Israel's War Against Hamas - Updates

[Coyote]

Yes, NOW it is a siege. It was not before.

Blockade or siege…what actual difference is there other than scale?

Gaza has its own government and there is a reason Egypt also keeps their crossing closed to the people of Gaza. Like now. Deal with the reason.

Gaza has no real government. When did they last hold elections?

Egypt kept the blockade up for two main reasons :

Fatah and the PA fled Gaza and could no longer provide a security guarantee.

Concerns about Iran expanding it’s presence through Hamas.

What has the blockade actually accomplished? For most Gazans, it’s been one humanitarian crisis after another because with Egypt and to a greater extent, Israel, completely controlling what goes in and out of Gaza. It seems like all it has done is given Hamas both an international soapbox and solidified it’s hold on power. The more Israel collectively punishes a civilian population, the more ”credibility” Hamas gains in the international community.

Collective punishment while Hamas and others manage to get all the material they want, all the things they need and leave the rest of the population to rot? Collective punishment from whom to whom?

First, let’s define it.
Collective Punishment.

Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member of that group, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends and neighbors of the perpetrator. Because individuals who are not responsible for the wrong acts are targeted, collective punishment is not compatible with the basic principle of individual responsibility. The punished group may often have no direct association with the perpetrator other than living in the same area and can not be assumed to exercise control over the perpetrator's actions. Collective punishment is a war crime prohibited by treaty in both international and non-international armed conflicts, more specifically Common Article 33 of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II.[1][2

Examples of it would be:

The most common, a Palestinian terrorist kills an Israeli, the entire family is punished, their home(s) and businesses demolished, and the entire family may be forceably relocated to elsewhere in the West Bank. (note - this is NOT done to Jewish terrorists).

Cutting off power, fuel and resources to the entire community in response to a terrorist attack or killing Is frequently done.

The Palestinians were also collectively punished for sending a delegation to tbe UN.

Building new settlements in response to a terrorist killing.
And now, with a siege, the cutting off water, food, fuel, electricity to millions of people who had nothing to do with Hamas’ atrocity. Hospitals running out of supplies and power and pain killers. Victims, many of them children are left in agony. A siege by definition is collective punishment.

That Hamas is exploitive, derelict and brutal in how it governs Gaza is not collective punishment…who are they punishing, for what and why? They are terrorists, not a state.

Israel LEFT Gaza in 2005. Anything that has happened since is because of Hamas' choices, and to nothing Israel did. When attacked by rockets, a Nation must defend itself. When attacked by people infiltrating into your country, via tunnels, or cutting fences, you must protect your Nation.

I agree with Israel’s right to defend itself and it’s citizens and I agree with the fact that Hamas is not much interested (if at all) with bettering the lives of it’s people and instead uses them for it’s own purposes.

However…Hamas is Hamas and 2.3 million Palestinians are not. Punishing an entire population for Hamas’ actions is a war crime, and, frankly not effective.

Choose terror, one will pay the price.
And that is what Hamas and others have chosen, and Israel and Egypt have said NO very loudly.

I’ll repeat, millions have not chosen terror, but you punish them for it. 36% of Gaza is under age 14.
Polls have said some interesting things.

According to the latest Washington Institute polling, conducted in July 2023, Hamas’s decision to break the ceasefire was not a popular move. While the majority of Gazans (65%) did think it likely that there would be “a large military conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza” this year, a similar percentage (62%) supported Hamas maintaining a ceasefire with Israel. Moreover, half (50%) agreed with the following proposal: “Hamas should stop calling for Israel’s destruction, and instead accept a permanent two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.” Moreover, across the region, Hamas has lost popularity over time among many Arab publics. This decline in popularity may have been one of the motivating factors behind the group’s decision to attack. ​

In fact, Gazan frustration with Hamas governance is clear; most Gazans expressed a preference for PA administration and security officials over Hamas—the majority of Gazans (70%) supported a proposal of the PA sending “officials and security officers to Gaza to take over the administration there, with Hamas giving up separate armed units,” including 47% who strongly agreed. Nor is this a new view—this proposal has had majority support in Gaza since first polled by The Washington Institute in 2014.​

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

The translation from Arabic that has now spread across platforms is imprecise. To clarify, the IDF has no intention of considering those who have yet to evacuate as a member of a terrorist group. The IDF states, once again, for the safety of Gazan civilians, that they should evacuate to the south of Wadi Gaza. All those who remain are endangering themselves due to the Hamas’ terrorist activities within civilian areas.

