Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Genocidal math and Mahmoud Abbas' Jew-hatred (update)

On Wednesday, it was reported:

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas told a crisis meeting in Ramallah on Wednesday that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza during its military offensive which has so far killed at least 50 Palestinians.

“It’s genocide -- the killing of entire families is genocide by Israel against our Palestinian people,” Abbas told the crisis meeting of the Palestinian leadership.

“What’s happening now is a war against the Palestinian people as a whole and not against the (militant) factions.

“We know that Israel is not defending itself, it is defending settlements, its main project,” said Abbas.

“Is this collective punishment?” Abbas says. “No way it’s collective punishment. It’s genocide. It’s called genocide. What can I say about Abu Khdeir? Shall we recall Auschwitz?”

It is obvious that Abbas throwing the term "genocide" around is about as wrong and sickening as can be.

Of course, no world leaders take him to task for sounding more like Saddam Hussein rather than the statesman they pretend he is. They still believe him to be a man of peace, because the truth is so depressing.

Still, it is worthwhile to do the grisly math.

Let's underestimate and say that there are 1.5 million people in Gaza. (Palestinian Arabs claim 1.8 million.)

The birthrate is 34.3 per 1000 population.

The crude death rate is only 3.22 per thousand.

Crunching the numbers means that every day in Gaza there are 128 more people than the day before.

To commit "genocide" one would have to kill far more quickly than people are being born - at least 1000 a day, which would still take quite a few years to decimate Gaza.

Now, lets actually do the obscene comparison that Abbas is hoping that is listeners are making in their minds, especially by invoking Auschwitz.

Six million Jews were killed over a five year period in a real genocide. That comes out to nearly 3300 people a day, every day, for five years. Far more Jews were killed every hour of every day than have been killed in the current "genocide."

But Abbas wants you to equate the two.

Using the term "genocide" so flippantly towards a people who actually did suffer that crime cannot be considered anything other than antisemitism. Any decent world leader should unequivocally condemn Mahmoud Abbas for his words.

And none will.

(UPDATED with Auschwitz quote, h/t Yair)

07/10 Links Pt2: An Open Letter to Israel’s Critics; CAIR Promotes Justification of Palestinian Terror

From Ian:

An Open Letter to Israel’s Critics

To Israel’s critics:
Want to be taken seriously by Israel and its friends?
Here’s your moment to demonstrate your bona fides.
If you really mean what you say about criticizing Israeli policies but not questioning Israel’s inherent right to live in peace and security, then raise your voice right now.
Not tomorrow, not the day after, but today.
Speak up and say that the scores, if not hundreds, of rockets being fired from Gaza at Israel are an abomination. Say there can be no justification for such acts of terror.
Say that this assault is a brazen violation of fundamental human rights.

Schumer, in Senate floor speech: There is no moral equivalency between Hamas & Israel (h/t Alexi - happy now?)

Mandela’s legacy and Israel

Mandela’s attitude to Israel has indeed been a subject of much confused discussion and it is frightening to realize how propaganda can lead to widespread belief in false allegations. This is nowhere better demonstrated than by the fake letter circulated on the internet that led many to believe erroneously that Mandela regarded Israel as an apartheid state even though he never made that accusation. Former president Jimmy Carter eagerly quoted from it during a speech at Brandeis University and the BDS movement has used it enthusiastically
The lie originates in a 2007 fake memo that is still circulating on the internet that was purportedly signed “Nelson Mandela” and addressed to New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman but actually written by Arjan El Fassed, co-founder of the virulently anti-Israel blog, The Electronic Intifada.
El Fassed has since claimed he had no intention of misleading as he was merely copying the style of Friedman’s mock letters. But the important difference is that in Friedman’s mock letters he made the true origin absolutely clear as in his 2001 NY Times piece “Foreign Affairs; Powell’s First Memo”.

(h/t/ Josh K. for the idea)

Amazingly, Hamas has no "martyrs!"

Usually, the Al Qassam Brigades website is very quick to announce the names of their "martyrs" and biographies of their great and shining accomplishments before they were killed (often by accident.)

But something funny has happened since Operation Protective Edge started: There have been no Hamas martyrs!

Yup - in the past three days, from reading Hamas media, not a single member has been killed by the IDF. Everyone must be a civilian!

