Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: self-death

Showing posts with label self-death. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Another six Gazans killed - by Hamas

From YNet:

Six Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel have been executed in the past two days by Hamas security officers in the fighting zone in Jabalya, Ynet has learned.

Among the alleged collaborators were three brothers, one of whom attempted before his arrest to swallow a cell phone's SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, which is believed to have documented his conversations with Israeli security officials.

In addition to the siblings, three other Palestinians were executed shortly after being seized on suspicion of collaborating with Israel and guiding the IDF forces, particularly Air Force warplanes, before the strikes.

Which means that the number of Arabs killed by Hamas since the war started is at least 50 (8 from 2008).

This is not counting the likely deaths from Hamas firing at IDF soldiers. (I recall a story a few days ago about 10 students killed in crossfire, sorry I did not bookmark it. If someone has that story please ping me.) It also doesn't count the two young sisters killed by an errant Qassam the day before Operation Cast Lead started.

It is not likely that you will find any newspapers keeping a count of the number of Arabs killed by Hamas, however. It is extremely likely that they are all included in the incessant counts of people supposedly killed by Israel.

My 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 43 (one of whom was in the West Bank.) These numbers are necessarily mostly from Israeli sources, as the Palestinian Arab media is very reluctant to speak about these except in very general terms, so I have had to loosen up my rules a little in deciding who is included. (This YNet article included their own verification, the earlier JPost article on 35 "collaborator" deaths didn't, which bothers me.) In reality, the numbers are probably higher.

UPDATE: I may have double-counted some; I'm adjusting accordingly.

Overnight PalArab news roundup

I finally found confirmation that Hamas has been executing "collaborators" during this operation in the Palestinian Arab press, although they do not give any numbers nor do they say that the victims were exclusively Fatah as the earlier Jerusalem Post story indicated.

There is one specific report of Hamas executing a 76-year old Fatah member and injuring his son, a woman and child because the man didn't adhere to his "house arrest."

For the purposes of my counting of Palestinian Arab on Arab deaths (the "self-death count") there is of course no way to know how many civilians are being killed by Hamas during the urban fighting with Israel. It is fair guess that Hamas is not nearly as concerned about Gaza civilian deaths as Israel is, and more than likely that Hamas craves such deaths so it can blame Israel. For example, yesterday's Guardian said that ten children were killed in Hamas-IDF battles - but who actually killed them? Similarly, there were at least three separate instances of Qasssams falling short in Gaza, killing two children and injuring others, in the thre days before Cast Iron started. How many of the hundreds of missiles since then have also fallen short, killed people and then Israel was blamed? One possible example is this story from Maan about a girl who was injured by a "missile" supposedly from an air strike; but how probable was it to have been an errant Qassam? We'll never know for sure, but it seems to me that the chances for Qassams falling short increase dramatically when the people launching them are in a very big rush to shoot it and disappear as quickly as possible. For now, though, I am only adding one to the 2009 self-death count, raising it to 37.

Another Arab source has an intriguing report, that Israel warned Syria that if Hezbollah tried to open a second front against Israel. Israel will hold Syria responsible - and attack the Syrians. Syria typically uses proxies to do its dirty work, but it is deathly afraid of anything that might destabilize the regime, so this makes a lot of sense.

There are reports that Israel arrested an Iranian reporter in Jerusalem for not adhering to Israeli military censorship.

News roundup

News you might have missed:

The 2009 PalArab self-death count got a huge boost from reports that Hamas has been executing Fatah members, killing 35 of them, worried that they are planning a coup during Israel's invasion. Palestine Press reports on many incidents of Hamas shooting Fatah members in the legs and beating them up, but only a few deaths.

Hamas is claiming very few casualties on their side; that they have killed 10 Israeli soldiers, and that they have kidnapped two of them, and destroyed tanks. All of these claims are, shall we say, dubious.

Here's a good example of PalArab "reporting," in English, from Ma'an:

Israel's air force strikes orphanage in Ar-Ramal; one killed

Israeli air forces struck an orphanage in the Ar-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza city on Saturday night, Ma'an's reporter in Gaza said.

One person was killed in an attack. The apparent target of the attack was a group of Palestinian fighters stationed near a mosque in the same neighborhood.

Residents of the Ar-Rimal neighborhood said that explosions could be seen in the vicinity of the Al-Amal (Hope) orphanage.

The headline implies Israel killing a kid in an orphanage; by the end you can see that it is likely that Israel killed a "fighter" near an orphanage.

Gaza cell phone and Internet service is being severely disrupted.

