Israel's War Against Hamas - Updates

[Sixties Fan]

The only way to protect Gaza civilians is to let them flee, during the duration of the war, to Egypt, Jordan or other Arab countries, if they so choose.

Egypt told the West, "No way!" Jordan told the world, "No way!" And the world answers, "oh, well, if you feel so strongly about it....I guess we should either let them die or handcuff Israel so it cannot really destroy Hamas and allow the pogromists another chance, maybe when Iran delivers them nukes."

Now, I understand that no country wants another million refugees. Makes sense. But Egypt didn't say "NO!" to Syrian and Sudanese refugees. Jordan didn't say "NO!" to Syrian refugees. Syria didn't say "NO!" to Iraqi refugees. Even Lebanon, with hardly any resources, took in hundreds of thousands of Arab refugees from Syria.

Somehow, they were able to accept and accommodate lots of refugees. The UNHCR and NGOs helped. Syrians and others were protected from being killed.

The Arab world has always allowed other Arabs to take refuge in their countries, by the millions. Nearly all of them either become integrated or they move back, or elsewhere. Like all refugees, they eventually find a home.

With one exception: Palestinians.

When it comes to Palestinians, suddenly, the would-be hosts become very adamant at not allowing any of them to come.

It's pretty obvious bigotry against Palestinians. But the West and the rest of the world doesn't push back.

We have heard three statements from world leaders:

(A) Israel has every right to defend itself from the savages and destroy Hamas.
(B) Israel must keep civilian casualties to a minimum.
(C) the Gazans should not leave.

The problem is that each one contradicts the other two. You can only pick two out of three.

Israel cannot and will not allow Hamas to exist. It is not negotiable. Israel is not going to compromise on that. This is an existential threat that must be eradicated. Which leaves only two choices - let Gazans be killed when Israel destroys the tunnels under them, or force Arab nations to do what they do all the time in every other war - take in the refugees.

The Egyptian/Jordanian demand not to save a single Palestinian is not nearly as important as the imperatives of A and B. In fact, the demand is highly immoral. But for some reason, everyone shrugs and says "well, we tried - I guess either thousands of Palestinians will die or Hamas will be allowed to murder thousands more."

If you value human life, there is only one choice: pressure Egypt and Jordan to take care of their fellow Arabs.

The world should be offering carrots and sticks to Egypt, Jordan and other countries to allow Gazans to flee, the way other Arabs have fled to the very same countries. Pay them a few billion dollars to house and feed them. Those same billions will be spent in Gaza anyway.

And ask exactly why these Arabs who swear that they support Palestinians are so eager to let them die.

Don't take "no" for an answer from Egypt and Jordan in saving Palestinian lives

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

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

The New York Times describes the intensity of Israeli airstrikes:

Israel’s 19-day bombing campaign in Gaza has become one of the most intense of the 21st century, prompting growing global scrutiny of its scale, purpose and cost to human life.

Since terrorists from Gaza raided Israel on Oct. 7, killing roughly 1,400 people according to the Israeli government, the Israeli military says it has struck more than 7,000 targets inside Gaza. That is a higher number than in any previous Israeli military campaign in the territory, a narrow enclave less than half the size of New York City. It also outstrips the most intense month of the United States-led bombing campaign against ISIS, according to Airwars, a British conflict monitor.

7,000 is indeed a high number. But in the same time period, Gaza groups have shot some 7,500 rockets at Israel - an even higher number.

The story doesn't mention that.

On the contrary; it tries to minimize the rocket threat:

The strikes appear to have successfully curbed the groups’ rocket-firing abilities. The Israeli military has not released exact numbers, but there were fewer than 20 air raid sirens across Israel on Wednesday, compared with hundreds during the first days of the war.

No big deal. Rockets towards Eilat, Tel Aviv and Haifa in the past day? It was less than 20! Just because a million people had to run to shelter on that day, so what? Sounds pretty tolerable!

But this part of the article is worse:

Even as Israel has used precision weapons, it has maintained a broad definition of what constitutes a military target. Fighter jets wrecked the Islamic University in Gaza because Israel said the campus had been used to train intelligence operatives. They have targeted mosques that Israel says served as weapons depots and operation centers. And they have targeted Hamas commanders in their homes.

This is not a broad definition. This is part of the definition.