To be sure, some media outlets will note, for example, that the IDF killed five armed Hamas terrorists who were trying to infiltrate Israel from the sea. They call it a "heroic operation." They even publish photos of the dead men.

But even these "heroic martyrs" have no names.

Islamic Jihad has only admitted to four deaths of its members. The Al Aqsa Brigades (Fatah) and the Nasser Brigades (PRC) have not admitted any.

This is not surprising; we have seen it before. The terror groups want to ensure that the media reports almost all deaths as being "civilian". In a few months they will quietly publish the names of their members into their online lists, after the inevitable reports from "human rights" groups publish how horrible the IDF acted.

In this case, it appears that they are instructing the Arab media and message boards not to reveal the names either. In the past, online forums would have the names of "martyrs" and their affiliation very shortly after their deaths, but so far I have not found any in the usual spots.

There is a PR war going on but the Western media have no idea how they are being manipulated.

07/10 Links Pt1: Why This Operation is Different; Code Red Song Helping Children Deal with Terror

From Ian:

Phyllis Chesler: Why This Operation is Different

Operation Protective Edge may look like its predecessors--Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 and Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012--in that it is a response to Palestinian terrorism launched from Gaza against Israeli civilians. The previous two rounds of the conflict ended with Hamas still in power in the Gaza Strip, weakened but able to re-arm over time and to project a strategic threat. There are five reasons, however, this time may be different.
1. By Attacking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Hamas Has Invited Its Own Destruction. By launching its Iranian-and Syrian-made missiles against Israel's two major cities--especially Tel Aviv, normally a safe distance from conflict--Hamas has broken the unwritten rules of the game. It has long been known that Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north had the ability to reach those cities. But those groups had not exercised it.
Now that Hamas has shown it is willing to attack Israel's commercial, spiritual, and political centers, the terror group has left Israel no choice but to destroy it completely. There is no way Israel can accept life under an active threat of rockets, enjoying safety only at Hamas's whim. Attacking border towns like Sderot--or even, as in 2006, a northern city like Haifa--is one thing. Attacking Tel Aviv is a provocation Israel cannot ignore.

Times of Israel Live Blog: IDF urges Gazans near border to clear out; West Bank attack foiled

IDF urges Gazans near border to clear out; West Bank attack foiled; missiles downed in Beersheba; shrapnel falls in south Tel Aviv; group linked to Fatah claims to shoot rocket; Dimona targeted

Israeli Forces Halt Terror Bombing Suspects En Route to Attack (VIDEO)

Israeli army forces at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank foiled a planned terror bombing, on Thursday afternoon.
Alert soldiers manning the permanent station, not far from the Israeli city of Ariel, were inspecting a Palestinian vehicle when they noticed a liquid propane gas tank wired up as an explosive device.
The bomb was hidden between the legs of the front seat passenger, according to Israel’s Walla News.

Israeli Muslim: We Must Destroy Hamas

An Israeli Muslim Arab has written to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressing that if the Jewish state truly wants peace, it must remove from power the terror groups that current hold sway over the Palestinian population, and instead deal directly with average Arabs who just want to live quietly.
In a post on his Facebook page, Ali Shaban, who volunteered for combat service in the IDF and continues to do reserve duty to this day, urged Netanyahu to “act now, do not waver or fear. The Palestinians understand only force, and if you do not attack now, then you and me and all Israelis will pay a dear price.”
Like many Israelis, Shaban wondered, “Why are you [Netanyahu] waiting? Are you waiting for more deaths? Are you waiting until the missiles hit Tel Aviv? Are you waiting for approval from Obama?”

Hamas engages in nuclear terrorism as media yawns

Compare how the media covered these two stories that broke yesterday.

This one is all over the news this morning:

Insurgents in Iraq have seized nuclear materials used for scientific research at a university in the country's north, Iraq told the United Nations in a letter appealing for help to "stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad."

Nearly 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of uranium compounds were kept at Mosul University, Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the July 8 letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

There is nothing wrong with covering this story, even though the threat is fairly low - the low-grade nuclear materials could be used to create "dirty bombs" that could cause panic but are not likely to cause much damage or injury. It's not like these materials have to be tracked by the IAEA.