Some notable news links

Keeping up with the news is a bit overwhelming. I thank my commenters for linking to interesting stories. Here are a few that caught my eye:

The rocket that hit the school in Beersheba was made in China. Not quite homemade. It was also designed to spread lethal pellets over a large area, which would be considered yet another war crime for anyone who actually bothers to accuse Hamas of war crimes. (h/t busywolf)

Arutz-7 reported that Hamas executed at least 8 Fatah men (accused of"collaboration") trying to escape from prison during Israeli airstrikes on Sunday, quoting Yediot Aharonot. The New York Times mentioned the executions without saying how many deaths there were. I will add 6 to the self-death count to be as conservative as possible (I already had mentioned two.) (h/t henrik)

YNet published an "alert map" showing how many seconds Israelis have to find cover after hearing a Code Red alert. Notice that the range of rockets is now much larger than Gaza itself, which means that "buffer zones" would be meaningless.

Which brings up Moshe Arens' analysis of how to stop the rocket fire - he looks at all the possible alternatives that people suggest and that have been tried, and concludes that there is no alternative but IDF ground forces going in and taking full control of the rocket launching sites.

UPDATE: Commenter Henrik also pointed out an IHT article about executing "collaborators" in Gaza hospitals; I couldn't find his but found this version of it and it appears to be different people than the earlier article. So I am adding 6 more to the self-death count.

PalArab news roundup

Most of the Grad/Katyusha longer-distance rockets are being shot by Hamas, a few from Islamic Jihad. The remaining "older" Qassams are from the PRC. Only a couple have been claimed by Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigades since the start of the war.

By the way, no one can claim that the rockets hitting Beersheba, Ashdod and Netivot are "home-made." They were all smuggled in during the "calm" while the media was fixated on consumer goods being sent from Egypt to Rafah underground.

Lebanese officials promised they would "forensically examine" the Free Gaza boat to figure out whether IDF boats rammed it. The FGM freaks still claim they were fired at, even though none of the journalists on board have stated that. The captain appears to be somewhat of a liar too (he said that the IDF told him on the radio that they suspected "terrorists" were on board, which makes no sense; today he says that the "attack" happened "without any warning, or any provocation.")

The number of wounded people crossing to Egypt to be treated remains a trickle - only 15 yesterday. The PA has stopped blaming Hamas, though, now saying that it is because of a shortage of ambulances. Of course, Israel sent in 10 ambulances a couple of days ago (from the MFA site.)

Qatar and Israel agreed that humanitarian aid will be flown from Qatar directly to Ben Gurion Airport, from where Israel will send it to Gaza. Apparently, Egypt refused to allow the Qatari aircrafts to land at El Arish in the Sinai. Three planes are en route.

Hamas is taking control of the food sent in aid convoys and is selling it for inflated prices. Qatari and Egyptian flour is being sold by Hamas for 140 shekels a bag.

Hamas fighters are waiting for the ground invasion "on pins and needles."

Fatah leaders, possibly from the Al Aqsa Brigades, are demanding that Hamas returntheir weapons to them for the coming ground war.

A Jenin man killed his 28-year old sister in a possible "honor killing," bringing the 2008 PalArab self-death count to 231. I do not have confirmation of rumors that a number of Fatah prisoners were killed while escaping prison on Saturday (besides the two I reported.)

Insane Jew-hatred on Egyptian TV

They aren't even trying to pretend that they don't hate Jews anymore. From MEMRI (which now, unbelievably, requires registration to see their videos):

Following are excerpts from interviews with several Egyptian clerics, which aired on Al-Nas TV and Al-Rahma TV on December 28 and 29, 2008.

One of the clerics, Dr. Salah Sultan, is president of the American Center for Islamic Research (ACIR), a nonprofit organization registered in Ohio and located in Columbus....
Egyptian cleric Sheikh Muhammad Al-Saghir: "I say to the people of Gaza: Take my heart, which has hardened like a stone. Take it, and use it to stone all the Jews. Take my soul, and it will give you shade, for no longer does it fly far away. Take my eye - by Allah, take my eye. Perhaps a handsome youth, who was blinded, could see again. Take my skin, and turn it into a fuse or a slingshot for a child or a newborn baby."

