Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Israel’s aid team to Nepal larger than any other country’s
Israel’s aid team to the earthquake-battered Himalayan nation of Nepal is the largest in manpower of any international aid mission.Nepal field hospital, Israel’s largest ever, set to open Wednesday
Over 250 doctors and rescue personnel were part of an IDF delegation that landed Tuesday in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, in the wake of Saturday’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated large swaths of the mountainous country, killing at least 5,000 and leaving some 8,000 wounded and tens of thousands seeking shelter and food.
The Israeli group set up a field hospital with 60 beds that began operations on Wednesday in coordination with the local army hospital.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and the Nepalese Army’s chief of staff visited the field hospital to attend its opening ceremony.
After a series of delays, the Israel Defense Forces field hospital in Kathmandu will start treating thousands of those injured in the weekend’s devastating earthquake Wednesday morning, kicking off Israel’s largest ever effort of its kind.PMW: Palestinian Antisemitism: Jewish plan to conquer the world; Judaism permits killing Gentiles
The hospital’s opening will come a day after Israeli teams began search and rescue operations, though they did not find any survivors.
An IDF spokesperson said the hospital, located next to the Nepali military hospital, will be operational by 8:30 a.m. local time and treat some of the thousands of injured Nepalis hurt in the 7.8 magnitude quake, which claimed the lives of over 5,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
Nepalese officials expect the death toll to climb to as high as 10,000. Around 8,000 people have been injured while the United Nations estimated that eight million people had been affected.
The Israeli hospital and crew only landed in Kathmandu Tuesday morning, after a series of strong aftershocks delayed the flight by a day, and soldiers immediately began setting up, said Col. Yoram Laredo, who is heading up the army’s relief effort.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an Antisemitic forgery describing how Jews allegedly plan to subjugate the world under Jewish rule. It was published in Russia in 1903 and translated into multiple languages. In 1921, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was exposed as a false document. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Palestinians present The Protocols as a true manifestation of Jews' and Israelis' aspirations for the future.Judaism permits stealing from and killing Gentiles, says Gaza university professor
PA TV also recently served as a platform for demonizing statements by a Gazan university professor. In an interview, Dr. Ibrahim Abrash, political science professor at the Al-Azhar University, explained that Judaism is based on extremism and that it permits stealing from and killing Gentiles:
Fatah official speaks about "Protocols of Elders of Zion" as true Jewish document
Fatah Spokesperson Osama al-Qawasmi: "According to Israel's ideology, strategy and policy from 1956 until now, Gaza is outside the Israeli ideological thinking. Even in their Protocols [of the Elders of Zion] and even in their Bible [it says]: 'Don't live in Gaza.'" [Official PA TV, April 5, 2015]
IDF Blog: An Inside Look at the IDF’s Unique Medical Technology in Nepal
As part of the IDF’s humanitarian mission to Nepal, a field hospital is being built near Kathmandu. In the next few hours, people affected by the earthquake will begin receiving the same treatment as offered in the most high-tech medical facility in Israel. Here’s an inside look at the advanced technology that will assist the medical teams on the ground.IDF Mission Commander in Nepal Motivates his Soldiers
The 260-member team includes 40 medical personnel on a mission to save lives. One of their priorities is to set up a field hospital near Kathmandu. “The team brought the most recent technology possible,” explains Lt. Col. Asi Hempel, a doctor in the IDF’s Medical Corps. “The field hospital will be equipped with everything: x-rays, operating rooms that will work 24/7, laboratories and more.”
The hospital will have the ability to receive and provide care for around 200 patients a day. “Israel’s top specialists for traumatic injuries are among the medical team in Nepal,” says Lt. Col. Hempel.
The IDF has gained much experience from past humanitarian missions, and as a result has developed unique technology for its field hospital. “We pioneered a state-of-the-art system with the IDF’s C4I Branch, that allows us to create an internal digital medical file for every patient.”
