Video: Why the Gaza Flotillas are a SHAM

A quick, quality video from the IDF Spox...putting it all into perspective, explaining why the flotillas have nothing to do with providing humanitarin aid to Gaza.



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IDF Spokesman Slams Al-Jazeera...in Arabic

Watching a representative of the IDF Spokesman professionally slam Hamas on Al-Jazeera, in fluent Arabic, is refreshing. Using their own phrases and expressions, this guy is fantastic....subtitled into English. Five minutes of perfect Hasbara.



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IDF Spokesman Blogger Press Conference; Hamas attacks Israeli School Bus

IDF Spokesman Blogger Press Conference; Hamas attacks Israeli School Bus.

5:38 PM Press Conference by IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich,
the Head of the Foreign Press Branch

Attack took place an hour and half ago. The attack was directed against a regional council bus, a yellow school bus for children, clearly marked with signs that it was for transporting children.

The bus was hit by an anti tank missile. Two people only were on the bus, a driver and a 13 year old who were both wounded; the 13 year old was critically wounded, and the driver was moderately wounded.

We are witnessing ongoing attempt by Hamas over the past few weeks to hit Israeli civilians through many means.

You cant miss the fact that this is a school bus as it is clearly marked.

We are currently assessing the situation and the IDF is currently operating in the area.

Questions Asked:

Q: How old is the teenager - 13 or 15?
A: Our reports are that is a 13 year old.

Q: What hospital are they in?
A: Both in Saroka hospital in Be'er Sheva

Q: Who shot the missile?
A: The responsibility for the missile is that of Hamas which controls the Gaza strip


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IDF Spokesman: Nationwide Drill is Defensive

6:15 PM - Breaking News Update.

I was asked to join a conference call, organized by the IDF Spokesman's office, amidst international concern regarding the IDF nationwide exercise "Turning Point 4".

YNET even reported minutes ago:

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday called on the Western world to act against Israel, on the backdrop of a wide-scale home front drill launched by the Jewish state. "It's unthinkable that the West keeps silence in light of the Israeli aggression," he said.

Assad made the remarks during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in Damascus. According to official news agency SANA, the Syrian president noted that if the West is interested in security and stability in the Middle East, it must "start filling an active role in order to restrain Israel and its radical and dangerous tendencies towards security and peace in the region."

The Director of Population Control in the IDF Homefront Command: Colonel Dr. Yechiel "Hilik" Soffer spoke at the IDF's New Media/Blogger press conference:

"Today we have started a national civil defense drill, "Turning Point 4" which is a lesson/conclusion from the Second Lebanon war to help prepare the population for a missile attack and any emergency situation.

This is the 4rth year we are conducting a nation-wide drill.

Israel's entire civilian population will be asked to practice, this coming Wednesday at 11 AM, going to their bomb shelters upon hearing air-raid sirens, to practice the amount of time needed to get to shelter.

For example; In Haifa, residents have 1 minute from the time they hear the siren till they reach a shelter. Tel Aviv, 2 minutes, and Jerusalem 3 minutes.

On Monday and Tuesday; government ministries will be participating with local municipalities.

Scenarios to be drilled include: missile attacks, a train crash, HAZMAT events, mass casualty attacks, etc.

On Thursday, we will continue field exercises with all of Israel's emergency organizations; Emergency Medical Services, IDF Homefront troops, the Fire Brigade, police troops and more.

Q from Sascha blogger: This drill seems to only simulate attacks from the North? Aren't their threats from the South as well?
A: The missile attacks simulate attacks from anywhere -- it doesn't matter where the rockets are launched from: Gaza or the North.

Q from Jewlicious: How do you know where your closest bomb shelter is?
A: Its mandatory for all homes built after 1992 to have a private shelter (also known as a mamad). One of the conclusions after the first gulf war was to have personal shelters in all homes.

35% of the buildings in Israel have personal protective shelters. About 30% are close to a public shelter in or near their building.

25%-30% do not have a shelter -- and we are educating those residents how to find the best solution. If they live in a top floor in a building, they need to go to the stairwell, one floor down and that will help protect them.

Jameel's Question: Why are Lebanon, Syria and Hizbollah so scared of our civil defense drill?
Answer: I dont have a good answer for you, since everything is civil defense. We won't be using any tanks, or anything offensive. The only vehicles will be ambulances and fire trucks. Most countries prepare their populations for disasters like and earthquakes, natural disasters. Not only we we have to worry about natural disasters which we train for, but also threats from Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.

Why are Hizbolla and Syria "scared" of the drill? You should probably be asking them...

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IDF Spokesman -- Blogger Press Conference

This evening at 9:30 PM, Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch conducted a press conference for bloggers about today's IDF capture of an Iranian cargo ship, loaded with weapons on its way to Syria and Hezbollah.

