Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Video: Hamas TV glee at possibility Israelis were killed

Hamas TV broadcast its delight at the news that civilians in Israel were targeted. (From IDF YouTube channel)

Hamas claims "spies" are turning themselves in, urges Gazans to ignore warning leaflets

Palestine Today reports that the Hamas interior minister announced that some Gazans have turned themselves in for being spies for Israel.

The minister, Islam Shahwan, said that they are being kept safe in exchange for their cooperation.

Six suspected spies were executed and their bodies mutilated yesterday by this same, thoughtful Hamas government.

Islamic Jihad reported on a vigilante lynching of a "collaborator" in Gaza City on Friday as well.

Shahwan also warned Gazans about Israeli intelligence using emails and phone calls to turn them into spies. He said that some will impersonate government officials.

Furthermore, Shahwan warned Gazans to ignore any Israeli leaflets that are dropped, warning them that bombs will be dropped in their area. He urged them to stay home instead.

The 1977 Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions requires that, if possible, civilians must be warned:

Effective advance warning shall be given of attacks which may affect the civilian population, unless circumstances do not permit.

But Hamas is telling citizens to ignore warnings meant to save their lives.

Is there any further proof needed that Hamas wants to see Gazan civilians killed?

Hamas knows that every dead baby - on both sides - is a victory. It is a shame that the media hasn't yet caught onto that simple fact.

Hamas war crimes poster (6) - the Tel Aviv bus bombing

Sixth in a series:

How did the baby Omar Mishrawi die?

One of the most iconic - and tragic - photos from the current fighting in Gaza is surely this one, showing BBC Arabic journalist Jihad Mishrawi mourning his dead son:

PCHR described the incident this way:

[At 16:15] an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a house belonging to Ali Nemer al-Masharawi in al-Zaytoun neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. Two members of the family (a woman and a toddler) were killed: Hiba Aadel Fadel al-Masharawi, 19, and Omar Jihad al-Masharawi, 11 months.

Electronic Intifada reported this as a "missile strike" but described it this way:

According to neighbors and witnesses, a mass of fire hit the roof of the Masharawi family home in a densely packed area in southern Gaza City.

“Our area is void of any suspicious activity and I can assure you there are no armed persons here and the area is always calm and inhabitants know each other,” Jihad said, showing the missile’s damage to his home. “I never imagined that my home would be an Israeli target. Why has it been hit?”

The Washington Post looked deeper into the story:

An Israeli round hit Misharawi’s four-room home in Gaza Wednesday, killing his son, according to BBC Middle East bureau chief Paul Danahar, who arrived in Gaza earlier Thursday. Misharawi’s sister-in-law was also killed, and his brother wounded. Misharawi told Danahar that, when the round landed, there was no fighting in his residential neighborhood.

“We’re all one team in Gaza,” Danahar told me, saying that Misharawi is a BBC video and photo editor. After spending a “few hours” with his grieving colleague, he wrote on Twitter, ”Questioned asked here is: if Israel can kill a man riding on a moving motorbike (as they did last month) how did Jihad’s son get killed.”

Danahar also shared the following photos of Misharawi’s small Gaza home, which appears to have been heavily damaged. The place where the round punctured his ceiling is clearly visible.

In the first picture, doesn't the hole in the ceiling look a lot like what Qassam rocket damage looks like when they hit homes in Israel?

I am far from a munitions expert, but these photos look nothing like the damage to Gaza buildings from purposeful Israeli airstrikes that we've seen over the past week.

On Wednesday, when Omar was killed, the media was not attuned to the idea that Hamas rockets sometimes fall short. As the comments above show, even the Arabs living there were wondering how Israel with its pinpoint accuracy could have failed so badly - yet no one considered that this could have been because of Hamas rockets falling short, as was the case with Mahmoud Sadallah.

I received an email from someone with serious military experience. Here is the analysis:

First of all, Israel isn’t using incendiary weapons, and won’t, so any “mass of fire” that hits anyone is going to be a secondary effect from the original high-explosive effect, and will involve something like a propane container, chemical container, etc. Israeli bombs and air-to-surface missiles don’t produce masses of fire hitting people’s roofs.

Second, if the “round” of an Israeli weapon had literally come through the roof where the hole is visible in the photo, there’d be no house to take pictures of now. Compare the photos of the Masharawi house with the photos of the wreckage of the Al-Dalu (Doula) house. Then compare the Masharawi photos with photos of the Israeli homes hit by Hamas rockets.

