Saturday, July 19, 2014

Obama - Talker Not Doer! Romney Was Right and Obama's Reset Button Diplomacy Just Got Shot Down!


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Carolyn Glick writes about how Israel can win in Gaza.

I generally agree with her poke in the eye, sharp stick op eds but I do not believe Israel can win in Gaza for several basic reasons:

a) Elitists in academia, the press and media will not permit Israel to do what needs to be done.

Hamas is interested in creating scenes that  bleeding heart Carter types will  use as propaganda to paint Israel as a tyrannical nation.

This is why Hamas is willing to sacrifice their young and  this is why Hamas plants missiles in schools etc.

b) Israel's political support is primarily made in America and with Obama claiming 'he has Israel's back,' I doubt he will stand against an eventual growing tide demanding Israel cease their 'wanton killing of Palestinians."

Since we have a president who is not willing to protect America's borders, has been cowed by Putin etc. so what is the comfort basis on which I should rely Obama will not cave?

c) Israel will not tolerate a high number of casualties among their military.

d) Israeli intelligence is good but better from within than when  external, so detecting  missile sites etc, is thus, more difficult.  (See 1 below.)
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I do not believe Jimmy Carter or the Episcopal Church would agree:

Click on:  http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/this-might-be-the-funniest-video-about-israel!

See 2, 2a, 2b and 2c below)

Sen. Marco Rubio gave this speech yesterday.  http://bit.ly/1rl62ed


If Obama really had Israel's back he would declare he was moving our embassy to Jerusalem and stop funding Hamas with American tax payer dollars

Also, remember when Obama castigated Romney for telling the nation Russia was still our enemy and  Obama responded  the "Cold War" was over?  Well it now appears Obama's 'reset button diplomacy' seems to have been shot down by a Russian missile but we can take comfort in the fact that Obama still has his pen and phone!

Might be better if he had more golf balls and restricted Russian flights to our country, but then that would be aggressive and Obama is a talker not a doer.
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Dick
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1)  How to win in Gaza

By  CAROLINE GLICK

Israel deployed ground forces in Gaza Thursday night both because Hamas’s terror tunnels into Israel have become an unacceptable threat, and because it had to break the deadlock that had developed between it and Hamas.
Until the ground invasion, Israel and Hamas were in a holding pattern. Hamas would not accept a ceasefire deal because Egypt’s offers provided the Iranian sponsored, Muslim Brotherhood terror army with no discernible achievements. And absent such achievements, Hamas prefers to keep fighting. Israel for its part is unwilling to make any concessions to Hamas in exchange for its cessation of its criminal terror war that targets innocent civilians in Israel as a matter of course.

As Hamas sees things, it has three ways of winning.
First, if Israel had agreed to ceasefire terms that left Hamas better off than it was when it started its newest round of indiscriminate missile attacks against Israeli civilian targets, then it could have declared victory.
Hamas’s terms for a ceasefire included, among other things, an open border with Egypt, egress to the sea, open access to the border zone with Israel, an airport, a sea port, and the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons. Obviously, if Israel agreed to even a few of these terms, its agreement would have constituted a strategic victory for Hamas.
The second way for Hamas to win is if it is able to accuse Israel of killing a large number of Palestinians at one time In that case, Hamas can expect for the US to join with the EU and the UN in forcing Israel to accept ceasefire terms that require it to make significant concessions to the Palestinians in Gaza as well as in Judea and Samaria.

