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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Friday</span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>, November 16th<b> | </b> 2 Kislev 5773 <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal;border:none;padding:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;display:none'>Top of Form<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><h3><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-weight:normal'>I rely on <a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/">Algemeiner</a> for my news from Israel. “Labeled the fastest growing <a href="http://www.algemeiner.com">Jewish newspaper</a> in America, the NEW Algemeiner serves as a valiant media voice addressing the most compelling issues of our time, with vision, integrity and moral clarity.” This perspective, (which I support) offers background and reporting not generally found in U.S. newspapers.<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“<a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/11/14/israel-launches-pillar-of-defense-operation-in-gaza-decapitation-wave-against-hamas-terror-leadership/" title="Permanent Link to Israel Launches “Pillar of Defense” Operation in Gaza, “Decapitation Wave” Against Hamas Terror Leadership">Israel Launches “Pillar of Defense” Operation in Gaza, “Decapitation Wave” Against Hamas Terror Leadership</a><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>November 14, 2012 11:42 am <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The IDF has launched a major Gaza operation named “Amud Annan (Pillar/Column of Defense)” with the goal of taking “out a large piece of the (Hamas) command structure without toppling the regime,” a knowledgeable source in Jerusalem told The Algemeiner.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>IDF Spokesperson Eytan Buchman confirmed to The Algemeiner that “the operation began about an hour ago with a pin-point strike on Hamas terror chief al-Jabari, “Since then” he said, ”we have targeted about 20 different sites in the Gaza strip focusing specifically in long range rocket capabilities that have been developed in Gaza.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bachman told The Algemeiner that there is “no focus on other individuals at this point but all the options are on the table.” A ground invasion is also not planned at the moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“The point of operation is to cripple terrorist infrastructure that has developed in the Gaza strip and has received significant assistance from Iran, ” he said, “One of the best examples are the Fajr rockets which we have targeted that have a range of over 25 miles.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Another IDF spokesperson told Israel’s Channel 2 TV that “we target Hamas and Jihad leaders and Fajr-5 40 km rockets in order to deny Hamas the strategic option of escalating the conflict. A ground invasion is planned for if necessary, and mobilization orders are ready. “The main purpose” he said, is “to end the harassment of the Israeli South.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Asked how long the operation was expected to go on for, Bachman said there is no specific timetable, “we will go on as long as we need to, we had over a million Israelis in bomb shelters over the last four days, that situation is untenable.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Regarding a possible escalation in rocket attacks from Gaza Bachman said, “we are prepared for any response that may come, we are confident in our abilities to significantly impair Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“We have shown enormous restraint and have been gathering very precise intelligence over the last four months on rockets and other terror sites and now we are acting on that intelligence,” he concluded.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“The talk is about a “decapitation wave” against Hamas,” The Algemeiner’s Jerusalem source added, now “that the human shield Gilad Shalit is no more, (the aim is) to kill as many terrorist leaders involved in his capture, holding and exchanging Shalit, to destroy Fajr-5 long-range rockets (that can reach Tel Aviv) and to reassert the deterrent without (so far) land invasion.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Military sources told The Algemeiner that “A significant number of munitions depot’s are within civilian, residential buildings. This fact is another illustration of Hamas’ modus operandi which uses the civilian population in Gaza as a human shield.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The operation follows four days of escalated rocket attacks from Gaza during which over 150 projectiles were fired at civilian communities in southern Israel. Israeli leaders have made clear in recent days that the country would not tolerate the continued attacks.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/11/14/breaking-idf-kills-hamas-terror-mastermind-ahmed-al-jabari/">The operation began with the assassination of Hamas terror mastermind Ahmed al-Jabari earlier today.</a> A statement from the Shin Bet about the strike said, “Jabari was responsible for financing and directing military operations and attacks against Israel. His elimination today is a message to Hamas officials in Gaza that if they continue promoting terrorism against Israel, they will be hurt.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>IDF Spokesman Yoav Mordechai told the Jerusalem Post that al-Jabari was a man with “a lot of blood on his hands.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The naming if the operation is drawn from biblical verses in Exodus, that refer to a column of smoke that led and protected the Israelites during their sojourns in the desert .”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>http://www.algemeiner.com<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>