 

[Sixties Fan]

The scale of the atrocities is new, but they are not without precedent.

In 1920, Jews were massacred in Jerusalem by Arab rioters led by Amin al-Husseini, a future Nazi collaborator. Husseini wanted to sway ruling British officials from supporting a separate Jewish state in the Jewish people’s ancestral homeland. The rioters chanted “the Jews are our dogs” and “we will drink the blood of the Jews.” More violence followed.

(Read the rest of CAMERA’s Oct. 18, 2023 Washington Times Op-Ed here)

Palestinian terrorists have been murdering babies for a century

When someone shows you who they are, believe them. The barbarity of Hamas and other Iranian proxies leaves no doubt about their murderous intentions.

www.washingtontimes.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

The “Palestinian health ministry” is an entity of Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist organization, which has spent the last week blatantly lying about the atrocities it committed on October 7th. By refusing to explain that the “Palestinian health ministry” is under the control of Hamas, CNN is helping launder a terrorist organization’s claims. It would be as if the network reported the claims of Islamic State during the battle for Mosul as coming from the “Iraqi health ministry.”

Worse, in CNN’s initial story on the explosion, it referenced “the Palestinian government in Gaza” as the source of one statement on the hospital explosion, and then separately referenced another statement by “Hamas,” as if the two are different entities. This is beyond deceptive.

The other enormous failure by CNN – and many other outlets – is that they continue to treat the claims of Hamas and the IDF equally, notwithstanding only one has produced actual evidence for its claims. Within hours, the IDF was producing video footage, drone imagery, and audiofrom intercepted Hamas communications that evidenced the explosion was caused by a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket.

Israel began publishing video evidence (at 4:33pm ET) shortly after its denial (at 4:00pm ET). Footage of the incident was also being published by independent journalists around the same time (4:28pm ET), supported with additional documentation of timestamps (4:54pm ET).


(full article online)

CNN’s Mea Culpa on Al-Ahli Hospital Coverage Isn’t Enough

Contrary to CNN's depiction, it wasn’t that this was a “he said she said” issue, and the network just failed by not waiting for

www.camera.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

While there were many, many journalistic failures on Tuesday, one of the worst was Sky News’s Anna Botting. In an interview with Netanyahu Senior Advisor Mark Regev, Botting made clear that she had abandoned any pretense of objectivity or even of journalistic curiosity. Her comments to Regev displayed a disregard for facts that would be shocking for any person, let alone a journalist. After Regev’s denial that Israel had targeted the hospital, she said to him,

You have the capability to cause utter devastation to the people of Gaza City. That’s what’s happened tonight. The real fact of it is whatever is the cause of this, it might be too late, the touch paper has already been lit, do you understand that?

In other words, according to Botting, the truth about the explosion was irrelevant to the question of who was to blame. This is an appalling comment coming from someone, as Regev pointed out, whose job is supposed to be to find out what the facts are and convey them to the public.

After Regev’s response to Botting’s initial comment, Botting continued. “Well how quickly can you prove that it wasn’t to you, if it wasn’t?” was her even more shocking follow up. It is not supposed to be the job of Israel to prove the negative, but the job of responsible journalists to seek out the evidence to support the claims they make on air or in print.

Aside from her words, Botting’s voice and face conveyed nothing but anger and contempt for a spokeperson who, in fact, was doing her job for her. Watch the full interview here.




(full article online)

Sky News's Shameful Coverage of Gaza Hospital Blast

Anna Botting made clear on Tuesday that she had abandoned any pretense of objectivity or even of journalistic curiosity. Her anti-Israel animus was on

www.camera.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

On X, LA Times Managing Editor Sara Yasin Embraces Hamas Narrative

Sara Yasin's X embrace of the Hamas narrative is nothing short of a bear hug for the designated terror organization from a senior editor

www.camera.org

 

[gipper]

Blockade or siege…what actual difference is there other than scale?



Gaza has no real government. When did they last hold elections?

Egypt kept the blockade up for two main reasons :

Fatah and the PA fled Gaza and could no longer provide a security guarantee.

Concerns about Iran expanding it’s presence through Hamas.

What has the blockade actually accomplished? For most Gazans, it’s been one humanitarian crisis after another because with Egypt and to a greater extent, Israel, completely controlling what goes in and out of Gaza. It seems like all it has done is given Hamas both an international soapbox and solidified it’s hold on power. The more Israel collectively punishes a civilian population, the more ”credibility” Hamas gains in the international community.