This is what happened in Hezbollah’s war with Israel in 2006. During the fighting, Hezbollah alleged that Israel killed a great number of Lebanese civilians in Kfar Kana. Those allegations caused then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to effectively end US support for Israel’s war effort. Rice quickly coerced Israel into accepting ceasefire terms that paved the way for Hezbollah’s takeover of the Lebanese government.
If Hamas is able to create a similar situation in Gaza, it will likely achieve the same sort of strategic victory over Israel.
Finally, if Hamas is able to produce a picture of victory that can burnish its reputation as the leader of the jihad against the Jews throughout the Islamic world, then it will be able to declare victory. Operations such as Hamas’s repeated attempts to launch mass casualty attacks in Israeli communities along the border with Gaza by infiltrating Israeli territory through its underground tunnel networks, have been geared towards achieving such an end.
Since Hamas initiated the current round of warfare against Israel, Israelis have been split in their assessments of how best to win the war. Still now, with ground forces deployed in Gaza, the dispute over the proper goal of the operation remains significant.
Although everyone supports the troops, politicians on the Left, led, most openly by Labor party leader Isaac Herzog say that Israel should limit its goals to the maximum extent and seek a ceasefire because “there is no military solution” to the conflict with Hamas.
Israel’s best bet, they say, is to do everything it can to end the Hamas missile strikes as quickly as possible through negotiations. At the same time, Herzog argues, since there is only a diplomatic solution to the Palestinian conflict with Israel, Israel needs to send negotiators to Ramallah to beg Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas to sign a peace deal with the Jewish state.
There are several basic problems with the Left’s position.
First, Hamas and its partners in Gaza from Islamic Jihad, al Qaeda affiliated jihadist militia and Fatah have no interest whatsoever in peaceful coexistence with Israel. They exist to fight Israel. This means that the only way that Israel can get them to stop fighting is by using its military force to convince them that it is not in their interest to continue shooting.
In other words, the only “solution” to Hamas’s aggression is a military solution.
Then there is the bizarre notion that a deal with Fatah is somehow the silver bullet that will end the military threat to Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza.
A deal between Israel and Fatah in Judea and Samaria would have no effect whatsoever on the situation on the ground in Gaza. Given Hamas’s absolute rejection of peace with Israel, and widespread support for Israel’s destruction throughout Palestinian society, a peace deal between Israel and Fatah in Judea and Samaria would in all likelihood increase Hamas’s prestige among Palestinians and throughout the Muslim world. In other words a peace deal with Fatah would enhance Hamas’s prestige and power and ultimately bring about an expansion of its military capabilities.
Beyond that, Abbas has ruled the PA for the past decade. Throughout this period, he consistently demonstrated through deed and word that he will never, ever sign a peace treaty with Israel. Abbas has twice rejected offers of peace and statehood from Israel. Just three months ago he rejected another offer from US President Barack Obama. During the same period, he has signed three peace deals with Hamas. The most recent one is now in force, on the ground.
Since Hamas initiated its newest round of criminal projectile assaults on Israel, Abbas has acted as a full partner in the war. He has represented Hamas internationally. He has negotiated on its behalf – and continues to do so in Cairo.
Abbas has slandered Israel in the most obscene terms. His Fatah group has actively participated in the missile offensive, on the ground in Gaza. It has also proclaimed its absolute unity of purpose with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the war against Israel in daily official pronouncements.
Given all of this, the notion that Israel can pin a diplomatic strategy for ending Hamas’s war against it on Fatah is not merely ridiculous. It is inexcusably irresponsible for would-be national leaders to maintain faith with it. The only purpose such behavior serves is to reinforce the Americans and Europeans in their delusional faith that the chimerical two-state solution is a recipe for utopian peace rather than war, bloodshed and radicalization.
On the other hand, the Right, led most outspokenly by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman insists that the role of IDF ground forces in Gaza should be to reconquer the area with the aim of destroying Hamas’s capacity to continue shooting rockets and missiles. Only such a ground-based operation, they claim will eliminate the threat of Hamas’s projectiles.
There are several problems with this position.
First, it makes assumptions about Hamas that are not necessarily correct. It is far from clear that the only way to destroy Hamas and end its capacity to harm Israel is to reconquer Gaza. The main reason that Hamas began the current war is because the terror group is in distress.
The Egyptians have cut off the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood’s financial and military supply lines through the Sinai. Hamas of the summer of 2014 is not Hezbollah from the summer of 2006. Hezbollah had open supply lines from Iran through Syria and Turkey. Hamas is locked in between Israel and Egypt.
Moreover, Hamas is challenged on the ground in Gaza by the same jihadist groups that now fight with it against Israel. If Hamas cannot produce a victory in this round of fighting then its friends from al Qaeda affiliates and from Islamic Jihad will renew their challenge to its authority. Add to the mix the response of a public angry at Hamas for forcing it to serve as human shields for missiles and terror masters who were unable to bring home the bacon so to speak by fighting, and there is a reasonable chance that Hamas will face a full-blown insurrection once a ceasefire with Israel goes into effect.
The only way for Hamas to avert this fate is by being able to point to significant gains from the fighting that will neutralize at least some of its opponents and rivals.
In other words, Israel doesn’t have to reconquer Gaza to destroy Hamas. We just have to humiliate Hamas and knock out capabilities like the tunnel networks that immediately threaten us. And then let the Gazans fight it out.
Finally, a full-scale ground invasion is a risky proposition. There is no assurance of success. Israel deployed ground forces in south Lebanon in 2006. But due to incompetent national and military leadership, the forces achieved little from a strategic perspective while absorbing painful losses.
Israel faces an acute operational challenge in Gaza. The nine year absence of IDF forces and Israeli civilians on the ground has wrecked Israel’s intelligence gathering capabilities and so limited the IDF’s operational effectiveness. If in 2004 Israel was able to defeat Hamas through targeted killing of its commanders, repeating that success today without good human intelligence assets on the ground is a much more difficult prospect.
This is why we are already beginning to see diminishing results from the air campaign. Without human assets on the ground, the IDF either cannot locate or cannot get to the remaining high value targets. Unless Israel is able to change this situation fairly rapidly, it will not be able to sufficiently diminish Hamas’s capabilities to convince Hamas’s leadership that they are better off ending the current fight without achieving anything significant than maintaining it until they do.

