Courage and the Ground Zero Mosque Debate

I I have been thinking that it takes no courage to advocate for the Ground Zero Mosque. No one is going to violently attack the politicians and media celebs who support the building. But there may be a real danger of violent attack against those who are exercising their constitutional 1st Amendment right of free speech to oppose the mosque. Have the mainstream media and so many politicians taken up the Muslim Brotherhood talking points and sought to silence this debate because that is the safe thing to do in the short run?

It is the elephant in the living room. No one is talking about it. But the symbolism of Ground Zero to me is that we are vulnerable to attack by people who hate us. The attack on the World Trade Towers was the midpoint of a more than twenty year era of fear of radical Islam.

I pulled out Christopher Hitchens piece about the twenty year anniversary of the Fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Hitchens says the violent threats have done there job and there is now a pervasive climate of self-censorship in the media. We know these are not just threats, the violence is real, as we saw in the Danish cartoon controversy. And he says that we use the "guise of good manners and multiculturalism" to hide that we are actually caving in to the threat of violence and failing to support the true moderate Muslims.

Sometimes this fear—and this blackmail—comes dressed up in the guise of good manners and multiculturalism. One must not wound the religious feelings of others, many of whom are poor immigrants in our own societies. To this I would respond by pointing to a book published in 1994. It is entitled For Rushdie: Essays by Arab and Muslim Writers in Defense of Free Speech. Among its contributors is almost every writer worthy of the name in the Arab and Muslim world, ranging from the Syrian poet Adonis to the Syrian-Kurdish author Salim Barakat, to the late national bard of the Palestinians, Mahmoud Darwish, to the celebrated Turkish writers Murat Belge and Orhan Pamuk. Especially impressive and courageous was the list of 127 Iranian writers, artists, and intellectuals who, from the prison house that is the Islamic Republic, signed their names to a letter which said: “We underline the intolerable character of the decree of death that the Fatwah is, and we insist on the fact that aesthetic criteria are the only proper ones for judging works of art.… To the extent that the systematic denial of the rights of man in Iran is tolerated, this can only further encourage the export outside the Islamic Republic of its terroristic methods which destroy freedom.” In other words, the situation is the exact reverse of what the condescending multiculturalists say it is. To indulge the idea of religious censorship by the threat of violence is to insult and undermine precisely those in the Muslim world who are its intellectual cream, and who want to testify for their own liberty—and for ours. It is also to make the patronizing assumption that the leaders of mobs and the inciters of goons are the authentic representatives of Muslim opinion. What could be more “offensive” than that?

Andrew McCarthy has a piece in National Review Online today that discusses the difference between the fake moderate Muslims supported by the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas versus the true moderate Muslims that are threatened by the the Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas who will use violence to impose their will.

It doesn't take courage to kowtow to those who threaten violence. It does take courage to speak up against them. McCarthy says Imam Rauf and the Ground Zero Mosque are on the side of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Why doesn't the MSM research this it? Or do they know but are to afraid to say?

Gaza bound Flotilla response to request from Israeli army

I'd think this was a fraud expect
1) for seeing that video of Helen Thomas last week,
2) this is from the official Israeli Defense Force News desk,
3) a story about it is carried in the Jerusalem Post.




"This is the Israeli Navy, You are approaching an area which is under a naval blockade."

"Shut up. Go back to Auschwitz."

"We have permission from the Gaza Port Authority to enter"

"We're helping Arabs going against the US. Don't forget 9/11 guys."

Flotilla Choir presents: We Con the World

Palestinian TV: Furry Bear Teaches Children to Slaughter Jews

Palestinian Media Watch explains:

The bear puppet host, Nassur, of a Hamas children's TV program used different words for “slaughter” to describe how to rid Israel of Jews.

First the bear explains that all Jews must be “erased from our land.” Later in the conversation he adds, "We want to slaughter them, Saraa, so they will be expelled from our land.” He repeats, “…We’ll have to [do it] by slaughter."

He first uses the Arabic expression for “slaughter,” “Nidbah-hom,” and later on uses the word “Shaht.”