Although Israel has not signed this protocol, it accepts the definition under Article 52(2) Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, which says:

Insofar as objects are concerned, military objectives are limited to those objects which, by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage.

Hamas has used the Islamic University of Gaza not only for military training but also for weapons development and production, as Israel said at the time of the airstrike: "The university was being used as a Hamas training camp for military intelligence operatives, as well as for the development and production of weapons." That makes it unambiguously a military target. (And the university is known for being a Hamas stronghold: it was used for storing weapons, for holding hostages, for planning attacks and for acting as a safehouse for terrorists as well as for weapons development.)

Weapons depots and operations centers are also military targets by any definition of the term, whether they are in a mosque or a medical clinic or a school. They lose all civilian protections.

Military leaders are still legitimate targets, even if they are using their own families as human shields.

Using civilian areas for military purposes is a war crime. That isn't mentioned in the NYT - on the contrary, it casts aspersions on whether Israel can really attack military objects disguised as civilian.

It is an advertisement for using human shields.

NYT casts doubt on Israel's definition of "military target"

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

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ In their own words. It is a Holy War = There will be no Israel ]

To its international donors, politicians, journalists, and others, the Palestinian Authority always maintains that the conflict with Israel is purely “territorial” and an “issue of land.”



But recent statements by PA Chairman Abbas’ advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, in response to Hamas’ terror war on Israel shows – what Palestinian Media Watch has documented for years - that the PA, as well as Hamas, sees the conflict with Israel as a religious war – a holy war – Jihad for Israel’s destruction.



In a speech at the 8th International Fatwa Conference in Egypt, Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations and PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash named Abbas “commander of the Jihad fighters.” He further stressed that the conflict with Israel is religious, stating that the Palestinian cause is not only “of land and borders” but also “a religious cause and a cause of faith”:

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “We will not leave Palestine. We will remain there as the olive tree remains… and they (i.e., the Israelis) will leave. They will leave… I bless you with a Palestinian blessing, a blessing of resolve and Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic)… a blessing of those preserving the ember of resolve, who adhere to the land… who are carrying out Jihad for it on the path of Allah, and standing with bare chests, with unshakable faith, and with complete confidence in Almighty Allah… [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the State of Palestine and commander of the Jihad fighters in Palestine, said on behalf of all the Palestiniansfrom the UN [General Assembly] podium: … ‘Whoever thinks that he can achieve peace without the Palestinian people’s rights is deluded’…
Palestine is not just a cause of land and borders and a political cause. Palestine is a religious cause and a cause of faith... Would we abandon the legacy of Allah’s Messenger [Muhammad]?"

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Oct. 18, 2023]​

Al-Habbash posted the following text with his speech, stressing that his goal is the end of Israel, and that Israelis “will leave”:

Posted text: “[PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud] Al-Habbash before the 8th International Fatwa Conference in Egypt: We will not leave Palestine, they (i.e., Israelis) are the ones who will leave, and we will meet in Jerusalem”

The official PA news agency also stressed that the conflict with Israel is religious in its report on Al-Habbash’s speech:

“Al-Habbash emphasized that ‘… we will not submit and will not wave a white flag. We will die standing upright and will not bow down, and we will not submit to the attacking andoppressing foreigners… We and our Arab nation will not agree to eliminating the Palestinian cause… as it is not just a cause of land, borders, and politics, but rather a cause of religion and faith. After all, it is the heritage of [Prophet] Muhammad.’”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 18, 2023]​

Shortly after Hamas’ massacre in Israel, Al-Habbash asked mosque preachers all over the Arab and Islamic world to dedicate their sermons to talk about the Palestinians who are “carrying out Jihad” against Israel:

Posted text: “[PA] Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Dr. Mahmoud Al-Habbash sent letters to the ministers of religious affairs, muftis, religious councils, religious scholars, and mosque preachers in the Arab and Islamic world that called on them to dedicate the Friday sermon to knowing about Palestine, Jerusalem, and the genocide that ‘Israel’ is committing against our people.
The supreme Shari’ah judge said in his letter: ‘We turn to you from the holy land of Palestine and in proximity to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic), Jihad, resolve, and defiance are being carried out against the will of the occupation that is armed with death, colonialism, arrogance, and aggression that leave no man, stone, or tree in Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. We send you thanks for your support for Palestine, its Jerusalem, its Al-Aqsa Mosque, its people that is carrying out Ribat, and its just cause, which is a cause of every Muslim man and woman.”

[PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash,
Facebook page, Oct. 12, 2023]​

Palestinian Media Watch has exposed other statements by Al-Habbash about his vision and hope for the end of Israel and his justification of Hamas’ massacre. Blaming Israel for being the root of all problems for “7 decades” – in other words since its creation in 1948 - he claimed that once all of Israel is gone, “there will be no targeting of civilians or soldiers” With these words he legitimized Hamas’ massacre on Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023:

(full article online)

PA: This is holy war, weâre carrying out âJihad,â PA Chairman is âcommander of the Jihad fightersâ | PMW Analysis

PA: This is holy war, we’re carrying out

palwatch.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

Israeli tanks rolled into the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday night in a pinpoint raid “as part of preparations for the next stages of combat,” according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Under the command of the Givati Brigade, Israeli forces struck terrorists along with terror infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts and “operated to prepare the battlefield,” afterwards returning to Israeli territory.

Israel’s Army Radio reported that the raid was more extensive than the other ground activities carried out in Gaza in the two weeks since the start of “Operation Swords of Iron.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a prime-time televised speech on Wednesday night that the IDF is preparing for a ground operation in Gaza, adding that the timing had been unanimously agreed on by the war cabinet and military establishment.

“We are working around the clock in order to execute the goals of our war until victory, and we do so without political considerations,” said Netanyahu.

“We have already killed thousands of terrorists and this is just the beginning,” he said. “All Hamas operatives must die, above ground, underground, inside Gaza and outside Gaza.”

Israel has reportedly acceded to an American request to hold off on its planned ground invasion of Gaza so that U.S. forces can position air defenses to protect troops in the region.

Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported on Thursday that the Israeli Defense Ministry is set to extend the evacuation order of communities located along the Gaza and Lebanese borders until Dec. 31.

IDF Conducts Targeted Raid Inside Gaza Strip | United with Israel

Israeli ground forces hit Hamas targets in the northern Strip and

unitedwithisrael.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

The IDF on Thursday, revealed a recording of a resident of Gaza explaining how the Hamas terror group was preventing civilians from evacuating to the south of the Strip to escape Israeli attacks. The man spoke on the phone with an IDF officer who called to urge him to leave.

(Audio online)

‘They are shooting at people,’ Gazan says Hamas preventing evacuation to safety

IDF releases recording of call urging civilians to move southward to safety ahead of Israeli strike as part of military intelligence effort to minimize civilian casualties

www.ynetnews.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ Any questions?)

Officials in the Religious Scholars Association of Palestine in Gaza issued a decree calling for the killing of Israeli soldiers and "settlers," inside and outside the Gaza Strip.

The association is the central governing body that is affiliated with Hamas and functions from inside the enclave. They are charged with publishing religious and moral guidelines, including those issued to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas.
Since the war's second day, on October 8, while skirmishes and firefights were still raging inside Israeli territory, the decree called for the taking of lives.

Signed on behalf of "The Islamic nation's Religious scholars", it read: "Religious scholars make it unequivocally clear that any soldier and Zionist settler are to be killed, wherever they are found in all Muslim lands, both within and outside of Palestine."

Association senior official, Saleh al-Raqab, published an article on October 8 called "Oh Jihad warriors in Palestine", in which he wrote: "Allah, grant victory to Jihad warriors in Palestine, guide their strikes and gunfire upon the Jews' throats, stabilize the warriors' legs and bring forth their stabbing blades into their hearts.

"Allah, instill them into your soldiers' arms and enable them to kill the army of Jews, destroy the Jews' weapons, capture Jewish soldiers and destroy the Jews. Allah, paralyze their organs and freeze the blood in their arteries, give them a brutal defeat. Allah is great and victory is to Islam. Praise Allah."

Officials in the Center for State Studies within the Israeli Foreign Ministry say these sort of texts showcase how strongly Hamas galvanize their military arm personnel to perform their ruthless acts inside Israeli territory, backed by religious scholars affiliated with Hamas.

