Mordechai Kedar: I incite, therefore I am
Incitement against Israel is the only thing that the PA and PLO it established can do, because Israel has never exacted a real and tangible price for the incitement and assaults against Israel as the Jewish national homeland and its Jewish citizens. This is why the PA has adopted the religious symbols of Palestinian Arab existence, the Al Aksa mosque for example, whose surrounding area was once called "Al Haram Al Shairf." They prefer to call the entire area of the Temple Mount by the name Al Aksa, because that is mentioned in the Koran, which does not mention Al Haram Al Sharif nor the Palestinian People. By the way, the Koran does mention the Children of Israel and Jewish people many times, but not the Palestinians. I wonder why…Murder of Israeli-American child offers look at parental terrorism
There is, unfortunately, no escaping the conclusion that the PA and PLO must continue their anti-Israel incitement. They have no substance or legitimacy without this struggle, so that one can deduce as a founding principle that even if another Palestinian State, in addition to the one created by Hamas over nine years ago in Gaza, is established in Judea and Samaria one day, this state will not cease its incitement against Israel, so as to justify its existence.
The proof that this is an accurate assessment is what went on in Syria under the Assad family regime, who belong to the Allawite sect: Because they were seen as heretics, collaborators and idol worshippers, they had absolutely no legitimacy and made use of anti-Israel incitement to glue together the various tribes and families who were under their dominance but who had never been a Syrian nation. There never was a united, recognized Syrian nation, a bitter truth revealed by the last five years of bloodshed and massacres. And in the same vein, there is no Iraqi, Libyan or Algerian nation either – wait a minute, there is, nevertheless, a Palestinian one? Whom are we kidding?
That is the reason the international and Israeli demand that the PA refrain from anti-Israel incitement is a demand that the PA cannot and will not accept. Ceasing incitement pulls the rug from under the already shaky feet of the PA. and is a demand that cannot be acceded to. If the incitement brings people, mainly youth, to grab a knife in order to stab Israelis, or to load a gun in order to shoot at a civilian car, that is a necessary result of the very existence of the Palestinian Authority, whose entire being is contingent on a total war against Israel, one also being waged in the media, academia, the courts and the marketplace in Israel and around the world.
Hallel Yaffa Ariel, a 13-year-old Israeli-American child, was sleeping soundly in her bed last Thursday when 17-year-old Muhammad Tarayrah broke into her home in Kiryat Arba, Israel, proceeded to her bedroom, and repeatedly stabbed the life out of her. This heinous desecration of life was immediately celebrated by the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, proclaiming the neutralized murderer a “martyr.” Tarayrah’s mother expressed pride in her son, describing him as a hero.Khaled Abu Toameh: ISIS Comes to Gaza
Seddique Mateen, the father of Omar Mateen, is a resident of Port St. Lucie, Florida. Hours before his son slaughtered 49 people in Orlando, Seddique, of Afghan ancestry, posted a pro-Taliban video on Facebook. On June 13, the day after his son committed the massacre, Seddique posted on Facebook,“God himself will punish those involved in homosexuality.”
Could there possibly be an ideological connection between these acts of atrocity – the teachings of the proud mother and the rants of the homophobic father? Could it be that these parents have been reading from same 1,400-year-old “playbook” of Islamist subjugation?
Might we speculate, from the same gruesome pattern of butchery found at the scene of similar bloodbaths worldwide, that the same “playbook” has been followed to breed a multi-tentacled army of predatory monsters?
Since 9/11, radical Islam has claimed over 28,000 attacks across the globe. Nevertheless, the U.S. government maintains two decades’ worth of policy delirium that refuses to name radical Islam as the cause.
By referring to the Orlando shooter as a “deranged individual,” President Obama once again obscured the obvious Islamic fingerprint of Nidal Hasan, infamous perpetrator of the Fort Hood massacre in 2009. In that instance, despite Hasan’s cries of “Allahu Akbar,” our president insisted on reframing the barbaric execution of 13 unarmed soldiers ed as a case of “workplace violence.”