There was a much bigger nuclear story yesterday. Here is the entire Reuters dispatch:

Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip launched three rockets towards the southern Israeli town of Dimona and its nuclear reactor on Wednesday, causing no injury or damage, the Israeli military said.

One of the rockets was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defensive shield, and two others fell in open areas. None caused damage or injuries, an army spokesman said.

Militants from Hamas's Qassam Brigades said they had launched long-range M-75 rockets.

Other areas in southern Israel's Negev desert were also targeted, according to the Israeli military.

Hamas, of course, bragged about targeting Dimona.

Hamas remained defiant Thursday, claiming rockets fired at the southern city of Dimona by its military wing the Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades showed Israel's weakness, while criticizing Israeli targeting of woman and children in Gaza.

"It [the rockets fired at Dimona] shows the weakness and vulnerability of the Israeli occupation," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in an early Thursday statement. "Our responses [to Israeli strikes] are still in their early stages."

Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for striking Dimona, which houses Israel's nuclear reactor, for the first time.

This is nuclear terrorism. Not "theoretical," not "potential," - but literal nuclear terrorism.

The 2005 UN International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism defines acts that fall under that designation, Article 2:

1. Any person commits an offence within the meaning of this Convention if that person unlawfully and intentionally:
...
(b) Uses in any way radioactive material or a device, or uses or damages a nuclear facility in a manner which releases or risks the release of radioactive material:
(i) With the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury; or
(ii) With the intent to cause substantial damage to property or to the environment; or
(iii) With the intent to compel a natural or legal person, an international organization or a State to do or refrain from doing an act.
2. Any person also commits an offence if that person:
(a) Threatens, under circumstances which indicate the credibility of the threat, to commit an offence as set forth in paragraph 1 (b) of the present article;

Hamas has just violated this convention multiple times, both by firing the rockets and by threatening to fire more.

Obviously the danger from a successful attack would be far greater than the danger from ISIS doing something with medical radioactive materials.

The world pretends that it is worried about Islamist nuclear terrorism and that it will do anything necessary to ensure that terrorists do not have the ability to threaten the world in that manner.

Here it just happened - and no one really cares.

There is a group of nations involved in the "Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism;" they met last week in Vienna. It might be worthwhile to email them (support@gicnt.org) and ask them if they consider Hamas' actions as nuclear terrorism, and if they plan to do anything about it.

(h/t TIP)

Desperate for a win, terrorists take credit for "Zionist Stock Exchange" dip

Terrorist websites are trying mightily to find indications that they are hurting Israelis. They brag about how far their rockets are going, how so many Israelis have to run into shelters, how they claim Iron Dome misses some rockets.

The latest desperate claim to relevance comes from Islamic Jihad, which is taking credit for a drop in the "Zionist Stock Exchange."

As the current operation started, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange dipped by 1.9%. About half of that loss was made up yesterday.

To give an idea of how huge a blow this must have been to the Israeli economy, here is the chart for the TASE during the past year:

More seriously, the real story really is that terror groups hate being irrelevant. This is important because they will become more and more desperate to find ways of attacking Israel and Israelis to focus interest and anger their way. In this way they act like children seeking any kind of attention.

So expect them to keep trying different kinds of attacks, probably from the West Bank, like the bus bombing at the end of Pillar of Defense. (UPDATE: Yep, that's exactly what they are doing.)

A second Fatah terror group is now shooting rockets at Israelis

We noted yesterday that a Fatah terrorist group, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was taking credit for shooting many rockets at Israel.

This is being completely ignored in the media and by politicians.

The world is so wedded to the idea that Fatah represent the "good guys" and that they are "peace partners" that these facts must be downplayed, at the risk of revealing the truth: that there is really no difference between Fatah and Hamas.

Here is a video from the Abu Nidal division of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades showing them shooting rockets at Israeli civilians, many of them from clearly urban areas of Gaza:

Now, a second Fatah group has claimed responsibility for firing rockets at Israelis.

The Martyr Abdul-Qader al-Husseini Brigades says it fired two Grad rockets at Ashkelon and four mortars towards the Nir Oz kibbutz.

All of this is proudly reported on Fatah's official Facebook page.

A third Fatah terror group, the Abu Rish Brigades, has not engaged in any rocket fire yet, but they have videos showing themselves shooting mortars last year..

