(J-Post)The 72-hour cease-fire which began Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. appeared to be holding Tuesday afternoon prompting Israel to send a negotiating team to Cairo for indirect talks with Palestinians factions aimed at reaching a long-term truce.
Israel had previously said that it would wait to see if Hamas honored the cease-fire before dispatching a delegation to take part in the talks that it had thus far avoided.
“The delegates left under an hour ago. I assume they’ve already arrived in Egypt,” an Israeli official told Reuters on Tuesday afternoon.
A flurry of rockets was fired at the South, the Shfela region and areas outside of Jerusalem in the West Bank just prior to the onset of the cease-fire. One rocket hit a house near the Palestinian West Bank town of Bethlehem, police said and residents said. (more…)

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Egypt’s Khalil el-Sisi just need to be left alone and they will ultimately deal with Hamas and The Muslim Brotherhood.   The U.S. and EU just need to butt out.  [And we are genuinely serious when we say that.]   Just let those two guys handle the radical islamists…. 

ISRAEL – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t mince words in a phone call with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro on Friday.
Netanyahu reportedly warned Shapiro that President Barack Obama and his administration was “not to ever second-guess me again,” according to sources that spoke on condition of anonymity with The Associated Press.
The phone call came hours after a proposed cease-fire in Gaza quickly crumbled, with one Israeli soldier taken hostage and two more killed during an attack. While the Obama administration did not blame the abduction on Hamas, officials did say they hold the group responsible for events occurring in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu told Shapiro he “expected” the U.S., along with the U.N. and other international groups, to help him moving forward with a “strong and swift response,” because he knows best how to handle Hamas.  (read more)
Netanyahu speaks to Israel –  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday to use as much military power as need and fight “as long as it will take” against terror group Hamas to restore peace in his country.
In a TV speech in Jerusalem that appeared in part directed at Israelis beleaguered by the fighting’s destruction and death toll, Netanyahu gave no indication of moving toward a cease-fire with Hamas, the Islamic militant group. (more…)

Communicable Infection Control Warning Level 3
(Via The Hill) Federal health officials are warning travelers to avoid three West African countries where an Ebola outbreak is getting worse, a sign of the U.S. government’s growing concern about the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a “Level 3” Warning on Thursday, the agency’s most serious travel notice, telling people in the United States not to enter Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone unless absolutely necessary.
CDC Director Tom Frieden said the agency is “surging” its response to the outbreak on the ground in West Africa in addition to warning U.S. travelers about the risk.

“This is the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history,” Frieden said in a statement. “Far too many lives have been lost already. It will take many months, and it won’t be easy, but Ebola can be stopped. We know what needs to be done.” (more…)

Previously three different United Nations run schools in Gaza were found housing Hamas missiles and rockets for use against Israel.   The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)  claimed they had no idea the rockets were there, and no idea how they got there.  Now it is revealed a UN Clinic was built upon an entrance to numerous tunnels used to move weapons around Gaza, and the clinic was booby-trapped with explosives built into the walls of the clinic.   UNRWA is actively collaborating with Hamas.
ISRAEL – New details have emerged about the booby-trapped clinic explosion that killed three IDF Maglan unit soldiers in Gaza earlier this week – Sergeant First Class Matan Gottlieb, 21, from Rishon LeZion; Sergeant First Class Omar Chai, 21, from Savion; and Sergeant First Class Guy Algranati, 20, of Tel Aviv, hy”d.
Over eighty kilograms of explosives were built into the UN-funded hospital’s walls themselves, it was cleared for publication Thursday – revealing that the clinic itself was built to mask, and perform, potential acts of terror on the IDF.
Moreover, the clinic was built over tens of terror tunnels, according to the report. (more…)

There was, and for many still is, a considerable amount of Stockholm Syndrome type anxiety amid the general population of Israel when it comes to decisions to mount defensive strategies using offensive engagements.
However, even the most dovish of the Israeli population recognized the inherent risk when the IDF began publically exposing the size, scope and intents of the Gaza Tunnels:

With thirty tunnels found and almost seventy entrances it is now apparent that there was a “second Gaza” under the ground – complete with weapons stocks and everything needed for a combined attack on Israel.

