Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, August 28, 2014

I guess I should be flattered, but... (update)

A couple of weeks ago I noted that the Simon Wiesenthal Center had taken one of my posts, word for word, as part of a submission to the UN.

This is very flattering, but they didn't use my name (which I fully understand) but they also didn't ask permission. I would have been happy to give it to them, of course. It is cool to see my research being used beyond the blogosphere.

Today, Danny Ayalon wrote a Facebook post describing the similarities between ISIS and Hamas.

His list was a bit different from the one I created on the same theme last week. But he used my graphic, which had been shared hundreds of times on Twitter, to illustrate his post - and my name was removed from it. Here's the original.

Again, it is nice to see that my work gets spread around to prominent people. But, come on - it is common courtesy to ask permission to use another person's work or to give credit. Even if he re-created the graphic using his own list instead of mine, I wouldn't mind.

(h/t Judge Dan)

UPDATE: The person from Ayalon's NGO who had posted the graphic emailed me saying that he grabbed a version that was floating around that already had my name removed, so they didn't know that it came from me. He was very nice about it and added links to my FB page in the comments.

From Egypt's Al Ahram, which is close to the government:

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that a humanitarian convoy has crossed from Egypt's Rafah border crossing into the war-torn Gaza Strip, becoming the first aid sent to Gaza by the UN organisation since the start of the seven-year Israeli blockade in 2007.

WFP announced it will send another convoy to cross into the costal enclave during the coming days. It praised the Egyptian government for opening the Rafah crossing and allowing WFP's convoy to "procure food in Egypt." The statement referred to the Egyptian Red Crescent as the coordinator of all the crossing of humanitarian goods through Rafah.

Egypt is congratulating itself for opening the Rafah crossing to the WFP, implying that somehow Israel's "blockade" was preventing the aid from going through Rafah up until now.

The truth is that Egypt had closed off the Rafah crossings for its own reasons since 2007, but now is seeking praise for opening them!

Now, is it true that the WFP hadn't gotten any aid into Gaza since 2007? Not at all. The WFP has been continuously working in Gaza, bringing food in through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing. That never stopped, even during the war. Al Ahram misrepresented what the WFP said:

For the first time since 2007, a humanitarian convoy of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) successfully crossed from Egypt into the Gaza Strip today, carrying enough food to feed around 150,000 people for five days.

After a seven-hour drive from Alexandria – where the food was procured – across the Sinai Peninsula, WFP’s trucks arrived at the Rafah crossing. The convoy of 18 trucks carried 15,600 food parcels – part of a total batch of 25,000 food parcels. The parcels include ready-to-eat food such as canned meat, canned beans, tea and dates. A second convoy with the remaining parcels is expected to cross into Gaza in the next few days. This is the first time that WFP has used the Rafah crossing point since the start of the Gaza blockade in 2007.

Israel has been providing continuous access for aid to Gaza. Egypt treated their fellow Arabs like dirt. And now Egypt is pretending that it is the good guy!

Of course - the world will believe Egypt.

08/28 Links Pt1: Liberman: Take Away Their Guns -- Then We'll Talk; Pallywood comes to Australia

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Is the Gaza War Really Over?

It is important to note that these cease-fire demands are not part of Hamas's or Islamic Jihad's overall strategy, namely to have Israel wiped off the face of the earth.
Many foreign journalists who came to cover the war in the Gaza trip were under the false impression that it was all about improving living conditions for the Palestinians by opening border crossings and building an airport and seaport. These journalists really believed that once the demands of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are accepted, this would pave the way for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
To understand the true intention of Hamas and its allies, it is sufficient to follow the statements made by their leaders after the cease-fire announcement this week. To his credit, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's leader, has never concealed Hamas's desire to destroy Israel.
Hamas and its allies see the war in the Gaza Strip as part of there strategy to destroy Israel. What Hamas and its allies are actually saying is, "Give us open borders and an airport and seaport so we can use them to prepare for the next war against Israel."

