Tag Archive for: IDF

Prime Minister Netanyahu: Israel ‘weeks away from victory’ once IDF begins Rafah Operation

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February 25, 2024 / JNS — Once the IDF launches its military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, it will be “weeks away from total victory,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS News on Sunday.

Plans for the IDF offensive in Rafah, Hamas’s last stronghold in the Gaza Strip, will be reviewed by the political echelon on Sunday, the premier said in an interview with CBS‘s “Face the Nation.”

The potential hostages-for-ceasefire deal under discussion in Doha won’t stop the IDF from operating in the city, Netanyahu added.

“If we have a deal, it will be delayed somewhat, but it [the Battle of Rafah] will happen. If we don’t have a deal, we’ll do it anyway,” he stated.

“We very much want to achieve another [hostage] release and we are prepared to go far, but we are not prepared to pay any price, certainly not the delusional prices that Hamas is demanding of us, the meaning of which is the defeat of the State of Israel,” said Netanyahu last week.

“I speak with world leaders every day. I tell them decisively: Israel will fight until we achieve total victory. And indeed, this includes action in Rafah, of course after we allow the civilians found in the combat zones to evacuate to safe areas,” said Netanyahu.

“Whoever wants to prevent us from operating in Rafah is telling us in effect to lose the war. I will not allow this. … We will not surrender to any pressure. We will not surrender, because we are a people of heroes. We will not surrender because we are a people that desires life. We will not surrender because we must—must—defeat the evil,” he added.

The comments came after U.S. President Joe Biden demanded a temporary ceasefire to secure the release of hostages in Gaza, claiming that a deal “has to” go through before Israel launches a military operation in Rafah.

In a call on Thursday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Lloyd Austin, the U.S. secretary of defense, raised “the need for a credible plan to ensure the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering in Rafah before any military operations proceed there.”

“We have worked out a detailed plan to do so. And that’s what we have done up to now,” explained Netanyahu. “We are not cavalier about this. This is part of our war effort, to get civilians out of harm’s way. It’s part of Hamas’s effort to keep them in harm’s way. But we’ve so far succeeded and we are going to succeed again.”

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EDITORS NOTE: This Newsrael column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘Genocide’? The Population of Gaza Tripled Under Israeli Occupation

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What does Israel do in Gaza? Does the IDF deliberately rape, torture, and murder Palestinian civilians, as Hamas did to the Israelis at the dance party and in the kibbutzim? Does the IDF take delight in killing, in as sadistic a way as possible, as many Gazan civilians as it can? No, of course not. The IDF tries instead, to minimize civilian casualties. It has no desire to harm the truly innocent. Unfortunately, Hamas wants to maximize those civilian casualties, and to exploit that result to undermine Israel’s standing in the world.

Whenever it can, the IDF warns civilians away from areas about to be targeted. These warnings are enormous undertakings. When the IDF had concluded that it was first going to concentrate its war-making in northern Gaza, it dropped 1.5 leaflets on that area, urging inhabitants to move south of the Wadi Gaza, so as to avoid the most intense fighting that was about to begin in the north. 900,000 Gazans ultimately heeded the warning, and headed south on the north-south corridor of Salah al-Din Street. Hamas fired on, and killed, some of the Gazans trying to move south, in order to keep their civilian shields trapped in the north. Later, when the IDF began to attack Hamas in the south, it dropped both leaflets, and sent emails, with maps included, that showed Gazans the precise areas in the south, in and around Khan Yunis, where the IDF would not be attacking, and that, therefore, they should move to for safety’s sake. It was the same with buildings — schools, apartment buildings, mosques — where the IDF was about to attack. The IDF messaged, emailed, telephoned, and used the “knock-on-the-roof” technique to warn civilians living in or near those buildings soon to be targeted to leave them. Furthermore, Israeli pilots will call off an airstrike if they detect too many civilians near the target.

The result of the IDF’s attempt to minimize harm to civilians can be seen in the statistics about casualties. The UN has reported that in all the wars since World War II, the average civilian-to-combatant ratio been 9 to 1, that is, nine civilians killed for every combatant killed. The American and British armies have worked hard to bring down that ratio, and succeeded. In Iraq, when the Americans were fighting forces loyal to Saddam Hussein, the ration was 3 civilians killed for every combatant. In Afghanistan, the ratio was estimated at between 3 and 5 civilians killed for every combatant. But in the Gaza war, the ratio was much lower still. As of January 6, the IDF believes it has killed about 9,500 Hamas fighters. As of January 4, the Palestinian Ministry of Health claimed a total of 22,500 dead; it does not provide a breakdown between civilians and soldiers killed. Using these figures, we find that at most there have been 13,000 civilian deaths and 9,500 combatant deaths, for a ratio of 130:95, which is far lower than 2: 1, and perhaps the lowest such civilian-to-combatant ratio in a war since such records have been kept. It is no wonder that British Colonel Richard Kemp has called the IDF “the most moral army in the world.”

So let the spectacle begin at the ICJ in The Hague. South Africa claims that Israel is “committing genocide” in Gaza. Israel should begin by noting how the Palestinian population of Gaza went from 410,00 to 1.3 million during the time Israel occupied the Strip. It should note, further that the Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria (a/k/a the West Bank) increased from 600,000 in 1967 to three million today. There was no “genocide” in either place. But what about now? Israel should mention how Hamas tries in increase civilian casualties among its own people, by placing its weapons, its rocket launchers, and its fighters in and around and under— in the 300-mile network of tunnels —civilian structures, in order to use its own civilians as human shields. The Israeli legal teamnat the ICJ should present the evidence of all the ways that the IDF attempts to minimize civilian deaths in Gaza: first, by warning Palestinians away from those parts of Gaza that were soon to be targeted by, for example, dropping 1.5 million leaflets in northern Gaza; second, by providing maps both in emails amd in a million leaflets dropped south of the Wadi Gaza, showing places in southern Gaza that were not going to be targeted by the IDF, places where Palestinians would be relatively safe until further notice; third, in warning Palestinians away from specific buildings, including schools, mosques, apartment and office buildings, through messaging, telephoning, and the “knock-on-the-roof” technique. Lay it all out for the august judges in solemn conclave assembled at the ICJ. Tell the justices about how the ratio of civilians-to-combatants killed by the IDF in Gaza is 130:95, or less than 2 to 1, far below what has been recorded in previous wars anywhere in the world. And let those justices hear about the wounded Hamas fighters who since the Gaza War began have been treated in Israeli hospitals, and their lives saved as a result. All of that evidence shows a clear lack of “intent” by the IDF to commit genocide, and fatally vitiates the claim, made by South Africa, that the Jewish state has been “genocidal” in its conduct of the war against Hamas killers in Gaza.

AUTHOR

HUGH FITZGERALD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Israel’s Reservists and ‘The Most Just War In History’

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The redoubtable Italian-Israeli journalist Fiamma Nierenstein has recently spent time with Israeli reservists — 300,000 were called up for the current campaign and all 300,000 showed up — who are fighting to preserve their tiny state against those who wish to annihilate it. More on her moving report can be found here:

The Determination of Israel’s Reservists

by Fiamma Nirenstein, JNS.org, December 3, 2023:

Who is the Israel soldier? They can be of any age and profession. It may have been a long time since they held a weapon. Many of them are at Tze’elim, one of the IDF’s largest bases, just across the border from Gaza on yellow sand.

When I meet them, they are waiting, as the brief ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was still holding. A short time later, Hamas broke the truce, attacked Israel with rockets, and the fighting began again.

These soldiers are older and more emotional than you would imagine. Their intentions are clear: “Never Again.” The Oct. 7 massacre will never be permitted to reoccur. Israel must be freed from the nightmare of Hamas.

In Tze’elim, rows of barracks and numerous disorderly tents house thousands of soldiers of all kinds. We meet with a group of them from Brigade 252. They are soldiers from the miluim—the reserves. They have completed their three-year military service—or two years, if they are women—but they all keep their “miluim bag” under the bed. If the phone rings, as happened on Oct. 7, they rush to the front, whether they are in Tel Aviv or traveling in Japan, whether they are left-wing or right-wing, professors or taxi drivers. They tear themselves away from the operating room and the shop, the lawyer’s office and the bus they drive.

