Posted tagged ‘Hamas’

As Israel prepares wider campaign on Gaza, US signals limited support

July 8, 2014

As Israel prepares wider campaign on Gaza, US signals limited support

By MICHAEL WILNER07/07/2014 23:08

Amid onslaught of rocket fire from Gaza, State Department condemns “deliberate targeting of civilians by terrorist organizations” while urging restraint from government in Jerusalem.

via As Israel prepares wider campaign on Gaza, US signals limited support | JPost | Israel News.

 

Rocket from Gaza lands in Lachish region. Photo: POLICE SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT
 

WASHINGTON – The United States issued a message of support for Israel on Monday amid an onslaught of rockets on its south, condemning “the deliberate targeting of civilians by terrorist organizations” in the Gaza Strip.

“We support Israel’s right to defend itself against these attacks,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, while calling for restraint from the government in Jerusalem.

The focus of the call “was on reiterating our concern about escalating tensions,” Psaki said, adding that “more needs to be done” on both sides to calm the crisis.

But the message, consistent with previous US responses after rocket barrages from either Lebanon or Gaza, was coupled with a strong urge of restraint against escalating the conflict. The Obama administration fears a wider Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza might destabilize political control in the Palestinian Authority, with riots in the West Bank reminding many of past intifadas.

US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this weekend, reiterating Washington’s concern over an escalation in the conflict – exacerbated by the murders of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Since that weekend call, more than 90 projectiles have been fired from the coastal Palestinian territory into Israeli towns. One Israeli has been reported injured.

“We look to both the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to take all necessary steps to prevent acts of violence, bring perpetrators to justice, and protect the innocent,” State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez added. “We are concerned about the safety and security of civilians on both sides – in Israel and in Gaza – and urge the protection of civilians.”

Arab-Israeli Admits He Murdered Jewish Girl

July 7, 2014

Arab-Israeli Admits He Murdered Jewish Girl

US Media fails to cover murder of Jew by Arab-Israeli, instead focusing on Jewish extremists

7.7.2014 Israel Revolt Daniel Mael

via Arab-Israeli Admits He Murdered Jewish Girl | Truth Revolt.

 

The murder of 19-year-old Israeli Jew Shelly Dadon has been solved. According to Israel’s Shin Bet, Yousef Hussein Halifa murdered Dadon on May 1st. The police said that the attack was “nationalistically motivated.”

According to Ynet news, Dadon was stabbed 17 times by Halifa, who was her taxi driver.

The mainstream US media largely overlooked Sunday’s news that Dadon’s killer had been identified, instead focusing on the murder of a teenage Palestinian at the hands of Jewish Israelis. The discrepancy was highlighted on Legal Insurrection by William Jacobson:

There will be no such soul searching not just over the murder of the kidnapped Israeli teens, but over the murder of Shelly Dadon (Featured Image).

Dadon, an Israeli Jew, was stabbed to death on May 1 on her way to a job interview in northern Israel. Yesterday the police announced the arrest of an Israeli Arab taxi driver in the crime, which the police believe was driven by “nationalistic” motives, i.e., terrorism.

Yet there is almost no press coverage. As of this writing, a Google News search does not reveal any major non-Israeli newspaper coverage of the arrest in Dadon’s murder.

Arabs have continued rioting in the streets, throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces. Arabs also destroyed the Shuafat stop on the Israeli light rail which connected the Arab suburb to other parts of Jerusalem, prompting experts to note that the ruined transit system is a self-imposed form of apartheid.

Citizens Report: “The Arabs Kidnapped a Jewish Boy”

July 7, 2014

Citizens Report: “The Arabs Kidnapped a Jewish Boy”

Police Forces were called to the area of Modiin and a helicopter was provided, after citizens reported that they saw Arabs forcing a child wearing a kippah into a van and speeding away.

“No one takes a chance,” the police reported. The Police are examining the report and the searches continue.

O NO !, Please, PLEASE not again!

 

Jul 07, 2014, 04:41PM | Rachel Avraham

via Israel News – Citizens Report: “The Arabs Kidnapped a Jewish Boy” – JerusalemOnline.

