Israel's War Against Hamas - Updates

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The Qatar-Hamas alliance goes back years. Qatar has financed Hamas' military buildup and harbored its leaders, who live in Doha to this day. Qatar is also enabling Hamas' current war against Israel, launched with a large-scale surprise attack on October 7, 2023 in which over 1,300 Israelis were killed, over 100 were abducted, including women, children, infants and elderly people, and thousands were wounded. (See MEMRI reports: A Statement By The President And Founder Of MEMRI On The Hamas Einsatzgruppen Attack; Netanyahu And Qatar Would Share Responsibility For An Imminent Regional War). Hamas' leaders are managing this war from Doha and conveying their messages via Qatar's Al-Jazeera television channel, while the Qatari media expresses unreserved support for Hamas and its terrorist actions.
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The editor of the Saudi daily Independent Arabiya, 'Adwan Al-Ahmari, noted in an October 9 interview with France24 that Hamas' leaders are not in Gaza but are living in luxury hotels in Doha and operating from there in the service of Iran and its leader Khamenei.[1]

Qatar Aired Hamas' Declarations Of War

Qatar's Al-Jazeera channel serves as a mouthpiece for Hamas' messaging. For example, on the day of Hamas' recent wide-scale attack, it aired the statement in which Hamas' military chief Muhammad Deif declared the start Operation Al-Aqsa Flood (Hamas' name for the attack) and called on Palestinians to kill Israelis. It also aired a statement by Isma'il Haniya, who likewise urged the Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as Israeli Arabs and all Palestinians abroad, to join the fray.


(full article online)

Qatar Enabling Hamas' War Against Israel

The Qatar-Hamas alliance goes back years. Qatar has financed Hamas' military buildup and harbored its leaders, who live in Doha to this day. Qatar is also enabling Hamas' current war against Israel, launched with a large-scale surprise attack on October 7, 2023 in which over 1,300 Israelis were...

www.memri.org

 

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Since MEMRI was founded in 1998, we have exposed Palestinian expressions of antisemitism, incitement to violence, and other forms of hatred. These statements are by Palestinian political and religious leaders and from official Palestinian curricula and other official sources, and have appeared in all types of media – print, broadcast, online, and social media. In the past 25 years, MEMRI has published tens of thousands of translations, analysis papers, video clips, and studies on sources in Arabic media, including Palestinian media, of official statements, sermons in mosques, and social media trends.

From the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to today's Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, MEMRI has exposed how many Palestinian leaders espouse peace and moderation in English yet to their own audiences in Arabic incite to violence and jihad. MEMRI has also focused on and provided a platform for liberal and peace-seeking voices in the Arab and Muslim world, including Palestinian voices.

For example, in 2002, on 60 Minutes, Mike Wallace confronted Arafat with MEMRI video evidence from state-controlled Palestinian Authority TV of an official sermon in a Palestinian mosque inciting to suicide bombings and other attacks against the Jews, in which the preacher exhorted worshippers: "Whoever can fight them with weapons should go out to battle. Nothing will deter the Jews except the color of their filthy peoples' blood. Nothing will deter them except us detonating ourselves in their midst."


(full article online)

From Arafat To Abbas – Exposing Palestinian Extremism, Antisemitism, And Incitement To Violence For 25 Years – Support Our Efforts Fighting Extremism Today

Since MEMRI was founded in 1998, we have exposed Palestinian expressions of antisemitism, incitement to violence, and other forms of hatred. These statements are by Palestinian political and religious leaders and from official Palestinian curricula and other official sources, and have appeared...

www.memri.org

 

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Hamas terrorists who were eliminated by Israel

These are the key Hamas terrorists eliminated by Israel

IDF releases photo of key Hamas terrorists who have been eliminated since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip.

www.israelnationalnews.com

 

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[ They are brainwashed ]

 

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You don't know what's going on in Gaza. Neither does the media, the "experts" or anyone else. We do know that Hamas routinely lies, though.​

Here's a picture of Jihad Mishrawi, a BBC News reporter holding his dead son Omar in Gaza in 2012, on the front page of the Washington Post at the time. The caption says that Omar was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Many other media, especially the BBC itself, reported the same thing.

But it wasn't true. I amassed evidence (based on photos from the inside of the house where the explosion occurred and interviews with neighbors) that indicated that Omar was killed by a Hamas rocket.

The BBC was unhappy, and sent a reporter to chat with the family, and he reiterated that Omar was killed by Israel.