This is why the government was finally compelled to order the ground campaign.
Ground forces are required to develop the information Israel needs to kill a large enough number of Hamas leaders and destroy the tunnel complexes and a large enough quantity of missiles and launchers to convince Hamas’s terror masters to cry, “Uncle.”
While the ground operations continue, Israeli negotiators should be avidly agreeing to every ceasefire offer that denies Hamas any achievements. The IDF must continue to exercise an abundance of caution to prevent Hamas from luring our forces into a situation where we will be accused of massacring Palestinians.
None of this is easy or simple. No result is guaranteed. But in fighting Hamas today, Israel finds itself in a better position than it has faced in past fights with Hamas. For the first time, we face an enemy with a limited shelf life. Without supply lines from Egypt, Hamas cannot fight forever. Its allies at the UN can feed its forces and protect Hamas from an insurrection from a starving population. But the UN cannot rearm Hamas. It cannot reopen the smuggling tunnels from Egypt to enable materiel, money and trainers to enter Gaza.
Hamas is desperate for anything it can call a victory. By denying it one on the one hand, while taking action to force its leaders to prefer organizational humiliation to personal destruction on the other, Israel can win a decisive victory.
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2)
PMW           
Bulletin  
July 15, 2014
New Hamas clip celebrates missile attack
that murdered 16-year-old in 2011:
"We will hunt down cowards like you in your dens"

School girls in Gaza chant Hamas slogan: 
"O beloved Qassam fighter, strike, strike Tel Aviv"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

 

A new Hamas propaganda video celebrates the murder of a 16-year-old in 2011.

The video addresses Israelis in Hebrew opening with the question: "Do you remember?" It then shows footage from a 2011 attack in which Hamas struck a school bus with an anti-tank missile. The clip ends with footage of an ambulance carrying Daniel Viflic, a 16-year-old Israeli, who later died of his wounds.

The  Hamas video ends with the promise of more killings:
"We will hunt down cowards like you in your dens."
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 13, 2014]

Another Hamas propaganda video glorifies killing Israelis, calling on the "beloved Qassam fighter" to bomb Tel Aviv:


"The sirens herald death 
[Hamas'] Al-Qassam [Brigades] answer by striking Sderot, Eshkol and Ashdod (Israeli areas) 

Avenging the Martyrs' blood. There's no louder sound... 
O beloved Al-Qassam fighter, strike, destroy Tel Aviv!" 
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 11, 2014]

In another TV clip, Hamas TV broadcast footage of young girls echoing the same slogan: "O beloved Qassam fighter, strike, strike Tel Aviv," together with pictures of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades waving rifles. [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 11, 2014]
                                                                     
Throughout the current conflict between terror organization Hamas and Israel, as Palestinian Media Watch has reported, Hamas TV has been broadcasting propaganda videos in Arabic and in Hebrew as part of its campaign  to boost morale among Palestinians and intimidate Israelis. 

In an effort to boost morale, Hamas is also deceiving the Palestinian public about its failures in the current conflict, claiming that Israel is hiding a high death toll.