Looking for the abducted boy Photo Credit: Channel 2

In the background of the sensitive security situation, the police are investigating a suspected kidnapping in Modiin, after citizens reported that two Arabs with a pick-up truck forced a child wearing a kippah into the vehicle and fled.

Following the report, the Central Police launched extensive searches and the District Commander ordered helicopters into the air to help the searches.

A senior level police officer stated that “no one is taking a chance. As soon as the information was received, we were already deployed in the field and want to check it out. There is much bustle in the Modiin area.”

Since the murder of the three abducted Israeli boys and the murder of the Palestinian teenager, which was committed by Jewish suspects seeking revenge, a great tension is felt throughout the country and the Police are dealing with many cases of reported kidnappings.

Hamas to Beersheba ‘settlers’: Run before it’s too late

July 7, 2014

Hamas to Beersheba ‘settlers’: Run before it’s too late

Gaza-based movement accompanies its rocket fire toward southern city with psychological warfare in Hebrew

By Elhanan Miller July 7, 2014, 1:21 pm

via Hamas to Beersheba ‘settlers’: Run before it’s too late | The Times of Israel.

Hamas on Monday warned of further rocket fire toward Beersheba with a video clip calling on residents of the city to flee “before it’s too late.”

“To the settlers of Beersheba, your leaders have killed our children, bombed our homes, and sentenced you to death. Run before it’s too late,” read the message in Hebrew and Arabic in the one-minute video, distributed via social media.

It wasn’t the first time Hamas used psychological warfare against Israelis over recent months.

In March, the movement sent threatening text messages to a large number of Israelis reading “get out of our land,” and in May it produced a music clip to the tune of the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikvah,” calling on Jews to emigrate or face death.

The statements echoed messages Israel has sent in the past to residents of Gaza. During Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, the IDF’s psychological warfare unit dropped hundreds of leaflets disparaging Hamas’s combat capabilities and took over Hamas media to broadcast Israeli messages. “Your death is near; you have no chance against the IDF’s special units and its weapons. Your leaders have fled and abandoned you alone in the field,” read the Arabic message in the leaflets.

Four Grad rockets were launched at Beersheba from Gaza over the course of the past 48 hours; one was intercepted by the Iron Dome system on Saturday evening and the others landed in open areas, causing no damage. An IDF patrol also came under anti-tank fire Monday morning near the Gaza border, with no injuries reported.

Hamas reported the death overnight Sunday of six members of its armed wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade in a tunnel explosion in Rafah. A seventh member of the movement died of his wounds following an Israeli Air Force strike east of the city. Israeli defense officials said the tunnel explosion was the result not of Israeli military activity but of a “work accident” likely caused by explosives the men were handling. Two members of Islamic Jihad were also killed on Sunday night.

“The enemy’s assassination of a number of Qassam Brigade and resistance members is a dangerous escalation. The enemy will pay the price,” warned Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri on his Facebook page early Monday morning.

The flareup in Gaza has marked the first time Hamas itself actively fired rockets at Israel since November 2012, when a ceasefire brokered by Egypt was reached following operation Pillar of Defense.

But Israeli military sources spoke to a clear disparity between Hamas’s political wing, which is uninterested in military escalation, and the movement’s armed wing, which is actively breaking the ceasefire amid popular anger over the killing of Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir in Jerusalem July 2, apparently as revenge for the killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June.

On Saturday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke with the head of Hamas’s political wing, Khaled Mashaal, and asked him to take immediate steps to quell any further escalation of hostilities against Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Abbas asserted that further rocket fire would only provide Israel with “an excuse” to take military action in the Gaza Strip, Arab media reported.

Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.

Hamas Demands Terrorist Releases to Stop Rockets

July 7, 2014

Hamas Demands Terrorist Releases to Stop Rockets

Senior Hamas source reveals the group wants re-arrested Shalit deal terrorists freed, and IDF ‘ceasefire’, to stop rocket barrage.

By Ari YasharFirst Publish: 7/7/2014, 2:43 PM

via Hamas Demands Terrorist Releases to Stop Rockets – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva.

 

Hamas terrorists in Gaza (file) Reuters
 

A senior Hamas source spoke to Walla! news on Monday, revealing the conditions his terrorist organization demands from Israel in order to stop the recent round of terror against Israeli civilians, in which over 120 rockets have been fired on Israel from Gaza since last Wednesday.

