April 11, 2006:
The U.S. Navy is designing a version of its new, 3,000 ton, LCS (Littoral Combat Ship), for the Israeli navy. The first American LCS will enter service next year, and is a radical new warship design, taking advantage of many new technologies.
April 10, 2006: Israeli artillery fire killed a Palestinian civilian, and wounded a dozen others, as the guns fired on launching sites for Kassam rockets. Apparently the Palestinian terrorists are launching the rockets in residential neighborhoods. This forces the Israelis to either not fire back, or take the bad press from civilian casualties. The Israelis are using a radar system that spots Kassam rockets, as they are fired, and provides the firing location. Within minutes, Israeli artillery fire on the launch point. This sort of thing, Palestinian terrorists taking refuge among civilians, has happened before, and the Israelis have told Palestinians in general that this sort of thing won't protect the terrorists and that the Palestinians will have to deal with the terrorists, or suffer the consequences.
The Kassam rockets keep coming, no matter what the Israelis do. The artillery and missiles are killing and wounding Palestinians, but the terrorists still manage to get a few Kassams fired each day. The Kassams usually don't land anywhere near Israelis. But the Palestinians have managed to fire over a hundred Kassam rockets a month in the last year, and have used new models that could reach more densely populated Israeli areas.
April 9, 2006: The government says it will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. This mystifies many American military experts, who believe that over a thousand bomber sorties would be needed to take out Iran's dispersed nuclear weapons and missile development programs. Apparently, Israel has more than air raids in mind, planning to use commandoes as well. Israel has a history of radical military innovation, stuff that was weird, but worked. The Iranians have good reason to be nervous.
The government has cut ties with the Palestinian Authority, now that the terrorist group, Hamas, has officially taken it over.
April 8, 2006: For the second time in two days, Israeli aircraft used missiles to kill Palestinian terrorists in Gaza. Eight terrorists were killed today, and five yesterday (along with a civilian).
April 5, 2006: In the wake of recent elections, new governments are still being assembled in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The new Israeli government is inclined to wall off the Palestinians and ignore them. The new Palestinian government is facing the cut off of aid, amounting to over a billion dollars a year, unless Hamas changes it's official policy of destroying Israel and driving Jews out of the Middle East. Other Moslem governments, while willing to make up some of the lost (from Western donors) money, will not make up all of it. So Hamas must choose between poverty (and increasing political unrest) and dogma (Hamas has always existed for one main purpose, the destruction of Israel.)