The following are longer excerpts of Hamas' videos described above:

Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas) broadcast the following video in Hebrew:
"[Do] you remember?
(Video of launching anti-tank missile at Israeli school bus that killed 16-year-old in 2011)

We will hunt down cowards like you in their dens."
(Israeli medics carry mortally wounded 16-year-old to ambulance)
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 13, 2014]

Hamas 2011 school bus attack - On April 7, 2011 Hamas terrorists launched an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus, killing 16-year-old Daniel Viflic.

Al-Aqsa (Hamas) TV filler about the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas' military wing):
The filler shows brigade members with rifles driving through streets.
(Schoolgirls cheer fighters)
"O beloved Al-Qassam fighter, strike, strike Tel Aviv!" 
(Children wave to fighters) 
Text: "The people embrace the Resistance (i.e., Hamas)"
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 11, 201

2a)


PMW           
Bulletin  
July 14, 2014
Hamas tells civilians 
to return to their homes
to act as human shields

Palestinian indoctrination to seek Martyrdom for Allah
fosters willingness to act as human shields

"Answering the occupation's [Israel's] calls will merely aid it in carrying out its plans to weaken the [Palestinian] home front and to destroy property and homes as soon as you leave them. We call on all our people who have left their homes to return to them immediately."
[Hamas' Ministry of Interior spokesman Iyad al-Buzu,
on Ministry's Facebook page, July 13, 2014]

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Two days ago, Israel warned Palestinians who live near the Israeli border in the Northern Gaza Strip, an area from which Hamas launches long-range missiles, to evacuate their homes to areas of safety before Israel bombed the launching sites. Hamas' Ministry of Interior immediately called on its civilian population to ignore Israel's warnings and remain in their homes in spite of the danger:

"An important and urgent message:
The [Hamas] Ministry of the Interior and National Security calls on our honorable people in all parts of the [Gaza] Strip to ignore the warnings [to vacate areas near rocket launching sites before Israel bombs them] that are being disseminated by the Israeli occupation through manifestos and phone messages, as these are part of a psychological war meant to sow confusion on the [Palestinian] home front, in light of the [Israeli] enemy's security failure and its confusion and bewilderment."
[Hamas' Ministry of Interior spokesman Iyad al-Buzu,
on Ministry's Facebook page, July 12, 2014]

However, many Palestinians did leave their homes, and yesterday Hamas called on them to return, saying that leaving only helps Israel "in carrying out its plans... to destroy [your] property and homes." Hamas' demand that people stay in their homes to prevent Israeli attacks on these missile sites is a demand that they act as human shields:


"Answering the occupation's calls will merely aid it in carrying out its plans to weaken the [Palestinian] home front and to destroy property and homes as soon as you leave them. We call on all our people who have left their homes to return to them immediately."
[Hamas' Ministry of Interior spokesman Iyad al-Buzu,
on Ministry's Facebook page, July 13, 2014]

Hamas opposition to Palestinians leaving their homes is so great that after UNRWA opened schools to house those who had run for safety, Hamas TV broadcast a press conference protesting UNRWA's opening of schools. A representative of the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces read the decisions reached at the conference: 

"We call on our Palestinian people, particularly the residents of northwest Gaza, not to obey what is written in the pamphlets distributed by the Israeli occupation army. We call on them to remain in their homes and disregard the demands to leave, however serious the threat may be."
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 14, 2014]

Palestinian Media Watch has reported in the past that using civilians as human shields is a strategy of choice for Hamas, which is why it places missiles near homes and mosques. Last week, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Hamas' use of civilians as human shields has proven effective:


Al-Aqsa TV reporter: "Witnesses are talking about a large crowd. The residents are still gathering to reach the Kaware family home in order to prevent the Zionist occupation's fighter planes from striking it."