Al-Rahma TV, December 29, 2008

Egyptian cleric Sheikh Muhammad Hassan: "We want to teach our children the truth about the Jews. We want them to know that the [Jews] will never make peace or agree to it. The Jews will never accept any international resolution, from East or West, because they understand nothing but force.
"I remember what the great terrorist Menahem Begin said: We fight, therefore we exist. These are real terrorists. They are extremists. They are blood-suckers. They are shedders of blood. Review the history of the Jews from beginning to end, from the very first moment to the last moment, which is now. They specialize in the shedding of blood, in crime, and in killing - even the killing of prophets."
[...]
Egyptian cleric Sheikh Amin Al-Ansari: "It is told that the Israelites killed more than 70,000 prophets in a single day. It's not the people they want to eradicate, but Revelation itself. They do not want there to be any revelation, purity, religion, or religious law. The secret behind the war between the Jews and non-Jews is that they want to have a monopoly on the spiritual and ideological leadership of the world, and eventually, the physical leadership.
[...]
"By the 'Chosen People,' they mean that they are a people, and all those who are inferior to them are not peoples. In other words, they are human beings, and all others are not. They are people, and all others are not. They are human beings, selected by God to be the leaders of all beings.
"So what about the rest of mankind? They view them as pigs. That's the truth. Pigs! So why do they look like human beings? So that they will be worthy of being servants of the Jews, who could ride on their backs and suck their blood.
"That's why when a Jew kills a Palestinian child, he considers him to be a little pig. What difference is there between the two?! On the contrary, he might show mercy for the pig, as an animal that should not be harmed. The Palestinian child is worth less to him than a pig." [...]

Egyptian cleric Dr. Sallah Sultan: "The arch-murderer who commanded the campaign against Jenin in 2003 went to America a few months later and boarded a NASA space shuttle. The space shuttle was launched by NASA, and a few minutes later, it reached Texas, the land of President Bush. Then this space shuttle shattered to pieces, along with the five top American space scientists, and that commander of the Zionist airforce was on board with them. Where exactly did it shatter and fall? By Allah, Sheikh Mahmoud, although I was living in America, I didn't know that there was a city called 'Palestine' in America. Sheikh Mustafa, the space shuttle fell, of all places, in the city of Palestine, in President Bush's state of Texas.
"The stone which is thrown at the Jews hates these Jews, these Zionists, because Allah foretold, via His Prophet Muhammad, that Judgment Day will not come before the Jew and the Muslim fight. The Jew will hide behind stones and trees, and the stone and the tree will speak, saying: 'Oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' The only exception will be the Gharqad tree."
TV host: "The Jews know this for sure, that's why they plant Gharqad trees."
Dr. Sallah Sultan: "The stone's self-awareness is such that it can distinguish Muslims from Jews."
TV host: "True, and it will support the Muslims."
Dr. Sallah Sultan: "America, which gave [Israel] everything it needed in these battles, will suffer economic stagnation, ruin, destruction, and crime, which will surpass what is happening in Gaza. One of these days, the U.S. will suffer more deaths than all those killed in this third Gaza holocaust. This will happen soon.
"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an attempt to rule and corrupt the entire world. When the world concentrates on its desires and lusts, the [Jews] will be free to implement their plan of controlling the world." [...]
Sheikh Muhammad Al-Gheini: "The truth is that I do not understand why the sons of apes do the things they do to us, especially whenever there is a holiday that may make the nation happy. Let me remind you that it was on the day marking the Prophet's nocturnal journey that Sharon defiled the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. This was also on a holy day."
[...]
Sheikh Safwat Higazi: "I take my little son Baraa, who is 10 years old, and make him look at the torn body parts of his Muslim brothers, in order to sow in his heart hatred and loathing for the Zionists, so he will know that these are his enemies.
[...]
"Israeli President Shimon Peres used to fill his helmet with the blood of Egyptian POWs, so that whenever he looked at it, he would be reminded that he had fulfilled his duty to his god."
TV host: "The Bahr Al-Baqr massacre is well known."

This is not simple anti-semitism. This is off the wall, foaming at the mouth craziness. It is unapologetic loathing, broadcast without any qualms by "moderate" Egyptian TV. These people don't just dislike Jews - they hate them with every fiber of their being. They literally want to see all Jews dead, as they unblinkingly claim that Jews are the ones guilty of desiring genocide.

Were there any opposing clerics on TV telling these guys that they went overboard? Were there any protests by moderate Muslims, picketing the TV station for broadcasting such loathsome opinions? Or can this be assumed to be the mainstream opinion of generations of Egyptians, who dare not allow their true thoughts to escape their lips in English for fear of losing billions of dollars of the hated Americans' money?

Fatah militant accidentally kills another in WB

It is not easy to understand the Arabic Ma'an news story, but it appears that a Fatah Presidential Guard member "accidentally" killed a colleague - and wounded two others.

I can understand a single accidental bullet, but three?

It seems that a woman threw something out of her window that might have caused the soldier to fire. So she was arrested.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now 230.

To Israel's critics who pretend to want "peace"

There has been no shortage of criticism of Israel for finally deciding to do something about incessant rocket attacks against its citizens. From the U.N. Secretary-General calling Israel's actions "excessive" to French President Nicolas Sarkozy saying that Israel is using a "disproportionate use of force" to the EU's Javier Solana saying "There is no military solution" to the situation in Gaza, down to the more reliably anti-Israel crowd from the "progressive" Left who decry the deaths of civilians, a large segment of the world seems to agree that israel has no right to act as it has been for the past few days.

