Bangkoktraveler Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday. The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage strikes. Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month and was used successfully in penetrating underground Kassam launchers in the Gaza Strip during the heavy aerial bombardment of Hamas infrastructure on Saturday. It was also used in Sunday's bombing of tunnels in Rafah. The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world. The 113-kg. bomb has the same penetration capabilities as a normal 900-kg. bomb, although it has only 22.7 kg. of explosives. At just 1.75 meters long, its small size increases the number of bombs an aircraft can carry and the number of targets it can attack in a sortie. Tests conducted in the US have proven that the bomb is capable of penetrating at least 90 cm. of steel-reinforced concrete. The GBU-39 can be used in adverse weather conditions and has a standoff range of more than 110 km. due to pop-out wings. Also Sunday, Military Intelligence's Psychological Warfare Department broke into radio broadcasts in Gaza and warned Palestinian civilians not to cooperate with Hamas terrorist activity. Palestinians reported that they received phone calls to their cellular phones and landlines from the IDF. The phone call, the Palestinians said, conveyed a recorded message ordering the immediate evacuation of homes that were next to Hamas infrastructure or being used by the terrorist organization. On Sunday, head of the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration Col. Moshe Levy was interviewed by several Arab news outlets during which he stressed that Israel was not against the Palestinian public in Gaza but was operating against Hamas. Defense officials said Sunday that Israel would, however, not hesitate to target the homes of civilians who protected Hamas terrorists throughout the operation. "We will go after every Hamas operative, no matter where he is," one official said. "We urge the Palestinians not to cooperate with terrorists." Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beano Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 I once wrote a "letter to the editor" to the Jerusalem Post protesting about the murderer of Yitzhak Rabin being allowed to marry in jail. An objection to scum like Yigal Amir being allowed to breed. I signed my own name so I suppose I was fortunate not to be hunted down by a Mossad death squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 Iran has trained Hamas to make their own rockets to use against Israel. The violence is in a sense a proxy war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 << I signed my own name so I suppose I was fortunate not to be hunted down by a Mossad death squad. >> Rowan Atkinson? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beano Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 I heard Rowan Atkinson was looking for me once but I never connected him with a Mossad death squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainsail Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 A proxy war indeed. Not only do we supply the munitions but our foreign aid to them pretty well funds the military too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robaus Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 Violence begets violence begets violence. Both sides pandering to their electorates. Kadima needs to show that they are just as good at Palestinian bashing as Likud, and Hamas needs martyrs to show they are standing up to big bad Israel, who is gladly obliging. Meanwhile hundreds of innocent people are killed. I hope the new broom Obama can bang both heads together to forge a lasting and just peace agreement. Good article at Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignored AS the writer concludes "Yes, Israel deserves security. But these bloodbaths will not bring it. Not since 1948 have air raids protected Israel. Israel has bombed Lebanon thousands of times since 1975 and not one has eliminated "terrorism". So what was the reaction last night? The Israelis threaten ground attacks. Hamas waits for another battle. Our Western politicians crouch in their funk holes. And somewhere to the east â?? in a cave? a basement? on a mountainside? â?? a well-known man in a turban smiles." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 Iran has trained Hamas to make their own rockets to use against Israel. The violence is in a sense a proxy war. Well, yeah, if you mean by rockets something that is unguided, 120mm diameter and doesn't even have enough explosive force to break the pavement when it hits. Sounds like a bottle rocket to me. So, 18 months of Gazans being under house arrest, starving and dying, so they fight back any way they can by throwing ~2200 firecrackers at illegal Israeli settlers (with little damage and no deaths). This earns them a pounding by the IDF with 400+ dead and more coming. Selective strikes my ass: this is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. Using military force to solve political problems never works unless you commit genocide (which Israel is well on the way to doing). Fuck Israel and fuck the USA for blindly supporting them against our own interests! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 << Well, yeah, if you mean by rockets something that is unguided, 120mm diameter and doesn't even have enough explosive force to break the pavement when it hits. [color:red]Sounds like a bottle rocket to me.[/color] >> If it sounds like an effing "bottle rocket" to you, you have obvously never been on the receiving end of a 122mm rocket. They contained a 5-kilo charge surrounded by lead that framents like a huge grenade. I lost a few friends to 122s in RVN, while another friend lost his right leg at the hip. I might not be here myself, if the ground hadn't been so muddy that it absorbed most of the blast. The Qassam rockets made by Hamas are bigger than the Soviet 122s and contain a bigger punch too - with a warhead of up to 10 kilos. "The rockets are fired largely at civilian populations. Although they rarely kill, they are designed to do so, are indiscriminate, and have on occasion been fired at times coinciding with children's journeys to school." Nice bottle rockets, huh. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qassam_rocket p.s. Not to say that Israel doesn't overreact militarily every time. They mean it to be a deterrent, but it obviously is not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 I defer to your judgement. But it still stands that the 2200+ Qassam rocket attacks in the past year have lead to zero deaths and few injuries. Do you lay that to bad luck by Hamas, or more likely they were trying to make a point (however studiply) and really intending to hurt anyone? I went from neutral to anti-Israel, in general, over the past few years after being exposed to the Israeli right wing. The consensus position is apartheid, and it just goes downhill from there. You can believe that Palestinians have zero rights, that they aren't even people but just a problem to be pushed aside, all from some insane religious justification or worse, and that attitude is actually within the mainstream. Where else can one find that sort of opinion in the mainstream of a first world nation in 2008? It was disgusting in South Africa and its disgusting in Israel, and as an American I'm ashamed to be linked to it by my government's diplomatic and military support. Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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