Months later the UN (and other sources) admitted that the baby was killed by a Hamas rocket that fell short.

Omar is far from the only child that has been killed by Gaza terrorist rockets aimed at Israel over the years. In one day in 2021 Hamas rockets - in three separate incidents - killed 16 Gazans, including 8 children.

By default, Israel is always assumed to be targeting these civilians with airstrikes. Very often, they are killed by terrorist rockets.

Given that Hamas is now shooting record numbers of rockets into Israel, dwarfing the number shot in the earlier conflicts, almost certainly there are more rockets falling short - and killing civilians.

But the only source for information on the dead is... Hamas. Who always blame Israel no matter what. Even though they appear to be setting off IEDs against their own people trying to escape Gaza.

It's a bit crazy to assume that Hamas, which now denies targeting women and children last weekend, is telling the truth about deaths in Gaza today.

But even after years of this misreporting, the media still assumes the worst from Israel, and accepts Hamas (including their Health Ministry) claims uncritically.

Over the years I have documented hundreds of Gaza casualties classified as "civilian" by NGOs and Gaza organizations who were in fact terrorists:

Abdullah Abdul Rahim Mustafa al-Madhooun, called a "civilian" by PCHR

I have documented hundreds of innocent Gazans who were human shields, killed when Israel targeted major terrorists who were in their houses.

Yet the media still assumes that people killed are just hit randomly by the IDF for no reason.

I wish the IDF was more forthcoming with documenting how these slanders are lies. But with so many of the lies disproven so many times, why does anyone still believe anything the Hamas health ministry, or Gaza NGOs, say, without checking all the facts?

At this stage of the current war, Hamas is not reporting how any of its members have been killed. It is clearly spreading misinformation. NGOs like PCHR are - almost certainly at Hamas' request - not reporting on the terrorists they know were killed. In addition, they are not gathering information as they used to because the fire from both sides is far more intense than in the past and fact finding is dangerous, even for biased organizations.

Which means we know even less in the current war than we did in previous Gaza operations.

What we do know is that Israel does not randomly shoot buildings without intelligence. It does not attack civilians for no reason - it has nothing to gain and a lot to lose. Hamas, on the other hand, gains when Gaza civilians die - in PR points against Israel.

Add it all up, and you can see that the casualty reports and specific incidents we are hearing from Gaza are suspect.

You don't know what's going on in Gaza. Neither does the media, the "experts" or anyone else. We do know that Hamas routinely lies, though.

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

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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, "Why Israel Must Reconsider Its Gaza Evacuation Order," that shows that he really doesn't understand Israel's moral obligations.

He writes:

Thursday night’s order by the Israel Defense Forces to Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate their homes within 24 hours was dangerous and deeply troubling. Any demand for a mass evacuation on extremely short notice could have devastating humanitarian consequences.

As secretary general of the United Nations, I appeal to Israeli authorities to reconsider.

We have approached a moment of calamitous escalation, and find ourselves at a critical crossroads. It is imperative that all parties — and those with influence over them — do everything possible to avoid fresh violence or spillover of the conflict to the West Bank and the wider region.

We urgently need a way out of this disastrous dead end before more lives are lost.

The article makes an implicit but dangerous assumption: that Hamas is a rational actor that can be influenced by diplomacy.

He makes the right noises: the massacre in Israel was abhorrent, he understands how Israelis feel fear.

But in the end he is arguing that Hamas be allowed to exist and continue to grow. And that is immoral.

From Israel's perspective, Hamas and the other terror groups must not be allowed to exist and operate. That is a moral imperative. And it is one that Guterres should share.

Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka went on Russia Today TV shortly after the attacks. He admits that for the two years the attacks were being planned, Hamas fooled Israel and the world by acting as if it cared about Gaza residents:

Baraka: "In the past couple of years, Hamas has adopted a 'rational' approach. It did not go into any war, and did not join the Islamic Jihad in its recent battle."

Interviewer: "But all this was part of Hamas's strategy in preparing for this attack."

Baraka: "Of course. We made them think that Hamas was busy with governing Gaza, and that it wanted to focus on the 2.5 million Palestinians [in Gaza], and has abandoned the resistance altogether."

For these two years, life had been improving for Gazans.Imports increased by about 25%, exports by about 30%, and the number of people traveling into and out of Gaza increased from 7,500 to over 50,000 per month. Gazans had work permits. The economy was improving markedly.