IDF's Mission Field Hospital Preparation
Wounded IDF vet Israel’s last missing citizen in Nepal
All but one of Israel’s citizens located in Nepal at the time that a massive earthquake shook the nation have been accounted for, as dozens were still waiting to be evacuated on Wednesday.Two Israelis skip rescue, stay in Nepal to help
Or Asraf, a 22-year-old freshly released from the IDF, was the only remaining Israeli who has not shown any signs of life since Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, which has so far claimed the lives of over 5,000 people.
Asraf’s parents remained hopeful on Wednesday, as a rescued Israeli traveler told them she had made contact with Asraf an hour after the earthquake, Channel 2 reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, ten more Israelis were rescued from the Himalayan country’s Langtang National Park north of Kathmandu on the border with Tibet, and taken to a local army base, from which they will be driven to Kathmandu.
Eight more backpackers who were threatened by Nepalese locals were retrieved by a private Israeli search and rescue squad, Ynet reported. There are still 30-40 Israeli backpackers awaiting rescue, according to Israeli officials.
The two were in Nepal for the traditional “gap year” trip many Israelis take after finishing military service and before beginning academic studies. When the time came and Israelis lined up for their place on the rescue helicopters, Rosen and Molcho refused.IsraellyCool: More Appalling Reactions To Israeli Nepal Action
Yaffa Rosen, mother of Aviv, told the Ynet news outlet they had stayed behind to help the area recover from the devastating Saturday earthquake, which killed at least 5,000 people and destroyed whole villages in Nepal.
“It is certainly not easy, but I understand he has values and thinks about others beside himself,” she said. “I am very proud of my son; I think the entire country should be proud of such a boy who doesn’t just up and leave but stays behind to help dozens of people. He stayed behind [and didn’t fly back home] because of his love for mankind, not in order receive anything.”
We can also add the BBC to the hall of shame, which although does not criticize Israel, could not bring itself to mention her.Senate Rejects Toughening of Legislation on Iran Deal
China, India, the UK and US are among those sending aid from abroad. Nepal says it needs everything from blankets and helicopters to doctors and drivers.
Dozens of people are also reported to have been killed by the earthquake in neighbouring China and India.
Both countries have sent emergency teams to Nepal, along with Pakistan, which said it was dispatching four C130 transport planes carrying a 30-bed hospital. Other countries, including Britain, Australia and New Zealand are also contributing aid, alongside international agencies.
Given the scope of Israel’s aid, the omission is telling.
The United States Senate on Tuesday rejected an amendment toughening legislation that would require that any nuclear agreement with Iran be approved by Congress, hours after Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid warned Republicans not to use the bill as a "platform for their political ambitions."Iran’s Rouhani Declares Sanctions Regime on Verge of Complete Collapse
The amendment specified that a nuclear deal would have to be approved by a two thirds majority.
According to Reuters, the Senate voted 57-39 to reject the measure, which Republican Senator Ron Johnson offered as an amendment to the Iran Nuclear Review Act, a bill requiring an Iran nuclear deal to be reviewed by Congress.
The amendment's backing by 39 Republicans signaled that there could be intense debate in the coming days as the Senate hammers out its final version of the legislation.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Senate Republicans were among those voting for the amendment, despite an emotional appeal against it from Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the bill, noted Reuters.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared on Tuesday that the sanctions regime against his country was on the verge of complete collapse and that no country would be able to continue exerting pressure on Iran, in a speech he delivered to 12,000 workers in Tehran.Iranian 'Cultural Centers' Established to Promote Shiite Islam Blossom in Latin America
Rouhani said those benefiting from the sanctions, established to combat his country’s nuclear program, should start looking for another way to benefit. He claimed that Iran would “continue the path of constructive interaction with the world under the guidance of the [Supreme] Leader and support of and support of our people, and no country in the world can continue exerting pressure and imposing sanctions against Iran in the future.”
During the speech, Rouhani stressed the importance of Iranian self-reliance, concentrating the country’s capital within its territory, and prioritizing what he called “the resistance economy,” according to semi-official state news agency Mehr.
Iranian “cultural centers,” established across Latin America to enhance the Shiite country’s influence in the region, have proliferated in the last three years, while the Obama administration has been trying to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran.Ayatollah Khamenei thinks you’re a racist monster, #BaltimoreRiots edition
“As the foremost state sponsor of terrorism, Iran’s involvement in the region and these cultural centers is a matter for concern, and its diplomatic, economic, and political engagement is closely monitored,” Gen. John Kelly, the commander of U.S. Southern Command (Southcom), told lawmakers last month, as the P5+1 powers approached a self-imposed deadline to draw up a framework for a nuclear deal with Iran.
