Thursday, July 24

Entry of Ground Forces in Operation Protective Edge

Explosions in an Israeli Attack on Gaza

The IDF Ground Forces have gone into Gaza, moving at a slow pace supported by the Israel Air Force and Naval Forces. The object is destruction of the numerous tunnels that Hamas has dug for entering Israel to carry out terrorist attacks. Fortunately, the attempted terrorist infiltrations have been foiled so far. There are no intelligence reports as to the number of tunnels existing, so the progress to discover them will be slow and dangerous.

As very open happens in a ground force operation, it goes beyond the declared aims and a Pandora's Box of surprises can occur. Discovery of these infiltrating tunnels cannot be done by the air, only by a slow-moving clean-up operation. It will take a few weeks if not months to destroy Hamas terror nests and their enormous weapon caches under homes, hospitals and mosques. The army retaliations have no option but to bomb out these areas after evacuating the inhabitants. Hamas issues orders to the civilians not to evacuate so that the death toll can increase in order to capitalize on their evil propaganda for world consumption. These Hamas barbarians know that the IDF is very sensitive to the loss of innocent lives. This is the reason why they make use of human shields in areas where they have their command posts and weapon stores.In this way they can increase the fatalities of Palestinians for cynical propaganda purposes.They also strap explosives onto donkeys sending them in to explode Israeli soldiers where they can.

Israel is facing an armed, cruel, enemy that has incredible resilience. More infiltrating tunnels are being discovered and are being destroyed by the Israeli Engineering Corps. The IDF has managed to kill many terrorists during the ground operations but the resolve of the psychopathic Hamas to launch missiles into Israel has not been broken.

Many "bleeding heart humanists" are applying pressure in many countries against Israel. The silence of these "bleeding heart, double-standard humanist hypocrites" on other more pressing issues, such as the mass murders in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Sudan is pathetic. Israel is fighting a war of survival against a vicious, armed and cruel enemy. Thank goodness for the Iron Dome Interceptor system and the security cellars, where citizens flee to safety. This explains the low casualty rate so far in Israel. However damage to homes is large.

If these so-called "human rights activists” really care about the suffering of innocent Palestinians many of whom are human shields, they should demonstrate against Hamas terror and demand that they agree to the cease-fire that Egypt had initiated. This would save the lives of innocent Palestinians who are exposed to the cruelties of Hamas and have nowhere to hide. Hamas wants to destroy Israel and the Jews. They have support of many double standard "humanist" allies who are lobbying their respective governments, give a large boost to Hamas to continue their aggression against Israel and harm the Palestinians further.

Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made some irresponsible statements against Israel that has fomented violent demonstrations against the Israeli Embassy and against Jews. He has behaved in a shocking manner, rabble-rousing his people. Erdogan's true colors of hate for Israel and the Jews have come out in the open. He is now supporting Hamas. It is now dangerous for Israelis to travel to Turkey, which was a popular place for Israelis to spend their vacation. Turkey cannot be considered a mediator for a cease-fire because of the loutish statements of the megalomaniac, Erdogan.

Hamas requested a temporary cease-fire of two hours for humanitarian reasons through the Red Cross. There is nothing humanitarian about Hamas. They do not want a cease-fire.

The possibility of Israel occupying Gaza is on the table. It is a bad idea but if it is occupation of Gaza by Israel or "liberation" of Gaza by Hamas, for the Palestinians it is not Hobson's choice.

What is becoming clear to us is that all the basic building materials coming into Gaza from the Erez Crossing on the Israeli border such as cement has been used not for housing but for building a web of sophisticated underground tunnels for terrorists to infiltrate into Israel to carry out deadly terrorist attacks on kibbutzim near the border. These tunnels were built of a high engineering standard. All the so-called humanitarian basic goods coming into Gaza from Israel were confiscated by Hamas for their own use. The same is true of financial help coming from many countries. The money was used for massive armament programmes on a massive scale. None was used for rehabilitating Gaza or improving the quality of life in Gaza. They were left to fester in poverty and no economic development apart from propaganda, hate and preparations for the destruction of Israel was on their agenda.