IDF Spokesperson Lt. Co. Avital Leibovitch:

Late last night, IDF navy forces boarded an Iranian cargo ship. We asked the captain if we could check the containers of his ship and he agreed without a problem.

We checked the shipping containers and found they were filled with munitions, so we then directed the cargo vessel to accompany us to the port in Ashdod, Israel. The cargo vessel was intercepted by IDF naval forces about 100 nautical miles west of Israel

We have opened only 1/3 of the 40 containers so far (as of the press/blogger briefing at 9:30 PM)

We have found so far:

106mm rockets
107mm rockets
122 mm Katusha rockets
mortars
hand grenades

These munitions were packed in shipping containers, behind large bags of plastic polyethylene. In addition to the plastic material physically hiding the munitions, polyethylene prevents scanners from identifying munitions hidden behind them.

These munitions discovered so far were manufactured by China, Russia, and Spain, which goes against UN resolution 1747 - forbidding exports or commerce of weapons with Iran.

We saw on shipping documents that the vessel's port of origin is an Iranian port, and it's destination was Syria, for the weapons to get to Hezbollah.

Questions:

Jameel: Some of Israel's detractors claim that this was an act of piracy. What legal basis does the IDF in detaining this ship?

IDF Spox: This action was completely in accordance with international law. There is no legal problem to board and check the contents of a vessel in a country's surrounding area. No force was used whatsoever and the captain of the ship agreed to accompany IDF naval forces to the Ashdod port.

Question: Was this a routine mission or based on intelligence?

IDF Spox: This was a routine mission. The navy conducts checks like all the time.

IDF Spox: The amount of munitions seized is -- 10 times more than Karin A cargo boat which was illegally bringing munitions to the Palestinian Authority in Gaza in October 02. The Karin A has 50 tons of munitions aboard, while this boat last night had over 500 tons of munitions on board.

Question: Was this a 1 time success, or do ships like this transport weapons to Hezbollah all the time? Is this one boat captured out of five?

IDF Spox: We don't know how many other attempts or boats may have gotten through, but this is definitely part of a pattern to re-arm Hezbollah.

Question from David Abitbol/Jewlicious: What is the range of the rockets?

IDF Spox: More than 40 kilometers.

Question from David Abitbol/Jewlicious: While watching the video, some of the munitions looked brand new, while others looked a bit used. Why would Iran send anything less than brand new to Hezbollah?

IDF Spox: I was there today and saw all the munitions personally. They were all brand new. All of it, what has been opened so far.

Question from Prof. Richard Landes: What are the next moves for Israel in light of this success?

IDF Spox: That's more of a political question, one best addressed to Israel's government.

Thank you all for joining.

Good night.

IDF Spox Photos of boat and munitions...

Also see: IDF Spokesman Blog Updates

Relevant UN Resolutions:

UN Security Council Resolution 1737 (December 23^rd, 2006): A UN resolution determining, inter alia, a limit on export of certain Iranian products and items

-"Decides that Iran shall not export any of the items in documents S/2006/814 and S/2006/815 and that all Member States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, and whether or not originating in the territory of Iran."

UN Security Council Resolution 1474 (March 24^th, 2007): Explicitly forbids all export of arms from Iran (not only to terrorist organizations), without relating to methods of enforcement.

"Decides that Iran shall not supply, sell or transfer directly or indirectly from its territory or by its nationals or using its flag vessels or aircraft any arms or related material, and that all States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, and whether or not originating in the territory of Iran."

UN Security Council Resolution 1803 (March 24^th, 2008): Calls for supervision over the movement of aircraft and naval vessels owned by the companies Iran Air and IRISL (Annexes 11 and 12)

"Calls upon all States, in accordance with their national legal authorities and legislation and consistent with international law, in particular the law of the sea and relevant international civil aviation agreements, to inspect the cargoes to and from Iran of aircraft and vessels, at their airports and seaports, owned or operated by Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, provided there are reasonable grounds to believe that the aircraft or vessel is transporting goods prohibited under this resolution or resolution 1737 (2006) or resolutions 1747 (2007);"

UN Security Council Resolution 1835 September 27^th, 2008: Reconfirms earlier resolutions dealing with the issue of Iranian exports and arms trading, and calls on Iran to immediately fulfill its obligations as they appear in prior resolutions.

“Reaffirms the statement of its President, S/PRST/2006/15, of 29 March, and its resolution 1696 (2006) of 31 July 2006, its resolution 1737 (2006) of 23 December 2006, its resolution 1747 (2007) of 24 March 2007, and its resolution 1803 (2008) of 3 March 2008…

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IDF Combat Medicine (part 1)

Last week I had the privilege of attending a special presentation and demonstration of the IDF Medical Corps for the Foreign Press and bloggers (ok, blogger in the singular).