Commander A. is thin, with gray hair and a kind smile. He is religious. On the morning of Oct. 7, he was in synagogue without a telephone. Someone told him “something never seen before is happening.” A. rushed to his collection point in the south and has yet to return home.

On Oct. 7, the reserves were immediately thrown into the battle to retake the kibbutzim that had been attacked and massacred by Hamas terrorists. They hunted down the Hamas men who remained and collected the wounded and dead Israelis in the fields and on the roads. A. closes his eyes. He has seen hell.

The 252 was then sent into the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, home to 50,000 inhabitants who serve as human shields for what is essentially a massive rocket launching pad. The reservists were trained in a mock-up of a Gaza city. They practiced how to enter, shoot, exit, climb, attack and go through tunnels full of TNT. They trained against ambushes, snipers and RPGs.

A. says that, when they went into Beit Hanoun itself, “We had to quickly learn a lesson: Beit Hanoun’s ambush is in its heart, not its outer circles. The terrorists let you enter easily. There’s a row of houses, two or three more, and that’s where Hamas is waiting for you—where you don’t expect it, in civilian structures.”

A. explains, “If we decide to destroy a structure and there are civilians inside, we warn the civilian population. … There are precise rules for evaluating whether we have to act, whether it’s essential because if we don’t act, the lives of soldiers or Israeli civilians are in danger. We try to stop Hamas’s continuous use of human shields by moving the civilians out completely.”

A. is happy to say, “Of civilians killed in Ben Hanoun, the number is zero.”…

Now that the soldiers are back at war, the humanitarian issue is certainly important to them; not because of what the Biden administration tells them, but because that is what an Israeli soldier is.

First and foremost, however, they are Jews who know exactly what was done to their people on Oct. 7 and will continue their war of justice and survival. One of them tells me, “Yes, I feel when we fight, feel it physically, that our kidnapped citizens are not far away, and I fight for them too with all my heart. This is the most just war of all time.”

These are the citizen-soldiers who, like Cincinnatus leaving his plow to fight the Etruscans, left their normal lives to fight the enemy, and once Hamas is crushed will, like Cincinnatus, return to their civilian lives as professors, bus drivers, lawyers, cooks, surgeons, and farmers. Fiamma Nierenstein offers a touching portrait of these reservists, their determination and their grit. Who would not be impressed, and moved, by men (and women) such as these?

AUTHOR

HUGH FITZGERALD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Top Hamas Official Ahmad Bahr And Palestinian Freedom Movement Secretary-General Khaled Abu Hilal Killed In IDF Gaza Airstrikes

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Bahr Prayed For Killing Every American And Jew ‘To The Last One,’ Glorified Martyrdom; Abu Hilal Called On Palestinians Abroad To ‘Target Every Infidel Zionist’ – Clips From The MEMRI TV Archive

Palestine | Special Dispatch No. 10964

On November 17, 2023, Palestinian sources reported that Hamas official Ahmad Bahr was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza.[1] Bahr, 76, was a member of Hamas’s political bureau and former deputy chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Khaled Abu Hilal, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Freedom Movement, was separately reportedly killed in an airstrike.[2]

MEMRI TV has translated numerous clips of Bahr’s statements, including several in which he glorified waging jihad and martyrdom, praised Palestinian martyrs, and called for the annihilation of Americans and Jews “without leaving a single one.”[3]

MEMRI TV has also translated clips of Khaled Abu Hilal calling for attacks on Israeli individuals and embassies in Europe and the U.S., and praising Palestinians who seek martyrdom, including Members of Parliament, women, and children.

The following are clips of such statements made by the two slain officials from the MEMRI TV archive.

Hamas MP Ahmad Bahr At Gaza Conference On ‘Global Plots To Destroy The Muslim Family’: The UN CEDAW Agreement Is Evil, Seeks To Destroy Arab, Muslim Society – August 30, 2023

On August 30, 2023, Palestine Today TV (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) aired the Gaza Conference on “Global Plots to Destroy the Muslim Family”, at which speakers criticized the UN’s Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) agreement. Hamas MP Ahmad Bahr said that the CEDAW agreement is an “evil act” that seeks to destroy Arab and Muslim societies under the guise of slogans such as women’s liberation, social freedom, and “other tools of destruction.”

To view the clip, click here or below:

Hamas MP Ahmad Bahr: “We view CEDAW as an evil act, and as an international effort to destroy Arab and Muslim societies and the structure of the family within them, under shiny slogans about equality between men and women, the liberation of women, reclaiming women’s rights, spreading social freedom, and other tools of destruction.”

Hamas Parliament Speaker Ahmad Bahr: The Resistance Will Take The Life Of Anybody Who Tries To Disarm It, Including Trump Or Netanyahu; The Downfall Of The Deal Of The Century Will Come – January 29, 2020

Hamas Parliament Speaker Ahmad Bahr said in a January 29, 2020 address that aired on Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas-Gaza) that the Palestinian resistance has a long hand that can reach anyone who is tempted to mess with the rights and holy places of the Palestinians. He said that the downfall of the Deal of the Century, U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and all the schemes and conspiracies against the Palestinian people and cause will come and he emphasized that the resistance will take the life of anybody who tries to disarm it, including Trump or Netanyahu. He added: “[The Quran says:] ‘Fight them. Allah will punish them by your hands… Kill them wherever you may find them and drive them away from wherever they drove you away.'”

To view the clip, click here or below:

Ahmad Bahr: “The resistance has a long hand that can reach far and wide to anyone who is tempted to mess with our holy places and our rights.

[…]

“Allah willing, the downfall of the Deal of the Century will come. The downfall of the schemes and conspiracies against our people and our cause will come, as will the downfall of Trump and the downfall of Netanyahu. On behalf of our Palestinian people everywhere, we declare: Whoever tries to take away the weapons of the resistance – the resistance will take his life, even if it is Trump or Netanyahu.

“I’ll say it once again. On behalf of our Palestinian people everywhere, we declare: Whoever tries to take away the weapons of the resistance – the resistance will take his life, even if it is Trump or Netanyahu.

“[The Quran says:] ‘Fight them. Allah will punish them by your hands, and will disgrace them, and give you victory over them, and satisfy the breasts of a believing people.’ [It also says:] ‘Kill them wherever you may find them, and drive them away from wherever they drove you away. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.'”

Hamas Official Sheikh Ahmad Bahr: ‘Criminal’ Trump Is Digging His Own Grave – Scenes Of Gaza ‘Return March’ – May 13, 2018

Hamas official Sheikh Ahmad Bahr, former deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that Trump was “digging his own grave” by moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Sheikh Bahr added that “the land of Palestine will explode under the feet of this criminal.” He was speaking on May 11 at one of the venues of the “return march,” in the central Gaza Strip.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Ahmad Bahr: “We say to the idiot trying to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem that he is digging his own grave. The land of Palestine will explode under the feet of this criminal.”

Hamas Official Ahmad Bahr: On Women’s Day, We Salute Jihad-Fighting Palestinian Women Like [Suicide Bomber] Rim Al-Riyashi – March 8, 2017

Hamas official Ahmad Bahr, deputy chair of the Palestinian Legislative Committee, said that while Europe celebrates the woman on International Women’s Day, its men sell their wives “like merchandise.” He went on to say: “We salute the Jihad-fighting Palestinian woman, who tends to the martyr and tends to her husband, and perhaps will become a martyr herself,” recalling Rim Al-Riyashi, who carried out a suicide attack against Israelis in 2004. Bahr’s address was broadcast on Al-Aqsa TV on March 9.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Ahmad Bahr: “The Palestinian woman is held in esteem. She is a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a grandmother. The Palestinian woman is held in esteem in Islam – in our religion, our moral values, and our faith. Every year, on March 8, the world celebrates International Woman’s Day, a holiday invented by Europe. Let me say, in a nutshell, that Europe celebrates the woman, but at the same time, it kills women. It celebrates the woman, but as you know, the [European] man sells his wife in front of the whole world, as if she is merchandise to be bought and sold.

“In the West, where they are celebrating the woman today, they want to present women naked in halls and stores, in order to attract customers. In Islam, in contrast, the woman is respected. As the Prophet Muhammad said, women are the sisters of men.

