Lesson #173: Don't Throw Rocks at IDF Troops and Live, Throw Them and Die

Predictable outrage in the Pali world as some worthless jihadi wannabe threw one too many rocks at IDF troops so they gunned down his sorry ass.  Thus, the world has one less jackoff to deal with.  Let the Gazans cry, the rest of us can celebrate.

Moral of the story - when the IDF fires warning shots in the air, put down your rock and go home.

The story comes from YNET News.

Palestinian killed by IDF in clash on Gaza–Israel border

In the regular Friday stone-throwing from Gaza towards Israeli forces, the IDF fires; Gaza's health ministry says the shooting kills 26-year-old man.

Gaza's health ministry said that a 26-year-old Palestinian, Mohammad Abu Seada, was killed by soldiers in clashes along the border between the territory ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas and Israel.

Another three Gazans taking part in the protests were also injured.

The IDF said dozens of Palestinians breached the buffer zone, damaged the fence, threw rocks at soldiers, burned tires and "attempted to infiltrate Israel."

It said forces at the scene fired warning shots in the air to disperse them before shooting towards central rioters and that it is investigating the incident.


Dozens of protesters hurl rocks at Israeli soldiers every Friday along the border with Gaza.

AFP, Reuters and Al Arabiya Lying To the World Yet Again About Israel - Paliwood Alive and Well

 A medic carries the body of a three-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed after her house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza early on October 11, 2015. (Reuters)

This article from Al Arabiya (but published by the AFP and Reuters) is a CLASSIC set up against Israel likes we've seen a THOUSAND times before.  But what makes this one hilarious is that the writers didn't spare ONE SINGLE INFLAMMATORY LIE in writing the article, you see an Israeli airstrike"killed":

• Yes, a TODDLER!
• Yes, a mother (as in a female)!
• And it gets better....the mother was PREGNANT!

 And for effect, look at the photo above of the toddler "killed" - the medic has just brought the poor lifeless body of the child who was "killed" when the house was hit by the IAF and the entire building COLLAPSED on the child and the mother.  So, let me get this straight, an Israeli munition takes out the house of this mother, the entire building collapses on the mother and this child in the picture yet this child has NOT ONE DROP OF BLOOD ON HER BODY and there is NOT ONE SPECK OF DUST ON THE CLOTHING!

Oh, one other thing - the medic is running this child into a hospital and you will see that there are NO DOCTORS EVEN IN THE AREA TO HELP THE KID - oh wait, there are some medical personnel in the background....are they shooting the shit?  are they playing cards?

Absolute fucking joke.

This fairy tale comes from Al Arabiya.

(and no, i won't reproduce the slop of an article here) - go to the link to read the lie.

It's On - ISIS Threatens To Topple Hamas In Gaza

Grab your popcorn everyone, sit back and hopefully we will get to see the forces of Hamas and ISIS exterminate each other in Gaza.  Now THAT would make my day.

The story comes from Times of India.

Islamic State threatens to topple Hamas in Gaza


CAIRO: Islamic State insurgents threatened on Tuesday to turn the Gaza Strip into another of their Middle East fiefdoms, accusing Hamas, the organisation that rules the Palestinian territory, of being insufficiently stringent about religious enforcement.

The video statement, issued from an Islamic State stronghold in Syria, was a rare public challenge to Hamas, which has been cracking down on jihadis in Gaza who oppose its truces with Israel and reconciliation with the US-backed rival Palestinian faction Fatah.

"We will uproot the state of the Jews (Israel) and you and Fatah, and all of the secularists are nothing and you will be over-run by our creeping multitudes," said a masked Islamic State member in the message addressed to the "tyrants of Hamas".

"The rule of sharia (Islamic law) will be implemented in Gaza, in spite of you. We swear that what is happening in the Levant today, and in particular the Yarmouk camp, will happen in Gaza," he said, referring to Islamic State advances in Syria, including in a Damascus district founded by Palestinian refugees.

Islamic State has also taken over swathes of Iraq and has claimed attacks in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen.

Hamas is an Islamist movement that shares the jihadis' hostility to Israel but not their quest for a global religious war, defining itself more within the framework of Palestinian nationalism.

Deemed a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union, and viewed by neighbouring Arab power Egypt as a regional security threat, Hamas's struggle against Islamic State-linked jihadis has not won sympathy abroad.

Israel's intelligence minister, Israel Katz, accused Hamas on Tuesday of partnering with Islamic State affiliates in the Egyptian Sinai - a charge long denied by the Palestinian group.

"There is cooperation between them in the realm of weapons smuggling and terrorist attacks. The Egyptians know this, and the Saudis," Katz told a Tel Aviv conference organised by the Israel Defense journal.

"At the same time, within Gaza, ISIS (Islamic State) has been flouting Hamas. But they have common cause against the Jews, in Israel or abroad."

Is ISIS Starting To Dismantle Hamas in Gaza?

The reach of ISIS may be longer than many thought as there is this report from Israel National News that ISIS forces inside of Gaza have killed a Hamas commander and are planning the dismantling of the terror group with links to Iran.

This could lead to some REAL entertainment in Gaza.  :)

ISIS Threatens to Destroy 'Heretical Hamas'

A group that is operating in Gaza and which says it is associated with ISIS has claimed that it killed a top Hamas commander. According to the group, which calls itself the Army of the Islamic State, Saber Siam was killed when ISIS operatives placed a bomb on his car, blowing it up with him inside.

Siam was killed, the group said, because he was “a partner in a declared war against religion and against Muslims, working for the heretical government in Gaza.” ISIS warned Hamas to immediately “end its war against religion in Gaza” or “face the consequences.”

The group also sent out warnings on social media to Gaza residents to stay away from Hamas offices and buildings, lest they find themselves swept up in attacks against the group.

It was not possible to verify whether the group was associated with ISIS, or whether it even actually exists. However, Israeli sources confirmed that Hamas has been conducting actions against a group of Salafist rebels it accuses of trying to take over Gaza.

Israel Wastes No Time In Retaliating Against Latest Gaza Rocket Attack, Israeli Warplanes Strike 5 Terrorist Sites

Good for Israel.  Each rocket attack from Gaza constitutes a retaliation of 5 air strikes.   Let me continue with that model.  For each rocket attack that causes damage in Israel, 10 air strikes....for each rocket that injures an Israeli, 20 air strikes and for each rocket that KILLS an Israeli, 100 air strikes, a full blown move of military might into Gaza and the heads of all Hamas leadership on pikes lining the streets of Gaza City.

There ya go.  :slaps hands together:

The story comes from The Telegraph.

Israel launches air strikes in Gaza after rocket attack


Israeli army says several sites, including training camps for the militant Islamic Jihad and Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, targeted in response to Palestinian rocket strikes


Israeli warplanes attacked several sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip Sunday, sources on both sides said, hours after a rocket from the Palestinian enclave hit the Jewish state.

Palestinian medical and security sources said five sites in northern and southern Gaza were hit, including training camps for the militant Islamic Jihad and Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing.

The Palestinians said there were no injuries in the attacks.

The Israeli army said in a statement it "retaliated" to "ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza", targeting four "terror sites" in northern Gaza and a fifth in the south of the coastal territory.

On Saturday night, a rocket fired from Gaza hit an open area in southern Israel without causing damage or injuries, the army and police said.

According to data from the Israeli army, since the beginning of March 82 projectiles fired from Gaza hit the Jewish state.

On Thursday, four rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave slammed into the Jewish state, shortly after Israel announced it had called off the planned release of 26 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel Retaliates To Over 100 Rocket Attacks By Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Abbas Blames Israel For "Escalation"

Remember the first world leader that Barack Hussein Obama called after becoming U.S. President in 2009?  Yep...Mahmoud Abbas...the leader of the the so-called Palestinian Authority...the same man who has blamed Israel for "escalating" the situation in Gaza and Israel when Israel retaliated after nearly 100 rocket attacks fired into Israel by Islamic Jihad rocket crews.

