Gaza terrorists attacked the Western Negev with a mortar shell that landed smack in the middle of a small community Wednesday night but miraculously exploded in an open area without causing damage or injuries.

The IDF is investigating why the Color Red early warning system did not sound and give residents the usual advance notice of 20 seconds to scurry to bomb shelters.

Earlier in the day, terrorists launched a mortar shell but it landed inside the Gaza area.

The name of the community targeted in the explosion Wednesday night was not reported for reasons of security except that it was in the Sha’ar HaNegev region, less than a mile from northern Gaza and home to several farming moshavim and kibbutzim.

The IDF is certain to retaliate within hours, but as usual, the targets will be a rocket or mortar shell launching site or perhaps a weapons factory and a smuggling tunnel.

The IDF knows the locations of terrorists but responds only in the case of rocket strike or mortar shelling or a “ticking bomb” plot to attack.

A strong counter-terrorist maneuver, such as invading Gaza or bombing Hamas offices would meet with universal condemnation for a “disproportionate” attack.

And Israel does not want to be disproportionate because it might cause the world to be angry with the Jews. It might mean Israel won’t have the backing of the United Nations and the Obama administration, especially  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Oh, did someone say Israel does not have that support anyway? No, it can’t be. Kerry says he is pro-Israel, so it must be.

But what happens when, God forbid, the IDF runs out of miracles, and a mortar shell or “primitive” Kassam rocket hits a kindergarten? That happened a couple of years ago, but another miracle happened – the pre-school facility was closed for the day.

But when someone is killed or seriously wounded, and it will happen, then the IDF can be “proportionate” and go after one or two terrorists.

The principle of “proportionate” only applies to Israel. The day is not near when any other country will count how many citizens are killed or wounded by an enemy missile strike before going to war against the attacker.

But the United States is big on proportionate retaliation. Wasn’t it the United States that dropped a couple of Atomic Bombs on Japan? And wasn’t it the atomic bombs that put an end to the war?

Israel does not need to nuke Gaza,. The time will come when Gaza will meet its Maker,

The best scenario is one whereby Gaza falls apart with a mini-civil war breaking out between terrorists who will kill each other off until the only ones remaining alive are the poor Arabs who enjoyed a much better life when the Jews were employing them as construction workers in Tel Aviv and farm workers in Gush Katif.

One scenario is another major counter terrorist attack, but that won’t happen until the world gives up on Hamas and puts it money behind the cliché that “Israel has a right to defend itself (but it better not).”

That is not going to happen today. Nor tomorrow. And not next month.

The third scenario, more likely, is a mini counter-offensive in Gaza, with aerial bombing of Hamas targets but without, God forbid, injuring any terrorists, usually described to the gullible and foolish media establishment as people who are handicapped, mentally ill or are small children who actually were playing soccer in a no-go zone near the security fence at Gaza.

And there is the other scenario, the one that is now in place.

It’s called Russian Roulette..

So, please, pray tonight for more miracles.

Two Israeli Merkava tanks crossed the electronic fence on the northern border and entered Lebanese territory Tuesday, the Lebanese-run National News Agency reported.

The IDF refused to confirm or deny the report, and military spokeswoman explained to The Jewish Press, “We do not comment on reports from foreign media.”

The Lebanese news agency claimed that the two tanks remained in Lebanese territory for approximately two hours before leaving.

It added, “At the same time, Israeli warplanes violated the Lebanese airspace over the central sector, while a reconnaissance aircraft flew over (the southern regions of) Bint Jbeil and Marjeyoun,” according to the same source.

Israeli helicopters reportedly flew over southern Lebanon near the border and fired flares.

The activity could be related to Israeli military drills in the area but also may be a reaction to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s boast on Monday when he took responsibility for a bomb explosion aimed at an IDF patrol last month.

Tuesday, April 8, at the INSS (Institute for national security studies) in Tel Aviv, the head of the IDF Telecommunications Branch, Maj. Gen. Uzi Moshkovitz, spoke about the current and future states of cyber warfare and cyber defense. What follows is the speech he gave.

Everything is cyber

“When we look at data centers and information systems, they are basically entirely located in the cyber dimension. Everything can be attacked potentially. Everything is cyber.”

“Everything in this cyber dimension is new, dynamic and volatile. I’m going to talk about the defensive side.”