“Therefore, on Women’s Day, we salute the Jihad-fighting Palestinian woman, who tends to the martyr and tends to her husband, and perhaps will become a martyr for the sake of Allah herself, like the Jihad-fighting sister (suicide bomber) Rim al-Riyashi, who sacrificed herself for the sake of Palestine. The woman, who is being honored today, serves, makes sacrifices, and maintains her ribat for the sake of Allah.”

Hamas Official Ahmad Bahr Preaches For The Annihilation Of Jews And Americans – August 10, 2012

Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Deputy Speaker of the Hamas Parliament Ahmad Bahr, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on Aug 10, 2012.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Ahmad Bahr: “If the enemy sets foot on a single square inch of Islamic land, Jihad becomes an individual duty, incumbent on every Muslim, male or female. A woman may set out [on Jihad] without her husband’s permission, and a servant without his master’s permission. Why? In order to annihilate those Jews.

[…]

“Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, destroy the Americans and their supporters. Oh Allah, count them one by one, and kill them all, without leaving a single one.”

Deputy Speaker Of Hamas Parliament Ahmad Bahr: We Will Sweep The Siblings Of Pigs And Apes Out Of Our Land – September 23, 2011

Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon delivered by Ahmad Bahr, deputy speaker of the Hamas parliament, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on September 23, 2011.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Ahmad Bahr: “Allah said: ‘Your Lord said that he would send against them, till the Day of Judgment, those who would afflict them with cruel torment. The Lord is quick in retribution, but he is also Most Forgiving and Most Merciful.’ Allah Akbar!

“The commentators said with regard to this blessed verse that Allah would impose the nation of Muhammad upon the Jews until the Day of Judgment, when they would be defeated and Allah would transform them, just as He transformed them [into apes and pigs] when they disobeyed Him. That is why Allah imposed the nation of Muhammad, and the Jihad-waging Palestinian people, upon those siblings of apes and pigs, until we sweep them out of our land and our holy places.”

Hamas PLC Speaker Ahmad Bahr: 2.5 Million Virgins Await The Prophets, The Righteous, And The Martyrs In A Single Palace In The Garden Of Eden – September 4, 2010

Following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Hamas PLC Speaker Ahmad Bahr, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on September 5, 2010.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Ahmad Bahr: “It is said that ‘Omar [Ibn Al-Khattab] wished to become a martyr. It is said that one day, ‘Omar addressed the people: ‘In the Garden of Eden, there is a palace – hear me well, brothers – with 500 gates. At every gate, there are 5,000 black-eyed virgins.’ Brothers, 500 multiplied by 5,000 is 2.5 million.

[…]

“He said that only prophets may enter this palace. He looked at the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad, and said: ‘Blessings, oh Messenger of Allah. Only the prophets and the righteous may enter the palace.’ Then he turned to the tomb of Abu Bakr, and said: ‘Blessings on your martyrdom for the sake of Allah.’ Then ‘Omar said: ‘Martyrs [enter the palace] too.’ Then ‘Omar said, as if to himself: ‘Blessed be your martyrdom, oh ‘Omar.’

[…]

“Ibn Hajar explicated a hadith, saying: When a man is having sex with his wife, he should be praying for a son who would wage Jihad for the sake of Allah. If this is the culture of the nation today, who will be able to stop it? Brothers, on the Night of Al-Qadr, bestowed upon us by Allah, I say to you: As long as we continue on this path, nobody on Earth will be able to confront the resistance, or to confront the mujahideen, those who worship Allah and seek martyrdom.

“I say to you, loud and clear: the negotiations, conducted first in the US, then in Sharm Al-Sheikh, and wherever, are aimed at uprooting Islam and the resistance here in Palestine, in Gaza.”

Hamas PLC Speaker Ahmad Bahr Glorifies The Culture Of Martyrdom: The Mother Hides Her Son’s Gun Under Her Cloak And His Little Sister Walks Ahead Of Him – April 30, 2010

The following excerpts are from a Friday sermon in the Gaza Strip, delivered by Hamas PLC Speaker Sheik Ahmad Bahr. The sermon aired on Al-Aqsa TV on April 30, 2010.

To view the clip, click here.

Ahmad Bahr: “This [Israeli] soldier, who was said to be invincible, has been defeated by us, with the grace of Allah. These are cowardly soldiers who came from Europe, from America, or from East Asia to occupy our land. These soldiers are cowardly aggressors. ‘You shall indeed find them, of all people, most greedy of life.’ They want to live, to drink alcohol, to live in clubs. This is what they want.

[…]

“Allah has given me the honor of visiting the homes of the martyrs, where you hear peculiar things. Nowhere in the world do you find people with such a culture. The father says: ‘I have nine children. Two are gone, and I am ready to sacrifice the remaining seven.’ The same goes for the wife. She wants to sacrifice her sons for the sake of this homeland. She says: ‘It is your responsibility not to give in on Jerusalem and on the right of the refugees.’ She hides her son’s AK-47 so that no one will find it. She puts on her wide cloak and brings it where it is needed, and his little sister walks ahead of him to make way for him.”

Speaker Of Palestinian Legislative Council Ahmad Bahr Refers To Jews As ‘Brothers Of Pigs And Apes’ – August 21, 2007

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Ahmad Bahr, Speaker of Palestinian Legislative Council, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on August 21, 2007.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Ahmad Bahr: “Jerusalem, which was first conquered by Omar and then liberated by Saladin, was lost by the Muslims, who strayed from the path of Allah. This was the reason that the brothers of apes and pigs had the audacity to defile and occupy it, and then to burn its pulpit, in complete disregard of everyone.

[…]

“The liberation of Jerusalem will not be achieved by means of glittering slogans, cheap arrogance, and degrading concessions. It will be achieved by realizing the divine path in the souls of the Muslims, and by raising the generation of the coming victory to lead the battle against the brothers of apes and pigs.

“By Allah, Jerusalem will be restored only through Jihad. The foundations of the monstrous entity will be shaken only by the love of martyrdom for the sake of Allah. By Allah, even if all Palestinians die for the sake of Jerusalem and Palestine, and if they all attain the honor of martyrdom for the sake of Allah, this would be a small and cheap sacrifice for the sake of Jerusalem.”

Acting Speaker Of The Palestinian Legislative Council Sheik Ahmad Bahr From Hamas Declared During A Friday Sermon At A Sudan Mosque That America And Israel Will Be Annihilated, Called Upon Allah To Kill The Jews And The Americans ‘To The Very Last One’ – April 12, 2007

Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Ahmad Bahr, acting speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, which aired on Sudan TV on April 13, 2007.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Ahmad Bahr: “‘You will be victorious’ on the face of this planet. You are the masters of the world on the face of this planet. Yes, [the Koran says that] ‘you will be victorious,’ but only ‘if you are believers.’ Allah willing, ‘you will be victorious,’ while America and Israel will be annihilated, Allah willing. I guarantee you that the power of belief and faith is greater than the power of America and Israel. They are cowards, as is said in the Book of Allah: ‘You shall find them the people most eager to protect their lives.’ They are cowards, who are eager for life, while we are eager for death for the sake of Allah. That is why America’s nose was rubbed in the mud in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Somalia, and everywhere.

[…]

“America will be annihilated, while Islam will remain. The Muslims ‘will be victorious, if you are believers.’ Oh Muslims, I guarantee you that the power of Allah is greater than America, by whom many are blinded today. Some people are blinded by the power of America. We say to them that with the might of Allah, with the might of His Messenger, and with the power of Allah, we are stronger than America and Israel.

[…]

“I tell you that we will protect the enterprise of the resistance, because the Zionist enemy understands on the language of force. It does not recognize peace or the agreements. It does not recognize anything, and it understands only the language of force. Our Jihad-fighting Palestinian people salutes its brother, Sudan.

[…]

“The Palestinian woman bids her son farewell, and says to him: ‘Son, go and don’t be a coward. Go, and fight the Jews.’ He bids her farewell and carries out a martyrdom operation. What did this Palestinian woman say when she was asked for her opinion, after the martyrdom of her son? She said: ‘My son is my own flesh and blood. I love my son, but my love for Allah and His Messenger is greater than my love for my son.’ Yes, this is the message of the Palestinian woman, who was over seventy years old – Fatima Al-Najjar. She was over seventy years old, but she blew herself up for the sake of Allah, bringing down many criminal Zionists.

