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IDF: Malfunction possible cause of Gaza incident
Hanan Greenberg
Published: 08.11.06, 20:24
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1. Malfunction of Policy
Aaron ,   Washington, DC   (11.08.06)
While a malfunctioning weapon might have been the direct cause of the deaths in Beit Hanoun, it is in reality the malfunctioning of Israeli policy which has led to the environment where this type of accident can occur. Just as the deadly shell "missed its target", it is becoming increasingly clearer that the sole dependence on the Israeli military establishment in the territories has missed its intended aim of providing Israel with increased security. The fact that both Sderot and Beit Hanoun are attacked on a daily basis is an indication of failed Israeli policy and highlights the need for negotiation to end the situation which perpetuates this constant hamring of innocent mean, women, and children.
2. what?? the IDF is not perfect??
mike ,   israel (formerly usa   (11.08.06)
admittedly, it is hard to pinpoint arch-terrorists who hide behind the behinds of women and children. sometimes things go awry, but at least the IDF is trying to minimize civilian casualties despite having to fight cowards.
3. The BS begins. This happened 1000s of times. Jewish terror
C. ,   usa   (11.08.06)
is accurate and always on target. But it won't stop Palestinians in their drive to end jewish occupation in their country of Palestine.
4. Every time its an accident.....
Andy ,   ramat hasharon   (11.08.06)
We need to be forceful to stop the qassems, but we can't keep killing innocent children. Still no Shalit. We need to dump this team of clowns running the country and start negotiating with the Palestinians. They aren't going away anytime soon.
5. Better when they cry for their dead
Meir ,   Arad   (11.08.06)
I will not give away candy in the streets or jump of join on the roof of my house, but I can share with you a nice song. Hebrew with Spanish subtitles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GyxvYefyRU
6. there's malfunction in IDF command!
Arabian Wolf   (11.08.06)
7. Malfunction
joseph ,   Canada   (11.08.06)
Well said Aaron # 1. Enough shooting time to talk....with the enemy...
8. I feel ashame to be a jew.
Aaron Rabinovich ,   Canada   (11.08.06)
When I hear such stupidity ,malfunction and rubbisn excuse I feel ashamed to be a jew.
9. God help you
Nonya ,   Nonya, USA   (11.08.06)
God help you when your retribution finally arrives for what you have done. As you have sown, so you shall reap.
10. pictures courtesy of palliwood and reuters
Arie ,   Afula   (11.08.06)
11. WAR CRIMINALS
(11.08.06)
the IDF will be held accountable for their crimes against humanity- your big brother USA is about to drop you and then you have NO ONE- NO ONE - lololol you get what you deserve- you reap what you sow.
12. carnage in beit hanun
Ukranian Jew ,   Canada   (11.08.06)
Where palestinians can fire those homeade rockets but not from densly populated areas gvien the fact that Gaza is so overcrowded and the proximity of Israeli settlements to Beit Hanun. Negotiations is the only way to stop this bloodshed. Zionists are too proud of their own military might to start negotiations under fire well, why do you expect Palestinains to put their small arms away and talk to you while F16's are buzzing above their heads and their lives are similiar to those in prisons?
