Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Caroline Glick: Israel, Hamas and Obama’s foreign policy
When US President Barack Obama phoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday night, in the middle of a security cabinet meeting, he ended any remaining doubt regarding his policy toward Israel and Hamas.Alan Dershowitz: The 'occupation of Gaza' canard
Obama called Netanyahu while the premier was conferring with his senior ministers about how to proceed in Gaza. Some ministers counseled that Israel should continue to limit our forces to specific pinpoint operations aimed at destroying the tunnels of death that Hamas has dug throughout Gaza and into Israeli territory.
Others argued that the only way to truly destroy the tunnels, and keep them destroyed, is for Israel to retake control over the Gaza Strip.
No ministers were recommending that Israel end its operations in Gaza completely. The longer our soldiers fight, the more we learn about the vast dimensions of the Hamas’s terror arsenal, and about the Muslim Brotherhood group’s plans and strategy for using it to destabilize, demoralize and ultimately destroy Israeli society.
Enemies of Israel, who are seeking to justify Hamas rocket and tunnel attacks against Israeli civilians, are mendaciously claiming that Israel has continued to occupy the Gaza Strip, even after its soldiers and settlers left the Strip in 2005. They claim that because Gaza was unlawfully still occupied, despite the absence of Israeli soldiers, resistance to the occupation - including the murder of Israeli civilians - is justified as a matter of international law. This claim is wrong for several independent reasons.ToI Live Blog: Hamas rejects humanitarian lull; UN condemns shelling of school
First, it is never justified to target and murder enemy civilians. Even if Israel did have a military occupation, as it does on the West Bank, it would still be a double war crime to fire rockets at Israeli civilians, using Palestinian civilians as human shields. It would also be a war crime to use terrorist tunnels to murder or kidnap Israeli civilians. The only legitimate resistance to occupation is to target the soldiers who enforce the occupation.
Second, a military occupation of Gaza - as distinguished from civilian settlements - would be entirely justified, both as a matter of law and common sense, because Hamas, which controls Gaza, is at war with Israel and has repeatedly refused to make peace with the nation-state of the Jewish people. A military occupation is proper as long as a state of war exists.
Third, and even more important for any future peace, is the indisputable fact that Israel, in fact, ended its occupation of Gaza in 2005.
Timeout to last four hours; UN calls for accountability after UNRWA school hit, killing at least 15; army says it was returning fire; rockets shot at Israel after quiet night; cabinet ministers debates next step in war
Tunnel found in UNRWA health clinic:
An Israeli elite squad searching for tunnels near Khan Younis uncovers a booby-trapped opening in a small UNRWA health clinic.
The troops send in sniffing dogs and a small robot to minimize damage to the structure, but despite the precautionary measures, the explosives rigged to the tunnel are detonated, demolishing the building on top of the soldiers.
Earlier reports indicated that a number of soldiers were injured.Brig. Gen. Micky Edelstein says militants have used more than a thousand IEDs so far, destroying thousands of buildings in the Gaza Strip.
For instance, he says, in sweeps of a single street of 28 buildings last night, 19 were found to be booby-trapped.
Bogie’s war
With the July 8 call-up of 40,000 reservists and the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Bogie has found himself in the driver’s seat again. He has been reported to be the main advocate for disarming Gaza, and warned Israel that the country must be “prepared for long days of fighting.” He told troops on July 25, “You need to be ready for the possibility that very soon we will instruct the military to significantly broaden the ground operation in Gaza.” Ya’alon has the military credentials to understand what a long-term campaign means for Israel and the IDF.Top Secret Hamas Command Bunker in Gaza Revealed
His distaste for the US administration appears to have been prophetic, as the recent dramatic failure of Kerry’s cease-fire initiative proved.
For their part, the Americans have never been enamored of Ya’alon, either. In 2009, WikiLeaks revealed a US embassy cable from Tel Aviv that noted, “We also anticipate that Ya’alon will adopt an even tougher posture toward Gaza than Ehud Barak.”
The problem facing Ya’alon in this war is that while this time around he has the government’s support, can his twin theory about deterrence and building up a grass roots, peaceful Palestinian population come true? Does he have a longterm vision for Gaza besides isolating it, working with Egypt to control arms and continuing the blockade?
The idea that one of Hamas’ main command bunkers is located beneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City is one of the worst-kept secrets of the Gaza war. So why aren’t reporters in Gaza ferreting it out? The precise location of a large underground bunker equipped with sophisticated communications equipment and housing some part of the leadership of a major terrorist organization beneath a major hospital would seem to qualify as a world-class scoop—the kind that might merit a Pulitzer, or at least a Polk.Prosor on CNN: Hamas Has an Interesting Notion of Ceasefires - We Cease and They Fire
So why isn’t the fact that Hamas uses Shifa Hospital as a command post making headlines? In part, it’s because the location is so un-secret that Hamas regularly meets with reporters there. On July 15, for example, William Booth of the Washington Post wrote that the hospital “has become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.” Back in 2006, PBS even aired a documentary showing how gunmen roam the halls of the hospital, intimidate the staff, and deny them access to protected locations within the building—where the camera crew was obviously prohibited from filming. Yet the confirmation that Hamas is using Gaza City’s biggest hospital as its de facto headquarters was made in the last sentence of the eighth paragraph of Booth’s story—which would appear to be the kind of rookie mistake that is known in journalistic parlance as “burying the lede.”