But Hamas didn't do all this to help Gazans. They did it to give Israelis a false sense of security that Hamas actually cared about the lives of over 2 million Gazans! As Baraka brags, it was all a lie. Hamas made lives of Gazans better in order to murder Jews, knowing full well that Israel will retaliate, imports and exports and work permits would stop, and many Gazans would die.

Guterres is arguing that the leaders of Gaza who support policies to hurt and kill their own people in order to be able to kill Jews should be allowed to remain in power.

He is saying that we should explore diplomacy with the group that has bragged that it cannot be trusted and that murder is its highest aspiration.

How, exactly, does that promote peace worldwide?

Hamas and its terror partners must be destroyed. The only way to eliminate them is through war. The war cannot be a limited operation that leaves them with a bloody nose - they must be uprooted. Anyone arguing that this war must be limited is an obstacle to peace.

A lot of people will die - both Gazans and Israelis. The only reason the death toll will be so high is because people like Guterres pressured Israel to end previous wars, in the name of morality. Israel could have much more easily eliminated the threat in 2009 or 2014. Meanwhile, Hamas acquired far more weapons and built far more tunnels - all at the expense of its own people.

How immoral must one be to want that situation to continue?

If Guterres really cared about Gazans and the world, he would be not only wanting Israel to win the war decisively, but also work to isolate Iran for its obvious role not only in the planning and training for the attack, but also for its role in instructing Hezbollah and Syria and West Bank groups to join in.

His not even mentioning the Lebanese and Syrian attacks in recent days says volumes about how clueless he is.

UN Secretary General @antonioguterres is utterly clueless: His idea of morality is immoral

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The families of 199 people have been notified so far that their loved ones are being held in the Gaza Strip after they were abducted during Hamas’s terror onslaught in southern Israel on October 7, the military said Monday.

IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the military has some information on the whereabouts of hostages being held in Gaza.

“We are making valiant efforts to try to understand where the hostages are in Gaza, and we have such information,” Hagari said in response to a question at a press conference.


(full article online)

IDF notifies relatives of 199 people that their loved ones are Gaza hostages

Spokesman says military has information on the whereabouts of some of those who were kidnapped during murderous assault by Hamas terrorists

www.timesofisrael.com

 

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[ Always the victims, never the perpetrators. Actually, since 1920 ]

Two days after Hamas’ attack against Israeli civilians – the murder of more 1,300 Israelis, wounding of more than 3,300, and capturing of at least 199 hostages including children – PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash accused the US of “occupying Palestine” and hindering “peace” via its “colony” Israel:

PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge and Abbas’ advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “We are being subjected to American aggression. [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas said this clearly: The one who is occupying Palestine is the US… It claims that it is sponsoring the peace process. This is a lie. The one who is thwarting peace in practice is the US through its colonialist branch, which is Israel.”

[PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash,
Facebook page, Oct. 9, 2023]​

After US President Biden unequivocally vowed before the entire world that the US stands behind Israel in the war against Hamas, PA TV broadcast an Egyptian journalist echoing Abbas’ advisor, calling Israel “an evil force,” which the US supports in a “plot” to exterminate the Palestinian people:

Egyptian journalist Mustafa Bakri: “We are standing against an evil force, which is being supported by the US that sent its ships and its aircraft carriers to stand facing the Gaza Strip coast and the Lebanese coast. What is happening is a new holocaust, a large plot whose goal is to annihilate the Palestinian people.”

[Official PA TV, Oct. 11, 2023]​

Palestinian Media Watch has shown that PA Chairman and PA leaders fully support Hamas' terror war against Israel, claiming Israel is the "aggressor," worse than the Nazis.

Abbasâ advisor: The US is âoccupying Palestine,â âthrough its colonialist branch Israelâ | PMW Analysis

Abbas’ advisor: "Israel colonialist branch”

palwatch.org

 

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• Senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki: “There were large pressures [on Abbas], and Blinken even demanded before he met with him that there be a condemnation”
  
• Abbas’ statement under international pressure:
  “Hamas’ policy and actions do not represent the Palestinian people” [WAFA]
  
• A few hours later Abbas replaced it with this:
  “The PLO are… the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people – and not the policy of any other organization.” [WAFA]
  
• PMW: The PA had to decide whether to be true to its ideology of supporting and rewarding the murder of Israelis… Abbas wavered but, in the end, remained true to PA ideology: the murder of Israelis by Palestinians is not to be condemned.