Recent reports leave no doubt as to cooperation between Hamas and ISIS groups in Sinai. These reports, the Egyptians and Palestinian Authority argue, provide further evidence that the Gaza Strip remains a major base for various jihadi terror groups that pose a real threat.Vic Rosenthal: Who will cut off the head of the snake?
The report said that terrorists wanted by the Egyptian authorities were admitted to the Gaza Strip hospital in return for weapons given to Hamas by the Islamic State in the Sinai.
Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) can continue to talk all they want about a Palestinian state that would be established in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. But when ISIS-inspired groups are active in Gaza and there are no signs that the Hamas regime is weakening, it is rather difficult to imagine a Palestinian state.
The jihadi groups clearly seek to create an Islamic emirate combining the Gaza Strip and Sinai. Abbas might thank Israel for its presence in the West Bank -- a presence that allows him and his government to be something other than infidel cannon fodder for the jihadis.
The persistence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is also abetted by Iran. Much of the intransigence of the Palestinian Arabs is due to their hope that outside pressure – both diplomatic pressure from the West and military threats, including those from Iran and its proxies – will force Israel to give in to their demands. Neutralizing Iran would take much of the military pressure off.
It is probably true that if the IRGC were to disappear tomorrow, so would most of the worst threats facing Israel. The IRGC is the “head of the snake” that former Saudi king Abdullah wanted to see cut off.
Until recently, Israel (as well as Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states) depended on the US to keep order in the Middle East and protect them from aggression. The botched response to 9/11 and the disaster of the Iraq war disrupted this, and now the Obama Administration has chosen to pull back precipitously, leaving a power vacuum that is being filled by Iran and Russia.
Israel is not a great power like the US still is or even a less-great power like Russia. It doesn’t have the depth or resources of a larger country like Iran. But it has extraordinary military power for its size. Unfortunately, despite its traditional desire to be left alone to tend its own garden, it is being forced into a situation in which the only way to guarantee its security will be to intervene more actively in regional affairs.
Someone needs to cut off the head of the snake. It may turn out to be us.
Foreign Min. blasts 'offensive' UNESCO Temple Mount resolution
Dore Gold, Director General of Israel's Foreign Ministry, blasted a draft resolution being considered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization committee (UNESCO) recognizing the Old City of Jerusalem's unique place in history - as a "Muslim site".UN Watch: UNESCO to question Jewish ties to Western Wall in Arab-sponsored draft resolution
In a letter publicized on Monday, a day ahead of the UNESCO vote on the Jerusalem resolution, Gold ridiculed the document as "a completely one-sided draft" that "deliberately ignores the historical connection between the Jewish people and their ancient capital".
The resolution under consideration describes the Temple Mount, the site of Solomon's Temple and later Herod's Temple and the holiest place in Judaism, merely as a "Muslim holy site of worship".
"In fact," writes Gold, "the Jewish attachment to Jerusalem has survived from ancient to modern times."
"Their ancient synagogues were destroyed and desecrated by a coalition of invading armies in 1948, who ethnically cleansed the Old City of any Jewish presence."
The Director General slammed UNESCO's de-Judaization of the Temple Mount in its draft resolution as an "effort to distort history", one which is "totally disconnected from reality on the ground."
United Nations Watch, a Geneva-based watchdog organization, expressed concern today that UNESCO may fuel anti-Jewish incitement and violence, and the increasing Palestinian denial of Jewish religious and cultural rights, by adopting an Arab-sponsored draft resolution that denies Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s Western Wall and Temple Mount.Jews may buy land in Zion
The Jordanian-Palestinian draft text on the Old City of Jerusalem was submitted to the 21-member World Heritage Committee, which meets over the next 10 days in Istanbul for its 40th annual session.
“This inflammatory resolution risks encouraging the past year’s wave of Palestinian stabbing and shooting attacks in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel, which began with false claims that Israel was planning to damage holy Muslim shrines,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
Under the battle cry of “Al-Aqsa mosque is in danger,” incitement in September by Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad sparked a wave of terror attacks across Israel which began on the Temple Mount and eastern Jerusalem. At least 40 have been killed and more than 500 wounded. The Palestinian attacks include 155 stabbings, 96 shootings, 45 car ramming attacks, and one bus bombing.