The IDF ground forces are advancing. Hamas terror in places like Shejaiya is being located. Houses booby trapped with dynamite taking their toll on soldiers who enter. The Hamas secret of human shields which these savages have been denying is now becoming common knowledge world wide.

Haaretz reported on July 23rd 2014 that The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday launched a commission of inquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes in its current Gaza offensive, backing Palestinian efforts to have Israel held up to international scrutiny. This is such a cynical attempt to blame Israel for war crimes but Hamas was not included in committing war crimes. The UNHRC double standards are not surprising. I guess firing rockets in order to kill Israel citizens is legitimate and not a war crime according to South African Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights by the fact that it was not even mentioned.

Israel is justified to protect its citizens from the launching of rockets and infiltration of terrorists for killing innocent citizens. This is a war against Hamas terror committed against Israel nothing more and nothing less. It is not a war against Palestinians. Israel could have destroyed Gaza ruthlessly by the use of carpet bombs, but because of the IDF bending over backwards to avoid harming innocent Palestinians that are human shields by force, many intended targets were avoided.



Wednesday, July 16

To Be or Not to Be - A Cease-Fire

IDF ground forces waiting to advance into Gaza
Rumblings are beginning to pressure Israel into accepting a cease-fire. Hamas appears to be trying through various parties to push for a cease-fire. At this stage, much depends on the US with Egypt playing an important role in drawing up a cease-fire agreement.

There is a problem for Israel to accept a cease-fire at this stage of Operation Protective Edge. In the past operations against Hamas in Gaza there were never any proper negotiations with Hamas and cease-fires were declared unilaterally by Israel only to be broken by Hamas after a short time. Hamas used the cease-fire to re-arm and provoke Israel into retaliation by firing rockets into Israel. This is the third operation against Hamas in Gaza within 6 years! Surely the Hamas aggression against innocent Israeli citizens between these operations by launching rockets deserves world condemnation which never came.

At the time of writing, the sounds of Israeli Air Force planes making their way to Gaza to carry out their sorties’ against Hamas are audible. This is interspersed with warning sirens warning people to go into bomb shelters. We are aware that our lives and routines are full of upheavals and stress. Israelis are well-disciplined by the home front to take shelter and not rely on the Iron Dome interceptors alone. It also brings home the message of the insensitivity of the evil Hamas regime to protect the Palestinian People in Gaza, apart from exposing them to the dangers to their lives, for propaganda purposes. If this is not evil cynicism to cheapening of Palestinian lives then what is?

Hamaswants a cease-fire desperately, but on their terms, which does not include cessation of hostilities against Israel or disarming. If Israel attacks Hamas bases surrounded by human shields is this an excuse for a cease-fire? Most of the launching of missiles on Israel comes from Hamas and Islamic Jihad bases protected by human shields. This Hamas cruel tactic has been verified by Israeli intelligence. It is the reason why the IDF warns the citizens of Gaza, who are living above basements of arms stores, to leave their homes before they attack. Hamas does not want their citizens to leave so that Israel could kill them. This evokes the sympathy of the world for Hamas against Israel. Naturally, the bleeding heart “human rights” activists” will refute this. They are charmed by Hamas lies that they filter out the truth to suit their naïve preconceptions.

We have no reason to believe that a premature, unilateral cease-fire will bring Hamas to its knees. It will give them legitimacy to re-arm and begin hostilities against Israel's citizens in the south after a year or two as had been the case in the past. This cannot be allowed to happen. However with much world pressure directed at Israel this scenario will occur within two years. History has a habit of repeating itself when the lessons learnt of past errors are not put into effect.

In my previous article I attacked the bleeding-hearted "human rights" activists who are prone to Hamas propaganda. They rather believe Hamas denials and lies, while attacking Israel.

The horrifying destruction of Gaza Palestinian homes and the killing of innocent people are due to Hamas. They are responsible for the massive human tragedy playing out in Gaza because of IDF activity. They ignored all warnings.

Hamas has done nothing for their people apart from increasing Palestinian suffering. The financial assistance they received were utilized for making bombs and bunkers for the elite in Hamas, while Palestinians were left exposed to the IDF retaliations as a result of Hamas missiles being fired into Israel. There were no programmes for infra-structure improvements, health services, or meaningful education apart from propaganda and poisoning the minds of small children, turning them into suicide bombers with intractable hatred for Israel and Jews.

