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Hamas, Abbas, Obama and Islamic savagery

November 18, 2014

Hamas, Abbas, Obama and Islamic savagery, Dan Miller’s Blog, November 18, 2014

Today Palestinian extremists Islamists murdered four Israelis, three of whom were also U.S. citizens, at a Jerusalem synagogue. Several others are in critical condition. Palestinians celebrated their actions and their intended consequences. 

celebratingmurder_20141118_105338

This morning I posted an article by Robert Spencer of Front Page Magazine titled More Beheadings, More Denial at Warsclerotic, of which I am an editor. Mr. Spencer’s article deals with Obama’s response to the recent Islamic beheading of “Abdul-Rahman Kassig, previously known as Peter.” Obama proclaimed that Kassig’s beheading by personnel of the Islamic State “represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith.” As I noted in a parenthetical comment at the top of the article,

(Please see also this article, and others, on today’s Islamic slaughter at a Jerusalem synagogue. “Knives, axes and guns” were used.” Hamas responded with praise for the terrorists who did it. Will Obama, our Islamic “scholar” in chief, declare that such Palestinian “actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith?” He won’t. Nor, of course, will he admit that the Palestinian’s Islamic actions, like those of the Islamic State, do represent Islam.– DM)

Mr. Spencer observed that Islamic savagery comparable to that of the Islamic State could happen in the United States and that

It could happen anywhere that people read the phrase “when you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks” (Qur’an 47:4) as if it were a command of the Creator of the Universe. But to point out that simple and obvious fact nowadays only brings down upon one’s head charges of “hatred” and of “demonizing all Muslims,” when in a sane society it would bring honest explanations from Muslims of good will of what they were doing to ensure that no Muslim ever acted on that verse’s literal meaning. [Emphasis added.]

Here’s a pertinent video by Pat Condell:

Continuing with the quotation from Mr. Spencer,

In reality, they’re doing nothing. No Muslim organization, mosque or school in the United States has any program to teach young Muslims and converts to Islam why they should avoid and reject on Islamic grounds the vision of Islam – and of unbelievers – that the Islamic State and other jihad groups offer them. This is extremely strange, given the fact that all the Muslim organizations, mosques and schools in the United States ostensibly reject this understanding of Islam. And even stranger is that no American authorities seem to have noticed the absence of such initiatives, much less dared to call out Muslim groups about this. [Emphasis added.]

On the contrary, instead of calling on Muslim groups to take some action to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future, Obama’s latest denial was even more strenuous in its dissociation of the beheading from Islam: “ISIL’s actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith which Abdul-Rahman adopted as his own.” [Emphasis added.]

“Least of all”! As if it were possible that the Islamic State’s actions represented Buddhism, or Methodism, or Christian Science, or the Hardshell Baptists, or the Mandaeans, to greater or lesser degrees, but the most far-fetched association one could make, out of all the myriad faiths people hold throughout the world, would be to associate the Islamic State’s actions with…Islam. The Islamic State’s actions represent no faith, least of all Islam – as if it were more likely that the Islamic State were made up of Presbyterians or Lubavitcher Hasidim or Jains or Smartas than that it were made up of Muslims.

Here’s a video of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim, speaking at Yale University on September 15th. Although more than an hour long, it’s well worth watching and considering. Please see also this article, commenting on her background and views of Islam.

Is Jonathan Gruber still advising Obama?  This video is from left-leaning(?) MSNBC.

Did Obama “steal” His notions about Islam from Gruber, or merely Gruber’s tactics for masking His true beliefs and intentions, this time about Islam rather than about ObamaCare? Did Obama arrive at His notions of Islam and how to present them Himself, based on His own Islamic studies — particularly the propriety of lying to non-Muslims on behalf of Islam? Or is He, again, just sucking up to Iran? In the latter connection, please see this semi-satirical post titled To get a nuke deal with Iran Obama and the Islamist world demonize Israel.

The Israeli-Palestinian “peace” process and the “two state solution.”

For years, the Obama Administration has been pushing Israel, hard, to agree to a two state solution with the “moderate” Palestinian Authority (Fatah). Hamas is the Palestinian entity which, in April of this year, formed a quasi-unified government with the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas. Fatah’s alleged moderation, and that of Abbas, is of this type:

Modeate Muslim

Abbas is seventy-nine years old and probably will not last much longer. He has personally encouraged terrorism, most recently when commenting on the killing of a Palestinian, Mutaz Hijazi, who attempted to assassinate Yehuda Glick, an advocate of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

Hijazi was quickly found and killed by Israeli security forces. Abbas responded by promptly writing to his widow:

With anger, we have received the news of the vicious assassination crime committed by the terrorists of the Israeli occupation army against [your] son Mu’taz Ibrahim Khalil Hijazi, who will go to heaven as a martyr defending the rights of our people and its holy places.

