The IDF says it’s too soon to tell much, but that Hamas has changed its tactics due to the threat of being martyred on the IDF’s terms. (Funny how they say, over and over again, that they love death, and they can’t wait to be martyrs, and yet, when the IDF turns up the heat, Hamasniks turn chicken and run.) The money quote:

“There is no doubt that Hamas is not behaving as it did a week ago, the fact that the organization was targeted many times and the fact that they have several dozen casualties has compelled them to operate differently. The more we persist with our actions, the more results we will see. When we hit the organization hard – a deterrent that will work – then we’ll see the decision to stop the rockets. We need to bring them to the point where they need to make that decision and we are not there yet.”

Keep on keeping on, folks. Every dead terrorist is one less person to launch rockets at Israel.

Folks, I’m not downloading my email to the loaner computer, as I think it’s pretty much a waste of time and energy. What I’m doing is eliminating the spam on the server and moving my email into a waiting folder until I get my laptop back from HP.

If you have something important to tell me, you probably want to send it to me via my gmail account, which is my first name, a dot, my last name, and the usual second half of an email address.

Otherwise, you may as well just send it to me via paper airplane, because that’s about the speed I’m going to get my email.

By the way, you may not want to use the word “lottery” in any emails to me. I’ve decided to filter that one on the server level, joining “Taiwan” on the hit list. “Euro” is just about to go next, but I’m sure someone is eventually going to title an email to me “European blahblahblah,” so I’m holding off.

If you win the lottery, I’m simply never going to hear about it via email.

Tell you what: If you win the lottery, just let me know by hitting the tipjars with the biggest-ever contribution. I’m sure I’ll figure it out from there.

In other site news, I have noticed that not so many of you are watching the kitty movies. This does not mean I will cease making them. It simply means I’m not going to knock myself out getting them up every week. Every other week, probably, or depending on whether or not I’m in the mood to take a movie.

On the other hand, you may be missing some kick-ass commentary if you’re not watching the movies. My next commentary includes my foray into Latin. That’s right, Victor Davis Hanson isn’t the only blogger who can toss the Cicero-ball.

Now there’s an idea. Kitty movies with a Meryl commentary for background. Hm. I wonder if the podcasting world can stand it.

If Israel is the evil, racist, apartheid, monster state that everyone says it is, why is Israel going to purchase natural gas from the Palestinians?

British gas producer BG Group is making progress in talks about supplying Palestinian gas to Israel from off the Gaza coast but political tensions remain an obstacle to a potential deal, it said on Wednesday.

A deal would have a significant impact on the Palestinian government, which is in the middle of a cash crunch. It would result in $100 million a year in taxes, royalties and equity.

The British newspaper The Times reported that the group was poised to agree on the terms of a $4 billion deal to supply gas to Israel, with representatives from the British energy firm scheduled to meet Israeli negotiators next week.

If Israel were the evil, racist, apartheid, monster state that everyone says it is, she would simply commandeer that part of Gaza that holds the natural gas fields and not pay for it. Funny how that works, though. Israel’s going to seal the deal that can only help the Palestinian economy—well, it would if the leadership weren’t going to steal the money from its people.

The spokesman declined to comment on the estimated value of the 15-20 year project.

Sources close to the negotiations have told Haaretz in the past that the terms of the deal would have to meet defense establishment criteria regarding money transfers to the Palestinian Authority.

At its Gaza Marine site that is in Palestinian hands, BG has found one trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Israel has said it would like to buy 1.5 billion cubic meters a year of natural gas from BG, as the country aims to increase its natural gas consumption.

I would love to hear the answer to these questions from, say, Adam Shapiro. But then, he’s too busy calling Israel a racist, evil, apartheid, warmongering state to notice that Israel is perfectly willing to get along with the Palestinians. It’s the Palestinians who don’t want to get along with Israel.

The Voice of America is supposed to be a relatively unbiased, if not pro-America, news site. I’ve quoted it from time to time. Yesterday, Charles pointed out an extremely slanted VOA piece on the poll of American Muslims.

He’s not wrong about VOA’s slant. Look at the headline and blurb on this article.

Israel Launches Air Strikes on Gaza Amid New Truce Effort
Israel has launched fresh air strikes in the Gaza Strip, wounding at least seven Palestinians. As Robert Berger reports from VOA’s Jerusalem bureau, the attacks occurred as Palestinian leaders pushed for a new truce.

Let us remember that Israel is attacking terrorists because they have been firing rockets at civilians incessantly, and because they stepped up their efforts with the deliberate intent of drawing Israeli fire so they could stop fighting each other. The cease-fire that the Palestinians are working toward is not one with Israel. It’s an internal one. They are also using the current fighting as an excuse to try to get Israel to stop arresting terrorists in the West Bank.

And when you read the facts of the story, nothing is justifying the headline.

Israeli aircraft attacked targets of the Islamic militant group Hamas across Gaza including suspected weapons factories and warehouses and other facilities. Now in its second week, the air campaign is aimed at halting Palestinian rocket attacks. More than 150 rockets have fallen on Israel over the past week, leaving the border community of Sderot a virtual ghost town.

The rockets keep falling despite the air strikes, but Israeli spokeswoman Miri Eisen says a major ground assault on Gaza is not on the table.

So there is no cease-fire, really. Rockets are still falling on Israel. The terrorists are lying. And the VOA is carrying their lies.

There is not a single quote from an Israeli regarding this supposed cease-fire. There is only a quote from Eisen talking about how futile Israel’s attempts to stock the rocket fire have been. But there are a lot of Palestinian quotes, and a lot of information from the Palestinian point of view.

In a bid to end the fighting, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas traveled from the West Bank to Gaza for talks with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. They are trying to restore a Gaza cease-fire with Israel that collapsed last week after a five-month lull in violence.

That “lull in violence” included near-daily rocket attacks on Sderot and the Negev, failed suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings, and the regular planting of bombs along the Gaza fence. That is what the mainstream media consider a “lull.”

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the current fighting is not in the interest of either side.

“I don’t know to who’s[sic] interest [is it] to undermine the cease-fire?” asked Erekat. “To who’s[sic] interest [is it] to push back to the cycle of violence and counter-violence?”

It’s good to know that the editors at the VOA don’t know the difference between “whose” and “who’s.” Here’s a hint. Break the word down to “who is.” If the sentence makes no sense, use “whose.”

Schmucks.

The old “cycle of violence” yawner is out. Once again: Sderot residents—not firing rockets at Beit Hanoun. Palestinian terrorists—firing rockets at Sderot. What, exactly, is the cycle of violence? When Israel defends herself from rocket attacks.

And here we get to the meat of the matter: Hamas is trying once again to get the world to say that there is no cease-fire because it doesn’t include the West Bank. And what is the IDF doing in the West Bank? Arresting terrorists, killing them when they come out shooting, breaking up suicide bomb attacks, dismantling weapons factories—in other words, everything that hurts terrorists. Of course Hamas wants Israel to stop. They want to launch successful attacks on Israel again. That the VOA publishes the following paragraph, which uncritically repeats the terrorists demands and gives them the patina of rationality, does not speak well for the VOA.

The Palestinians have offered to halt the rocket attacks if Israel would extend the Gaza cease-fire to also include the West Bank. But Israel rejects the proposal on grounds that West Bank raids are necessary to prevent suicide bombings in Israeli cities. Palestinian militants say that leaves them no choice but to keep fighting.

You see? The terrorists have no choice but to keep fighting because Israel refuses to stop arresting terrorists and preventing them from murdering Israelis. Nice, VOA.

Time to start a letter-writing campaign. Since when have our government media outlets become propagandists for terrorists?