Throwback Thursday, from the San Francisco Chronicle, 1908.
There was no Palestinian state in this territory in 1908- it was in the control of the Ottoman Turks. In 1908 the Sultans private estates went on sale, and a Jewish group negotiated their purchase. The Chronicle reports:
"There is little doubt that the Jews will soon once more be in possession of the site of ancient Jericho, the land which was the first fruits of their conquest in Canaan"
This is not "stolen land". The Jewish people have come home, and are home to stay.
Fred Maroun: The Arabs' Historic Mistakes in Their Interactions with Israel
Because of our own mistakes, our relationship with Israel today is a failure. The only strength in our economies is oil, a perishable resource and, with fracking, diminishing in value. We have not done nearly enough to prepare for the future when we will need inventiveness and productivity. According to Foreign Policy Magazine, "Although Arab governments have long recognized the need to shift away from an excessive dependence on hydrocarbons, they have had little success in doing so. ... Even the United Arab Emirates' economy, one of the most diversified in the Gulf, is highly dependent on oil exports".Holding Arab Culture Accountable
Business Insider rated Israel in 2015 as the world's third most innovative country. Countries from all over the world take advantage of Israel's creativity, including countries as remote and as advanced as Japan. Yet we snub Israel, an innovation powerhouse that happens to be at our borders.
We also fail to take advantage of Israel's military genius to help us fight new and devastating enemies such as ISIS.
Worst of all, one of our own people, the Palestinians, are dispersed -- divided, disillusioned, and utterly incapable of reviving the national project that we kidnapped from under their feet in 1948 and that we have since disfigured beyond recognition.
To say that we must change our approach towards Israel is an understatement. There are fundamental changes that we ourselves must make, and we must find the courage and moral fortitude to make them.
The Jews are not keeping the Arabs in camps, we are.
Individual liberty is not a cornerstone of Arab culture, learning is emphasized as a process of transmission rather than questioning, and women are often not seen as full citizens, regardless of their legal status. An anecdotal example: when an educated Arab acquaintance’s wife tried scheduling an appointment for a cesarean section, the hospital sought his approval. according to the 2015 Global Gender Gap Report, statistical evidence suggests that of the fifteen countries with the lowest rates of women’s participation in the labor force, thirteen are in the Middle East. The report further details that only 18% of working-age Arab women have jobs, and that in 2015 the unemployment rate among young women in Arab states was almost 44 percent, compared to 22.9 percent of male youth.National best interest
One can argue about the role that different strains of Islam have played in forming such values, or Islam’s attempt to root out tribalism and ethnocentrism to no avail. whatever the case maybe, the combination of tribalism and religion has been deadly, the chaos in the region being a case in point. For the time being, Arab obsession with Israel has expanded into an obsession with Iran, coupled with a rampant moral amnesia regarding the Syrian refugees’ catastrophe. There is no lack of financial resources in the Middle East, yet certain Arab states spend billions of dollars on weapons while unwilling to allow Syrian refugees in their countries, placing even greater burdens on the refugees themselves and the countries already hosting millions. Arabs are cheering the Saudi led coalition in Yemen, but make no effort to rebuild the country or settle the displaced Yemenis.
Today, Arab media, politicians, and the common people are busy condemning Iran and Shiites for the destruction in the region. Iran’s pernicious behavior is counterproductive; yet pretending Iran’s intervention in "Arab affairs" is the source of all ills in the region is a fallacy. Informed observers would argue the political turmoil has been in the making for decades, driven by a brutal combination of authoritarian leadership, limited social progress, and a dismal economic record. It is now time for Arab intellectuals to seriously examine the political, social, and economic circumstances that led to this state of affairs, in order to begin advocating for a real path forward.