Certainly, no one wants to see innocent people die in a massive military operation. But before you criticize Israel you need to answer a simple question:

What is the alternative?

It is easy to mindlessly repeat the comforting words "peace" and "truce" and "practice utmost restraint." Mantras require no thought. They are just soothing, comforting sounds with no meaning and no depth.

But calling for "peace" without a plan is not only shortsighted; it is counterproductive to the idea of peace itself. Certainly terrorists are not subject to international pressure nor to criticism by peace activists; their goals are inherently antithetical to peace. By calling on "both sides" to halt "hostilities" you are equating terror with self-defense, you are legitimizing terrorism and you are calling on the terrorized side to turn the other cheek and become the passive recipient of death and destruction - because the terrorists are unlikely to be swayed by your arguments. A vague desire for "peace" is not only meaningless, but it helps embolden terror.

The most common plan is never stated but it is implied by "peace activists." This plan is for Israel to do nothing - to accept rockets in the Negev as an ugly but permanent fact, perhaps to move residents further north for their own protection; to continue to provide Gaza with aid and to medically treat Gazans, to open the borders for unlimited trade with Gaza, to allow Hamas to import as many weapons as it wishes - because anything less than that is still considered "occupation." These so-called peace activists are nothing of the sort - they just want Israel to be destroyed as much as the Arab terrorists do. Their real plan is to replace the Jewish state with another Arab state where terror attacks against Jews can again become a daily occurrence in Tel Aviv and Haifa and Jerusalem. If this describes you, sorry for wasting your time - I suggest that you volunteer as a human shield for Qassam rocket launchers.

Some have called for another "truce." The idea seems appealing - let both sides stop attacks and bring things back to the status quo.

However, the status quo was completely unacceptable. Let's look at the last "truce." While Israel sent hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid, building materials, food, fuel, clothing and many trucks full of other essentials, Hamas eliminated any vestiges of freedom, arrested scores of Fatah members who survived the coup, imported Katyusha rockets and tons of weapons and explosives, built hundreds of Qassams, built up its cash reserves by indirectly using money that the international community sent to build up the PA, and started building tunnels for the express purpose of kidnapping Israelis. Even the rocket fire didn't halt until September and it restarted only two months later.

It is a well-established rule that it costs much less to solve a problem earlier rather than later. The "truce" - as well as the one that preceded it in late 2006 and early 2007, when Israel likewise refrained from military actions while Gaza terrorists continued to shoot rockets and arm themselves - is not a solution to any problem; it is a postponement of a much bloodier clash that is inevitable when we are dealing with one side that wants no less than the utter destruction of the other.

Another alternative that peace activists like to trot out is "end the occupation." Somehow, it is hoped, Israel's giving up land will magically make Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the PFLP and DFLP and PRC and Al Aqsa Brigades and Free Galilee Brigades and all the other terror groups put down their arms and happily accept Israel's existence.

Not only is this wishful thinking, but all evidence proves the exact opposite. Israel quit Gaza and it only emboldened terrorists to do more. What can explain thousands of rockets towards Sderot if you think that Arab terrorists do not have any land ambitions beyond the "territories"? In Arabic, they call Sderot and Ashkelon and Netivot "settlements," which means that the careful distinction that the world laboriously makes between "Israel proper" and the "territories" is completely meaningless to one side of this conflict.

Some say they understand Israel's motivation, but call for Israel's response to be "proportionate." What they don't recall is that Israel has had that policy for years now. Rather than respond immediately and devastatingly to rocket attacks, Israel has counseled its Negev residents to grin and bear it; it built shelters and installed sirens; it occasionally responded with targeted attacks against rocket launchers or terrorist leaders. This did not stop the rocket fire - rockets that have no purpose other than to terrorize civilians. For Israel to slowly increase the level of response is the guaranteed way to start the dreaded "cycle of violence."

A single attack by Israel to shut down the kidnap tunnel in November resulted in hundreds of rockets in response. A massive attack is meant to stop the "cycle of violence," and it has a much better chance of doing so.

Of course Israel needs to ensure that a minimum of civilians are hurt - and it is doing so. If you have any suggestions of how Israel can do a better job in that respect, I'm sure that the IDF is more than willing to listen. But keeping Hamas in power, unchecked, is not a formula for peace.

Criticizing is easy. Solving a problem is much harder. If those who say they want peace can offer better and realistic alternatives, where Israeli citizens as well as Gazans can both be safe and secure, please offer them.