Avigdor Liberman: Take Away Their Guns -- Then We'll Talk

For the end of the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to be achieved, those who strenuously, violently fight against any form of peace must not be allowed the means to do so. In our conflict, Hamas, which has neither interest in nor intent toward peace, has to be diminished. The terrorist group is a malevolent force. It continually hijacks any possibility of a better future for the peoples of the region. It must not be allowed to maintain its stockpiles of weapons.
The circumstances in Gaza must be changed radically. Israel fully supports a broad international effort to provide all the necessary means to rebuild the civilian infrastructure and economy in Gaza, provided there is a concerted parallel effort to prevent Hamas from rearming itself with weapons systems and rebuilding its terrorist infrastructure. Hamas cannot be allowed to rebuild its military force and prevent the essential international aid being directed to the Palestinian residents. Ultimately, the best guarantee for rebuilding Gaza and developing its economy will be demilitarization.
As long as Hamas remains armed, its weapons represent the strongest and most violent veto of peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

MEMRI: Marwan Barghouti In Message From Israeli Jail: The Time Has Arrived For Fatah Members To Take Part In Comprehensive Resistance Against Israel

Against the backdrop of the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Fatah Central Committee member Marwan Barghouti issued a message from the Israeli prison where he is incarcerated for directing multiple terror attacks in which many Israeli civilians were killed and wounded.
In his message, published in full by the Gazan internet daily Alwatanvoice.com on August 20, 2014, Barghouti urged Fatah, which he called the leader of the "Palestinian revolution," to adhere to the path of resistance in all its forms, both non-violent and violent; this, in order to end the occupation and siege, and in order to leverage the ongoing Palestinian national struggle and the attainment of independence, even at the cost of martyrdom or imprisonment.

Administrivia

I am traveling a bit between now and Monday, so blogging will be a bit lighter than usual most of the time.

At the moment, this is my view:

Jordanian State TV says Jews use Christian blood for matzoh

ANtisemitic Muslim Cleric of the Day:

From MEMRI:

In a Friday sermon delivered in Amman on August 22, 2014, Sheik Bassam Ammoush said that the Jews slaughter children to use their blood for matzos. Ammoush, a former Muslim Brotherhood leader who was expelled from the organization in 1997, was appointed minister of administrative development that year, and became the Jordanian ambassador to Iran in 2001. In 2011, King Abdullah appointed him to the Jordanian Senate. The sermon aired on the official Jordanian TV channel.

Following is an excerpt:

Sheik Bassam Ammoush: In Gaza we are dealing with the enemies of Allah, who believe that the matzos that they bake on their holidays must be kneaded with blood. When the Jews were in the diaspora, they would murder children in England, in Europe, and in America. They would slaughter them and use their blood to make their matzos.

So it should come as no surprise, after they occupied our lands, in complicity with the [Western] enemy... Now they have all these women and children in front of them, so it should come as no surprise. This is their faith.

They believe that they are God's chosen people. They believe that the killing of any human being is a form of worship and a means to draw near their god.

See? He mentioned Gaza! So it must be Israel's fault that Arabs are antisemitic!

The Teflon Terrorists of Fatah

The Al Asifa Army, part of the Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, held a press conference Wednesday where they said that they had shot 620 rockets at Israel during Protective Edge.

The Asifa Army, by the way, takes its name from the first terror group that Yasir Arafat created from Fatah.

At the same time, another Fatah group, the Abu Nidal Brigades, held their own press conference and "victory parade" through the battered Shijaiyah neighborhood together with the DFLP:

The Abu Nidal Brigades claim to have shot 532 rockets and mortars at "the Zionist enemy."

The Abdul Kader Husseini Brigades, yet another Fatah group, claims to have shot 864 rockets and mortars at Israel.

That is over 2000 rockets and mortars being claimed by Fatah!

Fatah, that "moderate" political party, has been enthusiastically bragging about shooting terror rockets at Israeli civilians since the very first day of the war. Yet nobody - not Israel, nor the State Department, nor the EU, nor the "human rights" NGOs, nor the media, nor the "pro-peace" groups like J-Street or Peace Now - nobody wants to condemn them over this.

To spell it out: Mahmoud Abbas, Israel's supposed "peace partner" and the man who "everyone knows" is a moderate and "everyone knows" is the key to making peace, is either complicit in these 2000 war crimes, or he is too powerless to control his own party. It is almost certainly the former. These groups get funding from somewhere, and it isn't Iran or Qatar or Saudi Arabia or Turkey. They are getting their money from institutions headed by Mahmoud Abbas.

Masked terrorists are bragging about committing thousands of war crimes, but since they are Fatah, there are no repercussions for them.

They are the Teflon terrorists.

The world will sometimes deign to criticize Hamas, but to say anything negative about genocidal Fatah terrorists is strictly forbidden. They are moderate, so they can't be terrorists, and if they are proudly parading in their ski masks, the West must close their eyes.