Hijazi, it should be stressed, shot Glick, a civilian, at pointblank range. Fortunately Glick now appears to be recovering in hospital.

The assassin’s admirer, Mahmoud Abbas, is the same Mahmoud Abbas about whom President Barack Obama said last March:

I think nobody would dispute that whatever disagreements you may have with him, he has proven himself to be somebody who has been committed to nonviolence and diplomatic efforts to resolve this issue. [Emphasis added.]

That was in an interview where Obama, of course, portrayed Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu as the recalcitrant party who needs to “seize the moment” and make peace.

Even if Abbas wanted to reject Islamic terrorism, doing so would be akin to signing his own death warrant.

In a speech in Ramallah on November 11, marking the tenth anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, Abbas declared: “He who surrenders one grain of the soil of Palestine and Jerusalem is not one of us.”

This statement alone should be enough for Kerry and Western leaders to realize that it would be impossible to ask Abbas to make any concessions. Like Arafat, Abbas has become hostage to his own rhetoric. How can Abbas be expected to accept any deal that does not include 100% of his demands — in this instance, all territory captured by Israel in 1967? [Emphasis added.]

Abbas himself knows that if he comes back with 97% or 98% of his demands, his people will either spit in is face or kill him, after accusing him of being a “defeatist” and “relinquishing Palestinian rights.”

Abbas was elected for a five year term as President of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on November 11, 2004, until January 9, 2009. However,

due to Palestinian Internal conflict he unilaterally extended his term for another year and continues in office even years after that second deadline expired. As a result of this, Fatah’s main rival, Hamas announced that it would not recognise the extension or view Abbas as rightful president.[6][7][8] [Emphasis added.]

For these and many other reasons, a “two state solution” would ultimately pit Israel and Hamas against either other, more so even that presently. It would result in either the death of Israel — the only free and democratic state in the region — or the death of the  Palestinian  state notion. The United States should agree with Israel that the death of the Palestinian state notion is preferable to the death of Israel. There is no apparent reason to assume, or even to hope, that Obama does.

On a lighter note, this might be better than a two state solution but, due to regional demographics and Israel’s dedication to democracy, would not work either.

Categories: Abbas, Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, Iran, Islam, Islamic State, Israel, Israel, Palestinians, Jerusalem, Kerry, Netanyahu, Nukes, Obama, Two state solution
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Condemnations of synagogue attack pour in, even from Bahrain and Turkey

November 18, 2014

Condemnations of synagogue attack pour in, even from Bahrain and Turkey.

Foreign Ministry decries tendentious reporting of attack.

erdogan

Turkey President Recep Tayyip erdogan. (photo credit:REUTERS)

 

Leaders from around the world – including the foreign minister of Bahrain – strongly and immediately denounced Tuesday’s terror attack in Jerusalem, even as Israeli leaders slammed the world for ignoring the Palestinian incitement that preceded the murders.

US President Barack Obama said there could be “no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians.” Three of the four men killed held US citizenship.

“This is a tragedy for both nations, Israel and the United States,” Obama said “Too many Israelis have died. Too many Palestinians have died.”

“At this sensitive moment in Jerusalem,” the president said, “it is all the more important for Israeli and Palestinian leaders and ordinary citizens to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence, and seek a path forward towards peace.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was a direct result of incitement led by Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and that this incitement was ‘irresponsibly” ignored by the international community.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman echoed this sentiment, saying the world must denounce the anti-Semitic pronouncements of Abbas, which included saying that “impure” Jews must be prevented by all means from desecrating the Temple Mount.

Netanyahu mentioned the Palestinian incitement in a conversation shortly after the attack with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in London. Netanyahu met Kerry and Jordanian King Abdullah II last week in Amman, where they discussed ways to ease the tension in Jerusalem.

Speaking before a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Kerry characterized Tuesday’s attack as an act of “senseless brutality” that “simply has no place in human behavior.”

“People who had come to worship God in the sanctuary of the synagogue were hatcheted and hacked and murdered in their holy place in an act of pure terror and senseless brutality.”