Becuase if you can't, then the best advice is the crude but effective STFU.

Evening PalArabic news roundup

I mentioned this morning about a Saudi cleric who called for Muslims to attack Israeli interests everywhere.The Firas Press headline said that he called to shed the blood of Jews everywhere, although the article doesn't. I cannot yet find the original fatwa at Islam Online to check to see what the cleric actually said.

Earlier today, a large number of Palestinian Arabs crashed past the Rafah crossings and attempted to enter Egypt, some successfully. During these clashes a Hamas member shot and killed an Egyptian policeman. Mahmoud Abbas condemned this murder. This is besides the Gazan who was reportedly shot and killed by an Egyptian police officer. Apparently the fighting there was heavy, with Gzans throwing Molotov cocktails and the Egyptian forces firing into the crowd.

Israel plans to open the Kerem Shalom and Karni crossings on Monday for 53 trucks of humanitarian goods, including many trucks of aid for UNRWA.

Hamas shot a Fatah member during a funeral for another Fatah member (who died in a Hamas prison during an Israeli air raid) on Saturday. There were a number of accusations that Fatah members were left to be killed in the prisons while Hamas guards ran to safety.

A number of Fatah prisoners managed to escape during some of the air raids, and Hamas shot one of them dead while running away.

Hamas is claiming that they called up a thousand "reserves" to be ready for the next round of fighting.

Jordanian members of parliament burned an Israeli flag inside their chambers.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the terrorist arm of Fatah, finally joined Hamas and shot a couple of rockets at Israel, in an operation they call "Storm Volcano." Well, it's more catchy that either Oil Stain or Cast Lead.

The Palestinian Journalists Union showed its objectivity by calling on the international press to "objectively" support Gazans, to "objectively" report that most of the victims have been the elderly and women and children, and to "objectively" refer to the operation as "massacres" and "genocide." They slammed the Israeli press for not agreeing with this representation of the facts.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 229.

Qassam kills two girls - in Gaza

Yes, those rockets that were dismissed as "Christmas firecrackers" by PLO UN representative Mohammad Abu-Koash have killed again. Just this time, the victims were two Palestinian Arab girls:

A rocket apparently fired by Palestinians on Friday struck a house in the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinian sisters aged five and 13, Palestinian medics said.

Hamas police said they were investigating the cause of the blast in Beit Lahiya village in northern Gaza, which medics said seemed to be due to a rocket aimed at Israel that had misfired.

Earlier in the day, a seriously wounded 35-year-old Palestinian man, hurt by a misfired rocket on Tuesday, was taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment.

Apparently, Christmas came a little late to Gaza this year.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now 226, with 28 of them being children.

And the number of Arabs seriously injured and killed by Qassams since the latest escalation is far higher than the number of Israelis, even though the number of rockets that fall short seem to be perhaps in the 5% range.

Another work accident!

The supposedly unbiased Palestinian Arab Ma'an newspaper has a curious article this morning:

Three Palestinians were killed during a military operation near the Israeli-Gaza border in the north of Gaza and another two during a separate mission in the south-central region.

A statement from Hamas confirmed the death of three activists from their Al-Qassam Brigades. A statement from the group said the three were on a mission near the Israeli town of Netiv Ha’asara on the northern border with the Gaza Strip. They were identified as Muhammad Ma’ruf, Ahmad Abu Al-Ma’azza and Raed Al-Masri.

The statement also detailed the death of two other Al-Qassam activists, who were performing a "mission of Jihad” east of Al-Qarara in the southern Gaza Strip. The two slain activists were named as Islam Jadallah and Muhammad Al-Halabi.

Does it sound like all five were killed by Israel? Both groups were on a Jihad mission when killed, so what else could it be?

Ma'an knows very well what happened. The first group was killed by the IDF while trying to plant explosives at the border fence, and the second group was killed when they accidentally blew themselves up.The Hamas statement is pretty clear to anyone who has ever read such statements. Ma'an is trying to pump up the number of "martyrs" to incite public opinion for Hamas and against Israel, and here was a convenient opportunity.

Another Hamas member was injured in a different "mysterious explosion" as well.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 224.

Work accident!

Too late for this year's Splodie Awards, we have a 21-year old man who was working on a top-secret religious jihad mission in his house east of Khan Younis. Unfortunately, the mission involved the use of high explosives, and the house blew up, killing the young man and injuring three others, including his own father.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now a symmetric 222.

Today's Palestinian Arab news

An Al Jazeera reporter who was covering the latest Free Gaza publicity stunt accidentally shook hands with the far-left Israeli Channel Ten reporter who was on the same boat, and then said that had she known that the reporter was Israeli she would never have done so.