Report: Senior Israeli Official Says 1000 Hamas Terrorists Killed in Gaza Operation
A senior Israeli official said on Tuesday that 1,000 Hamas terrorists have been killed by the IDF since the start of “Operation Protective Edge” 22 days ago, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.
“Hamas has suffered a bad blow and still has not come to grips with the gravity of it,” said the source. He added that the number of combatant casualties was higher than the number of civilian casualties.
Furthermore, he said, after the operation in Gaza ends, neither Egypt nor Israel will allow any cement into Gaza and both will act to prevent Hamas from rebuilding everything that was destroyed during the operation, that is, the ability to fire rockets and to build terror tunnels.
IDF strikes 80 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets across Gaza, steps up offensive
The IDF killed over 20 terrorists and struck more than 200 targets from the air in the past 24 hours in Gaza.IDF general: Israel did not target Gaza’s power plant
The targets included mosques which were being used by Hamas for military activities. One such mosque was used as a command center while another had been in use as an observation post to monitor IDF troop movements. That mosque was in close proximity to a children's playground.
Troops destroyed three terror tunnels and discovered another containing large quantities of AK-47 assault rifles and grenades.
A tank force operating in Gaza discovered a weapons cache inside a mosque, also on Tuesday overnight. The arsenal included a "Kornet" anti-tank missile launcher which was loaded and ready for use. Troops also found explosives and maps.
The power plant was hit by a strike in the early hours of Tuesday, knocking out electricity through the Strip and setting off a massive fire that sent gigantic plumes of black smoke over much of Gaza throughout the day.IDF accuses Palestinians of firing from vicinity of UNRWA school, says probing deaths
“The State of Israel did not attack Gaza’s power plant,” said Brig. Gen. Yaron Rosen, the commander of IAF Air Support and Helicopter Air Division.
“It has no interest (in that),” he added. “We transfer to them the electricity, we transfer in the gas, we transfer in the food in order to prevent a humanitarian disaster. So we attacked the power plant?”
The general said it was possible the plant had been hit by Israel by mistake.
The Israeli military, in an initial response to the killing of at least 19 Palestinians in a United Nations-run school in Gaza on Wednesday, said militants near the facility had fired mortar bombs and Israeli forces had shot back.The shadow intelligence war between the IDF and Hamas
"Earlier this morning, militants fired mortar shells at (Israeli) soldiers from the vicinity of the UNRWA school in Jabaliya (refugee camp). In response, soldiers fired towards the origins of fire, and we're still reviewing the incident," a military spokeswoman said.
The IDF and Hamas are engaged in shadow intelligence war, in which each side seeks to learn as much as it can about the other and use the information to plan painful attacks.Bennett Tells Al Jazeera: Your Channel's Sponsor Funds Terrorism
Hamas has come a long way in the world of field intelligence, having recently set up a surveillance and reconnaissance division that is able to communicate the position of IDF ground forces to attack cells, which in turn emerge from tunnels and open fire in coordinated strikes.
On the Israeli side, a mammoth intelligence effort is under way to support the ground forces in Gaza. Military Intelligence and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) work around the clock to provide alerts for threats such as imminent use of tunnels by Hamas, anti-tank missile attacks, Hamas drones, raids on the Israeli coast from Gaza and rocket launches.
Challenged over the civilian death toll in Gaza, Bennett blamed Hamas for placing rocket launchers among women and children "in the most cynical and cowardly way."Bennett to Al Jazeera: Your owner Qatar funds the daily murder of children in Israel and Gaza.
"But if we want to put a stop to that - you know how we can do it?" he continued. "You know who stands behind Hamas? It's Qatar, the funders of your own station."
"Qatar is funding Hamas with over quarter of a billion dollars - they're funding daily murders of Israeli children and Gaza children and what we need is for Qatar to stop funding Hamas..."
Qatar: American friend, Israeli foe
Qatar maintains close security links with the US, hosting the Central Command’s Forward Headquarters. But the “icing on the cake” of the relationship, as Plotkin Boghardt put it, is an $11 billion arms deal signed in mid July and providing Qatar with state-of-the-art American attack helicopters and air defense systems.Finance Minister Lapid: Hamas is Holding Gazan Civilians Hostage
And yet, for those seeking proof of Qatar’s closeness with Hamas — sworn enemy of what is supposed to be the US’s key ally in the region, Israel — one need only watch the high-profile TV interviews given by Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah over the past few days.
On Saturday, Attiyah told his country’s mouthpiece Al-Jazeera that Israel has left the people of Gaza no choice but to “resist and defend themselves.”
“Gaza faces two types of death,” he said. “Either slow death through siege and starvation or fast death by bullets.”
In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday Finance Minister Yair Lapid said that Hamas is holding the citizens of Gaza "hostage", and that Israel demands nothing less than a demilitarization of the Gaza Strip to force an end to attacks on Israeli civilians.IDF Drops Emergency Evacuation Pamphlets in Gaza
"No other country on earth" would tolerate thousands of rockets being fired indiscriminately on its civilian population, said the Yesh Atid party leader, who went on to point out that despite that Israel had accepted three separate ceasefire proposals - all of which had been rejected by Hamas.