Breitbart News found that the number of Iranian “cultural centers” in Latin America have more than doubled, from 36 in 2012 to more than 80 today.
That information was gleaned from Southcom’s posture statements—annual assessments of its challenges and programs. The various U.S. military commands submit posture statements to Congress on an annual basis.
Just as a point of reference, I’m 29. I grew up in the internet era, got my first e-mail address in the 7th grade (ish?) and was a Facebook pioneer during undergrad. I embrace Reddit and follow celebrities on Instagram and still, it will never ever ever stop being bizarre to see world leaders—especially world leaders who regularly mull over the destruction of an entire people—troll each other on Twitter.Report: Kerry Told Iran He Wishes ‘U.S. Had a Leader like Iran’s Supreme Leader’
Never.
The real takeaway here isn’t that the Ayatollah is an infamously, belligerently dangerous troll. The takeaway is that, over the course of the past year, the messaging coming out of Ferguson that wound its way through cases in New York, South Carolina, and now Baltimore, has become so pervasive and normal that the Ayatollah of Iran is using it as a weapon against the United States on the international stage.
He’s using our own insanity against us—and knowing the state of the world, it’s probably working.
Secretary of State John Kerry told his Iranian counterpart that he wished the United States had a leader more like Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, according to comments made by a senior Iranian cleric and repeated in the country’s state-run media.JCPA: Iran Keeps Defying the United States in the Persian Gulf – So Far with Impunity
Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda claimed during Friday prayer services in Iran that in negotiations over Tehran’s contested nuclear program, Kerry told the country’s foreign minister that he “wished the U.S. had a leader like Iran’s supreme leader,” according to a Persian-language report on the remarks published by the Asriran news site.
“In the negotiations Kerry told [Iranian Foreign Minister Javad] Zarif that he [Kerry] wished U.S. had a leader like Iran’s supreme leader,” according to Alam al-Hoda, who is a senior member of the Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts.
A senior administration official told the Washington Free Beacon that such a contention is patently absurd.
Violent Seizure of a Commercial VesselCan Iran Do Whatever It Wants?
In a defiant and belligerent move, the navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGCN) seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship at the Strait of Hormuz after firing several warning shots at it on April 28, 2015.
Since the 1980’s, Iran has a history of threatening U.S. and allied shipping in the Persian Gulf. On April 24, Iranian warships harassed, but did not board, another large commercial ship, the U.S.-flagged Kensington.
IRGC Navy fighters boarded, took over the Marshall Islands ship and diverted it to Iranian territorial waters near the port of Bandar Abbas. Iranian authorities claimed that the cargo ship has entered Iranian territorial waters. The Pentagon spokesman confirmed that Iran had commandeered the Maersk Tigris M/V and that it was now in the “vicinity of Larak Island, in the Strait of Hormuz.” The ship had been on its way from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates.
Iran’s Fars News Agency, which is associated with the IRGC, originally reported that the IRGC’s navy (IRGCN) had seized an “American commercial vessel” carrying 34 people. A knowledgeable source said the ship had been captured by the IRGCN, which is responsible for patrolling the sensitive Persian waters, at the request of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization. “The ship was seized after a relevant court order was issued for its confiscation,” it claimed.
In the Persian Gulf, the U.S. commitment to that doctrine led President Reagan to order U.S. Navy ships to escort tankers and protect them from Iranian attacks, precipitating a short and sharp conflict (the Tanker War of 1987-88) between the U.S. and Iran. This was the last time, incidentally, that the U.S. used force to respond to Iranian attacks and it was an unqualified success—the Iranians lost some oil platforms and boats that they had been using to harass shipping. Finally the accidental shootdown of an Iranian airliner in 1988 by the USS Vincennes (an unintended and unfortunate consequence of these operations) helped convince the Iranian leadership to end their war with Iraq.State Department Declines to Condemn Iran’s Cargo Ship Seizure in the Strait of Hormuz
Today the U.S. still remains committed, at least on paper, to protecting freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf. In 2011, a 5th Fleet spokesman put it well: “The free flow of goods and services through the Strait of Hormuz is vital to regional and global prosperity. Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated.”