Some of the tunnels had storage facilities with IDF-issued uniforms, helmets and shoes, as well as syringes with tranquilizers and handcuffs, ready for kidnapping Israeli citizens and taking them into Gaza.

Some people have asked me how come Israel never saw these tunnels which have exits inside Israeli territory. The answer is that the tunnels are not fully dug. They leave the last 3-6 feet of dirt intact so that there would be no outward sign of a tunnel being there.

The Hamas plan, it now turns out, was to simultaneously dig out of those tunnels the last 3-6 feet and then attack Israel from 30 or 40 tunnels simultaneously, using hundred if not thousands of Hamas terrorists, some dressed as IDF personnel. Such a massive wave of attack, combined with a barrage of rocket fire, could have had a devastating effect on Israel – had it not been for Operation Protective Edge.

Even the doves within Israel recognized they could not simply attempt defense any longer.  Consequently the internal support for the Netanyahu and IDF response has been overwhelming.   Hamas must be left without the potential to create such a network again.  Against this reality Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to his nation:  (more…)

Four years ago I was in a rather heated discussion about the ultimate ends to leftist ideology. The framework was around immigration and the general principles which Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama were supporting – only the discussion was not about America, it was about Europe.

However, many of the same principles apply to the current U.S. border crisis.  One of the principle outlines being discussed was if you follow the path of belief to it’s logical conclusion you will find the U.S. facing the same issues with multi-culturalism and unchecked immigration.
At the time we did not know what 2014 would present; however, if you look historically at the issues I believe you will find a general similarity between the current border crisis, and the explosion in Europe right before the “Arab Spring”.
This is where the foreign policy ideology of President Obama comes full circle and delivers a domestic consequence of remarkable similarity.  (more…)

There is an article in the New York Times gaining attention because the Obama proposal outlined seems ridiculous:

NYT – Hoping to stem the recent surge of migrants at the Southwest border, the Obama administration is considering whether to allow hundreds of minors and young adults from Honduras into the United States without making the dangerous trek through Mexico, according to a draft of the proposal.

If approved, the plan would direct the government to screen thousands of children and youths in Honduras to see if they can enter the United States as refugees or on emergency humanitarian grounds. It would be the first American refugee effort in a nation reachable by land to the United States, the White House said, putting the violence in Honduras on the level of humanitarian emergencies in Haiti and Vietnam, where such programs have been conducted in the past amid war and major crises. (more…)

It’s tough to know which is more laughable:  #1)The United Nations expressed shock that Iranian missiles used by Hamas were openly stored in a U.N. Gaza school;  or, #2) The United Nations expressed regret the Hamas missiles subsequently went missing; or, #3) The United Nations expressed outrage the Hamas missiles were given back to Hamas for use against Israel.

NEW YORK – The UN secretary-general on Wednesday said he was “alarmed” to hear that rockets were placed in a UN-run school in Gaza and now “have gone missing,” and he demanded a full review of such incidents.
A statement by the spokesman for Ban Ki-moon expressed the UN chief’s “outrage and regret” at the placement of weapons at a site run by the global organization. The UN says that has happened at least twice so far in the current fighting.
“Those responsible are turning schools into potential military targets, and endangering the lives of innocent children,” UN staff and anyone seeking shelter, the statement said. (more…)

White House Communications Director Ben Rhodes must really be annoyed with Secretary John Kerry this week.
Kerry and Wallace got into a heated exchange:

Israel launches ground attack into Gaza to defend themselves. A Russian missile shots down a civilian passenger airliner killing 290 people including 23 American Citizens. The Southern U.S. border is under siege, and against the backdrop the State Department responds thusly:

Great piece by former colleague Alyssa Mastromonaco who defines smart, savvy and fashionable http://t.co/zJGlE5XKp6 via @washingtonpost

— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) July 18, 2014

With U.S. priorities like this, is it really any wonder why President Obama would choose to continue his scheduled fundraising tour ?
(more…)