He called on the Palestinian leadership to “begin to take steps to restrain any kind of incitement that comes from their language or from other people’s language and exhibit the kind of leadership that is necessary to put this region on a peaceful path,” he said.

French President Francois Hollande went a step farther than most leaders, not only condemning the attack, but also condemning those who “dare to praise” the attack. He expressed concern over the recent violence “in Jerusalem, Israel, and in the West Bank.”

New EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini followed suit, roundly condemning the attack as well as “all statements calling for or praising such attacks.”

Mogherini added that “the lack of progress towards the two-state solution will systematically ensure the next round of violence. The time has come for both sides to make compromises, promote stability and ensure long-term security for both Israelis and Palestinians. The absence of a credible political framework is used instrumentally and leads to further hardening of ideological and religious stands. It is the responsibility of both parties, with the help of the international community, to urgently work on resuming the talks.”

German foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier issued a statement saying he was “shocked to the depth of my soul” by the attack.

He said the fact that a place of worship was turned into a scene of murder constituted the crossing of a “horrible red-line in a situation that is already extremely tense.”

“I visited Jerusalem just a few days ago and and could feel the tension in the atmosphere,” he said. “What happened now is a tragedy. I hope it will be a wake-up call. The tension can quickly turn into a violent outburst.”

Steinmeier said that unresolved political questions alongside a religious component gave “a new dangerous dimension to a conflict that is already very serious.”

The foreign ministers of Canada, Britain, Italy and other countries also denounced the attack, with Canada’s John Baird denouncing “statements of incitement,” saying that “leaders who regularly issue them cannot plead ignorance or look the other way when terrorist attacks like today’s occur.”

Among the condemnations from more unlikely sources were ones issued by Turkey and Bahrain.

Turkey, which routinely slams Israel with extreme rhetoric, condemned the attack, with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu saying “it’s not possible for us to approve attacks against holy places, regardless of which religion it belongs to.”

According to the daily Hurriyet, Cavusoglu – during a press conference in Ankara with visiting Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, said that “negative moves from Israel continue, but there is no excuse to attack a synagogue.”

And Bahrain’s foreign minister Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa took to his Twitter feed to condemn the attack, adding that “the murder of innocents in the synagogue will not be worth the price paid for it, (which will be) more collective punishment of the Palestinian people and more injustice and aggression.”

In a related development, the Foreign Ministry issued a directive to its delegations around the world calling on them to immediately protest to media outlets distorting reports about the attack.

The directive followed a number of examples of what the ministry said was poor reporting, including a CNN ticker that read, “4 Israelis, 2 Palestinians dead in Jerusalem,” and a headline in the French daily Le Monde that read “Six killed in Jerusalem,” giving a distorted picture of what happened by lumping the perpetrators with the victims.

Following a protest from the embassy in Paris, Le Monde changed the headline to read that four Israelis and “two Palestinian attackers” were killed. CNN, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that “as CNN updated its reporting on the terrorist attack on the synagogue in Jerusalem earlier today, our coverage did not immediately reflect the fact that the two Palestinians killed were the attackers. We erred and regret the mistake.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said that from Israel’s perspective, “tendentious reports and lies are meant to distort the reality, to defame Israel and in practice (if not always by intent) give a back-wind to terror.”

Michael Wilner contributed to this report

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More Beheadings, More Denial

November 18, 2014

More Beheadings, More Denial, Front Page Magazine, , November 18, 2014

(Please see also this article, and others, on today’s Islamic slaughter at a Jerusalem synagogue. “Knives, axes and guns” were used.” Hamas responded with praise for the terrorists who did it. Will Obama, our Islamic “scholar” in chief, declare that such Palestinian “actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith?” He won’t. Nor, of course, will he admit that the Palestinian’s Islamic actions, like those of the Islamic State, do represent Islam.– DM)

Obama with microphones

All you have to do is change the name of the victim, and this could be a story from August, or September, or October: the Islamic State has beheaded yet another hostage, this time Peter Kassig, aka Abdul-Rahman Kassig, and Barack Obama has declared yet again that the beheading has nothing to do with Islam. Obama might as well have a form ready for the next jihad beheading or mass murder attack: all he will have to do is fill in the blank and then take to the airwaves to say that the latest bloodshed has nothing to do with Islam. If the victims are British, he can lend his form to David Cameron.

But all this repeating of the political elites’ “Islam is peace” meme will never make it so. And the constant repetition of this falsehood is doing nothing less than endangering Americans. It keeps people ignorant who might otherwise get a clear idea of the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat. It fosters complacency. It makes all too many Americans assume that this kind of behavior is restricted to the “extremists” of the Islamic State, and could never happen here.