Hamas religious scholars: 'Spill the blood of Israeli soldiers and settlers'

In decree published in Gaza, clerics permitting and encouraging the killing of 'Zionist soldiers and settlers both within and outside of Palestine'; Hamas official: 'guide their strikes and gunfire upon the Jews' throats'

www.ynetnews.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a report on Wednesday finding that there has been a 388% increase in antisemitic incidents in October 7-23 from the same timeframe in 2022.

The ADL counted 312 antisemitic incidents in that timeframe, compared to 64 in 2022. One-hundred and ninety of the antisemitic incidents record from October 7-23 in that 2023 were related to the Israel-Hamas war, while only four in 2022 were anti-Israel incidents.

Some of the incidents recorded by the ADL included someone shouting, “I am Hamas!” and issuing death threats to Jewish individuals in front of a Los Angeles kosher restaurant. Another incident involved a Jewish student at Wayne State University and called a “f—ing Zionist,” and in New Jersey, a car adorned Palestinian flags nearly swerved into a visibly Jewish family.

Additionally, the ADL recorded 400 anti-Israel rallies since the start of the war, with 109 of those rallies expressing support for Hamas.

Worldwide, the number of antisemitic incidents increased 13-fold in London from October 1-13 2022 to the same timeframe in 2023, and a 240% increase in Germany since October 7 over the same time period in 2022.

The ADL is urging leaders worldwide to condemn antisemitism, prosecute those behind antisemitic incidents to the fullest extent of the law and ensure that the Jewish community is secure.

“When conflict erupts in Israel, antisemitic incidents soon follow in the U.S. and globally,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “From white supremacists in California displaying antisemitic banners on highway overpasses to radical anti-Zionists harassing Jewish people because of their real or perceived support for the Jewish state, we are witnessing a disturbing rise in antisemitic activity here while the war rages overseas.” He added: “It is incumbent on all leaders, from political leaders to CEOs to university presidents, to forcefully and unequivocally condemn antisemitism and terrorism. This isn’t hard. Words matter, and while the war in Gaza escalates, we encourage all those in positions of power to use their platforms to condemn hate and terrorism, wherever it occurs.”

ADL: Nearly 400% Increase in Antisemitism in U.S. Over Same Timeframe Last Year

The ADL counted 312 antisemitic incidents in that timeframe, compared to 64 in 2022.

jewishjournal.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

For the first day after the Hamas slaughter of civilians on October 7, Arabic media were ecstatic about the attack and while it was framed as mostly a military operation they didn't try to hide that it was an attack on civilians as well.

But since then they have changed the story and the sadistic attacks on women, children and the elderly have been erased from Arab media. The narrative now is all about Hamas heroism in a military attack and Gazans as victims.

A most extreme example is the Arabic Wikipedia page for "Operation Al Aqsa Flood" which is essentially a press release for Hamas.

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood...is an extended military operation launched by the Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip, led by the Hamas movement through its military arm, the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. In the early morning hours of Saturday (October 7 , 2023 AD) corresponding to (22 Rabi’ al-Awwal 1445 AH), the Commander-in-Chief of the Brigades, Muhammad al-Deif , announced the start of the operation in response to “the Israeli violations in the courtyards of the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Israeli settlers’ assault on Palestinian citizens in Jerusalem , the West Bank, and the occupied interior.”

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood began with a large-scale missile attack launched by the resistance factions. Thousands of missiles were directed at various Israeli settlements from Dimona in the south to Hod Hasharon in the north and Jerusalem in the east. The launching of these missiles coincided with a ground incursion by the resistance factions using four-wheel drive vehicles, motorcycles and aircraft. ...They took control of a number of military sites, especially in Sderot , and they reached Ofakim , and stormed Netivot, and fought violent clashes in the three settlements and in other settlements. They also captured a number of soldiers and took them to Gaza, in addition to Seizing a group of Israeli military vehicles.

Every "settlement" is described as a military base. Even when it admits that terrorists entered homes it says they were engaged in battles with the IDF.

They are literally erasing history.

It indicates that there is at least a little embarrassment over the slaughter of civilians, which is incompatible with the message of brave mujahadeen standing up to the mighty IDF, but more than that it shows that any crumb of sympathy for Israeli victims must be swept away - there can only be victims on one side, and the Palestinians zealously guard their exclusive victimhood status.