The following is the transcript from the children’s program Tomorrow's Pioneers:

Nassur: “There won't be any Jews or Zionists, if Allah wills. They'll be erased.”
Saraa: “Chased away.”
Nassur: “And just like we will visit the Qaaba [in Mecca]... everyone will visit Jerusalem.”
[Seven-year old Palestinian child on phone tells how his father, a member of the Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades, “died as a Shahid (Martyr).”]
Nassur to child on phone: “What do you want to do to the Jews who shot your father?”
Child on phone: “I want to kill them.”
Saraa: “We don't want to do anything to them, just expel them from our land.”
Nassur: “We want to slaughter (Nidbah-hom) them, so they will be expelled from our land, right?”
Saraa: “Yes. That's right. We will expel them from our land using all means.”
Nassur: “And if they don't want [to go] peacefully, by words or talking, we’ll have to [do it] by slaughter.” (Shaht)

Hat Tip: Jihad Watch

Hamas Complains, So U.N. School Will Not Teach Gaza Students About Holocaust

I'm not sure what to make of this. It seems like the people in Gaza will not be able to understand the point of view of the Israelis if they are not taught about the genocide of six million European Jews during World War II. Hmmm, maybe that's the point. CNS News reports:

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), operates more than 600 schools in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, with around 200,000 children enrolled in Gaza.

Early this week, a Hamas refugee committee wrote to the agency, complaining about what it said were plans to teach children in Gaza about the Holocaust.

“[We] refuse to let our children be taught this lie created by the Jews and intensified by their media,” the letter read, according to the Palestinian news agency, Ma’an.

“First of all, [the Holocaust] is not a fact, and secondly, those who added it to the curriculum intended to mess with our children’s emotions.”

But a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Farhan Haq, told a briefing in New York Tuesday that, according to UNRWA, “the Holocaust is not included in the curriculum in Gaza.”

“In Gaza, as in all fields where UNRWA works, UNRWA utilizes the curriculum of the host countries as its core curriculum,” Haq said.

There's more here.

Hat Tip Islam in Action who got it from Munz'z Place

Gaza: Hamas sponsors adult men marrying 6 year old girls

This is a very disturbing story. Hamas is celebrating 450 marriages of adult men to very young girls. Look in this video at 4:10 and you can see how very young these little girls are. These are not fathers with their children, these are adult men marrying children.



From AFP:

Hamas sponsors mass wedding in Gaza

SHEIKH ZAYED CITY, Gaza Strip — Nearly a thousand Palestinians celebrated marriage on Thursday night in a ceremony organised by Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas dignitaries including Mahmud Zahar, one of the militant group's top leaders, were on hand to congratulate 450 grooms who took part in the carefully stage-managed event.

"We are saying to the world and to America that you cannot deny us joy and happiness," Zahar told the men, all of whom were dressed in identical black suits and hailed from the nearby Jabalia refugee camp.

Each groom received a present of 500 dollars from Hamas, which said its workers had also contributed five percent of their monthly salaries to add to the wedding gift.

The 450 brides shared none of the glamour, taking seats among the audience of around 1,000 party guests: most couples had already taken part in religious ceremonies elsewhere, with more marriages planned for the next few days.

"We are presenting this wedding as a gift to our people who stood firm in the face of the siege and the war," local Hamas strongman Ibrahim Salaf said in a speech.

The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade since the Islamist Hamas movement seized control there in June 2007. In December and January 1,400 Gazans and 13 Israelis were killed in a 22-day war that left much of the territory in ruins.

Video from LiveLeak
Hat Tip Carl in Jerusalem and Jihad Watch

Amnesty accuses Hamas of killing Palestinian opponents

Amnesty International has been a little slow to criticize Hamas, so this is a good start. These are the abuses by Hamas that we've been following on this blog because they intimidate fellow Palestinians from criticizing Hamas and may relate to the Shariah Law that was passed in December against "spying" and aiding the enemy. AFP reports:

GENEVA (AFP) — Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Hamas of waging a campaign to kill or maim scores of Palestinian opponents in the Gaza Strip since the end of December.

The human rights group said in a report that at least two dozen men have been shot dead by gunmen from the Palestinian militia that governs the Gaza Strip since December 27.

"Scores of others have been shot in the legs, knee-capped or inflicted with other injuries intended to cause severe disability, subjected to severe beatings ... or otherwise tortured or ill-treated," it added.

"Hamas forces and militias in the Gaza Strip have engaged in a campaign of abductions, deliberate and unlawful killings, torture and death threats against those they accuse of 'collaborating' with Israel, as well as opponents and critics," the report said.

The victims included members of Palestinian Authority security forces and members of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, Amnesty said.

The campaign began shortly after the beginning of the three-week Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip on December 27 and continued after the ceasefire on January 18, according to Amnesty.

Thank you, Amnesty International, for stating the obvious, because while it may be obvious to those who have been following this closely, most people have not been following closely. And because you, Amnesty International are a credible voice that whose confirmation of these accusations carries significant weight.

Amnesty International has been under criticism lately for favoring Hamas. Amnesty was one of the organizations that charged Israel with war crimes for the recent war in Gaza>. but Amnesty refused to investigate Hamas war crimes of shelling Israel because the violations are so blatant.

