Israel's War Against Hamas - Updates

[Sixties Fan]

My covering of the attacks on Israel by Hamas on Saturday start on page 192 on this thread.

All The News Anti-Israel Posters Will Not Read Or Discuss 2

Israel and Egypt have maintained restrictions on Gaza leading up today’s blockade since Hamas seized control of the Strip in 2007. Often overlooked, forgotten or taken for granted in media coverage and public discussion is the reason for the blockade: the threat of Hamas weapons smuggling...

www.usmessageboard.com

I have decided to keep all future updates and news on a separate thread starting with this video which encapsulates what Israel is, to all the people who live there:

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[The Duke]

You're teh gae. /thread.

 

[1srelluc]

This one is better to follow....It's up to 284 pages now:

Follow this linked thread for the current Israeli Conflict

Gaza lookin' awful dark tonight. ;)

www.usmessageboard.com

latest:

Oh, and the Gaza Yacht Club is closed till further notice.

 

[Sixties Fan]

As part of its retaliation against the Hamas terrorists for its massacre of Israeli men, women and children, Israel has been responsible for the destruction of mosques.

What is Israel up to?
Better question -- what is Hamas up to?
Historically, Hamas has used mosques for storing weapons. An article from the Washington Post in 2014 asked the question Why Hamas stores its weapons inside hospitals, mosques and schools and went about why there is a need to ask the question in the first place.

The article gives an example from a brief cease-fire:

During the lull, a group of men at a mosque in northern Gaza said they had returned to clean up the green glass from windows shattered in the previous day’s bombardment. But they could be seen moving small rockets into the mosque.

Israel was not surprised by this; it has noted this other use of mosques before:



The Washington Post article also describes how schools and hospitals are put to the same use, storing weapons -- in total disregard of the lives of Gazan civilians put at risk.

But let's stick to the mosques -- and other examples of mosques being destroyed by other Muslims. I wrote about this in 2012:

In Aleppo, Syria, Muslims badly damaged a landmark mosque:

A landmark mosque in Aleppo was burned, scarred by bullets and trashed — the latest casualty of Syria's civil war — and President Bashar Assad on Monday ordered immediate repairs to try to stem Muslim outrage at the desecration of the 12th century site.

According to one of those interviewed, the Syrian army was stationed inside the mosque "because of its strategic location in the Old City".

Of course, the simpler answer could be that the Syrian army used the mosque because the mosque itself was a strategic location.

After all, what Muslim would attack and destroy a mosque?

Quite a few actually -- for example:

• In August 2011, the New York Times reported that 28 Are Killed in Bombing at a Mosque in Baghdad
  
  
• In October 2010 in Afghanistan, The Taliban murdered the head of Kunduz province, along with 14 other people, in a mosque bombing in Tahkar. The governor had been outspoken in his opposition to the Taliban and allied terror groups operating in the north.
  
  
• There's the mosque burned during the arson attack on the Crazy Water Park in Gaza in September 2010 as reported by The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
  
  
• There was the mosque destroyed in Lebanon during a fight between Hezbollah and a rival group in August 2010
  
  
• And then there's the Turkish general who admitted to destroying a mosque on purpose back in 1974 in order to psyche out the enemy:
  

  In remarks published in the Haber Türk daily yesterday as part of an interview with Gen. Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu, who led the Special War Department in 1971 and also worked to mobilize civilian resistance during Turkey's military intervention on Cyprus in 1974, said: “In Special War, certain acts of sabotage are staged and blamed on the enemy to increase public resistance. We did this on Cyprus; we even burnt down a mosque.” In response to the surprised correspondent's incredulous look the general said, “I am giving an example,” in an attempt to clear things up.

So not only have mosques been deliberately targeted by Muslims, the destruction of those mosques has been exploited for PR against the enemy -- much in the same way that Hamas has manipulated its own people in Gaza, putting them in danger, in order to reap the PR benefits.

The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centerproduced a report in 2010, Hamas and the Terrorist Threat from the Gaza Strip, which examined the military use of mosques.



The footnote at the end of the paragraph points to a separate article from 2009, The use of mosques for military and political purposes by Hamas and other terrorist organizations and Islamic groups

The point is that other Arab countries use mosques for military purposes as well. Here is an example from Iraq:



The point is that Hamas has a history of using mosques for military purposes and other Muslim countries have done it as well. In addition there is the PR value of forcing Israel to destroy the mosque and broadcasting to the world what Israel has done.