According to the source, Hamas will not follow Israel’s condition of having “quiet met with quiet.”

Rather, the terror group demands the release of the terrorists who were freed in the 2011 Shalit deal and rearrested during Operation Brother’s Keeper, which was launched in mid-June.

The source claimed the terrorists were arrested “for no reason” as part of the crackdown on the Hamas terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria, which aimed to rescue the three Israeli teens who were abducted by Hamas terrorists and prevent future attacks.

At least 56 of the 1,027 terrorists who were released in exchange for Gilad Shalit were re-arrested. It is worth noting that one of the terrorists freed in that deal went on to murder Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi hy”d, as he was driving with his pregnant wife on the eve of Pesach (Passover).

The source also demanded that the IDF stick to the ceasefire that was brokered by Egypt after the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense – a ceasefire that Gaza, and particularly Hamas terrorists, have themselves breached countless times, sparking IAF airstrike responses.

In the interview, the Hamas source maintained that Hamas is not responsible for the abduction and murder of Gilad Sha’ar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrah, despite the fact that the identities of three Hamas terrorists who were the central figures in the murders have been revealed by the IDF.

Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal spoke with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on the phone recently and maintained that Hamas is not behind the abduction, according to the source.

The Hamas source added that Egypt is indeed involved in negotiating a ceasefire to the current rocket escalation, but revealed that the involvement is half-hearted.

New causes for concern at home, in the West Bank, and facing Gaza

July 7, 2014

New causes for concern at home, in the West Bank, and facing Gaza

Domestic Arab protests are intensifying, the West Bank is heating up, and Hamas may be about to escalate its attacks

By Avi Issacharoff July 7, 2014, 11:21 am

via New causes for concern at home, in the West Bank, and facing Gaza | The Times of Israel.

 

Residents of Arara, in northern Israel, protest on July 5, 2014 (photo credit: Omar Samir/FLASH90)
 

rael needs to be acutely concerned about several developments over the last few hours.

First, late Sunday saw the continuation of demonstrations and violent clashes in several Arab towns and villages throughout the country. Sunday was the third successive night of Arab protests within Israel, and they’re getting worse. Carefully timed demonstrations, especially in the south — close to Omer, for example — are starting to look like rather more than spontaneous outbursts.

Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi said on Monday morning that these are protests by young Arabs consumed by frustration and anger, but it may well be that they are in fact being orchestrated. Anti-Israel incitement in the mosques of the Negev on Sunday appeared to have been deliberately engineered by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, which is close to Hamas, designed to whip up anger among the Arabs in Israel and cause protests similar to those of October 2000, at the start of what became the Second Intifada.

Thus far the Arab youths who have taken to the streets in the Galilee and the Negev are a tiny minority. Plainly, the Israel-Arab leadership — the mayors and the politicians — are not interested in a repeat of those protests 14 years ago. They, at least, are trying to restore calm.

The second area of concern relates to the West Bank. Sunday night saw substantial protests for the first time in there too — at Al -Arub, near Hebron, at Joseph’s Tomb, near Nablus, and close to the industrial area on the outskirts of Tulkarem.

Thus far, the Palestinian public in the West Bank has generally kept out of the clashes and demonstrations of recent days. Even last Friday, the day of the funeral of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, the 16-year-old Palestinian allegedly murdered by Jewish extremists, there weren’t marches or major demonstrations in the West Bank. East Jerusalem, by contrast, was inflamed — not just Abu Khdeir’s Shuafat neighborhood, but other neighborhoods and villages too. On Sunday night, however, the protests did spread to the West Bank. Most Palestinians in the West Bank do not want a third intifada; the Palestinian Authority, and its security forces, certainly don’t. Therefore, one must hope that the PA will be able to contain the demonstrations and maintain calm.

Third and last, we come to the relentless deterioration of the situation with Gaza. Rocket fire on the south is now routine. The slogan “quiet in return for quiet” has proved empty. Israel is doing its best to prevent escalation, responding quietly to a fairly major rocket onslaught — 30 rockets fired on the south in the course of Sunday alone.

