Israel's War Against Hamas - Updates

[Sixties Fan]

Part 3

However, the Egyptians, Jordanians, and Saudis also voted in favor of the decision, and there's no need to be surprised. In Cairo and Amman, they despise Hamas, but they are very concerned that an Israeli ground incursion into Gaza will provoke protests and riots at home, undermining internal stability. This is the reason for the outspokenness of the Jordanian Queen Rania, who denied the killing of infants in the border settlements. It's also the reason for the seemingly neutral position of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who still suffers from post-traumatic stress due to the attacks by ISIS, the "Muslim Brothers," and extreme Islamism in Cairo and Sinai.

In Riyadh, there is also restraint. In the social networks of the Arab world, they criticize Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and claim that even though he defended Israel, he didn't actually backtrack on his willingness to normalize relations with Jerusalem in exchange for a defense pact with the US, and he is just waiting for the end of the war in Gaza.

A senior Western official who is in close contact with decision-makers in Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia told me that none of them, not even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, will shed a tear if Hamas is wiped off the map. The problem, he says, is that all four leaders have been disappointed in the past by Israel's repeated failure to completely remove the threat of Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south. Now they won't say a word until Israel proves that it can truly do what it promised – to win.

https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/10/29/iran-willing-to-let-war-continue-until-the-very-last-hamas-fighter/

 

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Arab antisemitic articles are getting worse: now they are praising Hitler, praying for genocide​

Antisemitism in Arab media has been getting much worse lately.

Cairo24 uses the Gaza war as an excuse to praise Hitler:

What did Hitler say about the Jews? In light of the escalating events by the Zionist occupation towards the Palestinians, especially children, women and the elderly, some are searching for the most prominent things said by Adolf Alois Hitler, the Nazi German politician. He wanted to exterminate them from the face of the earth, so his view was correct.He told them that they were the cause of the devastation that was befalling the world, so he burned them.

They also publish the fake quote that antisemites ascribe to Hitler, "It was in my power to eliminate all the Jews of the world, but I left some of them so that you would know why I was exterminating them." But they also favorably quoted some antisemitism from Mein Kampf.

That is only one article in the past 24 hours.

Algeria's El Khabar has an article that says:

A question that has always been on my mind: Why is the West so keen on the existence of Israel? Why do they support the Jews so endlessly? I found only one answer, which is to get rid of their evils. Anyone who traces the history of the people will find that Stalin, for example, did not promise the Jews the establishment of a national homeland for them in Palestine except to get rid of their disease, and Hitler did not search for a rubbish bin to collect them except to cleanse Germany of their filth. America itself suffers from them, but it is helpless. Because the Zionist lobby is suffocating its breath.

There is no evil that has spread in the world unless these bastards are behind it. The Jew Karl Marx was behind atheistic communism, the other Jew Durkheim was behind the sociology that tampered with the family, the Jew Freud based his psychology on scandalous sex, and the Jew Sater promoted pornography.

Egypt's El Balad publishes a prayer for genocide of Jews. Here is a small part:

Oh God, curse the killers of the prophets, O God, send stones of shale upon them and throw terror and panic into their hearts.
Oh God, destroy the Jews in Palestine, the children of monkeys and pigs, and sand (?) their women, O God, and may their children be dispersed.

Oh God, send upon them strong winds that will uproot their power.

A columnist in Saudi Arabia's Al Madina writes:

The current events in Gaza have proven the truth of the Holy Qur’an about the Jews, in their many and hideous characteristics, including their constant practice of killing. If they did not kill others, they would kill themselves, meaning they would fight among themselves. And God says: (Then it is you who kill yourselves) in addition to their killing of the prophets, and whoever kills the prophets will not There is no doubt that killing Arabs and Palestinians is easy for them, and the doctrine of Israel’s army, police, and Mossad intelligence is killing, then killing, then more killing!

We all hated what happened and is happening to the people of Gaza, but perhaps it is a good hatred, as it showed us some of the characteristics of the Jews that require us to be wary of them and consider them the most prominent enemy, especially since the lobby pressuring them has recruited the greatest powers, international Freemasonry, and the media with them, in the name of religion and in the name of non-religion, to dominate the world within their ill-fated plan!

But while some articles ue the Quran to justify hating Jews, others claim that Jews are not really the Jews in the Quran to begin with. Dr. Ahmed Rabie , former dean of the Faculty of Islamic Dawa at Al-Azhar University, said that "today’s Jews are not descendants of our Prophet Jacob" and only arabs are the remaining descendants of Abraham.

But why seek consistency in the details? The main point remains: Jews are evil and must be destroyed.

