Family Guy, Disney, Simpsons art
Artist alexSandro Palombo reimagines characters from Disney films, The Simpsons and Family Guy as Palestinians and Israelis in a series titled ‘Stop Hamas Terrorism’ and ‘Once Upon a time the children in Palestine,’ which he says is inspired by the 2014 Israel kidnappings and alleged use of child soldiers by Hamas. On what he refers to as ‘Disney humor chic’ art:
A powerful series to meditate. An original awareness campaign focused on the devastating problem of terrorism that affects Israel and Palestine and on child soldiers.
95% of Israelis support Protective Edge
The Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University find in a poll that 95% of Israelis support Operation Protective Edge as “just” and only 4% or less say that the Israel Defense Forces has used excessive force in the 2014 Gaza conflict:
Over the course of the surveys, Israeli Jewish public opinion has been consistently almost unanimous in its definition of Operation Protective Edge as justified – an average of 95% (96%, 92%, and 97% over the course of the three surveys).
The Home Front Command is given an average grade of 9.1, 8.6, and 9.1 on a scale of 1-10, with one being very poor and 10 being very good, while the performance of the government was rated as 8.0, 6.3, and 8.0.
Missiles ‘strike Hamas leader’s home’
Two missiles fired by the Israel Defense Forces are said to strike the home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which is empty at the time. No casualties are reported. His son, Abdel Salam:
The Israeli enemy struck our house twice.
‘Leave us alone’
A senior Israeli official says Israel’s response to rockets fired by Hamas should have been more intense in order to get the job done before complaints mounted from the international community. Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel tells Army Radio:
It was obvious that international pressure would mount eventually. We should have acted faster, harder and with more determination. The rocket threat needs to be tackled. The tunnel threat is being addressed, but it is not enough.
On Obama’s calls for an immediate ceasefire:
Obama is stopping Israel just when we have Hamas against the wall […] Leave us alone, go focus on Syria.
Pew: 40% blame Hamas, 19% Israel
A Pew Research poll indicates that 40% of Americans say Hamas is responsible for the 2014 Gaza conflict and 19% blame Israel. The survey conducted from July 24-27 shows that 60% of Republicans say Hamas is most responsible for the current violence, while 29% of Democrats agree that Hamas is responsible, while 28% don’t know who is to blame and 14% blame both sides.
[…] the partisan gap in Mideast sympathies is as wide as it has been at any point since the late 1970s
It shows that 46% of Republicans say Israel’s response has been appropriate while 19% say Israel has not gone far enough and 16% think it has been excessive. For Democrats, 35% say Israel has gone too far, 31% say they have responded appropriately and 9% say the country hasn’t done enough.
Gaza hospital hit
Israel accuses Hamas of hitting Al-Shifa Hospital and a refugee camp, killing seven children. An Israeli army spokesman says:
This incident was carried out by Gaza terrorists whose rockets fell short and hit the Shifa Hospital and the Beach (Shati) camp.
1,062 Palestinian deaths by Eid
The number of Palestinians killed in the 2014 Gaza conflict rises to 1,062 by Eid al-Fitr with the deaths of 13 people including a senior Islamic Jihad militant during a humanitarian ceasefire ahead of the three-day Muslim holiday. Three Palestinians die of previous wounds while 10 are killed in Israeli air and artillery attacks as the temporary truce breaks down, according to a health official, who adds that 6,037 Gazans have been wounded while 1,960 Gaza apartment blocks have been destroyed and 2,600 more partly destroyed.
‘No children left in Gaza’ chant
A mob is captured on video in Tel Aviv apparently mocking deaths of children in the 2014 Gaza conflict:
Tomorrow there’s no teaching in Gaza, they don’t have any children left […] Gaza is a graveyard
The video, published by Israeli journalist Haim Har-Zahav, also takes aim at two Palestinian members of Israel’s Knesset, Ahmed Tibi and Haneen Zoabi.
Rockets fired during extended ceasefire
Israel’s security cabinet votes to extend a humanitarian ceasefire until 1700 Eastern Standard Time. Statement from an official:
At the request of the United Nations, the cabinet has approved a humanitarian hiatus until tomorrow (Sunday) at 24:00. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will act against any breach of the ceasefire
Gazan rescue workers recover 147 bodies from rubble, but Hamas resumes rocket fire before the end of an initial extension of the ceasefire period. Hamas:
Any humanitarian calm that does not include the withdrawal of occupation soldiers from the Gaza Strip and enable the people to return to their houses and to evacuate the wounded is not acceptable
Rosh Hashanah ‘tunnel attack’ plan
The Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper reports that Hamas had planned to send at least 200 fighters through each of dozens of tunnels into Israel for a major attack to coincide with Sept. 24 Rosh Hashanah Jewish new year celebrations. Unnamed security officials say the plan was to kill and kidnap as many Israelis as possible and bring the abductees back into Gaza via the tunnel network.
FAA lifts Israel flight ban
The United States lifts the bans on flights to and from Tel Aviv. The ban was in effect approximately one and a half days. Only United Airlines plans to resume flights to the area at this time. Delta, US Airways and other major carriers have not announced whether or not they will resume service to Israel. The FAA says it worked with other U.S. government agencies and officials to assess security in Israel and “carefully reviewed” new information and measures Israel was taking to “mitigate potential risks to civil aviation.”