Hamas is as much at ease hiding weapons in a mosque as they are in hiding behind children.

Hamas Exploits Mosques The Same Way They Exploit Children (Daled Amos)

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

[1srelluc]

Lyin' pencilneck.

 

[Sixties Fan]

The Israel Air Force was striking in the Gaza Strip on an “unprecedented scale” Wednesday according to senior Air Force officer Brig. Gen. Omer Tishler, as Israel focused its efforts on targeting Hamas officials.

Tishler, the Israel Air Force’s chief of staff, said: “There is an enemy here firing rockets, raiding a civilian population. We will never allow that again.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Gaza’s only power plant ran out of fuel, forcing it to shut down after Israel cut off supplies. That leaves only generators to power the territory — but they also run on fuel that is in short supply.

(full article online)

IAF hits Gaza on ‘unprecedented scale’; Strip’s power plant shuts down

Military officials vow to strike terror leaders and fighters with 'great power,' note civilians not targeted but strikes no longer 'surgical'

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[1srelluc]

 

[1srelluc]

 

[1srelluc]

 

[Sixties Fan]

Health Minister Moshe Arbel issued a directive to the public health system in Israel to refuse to treat captured terrorists on Wednesday afternoon.

"Since the beginning of the fighting, the issue of treating the damned and despicable Hamas terrorists within the public hospitals has piled up a tremendous difficulty on the health system," wrote Arbel.

"In these difficult times, the health system should focus fully on the treatment of the victims of the criminal massacre, the IDF soldiers and preparedness for the next," added the health minister. "The task of securing and treating the cursed and despicable terrorists within the public health system significantly harms these efforts and therefore, under my guidance, the public health system will not treat them."

Israel directs public hospitals not to treat Hamas terrorists

The health minister called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to instruct the relevant bodies to act accordingly.

www.jpost.com

 

[1srelluc]

 

[1srelluc]

 

[Sixties Fan]

A Muslim doctor volunteering for Israel’s emergency service organization United Hatzalah was held hostage for several hours and shot twice by Hamas terrorists who had infiltrated southern Israel, according to a Hatzalah spokesman.

Tarek Abu Arar was driving to his shift at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon on Saturday morning when at a junction near Sderot he came across a person who seemed injured on the side of the road, the spokesman said, sharing Arar’s recounting of what happened.

“Suddenly as I got closer to the car I saw about 50 meters away what looked like an Israeli soldier in uniform. He gestured to me to come to him. As I walked to him and was just 10 meters away, he suddenly shot me in the chest,” Abu Arar said. “I started shouting and praying, convinced that I was about to die. I thought he was a soldier who had mistaken me for a terrorist. Then I heard someone say in Arabic ‘Stop, stop, he is an Arab.’ This is when I understood they were Hamas terrorists.”

Arar recounted that as he looked back, “about 10 additional men in military attire came out from behind the bushes and started interrogating me in Arabic. They asked me questions to check my knowledge of Islam. They had Kalashnikovs and very advanced military equipment and were wearing green uniforms that looked similar to IDF [Israel Defense Forces] uniforms.”

The Hamas terrorists reportedly told Abu Arar: “That’s it we have a hostage, the IDF cannot eliminate us from the air anymore.”

They then began shooting cars passing by the junction with the intent to murder as many civilians as possible, Abu Arar recalled.

“It was horrific,” he said. “This continued for two hours until the army arrived at the scene and there was a shootout between the terrorists and the soldiers, with me in the middle.”

After hours of captivity, a Hamas terrorist shot Abu Arar in the leg from point blank and signaled with his hand that the next bullet would be in his head.

“During this whole time, I was praying for a miracle,” Abu Arar said. “I was convinced that I was about to die.”

Forty-five minutes later, elite Israeli forces arrived at the scene, eliminated the terrorists, and rescued Abu Arar.

“This was the worst experience of my life,” Abu Arar said. “I have dedicated my life to helping others and saving lives, both in my profession as a doctor and my volunteering with United Hatzalah. To be forced to witness the horrible slaughter carried out in front of my eyes was terrible. I have no words to describe it. Just terrible.”

Abu Arar has been a volunteer doctor with United Hatzalah for over a year and is currently recuperating at home after having been released from the hospital. He is one of four United Hatzalah volunteers who were injured in the conflict on Saturday, one of whom, another Muslim volunteer, was providing medical coverage at the music festival where hundreds of Israelis were murdered when he was injured and kidnapped by Hamas. An additional volunteer, Maor Shalom, was killed while trying to save lives after he was called up to duty as part of Israel’s security forces.