So Mr. Obama and Mr. Abbas, Israel is supposed to just sit there on their hands while ANOTHER 100 rocket attacks occur?  I'd say an "escalation" would be in order that should include a hellfire up the ass of one, Mahmoud Abbas.

The story comes from Israel National News.

Abbas Blames Israel for Gaza Escalation


Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday blamed Israel for the latest escalation in Gaza.

In a statement issued by his spokesman and quoted by Reuters, Abbas urged to put an end to what he called "Israeli military escalation in the Gaza Strip."

The statement did not condemn the Islamic Jihad and the other Gaza-based terrorists that have been firing rockets at southern Israel for years. The Islamic Jihad earlier on Wednesday fired a barrage of 60 rockets at southern Israel.

In retaliation, the Israeli Air Force struck 29 terror targets belonging to Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza.

The IDF noted that while Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, Hamas's control on the region renders them responsible for preventing escalation and terror activity.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night instructed the defense establishment to do whatever necessary to restore the quiet to Israel’s south.

The Islamic Jihad, meanwhile, issued its own warning to Israel, saying that if the IDF continues to strike in Gaza, the Islamic Jihad will fire long-range rockets at Israel.

How the Al Qaeda Terror Plot Against Israel Was Born

A very informative and eye-opening piece from The Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Zawahiri's Servant in Gaza Orchestrated Plots for Mega Terror Attacks


The following exchange is a re-creation based on an investigation launched in recent months by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and announced last week, which uncovered an al-Qaida plot to bomb multiple targets in Israel, including the American Embassy in Tel Aviv.

In late 2013, two Palestinian men, one in Gaza and one in east Jerusalem, allegedly conducted Internet conversations for the purpose of planning a series of mega terror attacks.

On one end of the chat, in the Gaza Strip, sat a man named Ariv Al-Sham. According to the Shin Bet investigation, Al-Sham took his orders directly from the head of al-Qaida central, Ayman Al-Zawahiri. On the other end was a 23-year-old resident of east Jerusalem, Khalil Abu-Sara, who could barely hold back his enthusiasm for massacring civilians in the name of jihad.

"What targets do you know of?" Al-Sham asked his new recruit.

"I know Jerusalem well. There is, for example, the Jerusalem Convention Center," Abu Sara said, referring to a landmark conference building situated opposite the Israeli capital's central bus station.

"Let's talk about the Jerusalem Convention Center," Al-Sham said, pleased with the suggested target. Later, he asked Abu Sara, "Other than Jerusalem, what else do you know?

"I know Tel Aviv well too. The U.S. Embassy is located there," Abu Sara said.

"Let's look at that," Al-Sham said.

Later, in chats over Skype and Facebook, the two men settled on a plan to bomb both sites – the Convention center and the embassy – simultaneously, and to murder emergency responders in Jerusalem with a follow-up suicide truck bomb.

As the plot unfolded, Al-Sham goaded Abu Sara into giving him information on targets, and the conversation would then turn into operational attack plans.

In December, Abu Sara was arrested with two other men, one from east Jerusalem and another from the Jenin area of the northern West Bank.

During questioning, Abu Sara told the Shin Bet that his handler in Gaza made it clear to him that he was in direct communication with Al-Zawahiri.

"We have no reason to doubt this," a senior Israeli security source, familiar with the plot, said.

"Abu Sara knew the targets very well. He's a very extreme character. He had dozens of ideas for terror plots," the source stated. With Al-Sham's guidance, these ideas quickly became very dangerous plans for mass-casualty terrorism.

The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office formally indicted Abu Sara and a second man Tuesday.

How did Abu Sara find Al-Sham? According to the Shin Bet's investigation, he first trawled the Internet, asking Salafi jihadi elements online about where he could get hold of explosives.

Abu Sara used the net to speak to bomb experts from Gaza, learning about the process of assembling explosives. At some point, in the maze of the online jihadi world, he 'met' Al-Sham.

Later, Abu Sara donated funds to terrorists in Syria and made concrete plans to travel to the war-torn country himself, for jihad training.

The depravity of the attacks Abu Sara was preparing to commit apparently had no limits. In one plot, gunmen were supposed to shoot at the tires of an Israeli civilian bus, execute its passengers through close-range shots, then wait for emergency responders to arrive in order to fire on them.

The Shin Bet discovered in the course of its investigation that Abu Sara represented just one of three independent terrorist cells being constructed by Al-Sham in Gaza. The two additional Palestinians under arrest were each tasked with forming their own terror cells.

"We did not have the privilege of waiting until they're ready to act," the security source said, adding that the plots were disrupted at an early stage of their formation.

Irrespective of that fact, the Shin Bet has no doubt that the suspects were deadly serious in their intentions, and members of the domestic Israeli intelligence body caution against taking the plots lightly. In fact, the veteran agency, which has seen and thwarted countless terror plans for mass murder, views this episode as both highly unusual, and as a warning signal about the potential for setting up al-Qaida networks through the online recruitment of Palestinians and Arab Israelis.

"It would be a mistake to think this an amateur plot," the senior security source said. "This is how the global jihadis operate. They connect between terrorists and weapons through the Internet and create commanders. They can quickly tell if they're talking to a fictional character or a real jihadi fighter. There are expressions used, and there is a world of content. They have their own language. Abu Sara was highly familiar with the works of Salafi jihadi sheikhs."

Al-Sham and Abu-Sara discussed bringing in a "back-up" force of several foreign terrorists to Israel, using fake Russian passports.

Abu Sara's intention to travel to Syria and the location of his al-Qaida handler in Gaza means that, in addition to the Internet, Salafi jihadis keen on pursuing al-Qaida's murderous agenda are quickly constructing physical bases of operation in the region, in areas that were once out of bounds to them.

Jabhat Al-Nusra in Syria (al-Qaida's official regional branch), the hundreds of pro-al-Qaida jihadis in Gaza, terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula, and the growth of Sunni jihadis in Lebanon all indicate that these forces are establishing themselves in the region.

In Gaza, Hamas has stopped attempting to repress Palestinians who join the ranks of groups that identify with al-Qaida. Instead, the ruling Hamas regime merely asking them not to fire rockets at Israel when Hamas deems such acts as being harmful to its own interests. Hamas can activate global jihadi cells in Sinai and get them to fire rockets at Israel whenever it wishes. "They just need to hint at it, nothing more is needed," the security source explained. This is one way for Hamas to strike at Israel while trying to cover up its involvement.

Other established Gazan terror groups, like the Popular Resistance Committees, also have "excellent ties" with al-Qaida affiliated groups in Sinai.

Over the course of 2012 and 2013, Zawahiri has increasingly mentioned Israel as a target in his communications to followers, as part of a drive to place the Palestinian conflict at the center of his global jihadi narrative.

As the region continues to experience anarchy and violence, and the al-Qaida network exploits the regional power vacuum to grow in strength, Israel's ever-vigilant security and intelligence agencies will be on the lookout for new threats from this direction, which will surely appear.

Israel strikes Gaza after rocket attack

The dumbest people on earth live in Gaza.  They fire homemade rockets into Israel...Israel responds with firepower...repeat....repeat....Israelis have to go into Gaza and "clean up" and then the people of Gaza send videos of how oppressed they are.  People of Gaza - you elected Hamas who fires rockets into Israel and that one action alone helps insure that you will continue as the most backward people on earth...don't you think it's time you had new elections?  Oh wait...when WAS the last time you had elections and actually VOTED to keep Hamas in control?

The story comes from Times of India.

Israel strikes Gaza after rocket attack


GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israeli fighter jets attacked the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Friday morning, sources on both sides said, hours after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave hit the Jewish state.

Palestinian security sources said two strikes targeted training sites of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.

In two additional air strikes at sites west of southern Gaza city Rafah two Palestinians were injured, the sources said.

The attack came a short while after a rocket fired from Gaza hit an open area in southern Israel, causing no damage or injuries.

A statement from the Israeli military said that in response to the rocket, its aircraft targeted "a terror activity site and a weapon manufacturing facility in the northern Gaza strip and a weapon storage facility" in southern Gaza.