‘Accomplice to war crimes’
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency could be culpable as an accomplice to war crimes after it allegedly handed over rockets found in a UNRWA-run school to security forces run by Hamas. While the UN’s biggest agency subdivision, with 30,000 staff, apparently fulfilled its obligations by turning over the rockets to a Hamas-Fatah ‘unity’ police force, there is no public record of Fatah or non-Hamas ‘unity’ officials running a security force in the territory since the 2007 Hamas takeover, and the agency could have handed the rockets to a third party, placed them in an open field and notified the Israel Defense Forces of the location, or sought other options.
Israel Democracy Institute Vice President Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer says the UNRWA’s actions are a ‘war crime,’ although he says that there could be no criminal prosecution since it could never be criminally proven that the particular rockets were used to target Israelis, while Hebrew University Professor and former Foreign Ministry Legal Advisor Robbie Sabel says the UNRWA had no legal obligation to hand the rockets over to Israel and says he ‘would not make a capital case,’ but says that while UNRWA chief Christopher Gunness may have been unaware of Hamas’ involvement in the security forces, UNRWA workers on the ground in Gaza must have known.
Gaza tunnel network attack possible
An Israeli military official and politician say the Gaza tunnel network is ‘immense’ and creates a threat of a ‘mega-attack.’ Israel Defense Forces Capt. Eytan Buchman:
All of Gaza is an underground city, and the amount of infrastructure Hamas built up over the years is immense. There are tunnels, extended bunkers, weapons storage facilities, even within urban areas
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett:
There is a world of weapons tunnels penetrating into Israel, creating the possibility of a mega-attack
16-year-old combatant captured
A 16-year-old Palestinian combatant is treated in Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital after being captured when emerging from a cross-border tunnel. Israel Radio describes him as being in moderate condition and says he was unconscious when hospitalized. A group of Hamas fighters dressed in Israel Defense Forces uniforms enters Israel near Kibbutz Nir Am and kills four IDF soldiers in a jeep before the Israeli squad returns fire, killing 10, while a second group crosses into Israel via a tunnel exiting near Erez, across the border from Beit Hanoun city, and clashes with IDF leaving several Gazans dead and no Israelis hurt. It is not stated which group the 16-year-old was part of. The report adds that IDF soldiers being treated in Israeli hospitals for combat wounds say they have encountered 13- and 14-year-old Palestinian children running at them wearing suicide-bomber explosive belts.
‘Tens of thousands’ at funeral
Israel’s Army Radio reports many as 20,000 attend the funeral of First Sgt. Nissim Sean Carmeli, the American-Israeli lone soldier killed in the Gaza strip during Operation Defensive Edge, and other media report as many as 18,000. Haifa’s main soccer club, Maccabi Haifa, which Carmeli supported, invites people to the city’s military cemetery to ‘come give final honors to a hero who was killed so that we can live.’
Sean Carmeli was a lone soldier and we don’t want his funeral to be empty […] That’s the least we can do for him and for our people.
Strikes ‘home of military commander’
Israeli jets strike the home of Muhammad Deif in Khan Younis, however the official Hamas military commander no longer lives in the building and is thought to command the group’s military apparatus from unknown locations. He remains a top Israeli target.
649 Palestinian, 31 Israeli deaths in 15 days
Health officials say that at least 649 Palestinians have been killed in the first 15 days of the 2014 Gaza conflict and 4,120 wounded. It is unclear how many are civilian casualties – the Israel Defence Forces says it has killed up to 180 militants while the UN estimates that as many as 70%-80% of the dead are civilians. Israel confirms that 29 soldiers and two civilians have been killed while another soldier, Oren Shaul, is missing and presumed dead.
FAA bans Israel flights
The FAA tells US airlines that they are prohibited from flying to and from Israel for at least the next 24 hours. This directive is in response to a rocket strike that landed close to the airport:
The notice was issued in response to a rocket strike which landed approximately one mile from the airport.
CNN’s Atika Shubert reports that operations continue at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. After seeing a rocket intercepted near the airports, she says:
This is the environment that the planes are flying in and out of.
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines both suspended service to Ben Gurion Airport prior to the FAA notice.
No time limit
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon says there is no time limit on Operation Protective Edge and that the campaign could continue until rocket fire ceases from Gaza. Addressing a parliamentary committee:
If needed we will recruit more reservists in order to continue the operation as long as necessary until the completion of the task and the return of the quiet in the whole of Israel, especially from the threat of the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu: They call for destruction of Israel
Netanyahu tells Blitzer that Hamas and Islamic Jihad call for the destruction of Israel and for the killing of Jews, rather than for legitimate political aims:
I think it – I think the international community has to – once this is put in place, we really have to undertake a program to demilitarize Gaza and to change the situation, because it’s unacceptable. What makes it unacceptable is Hamas and Islamic Jihad. These people are the worst terrorists, genocidal terrorists. They call for the destruction of Israel, and they call for the killing of every Jew wherever they can find them.