A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

November 1, 2007 Gaza Heats Up- Confrontation Only a Matter of Time

Israel took over part of the Philadelphia Corridor between Egypt and Gaza today and uncovered seven tunnels that are being used to smuggle arms into Gaza.  Hamas fired 15 Qassam rockets at Israel today.
Israeli observers believe that Hamas is preparing for a major
confrontation with Israel.  It seems like the only strategy that Hamas can logically undertake.  If its not going to moderate its position, it looks like the world is perfectly happy to allow it to stew in its own juice.  Therefore, the only way to change the game is to enter a military confrontation with Israel.  Israel knows that and is doing all it can to put off that day, but Hamas can make that confrontation
inevitable.

The UN issued a report yesterday on the state of the ceasefire that ended the Second Lebanon War last year.  The report included Israeli charges that Hezbollah has more than replenished their arsenal of long-range missiles, and they now have missiles that can reach south
of Tel Aviv.  The report also stated that Hezbollah has increased its arsenal of land to sea missiles by a factor of four fold.  Thus, almost all the military accomplishments of the war have now been eliminated.  Today Hezbollah's Nasrallah threatened to retaliate for Israeli over flights over Lebanon.

An IDF drone took pictures yesterday of terrorists preparing and firing mortars from a school in Gaza at Israel.  Israel has long claimed that Hamas has been doing this, but this is the first video proof of it happening.  Those who fired the mortars were hit after they left the school grounds.

Two very different laws were introduced in the Knesset yesterday and received coalition support.  The first law that states that if any Member of Knesset travels to an enemy state without the governments permission, they cannot run again for the Knesset.  The Arab MKs claim that the law is racist and just aimed at forcing them out of the Knesset.  On the other hand, after listening their arguments, which went something like, 'how can you stop us from visiting Lebanon of Syria, we cannot do are jobs if we don't', I became convinced that it is not a bad law.

The other law was introduced by MK Shelly Yechmovich limits the pay of head of any public companies to 50 times the pay of the lowest paid employees.  It is an attempt to deal with the huge pay differentials that have become the norm in Israel.  The differentials in Israeli seem even higher then they do in the US because of the tax codes.  The taxes on the highest income earners are very similar, but the highest
brackets kick in at a much lower rate, in Israel.  That rate would barely be middle class in the US.

While I am not a big believer in the death penalty the current circus that first allowed Yigal Amir to become a father, and then attend the Brit Milah of his son, that is scheduled to take place on the anniversary of Rabin's murder, certainly makes me question that opinion.