Nahal Brigade Operating in Northern Gaza
Paratroopers Uncover Tunnel & Concealed Rocket Launcher
IDF Detonates Terror Tunnel Leading into Israel
Lapid says Hamas commander Mohammad Deif 'a dead man'
One day after Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, was heard vowing that “victory will be ours,” Finance Minister Yair Lapid told reporters on Wednesday that Deif “is a dead man.”Peres: Israel has exhausted military option, Abbas's rule in Gaza must be restored
“For years, Mohammed Deif has been hiding in the tunnels underneath Gaza, and that is where he will remain because he’s a dead man,” Lapid said.
Deif, one of the most wanted terrorists by Israel, which has tried to kill him at least four times but failed, was heard in a recording on Tuesday as saying that Hamas was “winning the war.”
Lapid said that Deif’s remarks were reminiscent of propaganda disseminated by the Iraqi government on the eve of the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Speaking to the press after visiting wounded soldiers in the South, the former president said that the solution to the Gaza crisis must be diplomatic.Israel launches new media campaign: 'Hamas sacrifices Gaza for its extremism'
"Gaza was taken from Abbas [in a coup d'etat]," the former president said. "Abbas is the legitimate ruler whose position in Gaza is recognized by the international community."
Peres, who officially left office last week, also suggested that the government begin to seek out a diplomatic solution in earnest.
"Israel has exhausted the military option," Peres said.
Faced with nonstop pictures of death and destruction in Gaza, the country’s National Information Directorate launched a social media campaign on Tuesday showing pictures of Gaza misery above quotes by Hamas heads admitting the value and importance of human shields.‘You promised you’d return’
“The Palestinian blood that is spilled is precious, but the goals for which this blood is spilled are even more precious,” Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was quoted as saying on July 21, over a picture of a crying woman.
The name of the campaign is “Hamas sacrifices Gaza for its extremism.”
Another picture quotes Hamas Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh as saying on July 21 that “the resistance protects its people who are paying with their pure blood.” And another picture quotes Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri as saying on July 9, “The blood of the 'shahids' (martyrs) killed in this campaign is the fuel of our victory.”
One government official involved in the campaign explained the rationale as the belief that the the only way to try to counteract the images of carnage beamed across the world from Gaza was through arguments telling the world that Hamas wanted and planned that carnage, and providing the quotes to back up that argument.
Pnina Briga tried for years to give birth to a son, only to lose him, a short 23 years later, when a mortar exploded near him on the Gaza border on Monday night.Sgt. Daniel Kedmi laid to rest
“The wait heightened the excitement of your arrival, you were loved by everyone,” Pnina said.
She spoke in a low voice, hoarse from crying, as she looked at her son Sgt.-Maj. Adi Briga’s freshly filled earthen grave, which was flanked by six officers in the Ashkelon Military Cemetery on Tuesday.
Sgt. Daniel Kedmi, 18, from Tzufin in the West Bank, was killed on Monday in an attack near Kibbutz Nahal Oz along with four comrades.Angels of the Home Front: Wives of IDF Reservists Live as Single Mothers
With the summer sun beating down on an audience of dozens, mourners gathered to pay tribute to Kedmi, who was remembered as an effervescent, loving soldier who had a zest for life.
“You were our light, the glue that held the family together. You were born with charisma and the ability to lead... We were always so proud of you. I hope you are in a good place, take care of yourself. We miss you,” Natalie said, her voice quivering as she remembered her younger brother, who served a mere eight months in the IDF and was training to become a squad leader.
It isn’t just Israel’s heroic reservist soldiers who deserve a pat on the back—and infinitely more—for putting their lives on the line on behalf of the rest of the country, it’s also their wives, who wait silently at home. These women are grappling with a challenging reality, and they’re alone. There are, however, several initiatives that have emerged in recent days to help these women.Gaza Belt Says ‘No’ to Ceasefire
Two social movements based in Jerusalem, Yerushalmim and the Jerusalem Movement, have teamed up in setting up a giant database of volunteers to assist the wives of reservists in everyday chores. Volunteers are helping the women by doing anything from babysitting, cooking, cleaning, moving apartments, dog-walking, shopping and even massages.
As the Security Cabinet continues to deliberate a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza, residents of the missile-battered south say a ceasefire now would only prolong their trauma.Israelis Frankly Discuss Their Fear of Terror Tunnels (VIDEO)
Three weeks into Operation Protective Edge, central Sderot has too-easily into a familiar wartime footing. Although Tuesday morning was “quiet,” with no Code Red sirens between 10 am and noon, there were few pedestrians in the downtown shopping district. Many shops were closed, and virtually all the ones that had deigned to open were empty. At one downtown falafel stand, five middle-aged men sat around an empty table on the sidewalk, talking while trying not to watch the TV news, which was alternating between ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza and military funerals around the country.
In a series of raw interviews, Israelis living near the Gaza Strip expressed their fear of living within range of terror tunnels running into Israel from Gaza.The pint-size military base above the penthouse
In a video released by the Israel Defense Forces on Sunday, one lady described her shock when she discovered a tunnel beneath one of her fields.
A group of mothers shared their fear of awaking to find that one of their children had been kidnapped by terrorists who infiltrated their community via a tunnel.
Despite the harrowing threat, the Israelis said they remain optimistic and vigilant, and expressed faith in IDF troops who have entered Gaza to eliminate the threat.