First, let’s define it.
Collective Punishment.

Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member of that group, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends and neighbors of the perpetrator. Because individuals who are not responsible for the wrong acts are targeted, collective punishment is not compatible with the basic principle of individual responsibility. The punished group may often have no direct association with the perpetrator other than living in the same area and can not be assumed to exercise control over the perpetrator's actions. Collective punishment is a war crime prohibited by treaty in both international and non-international armed conflicts, more specifically Common Article 33 of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II.[1][2

Examples of it would be:

The most common, a Palestinian terrorist kills an Israeli, the entire family is punished, their home(s) and businesses demolished, and the entire family may be forceably relocated to elsewhere in the West Bank. (note - this is NOT done to Jewish terrorists).

Cutting off power, fuel and resources to the entire community in response to a terrorist attack or killing Is frequently done.

The Palestinians were also collectively punished for sending a delegation to tbe UN.

Building new settlements in response to a terrorist killing.
And now, with a siege, the cutting off water, food, fuel, electricity to millions of people who had nothing to do with Hamas’ atrocity. Hospitals running out of supplies and power and pain killers. Victims, many of them children are left in agony. A siege by definition is collective punishment.

That Hamas is exploitive, derelict and brutal in how it governs Gaza is not collective punishment…who are they punishing, for what and why? They are terrorists, not a state.




I agree with Israel’s right to defend itself and it’s citizens and I agree with the fact that Hamas is not much interested (if at all) with bettering the lives of it’s people and instead uses them for it’s own purposes.

However…Hamas is Hamas and 2.3 million Palestinians are not. Punishing an entire population for Hamas’ actions is a war crime, and, frankly not effective.



I’ll repeat, millions have not chosen terror, but you punish them for it. 36% of Gaza is under age 14.
Polls have said some interesting things.

According to the latest Washington Institute polling, conducted in July 2023, Hamas’s decision to break the ceasefire was not a popular move. While the majority of Gazans (65%) did think it likely that there would be “a large military conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza” this year, a similar percentage (62%) supported Hamas maintaining a ceasefire with Israel. Moreover, half (50%) agreed with the following proposal: “Hamas should stop calling for Israel’s destruction, and instead accept a permanent two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.” Moreover, across the region, Hamas has lost popularity over time among many Arab publics. This decline in popularity may have been one of the motivating factors behind the group’s decision to attack. ​

In fact, Gazan frustration with Hamas governance is clear; most Gazans expressed a preference for PA administration and security officials over Hamas—the majority of Gazans (70%) supported a proposal of the PA sending “officials and security officers to Gaza to take over the administration there, with Hamas giving up separate armed units,” including 47% who strongly agreed. Nor is this a new view—this proposal has had majority support in Gaza since first polled by The Washington Institute in 2014.​

No amount of facts changes the mind of a hateful islamaphobe.

 

[Sixties Fan]

“All of the equipment was checked before going into Gaza,” it says in a statement, noting that the shipment included “only water, food and medical equipment.”

“We emphasize that Israel is able to make sure that nothing goes in or out except the aforementioned,” it adds.

Israel denies aid went into Gaza without being checked

* * *

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[gipper]

“All of the equipment was checked before going into Gaza,” it says in a statement, noting that the shipment included “only water, food and medical equipment.”

“We emphasize that Israel is able to make sure that nothing goes in or out except the aforementioned,” it adds.

Israel denies aid went into Gaza without being checked

* * *

www.timesofisrael.com

Yet somehow thousands of rockets managed to reach Hamas. Weird no?

 

[Sixties Fan]

86 Nobel laureates have taken a stand, submitting a heartfelt petition addressed to the
@UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres
and, by extension, leaders of nations across the globe. This petition conveys a profound moral imperative: the immediate release of the kidnapped children in Gaza.

The laureates express a poignant message: “Throughout the annals of human history, wars have unfolded, but humanity has consistently drawn the line between acts of war and war crimes. No war should ever condone mass atrocities. No war normalize acts of rape and torture. Never will war permit the captivity of innocent young children in the throes of hellish confinement.”

Adding to their voice, they emphasize, “during the attack, Hamas kidnapped hundreds of Israeli soldiers andcivilians, including children aged between 6 months and 18 years. Children should neverbe regarded as pawns in the theater of war.”