Al-Aqsa TV host: "People are reverting to a method that was very successful once."
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri: "The people oppose the Israeli fighter planes with their bodies alone... I think this method has proven effective against the occupation. It also reflects the nature of our heroic and brave people, and we, the [Hamasmovement, call on our people to adopt this method in order to protect the Palestinian homes."
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 8, 2014]

The PA and Hamas death-seeking ideology fosters 
willingness to die as human shields

Hamas' success in convincing civilians to act as human shields is a direct outcome of years of PA and Hamas indoctrination that there is no greater achievement than dying for Allah. Dying in the conflict with Israel, as a fighter, suicide bomber, or a passive civilian in a combat zone, is defined by both the PA and Hamas as "achieving Shahada (Martyrdom)." Dying for Allah is an achievement to be sought. Recently, the essence of this Palestinian Shahada-seeking (Martyrdom-seeking) ideology was explained in great detail by then-PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash, (today the Supreme Shari'ah Judge and Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs):


PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "After prophecy and righteousness, there is no status Allah has exalted more than Shahada
(Martyrdom)... Allah forbade us to consider them [the Shahids - Martyrs] as dead or to speak of them as being dead... They went smiling to their deaths... The Shahid has merit with Allah, a merit that no one else has... 'The Shahid
- his sins are forgiven with the first gush of his blood from his wound... 

The Shahid advocates on behalf of 70 members of his family, and saves them all from hell. The Shahid lives [in Paradise] together with the prophets and the righteous ones...'We will never reach the level of the prophets. We won't. So let us reach the level of the Shahids. I say to you, brothers, as the Prophet [Muhammad] said: 'He who honestly seeks Shahada, Allah will give him the status of the Shahids, even if he dies in his bed.'"
 [Official PA TV, Nov. 8, 2013] (See longer text translated below)

In a later sermon, Al-Habbash preached:
"Brothers, Allah willing, only 'one of the two best things' (Quran) will happen to us - victory or Shahada (Martyrdom) - and what a great fate this is, what a great rank this is - victory or Shahada." 
[Official PA TV, Dec. 20, 2013]

It is notable that this death-seeking ideology was delineated by a PA religious leader.

The great success of this indoctrination, which goes against the basic instinct for self-preservation, can be seen in numerous statements by adults and children broadcast on Palestinian TV stations glorifying Shahada and expressing yearning for this acclaimed Martyrdom death for Allah.

A few months ago, Hamas TV broadcast interviews with children in Jenin in the PA-governed West Bank, expressing the ideal of dying for Allah: 
Newsreader: "For most of these children, resistance has become a dream... When you speak to them, you're surprised by the strength and eloquence of their words."
Boy: "We love the resistance. We want to die as Martyrs. Long live the Martyrs." 
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas) YouTube channel, May 8, 2014]
Click to see more examples of Shahada promotion on the PMW website

Hamas' call to use civilians as human shields is successful only because the PA and Hamas have educated their people to value the ideal of dying for Allah.

In 2008, PMW reported that Hamas openly took pride in comparing their preference for death to the "Zionist enemy's" preference for life:

Then-Hamas member of Palestinian Parliament, Fathi Hammad said:
"For the Palestinian people, death became an industry at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire Death, as you desire Life."
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Feb. 29, 2008]

The following are longer texts of the items glorifyinShahada:

PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "After prophecy and righteousness there is no status Allah has exalted more than
Shahada (Martyrdom)... ''And think not of those who have been killed in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they are alive (and) are provided sustenance from their Lord.' 
Allah forbade us to consider them [the Shahids (Martyrs)] as dead or to speak of them as being dead... They went smiling to their deaths... TheShahid has merit with Allah, a merit that no one else has... No one - not even the righteous - yearns to return to this world after death. Only Shahids. Why? Because they see the great honor Allah has prepared for them. One of them aspired to return to this world in order to be killed again, in order to die as aShahid yet again... Allah spoke with one of them (a Shahid), Jabir ibn Abdullah... After all he saw in Paradise, he wanted to return and be killed [again] in order to taste the pain of death a second time. Abdullah said to Him: 
'Lord, then tell those who follow us about what we have found.' 
Allah Himself is conveying to us the message from the Shahids. The prophets convey Allah's message and Allah conveys the message of the Shahids. What kindness! 

'The Shahid - his sins are forgiven with the first gush of his blood from his wound... 
The Shahid advocates on behalf of 70 members of his family, and saves them all from hell. The Shahid lives together with the prophets and the righteous ones.' 
When they threatened Yasser Arafat, [he said] 'You threaten me with death? 
I yearn to die! I come only to it; I seek only it.'
We will never reach the level of the prophets. We won't. So let us reach the level of the Shahids. I say to you, brothers, as the Prophet [Muhammad] said: 'He who honestly seeks Shahada, Allah will give him the status of theShahids, even if he dies in his bed.'" 
[Official PA TV, Nov. 8, 2013]  

PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "We know for certain that as long as we [adhere] to the truth, we will face challenges and be made a target - as individuals and as groups - we know this for certain. Nonetheless, we are also confident in the words of Allah: 'Say, 'Do you await for us except one of the two best things' (Quran, Sura 9:52, translation Sahih International). What do you expect, enemies, cowards (indistinct word), what do they expect will happen to us? 'One of the two best things.' 