Arab antisemitic articles are getting worse: now they are praising Hitler, praying for genocide

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

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

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[ One for the Good Guys ]

IDF says captured soldier rescued from Gaza during overnight operation​

By EMANUEL FABIAN

IDF soldier Pvt. Ori Megidish (center) with her family after being rescued from Gaza, October 30, 2023. (Shin Bet)

The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security agency say a soldier captured by the Hamas terror group has been rescued from the Gaza Strip in an overnight operation.

In a joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet say Pvt. Ori Megidish is in good condition, and has met with her family.

The IDF says Megidish was rescued during a ground operation overnight, but no further details are given.

Megidish was an observation soldier, taken hostage by Hamas when terrorists stormed the Nahal Oz base on October 7.

IDF says captured soldier rescued from Gaza during overnight operation

Pvt. Ori Megidish reunited with family * Jerusalem targeted by rocket fire after days without sirens * IDF soldier dies in tank accident * 3 Palestinians said killed in heavy Jenin clashes

www.timesofisrael.com

 

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Shani Louk, a German and Israeli citizen who was abducted to Gaza by Hamas terrorists. (Courtesy Shani Louk Instagram)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz laments the “terrible” news that Shani Louk has died, after being grabbed by terrorists in the Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel three weeks ago.

“This shows the full barbarity behind the Hamas attack — who must be held accountable,” Scholz writes on the social media platform X. “This is terror, and Israel has the right to defend itself.”

German chancellor says confirmed death of Shani Louk shows ‘barbarity’ of Hamas

* * *

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Part 1

On its face, the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023, was beyond legal or ethical justification. Nonetheless, though Israel has every conceivable right to respond with military force, a significant segment of world public opinion is demanding greater “proportionality” between the precipitating Hamas crime and the necessary Israeli response to protect its citizens. But what precisely is meant by this inherently vague standard? As both an ethical and operational matter, how can anyone fairly assess the proportionality of Israel’s “Swords of Iron” response?

Significantly, from the standpoint of authoritative international law, Israel’s response is not merely an expression of retributive justice (“an eye for an eye”), but of indispensable self-defense.

We should begin at the beginning. The legal obligations of proportional combat are contained in assorted rules governing resort to armed conflict (“justice of war”) and the operational conduct of hostilities (“justice in war”). In part, in the “justice of war” assessment, proportionality concerns rights of national self-defense. Regarding Israel and the current Gaza War, these rights have genuinely existential importance.

Regarding the “justice in war” assessment, proportionality relates to the manner in which a particular belligerency is carried out. Taken as a whole, the proportionality standard is derivative from the foundational legal principle that belligerent rights have variously specific constraints. Hague Convention No. IV (1907), stipulates: “The right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited.” To wit, any acts by insurgent/terrorist groups that involve rape, murder, and/or hostage-taking are prohibited.

Always.

The popular terror-group phrase “by any means necessary” has no validity in law. Aside from its considerable propagandistic value, this venal phrase represents an utterly empty witticism, much like the equally invalid assertion that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” By authoritative definition, Hamas insurgents are terrorists; they are not freedom fighters.

In order to make informed legal judgments on what is happening in the current Gaza War, further details and particularities must be identified. Though generally misunderstood, the legally correct meaning of proportionality has nothing to do with equivalence in the use of military force. Equivalence or symmetry is never a requirement of the law of war.

There is more. Under the law of war, the standard of proportionality is never just a matter of intuition or “common sense.” It is always a matter of Reason, an integral element of codified and customary international law.

Above all, this standard seeks to ensure that every belligerent’s resort to armed force remains limited to what is “necessary” to meet law-based military objectives. The related principle of “military necessity” is correctly defined as follows: “Only that degree and kind of force, not otherwise prohibited by the law of armed conflict, required for the partial or complete submission of the enemy with a minimum expenditure of time, life, and physical resources may be applied.” (See the US Navy’s “The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations.”)

Today, though we still speak narrowly of “international” law, belligerents include not only states, but also insurgent and terrorist armed forces. This means that even where an insurgency is presumptively lawful — that is, where it seemingly meets the settled criteria of “just cause” — it must still satisfy all corollary expectations of “just means.” To the issue here at hand, even if Hamas and associated terror groups do have a presumptive right to fight against an Israeli “occupation,” that fight still needs to respect the law-based limitations of “discrimination,” “proportionality” and “military necessity.” Deliberately firing rockets into Israeli civilian areas and/or placing military assets amid Palestinian civilian populations does not display such respect. These acts always represent a perfidious crime of war.