Which is exactly why we see the "kidnapped" posters being ripped down in so many American and European cities. The very idea that Jews could be victims of terror and kidnapping is judged as taking away from Palestinian victimhood when you are playing a zero-sum game, so history itself must be changed to fit the Palestinian narrative.

This is similar to the reasons for Palestinian Holocaust denial - Jews must not be seen as victims. When the explicit Holocaust denial itself became a source of shame as it was criticized in the West, they morphed the story to claim that Jews themselves were responsible for their own deaths.

I have yet to see any Arab in Arabic upset over this mass whitewashing of terror. Because, as Yasir Arafat is rumored to have said, "I kill for my cause - why wouldn't I lie for it?"

In Arabic, Hamas massacre of civilians has gone down the memory hole

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

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ What else is new?]

CNN Distorts History To Absolve Hamas and Blame Israel For Oct. 7 Massacre | Honest Reporting

In an hour-long documentary aired this week, CNN attempted to explain Hamas' horrific attack against Israel on October 7 by presenting a skewed history

honestreporting.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ This is what the West's money has paid for. This is the education they continue to get to this day. From Mohammad to Hamas, to the PA, to Iran, to Syria to Yemen, to Qatar, etc ]


As the world’s attention continues to be focused on the war between Israel and Hamas, mainstream media have relied on people on the ground in both Israel and Gaza as vital sources of information or eyewitness accounts.

Dunia Abu Rahma, a 22-year-old architecture student from Gaza, has appeared in recent days on both CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 and NBC News to tell her story.

Abu Rahma told the veteran CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, “All I want them to know that there are civilians, people who wish to live a normal, peaceful life, to feel safe, because we are human, and all we want is to have our rights and live peacefully. As a woman and as a girl, all I want in this life [is] to educate and to graduate and have a job and have a family.”

However, behind her sympathetic public appearance, HonestReporting has discovered that Abu Rahma’s social media features posts that celebrate the October 7 massacre, demonize Jews, and promote the destruction of Israel.

Supporting Hamas’ Atrocities: Dunia Abu Rahma’s October 7 Tweets​

Throughout Hamas’ October 7 slaughter, Dunia Abu Rahma both tweeted and reposted several tweets supporting the massacres.

Soon after the Hamas assault began in the early morning, Abu Rahma tweeted“Good morning. I wanted them to loot and liberate the country in my graduation year.”

A couple of hours later, she posted two tweets in succession. One read: “He really freed the prisoners!” This is presumably a reference to the hordes of Hamas terrorists and local Gazans who were rampaging through Israeli communities at the time.

The second post was a quote tweet of a video of a brutal lynching of an Israeli soldier on the streets of Gaza with the caption: “On my own, I go down and beat him with them.”

Later, she tweeted happily about the border with Israel being overrun, saying in one tweet that she was planning on transferring from her university in Gaza to Bir Zeit (a university in the West Bank) and tweeting later that “In this case, we will pray at Al-Aqsa [in Jerusalem] next Friday.”

On October 7, Dunia Abu Rahma also reposted several tweets by other accounts celebrating the carnage.

One read: “It looks like a blessed Saturday, people of Palestine, good morning” while another mentioned that “One’s heart flutters with joy with every missile that comes out.”

She also reposted an image allegedly of Hamas taking IDF captives captioned“Blessed October” as well as an image of a bloodied Israeli female teenager being manhandled by terrorists with a caption justifying the vicious treatment of Israeli women by Hamas.

‘May God Forgive You, Hitler’: Dunia Abu Rahma’s Posts About Jews & Israel​

Since the war began, Dunia Abu Rahma has also shared some antisemitic posts on social media.

In one tweet, Abu Rahma posts “May God forgive you, Hitler. I wish you had finished with this group of people who went astray.”

In another, she writes, “Oh God, the Jews have transgressed in the country and increased corruption in it, so pour upon them, O Lord, a scourge of torment.”

However, it’s not only during the war that Dunia Abu Rahma has shared antisemitic posts.

In December 2021, she shared a video of a soccer game between Algeria and Tunisia and captioned it “The house of the Jews will be destroyed.”

Along with her antisemitic posts, Dunia Abu Rahma has also called for the destruction of Israel.