Despite what some might wish us to believe, the United States does not provide aid to Israel out of charity. Rather, it is a strategic investment, closely tied to US interests in the region: safeguarding the only reliable ally that the US has in that corner of the world; stabilizing the Arab-Israeli conflict and deterring Israel’s neighbors from resorting to war; giving Israelis the security that they need to make the painful concessions necessary for peace, should Israel’s neighbors eventually return to the negotiating table; and doing so without requiring the direct intervention of US troops, as has been necessary in virtually every other conflict zone in the world.Israel, Egypt working ‘feverishly’ to arrange Netanyahu summit with Sissi
Towards achieving these ends, the US has received more than its money’s worth. Which is what makes it all the more vital that negotiations over the next 10 years of security assistance should not fall prey to petty personality conflicts or to individual grievances.
The 10-year, $40 billion aid package that the Israeli government has reportedly negotiated its way down to, would amount to an annualized increase of only 2.9-percent over the prior 10-year agreement – only slightly greater than the pace of inflation. In the aftermath of a deal that fortified Iran’s defenses – freeing up billions for Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, as well as arming Iran’s proxies along Israel’s borders – it should be readily evident that such an increase should be the minimum appropriate. What is equally essential toward supporting US objectives, however, is the sustainment of the off-shore portion of this aid.
Israel and Egypt are working “feverishly” to arrange a visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Egypt, a TV report said, as Sissi’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks with Netanyahu in Israel on Sunday night.Netanyahu’s Multi-Nation Trip Marks ‘Overdue’ Step in Israel-Africa Relations
The goal of the visit would be to coordinate a regional peace effort, Channel 2 News said. Israel Radio reported earlier Sunday on efforts to arrange a Netanyahu-Sissi meeting, but there was no official confirmation.
The summit could be held in Cairo or Sharm -e-Sheikh, the TV report said.
Netanyahu has not met with Sissi since the Egyptian president took power in 2014. They speak frequently by phone, however.
Israel is hoping the trip can be arranged by the end of the year, the TV report added, both to offset any pressure surrounding the French effort to convene an international summit, and to reduce the likelihood of President Barack Obama attempting to initiate any new peace bid in the final weeks of his presidency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a historic multi-nation trip to Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Ethiopia this week, stressing the importance of improved diplomatic ties and economic cooperation after several decades of strained Israeli relations in Africa.Togo president to visit Israel in August
“Israel is coming back to Africa and Africa is coming back to Israel,” Netanyahu said during a meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, a mantra the Israeli prime minister repeated throughout the trip.
In the first decades of Israeli statehood, the Jewish state had good ties with many countries across the 54-nation African continent. But following decisive military victories by Israel over its Arab neighbors in the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Arab nations pressured many of those countries to break off relations as part of a decades-long diplomatic assault to isolate Israel.
Yet today, with Israel growing into an economic, technological, and military leader, African nations are understanding the potential value of renewed cooperation with the Jewish state.
“From the point of view of international relations, economy, science, sport, trade, political cooperation in the United Nations, it is very important. It’s obvious, it’s absolutely obvious,” said Zvi Mazel, whose former roles include Israeli ambassador to Egypt and deputy director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry in charge of African relations.
“What Netanyahu is doing right now is very important, but it should have been done a long time ago. It’s overdue,” Mazel told JNS.org.
Togo President Faure Gnassingbe is expected to arrive for a visit in early August, The Jerusalem Post has learned, with Jerusalem keen on keeping alive the momentum of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Africa.'14 West Bank settler outposts to be legalized, 20 already approved'
Togo is one of Israel’s strongest friends in western Africa, as evidenced last September when it joined Rwanda, Kenya and Burundi as the other African states in supporting Israel at a key vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Gnassingbe was last here in 2012.
Togo has already given the visit its okay, with a final confirmation expected soon from Jerusalem.
In the last four years Israel has advanced plans to legalize 14 West Bank outposts and has approved 20 such fledgling hilltop communities, Peace Now said in a new report it issued on Monday.IDF chief: Second Lebanon War brought decade of quiet in north
“The retroactive legalization of illegal outposts are a slap in the face of the Quartet,” said Peace Now, as it referenced a report that was issued earlier this month on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
To the bitter disappointment of the Palestinians, that report did not blame settlement building for the frozen peace process.
For Netanyahu to continue settlement activity in the wake of such a report, Peace Now said, is a signal to “Israel's most important allies that he is not interested in peace and two states but rather in the continuation of the occupation.”