It could happen here. It could happen anywhere that people read the phrase “when you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks” (Qur’an 47:4) as if it were a command of the Creator of the Universe. But to point out that simple and obvious fact nowadays only brings down upon one’s head charges of “hatred” and of “demonizing all Muslims,” when in a sane society it would bring honest explanations from Muslims of good will of what they were doing to ensure that no Muslim ever acted on that verse’s literal meaning.

In reality, they’re doing nothing. No Muslim organization, mosque or school in the United States has any program to teach young Muslims and converts to Islam why they should avoid and reject on Islamic grounds the vision of Islam – and of unbelievers – that the Islamic State and other jihad groups offer them. This is extremely strange, given the fact that all the Muslim organizations, mosques and schools in the United States ostensibly reject this understanding of Islam. And even stranger is that no American authorities seem to have noticed the absence of such initiatives, much less dared to call out Muslim groups about this.

On the contrary, instead of calling on Muslim groups to take some action to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future, Obama’s latest denial was even more strenuous in its dissociation of the beheading from Islam: “ISIL’s actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith which Abdul-Rahman adopted as his own.”

“Least of all”! As if it were possible that the Islamic State’s actions represented Buddhism, or Methodism, or Christian Science, or the Hardshell Baptists, or the Mandaeans, to greater or lesser degrees, but the most far-fetched association one could make, out of all the myriad faiths people hold throughout the world, would be to associate the Islamic State’s actions with…Islam. The Islamic State’s actions represent no faith, least of all Islam – as if it were more likely that the Islamic State were made up of Presbyterians or Lubavitcher Hasidim or Jains or Smartas than that it were made up of Muslims.

Why do not just some, but all of the political leaders in Western countries cling to this outlandish fiction? Because reality indicts them. Not only do they insist that Islam is a religion of peace despite an ever-growing mountain of evidence to the contrary; they have made that falsehood a cornerstone of numerous policies. They have encouraged mass immigration and refugee resettlement from Muslim countries, without even making an attempt to determine whether or not any of the people they were importing had any connections to or sympathies with jihad groups. Their governments have for years partnered with and collaborated with groups with proven ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. They have favored and aided the Brotherhood and groups like it to attain power in the Middle East and North Africa, deeming them “moderate” because they claimed to eschew violence, and blithely ignoring that their goals were the same as those of groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

If Barack Obama or David Cameron admitted that Islam was not a religion of peace, all these disastrous policies and others would be called into question. Cameron’s government might, quite deservedly, fall, and Obama’s would be crippled.

However, the primary reason why Obama and his cohorts continue to stand athwart the pile of beheaded bodies shouting that Islam is a religion of peace is because if they didn’t, the mainstream media – following its own policies as delineated by the Society of Professional Journalists – would immediately denounce them as “racists,” “bigots,” and “Islamophobes,” and their career not just as politicians but as respectable people would be over. It’s not that bad, you say? Just look at how the sharks are circling Bill Maher and tell me that.

Nonetheless, the Big Lie, however ascendant it may be today, is foredoomed. The fact that it is repeated, and must be repeated, so often is evidence of that. No one has to run around insisting that Christianity is a religion of peace, because Christian leaders are reacting to the escalating Muslim persecution of their brethren by opening up their churches to Muslim prayer and muting their criticism of that persecution out of deference to their Muslim “dialogue” partners. If anything says “religion of peace,” it’s Christians forcibly ejecting a Christian woman from a Christian cathedral for proclaiming Christ, so that Muslims could deny him there.

“Religion of abject surrender” might be more apt, but in any case, no one thinks contemporary Christianity is a religion of war. All too many Muslims worldwide, however, energetically go about illustrating every day that Islam is not a religion of peace, and so they keep Obama’s printer busy turning out denial forms, ready for him to fill in the blanks with the name of the next victim: “The murder of _________ has nothing whatsoever to do with the great religion of Islam…”

But this is a counsel of despair. The truth will get out; indeed, it is already abundantly out. We can only hope that not too many more will have to feel the blade at their necks before Obama and the rest can no longer avoid taking realistic and effective action.

Categories: Fairy tales, Islam, Islamic State, Islamism, Israel, Obama
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Four killed in Jerusalem synagogue terror attack

November 18, 2014

Four killed in Jerusalem synagogue terror attack – National Israel News | Haaretz.