Thus if the Obama administration were, in fact, to “tolerate” this disruption of the free flow of shipping it would send a dangerous signal, or to be more accurate, to reinforce a signal already sent: The U.S. lacks the will to stand up to predators in the international system, and in particular to Iran. Put another way, it would signal to the entire region that the president is so invested in reaching a deal with Iran that no Iranian misconduct—not the dropping of barrel bombs on Syrian civilians, not the takeover of Yemen, not the ethnic cleansing of Sunni communities in Iraq, and now not the seizure of a Western cargo ship—will be allowed to interfere with his objective.
The fate of the Maersk Tigris does not matter much in and of itself, but it will say much about this administration’s commitment to maintaining America’s traditional security responsibilities.
The State Department refused to condemn the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ interception of a western commercial cargo vessel.Cargo ship crew ‘safe’ after boarding by Iranian forces
When asked to describe the attack or to forwardly condemn Iran’s aggression, spokesperson Jeff Rathke indicated he was unwilling to because the State Department was still collecting information.
“This is underway,” Rathke said. “I’m not going to apply an adjective to it right now.”
On Tuesday, Iranian ships forced a Marshall Islands cargo ship named the Maersk Tigris further into Iranian waters. The cargo vessel was traveling through the Strait of Hormuz when it was confronted at 5:05 a.m. Eastern time.
The Marshall Islands vessel’s captain initially refused Iranian patrol crafts call to divert course but acquiesced after a patrol craft fired a warning shot across the bow of the Maersk Tigris.
The United States is obligated by international treaty to treat any attack on the Marshall Islands as an attack on the U.S. itself and is sworn to defend the islands and their interests abroad.
The MV Maersk Tigris was en route Wednesday to Bandar Abbas, the main port for Iran’s navy, under escort by Iranian patrol boats, according to Maersk Line, the company that had chartered it.US Sends Destroyer to Persian Gulf after Iran Boards Freighter
Tehran has not offered any clarification on the incident, which comes at a critical time during Iran’s relations with the United States and the West.
Cor Radings, a spokesman for the ship’s operator, Rickmers Ship Management in Singapore, said the company had been in touch by phone with the crew earlier in the day.
“We have had the confirmation that they are in relatively good condition and safe on board the ship,” he said.
The U.S. Navy Farragut destroyer is speeding to the Persian Gulf Wednesday after Iran boarded a Marshall Islands-flagged freighter that the regime said had trespassed into its waters while sailing through the key oil and gas tanker route of the Straits of Hormuz, also known as the Persian Gulf.Prosor Demands UN Condemn Attack on Golan Heights
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy fired shots at the ship, which the Pentagon says was in international waters.
The United States also has ordered an aircraft carrier to remain on standby in another mini-crisis that Iran seems to have created to put pressure on the Obama administration during the new round of talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran on an agreement to allow Tehran to continue its nuclear development program.
The Marshall Islands, once an American territory, is independent of the United States but has a “free relationship” with Washington that includes a security pact.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor sent a letter to the UN Security Council on Tuesday demanding action, after four Arab terrorists from Syria breached Israeli territory on Sunday night and placed an explosive on the Golan Heights border before being eliminated by the IDF.Mortar Rounds on Golan Heights Were Fired by ISIS
After briefly describing the incident, Prosor wrote, "Israel holds the Syrian government responsible for all attacks originating from its territory. In recent months, the Syrian government has allowed terrorists to use its territory as a launching base to plant roadside bombs, fire rockets into Israel, and open fire on IDF forces inside Israel."
A report on Monday revealed that two of the four Arab terrorists were the sons of an Israeli Druze, a man from the Golan Druze town of Majdal Shams which is loyal to Syria who fled to the country in the 1980s after having been jailed in Israel for terrorism.
