Islamic Jihad leaders said Thursday afternoon that Egypt has brokered a ceasefire following the Israeli Air Force’s bombing of smuggling tunnels in the Gaza-Egypt border city of Rafiah Thursday afternoon in retaliation for Islamic Jihad missile attacks on the Ashkelon-Ashdod area earlier in the day.

Israel has not commented on the report, but there is relative quiet in the Jewish communities near Gaza.

“The ceasefire has been reached with the mediation of Egypt and will continue until Israel breaks it,” Islamic Jihad said in a statement.

Assuming the terrorists honor the ceasefire, which probably will be broken by an occasional Kassam rocket attack just to let everyone that the terrorists are not sleeping, it will put an end to the latest war of chickens.

The sudden and massive missile barrage on Israel last night and today caused no injuries other than emotional shock, and it is not coincidental that the equally massive IDF retaliation Wednesday did not cause any casualties.Gaza sources said three people were injured in the aerial strikes on Rafiah. No one was killed, and terrorists’ smuggling tunnels and not the terrorists themselves were the targets.

Nobody except the simple peasants in Gaza want an escalation of violence to the point that Israel has no choice other than to make Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s dream come true by invading and taking over Gaza, rescuing the average Mohammed on the street from the despotic Hamas regime that has made their lives worse than miserable, although Yasser Arafat gets the credit for having stared the bomb rolling down that road.

Islamic Jihad launched a new round of attacks on Israel as a response to the Israeli military’s killing three of its terrorist after they fired a mortar shell at Israeli soldiers earlier this week..

Iran could have a hand in the decision to strike back since Israel exposed the Islamic Republic regime’s evil hand in trying to arm Hamas so it can carry out a proxy war on Israel. If Israel really wants to retaliate for the missile attacks, Tehran is a better target than Gaza, but that is not going to happen so long as President Barack Obama keeps Iran chattering so no one can hear the sounds of centrifuges spinning out enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb.

Islamic Jihad got much needed PR from its “missile roulette” attacks. No Israeli was injured, so Israel could respond “proportionately” and hit unmanned terrorist posts and underground missile launchers without eliminating a few terrorists. The IDF has to retaliate so that Gaza terrorists would not get a message that they could extend their assault northwards towards Tel Aviv. They are saving that for a future war if it decides to commit suicide.

Lieberman notwithstanding, Israel cannot invade Gaza without nothing worse than malign neglect from its useless friends in the European Union, who as recently as today continue to blame Jerusalem for the perennial humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad terrorists are a bunch of chickens. They did nothing but panic the residents of southern Israel, who are not as valuable to the Israeli government as the good citizens of Tel Aviv.

The IDF played chicken but did so out of strength, not weakness.

These chicken wars have taken place before and they will take place again.

The problem is that one day, one of those chickens is going to launch a missile that “misfires” and hits, God forbid, a hospital, kindergarten, shopping center or a family bedroom.

If that happens, the terrorists won’t be able to flee the subsequent invasion of Gaza because chickens can’t fly.

Israeli army tanks led the inevitable retaliation Wednesday night after Islamic Jihad terrorists staged a massive missile and mortar shell attack on the Western Negev, firing at least 30 rockets according to the IDF and more than 60 according to the Islamic Jihad.

The army said eight missiles exploded in urban areas and that the  exploded in open areas or within Gaza and caused no casualties. Property damage was minimal, but one woman broke her hip while running to a bomb shelter.

Artillery fire from tanks destroyed at least two terror targets in central Gaza and the Israeli Air Force bombed underground missile launchers ion an effort to bring immediate quiet to Western Negev residents, who has been ordered to stay in their homes after the barrage began towards sunset.

In anticipation of a strong reaction, Islamic Jihad and Hamas commanders have abandoned their offices and posts, and the Hamas Interior Ministry advised Gaza Arabs to remain in their homes.