( Blessed be the true judge… ברוך דיין אמת  – JW }

Netanyahu convenes Security Cabinet meeting, says Israel will respond with ‘firm hand;’ Abbas condemns attack, Hamas lauds it; eight wounded.
First responders evacuate the body of a victim of the Jerusalem terror attack, Nov. 18, 2014.

First responders evacuate the body of a victim of the Jerusalem terror attack, Nov. 18, 2014.Emil Salman

Four Israelis were killed and several others wounded in a terror attack on Tuesday morning in a synagogue in the western Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof.

Two assailants were killed at the scene by police.

Eight people were wounded in the assault, including four seriously, two moderately and two lightly. Magen David Adom ambulances administered first aid to the wounded before evacuating them to hospitals in the city. Five were taken to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, and the rest to Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

Israel Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said two assailants entered the synagogue on Tuesday with knives, axes and guns and attacked worshipers. The attackers were killed in a shootout with police. Samri said the attackers were Palestinians from East Jerusalem.

The shooting occured at the Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue on Shimon Agassi St. The Lithuanian synagogue is part of a compound that includes a kolel (a yeshiva for married men) and another synagogue. Residents of the neighborhood said the 6:30 A.M minyan (Jewish prayer quorum) included less people than usual, but there were still dozens of worshipers at the site when the terrorists struck.

The first call to first responders was made at 7:01 A.M. According to police, two terrorists entered the compound and attacked worshippers, who were leaving the synagogue, with guns and axes. Two traffic policemen arrived at the scene separately and were joined by a third police officer. The three engaged in a firefight with the terrorists and killed them. One policeman was critically wounded, and another sustained moderate wounds.

Initially, police suspected there may be a third assailant on the loose in the area, but later stated this was no longer a concern.

Large police forces arrived at the scene after the attack.

 

Several right-wing protesters gathered near the scene of the attack, calling “Death to Arabs” and “Revenge.”

Palestinian sources said the suspects were Rassan and Adi Abu al- Jamal, cousins from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber. Residents there said large forces of Shin Bet security personnel arrived at there after the attack and entered the suspects’ family houses. Residents also reported hearing shots of teargas near the houses. They also said a school near the houses was evacuated.

Palestinians also reported seeing large security forces in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

Eliyahu Rotenberg, who resides near the synagogue, described what he witnessed of the attack. “We heard the sirens (of police vehicles) and I went outside and saw police taking cover and shooting. Many shots were fired and I saw one of the police get wounded and the terrorists being killed.”

ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi Zahav described the scene inside the synagogue: “I’ve seen disaster scenes that were a lot worse with more fatalities, but to see Jews with beards and pe’ot (sidelocks) wrapped in teffilin (phylacteries), surrounded by puddles of blood – I do not remember seeing such a sight.”

“This is not a cliché, it’s the reality,” he continued. “We have only seen things like this happen in the Holocaust.“

Israeli security personnel run next to a synagogue, where a Palestinian terror attack took place, in Jerusalem, Nov. 18, 2014. Photo by Reuters

Zahav said three of the dead worshipers were found inside the synagogue and the fourth in the corridor. He also said he saw the two assailants, who were killed in a gunfight with police, at the entrance to the synagogue.

‘Incitement fed attack’

Following the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a Security Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Bureau, to be held this afternoon.

Netanyahu said incitement by Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas motivated attacks on Jews. “This is a direct result of the incitement lead by Hamas and Abu Mazen (Abbas), incitement that the international community irresponsibly ignores.

“We will respond with a firm hand to this brutal murder of Jews who went to pray and were scathed by despicable murder.”

Hamas praised Tuesday morning’ attack, describing it as “a quality development in the confrontation with the Israeli occupation.”

“The organization welcomes the terror attack, an appropriate and functional response to the crimes of the occupation,” the Gaza-based group added.

Abbas, on the other hand, condemned the attack. “The presidency condemns the attack on Jewish worshippers in their place of prayer and condemns the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it,” his office said in a statement to Reuters.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the attack was an act of “pure terror”.

“This simply has no place in human behavior,” he told reporters during a visit to London. He also called for Palestinian leaders to condemn the attack.

Kerry called Netanyahu to condemn the attack. During their conversation, the Israeli prime minister told the U.S. secretary that the strike was a direct result of Abbas’ incitement, and that it was a despicable murder at a sacred site.

The United Nations’ Middle East envoy, Robert Serry, said he was “abhorred by the attack,” and added: “There can be no justification whatsoever for these deliberate killings,” which he strongly condemns.