Brothers, Allah willing, only one of the two best things will happen to us - victory or Martyrdom (Shahada) - and what a good fate this is, what a good level is this - victory or Martyrdom...

'Say, 'Do you await for us except one of the two best things while we await for you that Allah will afflict you with punishment from Himself or at our hands? So wait; indeed we, along with you, are waiting' (Quran, Sura 9:52, translation Sahih International).

Await, wait a short while, I swear the signs heralding victory are seen on the horizon. I swear in a God, beside whom there is no other God, that the end of the tyranny and the tyrants is near. This occupation and its growths and creations that wish to spread corruption in our land... We tell them all, the occupation and the occupation's instruments and any who serve the occupation: 'Await for us except one of the two best things' - we, Allah willing, [will be] either Martyrs or victors on our land. [...]
Pay attention, it is Allah who says: 'They will not harm you except for [some] annoyance' (Quran, Sura 3:111, translation Sahih International) - it is possible that they will harm you. I say to you, it is possible that they will kill us, it is possible that Allah will sentence us to Martyrdom. It is possible that we will be wounded, it is possible that terrorism will be laid on us - 'They will not harm you except for [some] annoyance' - but in the end, 'and if they fight you, they will show you their backs' and the conclusion - 'then they will not be aided' (Quran, Sura, 3:111, translation, Sahih International). We ask for victory more than we ask for life. We ask for the strengthening of our people in this good and blessed land."
[Official PA TV, Dec. 20, 2013]
Hamas TV reporter: For most of these children, resistance has become a dream... When you speak to them, you're surprised by the strength and eloquence of their words.

Boy: We love the resistance. We want to die as Martyrs. Long live the Martyrs...

Boy: The Israeli occupation understands only resistance. We always love the resistance, to liberate our nation Palestine. And among us, the Martyrs are loved. Applause for the Martyrs...

Reporter: The atmosphere in the refugee camp is full of the spirit of resistance and of those who inscribed its stories of heroism. Most of the walls show you the images of the Martyrs... 

Boy: The resistance, the armed resistance is what brings results in the Jenin refugee camp... The Jenin refugee camp continues to educate its children to resist, and passes on the flag to them, from generation to generation. They yearn for one of the two best outcomes --  the return to their occupied lands, or Martyrdom.
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas) YouTube channel, May 8, 2014]



2b)  The current conflict between Israel and Hamas shatters myths
Author:  Alan Dershowitz 