Settlement activity continues unabated, it said, as it pointed the results of the July 6 Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria meeting, in which plans were advanced to legalize Horesh Yaron.
The 2006 Second Lebanon War was widely seen in its time as a mishandled war that failed to achieve the objectives set by then-premier Ehud Olmert, including the destruction of Hezbollah. A decade later, that assessment is changing.Report: Israel conducting drone strikes in Sinai with Cairo’s okay
In a letter to troops on the tenth anniversary of the war, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said on Sunday that the war had dealt “a severe blow to the Hezbollah organization, reestablished Israeli deterrence,” and helped bring about “a sustained and stable quiet along the Lebanese border that is a boon to civilians on both sides of the border.”
In the letter, Eisenkot, who served as the army’s chief of operations during the war, acknowledged the command failures of 2006, but said that they had driven the army to massively improve its capabilities, training and equipment, as well as emergency preparedness for the homefront in the event of massive missile barrages on Israel’s cities.
“We see the dramatic advances we’ve made in the years [since 2006]. The IDF of 2016 is prepared, trained and equipped… The regimen of training for IDF fighters has increased and improved. Steps were taken to improve the readiness and operational capabilities of the reserves,” he said.
“The defense of the homefront has been improved in order to ensure the safety of Israel’s citizens in wartime and to grant the frontline fighters the breathing room to defend and win. All of these things will enable the IDF — if it is so ordered — to win in a future conflict,” Eisenkot added.
Israel has carried out drone strikes against terrorists operating in the Sinai Peninsula in recent years, according to a Bloomberg news report Monday that quoted an unnamed former senior official.Israel nabs 2 Palestinian intel officers for making, selling guns
The airstrikes were conducted with Egypt’s knowledge and blessing, according to the ex-official, who spoke to the US-based news site on condition of anonymity.
While it has become a well-known secret that Jerusalem and Cairo cooperate closely on security measures in the Sinai and Gaza, many of the details of that relationship have been kept a closely guarded secret.
This report, published during Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s visit to Jerusalem, sheds additional light on covert security cooperation, which has come along with increasingly close ties on the political front.
Islamists in the restive Sinai who have since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State have waged an insurgency against Egyptian forces since the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Israeli forces arrested four Palestinian men outside of Nablus on Sunday night, including two members of the Palestinian security service, who are believed to be involved in the production and sale of illegal weapons in the West Bank and Israel, the Shin Bet security agency said.Netanyahu at Entebbe memorial: We fight terror fearlessly
Numerous guns, ammunition and four drill presses, believed to have been used to create improvised weapons, were also seized in the raid, which took place in the village of Urif, just south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, the Shin Bet said.
During the raid, Israeli forces picked up Assem Najah Sharif Safadi and Ali Najah Sharif Safadi, residents of Urif who serve as intelligence officers in the Palestinian Authority’s security service, the Shin Bet said.
Saadi Najah Sharif Safadi, 46, and Najah Assad Najah Safadi, 24, were also arrested in the crackdown, the security service said.
The four men appeared to be related to one another, but this could not be immediately confirmed with law enforcement.
“The assessment is that the above-mentioned took advantage of their connections to also sell [guns] to arms dealers in Israel,” the Shin Bet said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to continue taking action to defeat terror, during a memorial to mark the 40th anniversary of the rescue of Israeli hostages held by terrorists at Entebbe airport in Uganda in 1976.Relatives of Palestinian attack victims sue Facebook for $1 billion in US court
His brother Yonatan was killed rescuing the hostages held by German and Palestinian hijackers. In Hebrew, the operation is dubbed “Operation Yoni.”
Speaking at the ceremony in Jerusalem, the prime minister called the mission “the most impressive hostage rescue operation in history.”
“Bold steps for the security of the state are taken all the time, even thousands of miles from home,” Netanyahu said, stressing that Israel “will continue to act fearlessly against terror.”
Israel has been hit by a wave of terror attacks since October last year that has so far claimed the lives of 34 Israelis in a series of stabbings, shootings, car-rammings and a suicide bombing.