13. IDF stop giving the pals easy propaganda points
Y ,   N   (11.08.06)
14. #1
v. n.y. ,   usa   (11.08.06)
i agree with you that both actions by palestinians and idf have brought no positive results in securing the israeli borders and its citizenry. however, remember that israel left gazasome years ago with the hope that restoring full autonomy to its populace would give them the time to select leaders that are interested in progress and enriching the quality of lives in gaza. israel, when it left, has left behind wonderful agricultural infrastructure that, had the palestinians not destroyed it in their hate and fury, could have sustained them in their quest for working the land and producing enough food for the people. israel also aided these people with money and opened its borders to thise who wished to have honest day jobs on israeli soil. however, while we were not paying attention and sleepimg defensively, sort of to speak., those same palestinians which israel gave full freedom to and their elected government, decided that it wasn't enough and proceeded to rearm, re-shell, re terrorise, re suicide bomb, call for the destruction of israel and the jews, kidnap soldiers, bomb citizens on israeli soil, murder and cause mayhem on even their dtreets by one gov't faction warring with another. no autonomy or freedom given to these palestinians will be enough because they are bent, through years of hate indocrination, to wipe all jes from israel and get it all for themselves, which time and again in their struggle with israel, they realize it is an impossibility. clinton, barak, arafat and prince bandar as intermidiary during january, 2001 went together to the camp david-taba peace negotiation. at that negotiation, prince bandar told arafat that what came up as a result of that negotiation was the very best deal and what the palestinians wanted to get for a very long time. he was actually very mad when arafat walked out of this negotiation and didn't even bother to give a counter offer. bandar said to him that he singlehandedly massacred the palestinian people by not accepting the deal barak offered to arafat. the deal was 97% of all territories the palestinians were demanding, part of east jerusalem where arabs live as their holy praying part (except for the jewish and armenian quarters on the west side) and $30 millions to help with the rfefugee problem. NOW, I REALLY THINK THAT WAS A GREAT OFFER.....MOST IF NOT ALL WHAT PALESTINIANS WANTED IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!! arafat walked out!!!! you know why? because he KNEW that if he accepts a peace deal with israel, he'll come home in a body bag and be considered a traitor. him and his people, while the world anxiously waited for his reasonable response, lied to the world and israel and the usa and walked out having, from the beginning, no desire to have peace with israel or accept anything even if it was everything they wanted. upon arafat's return to gazaand west bank, he held a rally and said to the people that from now on, the intifada will continue, albeit more aggressvly and he called for all factions of the islamic militias to rain suicide attacks on israel. WHY???? and what choice do we israelis have in dealing with suicide bombings, kidnappings and kassams on a daily basis? tell me, what? how can we proceed to eradicate those that constantly wish us harm and death. what would you do? because i have ran out of choices. you know, the best way to describe the palestinian israeli situation is to say that: for palestinian it's a political war of propaganda. for israel it's a war of survival and existance. for palestinians, 18 dead are used as finger pointing. for israel, 18 dead are 18 less future suicide bombers. if they lay down their arms and hate. if they start building an economy and get out of their misery and poverty, israel will be happy that number one it is left alone, and number two, they'll be willing to help palestinians achieve a solid country and progress without violence.
15. Whenever things are not going well
Palestinians ,   always lie   (11.08.06)
...for the Palestinians, they invent a "massacre." And the media falls for it every time!
16. There is always an excuse why .....
Rami ,   Nazareth, Israel   (11.08.06)
.....the IDF kills women and children
17. Cause of incident
Arie ,   Afula   (11.08.06)
arab terrorism
18. #9 & #11
Arthur ,   S Francisco   (11.08.06)
You reap what you sow.. Good words.. As the G-d of vengeance and patience will awake - the cursed seed of Ishmael will be paid measure for measure for their constant terror, murders, lies and deciet.
19. Malfunction of brain
Bancor ,   Genoa, Italy   (11.08.06)
Don't talk nonsense, guys! What didn't function was IDF good faith behaviour. It's too easy to say "Sorry, something went wrong...". The very question is: who really rules Israel? IDF does? If so, be careful, Israeli, your future is at risk.
20. 5&10: Run before Palestinians return&find you on their land
c ,   usa   (11.08.06)
21. Yeah sure... That must be it.
Mohammed   (11.08.06)
22. What Would You Do?
Jeff ,   Cherry Hill, NJ USA   (11.08.06)
Palestinians have been firing numerous Qassam rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, including a number yesterday that struck the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. In a bid to put an end to this activity and defend Israelis who live within range of Palestinian rocket fire, the IDF this morning shelled the areas in Gaza from which these rockets were launched. After it was reported that uninvolved Gaza residents had been hit by IDF fire, Chief of Staff Halutz ordered artillery forces to hold their fire until the situation could be clarified. The IDF's operations in Gaza are aimed against the Palestinian terrorists, terror organizations, and terror infrastructure that threaten the lives of the citizens of Israel. Every effort is made to avoid harming civilians who are uninvolved in terror activities. This is in stark contrast to the terrorists themselves, who specifically target civilians on both sides - not only by carrying out attacks on Israeli civilians but also by abusing Palestinian civilians as human shields, hiding themselves and their weapons among civilians and launching rockets from within civilian population centers. As terrorists continue to place Palestinian civilians in harm's way, IDF continues to do as much as possible to strike only at the terrorists.