The current warfare between Hamas and Israel shatters several myths that have been accepted as gospel by many in the international community and the media.
MYTH 1: The primary cause of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is the occupation of the West Bank and Israel’s settlement policy.
Reality: The reality is that Hamas’ rocket attacks against Israeli cities and civilian targets has little to do with Israel’s occupation and settlement policy on the West Bank. Even if Israel were to make peace with the Palestinian Authority, the rocket attacks from Gaza would not stop. These Hamas attacks are incited by the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, Syria and others opposed to the very concept of the nation state for the Jewish people. The best proof of this reality is that these attacks began as soon as Israel ended its occupation of Gaza and uprooted all the civilian settlements from that area.
Israel left behind agricultural hot houses and other equipment that the residents of Gaza could have used to build a decent society. Moreover, there was no siege of Gaza at that time. Gaza was free to become a Singapore on the Mediterranean. Instead, Hamas engaged in a coup-d’état murdering many members of the Palestinian Authority, seizing control of all of Gaza, and turning it into a militant theocracy. They used the material left behind by the Israelis not to feed their citizens but to build rockets with which to attack Israeli civilians. It was only after these rocket attacks that Israel began a siege of Gaza designed to prevent the importation of rockets and material used to build terrorist kidnap tunnels. There are good reasons why Israel should change its settlement policy on the West Bank and try harder to achieve peace with the Palestinian Authority. But even if that were to be accomplished the rockets from Gaza would continue and Israel would have to take the kind of military steps any democracy would take to prevent its civilians from lethal aggression.
MYTH 2: What is being experienced now is a “cycle of violence”, with equal blame on both sides.
Reality: The reality, of course, is that there is no comparison—legally, morally, diplomatically or by any other criteria—between what Hamas is doing and how Israel is responding. Hamas is willfully and deliberately committing a double war crime by targeting Israeli civilians and using Palestinian civilians as human shields. The deliberate targeting of civilians, as Hamas admits—indeed boasts—it is doing, is a clear war crime. Hamas has specifically aimed its lethal rockets at Beersheba, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem. This is a war crime. Moreover, it is firing these rockets from hospitals, schools and houses in densely-populated areas, in order to cause Israel to kill Palestinian civilians. This too is a war crime.
This has been called Hamas’ “dead baby strategy.” It deliberately puts Israel to the tragic choice of attacking the rockets and killing some children who are used as human shields, or refraining from attacking the rockets and thereby placing their own children at risk. Israel has generally chosen the option of refraining from attacking legitimate military targets, but when any human shields are inadvertently killed or injured, Hamas stands ready to cynically parade the dead civilians in front of television cameras, which transmit these gruesome pictures around the world with captions blaming Israel. Hamas has also adamantly refused to build bomb shelters for its civilian population. It has built shelters but has limited access to them to Hamas terrorists.
This is precisely the opposite of what Israel does—building shelters for its civilians and placing its soldiers in harm’s way. Most recently Hamas has forced or encouraged civilians to stand on the rooftops of military targets so as to prevent Israel from attacking these entirely appropriate targets. Indeed a lawsuit is now being brought in Israel, against the Israeli military, urging it to ignore these human shields and to attack the military targets. The argument is that unless the military targets are attacked, Israeli civilians will die, and a democracy has the obligation to prefer the lives of its own civilians over the lives of enemy civilians.
Thus far the Israeli military has refrained from attacking military targets that are protected by human shields. There is absolutely no symmetry between the war crimes committed by Hamas and the entirely appropriate military response by the Israeli Defense Forces.
MYTH 3: Muhammad Abbas is part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Reality: Muhammad Abbas has become part of the problem, especially in recent days. He has supported Hamas in its war crimes against Israeli civilians and has characterized Israel’s self-defense actions as “genocide” against all of the Palestinian people. I have met Abbas and found him to be a decent man who genuinely wants a peaceful solution to the conflict, but he is not a man of courage who is prepared to stand up and tell the Palestinian people the truth about the current conflict. His willingness to join together with Hamas in a governmental partnership demonstrates both his weakness and his willingness to be complicit with evil. He speaks out of two sides of his mouth, one side when he speaks in English to Western media and diplomats, and the other when he speaks in Arabic to the Palestinian street, which he knows contains many supporters of Hamas. His public support for Hamas has made it far more difficult for Israel to arrive at a negotiated solution with the Palestinian Authority. It has also made it more difficult for Hamas to stop the rocket barrage and agree to a cease fire. The entire civilized world should be standing behind Israel as it defends itself against war crimes. That so many continue to support—or remain silent about—those who commit these war crimes tells us something deeply disturbing about their values and prejudices.
Professor Dershowitz’s latest book is Taking the Stand: My Life in the Law

