Islamic Jihad launches Rocket Barrage

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

So militants in Gaza decided to shoot scores of rockets into Southern Israel during the evening.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jicUxJKFI0avG4zy2hvKlSACEH9Q?docId=d46175ae-f0fc-4682-8dd5-d6a313aabc90. The attack forced tens of thousands to flee to bomb shelters and is one of the biggest single salvos since Operation Pillar of Defense.

Right now torrential rains are preventing any serious Israeli response, tho I imagine there will be one soon.
It's a pretty clear challenge to Israel and it would be politically difficult for Netanyahu to restrain the IDF, especially since they have been targeting Islamic Jihad militants as recently as this week.
We will see how this unfolds..

[The Time Alliance]

Lets go Israel.

America. Now an Ally was attacked. Now you can intervene in politics.

[Mike the Progressive]

I make it rain, I make it rain, oh I make it rain on them hoes!

[Seaxeland]

The Islamists will never win this war they picked with Israel, Israel is a nation built on survival, and it will endure. The Jihadists will fail, and Israel will emerge into a new Golden Age.

[The Time Alliance]

The Islamists will never win this war they picked with Israel, Israel is a nation built on survival, and it will endure. The Jihadists will fail, and Israel will emerge into a new Golden Age.

Plus. It doesn't hurt that US supports them.

[Mizrad]

The Islamists will never win this war they picked with Israel, Israel is a nation built on survival, and it will endure. The Jihadists will fail, and Israel will emerge into a new Golden Age.

Exactly, while the US may not win the war in Afghanistan the Israelis will sure as hell win at home.

[Transoxthraxia]

Jimmy Carter II won't do anything, but I'd assume Israel will respond with their standard invasion, followed with a "voluntary" withdrawal at the hands of the UN.

[Mizrad]

The Islamists will never win this war they picked with Israel, Israel is a nation built on survival, and it will endure. The Jihadists will fail, and Israel will emerge into a new Golden Age.

Plus. It doesn't hurt that US supports them.

You know that and pretty much every other western country.

[The Time Alliance]

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Plus. It doesn't hurt that US supports them.

You know that and pretty much every other western country.

Very true. Of course Russia supports The Arabs historically.

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

The Islamists will never win this war they picked with Israel, Israel is a nation built on survival, and it will endure. The Jihadists will fail, and Israel will emerge into a new Golden Age.

I'm not even sure winning is the goal. The militants in Gaza are being chocked from all sides, they may feel the need to lash out so as to preserve their own legitimacy in the face of plummeting living standards. It will probably work.

[Heraldic Imporium]

The Islamists will never win this war they picked with Israel, Israel is a nation built on survival, and it will endure. The Jihadists will fail, and Israel will emerge into a new Golden Age.

The Israeli's are a strong people that can endure anything while maintaining their respect of democracy, freedom, and equality. The Islamists are a weak cowardly people who only know how to wage war by attacking defenseless civilians while maintaining their sexism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry. Yes, the Israeli's at times go a little too far in their counter-strikes, but they are doing what they can to defend their great nation.

[Siaos]

I feel sorry for the people living in Israel right now, whether they're Jewish or Arab. So how big of a diplomatic incident will the Israeli government create trying to respond to this?

[Bulgar Rouge]

Israeli foreign minister Lieberman said that Israel has "no choice but a full takeover of the [Gaza] Strip". This will be interesting.

[Seaxeland]

The Islamists will never win this war they picked with Israel, Israel is a nation built on survival, and it will endure. The Jihadists will fail, and Israel will emerge into a new Golden Age.

Plus. It doesn't hurt that US supports them.

That too, of course.

The Islamists will never win this war they picked with Israel, Israel is a nation built on survival, and it will endure. The Jihadists will fail, and Israel will emerge into a new Golden Age.

Exactly, while the US may not win the war in Afghanistan the Israelis will sure as hell win at home.

Excuse me? We won that war, in case you hadn't noticed, Bin Laden is dead and the Taliban are out of power. Mission accomplished.

The Islamists will never win this war they picked with Israel, Israel is a nation built on survival, and it will endure. The Jihadists will fail, and Israel will emerge into a new Golden Age.

I'm not even sure winning is the goal. The militants in Gaza are being chocked from all sides, they may feel the need to lash out so as to preserve their own legitimacy in the face of plummeting living standards. It will probably work.

Highly unlikely.

[Mizrad]

I think this is the only time where the question "What would Bush do?" is constituted as valid.