"I have repeatedly warned about the growing threat in northern Israel. In my remarks last week to the Security Council, I described how Hezbollah, backed by Iran, is openly operating in the Golan Heights and preparing for a violent confrontation with Israel," Prosor added.
The two mortar rounds fired on Israel's Golan Heights from Syria on Tuesday in estimated "spillover" were launched by the brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization, which is the closest it's ever been to the Israeli border with Syria.Iran Tells Syria to Attack Israel on the Golan Heights
The ISIS-linked Jaish al-Jihad has captured the border town of Qahtaniya in southern Quneitra province on the Syrian Golan, thereby taking up its closest position to Israel yet at a distance of just 2.5 to 3 kilometers (1.5-1.8 miles), according to Walla!.
Qahtaniya had been in the hands of the Free Syrian Army and the Al Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front which had kept the status quo vis-a-vis Israel, concentrating their efforts against the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Now that the town has fallen to ISIS, it may turn into a base of attacks against the Jewish state.
On Tuesday morning Nusra Front launched an operation to try and recapture the town, with clashes between it and ISIS including machine gun fire, anti-tank missiles and mortar rounds. During the clash two mortar shells slammed into Israel near Kibbutz Ein Zivan.
Syrian Defense Minister General Fahd al-Freij arrived in Iran on Tuesday for a rare two-day visit, the first since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, and was reportedly told by his Iranian backers to attack Israel.Iranian Analyst: Iran Will Respond to Israel’s Attacks in Syria and Open a Front in the Golan
As the Syrian regime continues to suffer key losses that have sharpened in the last month, Iran continues to exert ever-growing influence in the country which it is financially and militarily propping up.
Al-Freij was told by senior Iranian sources that Syria and Iran's terror proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, need to open a war front against Israel on the Golan Heights, according to the Hebrew-language Channel 10.
Iran told the Syrian defense minister to stir up conflict against Israel on the Golan, with the Islamic republic apparently unperturbed by the significant damage the move will cause to the Syrian regime, given that its goal is to expand its regional hegemony at all costs.
The Golan has been heating up with four terrorists eliminated on Sunday while placing an explosive on the Israeli border, and a day later stray mortar shells struck from Syria, as Al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front and Islamic State (ISIS) fight on the Syrian side, right on Israel's doorstep.
An analyst with close ties to the Iranian defense ministry has said that Iranian, Syrian, and Hezbollah officials will meet shortly to discuss their combined response to recent attacks in Syria that have been attributed to Israel.IDF training to retake Gaza in any future round with Hamas
Amir Mousavi, director of the Center for Strategic and International Relations in Tehran and a former advisor to the Iranian Ministry of Defense, quoted a knowledgeable source saying that the recent attacks were “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” He said Iran would respond to the attacks in Syria:
I have emphasized, again and again, in many media outlets, that the Iranian leadership will not remain silent about the Israeli terrorist entity attacks which aimed to help its stepdaughters – the terrorist groups in Syria.
The term “terrorist groups” refers to the rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Assessing that Hamas will continue to rule the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future, the IDF is training for the possible reconquering of the entire coastal Palestinian territory in a future confrontation with the Islamic organization, the Times of Israel has learned.Israel Lets 14,000 Tons of Building Material into Gaza
Despite the harsh blow Hamas and Islamic Jihad sustained in Operation Protective Edge last July and August, Israel’s military command is convinced that another round of fighting between Israel and Gaza is only a matter of time.
The Israeli leadership sees no prospect of the Palestinian Authority gaining control of the Strip, as it continues to demand, and would prefer to face a weakened Hamas than the anarchy of unruly organizations, some of which harbor extremist Islamist ideologies.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad lost 1,000 combatants in the 50 days of fighting with Israel, including many low- and mid-ranking commanders. The remaining 1,100 Palestinian fatalities in the war are believed to be innocent civilians caught in the line of fire.
Israel allowed 14,000 tons of building material into Gaza on Wednesday, the defense ministry said of the largest single shipment since last summer's Hamas terror war - despite the fact that Hamas is using such materials to rapidly rebuild its terror tunnels to attack Israel.Exiled Palestinian leader looks for regional allies in mediation of Nile dam deal
COGAT, the IDF Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, told AFP that some 354 trucks passed through the Kerem Shalom goods crossing in southern Gaza carrying "construction materials," without elaborating what goods were let in.
