05 Tuesday Aug 2014
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Children don’t choose to be part of a war any more than they choose their parents. Anyone who can view the suffering of Palestinians as they regard those who have been wounded and maimed and mourn their dead with indifference is wrong. Those who have lost the capacity to realize the common humanity even with an enemy have lost their moral compass.
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05 Tuesday Aug 2014
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Observation mine:
All of the Islamic Small Wars plus most anti-Semitism have at their core the issue of integrity. For many, the emotional and survival value — the value of patronage; the value of not being arrested, tortured, or murdered — of a “loyal lie” trumps the powers of an “uncomfortable truth”. That’s the way it work, and how the greater part of the modern world is going to change that, I don’t know.
As the latest “ceasefire” sets in and news of the latest rounds of Hamas execution of “collaborators” — some whose cell phones had Israeli SIM cards — zip around the web, it would seem well to note who has been “played” most by Hamas in the planning, run-up, and experience of the latest encounter with Israel’s society and its defense forces.
I have often suggested the presence of a “hidden political topology” in Gaza cloaked (and suffocated) by Hamas, which has been known to arrest, torture, and murder dissidents in its midst. Recently, a few again braved arrest to speak their minds.
Palestinian Arab sources said Tuesday that Gaza residents attacked Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri Saturday evening, near the Shifa Hospital.
Abu Zuhri had arrived at the hospital for an interview with a news outlet.
The residents blamed Hamas for the death of family members and for destruction of their homes. Armed Hamas terrorists from the Izzedine al-Kassam Brigades extricated Abu Zuri and arrested the angry residents.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183741 – 8/5/2014.
In Gaza, and for Gazans, the revolution that would be a miracle — the true resistance — never comes: the thugs have the guns, so it seems, and run short on conscience and empathy.
Hamas really does shield its fighting with innocents.
Related
http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/04/20/gaza-hamas-should-end-killings-torture – 4/20/2009
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/10/03/gaza-arbitrary-arrests-torture-unfair-trials – 10/3/2012.
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/21/world/la-fg-hamas-gaza-egypt-20130822 – 8/21/2013.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/thane-rosenbaum-civilian-casualties-in-gaza-1405970362 -7/21/2014.
(6/24/2014)
Once again, Hamas used those sheltering at an UNRWA school as human shields. UNRWA official Richard Engel confirmed the fact in a tweet.
“those killed and injured were apparently around the gate of the UN school…not a direct hit inside the school compound.”
Nevertheless, the photo op of people carrying bloodied bodies of children and women, injured and dying, weeping next to an UNRWA school, far outweighed any cold facts that might have been stated later on.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/obama-betrays-israel-at-un-over-unrwa/2014/08/04/ – 8/4/2014
Today, Abu Marzouk is one of the major billionaires in Hamas. “Arab estimates peg his fortune at 2-3 billion dollars,” Elad says. Another senior-official-turned-terror-tycoon is Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas’s political wing. “Global estimates say Mashaal is worth $2.6 billion,” but Arab commentators, with other sources, say he is worth between 2 and 5 billion, “invested in Egyptian banks and Gulf countries, some in real estate projects.”
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/07/28/gazas-millionaires-and-billionaires-how-hamass-leaders-got-rich-quick/ – 7/28/2014.
Related to the above:
How Setad came into those assets also mirrors how the deposed monarchy obtained much of its fortune – by confiscating real estate. A six-month Reuters investigation has found that Setad built its empire on the systematic seizure of thousands of properties belonging to ordinary Iranians: members of religious minorities like Vahdat-e-Hagh, who is Baha’i, as well as Shi’ite Muslims, business people and Iranians living abroad.
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/iran/#article/part1 – 11/11/32013 “Setad” is Ayatollah Khamenei’s “business” vehicle.
The Egyptian street has become inflamed with anger directed against Hamas over the last three years, partly due to what appears to be its financial gains at the expense of the Egyptian people. The tunnels in Rafah, the town straddling the Gaza-Egypt border, for example, saw a flourishing fuel-smuggling industry from Sinai. The fuel subsidized by the Egyptian government was entering Gaza at a low price, but being sold for eight times that. Those who made the greatest profits from the sale of the fuel were Hamas members, even as Egypt often reported shortages for its own people.
Hamas, says Professor Ahmed Karima of Al-Azhar University in Egypt, has long become a movement of millionaires. According to Karima, the organization can count no less than 1,200 millionaires among its members. He did not, however, specify the source of this information.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4543634,00.html – 7/15/2014.
Related
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-the-phenomenal-wealth-of-hamas-leaders-1000957953 – 7/24/2014. Includes video: “Meet the Hamas billionaires”.
(8/2/2014)
Hamas turned out thieves, first leaning on and stealing from their own for themselves, and on top of that for what — the destruction of an authentic ethnic global commune with its heart in Jerusalem and its body in the Land of Israel? Perhaps Gazans themselves will call out Hamas for what Hamas has done to them.