[Transoxthraxia]

Israeli foreign minister Lieberman said that Israel has "no choice but a full takeover of the [Gaza] Strip". This will be interesting.

Oh thank the Gods. Restore some order to that part of the world.

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

Israeli foreign minister Lieberman said that Israel has "no choice but a full takeover of the [Gaza] Strip". This will be interesting.

Oh boy. Well thats easier said than done.

Another interesting thing to note; UK PM is currently in Jerusalem on his first visit to Israel as head of government. So the timing is funny to begin with.

[The Jonathanian States]

Israeli foreign minister Lieberman said that Israel has "no choice but a full takeover of the [Gaza] Strip". This will be interesting.

Liebermann is quite right-leaning(even for Israeli politics, AFAIK), and I'm unsure of how high his actual influence on that is.......

[Transoxthraxia]

Israeli foreign minister Lieberman said that Israel has "no choice but a full takeover of the [Gaza] Strip". This will be interesting.

Oh boy. Well thats easier said than done.

Another interesting thing to note; UK PM is currently in Jerusalem on his first visit to Israel as head of government. So the timing is funny to begin with.

I don't see how it would be easier said than done?

[Mizrad]

Exactly, while the US may not win the war in Afghanistan the Israelis will sure as hell win at home.

Excuse me? We won that war, in case you hadn't noticed, Bin Laden is dead and the Taliban are out of power. Mission accomplished.

[/quote]

True, however look at Iraq right now. I still believe Afghanistan will fare better post-US withdrawal but then again it's not that easy. Bin Laden was almost an entirely different objective and saying him being dead counts as a reason as to why we are winning doesn't seem very logical. It would be a lot different if we didn't send an invasion force in because it doesn't require that to take out a single guy. However the Taliban are out of power due to said invasion force so I guess that works but just because they're out of power doesn't mean they aren't still there and don't still have a good chance of regaining status as at least a pretty big threat to Afghanistan's national security.

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

Oh boy. Well thats easier said than done.

Another interesting thing to note; UK PM is currently in Jerusalem on his first visit to Israel as head of government. So the timing is funny to begin with.

I don't see how it would be easier said than done?

Gaza is very densely populated. The IDF would need to commit itself to a long, urban-warfare campaign in the ruins of Khan Younis and Gaza City. I highly doubt therefore that they would be willing to reoccupy the strip.

Remember tensions have also been rising with Hezbollah in the North, Israel can ill afford to drag itself into a war of attrition.

[Transoxthraxia]

I don't see how it would be easier said than done?

Gaza is very densely populated. The IDF would need to commit itself to a long, urban-warfare campaign in the ruins of Khan Younis and Gaza City. I highly doubt therefore that they would be willing to reoccupy the strip.

Remember tensions have also been rising with Hezbollah in the North, Israel can ill afford to drag itself into a war of attrition.

They've occupied Gaza before, and most of the population, if I remember correctly, isn't exactly happy with the Hamas reign. And I'm confident in Israel's ability to, you know, fight a war on more than one front, because they've done so on multiple occasions, and won each time.

[The Jonathanian States]

I don't see how it would be easier said than done?

Gaza is very densely populated. The IDF would need to commit itself to a long, urban-warfare campaign in the ruins of Khan Younis and Gaza City. I highly doubt therefore that they would be willing to reoccupy the strip.

Remember tensions have also been rising with Hezbollah in the North, Israel can ill afford to drag itself into a war of attrition.

Yep, last time Israel sent ground forces in there, it faced a booby-trapped Gaza City.

Actually permanently occupying/annexing the area would be quite hard.....
EDIT:
Or just costly, not actually hard.

[Transoxthraxia]

Gaza is very densely populated. The IDF would need to commit itself to a long, urban-warfare campaign in the ruins of Khan Younis and Gaza City. I highly doubt therefore that they would be willing to reoccupy the strip.

Remember tensions have also been rising with Hezbollah in the North, Israel can ill afford to drag itself into a war of attrition.

Yep, last time Israel sent ground forces in there, it faced a booby-trapped Gaza City.

Actually permanently occupying/annexing the area would be quite hard.....

I don't see exactly what you could do with it. While I wouldn't be surprised if they send missiles down into the city itself, I think they'll try occupation once more.

[ShadowDragons]

Oo kill um Israel, oo kill um oo kill um. These militants deserve to die and the US should support Israel with air support. Their our allies it would be the right thing to do.