Hat Tip Little Green Footballs

UN to probe Hamas for use of children as human shields

Interesting news story in the Jerusalem Post:

The United Nations is ready to address Hamas's use of children as human shields during last month's IDF offensive in Gaza, the UN special representative for children and armed conflict told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

"We have not yet dealt directly with the human shield issue, but we will now mention it in our reports," Radhika Coomaraswamy said in an exclusive interview following a four-day visit to the region.

"It is still very difficult for us to say that it was actually happening and we still need to conduct a full investigation into what exactly took place... but we are not denying that it happened; it is absolutely possible that Hamas was using its civilians as human shields," she said.

Towards the end of the story, Coomaraswamy talks about the children of Gaza and the children from Ashkelon, in the part of Israel most affected by Hamas rocket fire.

The situation in Gaza is still "very raw because it's only been two weeks," she said, adding that many of the children she met there on Tuesday were "obviously very angry at Israel, but they have been guided that way by their parents and others."
"My sense in Gaza is that after this conflict there seems to be greater identification with Hamas," she said.

However, she stressed, "my observations are based on only a one-day trip
to the area, and many times children surprise us."

Compare that with this regarding Ashkelon:

"The scale [of trauma and destruction] is nothing like in Gaza, but that does not take away from the fact that a lot of the children we met there expressed to me a great deal of fear," she said. "We met a lot of children who were so traumatized that they did not even want to go to school."

However, "While their speeches were quite tough at first, when I asked them if they were interested in meeting Palestinian children, the response was unbelievable. They said, 'Yes, of course we want to meet with them and play with them or hear their stories.' It was a response from the heart," Coomaraswamy said.

This reveals another way Hamas uses children, teaching them to hate. We can see it in the contrast between the children of Gaza and the children of Israel.

Hat Tip Little Green Footballs

Israel Defense Force Compiling List of Gaza Dead

The latest version of the Jerusalem Post article on the Italian reporter Cremonesi's article for Corriere della sera gives some preliminary numbers for the Israel Defense Force (IDF) count of total Palestinian deaths in the Gaza fighting. IDF has estimated 1,300 Palestians were killed and has so far identified 900 by name. Of those IDF has identified, at least 750 were Hamas operatives. So at least 750 of 1,300 were Hamas operatives, a minimum of 57% of the deaths. The IDF is estimating that the final count will show 66% of the deaths were gunmen with Hamas or other Palestinian terror factions.

Despite a report by Lorenzo Cremonesi, a correspondent for Italy's Corriere della sera, that the number of Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead did not exceed five or six hundred, Israeli defense officials on Thursday said there were around 1,300 Palestinians killed during the fighting in Gaza and that a majority of them were Hamas operatives.

The IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration has already compiled a list with 900 names of Palestinians killed during the operation, out of which 750 are believed to be Hamas operatives.

The IDF estimated that two-thirds of those killed were gunmen affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian terror factions. At least 500 are believed to have been members of Hamas's military wing.

Hamas, defense officials said, purposely covered up the number of dead and on Sunday claimed that only 48 members of its military wing had been killed. Many bodies belonging to Hamas operatives were being stored - officials said - in the morgue in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The vast majority of the Hamas operatives killed were not wearing uniforms to disguise their affiliation, another reason for the exaggerated estimate of civilian casualties by the United Nations.

The IDF's Military Intelligence has set up a team to come up with a comprehensive list including the names and affiliation of all of the Palestinians killed during Operation Cast Lead. The list, officials said, would be completed in the coming two weeks.

In addition to reporting that no more than 500 or 600 Palestinians were killed in Gaza during the IDF operation, Cremonesi, who based his report on tours of hospitals in the Gaza Strip and on interviews with families of casualties, assessed the number of wounded to be far lower than 5,000, the number quoted by Hamas and repeated by the UN and the Red Cross in Gaza.

"It is sufficient to visit several hospitals [in the Gaza Strip] to understand that the numbers don't add up," he wrote.

In the European hospital in Rafah, one of the facilities which would presumably be filled with wounded from the "war of the tunnels," many beds were empty, according to Cremonesi. A similar situation was noted in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and in the privately-run Amal Hospital Cremonesi reported that only five out 150 beds were occupied.

Cremonesi interviewed Gazans who echoed Israel's insistence of how Hamas gunmen used civilians as human shields. One Gazan recalled civilians in Gaza shouting at Hamas and Islamic Jihad men, "Go away, go away from here! Do you want the Israelis to kill us all? Do you want our children to die under their bombs? Take your guns and missiles with you."