Three Hamas terrorists were killed on Tuesday in an explosion that was “all part of a day’s work” of preparing rockets and bombs for attacks on Israel.

The Hamas website reported that the “work accident” killed three members of the “military branch” of Hamas in Beit Hanoun, located in northern Gaza.

Earlier on Tuesday, the IDF killed three Islamic Jihad terrorists who attacked Israeli soldiers with a mortar shell. The soldiers were not injured.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has apologized to Jordan for killing a Jordanian judge who the IDF said attacked and tried to strangle a soldier before he was shot dead at the Allenby Bridge border crossing on Monday.

“Israel regrets the death of Judge Raed Zeiter yesterday at the King Hussein (Allenby) bridge and expresses its sympathies to the people and government of Jordan,” according a statement from the office of the Prime Minister.

“In light of our commitment to the peace treaty, Israel has already shared with Jordan the results of its preliminary investigation of the incident,” it continued. “Israel has also agreed to a Jordanian request to establish a joint Israeli-Jordanian team to complete the investigation.”

The IDF stated Monday morning that its “preliminary conclusions regarding the Allenby Bridge incident” followed “a comprehensive investigation” and that “the investigation included extensive questioning of witnesses by security personnel.”

“The preliminary conclusion of the investigation indicates that the terrorist attacked the soldier,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Lerner said. The attacker “charged at the soldiers shouting ‘Allah Akbar’ [Allah is great] with a metal pole, and then attempted to seize the soldier’s weapon prompting the soldiers to respond by firing towards his lower extremities, in line with standard operating procedures. The suspect then began to strangle a soldier and the force resorted to using live fire once again.”

The attacker later was named as a judge from Jordan who originally is from Shechem, and that is when the proverbial manure apparently hit the fan.

Gertrude Rose might have written today that “a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist” but not if he is a judge.

Jordan claims that the judge was unarmed, and the Jordanian Muslim opposition castigated Israel’s “brutality” in killing the alleged attacker.

If the IDF’s initial probe reached the wrong conclusion and the soldiers wrongful fired, the whole incident will be very bad for Israel.

If it is true, and so far the IDF has not amended its preliminary conclusions, that does not change the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu needs Jordan more than ever right now. The last thing King Abdullah needs is a Palestinian Authority state on his borders. Jordan is country of refugees, mostly “Palestinian” and an increasing number from Syria.

Israel protects Jordan’s eastern border, which would become Swiss cheese if the Palestinian Authority were to be stationed there.

That explains the Prime Minister’s hurried apology and agreement set up a joint commission to investigate the incident.

The Israeli Air Force immediately retaliated for a mortar shell attack on soldiers near Gaza and bombed Islamic Jihad terror targets, reportedly killing three terrorists.

The casualties were reported by Islamic Jihad sources and have not been confirmed or denied by the IDF, but military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said, “Direct hits were confirmed” moments after the mortar shell attack. He added, “Rapid reaction and operational capabilities are key to combating terrorist activities against Israel and our forces. Terrorist must know that there is a price to pay when participating in aggression.”

The military holds Hamas, the de facto regime in Gaza, responsible for all terrorist attacks.

A spokesman for the Hamas-run Health Ministry told the French News Agency AFP, “Three martyrs have died in a Zionist strike east of Rafiah.”

The mortar shell attack was aimed at soldiers who were on routine patrol near the security fence in the areas of the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Earlier in the day, the IDF reported that one of its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) crashed in southern Gaza due to a technical malfunction.

The Palestinian Authority terrorist convicted last year of bombing a bus in Tel Aviv in 2012 was sentenced on Monday to 25 years in jail. The explosion on the local bus wounded 28 people.

The terrorist, Mohammed Mafarji and who was 18 years old when he bombed the bus, said he carried out the attack during the Pillar of Defense counter terrorist operation in Gaza as an act of revenge for the death of a Hamas terrorist commander.