So many people, groups, organizations and nations have so much emotionally invested in portraying Mahmoud Abbas as a shining example of moderate Palestinianism that no one - including Israel itself - is willing to point out that the emperor has no clothes.

So what exactly are the terms of the ceasefire, anyway?

It has been hard to find the actual terms of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas (officially, the PA.)

The closest I've seen was published in Arabic at Youm7:

The [Egyptian Foreign] Ministry said in a statement, "in order to preserve the lives of innocent people and to prevent bloodshed, and on the basis of the Egyptian Initiative of 2014 and Cairo understandings of 2012, Egypt has invited Israeli and Palestinian sides to a comprehensive ceasefire in conjunction with the opening of the crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel, in order to achieve the speed of entry of humanitarian aid and relief kits for reconstruction , and fishing, from 6 nautical miles, and the continuation of indirect negotiations between the parties on other topics within a month of the start of the ceasefire. ....Egypt reiterates its firm commitment to turn, which is dictated by the facts of history and geography, and responsibilities of national and Arab, regional, and what emerges from that work to achieve the aspirations of the Palestinian people and support their leadership, and concern for the promotion of peace and stability in the region through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state to achieve peace and security in the region, which would contribute to the prosperity and well-being of all its countries and peoples.

That is a hell of a vague statement.

The only concrete part is Israel re-opening the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings that never closed (they are not going to open the old crossings) to allow construction materials and to extend the fishing zone to 6 nautical miles - which Israel did after the Pillar of Defense, and then reportedly shortened it over time. All the other stuff Hamas is claiming - that they will build a sea port and an airport and everything else - is fantasy.

Almost certainly Israel will only allow construction materials in that go through NGOs. That doesn't mean that they won't be diverted, as they had been before, so it remains to be seen whether there will be additional restraints or controls on the dual-use items.

It is very clear that Hamas got very little more than they would have gotten during the first cease fire proposal by Egypt before the ground invasion. The six mile fishing zone is mostly symbolic, that section of the Mediterranean is already overfished. Hamas celebrations are completely for pride.

Hamas is probably counting on being able to divert much of the international aid that will pour in.

Will the PA be able to leverage this into returning to a position of control in Gaza, especially Rafah? Egypt no doubt will push for that as a condition to re-open Rafah the way it was under the Muslim Brotherhood.

We won't know if this truce will be worth it for years - if Hamas holds its fire and the fire of its partners. But we do know that Israel didn't promise any of the things that Hamas is claiming.

(h/t Gidon)

08/27 Links Pt2: Academic left and Islamists joined at the anti-Israel hip; Who Occupies Gaza?

From Ian:

Step Away, Do Nothing, Pat Self on Back

Obama administration officials spent much of the spring and summer trying to position themselves as grand strategists. The president's West Point speech was the test drive of their revised national security strategy. It cautioned that "our most costly mistakes came not from our restraint, but from our willingness to rush into military adventures without thinking through the consequences -- without building international support and legitimacy for our action, without leveling with the American people about the sacrifices required." The speech was panned by both the right and the left, precipitating a reconsideration of releasing the National Security Strategy on which it was based (the last was delivered in 2010); it sounds even more laughably self-satisfied in light of the costly mistakes their "restraint" has occasioned in Libya, Syria, and Iraq.
The White House likes to defend its inaction by reiterating that there are no good options. And that is true, although it is not newly true. Windows of opportunity open and close, as Helmut Kohl famously worried about German unification. Options get better and worse with time and with opportunities taken and missed. But the Obama administration's philosophizing is cold comfort to the people experiencing the consequences of our inaction. We should beware buying another whole generation of mistrust from the people of the Middle East by our callous indifference to their problems and solipsistic attempts to ennoble our inaction.
If there actually is an Obama Doctrine -- and it's a debatable point, given the contradictions in the administration's policies -- it is this: Step back, criticize others who step forward, and laud our own moral superiority for doing nothing. Meanwhile, Islamist militias have encircled Tripoli and taken control of the airport. The Western governments that signed the statement encouraging a cease-fire are setting Libya up for continued humanitarian catastrophe and themselves up for another rush-to-the-crime-scene intervention. America is not incapable of devising and executing grand strategy. But the Obama administration evidently is. (h/t Alexi)

Who Occupies Gaza?