Following a tweet that said, “We want a truce,” Abu Rahma commented “We want to get rid of it,” referring to Israel.

She also reposted a tweet that shows the entire land as “Palestine” and is captioned “This is how it was and this is how it will be.”

While it is the norm for international journalists to interview civilians on the ground in war zones, organizations like CNN and NBC News should do a better job of vetting who gets airtime. Would Anderson Cooper have been so sympathetic if he’d known that the Gazan student talking about peace had actually celebrated the Hamas terror attack and spread antisemitism online?

CNN & NBC Give Airtime to Woman Who Celebrated Hamas Massacre & Wished Hitler Had Finished the Job | Honest Reporting

As the world’s attention continues to be focused on the war between Israel and Hamas, mainstream media have relied on people on the ground in both Israel

honestreporting.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

A leading terror organization has mastered the art of the echo chamber, enlisting a leading Western media outlet to falsely cast its claims as independently verified by a supposedly authoritative international body, thereby repackaging them as authentic and reliable.


Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades (Photo by Abos7k, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
To see how this works, check out reporting by veteran foreign affairs journalist Tracy Wilkinson in The Los Angeles Times today (“Amid criticism, Biden administration makes plea for civilians trapped in Gaza under Israeli bombardment,” page A1 in today’s print edition). She writes:

According to figures provided by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry and the U.N., more than 5,000 Palestinians — nearly half of them women and children — have been killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes launched in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israelis in southern Israel that killed more than 1,400. (Emphasis added.)

In citing “the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry and the U.N.,” Wilkinson falsely presents the United Nations as providing independent verification of Hamas’ information (emphasis added). Far from verifying Hamas casualty claims, the United Nations, by its own acknowledgment, merely regurgitates Hamas claims.

Indeed, the Los Angeles Times helpfully hyperlinks to this U.N. page, which, unlike Wilkinson, at least transparently reveals: “The number of people killed in Gaza has exceeded 5,000 according to latest reports from de facto authorities there.” The de facto authorities in the Gaza Strip, for those who still don’t know, are Hamas, an internationally designated terror group which just carried out one of the world’s bloodiest massacres of civilians in recent memory.


In addition, the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs likewise notes that its source for the claim is the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas.

Wilkinson’s smoke and mirrors on non-existent confirmation of Hamas casualty figures is hardly the only misinformation that she embeds into her piece.

She also egregiously mischaracterizes a statement by White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby. Regarding the repugnant remarks by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres yesterday, widely understood as justifying Hamas’ ISIS-like savagery — “It’s important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum” — Wilkinson writes:

Israel immediately demanded that Guterres step down. In Washington, John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, also bristled at the attempt to place the conflict in context.
“Hamas is to blame. Hamas is to blame,” he told reporters.

Contrary to Wilkinson’s fabrication, Kirby did not bristle at the attempt to place “the conflict in context.” He bristled specifically at Guterres’ apparent attempt to “contextualize,” or rationalize, Hamas atrocities. Here is Kirby’s full statement, from which Wilkinson selectively quoted and wholly misreported:

The President has spoken very clearly and, I think, very forcefully on who’s to blame here for October 7th. It’s Hamas. It’s not the Israelis. It’s not the innocent Israeli people that were slaughtered going to a music festival. It was Hamas.
They planned this thing for many months, maybe even as long as a year. Hamas is to blame. Hamas is to blame. [Emphases added.]

Kirby very clearly blamed Hamas for the Oct. 7 mass slaughter, rape, mutilation and torture of civilians, an orgy of brutality in which Hamas terrorists specifically targeted children and women. But Wilkinson erases those victims, along with Kirby’s unequivocal condemnation of their murderers and tormentors, by fabricating that he was rebuking the Secretary General for “plac[ing] the conflict in context.”

Her grotesque manipulation of a White House official’s message, and the erasure of his outrage on behalf of the Oct. 7 victims, including no small number of women and children, stands in stark contrast to her earlier promotion of Hamas casualty figures for casualties, in which she repeated the unverifiable 5,000 claim, with “nearly half of them women and children.”