23. No shame, but deep sorrow
Ben ,   London, England   (11.08.06)
As with all members of the Jewish nation, those in Israel and outside, i feel deep sorrow that innocent Palestinians were killed today by stray Israeli shells. There will be no dancing in any Jewish streets after this or any other IDF mistake. However, i feel no shame to be Jewish, or to affirm that the IDF has my full support in its actions to protect Israeli civilians from constant attacks from organisations avowing Israel's complete destruction. Thos who call it terrorism, open your eyes. The army makes mistakes, but the country is involved in a war with Hamas, Hizbollah etc, and in war you are put in unfortunate situation where you do live closer to the edge of not being completely in control of your actions, and at times hurt those you do not want to. Ask the British in Afg. or US in Iraq. The only difference is that we dont have a choice to be in this conflict - and if you think making peace overtures with people who avow your destruction is viable, then your living in some imaginary world where everything is nice and rosy. In fact, what i've just said is so obvious that for someone not to realise it there must be a complete lack of ligical reasoning behind it, a desire to see Israel as evil whatever the facts or situation. And there are always enough people around who the above applies to - and it is blatant anti-semitism in another form. There's no other reason why people like that would be so quick to accuse Israel of being so evil. There's more to say, but that's enough for now.
24. To #8, You are a jew, perhaps but not an Israeli, irrelevant
Doron ,   Cyprus   (11.08.06)
25. Arabs commit war crimes by attacking Sderot..
David ,   Boston, USA   (11.08.06)
This is what you get. According to International law Israel should do whatever it can to protect its citizens and limit hard to enemy non-combatants. One stray shell out of hundreds is pretty good, unlike EU. While I am sorry for civilian lives, this is justified under international law. If you want to blame anyone, blame the Arabs in Gaza who struggle against peace and prefer bloodshed over prosperity.
26. Aaron Rabinovich
israeli ,   israel   (11.08.06)
Dear Arthur, I have been reading your self-hating comments for some time and I have just about had enough. Look, dear, nobody is forcing you to be Jewish. You can convert to Christianity or Islam, or even Buddhims, or whatever takes you fancy. You can even change your name to Arthur Richardson and be done with it. Have you ever thought how we feel over here in Israel, when each and every day rockets are fired at us, our soldiers are killed, our youths are blown to pieces on the way to school? Do you know what it is like when you go to work in the morning with the knowledge that you might not make it home, and if not you, then your spouse, children, parents, siblings, neighbors, friends? If you don't, and aren't capable of putting yourself in our shoes, and still feel ashamed, leave Judaism. It is not a compulsory persuasion. Shalom!
27. what would you do?
edward ,   las vegas   (11.08.06)
the facist bush just got his ass kicked in the elections, there will be no dreamy war with iran (which all israelis pray for), your president is a rapist, your society is corrupt, you allow a racist and genocidal maniac to infiltrate your government... the only answer is to blow up some young, brown, non-jew, non-christians. good job israel, the world loves you except one thing, bush is on the ropes and you're his first victim
28. Amazing and extreme care to avoid civilian causalty
(11.08.06)
“It was estimated during the morning hours...” he said. “When you fire artillery shells toward this area there is a good chance that you are preventing an attack.” "it was estimated..." and “When you fire artillery shells toward this area..." these two being the operative clauses, I guess you can act this careless when there is nobody to hold you accountable. Israel should have more than "estimate" and "firing toward that direction" I estimate that malfunction is a BS to appease the world comdemnation...
29. On suffering
New Yorker ,   NY   (11.08.06)
For the arab (and other) muslims suffering is mostly a political term, even when some of their own suffer. They don't give a hoot for ANYONE. Their screams in regard to the recent "massacre" in Gaza should not be taken literally. These screams are medieval battle cries designed to impress the public in the politically correct modern world. They murder each other by hundreds of thousands in the name of Allah. And in the politically correct environment it's being called sectarian violence as if it was some natural calamity like a tsunami.
30. To No. 12, Ukranian Jew
New Yorker ,   NY   (11.08.06)
I'm wondering now why is it that your fellow countrymen, some sixty five years ago so miserably failed at negotiating with the arriving nazies and their peace spreading sondercommandos, who wanted nothing but joy and prosperity for everyone around. Answer please.
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