[…]

“Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, vanquish the Americans and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet – defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them.”

Gaza Politician Khaled Abu Hilal: We Demand The Death Penalty For All The ‘Criminal Murderers’ Who Took Part In Killing Activist Nizar Banat, Including President Abbas and Prime Minister Shtayyeh – June 26, 2021

Khaled Abu Hilal, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Freedom Movement said that it is high time to implement the death penalty against the “criminal murderers” who were responsible for the killing of opposition activist Nizar Banat by PA security forces. He made his remarks in a rally protesting the killing that aired on Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas-Gaza) on June 26, 2021. Abu Hilal said that the identities of those who gave the “death sentence” against Banat are known, and they include Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whom he called “the leader of the gang,” Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, whom he said collaborates with the occupation, and Ziyad Hab Al-Rih and Majed Faraj, the commanders of the Preventative Security Force and the General Intelligence Services, respectively. He said that “the solution is to carry out the death sentence” against them.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Khaled Abu Hilal: “The identity of [Palestinian activist Nizar Bant’s] killers is known — 27 criminals from the Preventive Security Force and the General Intelligence gangs. All our people in Hebron know them by name. We know the names of the people who stormed the home of the martyr Nizar Banat and carried out the order to assassinate him. The leaders are also known to all. Mahmoud Abbas is the leader of the gang.

“[PM] Mohammad Shtayyeh is the so—called ‘Minister of the Interior,’ although I have reservations about calling him that, because he is a minister leading a rogue gang, who is in charge of an agency that collaborates with the occupation. Majed Faraj and Ziyad Hab Al-Rih are the commanders of the Preventive Security Force and the General Intelligence Service, and they took part in planning and carrying out [the killing]. We have come here today to demand as loud as we can: It is high time to carry out the death penalty. It is high time that — for once and for all — we witness the shari’a being implemented against the criminal murderers.

[…]

“Therefore, I say that the solution is to carry out the death sentence against all these criminal murderers — all those who took part in planning and committing this cowardly crime, that constitutes a mark of shame on the faces of those who committed it.”

Gaza Politician Khaled Abu Hilal: Palestinians Abroad Should Attack Israeli Embassies In Europe, U.S. With Stones, Molotov Cocktails: ‘Why Not Run Over This Zionist In Germany… Why Not Stab Him In His Heart?’ – October 8, 2015

In an October 8, 2015 address aired by the Al-Jazeera Network, Khalel Abu Hilal, leader of the Palestinian Freedom Movement, called to attack Zionist embassies abroad with Molotov cocktails and stones. “Why not run over this Zionist in Germany, in Tunisia, in Egypt, or in Jordan?” he asked. “Why not stab him in his heart?”

To view the clip, click here or below:

Khaled Abu Hilal: “We want [Palestinians abroad] to launch a holy march on all the Zionist embassies, in all the Arab and Muslim countries, as well as in Europe and America. All these embassies must be stoned with holy stones, like Satan is stoned. These embassies should be attacked with Molotov cocktails. Why not target every infidel Zionist, who spreads corruption and depravity throughout the Arab and Islamic land? Why not stab this plundering settler? Why not run over this Zionist in Germany, in Tunisia, in Egypt, or in Jordan? Why not throw stones and Molotov cocktails at him? Why not stab him in his heart?”

Leader Of The ‘Palestinian Freedom Movement’ Khaled Abu Hilal: We Have Martyrdom-Seeking Parliament Members – January 1, 2010

The following are excerpts from a speech given by Khaled Abu Hilal, the leader of the Palestinian “Freedom Movement”, which aired on Al-Alam TV on January 1, 2010.

To view the clip, click here or below:

Khaled Abu Hilal: “We have a Legislative Council whose members are martyrdom seekers. We have national and Islamic factions, whose leaders are martyrdom seekers. We have martyrdom-seeking women. We raise our children from kindergarten to love martyrdom. We are not afraid of anybody, but…”

Crowd: Allah Akbar. Praise be to Allah.”

Abu Hilal: “I am not addressing the rulers of Egypt. We washed our hands of them a long time ago, and we know that the rulers of Egypt orbit in the Zionist-American sphere. We have only one Abbas here in Palestine, but God help the Egyptian people, with all the Abbases they have to deal with.”

Crowd: “We place our trust in God.”

[…]

Abu Hilal: “The great Gaza will turn into a curse that will haunt you in your dreams, a nightmare that will make you lose sleep, and an earthquake that will shake your seats and your bellies. We vow to escalate our protest measures, until [the Egyptians] back down from building the criminal wall of shame, with which they want to strangle Gaza.

“Brace yourselves, from this moment, for the procession of the living dead, which will kindle the flame and the wrath of the nation, against all those who oppress and harm us. Oh Allah, whoever wants to harm our people and our mujahideen – blind his eyes and deafen his ears.”

SOURCES

[1] Timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/palestinian-reports-hamas-official-ahmad-bahar-killed-in-israeli-strike-in-gaza, November 17, 2023; Israelnationalnews.com/news/380489, November 17, 2023.

[2] Maannews.net/news/2106173, November 17, 2023.

[3] See MEMRI TV clip no. 3538 Hamas Official Ahmad Bahr Preaches for the Annihilation of Jews and Americans, August 10, 2012.

EDITORS NOTE: This MEMRI column with videos is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘The Ground Shook In Gaza’: Israel’s Defense Minister Announces ‘Next Stage’ In War Against Hamas

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Israel’s defense minister announced on Saturday that the war against Hamas has entered a “new stage” following expanded ground operations that were launched against Gaza beginning on Friday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in televised remarks that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had expanded ground operations against Gaza by sending in tanks and infantry backed by large strikes from the air and sea, according to The Associated Press.  However, an IDF spokesperson told ABC News on Friday that the expanded ground operations were not the anticipated full-on military invasion of Gaza.

“We moved to the next stage in the war,” Gallant said. “Last evening, the ground shook in Gaza. We attacked above ground and underground…The instructions to the forces are clear. The campaign will continue until further notice.”

Gallant said on Friday that he anticipated that a ground invasion into Gaza would be difficult, and that the ground invasion would begin soon, according to the AP. “It will take a long time” to destroy Hamas’ wide-ranging network of tunnels, Gallant said.

Gaza residents described Friday’s bombardments as the most intense of the three-week old war, according to the AP. These Israeli strikes knocked out most communications in Gaza, while also targeting several of Hamas’ tunnels and underground bunkers, according to the AP.

The IDF on Saturday released images of Israeli tanks entering open ground in Gaza, which appeared to be near the Israeli-Gaza border. “We are conducting out sweep and clear activities in order to create better conditions for optimal operation conditions on the ground, IDF spokesperson Peter Lerner told ABC News on Friday.

The Israeli strikes on Friday knocked out internet connections in Gaza and caused the largest outage of the war so far, according to The Washington Post. “We are beefing up pressure on Hamas. We’re increasing pressure that they’re under,” Mark Regev, an advisor to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Friday. “Our military operations are underway,” Regev added.

Israel’s military operations against Gaza are in response to Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel that began on Oct.7 and led to the deaths of over 1,400 Israelis, and the capturing of over 200 hostages, four of whom have since been released by Hamas.

AUTHOR

RYAN MEILSTRUP

Associate editor.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Payback’: Israel Expands Ground Operations Against Hamas, Official Says

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Elon, FAFO: Israel Will Use All Its Means to Prevent the Use of Starlink Satellites in Gaza

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It came as a shock when Elon Musk announced he would provide wireless communication to Gaza (invariably Hamas): Elon Hamas Collab: Elon Negotiating With Hamas Terrorists To Provide WIFI

Israel is still counting body parts and lack of WIFI is …… a humanitarian crisis?

Disgusting.

