Operation Cast Lead: Day Eight

Israeli ground forces have moved into northern Gaza today, shortly after nightfall. Israeli troops have not been there, the site of former Jewish settlements, since the Disengagement in 2005.

Shortly before ground troops went in, the IDF began to use artillery to pound terrorist locations and mines. The IAF also struck more targets in Gaza. The IDF estimated another 30 Hamas terrorists killed, with no Israeli casualties.

Hamas continued to launch rockets into Israel, but there were no casualties. A home was hit, but most of the rockets landed in open areas.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel is prepared for any attacks by the Iran-supported terrorist group Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon. Iran had warned that Hezbollah will get involved if Israel attacked Gaza on the ground.

Schmoozing With Ahmadinejad

Excerpts from a column by Maj. W. Thomas Smith, Jr.:

Schmoozing With Ahmadinejad
by Maj. W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

Following a recent lecture I gave to a group of extremely bright, young US Navy and Marine Corps officer candidates, I was asked why the Shi'a terrorist group Hizbullah - being the global threat it is - rarely headlines any major daily newspaper in the mainstream media.

It was an excellent question, one I am often asked and one which I am unable to adequately answer. After all, Hizbullah is perhaps the most dangerous terrorist army in the world. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff once said Hizbullah “makes al-Qaeda look like a minor league team.” [emphasis mine]

So why isn’t wartime America being adequately informed and educated in this regard?

I won’t begin to guess beyond the insanity of political correctness or who knows what. But I will say that this lack of information has served as an enabler of Hizbullah and its Iranian-Syrian overlords. It has bought time for the Iranian-Syrian-Hizbullah axis. It has seriously undermined the majority pro-democracy movement in Lebanon (including the brave resistance against Hizbullah), and it has utterly failed the American taxpayer.

(Read the rest of the column at Arutz Sheva.)