The human advantage

“The most important thing to us is human capital. Everything within the cyber domain relies upon the strength of our personnel. Therefore, we must restructure our education system. The main tools of cyber defense are not the switches, routers, or operating systems, but rather the cyber defenders themselves.”

Cyber warfare vs. air warfare

“Cyber warfare vs. air warfare – this is an inevitable comparison. Let’s look at history of air warfare between 1917 to 1939, right up to the beginning of World War II. During the last two years of WWI, air warfare was pretty much nonexistent. Twenty years later we had the Luftwaffe, the RAF (German and British air forces), which were highly influential factors.”

Moreover, this was almost a hundred ago, when the pace of technological advancement was not as rapid as what we are witnessing today. We can only imagine where the cyber dimension is heading in the coming decades.”

The rise of cyber warfare

“Why is the cyber domain so attractive? It influences everything – intelligence organizations are on a quest for the enemy’s secrets. During the last 35 years, all of our secrets and the enemy’s secrets have been stored inside computers. This makes the use of the cyber attacks obvious.

If we look upon psychological warfare and social media – this is about controlling people by controlling the internet. If we look at the Arab Spring, which erupted 3 years ago, it was solely initiated and propagated through social media. This is how people are controlled nowadays.”

The easy development of cyber warfare

“Let’s say you’re a nation and you develop ballistic capabilities or even intercontinental ballistic missiles. You have to have a very good engineering infrastructure and lots of money. If you’re lucky enough to have resources, it will take you a few years to have this capability.”

“On the hand, look at the cyber domain – if a nation wants to go from number 7 or 8 to number 2 or 3, it’s much easier. They will have almost no dependence on physical matters – they only need the the human capital. The cyber force buildup is very very cheap.

To attack a computer or a computer network that’s a mile away from you or 15,000 miles away from you – it’s basically the same. In the cyber domain, the physical distance between hostile parties has basically no importance, though this is a bit simplistic.”

“Our understanding is rapidly changing. Basic computers now control our water, our energy resources, and our transportation systems. The grid has now much wider and deeper significance than it had a few years ago. Say a stock exchange site goes down once a month – what does it do for the site’s credibility?”

The real threat of cyber warfare: unpredictability

“Yesterday we had an attack [OpIsrael] that we were aware of and able to defend against. This is not what we fear. We fear the attacks we don’t know about. We fear the enemies that have stabilized themselves within our networks of which we are unaware. Now, a party can be under attack and be totally unaware–this is different from classic warfare. Who attacked Georgia and Estonia a couple of years ago? We still do not know.”

Two suspects were caught planting a bomb near the security fence separating southern Gaza from southern Israel, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Office.

Soldiers noticed the two men working on the ground near the fence in a suspicious manner and “chased them away” from the area, the IDF said.

A short time later, there was an explosion at the site. No one was injured and no damage was reported.

No further details were available on the identities or fate of the two suspects.

Two new advanced submarines are about to be put into action this year, according to the IDF Spokesperson.

INSERT

Given the threats facing the Jewish State from Gaza and the north, it is none too soon. Iran is busily supplying its proxy terror groups with weaponry at every opportunity, often by sea.

The Dolphin-class INS Crocodile and the INS Rahav were both acquired from Germany in 2012. Both demand updated skills from the soldiers who will submerge below the surface of the sea within their walls.

“These new submarines have new systems and therefore new capabilities,” said Maj. Y, commander of the training school where recruits learn new roles for the control panel and sonar, among other skills. “Among these are greater stealth and the ability to stay longer under water.”

The new submarines use AIP (air independent propulsion) technology that enables them to stay underwater longer. They also produce less noise, are equipped with advanced naval weapons systems, improved detection capabilities, and maneuver more easily.

“They are larger than the previous ones,” he added. “In the event of a clash with strong water currents, the new steering station is designed to allow them to move more easily,” he explained.

One long retraining course took place for veterans, in addition to the regular submariner course, Major Y added. “Each submarine team consists of veterans who qualified in Germany, submariners and other veterans who were retrained, and new soldiers who enlisted when their course was adapted to the new submarines.

“Obviously the goal of the training is to be relevant to the reality in the field,” he said. Treks of six to 20 kilometers, the use of digital simulators and tours in a submarine are included in the training, he added.

The video is in Hebrew, but you’ll get the idea even if you don’t understand. Very inspiring. A “Kiddush Hashem”.