Dalu home

Qassam damage in Israel

This isn't definitive, of course, and there are other things to consider, like whether Hamas rockets were flying at the time. [Which they most definitely were on the first day of the operation - EoZ].

OK, now I’m looking at the second photo of damage. If the blast from an Israeli weapon had occurred inside this home, the wood on the windows would be entirely gone. No trace left. The walls wouldn’t be intact. Their top portions, at least, would be a pile of rubble around the base of the wall. The iron grilles on the windows would probably be lying on the ground somewhere.

The story doesn’t hang together. An Israeli bomb could not have penetrated the roof of this structure, then exploded, and have left the structure looking as it does: charred on some surfaces, but still intact.

I note that a Hamas rocket could have done exactly this damage, including the projectile-through-the-roof feature. There are other conceivable scenarios in which secondary damage could have been done by an Israeli hit nearby, but in no case would it have been possible for an Israeli weapon to penetrate the roof as described, and then do nothing more than char the surfaces and rearrange the furniture.

I want to stress that I am not nearly as certain about this as I was about Mahmoud Sadallah. But to my mind, this appears far more consistent with a Hamas rocket that then ignited something highly flammable inside the house. Most Gaza homes rely on propane heaters and gasoline-powered generators, and they have to keep the fuel somewhere - in fact, unless I'm mistaken, there appears to be a damaged fuel can on the top shelf of the first photo from inside the house above.

A lot has happened since then and it seems doubtful that anyone is going to revisit this on the ground, but someone should at least ask Paul Danahar from the BBC whether he even considered that this could have been the work of an errant Gaza rocket.

And if not - why does he rule it out?

Hamas war crimes poster (5)

Fifth in the series:

Al Jazeera correspondent sees rocket barrage live in Ashkelon (video)

This Al Jazeera reporter was not expecting to have such a dramatic live report:

(h/t O)

Here come the staged Gaza doll photos!

We saw them in Lebanon, and now - they're back!

What would a conflict be without photographers staging photos?

And what better staging is there than dolls?

A Palestinian boy holds a doll as he walks amid the rubble of a destroyed house after what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip November 20, 2012

A Palestinian man picks up a doll lying on shattered glass in a damaged house following an Israeli air raid in Gaza City on November 17, 2012. (AFP)

A Palestinian boy salvages a stuffed toy from a building destroyed by an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip (Picture: EPA)

A Palestinian man carries a stuffed toy through a street littered with debris after an air raid on a sporting center in Gaza City on Monday. (CNN)

A ridiculous amount of links. And all of them are really good.

From Ian:

IDF Chief Benny Gantz Preps Soldiers:
“When you go in take a look backwards once to remember why you are doing it, look at Sderot, Ofakim and the communities you do not see–and from that moment stop looking backward and look only forward,”

IDF Blog: Pillar of Defense: Sixth Day Recap

The man who keeps Tel Aviv safe from rockets
Commander of newest Iron Dome battery ensuring Fajr-5 rockets don't hit city.

"Maj. Itamar Abu is keeping the millions of residents of the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area safe from death and destruction.

Lebanese Army Disarms Two Rockets Aimed at Israel
Two Katyusha rockets aimed at Israel from southern Lebanon were discovered and disarmed by the Lebanese army, a security official told the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star.

Dealing with Hamas’s human shield tactics
Pilots often ordered to call off air strikes at last moment.

"The IAF is dealing with an enemy keen on using the densely populated Gaza Strip as a rocket base, often shooting the projectiles from the tops of residential buildings, or near schools, mosques, and other public places."

Hamas' Tactic: Require Israel to Cause Civilian Casualties by Alan M. Dershowitz

"Hamas's tactic is as simple as it is criminal and brutal. Its leaders know that by repeatedly firing rockets at Israeli civilian areas, they will give Israel no choice but to respond. Israel's response will target the rockets and those sending them. In order to maximize their own civilian casualties, and thereby earn the sympathy of the international community and media, Hamas leaders deliberately fire their rockets from densely populated civilian areas. The Hamas fighters hide in underground bunkers but Hamas refuses to provide any shelter for its own civilians, whom they use as "human shields." This unlawful tactic puts Israel to a tragic choice: simply allow Hamas rockets to continue to target Israeli cities and towns; or respond to the rockets, with inevitable civilian casualties among the Palestinian "human shields."