Tensions have recently risen in and around Gaza after a year of relative calm, with six Palestinians and an Israeli killed since December 20 and militant rocket fire sparking retaliatory air strikes.

On January 22, the army killed two Palestinians, one of them identified by Israel as a militant from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who the army said was behind recent rocket attacks.

Hamas recently confirmed it had deployed forces in Gaza to "preserve the truce" with Israel, brokered by Egypt, which ended the last major confrontation in November 2012.

While Hamas does not routinely launch projectiles at the Jewish state, Israel says it holds the Islamist group that seized power in Gaza in 2007 responsible for any such attacks.

A Lion Of Judah Has Passed!

Ariel "Arik" Sharon (1928-2014)

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the death of former Prime Minister Ariel "Arik" Sharon.

He was born on 26 February 1928 in Kfar Malal. At age 10, Sharon entered the Zionist youth movement Hassadeh.

As a young teenager, he first began to take part in the armed night-patrols of his moshav. In 1942 at the age of 14, Sharon joined the Gadna, a paramilitary youth battalion, and later the Haganah, the underground paramilitary force and the Jewish military precursor to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Sharon's unit of the Haganah became engaged in serious and continuous combat from the autumn of 1947, with the onset of the Battle for Jerusalem. Without the manpower to hold the roads, his unit took to making offensive hit-and-run raids on Arab forces in the vicinity of Kfar Malal. In units of thirty men, they would hit constantly at Arab villages, bridges and bases, as well as ambush the traffic between Arab villages and bases.

From the Jewish Virtual Library:

In 1953, he founded and led the “101” special commando unit which carried out retaliatory operations against Palestinian fedayeen. Sharon was appointed commander of a Paratroop Corps in 1956 and fought in the Sinai Campaign. In 1957, he attended the Camberley Staff College in Great Britain.

Between 1958 and 1962, Sharon served as Infantry Brigade Commander and then Infantry School Commander, and then attended Law School at Tel Aviv University. He was appointed Head of the Northern Command Staff in 1964 and Head of the Army Training Department in 1966. He participated in the 1967 Six Day War as commander of an armored division. In 1969 he was appointed Head of the Southern Command Staff.

Sharon resigned from the army in June 1972, but was recalled to active military service in the 1973 Yom Kippur War to command an armored division. He led the crossing of the Suez Canal which helped secure an Israeli victory in the war and eventual peace with Egypt.

Ariel Sharon was elected to the Knesset in December 1973, but resigned a year later, serving as Security Adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1975). He was elected to the Knesset in 1977 on the Shlomzion ticket. Following the elections, he joined the Herut party and was appointed Minister of Agriculture in Menachem Begin's first government (1977-81). One of his priorities was to pursue agricultural cooperation with Egypt.

In 1981, Ariel Sharon was appointed Defense Minister, serving in this post during the Lebanon War, which brought about the destruction of the PLO terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon. In the realm of international relations, he was instrumental in renewing diplomatic relations with the African nations which had broken off ties with Israel during the Yom Kippur War. In November 1981, he brought about the first strategic cooperation agreement with the U.S. and widened defense ties between Israel and many nations. He also helped bring thousands of Jews from Ethiopia through Sudan.

In 1983, Sharon resigned as Defense Minister after a government commission found him indirectly responsible for the September 1982 massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Lebanese Phalangists.

Sharon remained in the government as a minister without portfolio and then served as Minister of Industry and Trade from 1984-90. In this capacity, he concluded the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. in 1985.

In 1998, Ariel Sharon was appointed Foreign Minister and headed the permanent status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

While serving as Foreign Minister, Sharon met with U.S., European, Palestinian and Arab leaders to advance the peace process. He worked mostly to create and advance projects such as the Flagship Water Project funded by the international community to find a long-term solution to the region's water crisis and a basis to peaceful relations between Israel, Jordan, the Palestinians and other Middle Eastern countries.

Following the election of Ehud Barak as Prime Minister in May 1999, Ariel Sharon was called upon to become interim Likud party leader following the resignation of Benjamin Netanyahu. In September 1999, he was elected Chairman of the Likud. He also served as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Knesset.

On September 28, 2000, Sharon made a visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the holiest place in Judaism to emphasize Israel's claim to sovereignty over the Temple Mount. Palestinians maintained that Sharon came with “thousands of Israeli soldiers” and defiled a Muslim holy place, when in fact, Israel's Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami permitted Sharon to visit the Temple Mount only after calling Palestinian security chief Jabril Rajoub and receiving his assurance that if Sharon did not enter the mosques, no problems would arise. Sharon did not attempt to enter any mosques and his 34 minute visit was conducted during normal hours when the area is open to tourists. Palestinian youths — eventually numbering around 1,500 — shouted slogans in an attempt to inflame the situation. Some 1,500 Israeli police were present at the scene to forestall violence.

Following Sharon's Temple Mount visit, the Palestinians, under the direction of Yasser Arafat, launched an unprecendented wave of violence and terror against Israelis, dubbed the “al-Aksa Intifada” by the Palestinians for its association with the al-Aksa Mosque located on the Temple Mount. Palestinian leaders claim that Sharon's visit sparked the violence, but on November 7, 2000, an investigatory committee led by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell was established to determine the causes of the violence and to make recommendations for calming the situation. The Mitchell Report issued in April 30, 2001, concluded “the Sharon visit did not cuase the “al-Aksa intifada.”

In a special election held February 6, 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister. He presented his government to the Knesset on March 7, 2001. After calling early elections to the 16th Knesset, which were held on January 28, 2003, Ariel Sharon was charged by the president with the task of forming a government and presented his new government to the Knesset on February 27, 2003.

After several years of bloodshed, terror, and stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, Sharon devised a bold plan that would ensure a higher degree of security for Israelis, and improve the lives of Palestinians. While Palestinian terrorism against Israelis was at its peak, and going virtually unchecked by Arafat and other Palestinian leaders, Sharon decided that Israel should act unilaterally to improve its security situation and reduce bloodshed. This plan, known as the disengagement plan, called for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers in the Gaza Strip, as well as the dismantlement of all settlements in the area, including four settlements in northen Samaria. Between August 16 and August 30, 2005, Israel safely evacuated more than 8,500 Israeli settlers and, on September 11, 2005, Israeli soldiers left Gaza, ending Israel's 38-year presence in the area.

The implementation of the disengagement plan was viewed as a success by most of the Israeli public, although it sparked bitter protests from ministers of Sharon's Likud Party, causing a party schism. Facing bitter infighting in Likud, Sharon formally resigned from the party to form a new centrist party, “Kadima,” or “Forward” on November 21, 2005.

Following the Likud Party spilt, Sharon outlined the goals of his new party. One, he said, is to closely follow the United States-backed road map plan for peace with the Palestinians. Sharon declared that there will be no more unilateral withdrawals from the West Bank, and insisted that Palestinian terrorist groups be disarmed and dismantled. The Kadima party platform calls for “maximum security and assuring that Israel be a Jewish national home and that another state that shall arise be demilitarized, with terrorists disarmed.”

In mid-December, 2005, Sharon spent two days in a hospital after suffering a minor stroke, which doctors said caused no irreparable brain damage. However, on January 4, 2006, Sharon was rushed to the hospital following another, more serious stroke. Sharon suffered a massive brain hemorrhage, which caused extensive cerebral bleeding.

Prime Minsterial duties were turned over to Ehud Olmert, who held a cabinet meeting on January 5, 2006, to signal the transfer of power. Olmert was subsequently elected Prime Minister until elections on March 28, 2006.

President George W. Bush said that Sharon was “a man of courage and peace,” and that “on behalf of all Americans, we send our best wishes and hopes to the prime minister and his family.”

“Arik was a brave soldier and a daring leader who loved his nation and his nation loved him. He was one of Israel’s great protectors and most important architects, who knew no fear and certainly never feared vision, He knew how to take difficult decisions and implement them. We all loved him and he will be greatly missed,” Simon Perez.