(full article online)

The Hamas-UN-LA Times Echo Chamber

A leading terror organization has mastered the art of the echo chamber, enlisting a leading Western media outlet to falsely cast its claims as

www.camera.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

In the opening paragraphs readers discover that in fact, what they are going to be shown is at the BBC’s discretion. [emphasis added]

“Footage from Israel and Gaza has been surfacing on social media, much of it disturbing and violent. There are images of Israeli hostages being paraded on streets by militants in Gaza, while others show high-rise buildings being reduced to rubble.

BBC Verify has been looking at all this material to build up an accurate picture of what has been unfolding. Some of the content we have seen is extremely disturbing so we have chosen not to show it.”

Throughout that report the people who carried out the atrocities that the BBC finds too shocking to show its audiences are referred to as “militants”, “Hamas militants”, “Palestinian militants” or “armed men”.

Also on October 7th, BBC Verify put out a video presented by Jon Donnisontitled ‘Watch: How Hamas’ shock attack on Israel unfolded’.

That video includes the same highly edited footage of the bloodied female hostage in a jeep and likewise refers to the perpetrators of the attacks as “Palestinian militants” and “militants”.

The BBC Guidance on ‘Stills, photographs and images’ includes the following under the sub-heading ‘Harm and Offence’:

“Where our content relates to a subject that is potentially shocking or offensive, using a still image rather than moving footage may reduce the likelihood of causing offence.

However, images should not normally feature the following:

Graphic violence, torture, or any extreme violent behaviour.”

Clearly those instructions present a dilemma to journalists covering exactly such events. They also raise questions concerning the right of BBC audiences not to be shocked or offended versus their right to have the story reported accurately and in a way which does not downplay the acts of the perpetrators, thereby failing to fully inform. One must surely also take into account the right of the victims (and their families) of horrific violence such as murder, rape, torture, burning people alive and beheadings to have their story told accurately and without omission.

On October 8th BBC Verify put out another report titled ‘How Hamas staged Israel lightning assault no-one thought possible’. Credited to Sean Seddonand Daniele Palumbo, that report also describes the terrorists who carried out the unprecedented attacks as “militants” and “Hamas fighters”.

Readers are told only of “rudimentary rockets” but not that Hamas also possesses more advanced missiles. Neither are readers informed that “this tactic” – i.e. the indiscriminate targeting of civilians with missiles – is a war crime.

“At around 06:30 local time, the rockets began to fly.

The Islamist militant organisation – which controls Gaza and is designated as a terrorist group in the UK and elsewhere around the world – uses this tactic frequently.

The rudimentary rockets often struggle to evade Israel’s advanced Iron Dome missile defence system – but thousands were fired in a short space of time to overwhelm it.”

Readers are told that:

“Although Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005, it still controls its airspace, shared border and shoreline.”

Seddon and Palumbo neglect to inform readers of the November 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and the fact that it included plans for a seaport and an airport which had to be shelved when the terrorist organisation Hamas staged a violent coup in the Gaza Strip in 2007 and subsequently increased its terror attacks against Israelis.

Readers are also told that:

“Gaza has seven official crossings – six are controlled by Israel, one into Egypt is controlled by Cairo.”

In fact there are currently three crossings into the Gaza Strip: Rafah (under Egyptian control) and Erez and Kerem Shalom under Israeli control. The four other previously existing crossings have not functioned for well over a decade, in large part due to Palestinian violence. Kissufim was closed in 2005 after Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Sufa was closed in 2008, Nahal Oz was closed in 2010 and Karni was closed in 2011.

Under the sub-heading ‘Attacks reach deep into Israeli territory’ readers find the following:

“Around a dozen armed fighters were seen fanning out through the empty streets of Ashkelon, just to the north of the Erez crossing which had just been stormed.”

Notably, at the end of the report it published the previous day, BBC Verify had told audiences that:

“There is footage on social media showing armed men patrolling the streets of the Israeli city of Ashkelon. This is likely to be Israeli police or armed forces responding.”

Both those conflicting accounts remain online without clarification.

Readers of BBC Verify’s October 8th report also find the following:

(full article online)

Examining BBC Verify reports on the October 7 events in Israel

In May of this year the BBC announced the launch of a “new brand“ called ‘BBC Verify’: THE BBC ANNOUNCES YET ANOTHER ANTI-DISINFORMATION PROJECT I

camera-uk.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

The Israel Defense Forces says it has killed three senior commanders in Hamas’s Daraj-Tuffah Battalion in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip today.