“Israel will use all its means to prevent the use of Starlink satellites in Gaza”

By: CTech, October 28, 2023:

Elon Musk announced that he would allow humanitarian organizations in Gaza to use the satellite system – after Israel cut off communications to effectively fight the terrorist organization Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip

Billionaire Elon Musk announced on Saturday that he is willing to operate SpaceX’s satellite internet system Starlink in the Gaza Strip area for the benefit of aid organizations. “Starlink will support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza”, Musk posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account. However, once Starlink is introduced into this area, it may not be possible to deny the terrorist organization Hamas access to the system. This introduction could potentially provide significant assistance to the terrorist organization in its conflict with Israel.

On Friday, in preparation for a major ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched an operation targeting internet and media infrastructure in the region. The primary objective of this action was to disrupt communication among Hamas operatives, hindering their ability to prepare, coordinate, and respond to Israeli military activities within the Gaza Strip. While this move raises concerns about potential harm to civilians, the military viewpoint justifies it as a strategic blockade aimed at safeguarding the lives of Israeli soldiers and enhancing the effectiveness of the upcoming ground offensive.

In response to Musk’s announcement, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karai stated on Saturday: “Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this. Hamas will use it for terrorist activities. There is no doubt about it, we know it, and Musk knows it. HAMAS is ISIS. Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters, elderly people. All of them! By then, my office will cut ties with Starlink.”

Cutting off most of the communications between the Gaza Strip and the world has garnered criticism from various sides, including American Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She expressed her concerns on X, stating: “Cutting off all media access for a population of 2.2 million people is unacceptable. I cannot fathom how such an action can be justified.”

Notably, three weeks ago, on October 7, Hamas terrorists brutally massacred and murdered over 1,400 Israeli civilians (babies, children, women and the elderly) , injured 4,000 more and kidnapped over 200 innocent civilians to the Gaza Strip. Ocasio-Cortez primarily discussed the issue in the context of Israel’s response and refrained from unequivocally condemning the Hamas without reservations. Ocasio-Cortez received a surprising support from Musk, the owner of X, Tesla, and SpaceX, who pledged to deploy SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet system in Gaza.

Keep reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Biden is Blocking Israeli Ground Assault on Hamas

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U.S. and European governments have joined to put pressure on Israel.

Some are wondering why Israel hasn’t begun the ground assault on Hamas yet. The answer is in Washington D.C.

After the Hamas atrocities, Israel went on a full war footing. 300,000 Israelis have been evacuated from front line areas and the IDF mobilized 300,000 troops. Those are people who are not with their families or working, some flew in from abroad. This makes Israel one of the most mobilized nations in the world. But it can’t keep that up forever.

But instead of going in, everyone is waiting because D.C. and the EU want to hold off an assault on Hamas.

U.S. and European governments have joined to put pressure on Israel to hold off on its ground invasion of Gaza to allow more time to win the release of hostages held by Hamas, U.S. and foreign officials said.

Several countries have been trying to leverage their contacts with Hamas to press the militant group to release the hostages taken during their onslaught on Israel earlier this month. One U.S. official had said that Qatar’s government had been very helpful on the matter, but noted the difficulties of reaching an agreement given Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and the spiraling humanitarian crisis there.

Qatar is a state sponsor of Hamas. It’s harboring Hamas leaders. Before the Hamas attack on Israel, Qatar very helpfully negotiated a truce.

And now that the U.S. and the EU have made it clear that they can stop Israel from taking out Hamas as leverage for the hostages, Hamas has no reason to release the hostages.

Those hostages are the only reason IDF soldiers aren’t in Gaza City right now.

Rather than securing their release, they’ve made them more valuable as hostages.

What did Hamas buy with the release of two female American hostages? The conviction by D.C. diplomats that they can get more released if they just spend more time negotiating with Hamas.

The United States is pressing Israel to hold off on a ground invasion of Gaza to allow for more time for hostage negotiations, according to a CNN report published Sunday.

“The [administration] pressed Israeli leadership to delay because of progress on the hostage front,” a person familiar with the U.S.-Israel talks told the cable network, one of two sources it cited in its report.

Asked on Meet the Press on Sunday about the U.S. delaying a possible ground incursion by Israel into Gaza, Secretary of State Antony Blinken sidestepped the question, but said they are not “second guessing” their ally.

On Saturday, President Joe Biden responded to a question about delaying a potential ground incursion by telling reporters: “I’m talking to the Israelis.”

It’s in Hamas’ interests to appear reasonable, but to hang on to enough hostages to slow any Israeli action.

And Hamas is doing just that with the able assistance of its useful idiots in D.C. and Europe.

“Hamas does not appear to have gotten anything concrete out of the Friday release of Americans Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan,” CNN claims.

Hamas has gotten Israel to delay a ground assault. How much more concrete can you get?

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Israel is Fighting the World’s War

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Editor’s note: The piece below is to mark Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, and Yom Haatzmaut, Independence Day – a somber day followed by a day of great celebration held every year in late April or early May on the day (in the Hebrew calendar) which, in 1948, Israel declared its independence. This year, Yom Hazikaron will be commemorated from the evening of Monday, April 24th, and Yom Haatzmaut will be celebrated from the evening of Tuesday, April 25 to the evening of Wednesday, April 26.

None of the 18 people murdered in Israel by Islamic terrorists so far this year were soldiers.

The dead included a 6-year-old boy and his 8-year-old brother killed in a car ramming attack in Jerusalem, a British mother and daughters gunned down on the road, a 27-year-old from Connecticut traveling to a wedding, and an Italian tourist run over on the beach.

In some countries, the soldiers fight wars, in Israel, they fight to stop a genocide.

Islamic massacres are often defended with some variation of “the occupied have the right to resist”. The Muslim occupiers keep resisting the indigenous Jewish population by killing women and children, and random foreigners whose only crime is being non-Muslim in a land that the terrorists want to reclaim for Islam.

Ever since the “throw the Jews into the sea” era, the agenda has never changed.

After the shooting of two brothers driving through the occupied village of Huwara, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research conducted a poll asking the Arab Muslim settlers if they approved of the terrorist attack. 71% of them supported the killings.

When Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, arrives on Monday evening, it finds a nation at war against a genocidal enemy that has half the world under siege.

In the past several weeks, five terrorists were arrested in Sweden, four in France in yet another plot to carry out an attack the Champs-Elysées, a teenager in the UK will be tried for plotting an attack at the Isle of Wight Festival and an Islamic terrorist leader in Australia was sentenced to 15 years in prison for planning to behead a non-Muslim and drape his body in the ISIS flag.

Stories like these have become so routine and overshadowed that we no longer pay any attention to them. Islamic terrorism unites us all. Its victims include America and Europe, India, China and Russia. It crosses the world from Africa to Asia and ends up on our doorstep.

With so much of the world under siege, it is a wonder that a tiny country so narrow you could walk its width has been the finger in the dike, holding out against a tide of death flooding the world.

The Jihad did not begin in Israel, but it was a warning to the world of what was to come. The prediction that we would one day all be Israelis, that Islamic terrorism would become a part of our everyday lives and we would go on while trying to ignore it, has long since come to pass.

But, as Israel enters its memorial day and red poppies known as the ‘blood of the maccabees’  mark the fallen, followed by Yom HaAtzamut, its independence day, there are still things, both good and bad, that we can learn from the Jewish State. The connection between the two Israeli commemorations, memorial day on Monday night and independence day on Tuesday night, is a powerful reminder that independence can only be maintained through a willingness to fight.

Surrender is not an option, but it has never been an option in a country where it would mean the mass murder, with occasional side mass rape, of the population. Israel has retreated, it has negotiated, but it has never surrendered. The terrorist attacks serve as a constant reminder of an enemy that obsessively kills women and children because its mission is total extermination.

Only 38% of the Israelis killed in Islamic terrorist attacks in 2023 were military age men. 27% were female and 22% were children. The murdered included 6-year-old and 8-year-old boys run down in the street, a 14-year-old boy on the way to synagogue and a 15-year-old British girl traveling with her family.

This is why the Israeli soldier serves. He is there to put his body on the line between Islamic terrorists and the most vulnerable and innocent children whose lives they lust to take.

Islamic terrorists don’t kill children by accident, they see it as their highest calling.

House Democrats recently protested the arrest of Sheikh Rashid Ghannouchi, of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda Movement, who had called for “unceasing war against the Americans”.