Across rooftops throughout Israel, the Homefront Command has deposited teams of soldiers – five, six, or seven at most – armed only with helmets and protective vests and high-tech binoculars to keep track of the missiles raining down on Israeli cities and help direct rescue teams in the worst-case scenario that the Iron Dome should falter and something should hit the ground. When the sirens blare, their mission is to spring into action, don their protective gear and monitor exactly where the rockets come in and where they fall. That information is then passed onto Homefront Command headquarters and rescue teams on the ground, in order to better coordinate ambulances and police action.Gilad Shalit: 'I Pray for the Soldiers'
“Don’t let the silence and the sun fool you,” says Shai. “These guys were on high alert on the first two weeks of this operation. And remember that the first week was also a hard week of launches. There were almost no breaks, no release even to shower.”
Gilad Shalit, the former IDF Armored Corps soldier who was abducted by Hamas in 2006 and held for five years until he was freed in exchange for more than 1,000 terrorists, told Channel 2 Wednesday – “I pray for the well-being of the soldiers and hope they will return home safely, thank you.”South Aid app lets Israelis help Israelis
"Just as IDF soldiers helped and supported me in the past, so I thank them for their present activity and am following events with concern,” Shalit added.
The short interview appears to have come in response to a wave of criticism leveled against the Shalit family on social networks.
Wispa, an Israeli iOS app that facilitates social secondhand buying and selling, has added a “South Aid” feature that allows users to offer accommodations, services or donations to war-weary residents of southern Israel.The New Israeli Consensus and the Lonely Radical Left
“We know that families in the South of Israel are going through a tough time, and we wanted to help,” the startup announces on its website.
Wispa was founded only last year with funds from private investors and the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy. It connects buyers and sellers by searching through users’ social networks for references to items other users are looking to buy. It even matches up renters and apartment owners seeking to sublet.
Operation Protective Edge has brought to the fore a sense of unity of purpose and political consensus not seen in Israel for a long time • Ran Baratz explains the reasons for this and examines the ramifications for the Zionist and radical left • Bottom line: Even the left understands that not much has changed in our struggle with Jihadist Islam, and Israel must still rely on its national strength and resolve for its survivalNetanyahu's Popularity Soars to 82%
Operation Protective Edge reminds one of the days of Defensive Shield in at least one major aspect: a broad Israeli consensus stretching from the political right to some of the people holding positions between Zahava Gal-On and Dov Khenin. Everywhere you can hear: even A or B support the Operation – A or B usually being left-wingers, and not of the moderate sort. Such a consensus requires an explanation. And like any broad phenomenon, the reasons for it are many and varied, rare in their convergence at one time.
There has not been a majority party in Israel for decades. Israelis are as politically divided as Americans in many ways. There is no national consensus on anything. But the Israeli people have unified behind Prime Minister Netanyahu. A recent poll shows he is twice as popular in Israel as Barack Obama is in America.Activists Thank British Airways for Continuing Flights to Israel
The Jerusalem Post's Herb Keinon reports that a whopping 82% of Israelis "are satisfied with Netanyahu's performance during [the Gaza] crisis." According to the latest Gallup poll, Obama's current American job approval rating, in the midst of numerous crises, is 40%, with 54% disapproving. (h/t Canadian Otter)
Activists presented roses and letters of appreciation to British Airways crew members as they landed in Ben Gurion, to the obvious delight of pilots and other flight staff.Along With Hamas Support, Qatar to Donate to Israeli Soccer Team
"We will be giving every single crew member an individually-wrapped rose, coming from the love of our chanichim (members) and from our alumni around the world, showing our appreciation for them coming and supporting Israel during this difficult time," said Daniel Winer, a member of World Bnei Akiva.
Oddly, however, Globes is now reporting that Qatar, which will host the World Cup in 2022, is also planning to donate NIS 8 million to Israeli Ligat Ha’al (Premier League) soccer team Bnei Sakhnin.PLO’s Hanan Ashrawi Laughs About Hamas Hiding Weapons in Schools
“The team’s bank account has already been credited with $500,000, which is only part of the sum promised to us during a visit to Qatar,” Sakhnin Mayor Mazin Gnayem, formerly the chairman of Bnei Sakhnin, told Globes.
“Even before the war broke out I went together with a member of the team’s management for a meeting in the Qatar palace of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (the Emir of Qatar) in which he promised NIS 8 million for Bnei Sakhnin and NIS 8 million for Achi Nazareth. The amount transferred now is just an advance,” said Gnayem.
PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi responded to a question about Hamas hiding weapons in schools with an uncomfortable cackle during an appearance on CNN.PLO’s Hanan Ashrawi Laughs About Hamas Hiding Weapons in Schools
CNN’s Carol Costello asked Ashrawi, “How is Israel to know which schools–which schools contain weapons and which don’t?
Ashrawi paused to laugh awkwardly.
“Look,” she eventually replied, “They have the most sophisticated surveillance.”
Report: Hamas Executed 20 Palestinian Anti-War Protestors in Gaza
Israel's Channel 10 has reported that dozens of Palestinians emerged from the devastated Gaza neighborhood of Shajaiya to protest against the war, and that Hamas rounded twenty of them up and shot them in the street.Hamas Police Shoot, Kill Starving Gazans a Day After Executing Protesters
The report, delivered during a panel discussion, was based in turn on reports by Palestinian sources, translated by Channel 10's analyst. The demonstrators reportedly blamed Hamas for the destruction of the neighborhood, and Hamas's response was to kill them all immediately. Asked how the demonstration could have come about in the first place, the analyst speculated that there could be other pockets of resistance that would emerge.