The news comes as Hamas is working to rebuild its tunnels into Israel that were used to attack Israelis in Operation Protective Edge to lethal effect.
Hamas is intensively rebuilding its terror tunnel infrastructure, with the digging reportedly taking place six days a week with three shifts each day.
Over 1,000 diggers are said to be employed by Hamas to construct the tunnels, and the current estimation is that the tunnels lead up to Israeli territory - Hamas will extend them beyond when it feels the time is right to strike.
Exiled Palestinian politician and former leader of Fatah in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, mediated the signing of an agreement for the construction of a controversial River Nile dam project between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan last month, Newsweek can exclusively reveal.Hamas police beat, arrest protesters at Gaza rally
Analysts believe that the move demonstrates Dahlan’s continuing efforts to increase his international influence, potentially setting up a push for the Palestinian leadership in the future.
The leaders of the three African countries convened in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, last month to sign an agreement which confirmed the principles on which Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam would be built after Cairo raised concerns that the project would hit their vital Nile water supply.
More than 400 demonstrators gathered in Shejaiya, a neighborhood in eastern Gaza City that was razed during a July-August war between the Hamas terrorist group and Israel, urging reconstruction and calling for an end to intra-Palestinian division.Report: Hamas recruiting Palestinians in Malaysia for attacks
Plainclothes police officers entered the crowd, beating a number of protesters without causing serious injury, the AFP correspondent said.
They then arrested at least seven people, according to witnesses.
The Hamas-run interior ministry said in a statement that the crowd had grown violent, forcing police to intervene “to protect the lives of those participating, after which calm prevailed.”
According to a report in Haaretz Tuesday, the security service presented detailed allegations of Hamas’s operations in Malaysia in a recent indictment against a Hebron resident who was captured in February as he returned to the West Bank from Malaysia.Hamas International Terror-Financing Smuggling Ring Nabbed
In the indictment filed to the Ofer Military Court in March, 24-year-old Hebron resident Waseem Qawasmeh was charged with belonging to and transferring funds for a banned organization.
Qawasmeh said he swore allegiance to the Islamist group while studying at the Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur where he was recruited by a top Hamas activist in the university’s student association, according to the report, which cited the indictment.
According to the report, the recruits were expected to return home to act as undercover operatives and messengers for already-established Hamas networks in the West Bank and Gaza.
In the latest in a string of exposed smuggling operations by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, a gag order was lifted on Tuesday revealing that the Israel Security Agency (ISA), IDF and police in a joint operation thwarted a Hamas terror fund smuggling network.Haniyeh: Deif is proof of Israel's failure to reach senior Palestinians
The operation, which brought funds from Gaza to Judea and Samaria via Jordan, was conducted with the aid of Palestinian Arab lawyers, and three Arab suspects were arrested by the ISA as part of investigations.
The three consisted of Yakub Ashak Abd Alguwad Dais born in 1990, a Jordanian resident originally from Hevron in Judea; Yazan Abd Alrazak Abd Almati Shaur born in 1991, an attorney living in Hevron with connections to Hamas activists; and Yasser Mohammed Raduwan Kukas born in 1972, an attorney and Hamas activist originally from Beit Umar northwest of Hevron.
In the investigation it was discovered that the three worked to establish routes to transfer terrorist funds from senior Hamas leaders in Gaza to Dais in Jordan, and from there to transfer them to Shaur who would illicitly bring them into Judea and Samaria.
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ deputy political bureau chief in Gaza, said on Wednesday that his organization was vindicated by Israel’s acknowledgment that its longtime target, military wing commander Mohammed Deif, was still alive and active.'Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal vetoed large-scale terror attack against Israel'
“The fact that the occupation confirmed that the general commander of the Al-Kassam Brigades is alive and engaged in the missions of his command is proof of Israeli intelligence’s failure to reach senior Palestinians,” Haniyeh said.
The former Islamist prime minister of the Hamas-ruled regime in Gaza said that the news constituted “a victory for the Palestinian resistance over the occupation.”