The Egyptians have brokered a cease-fire. Israel has accepted it, but Hamas has not. Hamas is behaving as if they have won this war in Gaza. The cease-fire was to go into effect at 9.00 am on 15th July 2014. The deadline was 12 hours later. Operation Protective Edge has not ceased. The terms of cease-fire does not appeal to Hamas. They maintain that the fight for liberation of Palestinians from the “Israeli oppressor” must continue. According to them it is their right.

Hamas Terrorists
The cease-fire deal does limit Hamas up to a point. One would imagine that logically the terms of the cease-fire would include Hamas recognition of Israel's right to exist as well total disarmament of their terrorist groups. If these provisos are not included (which to date is not part of the cease-fire terms), the whole operation will be a failure and Hamas will re-arm and be ready for firing missiles into Israel within two to three years as was the case in the past.

Hamas does not accept the cease-fire and the operation continues. They do not care about the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza, which is not surprising. Israel accepts the cease-fire.

Gaza after IDF bombings
Operation Protective Edge continues with more justification than ever before. What does the world expect Israel to do? Must Israel fold their arms, allow Hamas to fire rockets into Israel with the intention to kill innocent people because if they fire back they may hit innocent Palestinian human shields surrounding the Hamas weapon stores? That is the biggest moral question that remains unanswered.

It looks as if Hamas has given us all their answer: No cease-fire! To them it is no dilemma or moral question! The more innocent people - Israeli or Palestinian - that are killed, the happier they are. Israelis are protected by Iron Dome Interceptors and bomb shelters while Hamas are protected by human shields which turn into killing fields.

Meanwhile the missiles continue to fly into Israel while Israel Air Force planes retaliate by bombing human shield-protected weapon stores in Gaza. The moral dilemma that we have as Israelis is a tough one. The only way to solve that dilemma is for Hamas to accept a cease-fire and to disarm. The situation is intolerable for both sides. If only the Palestinians who oppose Hamas would re-group like the people of Tunisia and Egypt to plan overthrowing the evil Hamas regime. The demise of Hamas must come from the Palestinian people.

Palestinians of the Middle East, Arise!
You have nothing to lose but the chains of Hamas,
Who have shackled you from Freedom, Dignity, Peace and Coexistence with Israel
Inshallah!


Saturday, July 12

Operation Protective Edge

The war against Gaza continues without an end in sight at this stage. Hamas is well known for deceiving Israel and the Palestinians.  After weeks of hesitation on the part of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, he decided to order the IDF to attack Gaza and put an end to the firing of rockets into the south of Israel. Hamas was warned many times not to fire rockets into Israel, but they took no notice. Now they are paying the price. The problem is that many innocent Palestinians are also being killed as well as their homes being destroyed.


One cannot say that Hamas was not warned. They have been firing rockets sporadically into Israel for many years in order to harass the population in Israeli towns in the south as part of their program to destroy Israel.

All the operations against Gaza Operation Cast Lead (27/12/2008-19/01/2009), Operation Pillar of Defense (14-November 2012) as well as the latest operation - Operation Protective Edge, were provoked by Hamas. The previous operations came under international pressure and Israel declared unilateral cease-fires on condition that hostilities would cease. Hamas never kept their part of the deal, they re-armed, shooting missiles in the south and provoking Israel to react. When Israel reacted by retaliation, they demanded meetings of the UN Security Council to condemn Israel for its aggression.

The UN remained apathetic, despite Israel's complaints to that pathetic impotent body of croneys. Apart from a weak statement appealing to the parties to maintain calm, nothing was done, not even condemnation of Hamas and its terrorist allies for their aggression. This pathetic UN apathy gave Hamas and company legitimacy to re-arm and carry out their terrorist activity against Israel each time, unhindered. The only time that the UN condemned aggression was when Hamas complained and cried but was silent when rockets were fired into Israel. What country on earth would tolerate the firing of missiles into their territory for harming their citizens and integrity? Israel responded and then came the barrage of condemnation of Israel for retaliating by using unreasonable force whatever that means.