Gaza proves Golda right

“Peace will come to the Middle East when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us,” then Foreign Minister Golda Meir said in 1957, during an address to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

UN WATCH: Israel sent 19 letters to U.N. on Hamas rockets in 2012, before responding militarily

Assad tells U.N. he cares about suffering of people in Golan, while killing thousands of Syrian civilians

Bigotry on the Beeb by Douglas Murray

"Well, one reason is that so many British politicians, including Britain’s favourite idiot granny Shirley Williams, tell them lies about Israel which the BBC allows to go out uncorrected. Here is Shirley Williams in reply to the bigoted question with which (unlike the excellent two conservative voices on the panel) she had absolutely no problem.
Shirley Williams told the audience that Gaza is ‘a slum’ and then went on to say the following:
‘It’s crowded out to the gills. It’s full of people struggling to find a box in which to live. It’s full of people who see their land slowly eaten up by more and more Israeli settlements.’

The ABC (Australia) is at war with Israel, too
The World Today also had Diana Buttu, calling for more rocket attacks on Israel:

“The reason that people are now firing back is because of the fact of the assassination and I think if anything, rather than people saying to Hamas that it’s time to stop, it’s actually quite the opposite.”Israel’s killing last week of a Hamas military commander was a response to the rocket attacks, not the trigger for them. This was not put to Buttu. Nor was she queried at all about her demand that rather than call on Hamas to stop firing rockets, “the opposite” should occur.

AP Reporter Slams State Department For Silence On Israel

"Lee concluded, "But you won't stick up for your ally Israel when the Turks, another one of your allies, say that they're engaged in terrorism in Gaza..." The exchange goes on for nearly three minutes, while Nuland is left defenseless against the charges of silence from the press pool."

State Dept Refuses to Say If Israeli Ground Assault Counts as Self-Defense

"In a little-noticed exchange from the State Department on Friday, State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland openly refused to say whether an Israeli ground assault on Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip would fall under the Israeli right to self-defense."

EU: Israel has right to defense, but should stop operations

"The Council of the European Union on Monday released a statement in which it both reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself and demanded an end to all hostilities between Israel and Gaza."

Majority of Americans support Israel’s operation in Gaza
Republicans and males are most likely to believe it’s justified, CNN poll finds

Israel Museums Hide Art to Protect It From Rockets

The Onion Goes Anti-Semitic

So now The Onion, celebrated for their zany approach to the news, has fallen under the spell of the radical left and has become one more mouthpiece for anti-Semitic propaganda. In their latest attempt at humor, The Onion posted this piece of Palestinian propaganda:
“8-Year-Old Palestinian Boy Pleasantly Surprised He Hasn't Been Killed Yet”

CIF Watch: ‘Comment is Free’ publishes an essay by a Hamas leader…again.

"In fact, later that same day, Nov. 18, a ’Comment is Free’ essay by the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, Musa Abumarzuq, was published – one out of several members of the Islamist terror group who has been published by the paper which aspires to be the ‘world’s leading liberal voice’."

Huffington Post Promotes Anti-Semitic Cartoonist, Carlos Latuff

"The Huffington Post, allegedly a mainstream, balanced news media outlet, has covered and promoted the work of anti-Semitic cartoonist Carlos
Latuff. The Huffington Post, its editors, and its owner, Arianna Huffington, have created a safe, welcoming space for all manner of Jew haters to spread their rhetoric and ideas."

Has the US Administration Decided to Get Rid of Jordan's King Abdullah? by Khaled Abu Toameh

"Unless the US clarifies its position regarding King Abdullah and reiterates its full backing for his regime, the Muslim fundamentalists are likely to step up there efforts to create anarchy and lawlessness in the kingdom. Washington needs to reassure King Abdullah and his followers that it will not allow the creation of an Islamic terror republic in Jordan."

Antwerp protesters: 'Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas'

Anti-Semitism is alive and well in Antwerp (Belgium), where protesters outside a concert hall on Sunday night shouted 'Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas.'

Muslim Savages, Leftards, Jewish Traitors, and Hungarian Fascist Rally for Hamas in Toronto

Daphneanson: "Blood On Your Hands!": Protesting Batsheva & Gaza in Old London Town

"Here are scenes from outside Sadler's Wells last evening, when a seething raucous mob of usual suspects screamed intimidatory invective at people arriving to watch the Batsheva Dance Company. "Shame on you!" yells the mob. "Blood on your hands!"

IAEA: Iran Increases Underground Nuclear Enrichment Capacity

According to the IAEA’s quarterly report issued on Nov. 16, Iran’s work on the deep underground nuclear site, Fordo, near the holy city of Qom, is nearly complete. It now has the full capacity of 2,784 centrifuges, an increase of 644 since the last IAEA report in August.