There Is No Israeli Siege On Gaza

National Founder of SJP Calls To Silence Jewish Groups The Evening Before The Jewish New Year

University of California at Berkeley professor and founder of the national student group “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) Hatem Bazian announced an “International Day of Action” to call for a complete academic and cultural boycott of Israel on September 23rd- the Eve before the Jewish New Year.
The anti-Semitic nature of the day included calls for “No joint research or conferences with Israeli Institutions, No to University Presidents' Visits to Israel, No Campus Police Training or Cooperation with Israeli Security” in addition to demanding the elimination of all study abroad programs in Israel. The effort is to prevent all academic interaction with the Jewish state and to limit people’s ability to interact with Israel and Israelis.
The attempt to isolate Israel extends to a boycott of Jewish and Israeli on-campus organizations as well. Professor Bazian has also commanded his group to demand “No to University Coordination and Strategizing with the ADL, JCRC, AJC, Stand With US, ZOA, Israeli Consulate to Limit Students Pro-Palestine Constitutionally Protected Activities.”

VIDEO: Gazan Children Cheer For Rockets To Hit America

A video from Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Israeli-Hamas war in July has recently circulated, showing footage that no mainstream American news outlet would dare cover: Gazan children cheering as rockets are fired into Israel, saying they wished the rockets would hit America instead.
CNS News reports:
For Al Jazeera's "America Tonight," foreign correspondent Nick Schifrin reported during an older segment entitled "Israel invades Gaza" on July 17. "Palestinian fighters fire a barrage of rockets," he noted, with two flying towards Tel Aviv. As the camera focused on children clapping and cheering, Schifrin translated, "They tell me they hope they land not on Israel, but in the United States."

Lebanese site Al Ankabout reports that Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, said that what Israel did in Gaza "exceeded what Hitler did in his alleged Holocaust against the Jews." He also called for the eradication of Israel for good measure.

For every day of the five years of the Holocaust, far more Jews were killed than the total killed in Gaza over the past 50 days.

But the next one, from Spain, seems to hate Jews even more. From MEMRI:

In a Friday sermon at Azuqueca De Henares, near Madrid, Sheik Saleheoldine El Moussaoui said that the "plundering Jews" were "the masters of treachery and betrayal," and prayed: "Oh Allah, the Most Merciful, count them one by one, and do not spare a single one of them." The sermon was posted on the Internet on August 25, 2014.

Following are excerpts:

Sheik Saleheoldine El Moussaoui: Dear brothers, what is being done to the Muslims in Palestine, in Gaza, as well as in the other Muslim countries – we would have been surprised if it were done by anyone other than the Jews.

But that is their nature. The Jews are by nature treacherous and war-mongering. There can be no peace with the Jews. What peace are you talking about?!
[...]
This is their way of life. The Jews and the Zionists have treachery and killing as their way of life. They are a people of enmity and jealousy, the masters of treachery and betrayal. As Allah described them in the Quran: They want to spread corruption in the land.

The Zionists do not feel alive if they don't spread corruption. They spread corruption in the land. They cannot live without corruption, treachery, and betrayal.
[...]
[Allah] described them as killers, so their killing of our brothers in Gaza and in Palestine should come as no surprise. They killed the prophets, the best among mankind. The best people in the eyes of Allah are the prophets and messengers. Yet they killed them, showing no regard for pacts of protection. Allah said [to the Jews]: "Taste the punishment of the burning fire." This is what awaits them: the torments of the burning fire.
[...]
Oh Allah, support Islam and the Muslims everywhere, and humiliate polytheism, heresy, and the infidels everywhere. Oh Allah, destroy the plundering Jews. Oh Allah, the Most Merciful, count them one by one, and do not spare a single one of them.

Will Spain treat this as seriously as Italy did when one of their imams went on a similar genocidal rant?

More from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Also, check out their new Facebook page.

By Mahmoud A-Zahar, Hamas Leader

Zionist leader Binyamin Netanyahu tried to get the West to believe that the murderous, brutal Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is cut from the same cloth as our noble Resistance. I am here to tell you that such an analogy misses the mark egregiously, because the two organizations are completely different kinds of genocidal, power-seeking, barbaric movements.

For one thing, ISIS seeks to establish a new Caliphate based in Iraq and Syria, whereas Hamas sees our emerging Caliphate as centered on Palestine. That means we do not seek the immediate overthrow of Assad or whichever American puppet claims to run Iraq. We can get to that later. What we seek is the destruction of every Jew between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, and maybe a few hundred thousand more for good measure. The difference is staggering.

