Arabs in Gaza fired three Kassam rockets at Israel Sunday morning, scoring a direct hit on a cowshed in Kibbutz Zikim. The cowshed went up in flames, seven cows were killed and four others were injured.



Saturday evening, two Kassams were fired towards Sderot, landing south of the city and causing no casualties.  An IDF force attacked a terrorist cell firing Kassam rockets, and reported hits.



Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have come out in favor of the government's right to place sanctions against Gaza. They criticized Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision to order the sanctions revoked.



Speaking at the Cabinet meeting Sunday morning, Friedmann said that Mazuz was not authorized to hold up the government's decision to respond to ongoing Kassam rocket attacks by reducing electricity supplies to Gaza. "The Attorney General's job is to present both sides of each issue," Friedmann said, "but it is the government's job to decide.  Israel's foreign relations, including sanctions it places on another state or entity, are given to the government to determine."

Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said he knows of no other country that supplies electricity to a neighbor that fires rockets upon it.  He repeated his opinion that it was a mistake to have left Gaza two years ago.



Time to Attack?

While it is common knowledge that Hamas is continually building up its military arsenal against Israel, former IDF General and current Labor MK Amram Mitzna says the time has still not come for Israel to attack Gaza.  He told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine last week that the government must view this option only as a last resort.  "It will not be just another battle," Mitzna said, "but a situation of war between massive forces. We are likely to end up remaining in Gaza for many months, and even possibly more than a year."

Nationalist camp politicians and military leaders have long called for military action in Gaza. MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said two months ago, "Any further delay in carrying out a second Operation Defensive Shield and the uprooting of terrorism from Gaza will merely strengthen the threat. If we don't do it today, the threat will be much greater tomorrow."

Former Deputy Intelligence Chief in the IDF, Brig.-Gen. (Ret.) Yaakov Amidror, said at the time that one major reason the government is so hesitant to retaliate with a ground offensive is because it "is made up of people who carried out the ridiculous and irresponsible Disengagement; they know they are responsible, and it is hard for them to admit their mistake." Amidror said that ordering the IDF back into Gaza to retake the very region that they ordered the IDF to withdraw from in the 2005 Disengagement is tantamount to a confession that they erred.

Helping Sderot

  • Two weeks from now, the residents of Gush Etzion will take part in a community-wide evening dedicated to the people of Sderot and the western Negev.  The evening will feature a Sderot photo exhibit, a movie on life in Sderot and a musical concert by Lenny Solomon.  The objective is to raise enough money - $15,000 - to renovate a bomb shelter in the rocket-besieged area.  For more information, send email to <izzy@actcom.co.il >.

  • The congregants of Congregation Beth El-Atereth Israel in Newton Centre, Mass., have contributed the sum of $50,000 towards emergency relief efforts in Sderot. The donation will be used to renovate a second Makom Balev (A Warm Place in Your Heart) center, operating out of a bomb shelter.  The donation will supplement the Orthodox Union's Sderot Shabbat campaign, held in June, which raised more than $345,000 to support OU Israel's programs in the city.



    Makom Balev is OU-Israel's youth program, which seeks to develop the social and religious identities of Israeli children. In Sderot, it serves the extra purpose of enabling children to seek shelter when Kassam rockets begin to fall.  The shelter that will now be renovated will include a kitchenette, a ping pong table, games and toys for all ages, a library with Jewish and secular texts, a large screen TV with a DVD for videos and video games, and computers.

  • A core group of travelers from "Americans for a Safe Israel" (AFSI) paid a solidarity visit to Sderot two weeks ago, visiting the local yeshiva http://www.sderot.org/ and distributing toys to school children. 

  • Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz, the head of the new "Sanhedrin," author/editor of the famous Steinzaltz Talmud, and Dean of Yeshiva Mekor Chaim, spoke at Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in Toronto last week.  His topic was: The struggle for peace and freedom in Israel and around the world. All proceeds were earmarked to assist Sderot.