazing trip to Sderot.

Somebody in the office is making a Bar Mitzvah for his son. They decided that it was inappropriate for them to be spending a lot of money throwing various parties over the weekend, while in Sderot and the area they are suffering terribly. A plan was devised where they would give a present of 4 pairs of tefillin to children of needy families in Sderot who are approaching their Bar Mitzvahs. It was arranged through Avichai of the organization called Afikim BaNegev. He bought the tefillin from a scribe who was one of the evacuees of the disengagement of Gush Katif and now lives in Nitzanim (a community near Sderot and Ashkelon).
So about 8 of us, plus the Bar Mitzvah boy, went down to Sderot this morning. We went to the school, we met with the principal, we met with the four boys, we talked. The Bar Mitzvah boy gave each one his own beautiful pair of tefillin (each in its own bag with the boys name embroidered on it). The boys gave a present of a book to him. We talked some more... It was a beautiful "ceremony" and a wonderful idea to make the Bar Mitzvah more meaningful and not just spending thousands of dollars on parties.After that, Avichai (from Afikim) took us around Sderot a bit.

When you read abut fortifying Sderot, you really have no idea what that means. I thought it meant reinforcing some walls and ceilings of buildings. Not much reinforcing of buildings has been done, but some school buildings have already been reinforced, by what Israel calls "Kipat HaBarzel" - a metal dome or skullcap. Here is what it looks like.. notice the cover on top of the building.. that is nothing like what I had expected...

Let me tell you the story of a Kassam that fell yesterday morning in Sderot. This story was reported in all the newspapers.

This older couple has lived in Sderot for 30 years. They have only rarely left Sderot. In the past 8 years, since the Kassams have been falling on Sderot they have never, that's right - never, stepped outside of Sderot. never to take a break, never to go shopping in stores outside of Sderot, never never never. They would not leave Sderot while it was under attack.They have some children living in Sderot, but they also have a child living in Givatayim (near Tel Aviv). The child in Givatayim has been begging them to come for a visit and to take a break from the trauma of Sderot. they have always refused. Two days ago they finally agreed to go to Givatayim for a short visit of a few days.

The next morning (yesterday) at about 6 am, a Kassam rocket hit the courtyard of their home. Today we went to visit this home to see what happened. They would have been killed had they been there. It destroyed their home, it knocked down a secured wall that was in front of the house. It blew out all the windows in the house and we saw shards of glass embedded deeply in the walls of the bedrooms. Shrapnel was embedded in walls, the refrigerator and everywhere you looked. We spoke with their daughter who showed us around the destruction.From there, we drove around a bit and saw some houses that had their roofs destroyed from kassams. We did not go in, but based on the destruction to the roofs of these buildings, I can only imagine what it must have looked like inside the houses.

We then went to a house that had been hit by a Kassam rocket 3 weeks ago. They told us the story - the couple had their ten grandchildren over. They had all just left, the grandfather had also just left to daven mincha. The Kassam hit the house. The grandmother was there and was injured. It hit the house and came through the ceiling right above where she was sitting in an easy chair. She was lucky the explosion had happened on the roof above the house, because otherwise she would have been killed and not just injured.We went in and the house was totally destroyed. The ceilings were falling down in various places and a large part of the roof had been blown apart. They told us not to touch anything because the ceiling was being held up in such a precarious way, touching anything might cause things to shift and collapse on top of us.

We then went to the charity organization and saw their complex and what they do. They recently had a Kassam fall int he middle of their courtyard. That put half their activities out of business and they are still working to get reorganized from that. For example, their clothing gmach where they sell clothes for a few token shekels to needy families is right now out of order. They showed us holes in the walls from the shrapnel of the Kassam - it went right through 4 (four!!!) walls (made of geves/sheetrock) exiting the building on the other side.

This organization distributes 500+ foodbaskets every week for Shabbos to needy families. They had a team of Sherut Leumi girls and volunteers helping pack of bundles of food. We helped for a bit make bags of potatoes.

After that, we went into the city and looked around a bit, did some small shopping in different stores around town, and then headed out to work...

Here is a picture of a car that was driving in front of us. As you can see, his back window was hit with shrapnel from a Kassam.Maybe you read in the news today that Israel has delivered 120 more fortified bus stops to Sderot. I suspect they are planning to go into Gaza again the near future and expect a barrage of Kassams in response, and are planning in advance for that... Anyway, here is one being delivered.And here is what it looks like in place.

The idea is that it is a small fortified room and if a siren should go off, anybody standing at the bus stop has a secure place right next to them.
And here is a wall riddled with shrapnel...

We are not afraid. The Baba Sali protects Netivot.

------ An avreich (Kollel man) in Netivot


Today a Katyusha (basically a larger Kassam with a longer range) was shot and landed in Netivot. It landed near the Baba Sali's gravesite. It is the farthest into Israel the Palestinians have so far shot their rockets, and it indicates that their capabilities might be greater than previously expected. In addition, last night Sderot and Ahskelon was met with a barrage of rockets, and one fell a few short kilometers from Ashdod.

Hopefully the IDF and the political echelons will stay strong and fight the battle to rid Gaza of terrorists, and if that is not possible to at least get them to stop shooting at us.

The beleaguered city of Sderot. A living hell for the residents. They can't move away, they don't want to move away, and the government has practically ignored their situation with empty promises.

The government has not performed any military activity to defend and protect Sderot (and the surrounding villages). They have refused to fortify the buildings, until they have been forced into agreeing, and then they only agree to a partial fortification.