“There are no civilians in Israel. The population—males, females and children—are the army reserve soldiers, and thus can be killed,” Ghannouchi had also declared.

The Islamic cleric has often been described as a “moderate” by the media. Moderate Muslim clerics believe in exterminating all the women and children. What do the “extremists” believe?

Despite Israel’s turbulent politics, Yom HaZikaron, the commemoration of the fallen, briefly clarifies the stakes.

And the stakes are the children. And the world.

The Muslim world convinced the international community to pressure Israel by promising that the Jihad would stop there. “Give us Israel and it will end,” they urged. Despite all those promises, the Islamic war against civilization has spread across the world. Most of the world’s major nations and some of the minor ones have their own Islamic insurgency that plays by the same rules: alternating political demands with brutal massacres in the name of Islamic rule.

Generations of Israelis have gone to an endless war, sacrificed sons and daughters, to hold back the tide. They did it in defiance of the ignorance, hostility and pressures of the world.

They did it because they believed, they did it because they refused to die and they did it because surrendering to an enemy that gleefully butchers children was unthinkable.

Despite everything that has happened in the last generation, the world has learned little. But the Israelis have learned that peace is an illusion and that all they can do is hold the line.

When the torches are lit and loved ones weep, when the ‘blood of the maccabees’ blooms, a nation reckons again with the price that it pays for survival. Whatever myths pacifists may harbor and anti-war activists preach, there is no escape for any nation from paying that price.

Some nations have it paid by others, as the United States of America has done for so much of the globe, but in a world where evil is a reality writ in the black ink of the Koran, there can only be temporary refuges from the reckoning.

Israel still relies on a draft army. The price paid for war is a shared burden, but so is the price paid for appeasement. The fallen and their families come from all walks of life. These men and women, grandmothers, sisters, sons and nephews, have paid the world’s price in tears. They did not do it for the world, but their nation’s memorial day is nonetheless a lesson for the world.

Paying the price for freedom has long since become a cliche. Israelis do not pay the price for freedom. They pay it so that their children, their loved ones and their people are not eradicated from the earth by a brutal enemy that has no concept of mercy and worships barbarism.

The Israelis have come up against a choice that we will all have to make sooner or later. They chose not to die. The day will come when we may face that choice as starkly as they do.

Let us hope and pray that we choose well.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Predicting the Next Islamic State Attack in America — ‘Day of the Dead’ Part Deux

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Can you imagine 10, 20, 50, 100 Orlando-type shooters, all battle-hardened Islamic State fighters attacking southern California through the Mexican cartel drug tunnels?

Hard to imagine, not so, says Captain Dan Gordon of the Israel Defense Forces Reserves. In fact, Captain Gordon, who also just happens to be a Hollywood A-List Screenwriter, has detailed the attack in his current book, “Day of the Dead, Book Two, America!”

Don’t miss this fascinating and frightening interview that I have with Dan, as Dan goes step-by-step through the attack scenario.

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EDITORS NOTE: Dan’s novel, set in real world conditions is available, along with the companion book, “Day of the Dead, Book One, GAZA,” at Amazon.com.

How does a teenager decide to skip school put a knife in his/her backpack to stab a Jew?

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How does one decide not to show up for work because they want to ram their car into Israelis waiting at a bus stop? Where does this drive to kill come from?

The factors are clear and they are as follows:

doll with knife

What’s your favorite toy? A teddy bear? A Barbie? These are the toys Arab leaders send to Palestinian kids.

Children’s toys:

Receives stuffed animal of baby with rock in hand.

Israeli customs seized 4,000 “rock-throwing” dolls intended for the Palestinian Authority to be distributed amongst Palestinian children.

Watches Public TV:

Can you imagine Elmo talking to a child and encouraging the child to stab another human being?

Many grow up watching their favorite shows on public television networks. It is a core component to our childhood, our upbringing. Sesame street encourages kids to be nice to one another to be good friends. Other shows are silly, humorous, harmless. But many Palestinian children grow up watching more than Sesame Street or Spongebob.

Instead many Palestinian youth are watching Palestinian Authority sponsored television with cartoons depicting Jews as monsters. They also watch shows, similar to Sesame Street, with dressed up bunnies that praise and encourage kids to sacrifice their lives to kill Jews.

Screen-Shot-2016-03-08-at-12.29.10-240x160

Saraa, the young girl says

Plays video games:

Goal of many Palestinian video games is to stab Jews, or other violent acts against Jews and Israelis.

Go to School:

Are told that Jews are murderers, taught the way to martyrdom

There are tens of schools in Gaza and Judea and Samaria that are named in honor of suicide bombers and terrorists. For example, there are three schools under the Palestinian Authority named after the infamous female suicide bomber, Dalal Mughrabi who killed 37 civilians- 12 children.

  1. The Dalal Mughrabi High School for Girls – Gaza
  2. The Dalal Mughrabi High School for Girls – Hebron
  3. The Dalal Mughrabi Elementary School for Girls – near Hebron

The curriculum in some schools is also problematic.  According to Palestinian Media Watch:

PA schoolbook for 13 year-olds published in 2006 teaches children the following:

“Your enemies seek life while you seek death.” [Reading and Texts Part II, Grade 8, p. 16]

These examples barely scratch the surface of the violent incitement that has been institutionalized in many Palestinian communities.

Go to Prayer:

Community leaders encourage the stabbing of Jews

They attend prayer services and the Imam stands on stage preaching. The audience listens as their community leaders laud the efforts of Palestinians who have executed attacks against Israelis. They promote the violence. They encourage listeners to go out and stab the Jews. They are not only praising Allah, they are also perpetuating violent incitement. They are engraining a hateful, violent, and, even, murderous mentality.

Go on Facebook:

See posts celebrating terrorists who killed Jews

Facebook has been utilized as a tool to perpetuate incitement. Facebook users in Palestinian communities see statuses applauding murder. They see instructional videos of terrorists with a knife showing viewers, step-by-step, how to stab and kill a Jew.

Go out at night & Weekends:

Celebrate death in parades. Praise the terrorists. Riot

Palestinians of all ages spend part of their Friday rioting. There are riots weekly. Rioters use rocks, sling shots, firebombs, burning tires, and anything they can to attack Israelis, soldiers, and civilian roads.  Beyond the riots, there are parades and celebrations. They celebrate when a Jew is killed, or when a Palestinian terrorist is killed. The Palestinian Authority often organizes or facilitates funerals for terrorists to praise them, even celebrate them for killing or attempting to kill Jews.

Go to stab:

Result of incitement

RELATED ARTICLE: Egypt finds Gaza smuggling tunnels big enough for trucks

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on the Israeli Defense Forces website.

PODCAST: Pakistani Terrorist Camps in the United States

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Listen to this podcast of the January 3, 2016 Lisa Benson Show on KKNT 960 AM Radio – The Patriot. Lisa Benson and New English Review Senior Editor Jerry Gordon co-hosted this show with the assistance of Board of Advisers member, Richard Cutting.

Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Foundation of Islam and Democracy and the U.S. Commission for international religious discussed the recently launched Freedom Muslim Reform Movement, the deteriorating situation inside Syria and U.S. failure to contend with NATO ally Turkey under Islamist President Erdogan in the war against ISIS.

Shoshana Bryen, senior director of the Washington, D.C.-based Jewish Policy Center, addressed allegations in a recent Wall Street Journal expose of NSA spying on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, U.S. Congressional Members and American Jewish leaders, Israeli preparedness against ISIS threats in Syria and the Sinai and the tacit cooperation with Egypt and the fascinating understanding struck with Putin’s Russia to contain Hezbollah. We will be posting Bryen’s written responses to these and other questions, separately.

Jamaat ul-Fuqra fbi

FBI agents embracing members of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, a Pakistani based terrorist group in the United States.

Ryan Mauro, National Security Analyst at The Clarion Project addressed the terrorist training camps established in both Canada and America by radical Pakistani Sufi Sheik Mubarak ali Gilani, who has not been investigated by the FBI despite his founding a network of Jamaat ul-Fuqra/Muslim of America (MOA) paramilitary camps in both Canada and the U.S. that conveyed extremist Islamist ideology and provided weapons training for prison converts to Islam. These MOA camps fostered a three decade record of attempted assassinations, criminal activities supporting terrorism akin to that of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino massacres. Yet, as Mauro pointed out, Sheik Gilani does not support ISIS.