A fellow panelist observed that throughout the war, not one leader from Hamas had emerged to represent the group in public. "I haven't yet seen a single shot of a Hamas man in the Gaza Strip" in news reports, he said.
An incident on Monday, in which Hamas police officers killed two starving citizens and wounded tens of others, illustrates the level of intensity in the Gaza Strip these days.Our fighters are eager for death, Hamas military chief says
Israel’s Channel 2 reported that a large group of residents in the Beit Hanoun neighborhood had gathered outside a local food stand, holding food vouchers given to them by the regime. The hunger and lack of food led to a quarrel among the waiting masses. Very quickly the quarreling spiraled into violence, weapons were drawn with some residents opening fire.
Hamas policemen hurried to the scene to suppress the violence. In an attempt to calm the situation down, the policemen too drew their weapons and directed them at the residents. In the ensuing moments, Hamas shot and killed two residents from Beit Hanoun and wounded dozens more.
The titular head of Hamas’s military wing sent out a fiery missive Tuesday night, claiming his forces are “eager for death” and saying the terror group would not cease fighting until Israel lifted its blockade on Gaza.Hamas Military Chief Muhammad Deif: No Ceasefire Before Siege Is Lifted
“Israeli soldiers are up against soldiers who are eager for death and united forces,” Mohammed Deif said in a recorded message broadcast on Hamas’s al-Aqsa TV. “The steadfastness of the Palestinian people is what will bring victory on the battlefield. The enemy is sending its soldiers to certain disaster.”
Hamas Music Video Displays Military Capabilities
Hamas cleric: We will destroy the Jews "untill the last one"
Hamas Publishes Edited Video of Attack on Soldiers
An IDF inquiry determined that the terrorists crossed into Israel through a tunnel that penetrated about 150 meters into Israeli territory. The terrorists fired an RPG at an IDF force that was stationed at a pillbox position overlooking Gaza, killing five soldiers.Hamas invites Hezbollah to join in fighting against Israel
Israeli reports indicate that the terrorists sought to abduct one of the soldiers's bodies, but the soldiers who were inside the pillbox fired at them and may have killed one of them. The rest escaped back into the tunnel.
Israeli media has opted not to show the full Hamas propaganda video. A part of it can be viewed here:
Moussa Abu Marzouk, who serves as Khaled Mashaal’s top deputy and who is currently based in Cairo, told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti on Wednesday that the organization hoped that the Lebanese Shi’ite group would engage Israel from the north.Iranian official: We’ll arm West Bank with missiles
“We hope the Lebanese front will open and together we will fight against this formation [Israel],” Abu Marzouk told RIA Novosti.
“There’s no arguing that Lebanese resistance could mean a lot,” Abu Marzouk said.
A former adviser to Iran’s defense minister said that Tehran would seek to arm Palestinians in the West Bank with “strategic weapons” including missiles to target Tel Aviv and Haifa.Iran General: We Will Hunt Down Israelis House To House
Iranian researcher Amir Mousavi told Lebanon’s Mayadeen TV channel this week that “a major reshuffle awaits the region” as “new and significant fronts will be opened all of a sudden, to support the Palestinian cause in the West Bank and Gaza.”
The deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed revenge against Israel for its ongoing military incursion into Gaza, which has already killed hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis.Somali Terror Group Al-Shabaab: Muslims Must Attack Jewish Targets Globally
“You [people of Israel] are trees without any roots which were planted in the Islamic lands by the British,” Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami said at this week’s Friday prayer sermon in Tehran, Fars News Agency reported. That statement referred to the Balfour Declaration, which led to the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the eventual creation of the state Israel in 1948.
“We will chase you house to house and will take revenge for every drop of blood of our martyrs in Palestine,” Salami said. “and this is the beginning point of Islamic nations awakening for your defeat.”
The spokesman, Sheikh Ali Dhere, blamed all the “nations of unbelief” who participated in the “aggression against Gaza,” such as “the Americans who stood by the Jews in their aggression against the Muslims in Gaza.”Hamas Wants Us to Care about Palestinian Children, Even if They Don’t
Dhere also blamed the United Nations for “protecting global unbelief” and for making do with “standing by as witnesses and condemning the crimes committed by the Jews in Gaza.”
“The Jews are spread out throughout the world, and the Jews’ properties are spread everywhere. In light of this, the Muslims must attack the Jews and their properties in every place, and they must pray for their brothers in Gaza,” he said, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Hamas sacrifices Arab children and celebrates the victory. Then we are supposed to cry over the very same children.Call for Israeli fighters to be banned
If there is one talent Hamas has, it is propaganda. After sacrificing their own children, they point the finger at Israel and say, “They did it!”