Another plane on which we differ involves the identity of our enemies. ISIS has been brutalizing Shiites, Kurds, and Yazidis, while we focus on killing and maiming Jews. It's totally different.

To the uneducated, perhaps the sight of one set of Islamic fundamentalists trying to kill as many of those who do not subscribe to the same exact belief system as possible looks the same as the sight of a different set of Islamic fundamentalists trying to kill as many of those who do not subscribe to the same exact belief system as possible. But there the similarity ends, because our beliefs differ from those of ISIS in a profound way: we claim that the Islamic Palestinian Resistance will liberate Jerusalem from the oppressor crusader Zionists, whereas they claim the honor will be theirs.

In this they are mistaken, but that is beside the point: the point is that there is no comparison between a movement that routinely decapitates and crucifies captives and one that parades suspected traitors through broad daylight and executes them before crowds that include children. We also occasionally drag the bodies of those suspected traitors from the backs of motorcycles, clips of which you will be hard pressed to find ISIS doing on YouTube.

So enough with the facile comparisons of our noble killing machine with the misguided brutes of ISIS. We're a completely different kind of monster.

08/27 Links Pt1: Hamas's "Victory"; UN, How Did Hamas Rockets End Up In Your Gaza Facilities?

From Ian:

Hamas's "Victory"

What is sad is that the Gazans have not yet been able to free themselves from the yoke of Hamas.
The world seems not to understand that Hamas, like ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood, does not exist in a vacuum. It is one cog in the radical Islamist wheel that threatens the Arab and Muslim world and the major cities of Europe.
The Western world also seems not to understand that it has to incapacitate or totally neutralize the countries funding terrorism, such as Iran, Qatar and Turkey, for whom the Palestinian problem is only a pretext on the way to destroying the Western world as we know it and replacing it with only Islam.

Caroline Glick: Embracing the obvious truth

It isn’t hard to understand the truth about Israel and Hamas.
Four-year-old Daniel Tragerman was murdered on Friday afternoon in his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz by Hamas terrorists.
They shot him with a mortar launched from a school in Gaza’s Zeitoun neighborhood. At the time of the launch, the school was filled with civilians who had fled to the school for shelter.
They fled to the school for shelter because they were forced to vacate their homes.
They were forced to vacate their homes because Hamas terrorists were launching mortars and rockets at Israeli civilian sites, like Daniel Tragerman’s home, from their apartment buildings.
The moral and ideological divide between Israel and Hamas is so self-evident that the only way to ignore it is by embracing and cultivating ignorance.

Times of Israel Live Blog: Ceasefire holds; Israeli officials say Hamas dealt heavy blow

Wednesday, August 27, the first day since an open-ended truce was agreed by Israel and Hamas. Hamas killed two Israelis in a mortar attack just before the truce took effect Tuesday evening, bringing the Israeli death toll in Operation Protective Edge to 70, and Israel struck targets in Gaza including several high-rises where it said Hamas had command centers. Hamas hailed victory in the conflict; Israel’s cabinet was divided on the truce terms, but was not asked to vote on the deal.

"UN, How Did Hamas Rockets End Up In Your Gaza Facilities?" European Group Demands

The European Center for Law & Justice (ECLJ)—the international affiliate of the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ)—today called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to conduct an independent investigation to determine why UN facilities in Gaza were used to support Hamas operatives in their attacks on Israel. It has been widely reported that Hamas terrorist rockets were unlawfully stored in United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facilities.
"The law-abiding member nations of the UN deserve the facts—deserve the truth—about why Hamas was permitted to use UN facilities in its unlawful attacks on Israel," said Jay Sekulow, who serves as Chief Counsel of the ECLJ as well as the ACLJ. "The very reputation and legitimacy of the UN and its various arms and agencies are at stake, especially since Hamas is widely recognized as a terrorist organization. What's worse—the return to Hamas of the rockets unlawfully stored in UNRWA facilities strongly suggests that UNRWA employees may be acting in concert and/or cooperating with Hamas operatives in unlawfully attacking a UN member state. That cannot be tolerated and may, in fact, constitute a war crime. At a minimum, it places in question the legitimacy and impartiality of all UNRWA operations in Gaza." (h/t Yenta Press)

89% of Gazans support shooting rockets at Israeli civilians, 16% of French support ISIS (update)

The latest Palestinian Center for Public Opinion poll, released today, asks this question from adults in Gaza.