Our usually astute European listener had these comments on the January 3, 2016 Lisa Benson Show:

To hear Dr. Jasser state the plan to reform the religion of Islam was very interesting. The Sharia Islamic law actually promoted by Sunni Islam is both political and religious. For these extremists their ideology requires them to conquer the world and forcefully ask all the non-Muslims to convert to Islam or become third class citizens of their caliphate.

What Dr. Jasser is proposing is to separate religion state from religion in Islam. A modernized religious law will take a lot of time.  However, this is the only way to advance eliminating extremist Islam from all around the world. Dr. Jasser should not call this reform a new Sharia law, but the New Moslem Religious law. The word Sharia has another meaning for all Moslems. It will be interesting to watch how many mosques and Imams would adopt Dr. Jasser’s propositions because many are still funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Moslem Brotherhood. Let us not forget that Muslim Brotherhood/CAIR members have been engaged by the Administration in such policy considerations.

Dr. Jasser has to be congratulated for the dangerous and wonderful work he is doing.

Wonderful to hear Shoshana Bryen giving her opinion and analysis. The Israelis know that they are being tapped and they know quite well what encryption services they can use for their communications which are Top Secret. Shoshana knows all about what is going on and she writes about it explicitly.

The details that Ryan Mauro provided are diagnostic of the chronic illness of these Islamist Muslim of America camps.  It is unbelievable that the FBI, even with limited resources, has not taken the necessary steps to indict all those who are embedded in these groups. I sincerely hope that there will not be a major terror attack in the US perpetrated by members of these Islamist camps.

I think the radio show is really getting better and better. The American public needs to hear these comments to wake up and contact their law makers in order to have a safe America.

EDITORS NOTE: This podcast originally appeared in the New English Review.

Walmart drops Israeli Soldier Halloween costume after Muslim pressure

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This is the same strategy that Islamic supremacists and their Leftist allies employ against counter-jihad speakers and writers: manufacture a controversy over their supposedly unacceptable opinions, such that people are afraid to have them speak or feature their work, for fear of accusations of “racism” and “bigotry.” They’re trying to rule resistance to jihad outside the bounds of acceptable discourse. Getting this costume taken off the market, while the keffiyeh remains, is all part of the same motion: only one point of view, only one set of political opinions, is now acceptable in the mainstream; all others are demonized and marginalized.

idf costume

“Walmart Axes Pro-Israel Halloween Costume Under Pressure From Activist Groups,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, October 28, 2015:

Six-thousand people have joined a social media campaign opposing Walmart after it pulled a pro-Israel Halloween costume from its website following pressure from activists.

Walmart removed a children’s costume depicting an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier from its website late on Thursday due to pressure from activists who deemed it “offensive” and “problematic.”

However, Walmart continues to sell a keffiyeh head wrap that often has been used a symbol of violence and resistance against the Jewish state.

The Israel Project, a pro-Israel organization based in Washington, D.C., responded by launching a social media blitz aimed at shaming Walmart and accusing it of not supporting the Jewish state as a result of its decision to pull the IDF costume.

The organization’s campaign, which accuses the retail giant of caving “to anti-Israel hate,” has attracted 6,000 signatures to a petition urging Walmart to continue selling the costume, according to information provided by the organization.

Walmart’s decision to remove the costume comes amid a surge in Palestinian terrorism that has killed several Israelis and wounded many more over the past several weeks. Pro-Palestinian activists have accused Israel of using too much force during the effort to protect civilians from the terrorist campaign.

“Israeli soldiers are heroes. They fight every day to protect innocents from terror,” the Israel Project wrote on its Facebook page. “But Walmart removed an Israeli army costume from their website. Why? They surrendered to a vicious hate campaign—a campaign to demonize Israel. If you support Israel, you must take action now.”

“Tell Walmart: Stand up against anti-Israel hate,” the petition states.

Walmart and other retailers have also removed a costume depicting an Arab individual with an exaggerated long nose.

Both that outfit and the IDF costume were removed after pro-Palestinian activists launched a pressure campaign online and elsewhere.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, an anti-Israel organization that has come under fire from human rights organizations, described the IDF outfit as “problematic” and claimed that the costume promotes “fear” and “violence.”

“The costumes are very problematic, and offensive to many people,” said Samer Khalaf, the committe’s [sic] president, in a statement. “The Israeli forces are responsible for the continued death and occupation of the Palestinian people. Such a symbol of fear, violence and a long history of dispossession should not be used for entertainment purposes.”

Omri Ceren, the group’s managing director, criticized Walmart for caving to pressure while continuing to sell other items that some might consider offensive.

“Palestinian and Arab terrorists have spent the last month stabbing Israelis and Americans in the streets,” Ceren said. “Walmart is choosing to feature terrorist costumes but deny Americans the ability to side with Israel. It’s disgraceful.”…

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Did Iran Order the Rocket Attack from Syria on Northern Israel?

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Yesterday, four rockets fired from the Syrian side of the Golan frontier hit near Kfar Sold in Northern Israel causing fires in the area. In response the IAF dispatched aircraft and attacked 14 positions inside Syria, while the IDF on the Golan opened up artillery fire on suspected targets. According to aTimes of Israel  (TOI) report six civilians were killed, seven wounded in an IAF  attack on a vehicle 10 kilometers from the Syrian Israel frontier  in the Quneitra region of  Southern Syria.  That Israeli attack may have targeted members of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell. However, Daud Shihab a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad continued claiming no responsibility for the attack. Nevertheless, he suggested that they knew were to attack saying:

We’ll know when to respond to an Israeli attack — and that will be where the Iron Dome was installed yesterday,” he said, referring to Israeli missile defense systems deployed the southern cities of Ashdod and Beersheba on Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London suggested five of the casualties may have been members of the National Defense Force.  Early Friday morning, August 21, 2015, the Syrian military fired a missile at an Israeli aircraft.

An IDF senior officer contend that the group behind these attacks the Palestinian Islamic Jihad based in Gaza, with headquarters in Damascus, was ordered by Iran to execute the attacks. The TOI cited an Israel source who said:

We were monitoring this cell and it was attacked some 10-15 kilometers from the border, on territory firmly in the control of the Syrian military. This is an Islamic Jihad cell directed by Iran.

The Iran-controlled Al-Mayadeen TV in Damascus reported that three of those killed were Palestinian.

The pretext for these attacks may have been the hunger strike, just ended, by an Israeli held prisoner, Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader, Mohammed Allan. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it would undertake reprisal attacks of its own choosing in response to those killed and wounded in the Israel drone attack.  Israel PM Netanyahu cautioned that he didn’t want this incident to escalate into a wider conflict saying:

We have no intention of ratcheting up this confrontation, but our policy [of retaliating for attacks against Israeli civilians] remains as it was.

Notwithstanding Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said:

The strike against the cell was proof that Israel will not tolerate efforts to harm the security of its citizens.

“We have no intention of compromising on this issue, and I suggest no one test our resolve on this matter,” he said in a brief statement after the attack.

i24News reported  an IDF officer commenting:

It’s clear that Iran is behind all of the terror attacks here [in the Golan] in the past two years. The Iranians are using the border – they establish units – whether it’s [Imad] Mughniyeh, [Samir] Kuntar, and more – to carry out [the attacks].

The officer added that the Iranian regime was transferring funds, providing training and sending advisers to Syria to help the Islamist group Hezbollah.

Remember the IAF attack in January 2015 on the Syrian side of the Golan frontier that took out a senior Iran IRGC general and Hezbollah officers including Jihad, the son of the late master terrorist Imad Mughniyah? That led to an abrupt series of clashes with Hezbollah in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on the Lebanese border.  Today’s rocket attacks in Israel’s north  and immediate IAF air attacks and IDF artillery fire demonstrates both resolve and concern by Israeli PM Netanyahu and his security cabinet to stifle a possible rocket war in the country’s North. Given the huge arsenal  of rockets and missiles  held by Hezbollah, Israel wants to  avoid a much larger onslaught than  the Hezbollah rocket attacks during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 that displaced over a million Israelis during the 34 day war.