Mahmoud Abbas pretended to dismantle the Fatah terror wings years ago, but he never did - they still display their weapons freely in the West Bank as well as Gaza.

The truth must be told: Fatah and Hamas are two sides of the same coin. They cooperate fully in Gaza; there is no way Fatah terror groups could have smuggled Grad rockets without Hamas' knowledge or assistance. Their stated goals are the same.. They both support terror explicitly.

Yasir Arafat was known for playing the game of pretending to be a peace partner while simultaneously ordering terror attacks. I don't know if Abbas is actively supporting the many terror wings under his control, but he certainly has done nothing to discourage them.

It is way past time for Western media and diplomats to stop this facade of pretending that Abbas is peaceful and has no responsibility for the terror groups that attack Israeli civilians under the name of, and probably with the financial backing of, his own organization.

Who started the fighting? The UN lies, as usual

Here is the UN-OCHA-OPT backgrounder on the current situation:

On 7 July 2014, the Israeli army launched a large military operation in the Gaza Strip, codenamed “Protective Edge”, with the stated objective of stopping Palestinian rocket firing at southern Israel and destroying the military infrastructure of Hamas and other armed groups.

This development marked the collapse of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire understanding reached between Israel and Hamas in November 2012, which has been gradually undermined since December 2013. The latest escalation round started on 11 June, when Israeli forces targeted and killed an alleged member of an armed group, along with a child accompanying him, and Palestinian factions responded by shooting rockets at southern Israel. Tensions further increased following the abduction of three Israeli youths in the southern West Bank, on 12 June, which the Israeli government attributed to Hamas.

So the UN says that ISrael's current operation is what marked the collapse of the ceasefire, not the incessant rocket firing that occurred beforehand.

But look how the UN frames the very beginning - that it started with an Israeli airstrike on June 11, and that rocket fire was a "response" to an Israeli airstrike. What happened before that?

From Ma'an, June 12:

An Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian in Gaza on Wednesday after new rocket fire from the territory prompted Israel's premier to warn he holds President Mahmoud Abbas responsible.

Even the Arab Ma'an notes that Israel's airstrike was in response to rocket fire.

How do we know which happened first? Because there was quiet for eleven days beforehand.

What happened then?

June 1, from the Gaza NSO:

So this NGO documented that Israeli actions only came after terrorists fired rockets first.

This is a pattern. The previous incident on May 23rd is disputed as to who fired first, but the one beforehand on May 21st was just as clear:

A Palestinian farmer was hit in the head by an Israeli bullet on Wednesday in the southern Gaza Strip, sustaining minor injuries, medics told Ma'an.

The man, who was not immediately identified, was taken to a military hospital in Khan Younis after being shot in the Khazaa area.

He was hit as Israeli soldiers retaliated against Palestinian militants who had detonated an explosive device, damaging a military vehicle.

To recap:

May 21: Gazans set a bomb at the border, Israel retaliates.

May 23: Disagreement as to who started shooting first.

June 1: Rocket fired from Gaza, Israel responds with airstrike the next day.

June 11: Rocket fired from Gaza, Israel responds with an airstrike against a terrorist. More rockets are shot at Israel.

In three out of the four incidents culminating with the June 11th incident, everyone agrees that Gazans fired first and Israel retaliated. Chances are very good that the same thing happened on May 23.

So when the UN mentions the June 11 airstrike as being the first cause for rocket attacks, they are clearly lying. For any incident you can find between mid-May and the current operation, in the Gaza theater, the terrorists always fired first and Israel responded.

(h/t JW)

07/09 Links Pt2: Fighting enemies from within and without; ‘Peace Conference’ Marred by Violence

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Fighting enemies from within and without

Sixteen-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir was doing his own thing last Tuesday when he was abducted by Jewish terrorists, who slaughtered him. They killed him because he was an Arab, and they are racist murderers.
The police made solving Abu Khdeir’s murder a top priority. In less than a week, they had six suspects in custody. Three confessed to the murder.
There are dark forces at work in Israeli society. They need to be dealt with.
And they will be dealt with harshly.
They will be dealt with harshly because there is no significant sector in Israeli society that supports terrorism.
There is no Jewish tradition that condones or calls for the murder of innocents. In Jewish tradition, the line between protecting society from its enemies and committing murder is long, wide, unmistakable and unmoving.