But what changed on Sunday night was the deaths of seven Hamas fighters in the collapse of a tunnel in the Rafiah area. Hamas claims that Israel blew up the tunnel, causing the seven fatalities. But Tal Lev Ram, Army Radio’s military correspondent, reported on Monday morning that the seven were killed in a “work accident”: they entered the tunnel, which had been blown up several days ago, and while they were assessing the damage it collapsed on them.

The problem is that even if there was no Israeli strike, Hamas still insists that Israel is responsible for the deaths of its seven operatives. And the Hamas military wing consequently sees itself as obligated to escalate its response against Israel.

The journey from here to a major escalation, one that neither side actually wants, is perilously short.

Netanyahu Tells PA: Find Teens’ Murderers, Like Us

July 6, 2014

Netanyahu Tells PA: Find Teens’ Murderers, Like We Found Khder’s

Israel does not distinguish between Arab and Jewish terror, says PM; vows Arab youth’s murderers will be punished severely.

By Gil RonenFirst Publish: 7/6/2014, 7:03 PM

via Netanyahu Tells PA: Find Teens’ Murderers, Like Us – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva.

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Flash 90
 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) must locate the terrorists who abducted and murdered three Jewish teens on June 12, just as Israel located and arrested the suspected murderers of Arab teen Mohammed Khder of Shuafat in just a few days.

Netanyahu was visiting the Frenkel family in Nof Ayalon. Their son, Naftali, 16, was murdered by Hamas terrorists along with Eyal Yifrah, 19, and Gilad Sha’ar, 16, by Hamas terrorists who are on the run.

“I am visiting today with my family, the families of Gilad, Naftali and Eyal, who were murdered by Hamas terrorists. I promised their dear families that we will continue to stand by them, even after the days of mourning,” he said, with his wife Sarah standing at his side.

“We know exactly who kidnapped and murdered Gilad, Naftali and Eyal, and we’ll get them. The murderers came from the territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority; they returned to territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Therefore, the Palestinian Authority is obliged to do everything in its power to find them, just as we did, just as our security forces located the suspects in the murder of Mohammed Abu Khder within a matter of days.

“I would like to send my condolences to the Abu Khder family. I pledge that the perpetrators of this horrific crime, which must be resolutely condemned in the most forceful language. I pledge that the perpetrators of this horrific crime will face the full weight of the law. I know that in our society, the society of Israel, there is no place for such murderers. And that’s the difference between us and our neighbors. They consider murderers to be heroes. They name public squares after them. We don’t. We condemn them and we put them on trial and we’ll put them in prison.

“And that’s not the only difference. While we put these murderers on trial, in the Palestinian Authority, there is continuous incitement for the destruction of the State of Israel. It’s a staple of the official media and the educational system.

“This is an asymmetrical conflict. We do not seek their destruction; they teach a very broad segment of their society to seek our destruction. And that must end. There is too much suffering. There is too much pain.

“We do not differentiate between the terrorists and we will respond to all of them, wherever they come from, with a firm hand. We will not allow extremists from wherever they come to ignite the region and shed more blood.”

Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) said Sunday following the news that Jews are suspected of the murder of Khder: “We must all feel ashamed about the findings with regard to the murder of the Arab youth. The state of Israel cannot continue business as usual following the shocking murder of an innocent Arab youth by Jewish murderers. There is no difference between one kind of blood and another kind. The law enforcement establishment must act with determination and a strong arm against the murderes, and put them on trial.”

“We must take action to eliminate radicalization among us,” the minister determined. “The attempts by extremists to take the law into their own hands damages the fabric of life in the state of Israel, harms our internatiuonal interests and damages our insistent war in the face of terror.”

Police have arrested six suspects in the murder of 16-year-old Arab youth Mohammed Abu-Khder.

The suspects, among them several minors, are believed to be Jewish, appearing to back suggestions earlier today that police had made significant headway in their investigation, and that they were almost certain the motive was “nationalistic”.

“Apparently the people arrested in relation to the case belong to an extremist Jewish group,” an official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In wake of the ISA statement earlier today, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch released the following statement:

“The Jerusalem District of the Israel Police and the ISA have arrested several youths on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir.

“I would like to thank all those involved in the work, who, since the event, have devoted maximum efforts to uncovering and arresting the perpetrators.