The IDF says the strike killed the battalion’s commander, Rifaat Abbas; the deputy commander, Ibrahim Jadba; and a combat support commander, Tarek Maarouf.

According to the IDF, the Daraj-Tuffah Battalion is part of Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade, which is “considered the most significant brigade of the Hamas terrorist organization.”

“The battalion’s operatives played a significant role in the invasion and murderous attack against Israel on October 7th,” the IDF adds.

IDF says it has killed three senior Hamas commanders in Gaza airstrike - The Times of Israel

* * *

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Shusha]

I answered that question.

Why are you focusing on only that time period when what led up to now was not a singular event but series of actions and policies by Hamas and the Israeli government over decades?

The withdrawal of Israel from Gaza was an opportunity to develop into a sovereign nation. It was a defining opportunity. That opportunity was available right up until October 7. All that was needed was for Gaza and its citizens to act in a manner that moved them towards self-determination and sovereignty: building infrastructure, farming, creating products for trade, opening tourist attractions and hotels.

The reason why this matters is that until the people of Gaza begin to build, instead of trying to take down Israel, they can not possibly be self-determinative, let alone sovereign.

I believe my question is still not answered. When does a military action become an act of vengeance?

Not until after the task of the destruction of Hamas is complete (at the very least).

 

[toomuchtime_]

I answered that question.

Why are you focusing on only that time period when what led up to now was not a singular event but series of actions and policies by Hamas and the Israeli government over decades?




Some of that is debatable given Israel’s own actions regarding a 2-state solution (not saying it was all on lsrael).

PM Netanyahu has never been an honest supporter of a 2-state solution, this is supported by both words and actions. He and his party has a combined total of 16 yrs in office, trending further and further right. Most notably, his 2nd term started in 2006. Gaza support for a 2-state solution was over 50% (interestingly double that of West Bank Palestinians). That seems like something that could have been leveraged along with a policy of strengthening the PA rather than undermining it and instituting a policy of isolating Gaza Palestinians from the West Bank Palestinians. It was, and is, clear that a 2-state solution was not going to happen beyond something that resembled semi-autonomous “homeland” enclaves subject to Israel’s political winds. (This is my opinion).

Given that…why should the Palestinians NOT attempt a direct appeal for member state status rather than funneling everything through Israel?


And that is an omelette that can unscrambled now.

42% of Gaza is under 14. 65% under 24. The majority of Gazans know no other life and were not responsible for decisions made by either side at the time. The economy is collapesd, you have no jobs, no income, no ability to leave, and a huge young population. Perfect recruiting ground for extremists.

Current stats: 1400 Israelis and 6,500 Palestinians have been killed, most are non-combatants. Entire families wiped out and bodies placed in mass graves.

I believe my question is still not answered. When does a military action become an act of vengeance?

That would only happen if Israel began targeting civilians rather than Hamas.

 

[Sixties Fan]

First-hand testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists will be collected by the USC Shoah Foundation.

The move confirms the attack that saw the mass rape, torture, and slaughter of Israeli civilians is being considered part of Holocaust lineage of events.

USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education, formerly Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making audio-visual interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides.

(full article online)

USC Shoah Foundation to Collect Testimony from Survivors, Witnesses of Hamas Terror Attack

First-hand testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists will be collected by the USC Shoah Foundation.

www.breitbart.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

COLONEL KEMP: THE SHOCKING PARALLEL BETWEEN HAMAS AND RUSSIA

Colonel Richard Kemp is currently in Israel to share his testimony of Hamas war crimes exclusively for @online.ua. Hamas and Russia have both used wicked and depraved tactics — the kidnap of children. The Russians have abducted Ukrainian children from areas they seized and transported them into the heart of Russia. When Hamas massacred Israelis in their homes and in the streets, raped, tortured, and burnt them alive, they dragged children as well as men, women and old people into captivity inside Gaza.

Russia should immediately release the children and adults they have abducted. And Hamas should immediately release the children as well as the adults that they have abducted.

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

[Sixties Fan]

‘I Understood My Life Is Going to End’: A Mother Describes 20 Hours in a Safe Room

Sofie Berzon MacKie on what went through her mind while terrorists attacked her kibbutz, and the first thought she had after she was rescued.

www.thefp.com