* Palestinian rockets are totes not dangerous* Somebody in Gaza got smart and focused fire on mortars instead of mid-range rockets. Results: we have several dozen injured and a few dead. I honestly lost count - I think only one or two killed after the four-year-old ( Read more... )

Fucking HELL that was an intercept. No sirens.

There went the ceasefire.

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Okay, the Mess is officially over: the ambulances have their regular sounds again.

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Those two paragraphs from Amos Har'el's piece (link), because seriously. The whole thing is likely to stick your heart in your throat, because Amos Har'el had spent about a year following up close a Nachal battalion from intake base to graduation. (He was writing a book about the IDF's new attitude for training infantry.) Battalion 941 is now a few ( Read more... )

On the other hand, the ceasefire fell apart. Hamas flat-out said they refuse to maintain a ceasefire while negotiating; Israel will not negotiate under fire ( Read more... )

The moment when I discover the guy who wrote Etzlenu BaGan (tissue warning; this is like something from the age when they could write lines "the three wars") is the same guy who wrote A Million Stars.

His non-war songs are meh at best. But one song like this, okay; two are a trend.

This entry was originally posted at http://hagar-972.dreamwidth. ( Read more... )

It appears we are having a ceasefire ( Read more... )

Hebrew readers would like to read Niv Stendel's latest column. It's... you know the way Israelis can get under pressure, when everything except the core gets stripped away? When it's just the first reasons? It's that.

12. הדבר שהכי מרגש אותי (חוץ מכדורגל) זה ילדים. המכתבים של הילדים ששולחים לנו ארגזי ממתקים וסבונים חודרים אלי ומפוצצים אותי מבפנים ( Read more... )

* IDF withdrawal from Gaza: ongoing

* Hamas rocket fire at Israeli towns: ongoing

* Lieberman joined the camp for the UNification of Gaza. O-kay, then. That removes any domestic obstacles to that one. Now, of course, we need to see whether Ban Ki-moon is only talk or whether that damn organization is willing to do good for a change ( Read more... )

A siren starts. (A moment of surprise: really? I thought that was over?) And I know - the way I always know those things, I know - I know that this is going to be the closest one yet. I'm looking something up on youtube; I hesitate, but I stay by my computer. It's going to be close. I know. I'm taking a risk. I know ( Read more... )