"Traitors, collaborators with Israel, spies of Fatah, cowards! The soldiers of the holy war will punish you. And in any case you will all die, like us. Fighting the Zionist Jews we are all destined for paradise. Do you not wish to die with us?" the religious fanatics of Hamas reportedly responded.

Other Palestinians told Cremonesi of Hamas operatives donning paramedic uniforms and commandeering ambulances. A woman identified as Um Abdullah, 48, spoke of Hamas using UN buildings as launch pads for rockets.

Cremonesi reported that he had difficultly gathering evidence as the local population was terrified of Hamas.

Gazan doctor says death toll inflated

Lorenzo Cremonesi, a correspondent for Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera has written an article questioning the death toll reported in Gaza. I don't have a complete translation, but the article is discussed in two Israeli sources, Ynetnews and the Jerusalem Post. According to Ynetnews:

a doctor working in Gaza's Shifa Hospital claimed that Hamas has intentionally inflated the number of casualties resulting from Israel's Operation Cast Lead.

"The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter," according to the newspaper article.

The doctor wished to remain unidentified, out of fear for his life.

Remember, Hamas executes "spies" under the new Sharia Law.

The Jerusalem Post provided this summary of Cremonisi's article:

"It is sufficient to visit several hospitals [in the Gaza Strip] to understand that the numbers don't add up," he wrote.

In the European hospital in Rafah, one of the facilities which would presumably be filled with wounded from the "war of the tunnels," many beds were empty, according to Cremonesi. A similar situation was noted in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and in the privately-run Amal Hospital Cremonesi reported that only five out 150 beds were occupied.

Cremonesi interviewed Gazans who echoed Israel's insistence of how Hamas gunmen used civilians as human shields. One Gazan recalled civilians in Gaza shouting at Hamas and Islamic Jihad men, "Go away, go away from here! Do you want the Israelis to kill us all? Do you want our children to die under their bombs? Take your guns and missiles with you."

"Traitors, collaborators with Israel, spies of Fatah, cowards! The soldiers of the holy war will punish you. And in any case you will all die, like us. Fighting the Zionist Jews we are all destined for paradise. Do you not wish to die with us?" the religious fanatics of Hamas reportedly responded.

More from the Ynet article:

A senior Palestinian Health Ministry official later denied the claims, and the Israel Defense Forces' estimate on the number of casualties in Gaza has also remained unchanged.

Despite the claims, the IDF stood behind its estimate that between 1,100 to 1,200 people were killed in the Strip during the fighting, more than two-thirds of them Hamas members.

The army initially believed that the number of civilian casualties was higher, as many Hamas men walked outside their houses dressed in civilian clothes, leaving their weapons at home.

Dr. Moaiya Hassanain, who is in change of the emergency department at the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, denied the figures presented by the Italian paper.

Hassanain told Ynet that the Palestinian figures were issued cautiously, without any political considerations, and that several casualties may not have been reported as their bodies are still under the rubble or have not been handed over to the rescue forces and authorized medical officials.

A Tal al-Hawa resident told the newspaper's reporter, "Armed Hamas men sought out a good position for provoking the Israelis. There were mostly teenagers, aged 16 or 17, and armed. They couldn't do a thing against a tank or a jet. They knew they are much weaker, but they fired at our houses so that they could blame Israel for war crimes."

The reporter for the Italian newspaper also quoted reporters in the Strip who told of Hamas' exaggerated figures, "We have already said to Hamas commanders – why do you insist on inflating the number of victims?"

These same reporters mentioned that the truth that will come out is likely to be similar to what occurred in Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin. "Then, there was first talk of 1,500 deaths. But then it turned out that there were only 54, 45 of which were armed men," the Palestinian reporters told the Italian newspaper.

These new figures must be treated with caution especially in light of the fact that various official sources in the Gaza Strip, including United Nations and Red Cross officials, have reported that more than 1,300 people were killed and some 5,000 wounded during the three weeks of fighting in the coastal strip. Palestinian sources claim that three-quarters of the dead were unarmed civilians.

Hamas, while boasting on having Israeli soldiers by the dozens, a number that has proven to be exaggerated, claimed that no more than 48 of its members were killed during the Israeli offensive. According to IDF figures, Hamas lost hundreds of fighters from its ranks.

The UN's humanitarian chief began a tour of the Gaza Strip on Thursday to examine the extent of the devastation left behind by the Israeli offensive.

John Holmes said the number of casualties is "extremely shocking." He also urged Israel to conduct a thorough investigation into shelling attacks that damaged UN buildings in Gaza.