Feeding lies to the media, creating a network of bleeding heart followers on social media who will spread the word of the “terrible atrocities” taking place in Gaza by showing the world photos of dead Syrian children, (who were killed by their own people), indoctrinating the Muslim community to take a stand against “those evil Jews” in order to help the “poor, helpless Palestinians”… United in their hatred of Jews, Muslims everywhere protest in so-called “demonstrations”, which are often violent riots. And they hold up their placards announcing the “Holocaust” taking place in Gaza, with the “innocent children who are dying” claim their most strategic tool in the propaganda war against Israel as well as Jews in Diaspora.
SENIOR Muslim leader says it's "unfair" that Australians are banned from fighting in Syria or Iraq but allowed to join Israel's Defence Force (IDF).Karkour Carks It
SAMIER Dandan, president of the Lebanese Muslim Association, says just as the Australians who have gone to Iraq and Syria to fight as enemy combatants could face prosecution when they return, those who fight for Israel in the occupied territories should as well.
He says banning people from joining the IDF would ensure "we don't create more heat within the Australian social fibre among people from different cultures".
"It's hard when you say something to one side and they look and say how come we're not being treated the same - it's not fair," he told AAP.
Regular readers will be familiar with Hamas’s education program for kids that includes cuddly children’s TV characters with genocidal proclivities.With Israel, the world is blaming the victims
Children’s favorites like Farfur the genocidal mouse, Nahul the genocidal bee, and Assud the genocidal rabbit, who were each “martyred” by the Zionists.
Now from the Where Fiction Meets Reality department comes news that another of their characters - Karkour the genodical chicken – has been killed. For real.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s anti- Semitism is getting the better of him. Once again, the Turkish prime minister has trotted out the Hitler analogy in relation to Israel and what it has done in Gaza. “They curse Hitler morning and night,” he said of the Israelis. “However, now their barbarism has surpassed even Hitler’s.”No Economic Aid to Hamas-Ruled Gaza
Erdogan’s Hitler fetish is both revolting and inaccurate. Hitler murdered an estimated 6 million Jews, not to mention millions of Poles, Russians, Gypsies and, as a group, homosexuals; the Israelis have killed in the current Gaza operation more than 1,000 Palestinians. The difference between murdered and killed — the former on purpose, the latter mostly what’s called “collateral damage” — ought to be clear to anyone whose mind is not addled by anti-Semitism.
Israel has gone out of its way to try to avoid civilian deaths. It has often — maybe too often — not succeeded. But it has warned civilians with telephone calls and text messages and even dummy bombs hitting the roof. This, I point out, is far more than President Obama has done when U.S. drones kill terrorists in Pakistan or wherever. Hamas militants are also terrorists and they hide, as every guerrilla army has ever done, among the people.
The developing international consensus to offer Gaza an economic package in order to convince Hamas to agree to a ceasefire is immoral and a strategic folly. It is also unlikely to be effective.Israel and the Jewish People Don’t Need the World’s Permission to Survive
One of the main reasons for Hamas harassing several million Israelis by launching thousands of rockets and sending terrorists into Israel by tunnels, apart from the desire to kill Jews, is to rock the boat in order to get out of its dire economic conditions. Getting paid for stopping to shoot at Israeli civilians looks like the "protection money" collected by the Mafia.
The morality of pouring money into Gaza so that their civilians can live better remains questionable for as long as Hamas does not stop its terrorism against Israel. Unfortunately, establishing a clear connection between economic aid and political compliance is not on the agenda of the "peacemakers".
And while the world rants and raves when Israel dares to fight back, the world is quiet about Ukraine, 150,000 dead Syrians, the occupation of Cyprus by the Turks, and everything else. There are no marches in cities around the world, and no emergency missions by countless world leaders.Ezra Levant: Israel must defend itself
This most recent flareup shows just so clearly that this isn’t a battle over whether Israel is right or wrong. Its just so painfully apparent that quite simply, in the eyes of the world, the Jews are always wrong.
And if someone is concerned about the so called “cycle of violence,” then they should march equally to demand an end to U.S. drone strikes, and to America pursuing Al Qaeda and other enemies. In fact, perhaps there should be no more militaries anywhere in the world. But these moral hypocrites want to force Israel to accept a ”ceasefire” with an enemy that kills and wants to kill. There is not much more to be said.
Israel and Jewish leaders need to worry about the Jewish people, and not about world opinion. The State of Israel would not exist if it were up to the world. Six million Jews were wiped out in our century.
Israel and the Jewish people need no one’s permission to live.
Serious question: If Hamas terrorists in Gaza were to build Auschwitz-style ovens to burn Jews like the Nazis did, would the world still demand that Israel stop attacking them?U.N. Human Rights Council's anti-Israel inquiry
Of course.
The official goals of Hamas are the same as the Nazis: to kill every Jew. The Hamas Charter says so 12 times.
And yet the world demands Israel's army stand down.
Hamas, which the council sees no reason to censure in its new resolution, makes no pretense that it has been trying to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible within the limits of its rockets' accuracy. Israel, pronounced guilty by S-21, went to significant lengths to avoid unnecessary Palestinian civilian deaths, including calling inhabitants of a house to warn them of an imminent missile strike and providing the Israel Defense Forces commanders with precise coordinates for more than 500 schools, mosques and hospitals, some of them discovered to be storage sites for Hamas rockets, to avoid unnecessarily hitting them.The war of the doves
Whether Israel could have done more to prevent Palestinian civilian deaths is a fair question — and it deserves a fair and impartial investigation. Under the best of circumstances — as seen in the Goldstone inquiry — a human rights investigation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires near superhuman thoroughness and objectivity. Suffice it to say, these will not be the hallmarks of an investigation conducted by a commission of inquiry appointed under S-21.