“The State of Israel bows its head over the passing of former prime minister Ariel Sharon.  His memory will forever be held in the heart of the nation. Sharon played a central role in the struggle for Israel’s security throughout its existence. He was, first and foremost, a courageous fighter and a distinguished general, one of the greatest commanders the IDF has ever known. When he left the military, he continued to act on behalf of the people of Israel, both in the capacity of the many roles he filled in Israel’s successive governments and as the country’s eleventh prime minister,” continued the prime minister. “He will forever be remembered.” Benjamin Netanyahu.

"One of the state of Israel’s greatest soldiers and warriors before and since it was founded. He was directly in the line of fire throughout his entire life” – first on the frontlines of battle, then on the political frontlines.

“Arik’s life story is fascinating, extraordinary and unique, imbued with courage, human kindness, vision, and leadership,”- Ehud Olmert

Ariel Sharon's family was by his side when he passed. He nursed remarked that he was fighting for life until the end.

Except for the disastrous pull out from Gaza, Ariel Sharon was an exceptional leader of the nation of Israel.  If he hadn't had the stroke that felled him, I do believe that Israel would have taken a different direction in policy.

Today a Lion of Judah has gone.  His like will not return for a long time!

British POS Reporter Tries His Best To Keep the Palestinian Lie Alive

Robert Tait.  He's the piece of shit that wrote the below-captioned article - it's like something hand written by a PLO terrorist - ohhh, the POOR, POOR so-called palestinians...you know, the same people that fire rockets into Israel everyday, the same people that slit the throat of the 3 month old Fogel girl, the same people that executed the Israeli athletes in Munich, and the same people that blew my friend's wife to pieces in a Tel Aviv market.

Yeah Robert Tait, write your sob story for these rabid animals and hope you never run into me you fucking prostitute for Islamic terror.

The garbage of a story comes from The Telegraph who put this slop on their site.

Human tragedy unfolds as Gaza runs on empty
By Robert Tait, Gaza City

6:37PM GMT 29 Nov 2013


The horrific scars disfigure Mona Abu Mraleel’s otherwise strikingly beautiful face. Swathes of bandages cover the injuries the 17-year-old sustained to her arms and legs in a blaze from which she narrowly escaped with her life.

Still racked by pain from burns to 40 per cent of her body, she goes to hospital on a daily basis to have her dressings changed. Specialist doctors are preparing to carry out a delicate skin graft operation in the coming days.

Yet the hospital on which her recovery depends is woefully ill-fitted to the task – riddled by equipment failures, power cuts and shortages in a mounting crisis that doctors fear is leading to a “health catastrophe”.

Mona lives in Gaza, the impoverished Palestinian coastal enclave where chronic fuel shortages have led to electricity cuts of up to 18 hours a day and reduced ordinary life and public services to a standstill.

She is just one of many Gazans suffering in a rapidly worsening economic climate that this week prompted the British Foreign Office minister, Hugh Robertson, to demand urgent action to restore an adequate fuel supply to the territory.

Gaza’s long-running shortages – which had already inflicted long-term eight-hour daily blackouts on residents – worsened dramatically at the beginning of this month when the territory’s main power station closed, following a row over prices between the two biggest Palestinian factions.

Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs Gaza, said it could no longer afford to buy fuel after the Fatah-dominated and Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, withdrew the tax exemptions it once provided.

That intensified already severe shortages first caused by an Israeli blockade imposed in 2007 and then compounded by the Egyptian military’s closure of tunnels previously used as supply routes following last summer’s ousting of Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s Islamist former president and a Hamas ally.

The result has been blackouts of between 12 and 16 hours a day. Sometimes the daily power supply is cut to as little as six hours.

The impact on Gaza’s health service has been disastrous. Hospitals, running out of fuel to keep generators going, are at breaking point amid the threat of multiple equipment failures.

At the European hospital in Khan Younis radiographers say the patchy electricity supply from generators produces flawed images from the MRI scanner – the only such facility in Gaza – making diagnoses difficult. They will be forced to stop using the machine entirely unless nearly-exhausted Helium gas supplies are not restocked from Israel to prevent it overheating.

Two incubators and four monitors have broken down in the special care baby unit, where sporadic power interruptions force doctors to administer oxygen manually to premature infants.

With the hospital forced to ration its fuel supply, only half the usual number of daily non-emergency operations are taking place.

A shortage of medical supplies is further complicating matters. At Shifa hospital’s renal unit – where five of the 40 kidney dialysis machines are out of service after being damaged by power cuts – many patients have anaemia due to a lack of essential hormone medication.

“This is the worst time I have known in the 18 years I have been in service,” said Dr Mohammed Al-Kashif, international cooperation director at Gaza’s health ministry. “It’s a disaster. We have stopped many elective operations in hospitals to cut down on the expenditure of drugs and disposable equipment.”

The crisis has spread beyond the health sector. Main thoroughfares are in pitch darkness at night as streets lights are left switched off. Traffic lights at main junctions have ceased to work.

Many shops conduct their trade in semi-gloom while some have stopped trading entirely. Al-Aloet, one of Gaza City’s biggest bakeries, has shut two production lines – even as demand for bread rises amid the enforced closure of smaller businesses.

With just a few days’ fuel left, Tarik Shehada, the manager, said he feared would be forced to shut a business his family have run for 30 years.

Meanwhile, the breakdown of public services has led to dire warnings of a disease epidemic.

This week Gaza authorities deployed donkeys to cart away refuse throughout the territory after being forced to withdraw 50 garbage lorries from service.

That came after nearly 8,000 gallons of raw sewage washed into several homes after flooding the streets of Gaza City’s impoverished East Zeitoun district, where around 3,000 people live. The accident happened after a lack of fuel caused the breakdown of backup generators at a nearby pumping station.

Standing amid the rancid stench, Rami Naffar, 40, said the power cuts meant there was insufficient water to bathe his children, several of whom had fallen ill from the effects of successive sewage spills.

For the hospitals, an added worry is coping with the after-effects of fires started by malfunctioning domestic generators – similar to that which caused Mona’s injuries after sparks from a plug set her bed alight.

Sixteen people – including four children – have died from the effects of burns alone in the last year, human rights activists say, while others have perished from carbon monoxide poisoning or electrocution.

We have dealt with many cases caused directly or indirectly by the electricity shortages,” said Dr Nafiz Abu Shaban, head of plastic surgery at Shifa Hospital’s under-resourced burns unit, where Mona goes every day for treatment “Many children have come in with electric burns from generators and many have had to have fingers or limbs amputated.”

For Mona, the danger that Gaza’s crumbling health services will deprive her of the rehabilitation she needs and turn her plight into a lifelong tragedy has prompted her desperate family to appeal for help from abroad.

“We’re ready to take help from anywhere because the treatment and technology isn’t available here to repair the effects of the burns,” said her father, Abed Rahman Mraleel. “Her beauty has been damaged and it could make her less attractive to marry. In our culture, not being able to marry is a big problem for her.”

Hamas Issues Order To Shoot Any Opposition Protesters In the Head

I shouldn't have to remind anyone that Hamas is the governing body of Gaza, it is the government so what we are now seeing is an elected government issuing a death warrant against any political opposition in the land they govern.

This is no different than the government of Turkey issuing a command that all political opposition that shows up to rally on a Turkish street will all be shot through the head.

Oh yeah, good old Hamas...the "poor and oppressed" Hamas...let's give these blood thirsty killers more money, right Hillary?  right John Kerry?  right Barack Hussein Obama?

The story comes from Israel National News.

Hamas Orders: Shoot Protesters 'In the Head'


Hamas has reportedly issued orders to shoot any opposition protesters in the head.

Sources in the Palestinian Authority told the Palestine Press news agency on Saturday that the Interior Minister in Hamas’s government in Gaza, Fathi Hamad, has instructed security forces to be tough on any anti-Hamas demonstrator who will take part in a campaign by the opposition scheduled to begin on November 11.

