Hamas Tactics to Hurt Their OWN Civilians

The recent incursion by Israel into the Gaza strip, that I blogged about here drew a lot of criticism from international organization and was used by Hamas as a propaganda tool against the Israelis. Hamas has become quite impressively adept at manipulating the media into being their official PR wing. Funny that same media wasn’t broadcasting video footage of Hamas shooting other Palestinians from the Fatah party in the knee caps and pushing them off buildings.

In any case, during this recent battle, called Operation Cast Lead by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), the Israelis for the first time did a much better job handling media attention to the conflict and by presenting the truth about Hamas and the tactics that they were employing to maximize their own civilian casualties for propaganda purposes.
This short video gives a pretty thorough breakdown of Hamas tactics. Watch this and ask yourself what else Israel could possibly do? How can they live peacefully with their neighbors when this kind of devious and outright evil strategy is being employed? Hamas is not a force to be negotiated with; they are a group of terrorists that need to be rooted out and destroyed.

The Conflict in Gaza and the Truth about Hamas

I’ve received a variety of emails and input about the conflict going on right now in Gaza.

Let me say right off the bat that I am saddened any time I look at pictures of children that are involved in a conflict, regardless of who is at fault. The look of surprise and terror on their faces just crushes me, the site of a little lifeless body just brakes my heart.

Let’s look at the reality of the situation. In 1967, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan attacked Israel in what became known as the Six Day War. Israel won a very decisive victory, capturing and retaining four different areas including the West Bank and Gaza. There have been a variety of actions by Israel to deal with this ‘acquisition’ over the years, both good and bad. For the past decade, and really going back nearly 20 years, Israel has been pursuing a strategy of land for peace. They would release land that they had captured, retreating back to their original borders, in exchange for a halt to suicide bombings, rocket attacks, and other terrorist attacks such as the school that was set upon by gunmen less than six months ago. They pulled out of their settlements and gave up the land they promised, only to find that they were now being attacked from that same land. Since the Camp David Accords the territories have been allowed to govern themselves. At the most recent elections(2006), a significant number of Hamas candidates were chosen and shortly after forcefully took over Gaza (where were the reporters then?) murdering a lot of the existing PLO faithful. Mideastweb has more on their take over here, including that, “Hamas ousted Fatah forces from Gaza in a bloody coup, throwing Fatah members off the roofs of buildings after shooting them in the knees. At least one Fatah member was sliced into steaks that were sent to his family.” Remember, these are their fellow Palestinians that they were doing this to.

Since that time Hamas has been firing dozens of rockets into Israel on a daily basis. At first they were home made rockets and mortars with very short ranges. Recently they have become more technologically advanced as they smuggle better and better rockets made in Iran, through tunnels that they have dug to hide their nefarious activities. In the current confrontation, Israel estimates that they have destroyed approximately a HUNDRED of these tunnels that have been used for smuggling weapons.

Once operations began, Israel used the database that they had created of Palestinian families in Gaza and began a process of notifying civilians ten minutes before a Hamas target in their area was to be hit. They have been doing everything they can to minimize civilian casualties. Unfortunately Hamas has been doing the opposite. Acting contrary to international law, Hamas has been committing war crimes by intentionally drawing civilians into the conflict by launching attacks from school yards, urban centers, heavily traveled roads, and possibly even a UN aid station. Their hope and goal is not to necessarily hurt Israel militarily, but rather through the spectrum of public opinion, and the sad and disgusting thing is that they are willing to sacrifice innocent women and children to accomplish their goal. Watching images on T.V. it is hard not to blame the Israeli defense forces for the innocent who have been killed, but what you are seeing is parents willing to throw their children out into on-coming traffic and then having the nerve to blame the unfortunate drivers for their loss.

It is sick.

Some people would say that the Israeli response is ‘disproportionate’. What would be more appropriate then, lobbing missiles at random into their cities (equal to what Hamas has done)? The real discrepancy here is the quality of the weapons and the accuracy with which they are used. Israel is not looking for a tit for tat war, they are looking to knock out the capabilities of the enemy so that they can keep their own people safe. This is not war for war’s sake. Israel has proven that they can and will live at peace with those around them if given the opportunity. Their peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt have served all three countries well. The original charter for Hamas says that their entire purpose for existing is the destruction of Israel, as stated, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” To this end Hamas has launched over 7000 rockets into Israel and continues even now.

What other choice does Israel have? They are in a situation where they either watch as the enemy becomes more and more sophisticated and eventually smuggles a nuclear bomb through one the tunnels and takes out Tel Aviv, or they strike back and eliminate the capabilities of those who don’t seek land, money, or power, but rather the complete annihilation of the Israeli people. Fortunately for the innocent in Palestine, Israel has not acted on a mission ‘proportionate’ to this aim.

A History Lesson from the President

You know, people bag on Bush and say that he is an idiot. Now, I disagree with the president on a good many things, but I really and truly believe that he is an intelligent man. Not a great speaker or communicator, but an intelligent man.

This is a great clip from his speech at the Nessett in Israel, where he gives us a lesson in history on appeasement and the damage that naive politicians have done throughout history under the guise of diplomacy.

Don't forget that Obama wants to hold talks, direct talks, without pre-conditions with Ahmadinejad of Iran, who also commemorated Israel's 60th anniversary.

And don't forget the presidential candidate that is endorsed and admired by Hamas.

John McCain is missing the boat on a few things. Thank God he is the only presidential candidate who gets it right on national defense. This is the most important job that the president has, and the one for which Obama is the LEAST qualified.

Obama, Hamas and Iran

Obama has been saying for months that he will hold talks with Iran and thinks that the Bush administration has been wrong to hold them at a cautious distance.

Yet he says something different about Hamas. Now let's not forget that Hamas is the democratically elected government of the Palestinian territories. They have also most recently seized military control of the Gaza strip by fighting and murdering other Palestinians, but is this any worse than Iran? How many student protests have they put down in a violent manner? How many times has Ahmenejad (sp?) said that Israel should be wiped off the map, that they shouldn't and WON'T exist, and even insisted that the hallocaust was faked.

I completely agree with him that the US shouldn't be discussing anything with Hamas that doesn't involve them denouncing their previous assertions, cracking down on their own terrorist insiders and putting them on trial, halting all rocket attacks on Israel, and actually establishing the peace that the Palestinian Authority promised to bring, but never attempted to stop.

Shouldn't we DEMAND the same from Iran? They should halt all aid to terrorist organization in Iraq, Syria, and Lebannon. They should seek out the terrorist organizations that exist in their own country including the president himself. Elect a new pro-SANITY government. Halt all rhetoric against our allies, including Israel. Make reforms inside their own country that demonstrate a respect for basic human rights for all citizens, including women. Get rid of their religous police that regularly beat people on the street or drag them off to prison for what they were wearing, where they were eating, or who they were eating with.

Let's be consistent here, Obama, let's treat all terrorists like terrorists.

Of course, he could be just saying that in order to win over Jewish and pro-Israeli voters. Let's see if any of his Middle East Policy Advisers hold closed door meetings with Palestinian representatives any time soon.