This new coalition in the security cabinet is a stable one. Netanyahu has always been uncomfortable with expanding the military operation indefinitely, even as he is determined to deny Hamas a victory image. He wants to end the fighting as soon as he can guarantee the latter condition. And Livni and Lapid are equally determined to sustain the economic and military pressure on Hamas, but only until they find a way to translate it into their true war aim: a victory for the Palestinian Authority.Is There Something Worse Than Hamas?
Abbas, they believe, must be shown – both to Palestinians and Israelis (and, at a distant third place, the international community) – to be the only viable Palestinian leader who can deliver peace and prosperity to a future Palestinian state. That means crushing Hamas, or at least weakening it enough to bring Abbas into focus once again. And it means giving Abbas the spoils of victory – such as control of Gaza’s border crossings and finances.
The Netanyahu-Livni-Lapid axis in the security cabinet has not been any more sparing in its military assault on Hamas than the previous Netanyahu-Liberman bloc would have been. Indeed, it may be more aggressive, since it has more to lose from Hamas remaining the driving force in Palestinian politics. (h/t Canadian Otter)
More to the point, anyone who truly desires a two-state solution to the conflict must understand that the only hope for that outcome—and, admittedly, it is a slim hope—is for Hamas to be eliminated, giving a chance for the supposedly more moderate Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza and to make peace with Israel.Michele Bachmann: Time to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization
Given the difficulty and the cost of a campaign that would completely eliminate Hamas or to replace it as the government of Gaza it may well be that Flynn’s nightmare will never be realized. Hamas thinks it is in no danger and statements such as that of the general and the willingness of the U.S. to embrace cease-fire proposals that would grant it an undeserved victory only strengthen their conviction that they can continue to fight with impunity. But using this argument to bolster Hamas’s hold on power is a terrible error. The only way to end the conflict is to demilitarize Gaza. The only way to do that is to eliminate Hamas.
Just a few years ago, the conventional wisdom in Washington, DC, was that the Muslim Brotherhood would be a moderating force in the Middle East and bring democracy to the region. But not three years after the beginning of the “Arab Spring,” the people of countries like Egypt and Tunisia removed their Muslim Brotherhood- led governments. Other Middle Eastern nations have taken measures to designate the organization as a terrorist group and banned their activity entirely. Even our British allies have opened an official investigation into the group’s activities and connection to violent extremism.Bret Stephens: Palestine makes you dumb
Of all the inane things that have been said about the war between Israel and Hamas, surely one dishonorable mention belongs to comments made over the weekend by Benjamin J. Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.Tunnels Lead Right to the Heart of Israeli Fear
Interviewed by CNN’s Candy Crowley, Mr. Rhodes offered the now-standard administration line that Israel has a right to defend itself but needs to do more to avoid civilian casualties. Ms. Crowley interjected that, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jewish state was already doing everything it could to avoid such casualties.
“I think you can always do more,” Mr. Rhodes replied. “The U.S. military does that in Afghanistan.”
How inapt is this comparison? The list of Afghan civilians accidentally killed by U.S. or NATO strikes is not short. Little of the fighting in Afghanistan took place in the dense urban environments that make the current warfare in Gaza so difficult. The last time the U.S. fought a Gaza-style battle—in Fallujah in 2004—some 800 civilians perished and at least 9,000 homes were destroyed. This is not an indictment of U.S. conduct in Fallujah but an acknowledgment of the grim reality of city combat.
The curved concrete top of the tunnel grazes the dark-brown buzz cut of Lt. Col. Oshik Azulai, putting it 5 feet and 7 inches above the sand floor. The walls are about 30 inches apart — wide enough for two people to squeeze past each other, unless both are in body armor. It is cool in the tunnel, 46 feet under, and dark, of course. Cellphones do not work.Exclusive look inside Hamas tunnels
Colonel Azulai, deputy commander of the Israeli military’s Southern Gaza Division, said this tunnel stretched eight-tenths of a mile into Israel, next to a field filled with watermelon, ripe but unpicked because of the war. It ended about 600 yards from Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, a rural enclave of 325, but was unfinished: Unlike the tunnels used to infiltrate Israel from Gaza in recent days, this one still had electric lines along the wall and carriage tracks used to ferry out dirt.
Hillel Neuer to Canadian TV: "What would you do if 2,000 rockets landed in Toronto and Montreal?"
The Human Rights Council’s Alternate Reality Show
Clearly, for some people the accurate perception of reality becomes blurred in the precincts of the Human Rights Council. That body is, after all, deeply biased against Israel from the start, devoting an entire agenda item each year to Israel’s alleged human rights violations and a second to the entire rest of the world.Hurryup Harry: Sign the Petition Against Hamas
But that bias builds upon an even more basic flaw, the fact that such serial violators of human rights as Algeria, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, all council members in good standing, sit in judgment of democratic Israel, which cannot, due to the politicized way member-states are selected, aspire to join.
An international council officially devoted to human rights has twisted the term to justify the violator and condemn the victim. “When I use a word,” says Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, “it means just what I choose it to mean.”