”Would you please tell us your opinion about the issue of firing rockets at Israel?”

60.3 % said “I strongly support that”

28.6 % said “I support that”

1.4 % said “I oppose that” and

1.0 % said “I strongly oppose that”

8.7% were undecided or answered "I don't know."

Peace is at hand.

Speaking of polls,

One in six French citizens sympathises with the Islamist militant group ISIS, also known as Islamic State, a poll released this week found.

The poll of European attitudes towards the group, carried out by ICM for Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya, revealed that 16% of French citizens have a positive opinion of ISIS. This percentage increases among younger respondents, spiking at 27% for those aged 18-24.

Here's the bizarre part: According to most, only about 10% of France is Muslim.

So even if every single Muslim in France supports Islamic extremists - one in 15 non-Muslims in France do as well!

Either the poll is very flawed, there are many more Muslims in France than being reported, or France is one-messed up country.

(h/t K)

UPDATE: Commenters are pointing out that the source of the poll of France is more than suspect it is the Russian government news agency.

If you go through the mainstream news media during the past month, you will be hard pressed to find the word "Jihadists" or "Islamic extremists" or "Islamists" in reference to Gaza terror groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Even though Hamas seeks an Islamic caliphate. Even though every jihadist group in Gaza wants to destroy Israel completely. Even though they are just as anti-American and anti-West as any of the groups throughout the Middle East. Even though they have been targeting civilians almost non-stop for years.

It doesn't appear to be because ISIS has crowded out the "extremist" label. These terms are used frequently to describe Muslim fighters not only in Syria and Iraq but also in the Sinai and in Libya.

If Hamas would be "resisting" in any Arab country - and in Egypt, their closely related groups are - they would be called "extremist" and "juhadist." Hell, Islamic Jihad calls itself "Jihadist."

But the media refuses to use those labels.

The only possible reason is because the media doesn't want to admit that Israel is facing a jihadist threat. If they did, then what follows is that Israel's response is just as appropriate as any response against jihadists throughout the region. That is unacceptable when the media wants to place responsibility on Israel for reacting to the same types of groups that threaten the entire region.

If there is a more charitable explanation for why groups that are dedicated to terror and destruction and who happily admit targeting women and children aren't being called "extremists," I'd love to hear it.

Yesterday I reported on an unnamed Gaza woman killed, and 20 injured, as Hamas fans shot bullets in the air in celebration of their "victory."

Now a second person has been killed by celebratory gunfire - in Lebanon:

A Palestinian man was killed by stray bullet after celebrations broke out in refugee camps across Lebanon over a long-term truce that ended 50 days of fighting in Gaza, security sources told The Daily Star.

The accidental death of Omar Mohammad, 32, Tuesday night stirred tensions in the sprawling Ain al-Hilweh, the largest of the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, as the family of the victim started shooting guns in the air in reprisals.

It's a cycle of ~~violence~~ celebration!

Meanwhile, the AP article I linked to yesterday about the first victim has been scrubbed to not mention it anymore. You can still find it in older versions.

Hamas pressure, anyone?

Arabic media says the first victim was 19 and that 50 were injured in Gaza from the gunfire.

(h/t Binyamin)

Woman killed in Gaza - by celebratory gunfire

From AP:

In Gaza City, a 20-year-old woman was killed and several dozen people were wounded by celebratory gunfire after the truce was announced.

The Gaza NGO Safety Office elaborates:

1 Palestinian fatality and 20 injuries as a result of celebratory heavy shooting in the air.

These terrorists sure know how to throw a party!

But wouldn't it be even better if they shoot mortars and Qassam and Grad rockets in the air? After all, as we know, they are only ineffective firecrackers anyway.

I wonder if any of the remaining news crews in Gaza will interview the relatives of the dead woman, and show the maimed victims in the hospital, along with sad music and tearful parents raging against the heartless people who did such a thing. Because every life is equally precious, and it is the journalist's duty to create a compelling story around each one, so such things should never happen again.

I mean, it would be racist to say that Arabs killing Arabs isn't as tragic as Jews killing Arabs, and Western journalists are definitely not racist - they are progressive! Civilians accidentally killed during celebrations are even more tragic and ironic than civilians accidentally killed while terror targets are being hit, aren't they? They wouldn't just leave the victims nameless - that would be cruel!

Any journalist would line up to document such a perfect, made for TV story.

Right?

(h/t Irene)