Israel acts against explosive bombing

Perhaps a false flag event, an explosive device in a bag exploded Wednesday near Jerusalem's central bus station, killing a 59-year-old British woman and wounding more than 50 other people. There has been no claim of responsibility.

So when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates by his side, said Friday that Israel is ready to act "with great force and great determination" against terror attacks, it was interesting that he already had. Israelis launched strikes in Gaza.


Gates offered his condolences to families of victims of the latest bus stop bombing and rocket attacks. Netanyahu said civilized countries have a common stake in fighting terrorism.
"We seek to establish security for the establishment of peace," Netanyahu said.
Gates said the U.S.-Israeli defense-security relationship never has been stronger.

Israeli warplanes attacked the supposed terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. They were responding to a (theater) Palestinian attack in Jerusalem, where a bomb was exploded at a bus stop, the first terrorist attack in Jerusalem in six years.

That bombing was in retaliation for earlier Israeli air raids on Gaza which, in their turn, were a response to an escalation of Palestinian mortar and rocket attacks on Israeli settlements near the border. And so it continues.

Jerusalem bus bomb blast

A 60-YEAR-OLD woman was killed and 45 people wounded when a bomb exploded at a phone booth next to a bus stop at the entrance to Jerusalem.

The device exploded as a bus pulled up, wounding people waiting at the bus stop and passengers inside the vehicle.

The 1-2kg device was packed with metal pellets to cause maximum devastation. Just seconds before the blast, a kiosk owner opposite the bus stop had phoned the police emergency number to warn of a suspicious shopping trolley left at the stop.

Jerusalem suffered dozens of bombings during the second Intifada, which started in 2000, but the last bus bombing was in 2004.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but one possibility was that the attack was carried out to avenge Tuesday’s Israeli air strikes in Gaza in which eight Palestinians were killed, including two children.

Islamic Jihad in Gaza said the attack was “a clear and powerful message to Israel that her crimes won’t be able to break the resistance”. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned both the bombing and the recent Israeli strikes. The prime minister, Salam Fayyad, denounced the bombing as a shameful act that harmed the Palestinian struggle for independence.

Israeli police said there was no intelligence information prior to the attack. Officials expressed doubt that the bombing marked the beginning of a new wave of terror.

Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat said terror would not disrupt the day-to-day life in the capital and he stressed that tomorrow’s Jerusalem marathon will go ahead.

Before departing for Russia last night, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel would respond to those who tested its resolve. “The government, the army and Israel’s citizens have an iron will to defend the country and its citizens. We will operate aggressively, with responsibility and wisely to maintain the quiet and security of the last two years,”