Holmes said he was thinking about immediate humanitarian needs and longer-term reconstruction. He said the biggest concerns are providing clean water, sanitation, electricity and shelter.

Holmes added that Gaza's border crossings would have to be opened to allow reconstruction materials into the area.

Hat Tip Little Green Footballs

Hamas Killing, Torturing Palestinians for "Spying"

In the last few days, Hamas has killed at least 16 Fatah activists, and cruelly tortured at least 80 others, according to a news article in the Jerusalem Post. At least three men's eyes have been gouged out and many others have had their legs shot or their hands broken. Perhaps hundreds are being held in makeshift torture chambers.

Hamas militiamen have rounded up hundreds of Fatah activists on suspicion of "collaboration" with Israel during Operation Cast Lead, Fatah members in the Gaza Strip told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

They said the Hamas crackdown on Fatah intensified after the cease-fire went into effect early Sunday morning.

The Fatah members and eyewitnesses said the detainees were being held in school buildings and hospitals that Hamas had turned into make-shift interrogation centers.

Hamas has also renewed house arrest orders that were issued against thousands of Fatah officials and activists in the Gaza Strip shortly after the military operation started.

A Fatah official in Ramallah told the Post that at least 100 of his men had been killed or wounded as a result of the massive Hamas crackdown. Some had been brutally tortured, he added.

The official said that the perpetrators belonged to Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, and to the movement's Internal Security Force.

According to the official, at least three of the detainees had their eyes put out by their interrogators, who accused them of providing Israel with wartime information about the location of Hamas militiamen and officials.

A number of Hamas leaders and spokesmen have claimed in the past few days that Fatah members in the Gaza Strip had been spying on their movement and passing the information to Israel.

Two Hamas officials, Salah Bardaweel and Fawzi Barhoum, accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his "spies" in the Gaza Strip of tipping off the Israelis about the movements of slain Hamas interior minister Said Siam, who was killed in an IAF strike on his brother's home in Gaza City last week.

The Fatah official in Ramallah said that, apart from being baseless, the allegations were aimed at paving the way for a ruthless Hamas attack on Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip.

"They were afraid to confront the Israeli army and many Hamas militiamen even ran away during the fighting," he said. "Hamas is now venting its anger and frustration against our Fatah members there."

Eyewitnesses said that Hamas militiamen had turned a number of hospitals and schools into temporary detention centers where dozens of Fatah members and supporters were being held on suspicion of helping Israel during the war.

The eyewitnesses said that a children's hospital and a mental health center in Gaza City, as well as a number of school buildings in Khan Yunis and Rafah, were among the places that Hamas had turned into "torture centers."

A Fatah activist in Gaza City claimed that as many as 80 members of his faction were either shot in the legs or had their hands broken for allegedly defying Hamas's house-arrest orders.

"What's happening in the Gaza Strip is a new massacre that is being carried out by Hamas against Fatah," he said. "Where were these [Hamas] cowards when the Israeli army was here?"

The activist said that Hamas's security forces had also confiscated cellular phones and computers belonging to thousands of local Fatah members and supporters.

Relatives of Abed al-Gharabli, a former Fatah security officer who spent 12 years in Israeli prisons, said he was kidnapped by a group of Hamas militiamen who shot him in both legs after severely torturing him.

Ziad Abu Hayeh, one of the commanders of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, is reported to have lost his sight after Hamas gunmen put out his eyes. According to Fatah activists, Abu Hayeh was kidnapped from his home in Khan Yunis by Hamas militiamen.

The Fatah men said that in a number of incidents, Hamas militiamen had kidnapped Fatah activists while they were attending the funerals of people killed during the war. In other cases, activists were detained and shot in the legs after they were spotted smiling in public - an act interpreted by Hamas as an expression of joy over Israel's military offensive.

On Saturday night, three brothers from the Subuh family were abducted by Hamas militiamen and taken to the Abdel Aziz Rantisi Mosque in Khan Yunis, where they were shot in the legs, a local journalist told the Post.

In a more recent incident, Hamas gunmen shot and killed 80-year-old Hisham Tawfik Najjar after storming his home and beating his four sons - all Fatah activists.

Fahmi Za'areer, a Fatah spokesman in the West Bank, revealed that at least 16 Fatah activists had been executed by Hamas in the past few days. He strongly condemned the Hamas clampdown on Fatah and warned against a bloodbath in the Gaza Strip.

A leaflet distributed by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in various parts of the Gaza Strip called on Hamas to "respect the blood of the Palestinian martyrs" and stop pursuing Fatah members. The leaflet said that Hamas had placed hundreds of Fatah men under house arrest in the past 48 hours and was warning that anyone who failed to comply with these orders would be shot.