‘I Have No Words’: Muslim Doctor With Israeli EMS Group Shot, Held Hostage by Hamas - Algemeiner.com

A Muslim doctor volunteering for Israel's emergency service organization United Hatzalah was held hostage for several hours and shot twice by Hamas terrorists who had infiltrated southern Israel, according to a Hatzalah spokesman. Tarek Abu Arar was driving to his shift at Barzilai Hospital in...

www.algemeiner.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Speaking outside a Jewish school in a suburb of Paris on Wednesday, France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that at least two individuals are in the process of being deported from France over antisemitic incidents following the Hamas terrorist invasion of Israel on Saturday.

Le Parisien reported that, according to the interior minister’s office, one incident involved a Syrian man speaking English who tried to enter a synagogue school in Paris, was stopped by the school’s guards, and began talking about bombs and shouting “Allahu Akbar” before he was arrested.

Another involved a man who was stopped by police driving in front of a synagogue in Cannes and was found to be in possession of a tear gas canister.

Darmanin said he has ordered the deportation of any non-French national for antisemitic acts.

“I have given firm instructions to the prefects, that any person who is not of French nationality, whatever their status, to proceed with the immediate withdrawal of their residence permit and the immediate expulsion of these people,” Darmanin said Wednesday.

In addition to the individuals held in administrative custody pending their deportation, France has arrested “about 20” people for antisemitic acts committed since Saturday’s attack in Israel. France has also increased security at some 500 Jewish sites around the country.

“It is important that all French people of Jewish faith know that they are protected,” Darmanin said.

An Interior Ministry spokesman on Tuesday said that France wanted to “avoid importing the conflict to France.”

Darmanin added that there have been more than 1,000 reports of antisemitic incidents reported since Monday, including crowds shouting threats at synagogues, vandalism, and drones entering school yards.

Meanwhile, France has also placed President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet, who is Jewish, under police protection after she received death threats. Other Jewish politicians in France have also been given increased police protection since the Hamas attack.

‘Immediate Expulsion’: France Working to Deport Foreigners Arrested in Antisemitic Incidents Following Hamas Attack - Algemeiner.com

Speaking outside a Jewish school in a suburb of Paris on Wednesday, France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that at least two individuals are in the process of being deported from France over antisemitic incidents following the Hamas terrorist invasion of Israel on Saturday. Le...

www.algemeiner.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

A prominent international law firm based in Chicago has rescinded an offer of employment to a law student at New York University who sent a message to the school’s Student Bar Association (SBA) expressing “absolute solidarity” with Hamas’ terrorist onslaught against Israel.

“Winston & Strawn learned that a former summer associate published certain inflammatory comments regarding Hamas’ recent terrorist attack on Israel and distributed it to the NYU Student Bar Association,” the law firm said in a statement. “These comments profoundly conflict with Winston & Strawn’s values as a firm. Accordingly, the firm has rescinded the law student’s offer of employment.”

The student — Ryna Workman, president of the SBA — had sent a message to the NYU student group on Hamas’ invasion of Israel, which resulted in more than 1,000 Israeli deaths. Thousands of Israelis were also injured, and dozens were kidnapped and taken as hostages to neighboring Gaza, the Palestinian enclave controlled by Hamas.

“I want to express, first and foremost, my unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression,” Workman wrote. “Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life … I will not condemn Palestinian resistance.”

Workman went on to accuse Israel of “apartheid” and “settler colonialism” before concluding, “Palestine will be free.”

Winston & Strawn said in its statement that the firm remains “outraged and deeply saddened by the violent attack on Israel over the weekend. Our hearts go out to our Jewish colleagues, their families, and all those affected.” The firm added that it “stands in solidarity with Israel’s right to exist in peace and condemns Hamas and the violence and destruction it has ignited in the strongest terms possible.”

New York University’s Law School on Tuesday released its own statement disavowing Workman’s comments, which widely circulated on social media and triggered an uproar demanding that the school clarify its position on them.

“Some of you have seen a message from the president of the Student Bar Association regarding the horrific conflict in Israel and Gaza. This message was not from NYU School of Law as an institution and does not speak for the leadership of the Law School,” wrote Troy McKenzie, dean of the law school. “It certainly does not express my own views, because I condemn the killing of civilians and acts of terrorism as always reprehensible.”