I’m an International Law Expert; Israel’s Actions in Gaza Are Completely Proportional to the Hamas Threat - Algemeiner.com

On its face, the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023, was beyond legal or ethical justification. Nonetheless, though Israel has every conceivable right to respond with military force, a significant segment of world public opinion is demanding greater “proportionality” between the...

www.algemeiner.com

 

[expat500]

Those we have lost:

Osher & Michael Vaknin, 35: Identical twins helped organize rave

Jerusalemites were music producers; both murdered at the Supernova music festival, October 7

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Part 2

In law, the correct term for the crime of “human shields” is “perfidy.” In law, the current sufferings of Gaza Palestinians are the incontestable result of Hamas perfidy, not Israeli counter-terrorism operations. Jurisprudentially, there can be no more clarifying observation.

Still, misunderstandings remain far-reaching and widespread. Under no circumstances does the principle of proportionality stipulate that a party to an ongoing conflict must impose only symmetrical or equivalent harms upon the enemy. If that sort of “common sense” argument were acceptable, there would be no modern historical analogue to America’s flagrantly “disproportionate” attacks on European and Japanese cities during World War II. By that standard, Dresden, Cologne, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would represent the documented nadir of inhumane and lawless belligerency. Expressed differently, these US attacks would represent the modern world’s very worst violations of humanitarian international law.

There is more. Perfidy represents greater wrongdoing than simple immorality or visceral cowardice. It expresses a starkly delineated and punishable crime. Among other things, it is identified as a “grave breach” at Article 147 of Geneva Convention IV.

Deception can be lawful in armed conflict, but the Hague Regulations disallow any placement of military assets or personnel in populated civilian areas. Related prohibitions of perfidy can be found at Protocol I of 1977, additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949. These rules are also binding on the basis of customary international law, a jurisprudential source identified at Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice.

All combatants, including Palestinian insurgents allegedly fighting for “self-determination,” are bound by the law of war. This core requirement is found at Article 3, common to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. It cannot be suspended or abrogated. Ever.

Prima facie, the alleged Hamas goal of Palestinian self-determination is founded upon an openly-planned crime; that is, a total removal of the Jewish State by attrition and annihilation.

This legally impermissible orientation has its doctrinal basis in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s “Phased Plan” of June 9, 1974. In its 12th Session, the PLO’s highest deliberative body, the Palestinian National Council, reiterated the PLO aim as being “to achieve their rights to return, and to self-determination on the whole of their homeland.”

The proposed sequence of Palestinian terror-violence is expressed as follows: First, “to establish a combatant national authority over every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated” (Art. 2); second, “to use that territory to continue the fight against Israel” (Art. 4); and third, “to start a Pan-Arab War to complete the liberation of the all-Palestinian territory” (Art. 8).

Not to be ignored, this is the annihilationist plan of a more mainstream Palestinian terror group than Hamas, an organization that Hamas itself considers too moderate.

At some point, Hamas (with tangible Iranian support) could prepare to launch mega-terror attacks on Israel. Such perfidious aggressions, unprecedented and in plausible cooperation with certain allied non-Palestinian jihadists (e.g., Shiite Hezbollah) could include chemical, biological, or radiological (radiation-dispersal) weapons. What then?

Perils could also include a non-nuclear terrorist attack on the Israeli reactor at Dimona. There is a documented history of enemy attempts against this Israeli plutonium-production facility, both by a state (Iraq) in 1991 and by a Palestinian terror group (Hamas) in 2014. Neither attack was successful, but variously fearful precedents were established.

I’m an International Law Expert; Israel’s Actions in Gaza Are Completely Proportional to the Hamas Threat - Algemeiner.com

On its face, the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023, was beyond legal or ethical justification. Nonetheless, though Israel has every conceivable right to respond with military force, a significant segment of world public opinion is demanding greater “proportionality” between the...

www.algemeiner.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Part 3

International law is not a suicide pact. Even amid long-enduring world-system anarchy, it offers an authoritative body of rules and procedures that permits a beleaguered state to express an “inherent right of self-defense.”

But when Hamas celebrates the explosive “martyrdom” of Palestinian civilians and when Palestinian leaders seek “redemption” or power over death through the mass-murder of “Jews” or “Zionists,” the wrongdoers have no residual claims to immunity from civilian harms.

Hamas celebrations of “martyrdom” underscore the two-sided nature of Palestinian terror/sacrifice — that is, the sacrifice of “the Jew” and the reciprocal sacrifice of “the Martyr.” Revealingly, such reasoning is codified within the Charter of Hamas as a “religious” problem.

There is more. Under international law, terrorists are considered hostes humani generis or “common enemies of humankind.” Among other things, this category of criminals invites punishment wherever the wrongdoers can be found. Concerning their required arrest and prosecution, jurisdiction is now “universal.” The universality-clarifying Nuremberg Tribunal strongly reaffirmed the ancient legal principle of Nullum crimen sine poena, or “no crime without a punishment.”