According to Israeli intelligence reports (these reports are accurate and not full of fantasies and drivel that come from Hamas sources), Hamas have arms cache’s in basements under hospitals, mosques, homes of Hamas leaders and homes of innocent citizens. The leadership of Hamas has gone underground like snakes, which they are, leaving their families unprotected to be human shields when the IDF attacks. This makes great, bloody photography for world consumption for gaining sympathy for their cause. Hamas has been proved in all the campaigns to show no mercy for human lives, including their own families - not to mention those who oppose them. Their torture methods, like breaking the knee-caps of fellow Palestinians, followed by beatings and stamping on the dying bodies, screaming "Allah Akhbar!" as they carry out the field justice that is Hamas protocol. They use children and women as human shields in the hope that they are caught up in the cross-fire by forcing them to live in homes built above missile stores. The "civilized" world and its hypocritical, double standard "human rights" activists with their "human rights" NGOs, exhibit empathy for the "freedom fighters" of Hamas with its bloody cruelty. Hamas is as pure as driven snow. They accuse Israel of war crimes and violence against the Palestinians. The use of human shields, torture, and basic human rights abuse committed by Hamas are legitimate means for Palestinians in Gaza to gain their freedom from "Israeli oppression" in their eyes. They do not view this as contraventions of the Geneva Convention.

Those "human rights" activists, who live far away from the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, and whose lives are boring in Europe and further afield, are not endangered by it. They come here to preach morality to Israel while supporting the terrorist organization, Hamas and Islamic Jihad who they view as Palestinian freedom fighters against the Israeli Occupation. These Hamas “freedom fighters” are anti-democratic, against basic human rights and carry out field justice in the cruelest way. Hamas desire to destroy Israel and their hate for the Jewish People is well documented in the Hamas Charter of 1988. They believe in ethnic-cleansing Israel as well as genocide. The Hamas ideology is no different from Nazi ideology of the 1930's and 1940's. A more appropriate term to describe Hamas is to refer to them as Hamas-Nazis


Israel's Prime Minister is right in attacking Hamas militarily to stop Hamas missile launching and subjecting us to running into bomb shelters every time a siren is heard as volleys of missiles make their way into Israel.

Israel has the Iron Dome interceptor system, which has saved many lives. Imagine what would happen in Israel without this system? The scenario would have been horrendous with the loss of thousands of lives. Hamas supporters in the UN Security Council, with its impotent Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, are an absolute laugh if it would not be tragic!

Israel has one motive in this campaign. It is a simple motive that every country has and that is to protect its citizens from missile launches. Why are eye brows raised against Israel for doing what it should be doing? Why are no eye brows being raised against Hamas for firing rockets into Israel sporadically for years?

While Hamas refuses to negotiate and does not cease their rocket launching into Israel, the latter has every right to use force to weaken Hamas and bring them to their knees. The behaviour of “human rights” activists is deplorable! They condemn Israel for defending itself but do not deplore the use of human shields by Hamas. Is it possible that "human rights" activists hate Jews? They seem to be very selective as to what human rights are. We were taught that human rights are the basic rights to which we are all entitled. This includes democracy, freedom of religion, justice and equality including the right to live in personal security and dignity. This is not part of the Hamas Charter. Hamas is supported by anti-Israel, double-standard "human rights" activists.

We all know how much the Palestinian People of Gaza are suffering. The blame for the deaths of innocent Palestinians in Gaza must be laid at the door of Hamas! They caused it by their fantasies of grandeur, aggression against Israel in their desire to destroy it. Hamas never built bomb shelters for the Palestinians, nor did they discipline them in drill for an emergency. Hamas built bunkers for their PM Ismael Haniyah and his bunch of rogues so that, Inshallah; they would be protected from tragic situations they had created for their people. They will survive as they, the snakes of Palestine, are shivering and shaking in their bunkers. When they show their satanic faces after the war, they will see the results of their fantasies and follies. Meanwhile their "great Hamas leader", Khaled Mashal, sits comfortably in Qatar whining and dining.