NYU isn’t the only university to have law school students support Hamas and condemn Israel. On Tuesday, amid the circulation of footage showing gruesome acts of violence committed by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians, the City University of New York (CUNY) Law School’s Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) shared a tweet containing instructions for making Molotov cocktails while appearing to defend Hamas’ terror campaign.

“Soak a cloak in flammable liquid … resoak [sic] the exposed wick and light it,” the text said. “Target a hard surface, such as an engine grill. Repeat until the invading occupiers retreat.”

Law Firm Rescinds Job Offer to NYU Law Student Who Expressed ‘Absolute Solidarity’ With Hamas Invasion - Algemeiner.com

A prominent international law firm based in Chicago has rescinded an offer of employment to a law student at New York University who sent a message to the school's Student Bar Association (SBA) expressing "absolute solidarity" with Hamas' terrorist onslaught against Israel. "Winston & Strawn...

www.algemeiner.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan on Tuesday slammed UN officials and the UN Human Rights Council for their equivocations and failures to condemn Hamas’ massacre of more than 1,000 Israelis since Saturday.

“Israel just suffered the gravest human rights atrocity since the Holocaust,” Erdan said. “How many dead Jews does it take to justify a proportionate response against a genocidal terror organization? Is it 1,000? Six million? Maybe it’s 10 million — the population of Israel? This is, after all, Hamas’ publicly declared goal. So I ask you, how many murdered Jews does it take for you to support Israel’s right to self defense?”

Erdan was responding to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, who in a statement on Tuesday called for a ceasefire and did not mention Hamas by name, referring instead only to “armed Palestinian groups,” and said it was “horrific and deeply distressing to see” Hamas’ hostages “being ill-treated, as well as reports of killings and the desecration of their bodies.”

Türk also expressed concern that the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust could provoke Islamophobia.

“The human rights chief expressed deep concern at how hate speech and incitement to violence have surged since Saturday, fueling antisemitism and Islamophobia in the region and globally,” the statement said.

Erdan also slammed the UN Human Rights Council for its “distorted moral standard” and promised that Israel would “obliterate Hamas terror infrastructure.”

“The Human Rights Council has lost its moral compass,” Erdan said. “Sadly, you refuse to differentiate between good and evil, murderers and perpetrators. Your immoral comparisons sent a clear message to the terrorists that if they hide their rockets and weapons under schools and hospitals, and use the people of Gaza as human shields, the Human Rights Council gives them immunity for their heinous crimes.”

Erdan’s condemnation comes as the UN’s Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Israel announced Tuesday that it was investigating war crimes committed by “all sides” in what it called “Israel’s latest attack on Gaza.”

In a press release, the commission acknowledged that there are “reports” that Hamas has killed hundreds of civilians before pivoting to what they allege to be Israel’s crimes.

“The commission is gravely concerned with Israel’s latest attack on Gaza and Israel’s announcement of a complete siege on Gaza involving the withholding of water, food, electricity, and fuel which will undoubtfully [sic] cost civilian lives and constitutes collective punishment,” the commission said.

The commission — which is formally titled the “Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel” and was established by a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva — has faced extensive criticism from Israel, the United States, and others for the alleged bias of its commissioners and its open-ended mandate.

One of the COI’s commissioners, Miloon Kothari, was forced to apologize in August 2022 after saying in an interview that social media was “controlled largely by the Jewish lobby” and that he “would go as far as to raise the question of why [Israel is] even a member of the United Nations.”

The COI investigation was also touted by the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese, who posted about the investigation on x/Twitter on Tuesday. In an interview with Al Jazeera on Monday, Albanese, who has described the United States as being “subjugated by the Jewish Lobby” and last year told a Hamas conference that there was a Palestinian “right to resist,” blamed Israel for Hamas’ slaughter.

‘How Many Dead Jews Does It Take?’ Israeli Ambassador Slams UN Equivocation on Hamas Slaughter - Algemeiner.com

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan on Tuesday slammed UN officials and the UN Human Rights Council for their equivocations and failures to condemn Hamas' massacre of more than 1,000 Israelis since Saturday. "Israel just suffered the gravest human rights atrocity since the Holocaust,"...

www.algemeiner.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran before the current Islamist regime took power, has also spoken out in support of Israel since Hamas’ initial attack against Israel over the weekend. He explained that the regime does not represent the feelings of Iranian civilians.