What next? In law, all law, truth is exculpatory. Regarding the current Gaza War, pertinent truth is unambiguous. Israel is once again waging a necessary war against a determinedly exterminatory foe, — this time a jihadist terrorist organization that seeks genocide for Israel. In assessing such bitter circumstances, the “international community” should finally take more seriously the unavoidably core truth of Hamas’ perfidy and reciprocal falsity of Israeli “disproportionality.”

The author was educated at Princeton (Ph.D., 1971) and is the author of many books and articles dealing with war, terrorism and human rights. His latest and twelfth book is Surviving Amid Chaos: Israel’s Nuclear Strategy. A previous contributor to The Algemeiner, Professor Beres’ published writings on law and strategy have appeared inModern War Institute (West Point); BESA (Israel); JURIST; Yale Global Online; Parameters: The Journal of the US Army War College (Pentagon); Special Warfare (Pentagon); Israel Defense (Tel Aviv); Horasis (Switzerland); The War Room (Pentagon); Modern Diplomacy; The Atlantic; and more. Dr. Beres was Chair of Project Daniel for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2003-2004. He was born in Zürich at the end of World War II.

I’m an International Law Expert; Israel’s Actions in Gaza Are Completely Proportional to the Hamas Threat - Algemeiner.com

On its face, the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023, was beyond legal or ethical justification. Nonetheless, though Israel has every conceivable right to respond with military force, a significant segment of world public opinion is demanding greater “proportionality” between the...

www.algemeiner.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Israel Defense Forces soldiers serving in the Air Defense Command and manning Israel’s missile defense system Iron Dome have continued to perform admirably in Israel’s war against Hamas. However, for the first time since its establishment in 2011, the unit has lost three of its soldiers in an operation.
October 7 was a routine morning for soldiers in the Air Defense Command’s Southern Brigade, who are deployed near the Gaza border. Sgt. A., a soldier who completed the interception course only two months ago, sat at the control center with his commander, Capt. Sahar Saudian, a 21-year-old from Rosh Ha'ayin.

Unlike in previous incidents, no one in the Southern Command’s intelligence unit knew to alert the units about Hamas’ suspicious activity within the Gaza Strip.
Nevertheless, the Air Defense Command soldiers maintained their usual alertness and were keeping their eyes on the interceptors’ monitors at 4:00 a.m., which showed no signs of anything wrong, until 6:28 a.m.

"It was the most fun weekend at the Iron Dome battery, with a dinner that Sahar arranged for all of us on Thursday evening," recalled Sgt. A. "On Friday evening, I played board games with her, we laughed and went to sleep in preparation for the morning shift, in the same regular routine that we usually follow."

Hell from above​

And then, in an instant, everything changed. Saudian first spotted the volley of rockets emerging from the Gaza Strip, in every possible direction. In one hand, she and A. operated launching the intercepting missiles against the numerous rockets, and with the other hand, she shouted over the battery's intercom to get the soldiers into positions.
"What I saw on the screens and what I heard outside, as the firing was directed toward us as well, seemed to me like the large-scale exercises we practiced,” A. said. “This was my first time facing real missile launches, and Sahar quickly reassured me, placed her hand on my shoulder, and gave me the strength I needed to intercept the rockets in those initial minutes. I didn't leave the interception command until very late in the morning."

The quick response by Saudian and Sgt. A., along with the rest of the battery soldiers who took defensive positions, apparently prevented additional casualties, as Israelis woke up to rocket sirens on October 7. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) reported that the unit’s operation, especially in the first hour, prevented dozens of rocket impacts and hundreds of casualties.

(full article online)

Iron Dome heroes: Soldiers lost their lives to arm rocket interceptors

Soldiers operating the Iron Dome missile defense batteries near the Gaza border faced thousands of rocket launches on October 7, risking their lives to rearm the units, these are their stories

www.ynetnews.com

 

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The Spirit of ’48

For countless long hours, on Oct. 7, the darkest of dark days, the state vanished. But then, in the midst of a war for survival against armed savages, an exceptional, unparalleled heroism emerged, a heroism that we had almost forgotten existed.

www.tabletmag.com

 

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The purpose of this short paper is to clarify these issues by addressing the following points:

• 
  
• Claims that the Gaza Strip is territory occupied by Israel
• 
  
• Prohibition of starvation
• 
  
• Obligation to allow the passage of humanitarian aid
• 
  
• The rules that apply to laying a siege
• 
  
• The rules that apply to notifying civilians to leave combat zones

https://www.inss.org.il/publication/israel-duties/

 

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IDF stopped monitoring Hamas handheld radios, among other intel failures - JNS.org

Israel operated under the assumption that the Islamists would not attack.

www.jns.org

 

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Important context for the evil, illegal Hamas hostage video: two of the three women have small children Hamas is also holding, under what they describe as harsh conditions. They'll read any script. And Hamas knows exactly what nerves to touch.

 

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