Hat Tip Women Against Shariah

Residents Say Hamas Was Firing Near UN School

This AP story gives us some context for the Israeli shelling of the the UN school. Notice that Hamas fighters were firing from near the school and notice that the residents spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. (We know the residents of Gaza are afraid of complaining, for fear of being accused of being spies. And we know what Hamas does to those accused of spying.)

Israel's military said its shelling at the school _ the deadliest single episode since Israeli ground forces invaded Gaza on Saturday after a week of air bombardment _ was a response to mortar fire from within the school and said Hamas militants were using civilians as cover.
Two residents of the area who spoke with The Associated Press by telephone said they saw a small group of militants firing mortar rounds from a street near the school, where 350 people had gathered to get away from the shelling. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Majed Hamdan, an AP photographer, rushed to the scene shortly after the attacks. At the hospital, he said, many children were among the dead.
"I saw women and men _ parents _ slapping their faces in grief, screaming, some of them collapsed to the floor. They knew their children were dead," he said. "In the morgue, most of the killed appeared to be children. In the hospital, there wasn't enough space for the wounded."
He said there appeared to be marks on the pavement of five separate explosions in area of the school.

and further down in the article:

An Israeli military statement said it received intelligence that the dead at the girls school included Hamas operatives, among them members of a rocket launching cell. It identified two of them as Imad Abu Askar and Hassan Abu Askar.

Two residents who spoke to an AP reporter by phone said the two brothers were known to be low-level Hamas militants. They said a group of militants _ one of them said four _ were firing mortar shells from near the school.

An Israeli shell targeted the men, but missed and they fled, the witnesses said, refusing to allow their names to be published because they feared for their safety. Then another three shells landed nearby, exploding among civilians, they said.

Palestinian militants have frequently fired from residential areas in the past.

Ging said the U.N. agency's staff work to prevent militants from entering the schools it has opened to shelter those at risk.

"Unfortunately tonight's incident is just another example of how Hamas operates," said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. "This is not the first time they have exploited a U.N. facility. This is not the first time that they have deliberately used innocent civilians as human shields."

Hamas has a strategy of deliberately endangering the people of Gaza, because every dead Palestinian is a win for Hamas in the public relations war. And the people of Gaza dare not complain for fear of reprisal from Hamas.

In this case the two of the Hamas fighters firing mortar shells are among the dead. The residents speaking on condition of anonymity say that these Hamas fighters fired the mortar near the school and then fled. So I guess they fled into the school and tried to blend in with the civilians at the school? Were they trying to attract the Israeli response and direct at the school?

Neighbors Didn't Stop Hamas for Fear of Being Labeled Spies

This jumped out at me in a New York Times article posted tonight:

Shireen Shihab, 30, a resident of Gaza City, said Monday that she had seen Hamas fighters firing rockets toward Israel from a site two blocks away from her home. She said she and others could not express any opposition for fear of being labeled spies.

We read something similar in a New York Times story from Jan 3 from Salah Abu Rafia, a man accompanying wounded relatives to Shifa hospital:

He said that Hamas fighters had been in the area, but that he had been afraid to tell them to go away.

But Shireen Shihab is more specific. She helps us understand that to complain could lead to being labeled a spy. And we know that would be a death sentence, as we learned here. So the choice is to complain to Hamas fighters who are shooting rockets from your neighborhood and face certain death, or let them continue and face the possibility of injury or death.

I also want to look at one sentence in the middle of this latest article and juxtapose it with one at the end of the article. First we read:

Ten days into Israel’s offensive against Hamas, the militant Islamic group that governs Gaza, the civilian toll was rising alongside that of the militants.

But the article ends:

Among the survivors of the Samouni family, opinions were divided. Some blessed the resistance. But Hamada Al-Samouni, 28, who was lightly wounded by the Israeli rocket and was clearly still in shock, said this was all happening “because of the rockets” fired by Hamas.

He said he had seen the bodies of eight Hamas fighters dressed in civilian clothing lying in the streets around Zeitoun. They had been lying there for two days and nobody had come to collect them, he said.

Hmmm, I seem to remember that yesterday the same reporter was remarking that it was puzzling that there were no wounded or dead Hamas fighters arriving at the hospital:

A week ago, when Israel began its air assault, hundreds of Hamas militants were taken to the hospital. Yet on Sunday, the day Israeli troops flooded Gaza and ground battles with Hamas began, there appeared not to be a single one.