A group of Israelis and Americans bereaved in Palestinian attacks said on Monday they would seek $1 billion in damages from Facebook Inc. for alleged complicity, as part of a suit filed in the United States against the social media giant.Terrorist who killed American Lakin, 2 others, sentenced to triple life sentence
The plaintiffs, relatives of four Israeli-US dual nationals and one visiting US citizen who died in attacks in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or the West Bank between 2014 and 2016, accused Facebook of helping Hamas terrorists operate.
Asked to comment on the lawsuit, Facebook's Israeli PR firm said the company "does not respond on any issue currently subject to legal procedure."
The private legal initiative follows censure from Israel's public security minister over what he deemed the firm's reluctance to help track potential Palestinian militants and curb incitement to violence. In response, Facebook defended its regulations against online abuse.
The Palestinian man convicted of killing three people, including American Richard Lakin, in a terror attack in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in October was sentenced to three life sentences plus an additional 60 years at the Jerusalem District Court on Monday.Missing soldier’s family blocks Hamas inmates’ visitors
Balal Abu Gaanam, from Jabel Mukaber, the Arab neighborhood adjacent to Armon Hanatziv, was also ordered to compensate the victims families with NIS 250,000, to pay those wounded in the attack NIS 150,000 and to pay the driver of the bus he attacked NIS 100,000.
Abu Gaanam was convicted in June of multiple murder and attempted murder charges for brutally murdering three Jewish men and wounding 10 others on an Egged bus in the capital.
Haim Haviv, 78, Alon Govberg, 51, and Richard Lakin, 76, were killed in the bloody October 13 attack, which made international headlines and rattled the nation.
State Prosecutor Uri Korb said that Ghanem “did not express regret for his actions.”
The parents of fallen IDF soldier Oron Shaul blocked the entrance to Nafha Prison in southern Israel to prevent relatives of Hamas prisoners from seeing their family members on Monday, after their attempts to revoke other privileges from the inmates failed this week, Ynet news reported.Hamas and Saudis spar over Iran's role in Middle East
In addition to the protest, the Shaul family filed a petition with the High Court of Justice Monday to rescind the visitation rights for Hamas prisoners.
Shaul was killed in an attack on an armored personnel carrier during the 2014 Gaza war. His body was reportedly stolen by Hamas terrorists, who spirited his remains back to the Gaza Strip where they have remained ever since.
“Just like were were stripped of our humanitarian right to know what is going on with our son who is being held by Hamas, we should also not allow the families of terrorists to enjoy privileges and conditions beyond what is required from the Geneva Convention,” the family said in a statement on Sunday.
Under Israeli Prison Service regulations, the families of security prisoners in Israel are allowed to visit their incarcerated relatives every other week.
Outside the prison, Shaul’s father Herzl blasted the government for failing to act, Ynet reported.
Hamas condemned former Saudi Intelligence Chief Turki al-Faisal’s statements that he made at the Free Iran conference, a gathering of anti-Iranian regime dissidents, in Paris on Saturday. In his speech, Faisal accused Iran of destabilizing the region and “spreading chaos” through its support for militant organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).EXCLUSIVE - Source: Hamas Foiled Large-Scale Islamic State Attack On Gaza Government
In a statement published on its official website, Hamas did not mince its word in expressing its criticism. “Hamas condemns the statement of the The King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies Chairman Turki al-Faisal, in which he belittled and made accusations against Hamas and the Palestinian resistance."
“We in Hamas reject these baseless and false defamations. One who observes these issues closely knows that Hamas is a Palestinian resistance movement against the Zionist occupation in the land of Palestine and has an agenda in the interest of its people and issue,” the statement said.
PIJ also denounced Faisal’s remarks in a statement to Amad News, a Palestinian news outlet. “We in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad condemn these statements and emphasize that they are false accusations that only serve the Zionist agenda that seeks to liquidate the Palestinian issue and conquer all Arab and Islamic capitals,” the statement said.