“I reiterate the United Nations’ urgent call on all sides to do everything they can possibly do to avoid further escalation in the already very tense situation in Jerusalem,” he said.

EU ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen also condemned the attack, saying “I am horrified by and utterly condemn the despicable terror attack on worshipers in Jerusalem.”

After the attack, Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef called for security guards to be posted outside every synagogue, “just like any other public place.”

On the other hand, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau told Army Radio the prospect of a security guard at every synagogue, as is the case around the world, should not be repeated in Israel. “All over the country there are synagogues with bustling Jewish life of Torah, prayer and charity. They must not be allowed to stop because of some bloodthirsty terrorists,” he said.

The violence comes amid high tensions in the city, with a wave of attacks by Palestinians on Israelis killing at least six people in recent weeks. On Sunday night, a Palestinian man was found dead in East Jerusalem in a bus he drove for Israeli bus company Egged. News of his death sparked protests in various Palestinian neighborhoods. Police said an autopsy indicated the man comitted suicide by hanging, while a Palestinian pathologist suspected foul play.

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EU Officials Warn: Hamas Siphoning Off Reconstruction Funds to Rearm, Despite Aid Projects

November 18, 2014

EU Officials Warn: Hamas Siphoning Off Reconstruction Funds to Rearm, Despite Aid Projects, Algemeiner, Dave Bender, November 17, 2014

Hamas-Al-Qassam-Brigades-300x168Hamas’ Al Qassam Brigades. Photo: Facebook.

Adding to the concern is exiled Jordanian politician, Mudar Zahran, who confirms that Hamas is already trying to confiscate construction materials donated by the international community, with some success.

“Aid earmarked for reconstruction is turning up on the Hamas controlled black market, where it is being sold at premium prices,” Zahran recently charged, Ch. 2 said.

***************

Hamas in Gaza may be exploiting European Union (EU) funds to rearm instead of rebuild after its pounding in this summer’s Operation Protective Edge, according to European parliament member Arne Gericke, Israel’s Ch. 2 News said Monday night.

Gericke and other EU officials have voiced concerns over a European Court of Auditors report alleging that over 2.5 percent of the EU budget for external relations, aid and enlargement had been misappropriated.

If that percentage is applied to the more than $560 million (€450m) pledged to Gaza, that means nearly $14.7 million (€11.7m) could end up in Hamas’s hands.

The Israeli army’s 51-day foray to quell some 4,000 rockets and mortars, and destroy over 30 attack tunnels destroyed much of the Islamist group’s facilities and arsenal, according to senior Israeli officials.

Adding to the concern is exiled Jordanian politician, Mudar Zahran, who confirms that Hamas is already trying to confiscate construction materials donated by the international community, with some success.

“Aid earmarked for reconstruction is turning up on the Hamas controlled black market, where it is being sold at premium prices,” Zahran recently charged, Ch. 2 said.

Hamas has annually funneled over $300 million towards weapons and paying military salaries, according to the Shin Bet Israel Security Agency.

khameini-mashaal-300x215 (1)The Twitter page of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, photographed sitting next to Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. Photo: Screenshot / Twitter.

Meanwhile, instead of offering road crews, an Iranian military commander said Monday that “Millions of Basijis (volunteer forces) are ready in Iran to be dispatched to Syria and Gaza,” to fight alongside Palestinian terrorist groups in the latter.

However, Basiji volunteer forces chief, Brig.-Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said at a press conference that “there is no need to dispatch troops to Gaza” saying that the Palestinians had sufficient abilities to “battle the Israelis,” themselves, according to Iran’s state controlled Fars News Agency.

“The most serious job is that they need to receive the necessary training and skills, as today, Gaza has its own defensive industry and they have stood on their feet; we also try to implement the same plan in the West Bank, God willing,” Naqdi said.

In the West Bank, the rival Palestinian Authority’s minister of civil affairs said Monday that reconstruction material for Qatari-funded construction projects will enter the Gaza Strip upon agreement with the Israeli side, according to Palestinian media.

Hussein al-Sheikh said in a statement that reconstruction material started flowing to Gaza on Monday, including some 100 trucks carrying 4,000 tons of supplies for road repairs, according to the Ma’an News agency.

Al-Sheikh added that asphalt will be entering the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and said that Israel’s Civil Administration agreed to allow 100 trucks of road construction materials in daily.

Categories: European Union, Gaza, Hamas, Israel
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