The number of deaths is being counted based on who is brought in to the hospital. So, leaving the bodies of Hamas fighters in the streets drives down the Hamas fighter body count and drives up the civilian to Hamas fighter ratio. And if the Hamas fighters are wearing civilian clothes, wouldn't that also cause miscounting of Hamas fighter deaths as civilian deaths?

Hamas is cowardly, hiding among the civilian population and firing rockets from their neighborhoods. Hamas does not protect its citizens, but endangers them, while seeking to protect itself. And Hamas is deceitful, manipulating the body count to over-count civilian deaths and under-count Hamas fighter deaths. Hamas has not only brought death to the people of Gaza, Hamas has brought shame on the Palestinian people.

Gaza Market Bombing Mystery: Part 2

Yesterday we saw that video posted of the alleged Israeli bombing of a vegetable market in Gaza City was a fraud. However, two major newspapers were carrying reports that the market had been bombed. Now Snapshots: a Camera Blog has raised questions whether the still photos from Reuters of the people hurt in the alleged bombing are faked.

Two Reuters photos of the people hurt and killed in the alleged market bombing seem to have one man in a medium brown jacket apparently performing different roles in each photo:

Here he is acting the role of a wounded Palestinian being carried to the hospital:

and here the same man appears to be fine and acting the role of a grieving family member:


Maybe it is not the same man? Or maybe the market was bombed but the photo shoots were staged? Little Green Footballs says:

We should not forget that every television image and every news photograph coming out of Gaza right now is filtered through Hamas. The photographers filing pictures for Reuters, Associated Press, and Agence France Presse are all Palestinians, and all propagandists for Hamas—or they wouldn’t be allowed to take pictures in Gaza.

So how can we know if the Gaza City market was really bombed?

Hat Tip to Little Green Footballs

Gaza Market Bombing Mystery

I am wondering if the market bombing reported in the Times on Line and the New York Times is the market bombing hoax I read about at Little Green Footballs. The video posted at LiveLeak was actually of a 2005 accidental explosion of a truck full of Hamas rockets at a Palestinian rally but was headlined "GRAPHIC Video of Israel Defense Force’s attack on Gaza civilian market" until a commenter presented convincing evidence of the hoax.

So could the reports that Israel has bombed a market in Gaza today be based on this fraud? The TimesOnLine has it:

In Gaza City an Israeli tank shell killed a family of five Palestinians, including a 14-year-old girl, when it hit their car. In a separate attack, an Israeli shell hit the main vegetable market in the city. A Times reporter at Shifa hospital saw six ambulances and seven cars – there is a shortage of emergency vehicles – ferry in the wounded. Two were badly maimed children. Medics said five people were killed in the market bombing, and 40 wounded. Israel said it had no knowledge of a market being hit.

I bolded that last sentence about Israel having no knowledge of the incident because it jumped out at me. Israel seems to have extensive knowledge and great documentation, so why not of this particular incident, I wondered.
The New York Times just gives a brief report:

In Gaza City, at least five civilians were killed and many more wounded after Israeli rockets or shells landed in the market.

The sources listed at the bottom of the page are:

Sources: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; The Palestinian Information Center; Israel Defense Forces

I just wanted to document this. Maybe there is both a hoax market bombing and a real market bombing. Or maybe there was a real market bombing but Hamas didn't have good video, so they manufactured this fake one from their 2005 accident. Not sure. Time will tell, I suppose.

Palestinians Afraid to Tell Hamas Fighters to Go Away

In case you didn't make it to the end of the lead story in the New York Times this morning on the Israeli invasion of Gaza:

But in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, most of the wounded being brought in on Saturday seemed to be civilians.

Salah Abu Rafia, 38, was accompanying wounded relatives, including his 10-year-old son, Zeid. Mr. Abu Rafia said that an F-16 warplane fired missiles around his house in the Zeitoun neighborhood, west of Gaza City, while the family was sitting outside. He said that Hamas fighters had been in the area, but that he had been afraid to tell them to go away. They disappeared as soon as they heard the planes, he said, escaping without injury.

“We are the ones paying the price,” he added.

Hmmm, Hamas fighters had been in the area doing what? Something to do with rockets, perhaps? From what I can tell, the Hamas fighters are using their citizens and their religious sites as cover, as shields. Hamas is the cause of the dead and wounded Palestinian civilians and the damage that occurs to the mosques.

Gaza Mosque Storing Bombs is Bombed by Israel

Here is some video from the Israel showing a Mosque in Gaza that was storing bombs being bombed.



You can see from the massive secondary explosion that this mosque was being used to store a lot of bombs.

A mosque is a holy place for Islam, but here we see that Muslims use mosques to store bombs.

