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Anti-Israel activists thrive in darkness. On campuses and municipalities, they spend months and sometimes years planning attacks on Israel that are often unveiled only at the last second, leaving Israel advocates scrambling. That is unfolding with a vile antisemitic campaign called "Deadly Exchange," which seeks to blame Israel and American Jewish groups for domestic U.S. problems in the policing of minority communities. Run by the misleadingly named Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Deadly Exchange seeks to exploit pre-existing domestic racial tensions to stoke antisemitism in order to turn minority communities against Israel.

Hezbollah had an extensive program to built attack tunnels capable of transferring large numbers of terrorists into northern Israel in a short amount of time. The project, if ever used in war, would have allowed Hezbollah to score a short-term military, and long-term propaganda, victory by seizing towns and territory within Israel. Hezbollah many times has threatened to take the ground war into Israel, and tunnels were to play a key role as they do for Hamas in Gaza.

We have covered many examples of Hamas attack tunnels from Gaza crossing into southern Israel being discovered and destroyed. While there have long been rumors that Hezbollah was constructing tunnels under the border with Lebanon in the North, such reports were based mostly on the logic of Hezbollah's tactics. Hezbollah has been threatening for years that in the next war it would capture part of northern Israel, even if only for a short time.

When news first broke that Nur Barake, a senior Hamas operative responsible for attack tunnel construction, was killed in an Israeli commando operation in Gaza, it was assumed that the operative was the target. In the ensuing firefight, six more Hamas operatives were killed, as well as an Israeli special forces soldier. That soldier, along with a wounded comrade and others in the raid, were extracted from Gaza in a rescue mission under heavy Israeli air cover.

This is breaking news, and will be updated as more becomes known. Israeli commandos apparently infiltrated the Gaza strip and assassinated Nur Barakah, a Hamas al-Qassam brigade senior commander in charge of attack tunnels. The attack was confirmed by al-Qassam in a tweet:

While Palestinians in Gaza cry poverty, Hamas devotes enormous resources to building complex and sophisticated attack tunnels. International assistance including Cement, steel, wood and other materials that could be used to build and repair homes, are diverted to military purposes. Each such tunnel uses approximately $3 million in resources.

We have covered the destruction of numerous Hamas and other terror group attack tunnels leading from the Gaza strip into Israel. Our April 15, 2018, post summarized the history of terror tunnel building, which consumes enormous resources that otherwise could go to improving the lives of Gazans, Israel destroys “longest and deepest” Hamas cross-border Gaza attack tunnel.

Hamas seems to have found its sweet spot. Under cover of civilian protests, backed by clouds of smoke from burning tires, it sends operatives to try to breach the Israeli border fence. A fence breach would be used to surge hundreds or even thousands of people into Israeli giving Hamas a propaganda victory. Such a breach also would be used by Hamas military operatives for terror operations -- that's why such a high percentage of those killed at the fence have been Hamas or other terror group military members. We have covered this Hamas tactic in numerous prior posts:

Last week Durham, North Carolina became the first American city to align a municipal public policy with the agenda of the anti-Israel fringe organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which falsely blames Israel and American Jewish groups for instances of police violence against blacks in the U.S. and domestic police militarization. In a statement endorsed unanimously, the City Council prohibited international police exchanges "in which Durham police officers receive military-style training." The statement, after an intense lobbying campaign by anti-Israel activists and over the objection of police groups, mentioned only Israel by name in the opening paragraph of the document.

Next time you hear the usual suspects complain about the Israeli military blockade of Gaza, or how Gazans have not been able to rebuild since the 2014 war, keep in mind how many resources the ruling Hamas diverts to missiles, terror, and most of all, attack tunnels. The Hamas tunneling effort diverts huge amounts of concrete, steel, fuel and electricity that could be used for civilian purposes. I discussed in July 2014 how Hamas' tunnel effort demonstrates that it has no interest in building a civil society, One People built tunnels, the other a nation:

Today was the second attempt by Hamas and other terrorist groups to breach the Gaza-Israel border under cover of civilian "protests." When this was tried a week ago, approximately 18 Gazans were killed, almost all of them documented to be military members of terror groups, as we documented in two posts, PHOTOS: Most Palestinians killed at Gaza border clash were terrorists. and 15 terrorists now identified among dead from last Gaza border clash, as Palestinians plan toxic tire fire.