There are reports that Egypt asked Hamas to stop any rocket attacks for 24 hours so that Israel would continue to ship humanitarian aid to Gaza. This is plausible; there were no Qassams this morning although one landed in the afternoon so far. This means that Israel can expect huge rocket attacks one day and much fewer rockets the next, as Israel's policy has been to close the crossings for one day no matter how large or small the barrages are.

Gaza's electric company claims that they are down to 30% of their needs. Not that Israel is stopping sending electricity to Gaza, but the transformers have been burning out because of increased demand.

It appears that the technical hurdles to pumping natural gas from Egypt to Gaza through Rafah tunnels are being overcome; lead pipes from the UAE are being used to build these pipelines.

Refrigerators and washing machines are now being smuggled as well into Rafah.

Hamas is threatening to resume suicide attacks against Israel.

It appears that a Hamas-backed sheikh, during a Friday sermon, called Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh a "caliph", which upset the worshippers so much that they threw shoes at him.

PA security forces arrested a Hamas leader who had been thought to have been dead for years.

Another tunnel death. The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now 221.

The 2008 Splodie Awards

It is time for the much-anticipated Second Annual Splodie Awards, where we honor the best of the year's "work accidents" and other self-inflicted deaths in the peaceful Palestinian Arab areas.

Without further ado...

Best house explosion: A house exploded in Gaza on February 15th, killing an Islamic Jihad member and his entire family of 8. Apparently, the house was also the site of a missile factory, as eyewitnesses saw debris from the huge explosion that looked like Qassam rockets. Which just goes to show - sometimes, they really are home-made rockets!

Almost as bad as sand in your swimsuit: A beachfront Hamas training area was rocked by an explosion on March 20, killing two Hamas members. Hamas claimed that it was merely two really, really bad cases of sunburn for the vacationing jihadists.

Best place for Farfour the Mouse to play: On May 11, a Hamas member who was trying to bring some explosives to Israel exploded at the Gaza border fence. The Hamas press release said that he had been killed in the "playground of death" while preparing for a Jihad mission. Well, the UN does complain that Gaza doesn't have enough playgrounds.

Second best house explosion: In June, around 7 Hamas members attained paradise when the house of the Hamouda family in Beit Hanoun blew up. Unless there is a clause in a hadith somewhere that you don't get into heaven unless you kill some Jews. Boy, that would suck, wouldn't it?

The pen is mightier than the sword award: In October of 2007, Reuters credulously reported that Hamas was building a "media city" at the site of the former Israeli community of Ganei Tal in Gaza. They even showed a picture of a building being built there. Well, in July, a large explosion destroyed a building in that same community, killing two Hamas members. It must have been those highly-combustible 8mm tapes.

True truce award: Right after the "calm" started with Israel, a Hamas member was killed and his 17-year old brother severely injured when a bomb they were preparing blew up a bit earlier than intended. It was a moderate bomb, though, so Israel had no need to be concerned.

Best solution to the Gaza overpopulation problem: Hamas decided that the best way to train for urban battles was to

use live fire - and missiles - in a residential neighborhood of Gaza City. Residents panicked and many houses were damaged. But, Gaza is so crowded, what choice does Hamas have? Anyone who complains must be a collaborator, anyway. (A similar live-fire exercise did kill a civilian a couple of months later.)

Bada bing, bada boom award: A senior Hamas member, along with four others, were fragged at an explosion at the El Hilal Cafe. They were warned not to criticize the soup. It is, after all, a matter of honor.

Cyber warfare award: One of those nests of evil and vice, an Internet cafe, was targeted by a very religious and moral man who couldn't stand the idea of something so vile in the middle of the beautiful place known as Gaza. He managed to blow it up, thank Allah. Unfortunately, he was still inside, giving a new meaning to the phrase "distributed computing."

"Can you dig it? Um, no": A smuggling tunnel collapsed in Rafah in August, killing 5, and another one a week later killing 6 more. At least they had a really good accidental death plan from their employer.

The dead can't complain award: A bus filled with happy Hamas supporters took exception to the Islamic Jihad member who asked them not to sing when they were passing a funeral home. So they killed him. But they were very respectful about it.

Best bomb disposal of the year: A bomb was discovered near Gaza City and the Hamas police were called in to defuse it. The explosives expert carefully transported the device to the police station. There, surrounded by other explosives and weapons, he managed to detonate the bomb, killing himself and wounding others, as well as causing secondary explosions. I guess that Hamas experts have much more experience building bombs than dismantling them.

(Last year's awards can be seen here.)

This morning's peaceful PalArab news

Israel started releasing some 250 Palestinian Arab prisoners today, including people from Gaza. Hamas and Islamic Jihad welcomed these confidence-building measures and promised to reduce rockets and other terror attacks.