I know I should tie off this post, but the idea that people haven’t gotten the whole truth about Gaza — and Gazan’s have not gotten a whole truth either — has been developing for some time. Without further ado:
(7/29/2014)
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/poll-israel-justified-hamas-gaza-palestine-109717.html – 8/5/2014.
http://www.businessinsider.com/proxy-conflicts-in-gaza-2014-8 – 8/1/2014.
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05 Tuesday Aug 2014
It seems to me there are two Israels. There is ‘nasty Israel’, a dark and ghoulish place which exists in the minds and prejudices of certain political columnists and their readers, where Israeli policy makers act out of pure malice, and any accusation of evil doing is presumed automatically to be true.
Then there is actual Israel – where I have lived for the last eight years – a young, open, vibrant, democratic society, managing extraordinary national security threats, in which varied sectors and ideological groupings are competing to determine the future of the country.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-toby-greene/israel-palestine_b_5637646.html – 8/4/2014.
Related —
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05 Tuesday Aug 2014
“It’s like the Underground, the Metro or the Subway,” Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said. “These tunnels are all connected. I would describe it as Lower Gaza.”
Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said, “A whole city of terror tunnels has been found. Without the ground operation, we would have woken up one day to an Israeli 9/11.”
Except, the actual objective was to be five times 9/11.
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05 Tuesday Aug 2014
(8/4/2014)
“Shaked added that yesterday, 186 trucks entered carrying mainly medical equipment and medicines. The shipment was the largest since Operation Protective Edge began and included – inter alia – 3,000 units of blood, water tanks and generators to supply electricity to local hospitals. Thousands of liters of gasoline and diesel fuel were also delivered, as well as 87 tons of natural gas.
Since the start of Operation Protective Edge, 1,752 trucks with humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip.”
As the latest ceasefire takes effect this morning, it may bear keeping in mind that Israel has continued shipping throughput to Gaza throughout hostilities to the extent feasible.
Field hospital for wounded Palestinians from Gaza
The IDF, in cooperation with the Red Crescent, has opened a field hospital at the Erez Crossing, on the Gaza border, to treat wounded Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The field hospital contains an emergency room, lab, pharmacy, pediatric ward, ambulatory clinic, gynecology unit, family and internal medicine, and is equipped to treat dozens of patients.
Since the field hospital opened on 20 July, doctors and staff have attended to 50 patients. Some have been treated and released, some treated and sent on for additional care at a hospital, and some sent immediately for hospital care. Unfortunately, Hamas has directly and indirectly prevented patients from arriving for care at the field hospital.
The officer also noted, however, that Hamas has prevented Israeli humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza, and that a field hospital erected by Israel near the Erez border crossing to treat Palestinian wounded has not seen much use. Indeed, COGAT reports that fewer than 50 injured people have sought treatment at the field hospital, due to Hamas’ opposition to it.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-gaza-conflict-2014/.premium-1.608949 – 8/5/2014
(7/19/2014)
Since the start of Operation Protective Edge, 3,360 rockets have been launched at Israel, striking at the civilian population throughout the country, from north to south. Three civilians have been killed.
http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Pages/Israel-under-fire-July-2014-A-Diary.aspx (up to date, quoted 8/5/2014).
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04 Monday Aug 2014
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IDF forces in the Gaza Strip found a Hamas manual on “Urban Warfare,” which belonged to the Shuja’iya Brigade of Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. The manual explains how the civilian population can be used against IDF forces and reveals that Hamas knows the IDF is committed to minimizing harm to civilians.
http://www.idfblog.com/blog/2014/08/04/captured-hamas-combat-manual-explains-benefits-human-shields/ – 8/4/2014.
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03 Sunday Aug 2014
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It is perhaps less risky to fill three minutes with gruesome post-mortems than to film Hamas fighters in their tracks, but it is not reporting. Preying on human emotions as a proxy for journalism, even where sprinkled with facts, may be good for ratings – like fear and sex — but it has turned too much of the coverage out of Gaza into little more than snuff with a halo..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philippe-assouline/pornography-of-pain-why-t_b_5639741.html – 8/1/2014.
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03 Sunday Aug 2014
Are they even aware that most of the Christian community in Gaza have fled –out of fear of Hamas? Gaza Christians were and are driven away by intimidation, death threats, forced conversions and scrutiny by Hamas “Torquemadas” who check to make sure these new converts are attending Mosque on a regular basis. Have they seen the videos recently smuggled out showing Hamas henchmen beating up Palestinian men, women and children trying to evacuate their homes, (as the IDF asked them to do), and being driven back inside by Hamas henchmen so their deaths can become fodder for naïve, unquestioning western eyes? For every Palestinian – except their most dedicated supporters, Hamas rule in Gaza has become akin to the inquisition. Has it ever occurred to these new lefties that their unquestioning support of Gaza is actually enabling Hamas and other similar tyrants to continue doing what they do best – namely rule through intimidation and terror?
http://israelsvoice.com/article.php?id=294&t=1407101450 – 8/3/2014
For good reason, I refer to it as the “New Old Now Old Far Out and Lost Left”.
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