According to the report, these instructions to the security forces were given out during a meeting between Hamad and the security forces. The meeting was attended by senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar, and dealt with ways of dealing with the planned mass protests against the Hamas government.

During the meeting, Hamad reportedly said, "I want you to shoot in the head any person who comes out against our government. I do not want anyone injured.”

According to the sources, it was Al-Zahar, usually known for his extremist views, who explained that Hamad did not mean for security forces to shoot protesters in the head, but rather to act to prevent chaos on the streets of Gaza.

The "Tamarod" youth movement in Gaza has called for mass-demonstrations against Hamas on November 11th, on the anniversary of the death of PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

"Tamarod" (or "Rebel") is the name of the popular anti-Islamist youth movement which led popular protests against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in the run up to his removal by the military.

Tamarod calls Hamas a “gang,” slamming it as morally and financially corrupt, and blames the Islamist movement for the imposition of Islamic law on many aspects of Gazan life, corruption, killing innocent people, demolishing mosques, and oppressing the population of Gaza in the name of religion.

In recent months, Hamas security agencies have detained dozens of Fatah-affiliated political activists, accusing them of belonging to Tamarod.

Israelis Discover "Terror Tunnel" Leading From Gaza Into Israel, Plot For Major Attack and/or Kidnapping

This story is just another example of the fact that Islamic terrorism is the way of life in Gaza and just about the time you think that some "quiet" has been reached in Gaza or the West Bank, it is all shattered with the reality that those in Gaza and the West Bank live for one thing - to kill Jews.

The story comes from Israel National News.

Revealed: Terror Tunnel Led to Israeli Town


IDF soldiers recently discovered a tunnel, built by Gaza terrorists, that led from Gaza to a nearby Israeli community. The discovery was made late Wednesday night, but was under a gag order until Sunday morning.

Terrorists were apparently planning a large-scale infiltration and attack, and were possibly planning to bring Israeli civilians back to Gaza as captives.

Terrorists have made several attempts to kidnap Israelis in recent months, with the goal of exchanging captives for terrorists being held in Israeli prisons. A terror tunnel similar to that found Wednesday night was used in the 2006 kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, along with the killing of two other soldiers.

The terror tunnel that was exposed began in the Gaza town of Absan al-Zariz, located between the city of Khan Younis and the Gaza security fence. It extended for 2.5 kilometers (over 1.5 miles).

The tunnel had been packed with explosives at various points. Several offshoots had been dug leading off in various directions.

Special IDF engineering troops with the Yahalom unit went along the tunnel over the weekend neutralizing explosives and locating and sealing offshoots.

Israel Sends Fighter Jets Into Gaza To Take Out Rocket Crews That Struck Israel

It's nice to see Bibi not blinking an eye in retaliating against rocket strikes by the Islamic terrorists in Gaza - I'm sure that Hamas and Islamic Jihad figured that this was the perfect time to start lobbing rockets into Israel since the "peace talks" are underway and the Israelis wouldn't want to jeopardize those.

Wrong.

Dead wrong, chumps.

The story comes from The Telegraph.

Israel launches Gaza air raid after rocket attack

The Israeli air force targeted rocket launch sites in Gaza hours before the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, after rockets were fired from the area, the Israeli army said.

"The raid targeted two rocket launch sites after rockets were fired on Tuesday from the Gaza Strip, one of which exploded on Israeli territory," said an army spokesman. No one was injured in the attack.

"Hamas must account for any violation of Israeli sovereignty and the terrorist regime that it has put in place will be held responsible for any terrorist activity coming from the Gaza Strip," the spokesman added.

The Islamist Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip is opposed to the resumption of US-sponsored peace talks in Jerusalem later Wednesday.

The negotiations will come just hours after the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners as a confidence-building gesture, and a day after Israeli authorities announced the approval of 942 new settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem, provoking Palestinian fury.

Gaza Schools Teaching Teenage Boys How To Fire Rocket Launchers and Kalashnikov Assault Rifles

So, we have Hamas who has integrated into the school system in Gaza a military training for teenage boys that includes instruction on firing rocket launchers and yet the world still sees Israel as the bad guy.  Seriously, we have a documented terrorist group forcing civilian teenagers to learn how to fire rockets into Israel to kill women and children and the bleeding hearts of this world don't have a single issue with that.

The story comes from The Clarion Project.

Hamas Trains Gaza Schoolboys to Fire Kalashnikovs


Gaza schools are providing military training to teenage boys, teaching them how to fire rocket launchers, Kalashnikov assault rifles and other weapons, says a report by The Guardian.

According to Gaza's Ministry of Education website, members of Hamas's Izzadin Kassam brigades are assisting in the training. They also teach schoolboys first aid, fire fighting and "the values of discipline and responsibility." In addition, the school curriculum is supplemented with voluntary camps during school breaks where the boys get further training in handling guns and explosives.

About 5,000 boys have been trained in this program since it started in September 2012. The general curriculum is taught to 37,000 students aged 15-17. Parents are entitled to withdraw their sons from the course, but the newspaper reports that such a move is rare.

The Hamas education ministry website denies real weapons are being used in training, however, a video that has been posted shows a teenager at the Gamal Abdel Nasser school near Gaza City fire a rocket launcher at a target that includes a makeshift Israeli flag.

Samir Zakout, from the Gaza-based human rights organization Al Mezan, criticized the program. "It's unbelievable. Hamas has been cutting sports activities in schools for the past six years, saying there is no time in the curriculum, but now they find the time to have military training inside schools," he said. "They should not be doing this. It's building a military culture, familiarizing boys with resistance and creating the next generation of militants," he added.

Mohammed Syam, general director of educational activities for Hamas, denied that there was any military training in the program and said only one percent of it was devoted to learning about weapons. However, a press release in his name said the program focuses on military exercises, particularly on weapons training and skills. "We are not conducting military training in our schools, we are providing information," Syam said.

Izzadine Mohammed, a student at the school confirmed that he had been trained in handling real weapons at a camp this year. "I was excited to learn the right way to use a weapon," Izzadine said. "It's important because of the occupation. I feel stronger and more confident with the knowledge, which I could use against the occupier."

Mohammed, 17, said he had attended a camp for six hours a day over a two-week period at which instructors from the national security were assisted by militants from the Qassam Brigades. About 170 boys from his school were taught how to fire and maintain Kalashnikovs, as well as the use of grenades and improvised explosive devices.

"They told us the purpose was to know how to defend ourselves and how to confront the occupation," he said. "I was excited to learn how to use a Kalashnikov properly. I feel stronger and more confident."

The boys at his camp were keen to learn firefighting and first aid, "But we were happiest with the weapons training." Mohammed, whose brother, a militant, was killed by Israeli troops during the 2008-9 war in Gaza, said he was a supporter of Hamas and would consider joining the Qassam Brigades.

The government is considering adapting the course for teenage girls next year. "There has been no final decision yet, we are still studying this option," Syam said.

An al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group recently posted a video (below) showing about twenty children learning to fire pistols and guns in the group’s training camp. Some of the children are so small that the shock wave nearly knocks them over. The video shows the children, some of them not older than five, firing various weapons, including pistols, AK-47s and machine-guns, dressed in traditional Muslim attire.

Israel Doesn't Pull a Punch - IAF Targets and Kills Key Jihadi In Gaza

Dammit I love it when the Israelis blow the shit out of jihadis in Gaza - it's like smelling napalm in the morning.


The story comes from The Long War Journal.

MSC in Jerusalem member targeted by Israeli Air Force


Today the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out an airstrike in the Gaza Strip in response to recent rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula. According to a statement on the IDF website, the IAF targeted a "Global Jihad-affiliated terrorist."

The terrorist, Hithem Ziad Ibrahim Masshal, was said to have "acted in different Jihad Salafi terror organizations and over the past few years has been a key terror figure, specializing in weapons and working with all of the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip." Reuters reported that Masshal "was believed to be a member of Hamas's national security force, but relatives said he also belonged to a militant Jihadist Salafi organization." Palestinian media reports suggested that Masshal had worked as a "security officer at Shifa hospital in Gaza."