Just kidding. They said that this prisoner release was proof of the effectiveness of the "resistance" and that they would work to intensify those actions.

Israel today opened the crossing points to Gaza for about 100 trucks of goods - 26 for UNRWA, 24 for the "private sector", and some 40 trucks filled with wheat and other food and many more filled with fuel. This despite yesterday's Qassam and mortar attacks.

Hamas abducted three children in the Jabalya camp, the oldest of whom was 13, including two brothers. Witnesses say that the boys were thrown into a car while playing and driven away.

Another person died from the collapse of a smuggling tunnel. About twelve were injured in a fire in another tunnel.

The Palestinian Arab press is ecstatic over the Iraqi who threw his shoes at President Bush yesterday. Videos of the event are all over, and jokes about it are being repeated. For example:

President Bush asked President Abbas and journalists accompanying him to come to the White House on Friday without shoes.

The security services raided shoe factories in Hebron in the West Bank after the discovery of a shoe store near the Press Syndicate, and the journalist union denies the union/warehouse relationship.

The Union of Italian footwear manufacturers sent a letter of protest to the Iraqi government and will sue the journalist because his throwing their shoes was an insult to them.

[This is in the format of terrorist press releases - EoZ] In an official statement, the Hebron Shoe Association congratulates the successful operation in Iraq...

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 219.

Today's PalArab press roundup

A 22-year old died from injuries he received in a tunnel fire under Rafah three days ago.

Israel is sending some 110 trucks of aid to Gaza today, marking the third day in a row that humanitarian aid is allowed to Gaza. This despite a Qassam rocket yesterday and a mortar the day before shot from Gaza to Israel.

Iran claims that they are sending a ship to Gaza.

And here are some pictures of poor, oppressed, starving Gaza kids celebrating Eid al Adha. Since the pictures were a little too happy, the photographer made sure he framed a picture to make it look like the amusement park was inside a prison.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 218.

Tunnel electrocution!

From Ma'an:

20-year-old Nidal As’ad Abu Jami was electrocuted on Saturday morning inside a tunnel under the border between Egypt and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, local medical sources said.

Apparently, Gaza has enough electricity for smuggling tunnels!

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 217.

The slight epiphany of an Israeli leftist

Every once in a while, Ha'aretz' Bradley Burston wakes up from his leftist slumber and starts to comprehend the real problem. This is the part after he quotes exactly how the Mumbai murderers tortured their Jewish victims, a quote I cannot bring myself to post on this blog:

For the whole of my adult life, it irked me when my fellow Jews would routinely and without compunction, accuse anti-Zionists of being anti-Semitic, and conflate anti-Israeli sentiment with the Nazis.

I felt that the latter eroded the memory and the magnitude of the Holocaust, and that the former was a slightly more elegant way of telling people with whom one took issue, to shut the hell up.

Only this week did I realize my error.

It turns out, that when Jews suspected that the Jihadi hated the Jew the way the Nazi hated the Jew, they were right.

After all this time, I am embarrassed to admit that only when the monsters entered Chabad House in Mumbai, did I understand.

Monsters, not solely for what they did there, but, if the reports are to be believed, for the fact that they were able to do what they did after having actually gotten to know the young couple who founded the center, after asking them for shelter in Chabad House, after telling them that they were Malaysian students eager to learn about Judaism.

Monsters, for having befriended these sweet people in order to better learn how to execute them. Monsters, for having targeted a young couple who had devoted their lives to helping others better live theirs, despite having had a baby who died of a genetic disease and a second child ill and under treatment far away in Israel.

The monsters in Chabad House were not Nazis because they were Muslims. It was specifically because they so faithfully emulated the Nazis, that they, in fact, betrayed Islam.

The hatred of the Jihadi for the Jew is such that - as in the case of the Nazis - the killing of Jews - anywhere they may be found - is an obligation on par with whatever other enemy, target, cause, mission, goal or creed they may be pursuing at the moment.

Their hatred of the Jew is such that - as in the case of the Nazis - all tragedy that befalls the Jews was brought on by the Jews themselves.

Their hatred of the Jew is such that even if a Jew rejects the concept of a state of Israel and is wholeheartedly opposed to Zionism, if he wears the clothing of a believing Jew - as in the case of victim Aryeh Leibish Teitelboim - he will be bound and tortured and put to death.

Burston goes on to quote a rabidly anti-semitic sermon from PA TV from 2005. Why he only wakes up to the obvious after Mumbai and he ignored the evidence out there for years is a question only he can answer.