The Nobel laureates are united in their moral demand for the immediate release of these kidnapped children. They assert, “The soul of a child differs from that of an adult. It is our sacred duty to protect the innocent and shield the vulnerable. It is our sacred duty to save our children. The distressing images and words we witness today evoke memories of darker times, times that we, humanity as a collective, had hoped to leave behind.”

The petition signatories unequivocally declare that the abduction and imprisonment of children is a war crime and a profound moral injustice against humanity as a whole. Their message concludes with a resounding demand: "Let The Children Go."

This unprecedented petition has been presented by Professor Daniel Kahneman, representing the Nobel laureates, and Alana Zeitchik and Liam Lindsay, relatives of abducted 3 year old twins Emma and Julie and 5 year old Amelia, representing the families of the kidnapped children.

Notably, this petition is supported by 86 of the world's foremost scientists and thinkers, including Nobel Laureates such as Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Laureate in Peace 2003; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nobel Laureate in Peace 2011; Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Laureate in Economics 2002; Aaron Ciechanover, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2004; Patrick Modiano, Nobel Laureate in Literature 2014; Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate in Peace 1996; Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Laureate in Literature 2018, among others. A full list of the signatories is attached as part of the petition.

 

[Sixties Fan]

It surely isn’t based on surveys of the Palestinian public, or on what the Palestinian masses taking to the streets are chanting.

And if Biden concludes that the masses of Israelis taking to the streets of Tel Aviv every week prior to this war to oppose judicial reform represent the Israeli public in general, then we must also conclude the same of the Palestinians.

So what are the Palestinians telling us?

PA document
On Friday morning, the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, who Biden tried to meet with this week, published an official government document urging mosques under its jurisdiction to offer sermons that effectively call for the destruction of the Jews.

The document stressed in relation to the Gaza war that “our Palestinian people cannot raise a white flag until the occupation [sic] is removed and an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.”

When it spoke of the Palestinian people being unable to surrender, the PA did not make a distinction between Hamas and the rest of Palestinian society.

More to the point, Abbas’s government included in the official document the old antisemitic Islamic reference (from the Hadith):

“The hour will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, until the Jew hides behind a stone or a tree and the stone or the tree says, ‘O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'”

The Israeli organization Regavim called the document a clear declaration of war by the Palestinian Authority.

But if Abbas and his regime were hoping to score points by echoing Hamas, survey data shows they failed. The Palestinian public would still prefer to be ruled by Hamas.

Palestinian Media Watch reported on large Palestinian demonstrations in Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus on Wednesday during which the masses chanted: “We want Hamas!” and “The people want to take down [Abbas]!”

PMW also notes that recent student union elections held at Birzeit University in Ramallah and An-Najah University in Nablus were both won by Hamas.

And a July poll taken by the FIKRA forum of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy found that “57% of Gazans express at least a somewhat positive opinion of Hamas—along with similar percentages of Palestinians in the West Bank (52%) and East Jerusalem (64%).”

In other words, if elections were held today, Hamas would win. That’s why elections haven’t been held since 2006, and Abbas is now in the 18th year of a 4-year presidential term.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday said that even if the international community prefers to close its eyes and plug its ears to the truth, Israelis need to be clear-headed.

Bennett tweeted:

“The truth must be told:
“Most of the residents of Gaza support Hamas, and many of them enthusiastically support the murder of innocent Jews.
“I have heard many times, and recently from various world leaders, the claim that the majority of the population of Gaza is held captive by Hamas and is generally peace-seeking.
“This is simply not true.
“The majority of the Gazan public supports Hamas and its mission to destroy Israel.
“Friends,
“Hamas relies on the broad support of the residents of Gaza.
“Without this support, Hamas could not exist.
“This is the bitter reality.
“One should not conclude from this that Israel will aim to harm civilians.
“This is not our way.
“But we must not lie to ourselves.
“You need to know the truth.”

It is true that Hamas does not represent every Palestinian. We personally know some Palestinian Arabs who are disgusted by Hamas, and who blame the terror group, not Israel, for all their troubles.

But the sad fact is that they are the minority.

Hamas is popular and powerful because the Palestinian public made it that way. The Islamist group could never have grown to what it is now without being planted in fertile soil.

Seventeen years ago, the Palestinian public even voted for Hamas, giving it a solid majority in the Palestinian Parliament. It’s true that half of all Palestinians today either weren’t alive or couldn’t vote back then. But as the survey data, university elections and mass demonstrations referenced above reveal, the next generation is more extreme than their parents.