According to the IDF, Masshal, who "manufactured, improved and traded different types of ammunition," was involved in the April 17 rocket attack on Eilat from the Sinai, for which the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC) had taken responsibility.

Following the Eilat attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that Israel would "exact a price for this [the attack]; this has been our consistent policy for the past four years and it will serve us here as well." Egypt was reportedly briefed ahead of today's strike.

This afternoon, the MSC released a statement through the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center confirming that Masshal, also known as Abu Ziad, was a member of their organization. "He stepped everywhere there is jihad, wanting to die, so may Allah have mercy on you, Abu Ziad. The enemy sites will miss you, which you didn't hesitate for one day to pound with rockets," the group said.

The MSC statement, which was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, also said Masshal had held a "high position" in Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades, but he decided to leave the group after Hamas "entered the game of democracy and accepted the abandonment of the divine Shari'ah." Masshal, according to the MSC, previously worked alongside a number of Salafi jihadist leaders in the Gaza Strip including Abu al Walid al Maqdisi and Ashraf al Sabah, two MSC leaders killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2012. The al Qaeda-linked group also noted that Masshal had previously worked with Abu Abdullah al-Suri (Khalid Banat), a former leader in Jund Ansar Allah, who was killed in clashes with Hamas in August 2009.

During the funeral, Masshal was wrapped in al Qaeda's black flag, which was first used by al Qaeda in Iraq but has been adopted by other al Qaeda affiliates.

In 2012, the Israeli Air Force targeted a number of members of the MSC. On Oct. 7, the IDF killed Tala'at Halil Muhammad Jarbi, a "global jihad operative," and Abdullah Muhammad Hassan Maqawai, a member of the MSC. Maqawai was likely a former member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Six days later, the IAF targeted and killed Abu al Walid al Maqdisi, the former emir of the Tawhid and Jihad Group in Jerusalem, and Ashraf al Sabah, the former emir of Ansar al Sunnah, in an airstrike. The two men were said to be leaders of the MSC.

Following the deaths of al Maqdisi and al Sabah, a number of statements and eulogies were released by jihadist groups and media outlets such as the Global Islamic Media Front, Jaish al Ummah, Masada al Mujahideen, Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Abdullah Azzam Brigades, and Ansar Jerusalem, among others.

Al Qaeda emir Ayman Al Zawahiri even released a statement, in which he praised al Maqdisi for his "martyrdom" and said that he hoped his death would act as "a motive and incitement to his brothers, his people, his loved ones and the rest of the mujahideen and the Muslims in the environs of Jerusalem and around the world, to give and sacrifice more."

Remember Those "Poor and Oppressed" Palestinians? You Know, the Ones We Send Money To Because We Feel Sorry For Them? Did You Know They Celebrated Our Dead From the Boston Marathon Bombing?

We saw it happen after 9/11 and yet we allowed the Leftist scumbags of America to continue the idea that the Palestinians are oppressed by the Israelis...we watched these Arab terrorists on the streets of Gaza dance and celebrate the deaths of 3,000 Americans and now, reports are out that the same celebrations occurred right after news hit Gaza of the Boston Marathon bombing.

So, think about your hard earned money going as aid to Palestinians who celebrate and dance and hand out candy over the murder of an 8 year old American.  And be sure the next time you see some fucked up American college kid on the street with a "Free Palestine" sign that you walk up to his sorry ass and show him a picture of the 8 year old (then feel free to shove the sign up his ass).

The story comes from The Clarion Project.

Boston Bombings Celebrated with Dancing in Streets


The dust had barely settled on the ground at the site of the devastating explosions at the Boston Marathon finishing line before Islamic extremists started celebrating that so people in America had been killed and so many injured. Members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah were reported to be dancing in the streets of Gaza, handing out candies to passersby.

The head of an Islamic terror organization in Jordan, the Muslim Salafi group, said that says he is "happy to see the horror in America" after the bombing attacks in Boston.

"American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood," said Mohammad al-Chalabi, who was convicted in an al Qaeda-linked plot to attack U.S. and other Western diplomatic missions in Jordan in 2003.

"Let the Americans feel the pain we endured by their armies occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and killing our people there," he said.

Using the social media, Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked Somali terrorist group tweeted hateful messages such as, "Don’t you just hate it when you can’t make it to the finish line," and "Amputations mean that some will never be able to run another marathon again."

The Shumukh al-Islam Islamist forum quoted bin Laden’s battle cry about destroying America’s security and adding the following enthusiastic comments:

"Allah is Great!!! O Allah, put fear into their hearts and make the die from fear and horror."

"Allah is Great, Allah is great, Allah is Great. Two explosions were heard in Boston in America!! Six people are dead."

An unidentified investigator commented that Islamists have been waging war against America since at least 1979 when Iran launched its revolution. He said that "War or not, there is something sickening about the spectacle of people celebrating wildly in the street when, in another country far away, the sidewalks run red with the blood of innocents. Only very primitive, barbaric people actively rejoice when the inevitably of war sucks in innocent people."

President Obama said that those responsible will "feel the full weight of justice."
The President also assured the American people that the administration is mobilizing its "full resources" to help investigate and provide security.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone impacted by this incident in Boston, especially the families and loved ones of those injured," said US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies continue to respond, and at the President’s direction, the Department of Homeland Security is providing any support necessary in this ongoing investigation."

The Salafists Versus the Arab Spring Islamists

Just last Friday I put up a post on how the Salafists in Egypt are all up in arms against the Muslim Brotherhood in regards to the Brotherhood's warming up to Shia Iran...and that isn't the first clash that has happened in Egypt between the two Islamic forces there...and now, we are seeing this ideological clash spilling over to Gaza and the West Bank as the Salafists go toe to toe with Hamas.

This story from The Long War Journal showcases the Salafist protests against Hamas.

Salafi jihadist supporters protest Hamas' arrest campaign


Supporters of Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip are increasing their protests against Hamas both online and in public as some Salafi jihadists begin hunger strikes to protest their imprisonment by Hamas.

On April 5, a new Facebook page opened for relatives of Salafi jihadists currently imprisoned by Hamas. As of the evening of April 6, the page had only 285 "likes," but its statements have been promoted on the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center Facebook page, which has existed since August 26, 2012, and on jihadist forums.

The Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, is "the official source for releases from the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) in the Environs of Jerusalem," an al Qaeda-linked group.

On April 5, the new Facebook page released a statement announcing that relatives and supporters of imprisoned Salafi jihadists in Gaza were planning to organize a demonstration on April 6 "to protest the practices of [Hamas] against our righteous sons who are subjected to torture, humiliation and abuse."

On April 6, the protest took place in Rafah; however, according to Agence France Presse, only about 30 people attended before Hamas forces dispersed the demonstration. While AFP said the rally was dispersed without incident, the group released a statement claiming that a couple of the protesters were detained and a journalist was attacked.

In a separate statement, which was shared by the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center, the group accused Hamas of imprisoning Salafi jihadists for "many months without any charge or trial." The statement further called on Hamas to immediately "release our sons who suffer injustice and harassment," because they are Salafists.

In addition, it called on Hamas to stop its smear campaigns, arrests, and general persecution of Salafists in the Gaza Strip. The group also accused Palestinian factions and organizations of being "complicit" in Hamas' persecution of Salafi jihadists, due to their "shameful silence."

The statement concluded by saying that the group plans to take further action and will not cease its campaign until Hamas releases imprisoned Salafi jihadists.

In addition to these statements, Sheikh Hossam al Jazzar of the Ibn Baz Islamic Charity condemned Hamas' recent arrests of Salafi jihadists. In a statement published on his Facebook page on April 5, al Jazzar said that the arrests "only serve the interests of the Jews." Al Jazzar himself was summoned for questioning by Hamas in September 2012. And on April 6, Sheikh Nael Mosran similarly called on Hamas "to stop the arbitrary arrests of Salafi youth," in a statement published on his Facebook page.

Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip have long complained about Hamas' targeting of their members. In February, Abdullah Jihad al Ashqar (a.k.a. Abu al-Muhtasib al Maqdisi), an official in the MSC, slammed the arrests of Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. According to al Ashqar, after Abu al Walid al Maqdisi and Ashraf al Sabah, leaders of the MSC, were killed in an air strike by the Israeli Air Force in October 2012, Hamas eased up its pressure on Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip.

In fact, in early December, Hamas reportedly released Abu Hafs al Maqdisi, the leader of a Salafi jihadist group known as Jaish al Ummah (Army of the Nation). But after a few months, "the policy of detaining returned, as did pursuing, kidnapping, and storming homes, and then capturing and torturing in the prisons of the so-called domestic security agency," al Ashqar contended.

Last September, Hamas reportedly arrested over 20 Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip. In response, Abu Abdul Muhajir, a leading Salafi jihadist in Gaza, denounced Hamas for its "unjustified" campaign against Salafi jihadists. A couple months later, Sheikh Anas Abdul Rahman, an official in the MSC, similarly complained that "there is no relationship between the Salafi Jihadis and Hamas and its government, except for through security prosecutions and within prisons."

More recently, the MSC called on "the reasonable people in the Hamas Movement to pressure their government security agencies to release the Salafist Jihadist mujahideen who are held unjustly in their prisons."

Hamas recent campaign against Salafi jihadists

Over the past couple weeks, Hamas has carried out a number of arrests of Salafi jihadists, according to jihadist communiqués. In late March, Hamas forces reportedly arrested two Salafi jihadists in Zawaida, raided the home of a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, and kidnapped a Salafi jihadist in Rafah. Press reports suggest that the two jihadists in Zawaida were connected to the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), which took credit for a rocket attack on Israel on March 21.

On March 30, the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center warned on its Facebook page that preparations were being made by Hamas to launch a mass campaign of arrests against Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip.

In the past week, the campaign appears to have intensified in response to rocket attacks by the MSC against Israel. According to the MSC, the rocket fire was in response to the recent death of Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh, a Hamas operative. Hamdiyeh, whom Hamas praised for supplying "the Mujahideen with weapons and explosives," died of esophageal cancer at an Israeli hospital on April 2.

On April 2, the MSC claimed to have fired five rockets from Gaza toward Israel. On the same day, Hamas forces reportedly arrested a Salafi jihadist near Rafah.

The following day, the MSC said it had fired six additional rockets toward Israeli territory. Following the rocket attacks, a Salafi jihadist was reportedly detained by Hamas forces near Khan Yunis. The statement from the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center, which announced the arrest, accused Hamas of carrying out an "extensive campaign" against Salafi jihadists in Gaza.

Despite these allegations, Hamas' Interior Ministry recently denied that it has made arrests in recent days for "resistance against the occupation [Israel]." A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said, "[o]ur security apparatus is part of the resistance and does not arrest anyone who resists the occupation. On the contrary, we encourage resistance."

Israeli media outlets have recently reported, however, that Hamas is under heavy pressure from Egypt to quell the rocket fire into Israel and arrest those responsible. And according to the Al Quds newspaper, Hamas recently relayed a message to Israel via Egypt claiming that since the rocket fire, it has tried to control the situation by tightening border areas, calling on factions to abide by the ceasefire that ended Operation Pillar of Defense, and arresting Salafi jihadists responsible for the rocket attacks.

Hamas orders schools in Gaza to be segregated by gender

Any of you ever see those young college women here in America who always turn out in force for the "FREE PALESTINE" protests and rallies?  You know, the young American women who are all about women's rights on one day and there to protest in favor of Hamas the next?  Well, if you see any of them, show them this article from The Telegraph.

I'd be interested what they will have to say.

Hamas orders schools in Gaza to be segregated by gender


Gender segregation is already in effective in the majority of schools in the Palestinian territory but from the next school year, it will be enforced by law in every one of Gaza's education establishments, including Christian and private schools and those run by the United Nations.

"We are a Muslim people. We do not need to make people Muslims and we are doing what serves our people and their culture," Waleed Mezher, a legal advisor to the ministry of education told Reuters, explaining that the Hamas government was attempting to protect conservative Muslim values with legislation.

This is the latest in a string of recent announcements from the Hamas regime in Gaza tightening restrictions on Palestinian girls and women. An annual UN-sponsored marathon in the Gaza Strip was cancelled last month because Hamas authorities would not permit either foreign or local women to run alongside men, even if they were veiled.

Human rights activists in Gaza explain that since Hamas came to power in 2006, the Islamist leadership has issued a string of declarations on the issue of female modesty, including an attempt to force female university students and lawyers to wear a veil and forbidding women to smoke narguile pipes in public.

Each of these edicts were dropped eventually in the face of opposition from civil society groups.

However the cancellation of the marathon after four years of allowing men and women to race together, followed promptly by the introduction of a law to segregate male and female pupils, has revealed what many fear is a firmer resolve on the part of the Hamas leadership to enforce Islamic codes on the public.

"They are fundamentalists who believe Islam says women should stay at home and not go out without a hijab. They are a fundamentalist party who want every section of society under their control, including civil society, the young and women," said Hala Qishawi, director of the Women's Affairs Centre in Gaza.

"What is worrying is that enforcing these Islamist restrictions on women appears to have become a priority. Of course that is deeply worrying."

Hamas Begins Wave of Arrests Of Salafi Jihadis In Gaza

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Salafi jihadists warn of impending campaign of arrests by Hamas


On March 30, the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center warned on its Facebook page that preparations are being made by Hamas to launch a mass campaign of arrests against Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip.

According to the warning, members of Hamas' al Qassam Brigades are expected to partake in the arrests, which could begin as early as Saturday. The statement advised "our brothers and loved ones to exercise the utmost caution and care, and be on full alert."

Last week, Hamas forces arrested two Salafi jihadists in Zawaida, raided the home of a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, and kidnapped a Salafi jihadist in Rafah. Press reports suggest that the two jihadists in Zawaida were connected to the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), an al Qaeda-linked group that claimed credit for a rocket attack on Israel on March 21.

Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip have long complained about Hamas' targeting of their members. In February, Abdullah Jihad al Ashqar (a.k.a. Abu al-Muhtasib al Maqdisi), an official in the MSC, slammed the arrests of Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. According to al Ashqar, after Abu al Walid al Maqdisi and Ashraf al Sabah, leaders of the MSC, were killed in an air strike by the Israeli Air Force in October, Hamas eased up its pressure on Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip.

In fact, in early December, Hamas reportedly released Abu Hafs al Maqdisi, the leader of a Salafi jihadist group known as Jaish al Ummah (Army of the Nation). But after a few months, "the policy of detaining returned, as did pursuing, kidnapping, and storming homes, and then capturing and torturing in the prisons of the so-called domestic security agency," al Ashqar contended.

Last September, Hamas reportedly arrested over 20 Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip. In response, Abu Abdul Muhajir, a leading Salafi jihadist in Gaza, denounced Hamas for its "unjustified" campaign against Salafi jihadists. A couple months later, Sheikh Anas Abdul Rahman, an official in the MSC, similarly complained that "there is no relationship between the Salafi Jihadis and Hamas and its government, except for through security prosecutions and within prisons."

More recently, Arabic press reports suggested that Hamas recently told Egyptian officials it was prepared to hand over Salafi jihadists accused of involvement in the Rafah outpost attack last August. Hamas denied the allegation, however, and also denied reports in the Egyptian media implicating three of its senior members in the attack that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers.

The Truth About Hamas' Smuggling Tunnels

The story comes from The Investigative Project on Terrorism.

The Truth About Hamas' Smuggling Tunnels

by Paul Alster


The general narrative of the situation in Hamas-controlled Gaza is of a people under siege, deprived of everyday goods, whose only means of receiving sufficient supplies is through the network of tunnels that bring a wide range of essential items from Egypt.