One must bear in mind that the occupation is not responsible for Hamas aggression; it is Israel's establishment since 1948 and their non-recognition of Israel’s right to exist. The occupation occurred because of a war of survival in 1967. I have written about this at length as well as my opposition to the occupation in many previous articles on this blog.
 
If there is no responsible Palestinian leadership not scared of Hamas, who can negotiate with Israel about territory exchange for an independent Palestinian State then the status quo of occupation remains the only option for the present. A Hamas-ruled Palestine is far worse. The PA is weak and their deal with Hamas proves that unfortunately.


Hamas has done nothing to improve the lives of the Palestinians in Gaza. They have prolonged the poverty and misery of the Palestinians as well as instilling hatred because in this way they know that they can remain in power.

Thursday, July 3

Islamist Hate and their Supporters

It is a sad fact that Islamist hate comes in so many forms. Before I continue to enlarge on this, at the outset I wish to make it clear that there is a huge difference between Islam and Islamist extremism. Islam is NOT a religion that preaches hatred of the non-Muslim, nor a religion that preaches terror. The three monotheist or Abrahamic faiths have their extremists that preach hate and create evil mutations of Islam,Judaism and Christianity. It starts off with bigotry and hate for those who do not conform and ends up in terror and bloodshed. The monotheistic faiths have the same common denominator in their origins - Judaism! The diversity from these common roots had both its positive and negative aspects.

Each faith had made positive contributions to the world as we know it. Judaism gave us the idea of one God and the 10 Commandments that is the basis of Christianity and Islam. The difference is the former is a diversification, as Jesus Christ, who was a Jew, had different interpretations and concepts unacceptable to the mother faith - Judaism, but had a large following that viewed him as the Messiah resulting in the birth of a new religion. His teachings and prophecies are in the New Testament which the Christians view as an extension of the Old Testament (Tanach).


Islam is also an offshoot of Judaism, in many ways, closer to Judaism than Christianity. An example of this is the dietary laws - it is forbidden to eat pork. Also the concept of one God. There is no trinity in Islam despite the belief in Jesus being accepted as one of the prophets as well as Moses. The belief in Mohammed as the prophet differentiates this faith from the older monotheistic faiths.


However, whether it is Tanach (Old Testament), Brit Hachadasha ( New Testament) or the Koran, the morals preached in these holy books show many similarities. Looking at these holy books we realize that Islamist extremist belief of hate and bloodshed is far from the true faith of Islam. Islamist preachers have twisted the teachings of Koran into diabolical hate, justifying terror and killing of non-Muslims in a "jihad" of irreversible hate.


All religions have their fanatics and extremists. "Religious" infighting has become predominant in their self-righteous attitudes towards those who are different.


In Islam, there are the Islamist extremists on the Sunni side such as Al Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and numerous other offshoots, who are power-hungry, violent, racist fanatics who have no respect for human life. Their agenda is not democratic or human rights-oriented by any stretch of the imagination, but rather of spilling blood, creating chaos and hate wherever they are able  to establish autocratic Islamist rule. On the Shiite side we have Hezbollah, the Iranian regime, Alawites of Bashar al Assad of Syria that are no less cruel and autocratic.


The Middle East is in turmoil with no end in sight. Blood baths in Syria and Iraq, where the Middle Eastern pot is boiling and on the verge of spilling over.


In Israel, there is a clean up operation in the Hebron area as the IDF goes after the terrorists, who kidnapped the three teenagers. At the same time they are capitalizing on this evil incident to force Hamas to surrender as well as the destruction of their power base. There has been a news black out on this operation with very little information being published in the media. What we do know is that many high ranking Hamas members have been arrested, weapon cache's  discovered and computers have been confiscated. The kidnapper suspects are Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh, activists from Hamas in The West Bank city of Hebron near where the youths disappeared. These two Hamas activists disappeared when the kidnapping and the murders took place and their whereabouts are unknown.