I think this is a petition worth signing and knowing the readers of HP I’m sure you will too.Obama to Hamas: 'If you like your rockets, you can keep your rockets'
When you sign it you will be agreeing to/calling for the following:
Hamas is an internationally recognised terrorist organisation, which is launching missile attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilians and endangering the lives of innocent Palestinians. We call on the UN Human Rights Council to urgently investigate the serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by Hamas, including:
On Tuesday night, I reported on the alleged transcript of Sunday's conversation between Prime Minister Netanyahu and US President Barack Hussein Obama, in which Obama pressured Netanyahu to accept an unconditional 'cease fire.' With respect to rocket fire, Obama said that he 'believed' that Hamas would stop.Alison Lundergan Grimes Thinks Iron Dome Goes Underground
Later in the evening (but already in my post), both the White House and the Prime Minister's Office issued identical denials on Twitter as to the authenticity of the conversation.
Aaron Lerner points out that the truth is far worse than the transcript. Obama regards disarming Hamas as only being part of a 'final settlement,' despite the fact that the disarming of all terror organizations was a part of the original Oslo accords in 1993. In Obama's world, if Hamas likes its rockets, it can keep its rockets. Obama will not discuss disarmament with Hamas unless and until Israel agrees to divide Jerusalem and dismember its heartland.
Democratic Kentucky Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes says Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system prevents Hamas terrorists from tunneling into Israel.Green Canadian throws weight behind blue and white
Grimes was asked about foreign policy and the conflict between the Israelis and Hamas during a recent interview with the Lexington Herald Leader.
Grimes’ response casts doubt on her grasp of the basic facts in the Middle East.
“The Iron Dome has been a big reason why Israel has been able to withstand the terrorists that have tried to tunnel their way in,” Grimes was quoted as saying.
A pro-Israel blog post written last week by Paul Estrin, president of the Green Party of Canada, has caught the attention of Canadians and others as it has been widely shared on social media.Rubio: There’s a Cease-Fire When Hamas Ceases to Exist
The essay, published on the Green Party of Canada’s website, is titled, “Why Gaza Makes Me Sad.” In a departure from the party’s widely perceived leftist and pro-Palestinian stance, Estrin’s words are supportive of Israel and critical of Palestinians and their leadership.
In his blog post, Estrin places the blame for the current escalation between Israel and Gaza squarely on Hamas. He also emphasizes that the Gazans themselves allowed Hamas to take control.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) condemned Hamas attacks on Israel during an appearance on Fox News’ Hannity, saying, “I’ll tell you when there’s a cease-fire–when Hamas ceases to exist, when they lay down their weapons.”Rubio: There's a Cease-Fire When Hamas Ceases to Exist (starts 3:25)
“In the absence of that,” Rubio continued, “Israel has no choice but to do everything it can to dismantle Hamas.”
“We should treat our friends as friends, and we have no stronger ally, probably anywhere in the world, but certainly in the Middle East, than Israel,” said Rubio. “And we should link arms with them and understand what they’re going through right now, and in no way create any daylight between us.”
Rubio Delivers Senate Floor Speech on the Conflict in Gaza
Sen. Mark Kirk: No Ceasefire 'Until Hamas Militarily Defeated by IDF'
Chicago--Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) did not mince words on Monday, telling a crowd of nearly 2,000 supporters of Israel that “we should not have a cease fire until Hamas is militarily defeated by the IDF.”Video Proof: Hillary Clinton Is Not a Pro-Israel Alternative
Sen. Kirk, who served as a U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer, has been one of the Jewish State’s staunchest supporters since his days as a congressman beginning in 2001. He told the crowd congregated at Thompson Plaza in downtown Chicago, "Hamas has picked a fight with the strongest military power in the Middle East. We should give time for Hamas to lose that battle—until every tunnel is blown to smithereens."
Those who believe that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton represents a hawkish alternative to President Barack Obama on foreign policy are due for a rude reminder of Clinton's true instincts Tuesday when Fusion America airs her interview with Jorge Ramos. Portions of the interview that have already been released show the former chief diplomat defending Hamas's practice of placing weapons in schools because Gaza is "small."ANC distances itself from 'kill Jews' tweet
The ANC has been asked by the Jewish community to act against hate speech following a Twitter post saying "Keep calm and kill Jews", The Star reported on Tuesday.Egypt To Broker Truce Between Obama, Israel (satire)
The SA Jewish Board of Deputies wrote a letter to the African National Congress on Sunday to act against hate speech on a Twitter account that was believed to belong to the ANC Youth League.
"We were appalled to learn that earlier that day (Sunday) via a Twitter site presumably used by the ANCYL, namely @ANCYLVote2014, a message calling for the killing of Jews was tweeted," the board said in its letter.
The board of deputies added that the propagation of such appalling hate speech was generating distress among its communities.
The party however distanced itself from the account.
Increasing alienation between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama has prompted Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to propose that he mediate talks aimed at bridging the chasm separating the two administrations.
The American and Israeli leaders have long had a tense relationship personally, and that has exacerbated differences in policy goals and assumptions about the ongoing Israeli conflict with the Palestinians and the Muslim world in general. In contrast, the Egyptian president’s views and policies have dovetailed to an unprecedented degree with those of the hawkish Netanyahu, while he has maintained friendly, if not close, ties to the US. That evolution has placed Sisi in the unique position of mediating the simmering dispute.
