Catholic Friends of Israel

• Israel's humanitarian aid to Gaza continues. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs 08/14/14:

  Despite the constant fire into Israel, the Kerem Shalom crossing remained open during Operation Protective Edge and the flow of goods and fuel into the Gaza Strip continued.
  

  The Kerem Shalom crossing continues to operate with high security. The IDF acceded to the request of hundreds of Palestinians who hold foreign citizenship to leave the Gaza Strip. The Erez Crossing in northern Gaza also remains open to Palestinian pedestrians for humanitarian cases.

• IDF Field Hospital Treats Gazan Civilians Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 08/12/14:

  Israel has done something that would be unthinkable in other nations in times of war: it has set up a field hospital at the Erez Crossing, on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The aim of the field hospital, which opened on Sunday, July 20, is to provide humanitarian care to Gazan civilians injured during the current conflict between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas terrorists.
  

  Major Guy Inbar, spokesperson for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), said that, as of August 11, the field hospital had treated 51 people. Among them were women, children and the elderly.
  

  This is despite efforts by Hamas to dissuade Gazans in urgent need of care from visiting the facility, added Inbar.
  

  “The hospital started as an initiative of COGAT’s general to give first assistance and humanitarian aid to Palestinians injured since the beginning of the operation [in Gaza],” he said.
  “Some of the Palestinians received first and immediate aid and returned to Gaza; some were in critical condition and were transferred for further treatment to Israel, the West Bank or Jordan.”

• Cement delivered to the Gaza Strip used to build tunnels Israeli Minisry of Foreign Affairs. 08/12/14:

  Cement was needed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Gazan civilian population after Operation Cast Lead to build new buildings and rebuild those that had been damaged during the operation. However, Hamas made wide use of the cement that reached the Gaza Strip or was manufactured there to rebuild its military infrastructure and to construct new military-terrorist facilities.

  A significant amount of the cement was allotted to building the extensive system of attack tunnels exposed during Operation Protective Edge, smuggling tunnels, and defensive tunnels under Gaza's urban landscape. The cement was also used to construct posts and facilities for weapons storage, military training and rocket launching.

  Allotting the cement to military purposes at the expense of Gazan civilian needs was part of Hamas' strategic concept of giving priority to rebuilding and upgrading its military capabilities.

• Caught on camera: A Hamas squad assembles and fires a rocket right across the street from a reporter's hotel room in Gaza New Delhi Television. 08/05/14. [Video]
  
• Gaza Bishop: Hamas Used Church to Fire Rockets CBN News. 08/06/14.
  
• Review of Hamas violations of international law Elder of Zion 08/01/14.
  
• Hamas threatening journalists in Gaza who expose abuse of civilians Times of Israel 07/28/14.
  
• For Israel, by John J. Conley, S.J. America :

  As imperfect as any other government, the State of Israel should not be immune from criticism. Many unilateral claims and histories will require correction through patient diplomacy if any simulacrum of peace is to be achieved in this tormented region. Every effort should be undertaken to de-escalate the current outbreak of violence and to reignite negotiations toward an equitable reconciliation. Nonetheless, our growing moral obsession with the mote in Israel’s eye is disturbing. This scapegoating suggests that an ancient, lethal prejudice has yet to die.

• Moral Clarity in Gaza, by Charles Krauthammer. 07/17/14:

  Israel accepts an Egyptian-proposed Gaza cease-fire; Hamas keeps firing. Hamas deliberately aims rockets at civilians; Israel painstakingly tries to avoid them, actually telephoning civilians in the area and dropping warning charges, so-called roof knocking.
  

  “Here’s the difference between us,” explains the Israeli prime minister. “We’re using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles.”
  

  Rarely does international politics present a moment of such moral clarity. ...
  

  The Gaza Rules, by William Saletan. "Israel, unlike Hamas, isn’t trying to kill civilians. It’s taking pains to spare them." 07/18/14.
  

  The Palestinian ‘Genocide’ Lie, by Jonah Goldberg. National Review 07/16/14. "It’s a moral scandal that it’s even necessary to debunk equating Israel with the Nazis."
  

  Hamas is Destroying Gaza, by William Saletan. "The Palestinian militants are showing an utter disregard for their own people." 07/16/14.
  

• Top Nine Gaza Media Myths CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America). 07/21/14. "With Israeli ground action in Gaza now underway, in response to ceaseless Hamas attacks, the usual media myths and misrepresentations about Gaza are being recycled, with some new ones thrown in. Here are some of the key myths, gleaned from present and past coverage ..."
  
• I'm Done Apologizing for Israel, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor. Huffington Post 07/21/14:

  Israel is treating wounded Palestinians during this conflict, risking Israeli lives in surgical strikes to destroy weapons-smuggling tunnels created with building materials Israel allowed into Gaza for infrastructure projects to benefit Palestinian society. Just for a moment, consider the deaths that would result from Israel wishing harm on Palestinian civilians. In just the last 48 hours, Israel has allowed over 10 tons of goods into Gaza. During the past weeks, Israel has agreed to two humanitarian cease-fires. In the first hours of those ceasefires, Hamas rained down over 70 missiles onto Israel civilians.
  

  I ask: What do Israel's enraged critics truly desire?

• Hamas is playing a dangerous game with Gazan lives Washington Post 07/15/14. "Why would Hamas insist on continuing the fight when it is faring so poorly? The only plausible answer is stomach-turning: The Islamic movement calculates that it can win the concessions it has yet to obtain from Israel and Egypt not by striking Israel but by perpetuating the killing of its own people in Israeli counterattacks."
  
• Hamas killed 160 Palestinian children to build Gaza terror tunnels | Inside the Hamas tunnel terror network The Tablet