The honesty of war

There’s something about war that can make intelligent people look foolish. I’m thinking right now of all those smart people in Tel Aviv who analyzed the subtleties of peace at the Haaretz Peace Conference—only a few hours before Jew-hating terrorists from Hamas began firing rockets all over Israel.
I wonder if they even considered having a session at the conference called, “What happens when people want to kill you no matter what you do?” That session might have included, for example, a panel of experts discussing the Hamas Charter, which calls for “the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.”
But there was no such panel at the conference. Instead, they had exclusive contributions from important people like President Barack Obama, who expressed the well-worn mantra of the sophisticated man: “Peace is the only true path to security.”
Well, maybe not, Mr. President. For the millions of Israeli residents now making sure they’re 15 precious seconds away from their bomb shelters, it’s more the other way around: “Security is the only true path to peace.”

Naftali Bennett reportedly assaulted at peace confab

Bennett was heckled when he went on stage to speak at the conference, to the point where he could not begin his talk.
Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken went on stage to quiet the crowd. “There are people here who were prepared to speak with [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat. You can also listen to Bennett,” he said.
Once the crowd quieted down, Bennett delivered his talk, which was interrupted multiple times by shouts of “fascist” and “murderer” from the audience, according to Jewish Home officials.
When Bennett left the stage, he was jostled by multiple members of the audience, the sources said. The crowd reportedly had to be pushed aside by Bennett’s security detail to allow him to leave.
During the jostling, Bennett was reportedly punched in the back; he spun around and demanded to know who had punched him. Before he could receive an answer, his security detail spirited him out of the hall. (h/t Yenta Press)

Vanity Fair falsely accuses Israelis of seeking genocide against Arabs (updated)

From Vanity Fair, discussing the events of the past few weeks:

A Facebook page calling for Israeli vigilantes to “kill an Arab every hour” quickly gained more than 20,000 likes.

However, the page doesn't say that at all. It says "Kill a terrorist every hour" until the boys are returned.

You don't even have to know Hebrew to understand this. The "About" page says in English:

We must use a strong hand to fight violent and life-threatening terror. The weakness shown by the Israeli Government, which released thousands of murderers has only increased their drive and led to the kidnapping of the teens. The only way to bring the teens back is to instill fear in our enemies and make them understand that they will suffer. We support executing a terrorist every hour until the teens are released.

Nothing about killing "Arabs." And there is nothing wrong with killing terrorists - unless you support the terrorists.

When the page was first publicized, papers like The Independent assumed that it was a call for vigilante lynchings, even though the page doesn't call for that at all either.

So what unreliable source did author Anna Lekas Miller get this information from?

In all likelihood, from the liars at Electronic Intifada:

Kill a Palestinian “every hour,” says new Israeli Facebook page

The Facebook page’s main profile picture and background image show Palestinians as targets through the crosshairs of a gun.

More than 16,000 Israelis have joined a Facebook page that calls for the murder of a Palestinian every hour until three missing Israeli settler teens are located. The page is titled “Until the boys are back, every hour we shoot a terrorist.”

(By the way, the "Palestinians" in the crosshairs are all known terrorists.)

So what kind of "journalist" would make such a ridiculous mistake?

Obviously, it was no mistake. Because Anna Lekas Miller has done the same thing before, and embarrassed her editors for not checking her facts.

Last year she wrote an article for "Open Zion" riddled with lies, as I proved then - claiming that an "Israeli soldier threw a young Muslim Palestinian woman’s Qu’ran on the floor, trampling it until it was destroyed on the Temple Mount," that "Israeli settlers" regularly "storm" the Al Aqsa mosque, that "eight Israeli settlers accompanied by soldiers stormed the mosque, interrupting the worshippers during prayers and violently ripping off a woman’s hijab" - all complete lies that were taken uncritically from the most extreme, dishonest Islamist media.

Open Zion was forced to correct some of the lies, and it let others stand, without any evidence.

One would think that a major media outlet would do a basic background check on the track record of Anna Lekas Miller (whose qualifications for being a journalist are nil) before publishing her lies. But, as we've seen many times before, when the lies fit the preconceived notions of the editors, why bother?