In fact, Israel delivers an average of 300 truckloads of goods each day through official crossing points to the Gaza Strip, basic supplies that provide steady, if unspectacular amounts of necessary items to the 1.6 million inhabitants of the Hamas-controlled enclave. The majority of everyday commodities as well as luxury items and, most significantly of all, drugs, explosives, and military hardware, come through the tunnels. They are run by a band including multi-millionaire Gazan businessmen often making vast amounts of money, and critically, paying taxes/bribes to Hamas to allow free passage of all goods.

A senior Israeli Defense Force officer, speaking exclusively to the Investigative Project on Terrorism on condition of anonymity, explained why that continues.

"Why don't Hamas pressure Israel to open more crossing points?" the officer asked. "The only crossing they insist that is open is Rafah, [the border between Gaza and Egypt], because that is a sign of sovereignty and is an international border crossing point between two countries. We are willing to transfer more goods at Nitzan crossing and Kerem Shalom crossing, but that is something they [Hamas] are not encouraging."

If goods flowed more freely into Gaza there would be no need for the tunnels. So it is in Hamas' interest to paint a picture suggesting a "population under siege" that would suffer without the tunnels bringing in food and goods. It's a story non-governmental agencies lap up and repeat throughout the world in their solicitations. The import of illegal weapons and contraband is rarely mentioned in that narrative.

Last summer, 16 Egyptian border policemen were killed by Islamist terrorists based in Sinai who later managed to breach the Israeli border before being overwhelmed by a combination of Israeli Air Force and army units. This attack, understood to have included weapons that originated from the Libyan conflict of the previous year, was a wake-up call to Egypt's new Muslim Brotherhood government. Although it is Hamas' parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood may recognize that it, too, is now a potential target for the weapons smuggled through Gaza's tunnels, some of which have been acquired by Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists now moving with impunity throughout the Sinai Peninsula's Bedouin tribes. These fanatical terror cells seek nothing less than achieving the introduction of strict Islamic law in Egypt, Africa's most populous Muslim nation.

That might explain a recent crackdown on the tunnels from a somewhat surprising source; Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, expected by most Gazans to offer them significant support, but who now appears shaken by the growing threat from Sinai and other major factors as he struggles to cling on to power.

On Monday, the Times of Israel reported that Egyptian security forces had surprised border smugglers around the Rafah crossing by deliberately pumping water into tunnels, flooding them and making them vulnerable to collapse.

This could be the first real indication that Egypt is responding to international pressure, Gaza-based political analyst Mkhaimar Abu Sada told the IPT.

"It is true that the U.S. Congress is not happy with the situation happening between Egypt and Gaza," Abu Sada said, "and members of the U.S. Congress have been asking Egyptian secret services to take much more decisive measures to block the smuggling of weapons and explosives from Sinai to Gaza, and also to put an end to the tunnel business between Gaza and Israel. The Egyptian government will have no other choice but to do something to please the US and the international community, because at the end of the day if Egypt doesn't take decisive measures it will lose some of the international funding from the US and the Europeans."

Many tunnel operators are getting worried.

"I know for a fact that the Egyptians have been making it harder for the Palestinians to smuggle over the past two weeks" Abu Sada said. "It seems to me that the Egyptian authorities are trying to tell Gazans that commodities that are allowed to enter the strip from Israel must not be smuggled from Egypt into Gaza. They are only allowing commodities that are prohibited by the Israelis to come from Egypt to the Strip."

If Israel unilaterally decided to double or triple the number of goods going into Gaza it would completely undermine large sections of the illegal tunnel economy. That, however, could prompt Hamas to renew its rocket fire into Israel that has been on hold since the end of the November's "Pillar of Defense" campaign. In short, Israel is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't act on any increased in the transfer of goods to Gaza.

"If Israel increased the number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip on a daily basis that would deprive Hamas and its government of collecting taxes and customs payments that are coming through the tunnels," Abu Sada explained. "The price the Palestinians in Gaza are paying for cigarettes and fuel is much, much cheaper than the price they used to pay when these came from Israel. For example, the price of gas [in Gaza] is currently one-third of what Palestinians in the Fatah-controlled West Bank are paying, and cigarettes are half of what Palestinians in the West Bank are paying."

The tunnels generate $188 million in tax revenues on things like cigarettes and gas and building materials, Egyptian journalist Sarah A Topol wrote in the Bloomberg Business Weekly on Jan. 31. But "the smugglers say their importance is waning: Access to Israeli goods is improving, and the Gazan government has begun regulating [taxing] the tunnels, sapping profits."

So, while the tunnels are essential for transporting illegal arms and materials into Gaza ready to wage war against Israel, they are also critical in maintaining the goodwill of poor Gazans by providing them with cut-price commodities, even with surcharges added by Hamas officials.

"At the end of the day it is not only food and commodities that are entering the Gaza Strip, so it will be very difficult to close down the tunnels completely. These taxes and levies are essential to the economy of the Hamas government and will never be readily relinquished," Abu Sada said.

Israeli officials have different views as to why Egypt doesn't fully open its border with Gaza and allow free movement of goods. The IDF officer, speaking to the IPT in late-January, suggested that the Egyptians simply want to keep the whole Gaza situation at arms' length, rather than take control of the issue.

"The problem is that maybe then they would have to pay more attention, pay out more money, and take responsibility for the Gaza Strip if they prevent goods, people and other supplies going through tunnels. That is something they are not willing to do," he said. "They have determined that we, Israel, must do that. They do not want any part of the Palestinian problem on their shoulders. If they stop the tunnel industry they will have to open more border crossings and let more supplies in, and that they don't want to do."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson suggested that the idea that the tunnels were kept open for tax collection doesn't necessarily make sense. "Hamas runs the Gaza Strip," he said. "They could quite easily impose a tax system on goods coming across the border with Egypt. If Hamas were to get a deal with the Egyptians to pass goods on top of the border rather than under it, they could tax the goods as much as they want. But there are things going through the tunnels that wouldn't be allowed by the Egyptians anyway, such as drugs trafficking, human trafficking, and of course, arms trafficking."

Gerald Steinberg, president of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor and a professor of political studies at Israel's Bar Ilan University is the author of 'NGOs, Human Rights, and Political Warfare in the Arab-Israel Conflict.' Steinberg has no doubt as to what is behind Hamas' tunnel strategy.

"The Hamas leadership thrives on conflict and of portraying the situation in Gaza as one of Palestinian suffering. It is created for the Palestinian leadership by playing the victim card strongly and has been assisted in that by the NGO network and by the UN human rights frameworks all working together. They will always exaggerate claims that they cannot import basic materials, while at the same time seeking to downplay changes that will actually benefit the population. There is always a careful play off that Hamas does between allowing materials in [to Gaza] and playing the victim card."

Steinberg characterizes the on-the-ground situation in Gaza in relation to the NGO's as one of dangerous and often willful misinformation by organizations funded, in particular, by pro-Palestinian European governments. The suggestion is that these groups have become politicized and are prepared to turn a blind eye to the highly incendiary issue of illegal weapons trafficking into Gaza in order to further their own agendas in support of their view of the downtrodden local population.

Steinberg also feels that Israel has been guilty of being embarrassingly slow in presenting its case to the international community. "Part of the problem is the Israeli government's incompetence in countering these allegations issued by a powerful propaganda machine. The reason our organization exists is because there was no counterpoint. The Israeli leadership, until the last year or two, didn't understand that this was a major threat to national security. This isolation and boycott process was as powerful as a military process."

Anat Kurz, research director at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, agrees with Steinberg's view that NGOs are misrepresenting the situation in Gaza and are allowing themselves to be misled by Hamas.

"I think it sounds quite logical" she told the IPT. "I think Hamas is treading a fine line, because if Egypt resorts to harsher measures with regard to the tunnels there will be greater or more vocal calls from the Strip by the people to allow the transfer of goods for daily use. Hamas will have to be more attentive to such calls. It depends on the systemic dynamic between Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, what's going on in the Sinai Peninsula, and of course, Israel. There might be a change in light of developments on the ground."