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Hamas Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 29, 2014 24 Comments
Yesterday one of the stories thrust into the mainstream media was nearly simultaneous explosions in a Palestinian neighborhood and at al-Shifa hospital. The media immediately took the Hamas line that it was Israeli missiles. Later, the IDF stated that it had not fired on those locations, and that the explosions were misfired Hamas or Islamic Jihad missiles. The media played it as he said, he said. But an Italian journalist has just left Gaza and is telling the truth about what happened now that he needs not fear Hamas retaliation -- Israel was right (h/t Israelly Cool): How many more of the civilian casualties have been cause by Hamas and Islamic rockets that fell short or misfired? Like Israel says happened at a U.N. school and shelter. We likely never will know because Hamas is so fast to cover up the scene and intimidates reporters:
The Times of Israel confirmed several incidents in which journalists were questioned and threatened. These included cases involving photographers who had taken pictures of Hamas operatives in compromising circumstances — gunmen preparing to shoot rockets from within civilian structures, and/or fighting in civilian clothing — and who were then approached by Hamas men, bullied and had their equipment taken away.
CAMERA discovered a Wall Street Journal reporter coming to the same conclusion as the Italian reporters, but then deleting the tweet:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 29, 2014 28 Comments
Just think what could have been. Israel left Gaza in 2005. The vast international aid that flowed to Gaza could have been used to build the foundation of a nation. Instead it was put to building tunnels and rocket infrastructure. Rather than forging economic ties with the world, it forged military ties with Iran and Hezbollah to achieve the goal of the Hamas charter -- the destruction of Israel. Meanwhile, Israel continued to build a nation, becoming one of the high tech capitals of the world. That could have been Gaza, where the people obviously have tremendous skills and ingenuity. But it was a choice that was not made. The NY Times has a good story about the nature of the vast Hamas tunnel network into Israel, designed specifically for kidnapping and attacks, Tunnels Lead Right to the Heart of Israeli Fear:
An Israeli military spokesman said that in the tunnels uncovered so far, soldiers have found more than 70 side shafts. Inside the Ein Hashlosha tunnel, they picked up potato-chip bags dated as late as February. Elsewhere, there were dates, water and crackers; rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles; small rooms for sleeping or hiding; a kidnapping kit of tranquilizers and plastic handcuffs; Israeli Army uniforms; and a Bosch drill used for digging the tunnels that Colonel Azulai described as “a very good one.” “It’s like a subway under Gaza,” he said. Israeli experts said each tunnel would take up to a year and cost up to $2 million to build, involving dozens of diggers working by hand and with small electric tools. The military has known about the tunnels since at least 2003 and had a task force studying them for a year, but was nonetheless stunned at the sophisticated network they found.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 28, 2014 7 Comments
Live Video and Twitter feed at bottom of post Last night the United Nations Security Council issued a Presidential Statement (less than a Resolution) demanding an immediate Gaza ceasefire. Hamas kept firing missiles, and Israel now is responding. Israel has rejected a ceasefire that does not include security guarantees. A devastating critique of John Kerry's botched ceasefire attempt, from left-wing Israeli author Ari Shavit:
If Israel is forced to ultimately undertake an expanded ground operation in which dozens of young Israelis and hundreds of Palestinian civilians could lose their lives, it would be appropriate to name the offensive after the person who caused it: John Kerry. But if the escalation does not happen, instead we should remember that those who prevented it are three people the Obama administration loathes: Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, Benjamin Netanyahu and Moshe Ya’alon.
There was an explosion at Shifa Hospital (used by Hamas as a safe haven) which immediately was blamed on Israel, but now appears likely to have been a Hamas rocket misfire. We will update as the day goes on.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 26, 2014 28 Comments
When I heard parts of John Kerry's news conference today, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He was talking as if he's trying to create a way to bolster Hamas when the fighting is over. Sure enough, Barak Ravid, a well-regarded reporter for the left-wing Israeli Haaretz newspaper presents a chilling tale of John Kerry's complete incompetence in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, Kerry's latest cease-fire plan: What was he thinking?
The draft Kerry passed to Israel on Friday shocked the cabinet ministers not only because it was the opposite of what Kerry told them less than 24 hours earlier, but mostly because it might as well have been penned by Khaled Meshal [the political head of Hamas who lives in Qatar]. It was everything Hamas could have hoped for. The document recognized Hamas' position in the Gaza Strip, promised the organization billions in donation funds and demanded no dismantling of rockets, tunnels or other heavy weaponry at Hamas' disposal. The document placed Israel and Hamas on the same level, as if the first is not a primary U.S. ally and as if the second isn't a terror group which overtook part of the Palestinian Authority in a military coup and fired thousands of rockets at Israel.
It gets worse, as I suspected Kerry is seeking to make Hamas a post-war power, Ravid reports:

Posted by New Neo on July 25, 2014 15 Comments
How do you fight an enemy that is willing---nay, eager---to force you to kill its children even if you don't want to? That's the situation Israel faces against Hamas. It's the situation we face against Islamist terrorists, too, because they use such techniques as one of their primary tools, and the liberal west and the MSM all too often play into their hands by demonizing Israel and the US rather than the perpetrators. This is not new. It began when the west decided that all-out war was something it could no longer in good conscience wage. Civilian casualties in the first half of the 20th Century had reached such huge numbers that we turned in revulsion against them, and the increasing accuracy of weaponry enabled us to entertain the idea---for a short while, anyway---that wars could be fought with "surgical precision." That would be true, if the enemy cooperated. But it doesn't. The Islamist terrorists didn't invent the technique. In order for it to come to full fruition, the enemy needed a west with a guilty conscience about itself and a desire to excuse that enemy's barbarism, and an MSM fully on board with the program. This was already beginning to be the case during the War in Vietnam:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 25, 2014 27 Comments
John Kerry has proposed a seven-day truce, during which time there would be negotiations over a longer-term ceasefire. Hamas reportedly is going to accept the proposal, but that's far from official. The Israeli cabinet is discussing the proposal as we speak. Concerns are that Hamas, having rejected a ceasefire early on and finally beginning to crumble, will simply use the truce to redeploy and recover. We will update when more is known, but you can follow the events in the live video and Twitter feeds at the bottom of the post. A ceasefire that allows Hamas to rearm and reload likely will be unacceptable to Israel in light of the discovery that Hamas had planned a massive Rosh Hashonah attack through the tunnels that are being destroyed:
Israel’s Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Thursday that Hamas was intending to attack Israel from dozens of tunnels in a coordinated simultaneous attack. At the beginning of Thursday’s special cabinet meeting the prime minister said, “These tunnels enable the enemy to open a multi-pronged offensive and carry out a massive terror attack inside Israel.” According to security officials cited by Israeli daily Ma’ariv, the political echelon needs to give the military more time to eliminate the tunnels since “we are now not even halfway through.” The attack Hamas was planning, the officials say, “would have made Israel drop to its knees.” They added that even the tunnels destroyed until now takes away from Hamas a strategic asset the terror group has been working on for years..
IDF officers estimate that the job of destroying all the tunnel infrastructure will take another ten days to two weeks to complete:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 22, 2014 11 Comments
Given the cancellation of flights into and out of Ben-Gurion Int'l Airport at the urging of the FAA backed up by the White House, many are predicting it's likely that the next day or two will be decisive -- either militarily or diplomatically. Anshel Pfeffer at Haaretz writes that the airport shutdown may lead to a heavier Israeli military strike:
This may prove to be a game-changer in a conflict which is now entering its third week. It could provide further impetus for the government in seeking a speedy ceasefire with Hamas, but that seems doubtful. Even a partial suspension of operations at Ben-Gurion is a major coup for Hamas, which has been so starved of any real achievements that they are pretending to have captured an IDF soldier who was almost certainly killed on Saturday night, though his remains have yet to be identified. Accepting Hamas' terms for a ceasefire now is unthinkable. It is much more likely that, faced with the prospect of more rockets cutting Israel off from the international air routes, the government will be inclined to order a much more devastating blow, a wider ground operation to occupy the rocket-launching sites or even directed at Hamas' underground headquarters, with dreadful implications for the people of Gaza living above.
Times of Israel analyst Avi Issacharoff argues, in Worse may yet lie ahead, that Hamas, while talking tough, is in trouble:

Posted by David Gerstman on July 22, 2014 2 Comments
According to Ynet nine soldiers were killed Monday in separate incidents. Israel also announced that one of the soldiers killed in Sunday's armored personnel carrier attack has not yet been accounted for. Although not all the circumstances are clear, it appears Hamas may have retrieved body parts and/or belongings to the dead soldier: https://twitter.com/CiFWatch/status/491539100491866113 Of the 27 Israeli soldiers killed so far in Operation Protective Edge, 6 of them have been killed inside of Israel, not Gaza. In separate incidents soldiers were killed by terrorists emerging from terror tunnels:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2014 9 Comments
Part of the anti-Israel war effort includes attempts to demoralize Israel and its supporters. That is why Hamas, Hezbollah and others try so hard to kidnap Israeli civilians or soldiers, and even to grab dead bodies. That psychological warfare is on full display in the media and social media. But it's not working because Israelis know that Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups in Gaza, who fire from among civilians towards civilians, leave Israel with no choice but to fight in a war it didn't want but in which so much is at stake. Despite losses from infiltrators and in city combat, Israeli troop morale is high from all reports. The video below has gone viral on Facebook, with over 30,500 likes and almost 20,000 shares as of this writing. It shows Israeli soldiers on a break from combat in Gaza singing: The song is "Who Believes" by Eyal Golan. This is a rough translation (thanks to our Israeli family friend Daniel for the link):