(h/t Yair Rosenberg)

UPDATE: Vanity Fair corrected it - with the same mistake that other media used as I mentioned above:

A Facebook page calling for Israeli vigilantes to “shoot a terrorist every hour” quickly gained more than 20,000 likes.

No, the page did not in any way urge Israeli citizens to go out and kill terrorists every hour. It was obviously referring to the state itself.

Vanity Fair really wants to get its narrative across, doesn't it?

And look at the correction:

"Literal translation"? It is the translation, period. VF is trying to imply that they know what the people behind the Facebook page really wanted, and to disregard what they actually wrote..

This correction is almost as bad as the original, sloppy reporting.

More from the humor site PreOccupied Territory:

Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, July 9 - The leadership of Hamas and Islamic Jihad threatened to "open the gates of Hell" on Israel if the latter continued attacking their fighters launching rockets at Israel, but the chief resident of Hell is not amused, and complains that Hamas is perpetually opening those gates and neglecting to close them after passing through.

"This is at least the fourth time in the last few years that Hamas has opened those gates, but I'll be damned if they've bothered to close them again even once," said Satan this afternoon. "We have countless imps running around, completely unaware that they can fall into the River Styx. Thank God that hasn't happened yet, but our demons already have their hands full with their regular duties and don't need to be neglecting their torture assignments to go rounding up the imps because some terrorists forgot basic manners and put all of the little ones at risk."

He also noted other disruptions that occurred as a result of the open gates. "The temperature down here is calibrated very precisely, and those cold drafts that come in through the open gates play hell with our thermostats," he explained. "I'd expect people who are our natural allies in the mortal realm to take into account our basic needs."

Another minor grievance involves the difference in humidity between the inside of Hell and existence beyond the gates. "When the gates stay open for too long at a time, the humidity in here shifts dramatically, and it messes up Mrs. Satan's hair. You don't want to be in the same chamber as her when that happens."

But most egregious of all, says the Prince of Darkness, are the journalists who come poking around when the gates are carelessly left swinging in the breeze. "We had a reporter here yesterday from TMZ. He just waltzed in and started asking questions about how Michael Jackson is faring here. As if we need the headache. Mind you, this particular correspondent found out pretty darn quickly that freedom of the press is not a concept we respect here."

Lucifer has sent repeated reminders to Hamas that they are expected to close the gates when they use them, but understands that they might not see the urgency of doing so. "What am I going to do, threaten them with Hell? They already live in the Gaza Strip. I can't compete with that."

07/09 Links Pt1: Operation Protective Edge; IDF Foils Terror Attacks from the Ocean and Tunnels

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Protective Edge

Hamas, meanwhile, has vowed to expand the range of its rocket attacks to Tel Aviv and has rejected any talk of deescalation. Until now, there were many factors mitigating against Hamas attacking on a large scale.
The terrorist organization has been severely weakened by a number of recent developments, from the loss of its Iranian and Syrian patrons, to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s destruction of the lifeline tunnels from Sinai that connected the Gaza Strip to goods, materials and weapons from the outside world, to the lack of financial support from Qatar, to Saudi Arabi’as antagonism toward the Muslim Brotherhood and, as an extension, toward Hamas. But according to Benedetta Berti, a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Hamas is stepping up rocket attacks on Israel to boost its popularity.
“After every armed struggle, Hamas’s popularity goes up,” Berti says.
Because Israel is so widely vilified in the Arab world, Hamas gains support by attacking Israeli civilians. If innocent Palestinian civilians are inadvertently injured or killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli retaliation, the benefits to Hamas are compounded.

Amidror: If We Have to Go In to Gaza – Then Let's Go All the Way

Operation "Protective Edge" is underway, and already the Israeli public feels a sense of deja-vu. Given similar operations in the past, it's easy to predict what will happen over the next few days: the headlines will blare "The IDF prepares for a ground incursion", while the Air Force will work overtime, reserves will be called up and the "Home Front" will be asked to "keep calm." Meanwhile, Hamas will continue to make the lives of Israeli citizens in the south miserable, perhaps even giving residents of the country's center a "taste" of the experience. The operation will end with the declaration that "deterrence has been restored"; the citizens of Israel will meantime take bets on when the next such outburst will happen.
Is this merry-go-round inevitable or is it possibly to defeat Hamas once and for all, thus permanently restoring peace to the south of the country? If the latter, then how?
Mida spoke with three experts with extensive experience in the defense and diplomatic arenas to see what they have to suggest.