Smartphones and websites help keep Israelis safe in wartime
Want to know if your area is being targeted by Hamas rockets, and where to go, if so? There are apps for that

"As citizens of one of the most connected countries in the world, Israelis have been relying on their smartphones since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense, with new apps and sites popping up to help keep them safe and informed."

Sweet diesel! Discovery resurrects process to convert sugar directly to diesel

"A long-abandoned fermentation process once used to turn starch into explosives can be used to produce renewable diesel fuel to replace the fossil fuels now used in transportation, UC Berkeley scientists have discovered.
Campus chemists and chemical engineers teamed up to produce diesel fuel from the products of a bacterial fermentation discovered nearly 100 years ago by the first president of Israel, chemist Chaim Weizmann. The retooled process produces a mix of products that contain more energy per gallon than ethanol that is used today in transportation fuels and could be commercialized within 5-10 years."

His mother's from Surbiton but he was blown up near the border with Gaza
Family of British-Israeli soldier relive the attack that helped trigger the current crisis

B'Tselem: 41 of 105 dead are civilians
I guess the IDF figures have been the most accurate. What a surprise.

BDSFail: UC Irvine rejects divestment from Israel

Yaacov Lozowick has been getting back into blogging during the fighting, and he is always worth reading.

Martin Kramer shows yet again that Juan Cole is an idiot

Small arms, big problems (Foreign Policy)

Neat find by Challah Hu Akbar from 2009

If you are into stupic, non-scientific polls, feel free to go here and vote.

Kids from Israel play a reality-based game in a playground:

A poster:

The Al Qassam Martyrs Brigades Twitter account is often very funny. Here is their tribute poster to Ahmad Jaabari:

Finally, a story from The Propagandist:

My friend Joe Z., a long-time Jerusalem resident, had just taken his little boy out to play in the park when the air-raid sirens began. They took cover and waited for the explosion before going to back to play. (Yes, it sounds, and is, surreal – from bombs to play in less than 10 minutes. Believe me – it isn’t easy, but we do it. Life goes on).

“I couldn’t understand why I kept hearing more ‘rockets’ until I looked over towards the Old City and East Jerusalem," Joe said. "The fireworks display was amazing – and horrifying. The Palestinians were out in force on the rooftops celebrating the possibility that Jews might have been killed, that a bomb might fall on the Holy City. We heard the music, the laughter, the shouts of joy. I was aghast at their unrestrained ecstasy at the tragedy that might have been – that they hoped might still be. My little boy played happily on the swings, enjoying the free firework show; innocent, sweet and precious. My blood ran cold.”

Hamas war crimes poster (4)

Fourth in a series:

Video: Arab protest at Hebrew U ends when sirens sound

Arab students were protesting against Israel at Hebrew University in Jerusalem today.

But the protest was cut short by incoming rockets from the Hamas terrorists they love so much.

They look so brave as they run, don't they?

(h/t Dave)

Egypt pretending to want peace - but allowing jihadists to join Gaza terrorists

From an Al Monitor translation of a story in Al Masry al Youm:

Islamic leaders said that the majority of Salafist jihadists in the Sinai traveled to the Gaza Strip to join the Palestinian resistance. Jihadist leaders in Cairo held a meeting yesterday [Nov. 18] to examine the possibility of dispatching a second group to Gaza to resist the Israeli Defense Forces and prevent the aggression against Palestinians from continuing.

This comes as well-informed sources within the Muslim Brotherhood confirmed that a delegation of 10 youths from the Brotherhood in the Sinai traveled to Gaza to join the resistance. The sources said that a number of youths from the Brotherhood decided to travel yesterday [Nov. 18] to join the Al-Qassam Brigades and their struggle against Israel.

Salafist leader Sheikh Mohammed Muftah, known as Abu Yahya, revealed that the majority of Salafists in the Sinai traveled to Gaza since the first strike was launched by the “Jewish enemy.”

He said, “The Islamists are preparing themselves to fight for the cause of Allah,” adding that the coming days will see Salafist youth traveling from all Egyptian provinces to the Gaza Strip.

The Salafist jihadist operatives held an emergency meeting yesterday [Nov. 18] to discuss ways to support the people of Gaza and prepare those who would travel to Gaza after that the first group recently traveled across the border.

Morgan Salem, a leader of the Salafist jihadists, said, “Supporting the people of Gaza is a constant activity with different mechanisms; this is either provided materially or in the form of jihadists.”