The sentence was handed down after plea bargaining, which included a promise that the jail sentence would not be no more than 25 years.

Assuming Israel does not free him sooner as a “goodwill concession” to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas or U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and if Mafarji behaves nicely in jail, he probably will be released long before 25 years pass.

The IDF preceded an upcoming anti-Israel Amnesty report Wednesday night and charged that “Amnesty International wholly ignores the substantial increase in Palestinian violence initiated over the past year, and shows a complete lack of understanding as to operational challenges the IDF is posed with.”

Amnesty routinely picks part the IDF for alleged violations, such as shooting at terrorists and warning suspects to stop or be shot.

Military spokesmen noted that in 2013, there were more than 5,000 reported rock-throwing attacks, a sharp increase from the year before. More than 130 Israelis were injured, some of them seriously. One baby girl still is hospitalized and remains unconscious as a result of a rock-throwing incident in Samaria.

There also were 66 other terrorist attacks in 2013, including shootings, the planting of explosive devices, blunt weapon attacks and the abduction and murder of a soldier.

Islamic law forbids a one-way trip to Mars, a “fatwa” Muslim religious committee has ruled in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), the Khaleej Times reported Wednesday.

“Such a one-way journey poses a real risk to life, and that can never be justified in Islam,” the committee said. “There is a possibility that an individual who travels to planet Mars may not be able to remain alive there, and is more vulnerable to death.”

The fatwa committee is under the jurisdiction of the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment in the UAE. Even worse than dying after a move to the red planet, the Muslim would meet his Maker for no “righteous reason” and therefore would be subject to “punishment similar to that of suicide in the Hereafter,” the committee warned.

Committee chairman Professor Dr. Farooq Hamada was quoted by the newspaper as saying, “Protecting life against all possible dangers and keeping it safe is an issue agreed upon by all religions and is clearly stipulated in verse 4/29 of the Holy Quran: Do not kill yourselves or one another. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful.”

Really?

Does that mean that the Quran forbids Muslims to be suicide bombers? After all, the professor did say that the Muslim holy book says one should not kill himself.

I am not an expert in the Quran. In fact, I never have opened the book. But it seems to me that lots of holy Muslims say that suicide missions are not only not forbidden but also are a mitzvah, pardon the expression. There probably is a large footnote somewhere in the Quran that advises that suicide missions are forbidden – unless they blow up Jews.

But let’s get back to an expert such as Prof. Hamada.

His fatwa was in response to a plan by a Dutch company called Mars One to invite volunteers to fly and live on Mars while taking into account it would be a one-way ticket since there is no technology on the market for bringing them back to Earth.

Thousands of volunteers have signed up to pay $38 for the journey, including 500 Saudis and other Arabs, the Khaleej newspaper stated.

The professor declared, “This is an absolutely baseless and unacceptable belief because not even an atom falls outside the purview of Allah, the Creator of everything. This has also been clearly underscored in verse 19&20/93 of the Holy Quran in which Allah says, “There is no one in the heavens and earth but that he comes to the Most Merciful as a servant. (Indeed) He has enumerated them and counted them a (full) counting.”

Islamic researcher Dr. Shaikh Mohammed Al Ashmawy added to the religious discourse on the verse and concluded that “Almighty Allah said in verse 2/195 in the Holy Quran: Do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction.”

Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf, Imam of the Amena mosque, said: “Man’s life is not his or her own property; it is God’s creation, and therefore suicide is prohibited in all religions, and of course by law.”

Where were these guys when Palestinian Authority terrorists were blowing up, and still are trying to blow up Jews, and Hezbollah terrorists were blowing up and still are blowing up Sunni Muslims?

Where were these leading religious figures on Sept. 10, 2011, or even the day after 9/11?

And if Mahmoud Abbas really wants to control terror, why doesn’t he ask Prof. Hamada to make an exception and allow suicide bombers to take a one-way trip to Mars.

I am more than willing to put up the 38 bucks.