Sources in Israel believe that Deif, who has survived numerous assassination attempts by the IDF, most recently during Operation Protective Edge nearly a year ago, is now trying to forge closer ties between the Palestinian Islamist group and Iran.
According to Israel Radio, Deif is seeking to procure more armaments and funding for Hamas.
Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal vetoed a plan by the Islamist group’s military wing to carry out a large-scale terrorist attack in an Israeli community near the Gaza border just after the outbreak of Operation Protective Edge, Army Radio is reporting on Wednesday.One Year Since Fatah-Hamas Agreement, Unity Government Still Not Functioning
Citing Israeli intelligence sources, Army Radio reported that Hamas was set to deploy dozens of armed terrorists poised to cross into Israeli territory from Gaza through one of the group’s underground tunnels just days after Israeli warplanes began pounding targets in the Strip.
The plan is believed to have centered around Kibbutz Kerem Shalom. The mastermind of the operation, Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, wanted to surprise Israel by carrying out an attack via the tunnels just as the Israeli air force was in the midst of its bombing campaign. This was also before the extensive network of tunnels became the focal point of Israeli military efforts.
According to Army Radio, dozens of Hamas gunmen trained for the operation in which they would infiltrate the kibbutz, slaughter a number of civilians, and take a number of others alive as hostages before returning through the tunnels to Gaza.
Hamas’ intention was to then use the hostages as bargaining chips to be exchanged for prisoners in Israeli jails.
In April 2014, Fatah, the dominant faction in the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the terrorist organization Hamas announced the end of the longstanding and violent rift between them, which began in 2007 when Hamas staged a bloody coup to take over Gaza. Both movements announced a series of reconciliation measures. But the agreement, in addition to effectively ending American-sponsored peace negotiations, also failed to bring about a functioning government to serve Palestinian interests.PreOccupied Territory: Palestinians Puzzled Why Israeli Unity Gov’ts Not Violently Divided (satire)
A year later, many major issues are still outstanding. Israel saw the reconciliation as antithetical to the peace process. While PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party states it supports the two-state solution, the Iran-backed terror organization Hamas is violently opposed to peace with Israel, as its stated goal is the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a fundamentalist Islamic state.
Measures agreed upon by the two parties, such as renewing the activities of the Palestinian Legislative Council and holding elections, never came close to fruition. The only achievement was the establishment of a national unity government, and analysts say even this government did not perform its duties and became “the Government of Abbas.”
Israeli politics continues to surprise Palestinian observers, researchers say, specifically the unfamiliar practice Israeli unity governments follow of not having its component factions oppose each other with protracted, deadly clashes.
Israeli leaders have formed national unity governments on a number of occasions, among them the early-to-mid-1980’s, when Menachem Begin of Likud and Shimon Peres of Labor rotated as Prime Minister. Currently, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud is attempting to assemble a coalition that does not include Labor, and Labor leaders have specifically spoken out against joining a unity government, but the prospect of such an alliance has been invoked by political figures across the spectrum ever since Likud won an unexpectedly strong electoral victory a month ago. Such discourse has sparked confusion among Palestinians, whose only experience of a unity government to date involves gunfire, bombs, arrests, trumped-up charges, and reciprocal accusations by rival factions of betraying the Palestinian people.
Hamas and Fatah, the two major political factions vying for leadership of the Palestinian Authority – and the Palestinian people as a whole – have repeatedly engaged in an on-again, off-again unity arrangement under which the disparate geographic territories of the Gaza Strip, under Hamas sway, and the autonomous areas of the West Bank, where Fatah reigns, are theoretically under one government. Despite brief periods of rapprochement and declarations of shared purpose, Fatah and Hamas remain at loggerheads over every major issue except adherence to the long-term goal of removing Israeli sovereignty from every inch of “Historic Palestine.” The tension is further exacerbated by the clan-based demographics of Palestinian political organizations, in which extended family loyalty trumps any larger political aims. In contrast, Israeli unity governments, even at their most troubled, have seldom, if ever, featured such deep and deadly divisions, leaving Palestinian observers to wonder whether Israel even knows what it is doing.
