Gaza

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough called out Israel for its relentless and lopsided bombing campaign against Gaza recently on his show.

The kidnapping and brutal murders of three Israeli teenagers — the instigating event of this latest cycle of violence between Israel and Palestine — was immediately pinned on Hamas. New information now suggests that while it may have been a rogue cell of Hamas members, the troublesome political organization's leadership probably wasn't responsible for the heinous crime.

The context: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu refused for years to negotiate with the Palestinians until they had a unified government, even when their leader was willing to discuss a two state solution. Then a government did coalesce...but it happened to be the often loathsome Hamas. Netanyahu refused again. Then the Israeli teenagers were kidnapped by members of Hamas. This is the never-ending proof that Benjamin Netanyahu was never serious about the peace process between Israel and Palestine.

In defending Israel's "right to defend" themselves, President Obama said "There's no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders..."

My colleague Rabbi Rosalind Glazer sent the report that follows below moments ago, after emerging from the "safe room" at Kibbutz Revadim in the Northern Negev. While according to the JTA "three Israelis were killed when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit their apartment in southern Israel. The rocket that struck the Kiryat Malachi apartment on Thursday morning — one of at least 140 rockets fired from Gaza since the assassination late Wednesday afternoon of the Hamas military chief in Gaza, Ahmed Jabari — also injured a baby girl and a 4-year-old boy.

The latest updates on the Israel / Gaza happenings, including a discussion on the IDF's use of social media and "gamification" of war.