Hamas has foiled a large-scale attack on Gaza government institutions, facilities, and officials that was planned by Islamic State loyalists, a senior official in the movement told Breitbart Jerusalem.Mashaal to residents of Gaza: The 'siege' will end soon
Ten jihadi activists from the southern Gaza Strip were arrested by Hamas last Tuesday, the last day of Ramadan, and admitted that they had pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the official disclosed.
Hamas police seized large sums of money and weapons that were presumably to be used against Hamas targets, the official said, predominantly the internal security department, which is in charge of imposing a ban on rocket fire.
Several Hamas officers have been accused of torturing the suspects.
The suspects allegedly admitted to having planned the attack independently of IS headquarters in Syria and Iraq, but were inspired by the organization and adhered to its ideology, the official said. Dozens of other jihadists who have gone underground are expected to be arrested over the coming days, as information on their whereabouts emerges from the investigation.
Last week, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that Hamas arrested six jihadists who returned from fighting for IS in Sinai.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is praising the steadfastness of the people of Gaza for surviving several wars and dealing with the consequences of the "Israeli siege".PA Cleric: Muslims Are Not Terrorists; Americans Killed Millions of Indians, Africans, Japanese
Mashaal made the comments in a recorded speech which was played at a Hamas gathering in Gaza on Saturday.
He pledged that Hamas will continue to work day and night to lift the blockade and strengthen “the struggle” against Israel.
Mashaal tried to sound an optimistic tone in his words, clearly in an attempt to calm the Palestinian public. In this context, Mashaal said that signs of “breaking the siege” can be seen on the horizon, praising Qatar which invested considerable efforts on this issue, as well as Turkey for continuing the efforts today.
Hamas, Mashaal said, is a movement of struggles and not wars, and its objectives are: the liberation of “Palestine” and its holy places, protecting the Al-Aqsa Mosque, protecting the land from the “settlements” and the return of refugees.
His comments follow the recent reconciliation agreement between Turkey and Israel, which did not include an Israeli lifting of the naval blockade on Gaza. It did, however, see, a Turkish aid ship arriving in Gaza via Israel last week.
In an address broadcast on the Palestinian Authority TV channel on June 23, Palestinian cleric Sheikh Imad Hamatu said that while the Americans had killed 27 million Indians when they entered America, over 40 million Africans whom they carried off to the American colonies, and hundreds and thousands in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Muslims are not terrorists. "The Prophet Muhammad carried out 27 raids and 38 attacks," said Hamatu, in which "there were only 1,284 casualties," most of whom were from among the Muslim army.
Veteran war reporter Marie Colvin was 'tracked and deliberately targeted' by Assad regime before her killing in Syria
The Syrian government tracked and assassinated an American journalist to stop her reporting on its atrocities, according to a lawsuit filed by her family.Now ISIS organise their very own Jihad Olympics - complete with tug-of-war and musical chairs
Marie Colvin, a veteran war correspondent, was killed by rockets fired at a house she had been staying at in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs, western Syria, in February 2012.
Colvin, then reporting for The Sunday Times, was killed with French photographer Remi Ochlik. British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian interpreter Wael al-Omar were wounded in the same attack.
The civil lawsuit, the first of its kind brought in the US against the Syrian regime over its conduct in the civil war, alleges that officials deliberately targeted rockets at the house, which was being used as a makeshift media centre by opposition groups and foreign journalists.
President Bashar al-Assad’s government claimed after the attack that they had not known who was in the house, or that any of the journalists were in the country as they had entered “illegally”.
ISIS is known for staging horrific public executions but these bizarre pictures show the terrorist group attempting to portray a very different image.
The photographs capture children as young as five taking part in a makeshift Jihad Olympics, believed to have been staged in the ISIS controlled city of Tal Afar, in Iraq.
The terrorist group apparently begged people in the area to join in the 'fun' and take part in games including tug-of-war and musical chairs.
Dissidents revealed that the regime is desperate to portray life as normal under ISIS in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria, according to the Daily Star.
And these images, which were posted to Twitter by Terrormonitor - a group that report on terror activity around the globe - appear to show ISIS attempting to do exactly that.
In the pictures, children don a selection of British football shirts as they compete against each other in the miniature Olympics put on by the terrorist group.
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