Posted by David Gerstman on July 21, 2014 5 Comments
Note: There are live Video and Twitter feeds at the bottom of the post ----------------------------- Overnight Hamas attempted two infiltrations through tunnels, one of which opened up near the dining room of Kibbutz in Israel. Both sets of terrorists were eliminated by the IDF. There are unspecified reports of Israeli casualties. The Times of Israel reports:
In open ground near Erez five terrorists come out of a tunnel shortly after six in the morning. They surface near the security fence and only a few hundred yards from the nearest community. An IAF aircraft intercepts them, killing all five, with no Israelis wounded. ... Near Kibbutz Nir Am, a second group of terrorists surface on the Israeli side of the border. It is not clear if they emerge from a different tunnel or a branch of the one that served the other squad, nor is the number of gunmen confirmed. The sizable squad is able to surprise a passing army jeep, ambushing it with an anti-tank missile and inflicting Israeli casualties. But with the help of Nahal troops the force is able to kill the operatives and thwart an infiltration to civilian areas or an abduction attempt.
Ynet has more on this incident as well as other fighting:

Posted by David Gerstman on July 20, 2014 15 Comments
[WAJ Note: Live Twitter and video feeds added at bottom of post.] Today, Sunday, fighting has intensified. Ynet reports:
The IDF's ground incursion into Gaza has led to a rapid rise in the number of terrorists killed. Since the beginning of the ground operation, IDF soldiers have eliminated more than 130 terrorists, including more than 60 Saturday overnight. During the overnight firefights, a Golani Brigade battalion commander, Colonel Rassan Alian, sustained light-to-moderate injuries. Large infantry forces entered Gaza overnight, as the IDF expanded Operation Protective Edge on Sunday. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced that the ground forces joined the ongoing operations to destroy terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, which began with the ground incursion.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 18, 2014 4 Comments
This is night two of the ground invasion of Gaza. It does not appear to have moved into the large Gaza City, yet. The focus has been on uncovering tunnels, of which many have been found. You can follow the video and Twitter feed below for live updates. We also will post updates at the bottom of the post. (added) Overnight there was another tunnel attack where Hamas terrorists emerged on the Israeli side of the border and were confronted. Two Israeli soldiers were killed. Also, Hamas sent a donkey loaded with explosives towards Israeli soldiers -- the animal exploded without causing Israeli casualties. More details on all of these below. More Live Video Feeds and Live Twitter Feed below

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 18, 2014 9 Comments
[Council meeting now over] The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting at the request of Jordan. The live tweets are below. The main outcome is that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will leave Saturday for the Middle East to try to mediate a ceasefire. Security Council Emergency Meeting Gaza undersecretary of the UN Jeff Feltman

Posted by David Gerstman on July 18, 2014 10 Comments
Overnight, the New York Times reports that one Israeli soldier and 20 Palestinians were killed. (A report at The Times of Israel puts the number at 22 Palestinians, at least 14 of whom were members of Hamas.)
An Israeli soldier was killed early Friday along with at least 20 Palestinians in the first hours of Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip as the violent conflict there entered its 11th day. ... Sirens signaling rockets sounded all night and into the morning across Israel’s south; the army counted more than 50 rockets from the 10 p.m. start of its ground invasion until 7 a.m. Friday.
https://twitter.com/IDFSpokesperson/status/490029893204180993 Israel has made it clear that Hamas' network of tunnels is its target. Mitch Ginsburg of The Times of Israel explains what Israel hopes to accomplish with the ground invasion.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 17, 2014 25 Comments
There are numerous reports that after heavy artillery shelling along the border, Israeli troops have entered on the ground in Gaza. Israel i24 News reports that the Prime Minister's office has authorized a ground incursion to destroy tunnels. It's not known if it is a limited incursion or something larger. It comes the same day that Hamas launched an unsuccessful attack through a tunnel near an Israeli Kibbutz. Israelii24 News has live coverage in English: More Live Video Feeds and Live Twitter Feed below As it's obviously a fluid situation subject to misinformation, we've embedded numerous news and local sources on the Twitter Feed below, so you can keep track as events develop.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 17, 2014 14 Comments
The killing of four boys on a Gaza beach has generated enormous criticism of Israel. Israel itself has expressed sorrow at the killing (see Featured Image Tweet). But one fact not reported anywhere except WaPo is that the area was known to be used for rocket launching: This clip is from British news. Note how the interviewer doesn't even attempt to hide his bias. Welcome to British media, and increasingly, U.S. left-wing media. Mark Regev, a spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister's office, held his own and handled it well:
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