Hamas is a huge organization whose military wing has a number of independent cells that operate independently from the military and political wing. It means that Hamas did not give a directive for the kidnapping and those responsible acted on their own. Hamas is responsible for creating the atmosphere for kidnapping Israelis and encouraging violence in the same way that the extremist right wing Price Tag has tacit support of extremist right wing elements in Israel, some of whom are even in the Knesset as part of the Netanyahu coalition. Viewing this ghastly act in that light means that Hamas is just as responsible for the kidnappings and violence against Israelis as the right wing lunatic fringe in Israel is responsible for the racist Price Tag that vandalize Palestinian property.


What is amazing is the indifference of much of the world towards Islamist Hamas violence, especially when it is directed at Israel. So-called "human rights activists" turn a blind eye to the horrors and torture that Hamas commits against Israelis and Palestinians.Do these activists want a Hamas regime? Some even go so far as to sympathize with Hamas and believe their cover-ups, lies and propaganda - almost sanctifying them as freedom-fighters against the occupation which they are not. As much as the Israeli occupation of the West Bank is morally objectionable, this is not a factor when it comes to Hamas attitude towards non-recognition of Israel. Even if Israel were to withdraw from the territories captured in the Six Day War, Hamas would still support terror attacks against Israel as their agenda is total destruction of the Jewish people. Their evil rhetoric and rabble rousing Hitler-style is all available on the net and leaves one with no doubt as to their "final solution" of the occupation. 


Our worst fears were confirmed. The 3 teenagers, Eyal Yifrach 19, Naphtali Fraenkel 16 and Gil-ad Shaar 16 were murdered soon after they were kidnapped. It is shocking and tragic. Nothing on earth can justify such an evil dead!


This ghastly, barbaric act serves nobody. It is because of inbred hatred for Israel. It goes beyond the occupation. The extreme right wing in Israel are making capital of this cruel deed and the war cry is "more settlements and revenge".A 16-year-old Palestinian boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, from East Jerusalem was kidnapped and found murdered July 3rd 2014, his body burnt, in a forest near the entrance to the capital. 


The reaction of Hamas to the murder of the Palestinian teenager was barbaric in contrast to mainstream reaction in Israel which condemned this tragic act of revenge.


This is a shocking, tragic, heinous act! Our hearts go out to his family no less than to the family of the 3 Israeli teenagers, Naftali Frankel, 16, Gilad Shaer, 16 and Eyal Yifrach, 19. These heinous crimes are unforgivable! If only the families, whose children, Israeli and Palestinian, were killed in these ruthless barbaric kidnappings, could find common cause by meeting and pledging for an end to this cruel and tragic violence and bloodshed. Both sides have lost what is most precious to them - their teenage innocent sons! Hamas and right-wing Jewish extremists have more in common than what either side would admit. A member of the Fraenkel family in mourning said:“There is no difference between blood and blood. A murderer is a murderer, no matter his nationality and age. There is no justification, no forgiveness and no atonement for any murder. If an Arab youth was indeed murdered for nationalistic reasons, this is a heinous and shocking act,” 


Hamas may not be responsible for this deplorable act but they are responsible for stoking up hatred of Jews, not only in the occupied territories, but also in Israel within the green-line. It is the same as saying that the Nazi politicians in power in Germany were not responsible for the Holocaust or murder of Jews. They had their SS and SA units that killed 6 million Jews. Does this not make the Nazi politicians in power responsible? Of course it does! Same with Hamas with their rabble-rousing and fantasizing. They will never cease their terror until Israel is destroyed. The occupation is just an excuse for their terror, even if there was no occupation they would still encourage genocide. Hamas has declared war on Israel and the Jews which means they must be destroyed!

Hamas is no paragon of virtue. It is an umbrella organization of Islamist Nazis! They have no democratic values, justice or dignity. Their treatment of women is shocking and they have no intention of helping Palestinians. They are cold-blooded fascists who abuse non-Muslims. Their ideology is violence in order to install an Islamist dictatorship which is not even a shadow of Mohammed's teachings.


Whatever punishment those Islamist Nazi bastards - Hamas - receive from the IDF, they deserve it. They are not freedom fighters, but savages, who abuse their own people and torture those who oppose them. They are not Muslims any more than extreme right wing "religious" Israelis are observant Jews. Both groups use hate for their own narrow myopic agendas of violence for dashing any hopes of peace and coexistence.  Both groups survive on vengeance.