Unfortunately, this is a problem that probably won’t be solved, even with the military defeat of Hamas in Gaza.

After World War II, the ideologies that fueled the Axis war campaign had to be rooted out at the educational level so that a new Germany and a new Japan could be established. That won’t happen here. Israel isn’t going to try to reeducate Palestinians and root out Islamist ideology from their schools and mosques. And if it tried, the world wouldn’t allow it.

And so we wait for the next ISIS to arise and the next war to come.

Fact check: Biden says Hamas doesn't represent Palestinians. Is that true?

World leaders should let the Palestinians speak for themselves, even if the truth is uncomfortable or not 'politically correct'.

www.israeltoday.co.il

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ Deciding who is guilty before the facts come out. He is Irish. ]


Irish entrepreneur and founder of Web Summit, Paddy Cosgrave, speaks during the first day of the Web Summit Rio 2023 at the RioCentro Expo Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 1, 2023. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP)

The organizer of the Web Summit, one of the tech sector’s leading events, announced his resignation Saturday following a backlash over his online posts following the Hamas attacks on Israel.

“Unfortunately, my personal comments have become a distraction from the event,” Paddy Cosgrave of Ireland explains in a brief statement sent to AFP.

“I sincerely apologize again for any hurt I have caused,” adds the co-founder of the tech mega gathering created in 2009 in Dublin but held in Lisbon since 2016.


A spokesperson for the organization says: “Web Summit will appoint a new CEO as soon as possible, and Web Summit 2023 in Lisbon will go ahead as planned.”

This year’s edition from November 13 to 16, is set to bring together some 2,300 startups and more than 70,000 participants, say organizers.

Several companies, including tech giants Google and Meta, which is behind Facebook and Instagram, as well as event headliners have announced they are boycotting the gathering since Cosgrave’s remarks.

He had written on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “shocked at the rhetoric and actions of so many Western leaders & governments” in support of Israel.

“War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are,” he wrote on October 13.

 

[Ancient lion]

“War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are,” he wrote on October 13.

And He is absolutely right.

 

[Sixties Fan]

This unit is dedicated to hunting down and eliminating every individual who played a role in the massacre in the western Negev settlements two weeks ago.

This force was specifically set up to target members of Nukhba (a special commando unit within Hamas's military wing) who infiltrated Israel, executed mass killings in various villages and IDF outposts, and subsequently returned to the Gaza Strip.

The members of this new organization function independently from other Command and Control units that are focused on neutralizing strike cells and high-ranking terrorists. This particular mission is distinct, with the organization encompassing both field operatives and intelligence personnel.

Comes after Israel kills several key players in the attack​

Last Saturday, Ali Qadhi, a commander within the Hamas Nukhba force and a key player in the attack on the border area, was taken out. The following day saw the elimination of another leading figure, Billal Al Kedra, who spearheaded the lethal raid in Nirim.

The Shin Bet's new unit to eliminate the perpetrators of Hamas' massacre

This unit is dedicated to hunting down and eliminating every individual who played a role in the Oct. 7 attack two weeks ago.

www.jpost.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Study of videos, satellite imagery, photos and expert opinion finds ‘most likely scenario’: ‘A rocket launched from Gaza that failed mid-flight’ caused deadly blast in parking lot​

The AP analyzed more than a dozen videos from the moments before, during and after the hospital explosion, as well as satellite imagery and photos. AP’s analysis shows that the rocket that broke up in the air was fired from within Palestinian territory and that the hospital explosion was most likely caused when part of that rocket crashed to the ground.

A lack of forensic evidence and the difficulty of gathering that material on the ground in the middle of a war means there is no definitive proof the break-up of the rocket and the explosion at the hospital are linked. However, AP’s assessment is supported by a range of experts with specialties in open-source intelligence, geolocation and rocketry.

“In the absence of additional evidence, the most likely scenario would be that it was a rocket launched from Gaza that failed mid-flight and that it mistakenly hit the hospital,” said Henry Schlottman, a former US Army intelligence analyst and open-source intelligence expert.

(full article online)

AP analysis: Rocket from Gaza appeared to go astray, likely caused hospital explosion

Study of of videos, satellite imagery, photos and expert opinion finds 'most likely scenario': 'A rocket launched from Gaza that failed mid-flight' caused deadly blast in parking lot

www.timesofisrael.com