The government talks about helping them, but today the coalition government voted against a series of tax benefits for business in the Sderot area that have suffered from the security situation (the bill of tax benefits passed, against the wishes of the coalition heads, because the opposition parties pushed it and garnered up enough support from within the coalition to overcome the coalition position).

Last week 10,000 people from all over Israel flocked to Sderot in a show of solidarity. They went to make their weekly Shabbos purchases at the shops in Sderot, as a way of boosting the local business, rather than just giving charity, help their businesses during tough times.

A group of people where I work wanted to arrange such a group, from our office. We put it together and scheduled the trip for Wednesday. We would do (some of) our shopping in Sderot, specifically looking for the "Mom and Pop" stores, rather than the big supermarket chains.. Those who could not, or would not, come along, were askd if they wished to donate towards the people of Sderot. We arranged with a local organization called Afikim Ba'Negev that we would be coming to spend the evening shopping in Sderot and making a donation for the people of Sderot.

Plans went full steam ahead. Wednesday arrived and we had about 20 people ready to go to Sderot. The guy in charge of raising the money, arranged the company to give "matching funds". He raised about 11,000 NIS, meaning the donation would be about 22,000 NIS (I do not know the exact final amount).

So off we go. I had to go pick up my car, so I left seperately from the group. We made up at which junction I would meet them. I got there way ahead of them. As I was driving, the radio reports that in the past hour 15 Kassam rockets had been shot at Sderot. Some hit a factory injuring a few, some hit a University injuring a few and killing one. The situation looked bleak.

We meet up at the junction and pull into the adajacent shopping mall to figure out what to do considering the situation. Some of wanted to continue on to Sderot, others thought it was being foolhardy and there was no way to continue. The guy from the organization called us and said we should go home. "All the stores," he said, "are closed anyway, everyone is in the bomb shelters, streets are empty. There is no point in coming today. It has never been this bad. I have never told peopel to not come, but today I have to."

We wait a little bit to see if things calm down, as the IAF was striking targets in Gaza, so maybe they would stop shooting rockets. Things just heat up more. We keep getting reports of more Kassams falling in Sderot.

Some people decide to go home, but some of us wanted to continue to Sderot. We were so close, and we did not believe things were as hairy as the guy described. Some of those who wanted to go could not because of rides and arrangements, so only three of us continued onwards to Sderot.

We make it to Sderot and find a city that moves on. Cars were driving the streets, people were waiting at (reinforced) bus stops, the shopping center and other stores were open.

We are driving around and suddenly we hear the siren "Tzeva Adom (color red)". That means an incoming Kassam has been detected and we have 15 seconds to find shelter. We pulled over to the side of the road, nearly getting into an accident as other cars were also pulling over, and got out of the car. We crouched close to the ground next to a wall for protection. About 10 seconds later we hear a "BOOM" and feel a faint thud from somewhere not too far away. We wait a little bit longer in case there would be another, as often they shoot off two or three rockets one after the other. A few moments later we get back in the car and continue on our way.

We find a little shop open and decide to stop in. It was a nice little store that sold snacks and varieties of "tchachkes". We bought some candy and potato chips. I told the proprieter (Nissim) our story and he said, "Of course we are all open - we need to make a living!!" He thanked us for coming and after chatting for a few more minutes we moved on.

We saw some flashing lights in the distance and decided to see if that is where the Kassam had fallen. We drive up there and find some police cars. Right there is a small supermarket, so we park and go in.

We are looking around, collecting a few items to purchase when suddenly we hear the siren. The storekeeper also had the radio on and a walkie talkie, so we heard all sorts of noises from different places. He had a bomb shelter in the store (it doubled as his storage area) and he, his partner, and his 16 year old girl cashier ran quickly into the shelter screaming at us to get in.

I was the closest to the shelter and went right in with them. The other 2 guys were further back in the store and the owner was screaming at them to come to the shelter. One guy came right away and the other did not come. He must not have heard (I think he was ont he telephone). They started screamign at him and eventually he came in.

They were very frightened, especially the girl who was very shaken. They were talking about how they cannot take it anymore. All day they have been in and out of the shelter (40 Kassam rockets fell today in Sderot). He told us that a short while before, one of the last Kassams had fallen right behind the store.

We waited a bit and they decided they were closing the store for the night and going home. We paid for our stuff and went on our way.

We are driving around, looking for some place to get a Shwarma or Falafel or something, and we pick somebody up. He says he will tell us where to go, and he needs to go right nearby where we want to go. So we give him a ride and thanks us for coming and tell sus how crazy the day had been..

He directs us to Shwarma place that would be open in the main shopping area, and we drop him off. We go in and look around a bit, buying some small things. We find the shwarma place and sit down to eat. This is the happening place, as people come and go, some sit, some are chatting, some are eating..

We eat our shwarma and decide it is time to go home. we drive through the city and as we are leaving the city, the intersection just out of the city is blocked by about 20 young men (upper teens probably) burning tires in the middle of the street, blocking traffic, in protest of the indifference of the government. The police basically let them get out their frustrations, as there are not too many cars anyway in that corner of the world, and cars could really go around it after waiting a few minutes. One of the guys saw someone he knows, who was a volunteer in Sderot with an social welfare organization. They chatted a few minutes and then we were off. Back up to Ashkelon and then home.

While we did not, could not, make a big difference, we made our little moral contribution to the people of Sderot. We did what we could, and hopefully we will reschedule the trip with the original group for sometime next week or in two weeks.

My pictures were no good, so if the pics I get tomorrow from the other guys are good, I will post a few...

Wanna cry? Watch this news report about the child injured in Sderot yesterday from a Kassam Rocket. Good news is that the doctors successfully saved the child's arm...