Israeli Air Force aircraft targeted and struck four terror sites in the central Gaza Strip as well as one in the northern section of Gaza in the very early morning hours on Friday, April 4.

The Israeli Defense Forces issued a statement that the strikes were in retaliation for an upsurge in violence directed towards civilian areas of Israel over the past month. Most recently, Palestinian Arab snipers targeted security personnel near the security fence in the northern Gaza strip which caused damage to an armored vehicle.

On Thursday evening, four rockets launched from Gaza struck southern Israel.

In the wake of Thursday’s attacks, the IDF responded.

“Civilians in southern Israel were forced to begin this month with an unacceptable  barrage of rockets,” said IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.

“Hamas has a responsibility to cease and prevent acts of aggression emanating from the Gaza Strip. The IDF will retaliate, reciprocate and when required initiate the use of force in order to defend the civilians of the State of Israel from these unlawful terrorist actions,” Lerner stated.

Nearly 125 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel during the month of March. Of that number, 77 struck Israel. Between March 12 – 14 alone, 70 rockets fired from Gaza hit southern Israel.

On March 31, I attended a disturbing lecture at Washington University in St. Louis. It was co-sponsored by St. Louis Hillel at Washington University and J Street U. The speaker, a former Israeli soldier with the group “Breaking the Silence” (BtS), misrepresented and demonized the Israel Defense Forces, Israel, and Israeli policy. BtS is known for bringing in speakers like this, so I could not understand why Hillel and J Street U had sponsored a talk whose only purpose appeared to be to misinform audiences and instill hostility towards Israel.

As an Israeli reservist who had been stationed in the West Bank, I sat in disbelief as the speaker described attitudes and policies that were entirely divorced from reality.

The former soldier, Oded Na’aman, claimed that Israeli soldiers are trained to oppress the Palestinians individually and as a people, that they maliciously mistreat Palestinians in the West Bank, and that they are taught to make Palestinians fear Israeli soldiers. He argued that there are no civil rights for Palestinians and that the Jewish people who now have a state use their power to oppress Palestinians.

I had no idea what he was talking about or what motivated him to lie.

He did not describe the Israel or IDF that I know so intimately.

As a reservist and a soldier, I had been stationed in the West Bank. My job was to protect the Palestinians’ human rights, coordinate humanitarian aid, and tend to the needs of civilians living in the West Bank. I always felt that Israel’s concern for the welfare of the Palestinians was impressive, and I was proud to be part of it.

My experience taught me that even during wartime, Israel made it a priority to meet the needs of Palestinians even though they had made themselves enemies of the State of Israel by launching the second intifada.

I recall that during my service in Hebron, I had to adhere to international humanitarian law and ensure that the soldiers in the Judea Brigade were educated about the Geneva Convention and the rules of engagement—or face punishment. We sometimes went beyond these strict rules to help Palestinians. Once, when I served in my unit’s headquarters, we arranged a complex operation so that my unit, with the help of another unit, could save the life of a Palestinian boy living in Gaza whose mother had died. We did some investigating, and discovered that his uncle lived in Ramallah. In a special operation in the middle of the night, we moved the child to his uncle so that he would not be left alone in the streets of the Gaza Strip.

It was torture for me to sit there quietly and listen to the distortions of this former soldier who had served during the most violent period of the second intifada (2000-2003), when suicide bombers and snipers were wantonly murdering Israeli men, women, and children. But he never described the terrorism that forced the IDF to take measures to protect our families.

If he has complaints about the IDF, he should be an activist in Israel. Soldiers don’t always do the right thing or live up to the IDF code. They should be disciplined. Israel’s policies can be debated. But Israel is constantly examining itself critically, and debates in Israel are energetic and promote the full variety of views. Why, then, would he come to the U.S. to complain about his own army?

I think I know why. It’s because there are groups who are parading him around to tell half-truths and lies to defame Israel. When he was asked that very question during the question-and-answer period, he said, “I came here to tell Americans what their tax money is funding.” He said that attacking Israel with F16s is not the right answer, but that Israel needs to be pressured. I wondered what kind of twisted thinking would make a person who lives in a vibrant democracy, where he can campaign for his political positions, instead ask outside forces to pressure his country? What motivated him? Is he a post-nationalist who doesn’t want Israel to exist at all?