“The State of Israel is a country that abides by, and enforces, the law, and will continue to take determined action against all those who violate the law. I ask that everyone show responsibility and work to prevent further disturbances.

“This was a shocking and unacceptable act which any sane person, certainly in a strong and democratic country such as the State of Israel, must strongly condemn.”

Israeli Officials: If Rockets Don’t Stop, Hamas Leaders Will Die

July 6, 2014

By: Meir Halevi SiegelPublished: July 4th, 2014

via The Jewish Press » » Israeli Officials: If Rockets Don’t Stop, Hamas Leaders Will Die.

 

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh Photo Credit: Wissam Nassar/FLASH90
 

An unnamed Hamas official said the terror group has been negotiating with Israel via Egyptian intelligence services, according to BBC News. The report said terrorists would stop firing missiles at Israeli civilians “within hours.” Israeli officials have not responded to the report.

The report linked the rocket fire – dozens over the past week, including more than 50 on Thursday alone – to Israel’s manhunt for the killers of Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Sha’ar and Naftali Fraenkel, and to the Arab rioting in Jerusalem over the the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir. The network did not mention the fact that more than 300 rockets have been fired from Gaza since the end of Operation Pillar of Defense in November, 2012.

Hamas has threatened to “open the gates of hell” if Israel invades the Gaza Strip, where the terror group has ruled since 2006. Since the beginning of the Oslo War in September, 2000, terrorists have fired more than 12,000 rockets over the Gaza border at civilians inside Israel, some reaching as far as the outskirts of Jerusalem, 90 kilometrers away.

Israel continued Thursday night to mass troops on the Gaza border ahead of a possible operation to reign in the rockets.

Gershon Baskin, a veteran left-wing activist who claims to have negotiated the 1,027 terrorist-for-Gilad Shalit deal, wrote on his Facebook page that he had warned the Hamas leadership that Israel is committed to “taking firm decisive military action against Hamas leaders, even though it was known that Hamas was not shooting the rockets” (how,exactly, Baskin knows this is unclear). Baskin also indicated he had information that Israel would resume targeted killings of Hamas leaders if the rockets do not stop.

“A senior Israeli official who I spoke with at the 4th of July party at the US Ambassador’s residence, told me last evening (knowing that I would pass the message to Gaza) that Israel was extremely serious and that if the rockets did not stop, senior Hamas leaders would pay with their lives. Last evening one of the Hamas leaders sent me a message stating that they (Hamas) were doing everything in their power to stop the rockets and that their mission was not easy,” Baskin wrote.

Not that the warning helped, at least in the initial term: Palestinian terrorists from Gaza fired multiple rockets at Israeli communities early Friday morning.

Arabs Torch UN Car, Try to Blow Up Building +Video

July 6, 2014

By: Jewish Press News BriefsPublished: July 6th, 2014

via The Jewish Press » » Arabs Torch UN Car, Try to Blow Up Building +Video.

 

Photo Credit: Jerusalem Fire Department
 

In the Jerusalem neighborhood of Nof Tzion, near Jabel Mukaber, Arabs threw firebombs at a UN cars parked on the street. The UN car, and a second car parked nearby were completely destroyed.

The Arabs also threw firebombs on a building’s fuel tank in an attempt to blow it up. The building’s facade was lightly damaged from the fire.

Bus Ambush: This is How It Looks from Inside

July 6, 2014

Bus Ambush: This is How It Looks from Inside

Rare video footage shows the panic inside a bus after driver was hit by a rock thrown through the window.

By Gil RonenFirst Publish: 7/6/2014, 7:27 PM

via Bus Ambush: This is How It Looks from Inside – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva.

 

Rare video footage shows the panic inside an Egged 174 bus after driver was hit by a rock thrown through the window.

The bus was ambushed by Arab terrorists armed with rocks on Saturday night. The driver suffered wounds to the head and lost consciousness, according to passengers. Apparently, however, he successfully brought the bus to a stop before passing out. A passenger said that the bus had been traveling down an incline and if the driver had not functioned as he had, all of the passengers could have lost their lives in the crash that would have resulted.

Rock ambushes have become exceedingly common on the roads of Judea and Samaria and are widely ignored despite the great danger they pose.