“Make no mistake, Israel is being attacked by the same forces of extremism and poisonous ideology that have been taking our once prosperous and progressive region back to the dark ages,” he said in a post on X/Twitter. “The Islamic Republic’s support of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups is undeniable. That regime officials in Tehran celebrated today’s sad news is further proof that they have no compunction about supporting terror and violence against civilians.”

He added, “Safety, security, and stability will only come for Israel, the Iranian nation, and the region as whole with the end of the Islamist regime in Tehran, which continues to squander the wealth of the Iranian nation in support of a murderous ideology and those who would fight for it.”


(full article online)

Iranians Stand With Israel on Social Media, Reject Hamas Violence Despite Regime’s Terror Support - Algemeiner.com #IraniansStandWithIsrael Trends on Social Media as Iranians Reject Hamas Violence Against Israelis

Iranians on social media have continued to express support for Israel and denounce Hamas' terrorist onslaught after the hashtag "IraniansStandWithIsrael" was trending on X/Twitter on Monday night. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday celebrated the Hamas assault on Israel...

www.algemeiner.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Jewish singer Matisyahu said he is disappointed in all the celebrities who have remained silent or equivocated as the war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas rages on, telling those “too afraid” to support the Jewish state publicly that the situation is “bigger than your brand.”

Speaking with the digital media company FACTZ on Tuesday, the Jerusalemsinger, whose real name is Matthew Paul Miller, at first thanked the celebrities who have been vocal in support of Israel amid the ongoing war. He then added, “And to the people that are too afraid to speak up, or the people that are putting up posts and then taking them down because they’re afraid they’re going to lose followers — and [that] they’re going to lose some of their fame or their standing — I have to say, I’m sorry for you. It’s bigger than your brand.”

Over 1,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured in Israel since Hamas launched its initial invasion against the Jewish state from Gaza on Saturday. The terrorist group, which controls Gaza, also kidnapped dozens of civilians and soldiers and brought them back to the neighboring enclave.

During his speech from the White House on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said 14 Americans have been killed by the terror onslaught and confirmed that some Americans are being held hostage by Hamas.

While many celebrities have expressed solidarity with Israel since Hamas’ invasion, others have been less willing to do so.

Reality star and Kylie Cosmetics founder Kylie Jenner posted a message in support of Israel on her Instagram Stories over the weekend but deleted the post after receiving criticism. Some social media users have expresseddisappointment that some of the biggest names in Hollywood — and those who garner the most followers on social media — have not spoken out against the Hamas violence.

Matisyahu explained that the current war between the Jewish state and Hamas “isn’t just about Israel.”

“It’s about women and children being burned in the streets, being taken from their homes, and that’s not about land, that’s a religious war,” he said. “Israel has to fight for their existence. Jews have had to fight for their right to exist since the beginning of time.”

The singer added that Israel just “wants to live in peace,” and that “if all of Israel’s enemies put down their weapons right now, there would be peace in the land and everyone would live. [But] if Israel was to put down their weapons right now, they’d be abolished in one day; they would be massacred — men, women, children.”

The King Without a Crown musician concluded by saying he believes the war between Israel and Hamas will be “severe” because the Jewish state will not back down.

“I don’t think that Israel is going to stand by while civilians are being taken from their homes — women, children, elderly — and paraded around the streets and massacred. I have a feeling that Israel is going to respond in a way that’s unprecedented,” he noted. “Jews love to argue. We love to fight. We fight amongst each other. It’s a known thing. When Jews are being targeted for being Jewish, and women and children are being burned in the streets, something inside the Jewish people comes alive and we stand together.”

Jewish Singer Matisyahu Calls Out Celebrities Who Are ‘Too Afraid’ to Support Israel - Algemeiner.com Jewish Reggae Singer Matisyahu Calls Out Celebrities Who Are 'Too Afraid' to Support Israel

Jewish singer Matisyahu said he is disappointed in all the celebrities who have remained silent or equivocated as the war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas rages on, telling those "too afraid" to support the Jewish state publicly that the situation is "bigger than your...

www.algemeiner.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Jewish Reality TV Star Bethenny Frankel Raises $750K in Humanitarian Aid for Israel - Algemeiner.com

Jewish entrepreneur and former Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel said on Tuesday that her emergency relief initiative called BStrong has raised $750,000 worth of humanitarian aid and supplies to help Israel as it continues to fight a war against the Hamas terrorist group...

www.algemeiner.com