Last night and this morning, 15 Hamas rockets hit Ashdod, Ashkelon and Sderot, injuring five Israelis.Hamas leader Mussa Abu Marzuk in Damascus gave Israel an ultimatum, saying that the IDF has one week to withdraw all its forces and open all the border crossings in exchange for 'quiet', something that essentially means that things will return to the status quo with rockets fired at Israel now and then. Hamas has not committed to a real ceasefire and were very plain that its war with Israel will continue.
Israel's security chief Major-General Amos Yadlin predicted that while the missile attacks may lessen while Hamas replenishes its arsenal, Hamas will likely continue its war using 'unconventional tactics' such as homicide bombers within Israel.
A number of European leaders from the UK, France, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic are visiting Israel and Egypt today. Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt reiterated to them that Egypt does not consider itself bound by the vague Memorandum of Understanding on arms smuggling signed by Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and US secretary of state Condi Rice. Egypt is not committing to assisting in any kind of control of Iranian weapons heading into the Gaza Strip, will not allow any foreign monitors to operate on Egyptian soil and is insisting that all border crossings be opened immediately - except, of course, the Egyptian border fence controlling traffic from Gaza to Egypt.
The European leaders are reportedly pressuring Israel to open the border crossings to Gaza unconditionally to allow so-called humanitarian aid and construction materials into Gaza as part of the $1.6 billion package they have planned for the Strip. If Israel agrees, as they probably will, a lot of that construction material will go to rebuild Hamas bunkers and fortified tunnels.
Europe has essentially chosen to aid a genocidal terrorist faction in its war against Israel.
Israel should simply refuse to cooperate with the EU. Of course they and the EU are big trading partners. This is something Israeli leaders may have to be mindful of. Israel is a high tech country. As such, I think Israel should be able to make in country many of the things they are getting from the EU via trade. Israel should simply say no to pressure from the EU, the US, or anyone else.
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