And, of course, he then goes on to distinguish between the bad Jihadis and the good Muslims (who also want to see the Jewish State utterly destroyed and who also reject the concept of Jewish self-determination, but whom Burston still feels an affinity to:)

Muslims the world over have recognized that the jihadi is a terrible threat to Islam. The world has seen that the jihadi, in hating the Jew, the Christian, the Hindu, the Muslim of another denomination, has become - like the Nazi - the enemy of all peoples everywhere.

The jihadi shows his love of death in brutality, sadistic executions, the self-righteous calm of the premeditated mass murderer, the blaming of the victim for the crime.

One lesson of the Holocaust is that one can't afford to miss the signs and the intentions.

I'm only seeing it now.

He clearly isn't, because he still ignores the celebrations from his moderate Muslim friends every time Jews are butchered in Israel.

And, judging from his track record, this realization will fade again as he gets caught up in his next column bashing right-wing Zionists and ignoring the links - some explicit and mostly symbiotic - between the jihadis and Israel's "peace partners."

But at least he noticed it for long enough to write it down.

Today's PalArab news

A "work accident" injured four Hamas members in Khan Younis.

Saudi Arabia denied Hamas accusations that they didn't give Hajj visas to Palestinian Arab pilgrims, as both sides continue to trade accusations and insults.

Hamas attacked, beat and killed a 41-year old chicken seller in a public market in the Maghazi camp in central Gaza.

The PalArab press quotes Maariv as saying that Israel will intercept the Libyan ship headed for Gaza, purportedly filled with humanitarian aid that is due to arrive on Monday. (UPDATE: They did.)

Meanwhile, Turkey says it will send its own ship to Gaza, in coordination with Hamas. It would supposedly contain medicines and "Palestinian campaigners."

Islamic Jihad said that it has no intention of continuing the illusory "calm" in Gaza past the six month mark, whose deadline is due in the coming weeks.

It is instructive that while the world media has been tirelessly reporting on the smuggling of food and fuel (and motorcycles and TVs) to Gaza, Egypt keeps intercepting shipments of weapons and explosives also bound for Gaza. These smuggled goods somehow escape the radar of the intrepid journalists.

Speaking of tunnels, an enterprising young man in Gaza has found a good use for the soil that is dug up by the tunnel diggers - he is building old-fashioned ovens out of the mud mixed with straw, and selling them for 150 shekels each. Apparently the mud is ideal for these ovens.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 216.

Palestinian Arabs fleeing West Bank

Firas Press reports on a huge number of young Palestinian Arab men who have been emigrating from the West Bank.

According to a new report by the Palestinian Economic Policy Research Institute in cooperation with the Central Bureau of Statistics,

There are surprising statistics about emigration in the Palestinian territories, which have been exacerbated in recent years, causing a "brain drain" to other countries.

The studies agreed that emigration, both domestic and abroad, has had negative effects on Palestinian society, in social, economic and political arenas.

The study revealed that the Palestinian territories is third in the Middle East in terms of migration rates and ranks sixth among middle-income countries, in addition to being a major part of the most vital migration corridors in the world.

The study said that the number of Palestinians who fled to Jordan since the beginning of this year exceeded 260,000, but during the same period, only 197,000 returned.

This has been a consistent pattern throughout the short history of Palestinian Arabs. The young, smart and ambitious have always sought to leave. These are the hundreds of thousands who emigrated en masse to Kuwait and Iraq in the latter half of the 20th century, the ones who refused to be stuck in "refugee" camps and fed by UNRWA for their entire lives. These Palestinian Arabs - including a large number in Europe and the Americas - represent the best and the brightest of their people, because they were they refuse to live on handouts and in a dead-end situation. While they are proud of their heritage, they really have little desire to live in a Palestinian state themselves. An additional 63,000 emigrants this year is not to be considered unusual.

Half of younger PalArabs want to emigrate. Apparently they don't care about living in "their" land all that much, and the enforced nationalism has not penetrated their psyches a great deal. They just want to live somewhere without worrying about war or the terrible PalArab economy, where they can get real jobs and support their families in honor. Building up a Palestinian Arab state is not a romantic notion to them - it is a bitter joke, as they have seen better than anyone how corrupt the legacy of Arafat has been, how their leaders are more interested in self-preservation than in real progress and how divided their people really are.

If the Arab world was smart, they would welcome these educated and motivated young men as citizens, rather than risk them going to the West. But unfortunately the Arab world is more fixated on keeping these people stateless - in the name of "Palestinian unity" - because of hatred of Israel as well as fear of the changes that an influx of hardworking, smart men could effect in their dictatorships.

So instead we see them leave whenever and to wherever they can. And the ones they leave behind are the lazy ones, or the ones who are attracted to terror, or the ones who just gave up.