IDF Foils Palestinian Terror Attack Launched From Sea Near Gaza (VIDEO)

Israeli army forces interdicted and foiled a Palestinian terror squad trying to infiltrate the Kibbutz Zikim area just north of Gaza, Tuesday evening.
IDF troops killed five gunmen in the bid to carry out a terror attack under cover of a heavy rocket barrage overhead, according to the IDF Spokesman.

Hamas Terrorists Infiltrate Israel and are Neutralized

Israel Navy Prevents Infiltration of Hamas Terrorists

Will the State Department condemn Abbas for his own group's rocket fire?

Yesterday, the Washington Free Beacon noted that the State Department was continuing to maintain that Hamas is not part of the "unity" government and therefore Mahmoud Abbas cannot be held responsible in the slightest for rocket attacks:

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki claimed again Tuesday that “no evidence” existed that the terrorist organization Hamas “plays any role” in the Palestinian government.

A reporter asked Psaki if President Mahmoud Abbas bore any blame for the current fighting between Israel and Hamas, saying, “at one point, yes, it was a conflict between just the U.S. and Hamas, and Abbas had no real kind of skin in the game, because it was between the two parties even though it was affecting the Palestinian people directly. But now, he’s part of a unity government and has some influence with Hamas now, wouldn’t you say?”

” Well, we have no evidence that Hamas plays any role in the interim technocratic government, and as far as we know, there have also been no steps taken for the implementation of the reconciliation,” Psaki said.

In my opinion, the reporter (almost certainly Matt Lee of AP) did not ask the right question.

The State Department can claim that no Hamas members are part of the PA, which is not really much of a government to begin with since it only deals with domestic matters. However, Mahmoud Abbas has a far more direct responsibility for rocket attacks against Israel.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is part of Fatah, has taken gleeful credit for a number of rocket salvos on Israel. And Mahmoud Abbas is the leader of Fatah.

This Fatah group issued three press releases yesterday claiming credit for shooting 19 rockets at Israel (which they call "usurped land") including 11 rockets towards Ashkelon.

They don't even claim that they are aiming at military targets, only naming the cities that they are shooting the rockets toward.

Abbas has not condemned rocket attacks by his group aimed at Israeli civilians. There is no indication that he has dissociated himself from this group. It is entirely possible that Fatah - or the Fatah-dominated PLO - pays their salaries.

This clear connection between the "man of peace" Mahmoud Abbas and the terror group that answers to him is the issue that the State Department must address.

Hamas encourages human shields (update)

From MEMRI:

We saw yesterday that is was likely that the Hamas leader in the house called the neighbors to protect him during the five minutes from the phone call to the bombing.

Since then, as far as I can tell, none of the other terror leader houses that have been bombed have been protected by "human shields," meaning that the neighbors trusted Hamas to put their lives on the line exactly once.

Of course, Hamas is happy either way. If the human shields work then their houses and weapons caches are saved by their encouragement or coercion of civilians. If civilians are killed, they can then say this:

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on his Facebook page that the civilian casualties in Gaza meant that Hamas could do the same to Israel.

Hamas is actively trying to endanger Gaza civilians for PR purposes, which is depraved - and par for the course.

Keep in mind that there is no analogy, as much as Hamas pretends there is. International law allows the targeting of a military objective even if there are civilians in the area as long as the target is of high enough value. International law forbids purposefully placing military targets in civilian areas. And international law forbids purposefully moving civilians to a military target in order to protect it.

International law does not require a combatant to warn their enemy that they are going to be attacked. Steven Erlanger in the New York Times made a sarcastic comment yesterday implying that there was such a standard in warfare, at least for Israel:

Israel does not always give warnings, of course. Also on Tuesday, a missile hit a car traveling along a central Gaza thoroughfare, killing the three occupants. It was not immediately clear who the targets were, though one was reportedly a senior Hamas military official, Muhammad Shaban, and it seemed unlikely that anyone had called them to warn that a missile was on the way.

That comment should be enough to fire the reporter for obvious bias. But, hey, it's The New York Times.

(h/t David G)

UPDATE: This video from 2008 proves that Hamas does indeed call people to protect houses.