I was definitely the odd one there -- without a huge, expensive camera and sans-official press credentials. Regardless, I'm extremely grateful to the IDF Spokesman's office and NewMedia desk for inviting me -- and I hope these blogs posts do justice to the interesting demonstrations I saw.

On a personal level, I found the topic fascinating since I'm involved in emergency medicine through Israel's emergency medical organizations Magen David Adom and United Hatzala, as well as being on the "comabt" side through my IDF reserve duty.

I arrived at the IDF Tzrifin base and parked at the wrong entrance, but IDF Spokesperson, Captain Benjamin Rutland was more than helpful in directing me to the "correct" entrance on the other side of the base (a ten minute drive since the base is huge). Though at first we spoke in Hebrew, kudos to the IDF for having native (and helpful) English speakers on staff at the IDF Spokesman.

The first speaker was the IDF Surgeon General, Brig. Gen. Dr. Nachman Ash who discussed the current state of the IDF Medical Corps, its activities, and its cooperation with foreign armies in combat field medicine.

Dr. Ash mentioned how the IDF will start outsourcing some of the routine IDF health care services to public HMO's (Kupot Cholim) who will treat soldiers on bases. I found it interesting that there's currently a shortage of IDF doctors, since the massive influx of olim doctors from the wave of aliya from the Soviet Union had subsided.

In additional to the purely military aspect of combat medicine, the IDF Medical Corps take charge of Israel on a national level, when Israel's is faced with national medical emergencies (and we hope swine-flu doesn't require the IDF's assitance)

The following speaker was the head of the Trauma Branch, Lt. Col Dr. Gill Hirschhorn


Dr. Gil described the "lessons learned" from the Second Lebanon war, and how they were applied to the Cast Lead Operation/Gaza War this past January.

As opposed to the Second Lebanon war, where evacuation time of wounded soldiers took up to 8 hours -- in the Cast Lead operation, seriously wounded soldiers were evacuated to hospitals in less than an hour.

New medical innovations already proved themselves on the battlefield saving lives, such as the "Quick Clot" Combat Bandage. This new item already battlefield proven by US marines in Iraq and Afghanistan provides significant blood clotting for severe trauma wounds.

Dr. Gil told me before his presentation that this item proved itself, saving lives of IDF soldiers during Cast-Lead.

Another innovation used by the IDF during CastLead is a ruggedized, lightweight, electrically powered Oxygen ventilator.

However, the 2 innovations that drew the most interest are those in development right now.

The first is a portable, electrical Oxygen generation device that can produce 100% pure Oxygen at a rate of 10 liters per minute (the amount used for emergency respiratory support) -- without the need for Oxygen canisters/balloons.

If this device ever makes it into production, it will be a revolutionary device, not only on the battlefield for combat medicine support, but for civilian emergency medical providers as well.

The next innovation seemed like something out of a science fiction movie.

Dr. Gil showed a slide of an airborne, unmanned medivac transporter for wounded soldiers.


This transporter is already past the planning stages, and is being developed by an Israeli-based company in Yavneh, "Urban Aeronautics." Dubbed, the "X-Hawk", this unmanned, next generation emergency transport vehicle will be able to arrive at a battle scene to evacuate wounded soldiers -- while being remotely piloted from a safer zone, away from the battlefield.

Foxnews reported on the X-hawk a year and a half ago, and the IDF insists that the prototypes are not far away (as close enough as 2010)

Like a similarly sized helicopter, X-Hawk will be able to take off vertically, fly up to 155 miles an hour and as high as 12,000 feet and remain aloft about two hours, Urban Aeronautics says.

But encased fans will replace the exposed rotors that keep helicopters from maneuvering effectively in urban areas or dense natural terrain because they have to stay clear of walls, power lines and mountain ridges. And a patented system of vanes is designed to afford the vehicle greater stability.

Urban Aeronautics says vehicles will be able to sidle right up to a building. (Fox)

The following Urban Aeronautics video gives us an up close and personal example of what we can expect to see.



My 16 year old son didn't believe me at all when I showed him the video, till I showed him the slide with Dr. Gil above it -- with the artist's rendition on his slide.

The IDF is taking this venture very seriously.

We also heard about the "Namer" (the Tiger) which is already on the battlefield.


Laid out on the back table were examples of already-in-the-field innovative equipment.

In my next posting on the IDF Comabt Medicine presentation, I'll describe the 2 exercises we saw -- how the IDF prepares its paramedics to save lives, under the pressures of urban combat.

Stay tuned...

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