Hat Tip to Little Green Footballs

Why Palestinians in Gaza Don't Defy Hamas

I have been wondering why the Palestinians in Gaza do not defy Hamas and try to stop them from shooting rockets at Israel from houses in their neighborhoods. I recognize that many support Hama, but keep thinking that surely there must be many who would just like peace. Then reading this morning's New York Times and saw that some of the Palestinians were being killed by Hamas.

Armed Hamas militants in civilian clothes roamed the halls [of Shifa Hospital in Gaza]. Asked their function, they said it was to provide security. But there was internal bloodletting under way.

In the fourth-floor orthopedic section, a woman in her late 20s asked a militant to let her see Saleh Hajoj, her 32-year-old husband. She was turned away and left the hospital. Fifteen minutes later, Mr. Hajoj was carried out by young men pretending to transfer him to another ward. As he lay on the stretcher, he was shot in the left side of the head.

Mr. Hajoj, like five others killed at the hospital this way in 24 hours, was accused of collaboration with Israel. He had been in the central prison awaiting trial by Hamas judges; when Israel destroyed the prison on Sunday he and the others were transferred to the hospital. But their trials were short-circuited.

A crowd at the hospital showed no mercy after the shooting, which was widely observed.

And then I read Anglican Curmudgeon's piece on crucifixion as part of the new Sharia Law in Gaza. Curmudgeon includes this translation from News Blaze of one of the sections of the proposed code:

Section 59 of the law establishes that "punishment of death will be enacted on any Palestinian who intentionally does one of the following: Raised a weapon against Palestine on behalf of the enemy during war, was appointed to negotiate with a foreign government on a Palestinian issue and negotiated against Palestinians' interest, performed a hostile action against a foreign country in a way that endangers Palestine in war or in harming political relations, served a foreign army in time of war, advised or helped soldiers to enlist in this army, weakened the spirit or the force of resistance of the people, or spied against Palestine especially during war."
(my bold added for emphasis)

The punishment of crucifixion is for traitors, and among those so classified would be those who have "weakened the spirit or the force of resistance of the people". I am thinking that anyone who complains about rockets being fired at Israel from their neighborhood would be accused of "weakening the spirit or the force of resistance of the people".

Why would Hamas up the punishment from death to crucifixion? I am thinking that it is because there are those who would "weaken the spirit or the force of resistance of the people" and the threat of death had not been a sufficient deterrent. Being shot dead with a bullet is a quick death. Crucifixion is used to make the death long and painful, and as a lesson for those who see it. Hamas is cracking down on any resistance among the Palestinian people, which tells me there is a desire among at least some Palestinians for an end to Hamas aggression against Israel.

So, I am thinking that it is very important for us to make a distinction between the Palestinian people and Hamas. I don't think the Palestinian people can resist Hamas right now.

Hamas Parliment Passes Sharia for Gaza

This is unconfirmed,because the primary sources are in Arabic:

Headline: Hamas approves law of punishment by lashes, amputating hands, crucifying, and execution - in order to implement the Islamic Sharia law. Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council approved in its meeting in Gaza a new bill proposed by the Hamas who have a majority in the Legislative Council, whose purpose is "to implement Koranic punishments."

The newspaper Al Hayat of London reported on Dec. 24, 2008, that this step is seen as unprecedented, and has brought criticism and concern from human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip, especially as this law includes punishments by lashes, cutting off of hands, crucifixion, and execution... The language of the law proposes "primary and secondary" laws. Primary laws include: "Koranic laws, blood revenge, lashes, crucifixion, and execution ..."

The text stresses: "These punishments will not be canceled or pardoned ... except if pardoned by the victim himself... Section 59 of the law establishes that "punishment of death will be enacted on any Palestinian who intentionally does one of the following: Raised a weapon against Palestine on behalf of the enemy during war, was appointed to negotiate with a foreign government on a Palestinian issue and negotiated against Palestinians' interest, performed a hostile action against a foreign country in a way that endangers Palestine in war or in harming political relations, served a foreign army in time of war, advised or helped soldiers to enlist in this army, weakened the spirit or the force of resistance of the people, or spied against Palestine especially during war."

The punishment of lashes appears in many sections of the law. Section 84 states that: "Whoever drinks wine, owns or produces wine will be punished with 40 lashes if he is Muslim, and anyone who drinks wine, or angers another person [with wine], or causes him distress when drinking wine in a public place, or goes to a public place while drunk, will be punished with no less than 40 lashes and imprisonment for the minimum of three months." [Al-Arabiya, Dec. 24, 2008]

This text is from NewsBlaze
The Jerusalem Post has a brief version of this story as well.