For his part, the Hazem Abu Ismail movement's spokesman, Gamal Saber, launched an initiative to support Gaza designed to send youth from the Islamic movement to the Palestinian territory to to assist the people of Gaza in confronting the enemy and to provide fighters in Palestine with sufficient money and weapons to fight “the enemy of God.”

The story notes that the Muslim Brotherhood is discouraging its members from joining the fighting, which is a bit different than what a Freedom and Justice Party official said that MB youth were poised to enter.

Either way, it is clear that Egypt is aware of many Egyptians who want to fight in Gaza, and there is no indication that it is stopping any of them from traveling there.

The US needs to have this issue clarified as soon as possible. An Egypt that supports the jihadists cannot be an honest broker between Israel and Hamas.

(h/t Lachlan)

A note about "civilian" deaths in Gaza

As with Cast Lead, the media is relying on PCHR (and, worse, on the Hamas health ministry) to determine how many of the dead in Gaza are civilian and how many are terrorists.

Remember: PCHR only counts a person as a "militant" if he is, in their opinion, actively engaging in military activities at the time of his death.

So while I don't know about this person either way, PCHR says:

At approximately 14:10 on Monday, 19 November 2012, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a civilian car that was traveling in al-Saftawi Street in Jabalya, in which Hussam Fayez Hamdan Abdul Jawad, 32, was traveling. The car was destroyed and Abdul Jawad was killed.

Jawad may very well have been a member of a terror group, but PCHR is not going to say - he was just driving, not preparing to fire a rocket.

Since the first couple of days of the fighting, Hamas has refused to admit any casualties among its members. (Islamic Jihad right now says seven of its members were killed.)

This is exactly what happened during Cast Lead. Hamas hushed up every single terrorist death during the war, and only in the months afterwards did they slowly document on their websites the "martyrs" and the dates they were killed. In the end, hundreds of people that the PCHR called "civilians" were found out to have been terrorists.

When Hamas controls the security forces and, to an extent, the movements of the media, they control the truth.

Also during Cast Lead, as soon as the ground war started, Hamas and other terror group members took off their fatigues and continued to fight in civilian clothes - another breach of the Geneva Conventions. This further made it difficult to find out who the civilians are.

One thing is certain: the vast majority of those killed in Gaza so far have been males of fighting age. This in an area where men between 16-40 take up perhaps only 18% of the population (men between 15-64 are about 27%.)

It will again take months to figure out the real truth about casualties. But don't trust the initial statistics - as we've seen, they are historically skewed.

Hamas kills six "collaborators," drags one body behind motorcycle (PHOTO) (UPDATE)

From Ma'an:

Palestinian gunmen shot dead six alleged collaborators in the Gaza Strip who "were caught red-handed", according to a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio on Tuesday.

"They possessed hi-tech equipment and filming equipment to take footage of positions," it said.

The Hamas radio said the men, who were suspected of working for Israel, were shot. It did not elaborate.

Gunmen chained the body of one of the alleged collaborators to a motorcycle and dragged it throughout the main streets of Gaza City.

CNN's Anderson Cooper has a photo of the gruesome extrajudicial punishment.

By the way, this means that Hamas has killed twice as many Palestinian Arabs as they have killed Israelis during the current fighting.

AP adds:

Witnesses said the six men were pulled out of a van Tuesday, forced to lie face down on the street and then shot dead.

Five bodies lay in a pile as a mob stomped and spit on them. A sixth body was tied to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets as people screamed, "Spy! Spy!"

Hamas posted a sign on an electricity pole, naming the six alleged informers.

UPDATE: A new photo (h/t EoL)

Let's negotiate! I'm sure they can be trusted!

One more: (h/t Sophie)

Islamic Jihad boasts of targeting aid crossing

I got this video from the Islamic Jihad saraya.ps front page.

The caption brags that this mortar launcher is targeting the Kerem Shalom crossing, from which the majority of Gaza's food, medicine and other aid arrives.

Despite the barrage of rockets and mortars, Israel opened the crossing on Sunday to allow aid to get to Gazans. Since this is a new video, it appears that Islamic Jihad deliberately is trying to shut the crossing down, to cause a "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.

Morning Pillar of Defense video wrapup

On Nov. 20, 2012, the IDF targeted an underground rocket launching site in Gaza.

On Monday. November 19, 2012, the IDF targeted a munitions storage site within a residential suburb in the southern Gaza Strip. The abnormally large explosion indicates that the building was used as a weapons depot. This is yet another example of terrorists' use the civilian population in Gaza as human shields,

Home video of Iron Dome taking down a huge barrage of rockets aimed at Beersheva, I believe Monday:

(h/t Yoel)