Author:  Mark Langfan 


Upon inspecting the Katyusha damage in Sderot, Israel Minister Lapid remarked “this is a house in which five children live in and which was bombarded by Hamas with missiles during the night. Any sane country will not tolerate a situation in which their kids are being killed on a daily basis.”
The problem is Israel does not behave like a “sane country.” And Yair Lapid is a minister in a government where he voted and strongly argued against striking Hamas so as to cripple their ability to fire the very rockets Lapid is now complaining about. As he said, “no sane country” would tolerate any rocket fire on their territory. And, Israel’s current government allows such attacks to continue unabated.
Let us review the evidence:
1 – 1993 Oslo Accords
Would any “sane country” have allowed a terror state to be created in adjacent land if the “sane country” held the land and its inhabitants openly vowed to annihilate that country? And would its voters have elected leaders like Rabin, Peres, Sharon, and Netanyahu who created new terror enclaves to add to the ones from which Israel’s citizens have been murdered for over 100 years?
Before 1993, Rabin, Peres and the delusional peace cultists knew that Arafat’s South Lebanese terrorists had fired thousands of katyushas into Israel from Lebanon. So one could easily imagine that if Arafat controlled Gaza, Palestinian Arab terrorists would fire the same rockets from there into Israel Any “sane” leader would have realized that if you gave land to the same people who fired rockets from Lebanon, they would fire them from there, but Israel signed the accords.
2 – Netanyahu’s Hevron Retreat and Wye River Memorandum
Would any leader have given away land after hundreds of Israelis were murdered by Palestinian Arab suicide bombers coming from Gaza and Judea and Samaria? Netanyahu gave away land to the terrorists. What’s worse, he says he never gave away land.
What was “Wye River”? In Wye, Netanyahu transferred Areas C to Areas B, and Areas B to Areas A. Changing legal designation of land is giving away land. Also, he created the very terrorist cancer of Hevron where the three precious Israeli Jewish boys were murdered.
He also let Arafat get away without amending the PLO Charter that calls for Israel’s eradication. Even today, the PMW(Palestinian Media Watch) constantly reports that the PLO Charter clauses are cited verbatim almost daily by the PA TV and newspapers. But Israel doesn’t do a thing to stem the torrent of Jew-hate.
3 – 2005 Gaza “Disengagement”
After hundreds of rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza into pre-1967 Israel between 2001 and 2005, would any “sane country” in 2005 have disengaged from Gaza and allowed the terrorists’ ability to fire terror rockets on Israel grow exponentially? Prime Minister Sharon along with the Netanyahu voted for the unilateral retreat from Gaza where they knew the trickle of rockets would soon grow into a torrent of rockets.
Would any country cede territory to ISIS or Islamic Jihad if it knew the Islamic terrorists would as a result have better access to murder more of its citizens? No “sane country” would have retreated from Gaza. If it were able to, it would have wiped out any threat with overwhelming military force.
4 – Prisoner Releases to “Negotiate” with Abbas
After all the Israeli Knesset members saw both Fatah and Hamas fire over 16,000 rockets from Gaza between 2001 and 2014, would any “sane country” consider negotiating a retreat from Judea and Samaria (aka “West Bank”), an area which is in katyusha rocket range of 70% of Israel’s population and 80% of her industrial base? The Prime MInister of Israel not only sits down with a bunch of Jew-murdering terrorists, he also pays for the right to sit with these suit-wearing Palestinian terrorists by releasing a hundred other blood-stained terrorists.
These released murderous Palestinian terrorists then go on to murder more Jewish Israelis. No “sane country” would have released blood-stained terrorists. They would have executed them.
The Leftist members of the present government are not “sane” for even contemplating ceding any land from which Hamas and/or ISIS and/or Fatah will only try to murder more Jewish Israelis.
5 – “Ceasefire” with Hamas
How pathetic it is to hear the government’s pusillanimous offer that “Quiet will be met with quiet.” The rational statement should be “Rockets have been (past tense) obliterated, and the Hamas HQs have been leveled with their terrorist leaders inside.” Instead, dozens of Israel raids against empty buildings have only yielded 2 dead Gaza terrorists. How can dozens of Israel missiles only kill two terrorists? Because Israel is knowingly firing against empty buildings..
Five examples are enough
It isn’t that the Israeli governments have committed just one insane policy. That would have been enough and possibly, excusable. One would think that after Israel’s first mistake, the ministers would have rationally understood that their “peace” policies have failed. Instead, they repeated the same policy again and again. Consequently, the string of Israeli governments created a structurally insane entity that committed 5 major blunders plus hundreds of others along the way.
In answer to Lapid’s question “Would any sane country” allow its citizens to be bombarded with rockets, the answer is clearly no. But, the Israeli government, and the messianic left-wing opposition parties think of nothing other than creating a new katyusha-terror-state in the very heart of Israel: Judea and Samaria.
And until the Jewish Israeli voters wake up, one can expect even more terror and kidnappings. And, one can rationally expect, of course, even more accurate and more deadly katyusha rockets on Israeli civilians.
Mark Langfan is a New York-based attorney who writes frequently on Middle Eastern affairs and security issues confronting Israel. He has created a three-dimensional topographical model of Israel to explain the implications of strategic height and depth for Israel’s security.

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