hmmm - it's one of those conflicts that it's difficult to cut through the spin on.
I have no idea what it's like in Israel but Israelis tell me that they have a right to defend themselves and everyone is out to get them and everyone else is a terrorist.
That said - "targeted assassinations" don't look that different to terror attacks to me other than the place where the munitions goes off happens to (sometimes) get a "bad guy"
From what i read from the Palestinian side : With this recent flare up - the news coming out of the region seemed to be that there was going to be an Israel-Palestine long term cease fire which was promptly ended with the assassination of one of the parties involved.
The response to that is then to fire rockets - 3 people die - the response though seems disproportionate. Hilariously on Fox that we get here they kept spinning the figures as a combined total : so where as the japanese news gave you a running total of : Israel - 3 , Gazans : 156. Fox would : Open with pictures of gaza rockets, comments on more rockets being fired, comment on iron dome, and "now with 158 people killed in the region, Israel prepare for a ground assault massing its army on the border" - hmmm -- good old Fox!
This is from the Jourdanian post - again - maybe tainted a bit, but if you read any of the other news/commentary out of the non-Israel side then this is the consistent bill of events :
It was early morning time on November 7 in Israel and the occupied territories when the US election results were declared. The Israeli Cabinet swung into action, and the Israeli army was quickly deployed to seek provocations at the Gaza border.
An earlier incident, on November 5, where an apparently mentally unfit man, Ahmad Al Nabaheen, was shot dead by Israeli troops heightened tension, although a truce remained in effect. On November 8, however, Israel sought its casus belli as it moved in Gaza with tanks and attack helicopters. An early victim was a 12-year-old boy gunned down while playing football.
Palestinians retaliated, although projectiles inside Israel caused no damage. One Israeli soldier was injured near the border with Gaza and more firing was reported by Palestinian fighters, aimed at an Israeli military jeep, injuring four. Two more children were killed in an open football field on November 10, prompting more, although still guarded, Palestinian retaliation. And another civilian in Gaza was killed the following day when Israel bombed the funeral tent set up to mourn the victims of past days.
On November 12, Egypt was concluding yet another truce between Israel and resistance factions. But that turned out to be a diplomatic embarrassment for Egypt, as the man who agreed to the text of the truce on the Palestinian side, the leader of the Hamas armed resistance in Gaza Ahmed Jaabari, was assassinated by an Israeli missile on November 14. No other meaning can be extracted from Jaabari’s murder but the fact that Israel had decided to pull the Palestinians into an all-out war.
It's the last part that really says the most.