Palestinian Media Watch has been informing the world of the PA’s terror support, salaries to terrorists, and religious-based Jew-hatred for years, so it came as no surprise that the PA and Fatah have been expressing support for Hamas’ atrocities.



The Western world as part of its refusal to accept the truth about the PA/Fatah has been trying to pressure Abbas to condemn the massacre. Senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki told Lebanese TV:

“There were large pressures [on Abbas], and Blinken even demanded before he met with him that there be a condemnation.”

[Al-Mayadeen TV (Lebanon), YouTube channel, Oct. 14, 2023]



Yesterday, Mahmoud Abbas had a statement put on the website of the official PA news agency WAFA, in which he distanced the PA from Hamas’ atrocities, but was not even close to a condemnation. A few hours later even that mild distancing was too much for the PA and it was removed. The text highlighted in yellow below was repeated in both statements. The green highlight shows what was changed:

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 15, 2023]

In Abbas’ current wording, “[the policy] of the PLO are what represents the Palestinian people … and not the policy of any other organization,” the PA does not distance itself from Hamas or from its “actions.” It merely repeats the common PLO/Fatah mantra that only the PLO is the representative of the Palestinian people and not “any other organization.”



The PA had to decide whether to be true to its ideology of supporting and rewarding the murder of Israelis or to give into international pressure and condemn the worst atrocities against the Jews since the Holocaust. In situations like this in the past, Abbas at times has given into international pressure to ensure that international funding will continue. This time Abbas wavered but, in the end, remained true to PA ideology: the murder of Israelis by Palestinians is not to be condemned.

US pressure forced Abbas to distance the PA from Hamasâ atrocities â but only for a few hours | PMW Analysis

US pressure forced Abbas to distance the PA from Hamas’ atrocities

palwatch.org

 

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Al Jazeera reporters are revealing the staging areas of Israeli forces in the south, as well as other sensitive locations, Kan News reported on Monday.

IDF Chief-of-Staff Herzi Halevi, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the National Security Council also supported closing the channel.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry also urged closing Al Jazeera, a move it had opposed in the past. The Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet, refrained from taking a position, saying it would be difficult to establish the offense of incitement, but had no objection to closing the channel in Israel, Kan News said.

Al-Jazeera responded: “Israel accuses us of what we are not. Since the beginning of the war, we have broadcast all the press conferences of Netanyahu, Gallant and the [IDF] Chief of Staff. The images we broadcast are the same images that Israel broadcasts. We have never acted against censorship, we make sure to correspond with the army”

Al Jazeera is vehemently anti-Israel, and incites hatred and violence against the Jewish state in the Arab world, the Israeli government has long maintained.

Three years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice determined that Al Jazeera Plus (AJ+), a subsidiary of the Al Jazeera Media Network, is engaged in “political activities” related to the government of Qatar and directed the outlet to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The number of Israelis murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7 rose to 1,400, according to figures released on Sunday. The IDF continued to attack Palestinian terrorist assets in the Gaza Strip.

Mossad supports closure of Al Jazeera for revealing IDF troop locations - JNS.org

IDF Chief-of-Staff Herzi Halevi, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the National Security Council also supported closing the channel.

www.jns.org

 

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[Showing their colors ]

Israel halts defense exports to Colombia - JNS.org

President Gustavo Petro likened the IDF to Nazis.

www.jns.org

 

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The Arab American News reports that a crowd of 1,200 Arab Americans filled an auditorium at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn last Tuesday evening, well after the Hamas atrocities were well know and documented.

That didn't stop Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, to tell the crowd that Hamas was “not a terrorist organization.”

Imam Imran Salha of the Islamic Center of Detroit, a Palestinian-majority mosque, said that Israel will burn.

This is only what is being reported. The full video shows more outrageous statements.

That same Imam Salha referred to the perpetrators of the massacre, saying "the Palestinians that
stand up for their rights, that protest peacefully, that they cross the border. They do not love to die.
They love life. And because they love life, they wanted to stand up for their rights." His use of past tense makes it clear he was referring to this event.

Salha also mocked the Israelis at the rave who tried desperately to escape from being murdered by Hamas terrorists: "If you really had a claim to the land, oh Israeli, why did you run away like a chicken?" the imam said to applause.

Another speaker, Nasir Beydoun, invoked antisemitic tropes by saying "Before we end the occupation of Palestine, we have to end the occupation of Congress!"

He is a candidate for the Senate.

Arab rally in Detroit: "Hamas is not a terrorist group," "Israel must burn," and making fun of Israelis fleeing for their lives

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