We have argued that Israel may have to undertake incursions across the UNDOF demilitarized zone to clear out Iranian Quds force supported Palestinian Jihad fighters. As my colleague Ilana Freedman and  this  writer noted in a  January 2015, NER article the IDF also needs to address detection and destruction of  possible cross border tunneling  in Israel’s north by Hezbollah. Given Tehran ” success” with the P5+1 nuclear deal and this week’s sale of S300 Russian advanced air defense systems to Iran’s Quds Force commander Gen. Soleimani feels emboldened to foment more proxy conflicts destabilizing the Middle East region. Clearly with this week’s attacks in the country’s north Israel is in the Quds Force gun sights. Ayatollah Khamenei’s playbook called “Palestine” suggests that Israel will be routed not with nuclear weapons but low intensity warfare.

Back in January we noted this comment from Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Armidror and former National Security Advisor:

Yaakov Armidror, former IDF Maj. Gen. (ret.) and National Security Advisor in a recent strategic evaluation of  Terrorist  threats  facing Israel, published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies , reported by the Jerusalem Post, noted Hezbollah capabilities:

Looking ahead to 2015, Israel faces threats posed mainly by non-state entities motivated by Islamic ideology.

“The strongest of them is Hezbollah, which was formed with a dual purpose in mind.  It represents Iran’s long reach in the area and against Israel, while at the same time it aims to control Lebanon, where the Shi’ites are the largest ethnic group,” Amidror added.

Hezbollah most closely resembles an army, and its arsenal totals some 150,000 missiles and rockets, several thousand of which can target any area in Israel.

“This rare and substantial firepower apparently even exceeded the firepower possessed by most of the European states combined,” Amidror said in the report.

Additionally, Hezbollah is armed with surface-to-sea missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, drones and modern anti-tank missiles.

“It is well organized into a military-style hierarchy and appears to possess command and control systems of high quality. It was established by Iranian leaders, but its leadership has always consisted of Lebanese people who were closely linked to Iran’s interests,” the report continued. “Hezbollah assisted the Shi’ites by providing for their needs in the civilian sphere as a base for building its military power.”

We concluded:

Hezbollah’s possible invasion threat would be costly to the Shi’ite terrorist army.  Especially in view of both Israeli intelligence penetration of the Iranian proxy. Nonetheless, the Israel’s military command must be on alert for possible retaliation by Hezbollah in the Shebaa Farms area adjacent to the Golan and in the Galilee.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review. The featured image is of Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on a tour of the northern border, August 18, 2015. Source: Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO.

Hollywood Filmmaker says Iran Nuke Deal a Very Bad Deal

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dan gordon

Captain Dan Gordon, IDF.

Dan Gordon, a Hollywood screen writer and IDF Reserves Captain, is our featured guest on today’s short promotional for the “DAY OF ACTION” in Santa Barbara, California on Sunday Aug 30, 2015.

Dan Gordon is also a successful Hollywood filmmaker and award-winning author. with the unique perspective of living in two countries, America and Israel, has much to say about the very bad Iran nuke deal made by the Obama Administration.

Join us in STOPPING THE IRAN DEAL!

We have TWO amazing events on August 30th!

The first is a Roundtable Luncheon featuring a panel of national and local experts on the Iran Treaty, on the U.S. and Israel and how it will affect Santa Barbara County. Tickets are $60. Sponsorships are available at different levels. A ticket to the lunch gets you a VIP seat at the rally (details below). If you are not able to attend but would like to donate (100% tax-deductible) to help offset to costs of this grassroots effort, it would be appreciated. To purchase tickets, to sponsor or to donate, go to: StopIran.eventbrite.com

After the lunch, there will be a Stop Iran NOW Rally at the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Gardens co-hosted by Stand With Us, The Clarion Project, The United West and other local groups. The rally is FREE and we need as many people as possible to attend. Please forward to your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. It’s up to US to stop this deal! Signs and flags will be provided.

RELATED ARTICLE: Why Obama’s Wrong: Iran Deal Would Make War More Likely

White House Officials meet with Anti-IDF Israeli Leftists

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Why did  Obama National Security  and State Department officials meet  with Israeli leftist NGO Breaking the Silence to provide maligned ‘testimonies’ of IDF reservists about allegations of “revenge firing” on Palestinians during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge?  Especially, since testimonies of fellow serving IDF reservists who appeared on IsraelChannel 2 in early May 2015 said the ‘testimonies” were a pack of lies.  Earlier this week Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called out the Swiss Foreign Ministry for funding a photographic exhibit mounted by Breaking the Silence.  This is not the first time for an Israeli objection to foreign programs funding  programs of  the leftist group.  A prior episode occurred following  the 2009 Operation Cast Lead when groups in The Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK launching similar disinformation efforts maligning IDF self-defense operations against the rocket wars in Gaza perpetrated by Hamas.

Breaking the Silence was formed in 2004 during the Second Intifada.  NGO Monitor reported the following sources of the group’s funds:

2013/4 donors include the European Union, Misereor (Germany), Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), Norway, AECID (Spain), Dan Church Aid (Denmark), ICCO (Netherlands), CCFD (France), Human Rights and International Law Secretariat (joint funding from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands), Sigrid Rausing Trust (UK), SIVMO (Netherlands), Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Open Society Institute, New Israel Fund, and others

Based on financial information submitted to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits, in accordance with the Israeli NGO transparency law, BtS received 992,901 NIS from foreign governmental bodies in 2014 and 1,271,368 NIS in 2013 (accessed March 15, 2014).

In 2008-2013, the New Israel Fund (NIF) authorized grants worth $560,428 to Breaking the Silence (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013).

Received two grants from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund totaling $145,000 (2012-2015).

Matt Duss, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, known for its agitation against Israeli settlement policies in the disputed territories, escorted the Breaking the Silence representatives to both Obama NSC and State Department Human Rights meetings.  This is another instance of Israeli leftists being given entre by the Obama Administration seeking to delegitimize the conduct of IDF front line soldiers during combat in Gaza against the rocket and terror tunnel wars of Hamas.  This has infuriated Ministry of Defense and IDF commanders from the platoon level on up to the Chief of Staff.

Here are excerpts from a Ha’aretz report about yesterday’s Breaking the Silence meetings in Washington:

Senior White House officials met this week with members of the left-wing NGO Breaking the Silence. The meeting, the first of its kind, dealt with testimonies that the organization had collected on alleged human-rights violations by the Israel Defense Forces during last summer’s war in Gaza. The meetings were held a few days after Israel’s Foreign Ministry tried to get a Breaking the Silence exhibition to be held in Switzerland canceled.

Matt Duss, president of the Washington-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, organized the meeting between Breaking the Silence representatives and members of the White House National Security Council.

The meeting did not take place at the White House but at the offices of an American nonprofit in the capital.

A Breaking the Silence representative also held a separate meeting at the State Department with senior officials in its human rights bureau.

Duss told Ha’aretz that during the meetings, Breaking the Silence presented its recent report last summer’s Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip. Obama administration officials reacted with a great deal of interest, Duss said, asking “many questions about the vetting process of the witnesses, the testimonies and the fact-checking.”

According to Duss, the fact that both White House staff and the State Department held meetings with Breaking the Silence shows that the organization has an open door to the administration.

“It is in line with what Obama said recently. These are the shared values between Israel and the United States – wanting to improve our society,” said Duss. This is Washington recognizing “they are young Israeli patriots who are trying to improve their society,” he added.

An Obama Administration official said: “U.S. Government officials met with Breaking the Silence, as we routinely meet with a range of actors from official and non-official international groups, including from civil society.”

The State Department also responded, “Officers from the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor met with a representative from the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence. The State Department regularly meets with a broad array of political and civil society organizations from various countries worldwide.”

[…]

Israel’s ambassador to Switzerland, Yigal Caspi, lodged a protest with the Swiss Foreign Ministry over it, and asked that donations and support for a group that deals with the “defamation of Israel” be halted.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who this week called for action against the Breaking the Silence exhibition, said the organization “is working against Israel from within,” adding, “We will not ignore it when an organization whose whole purpose is to defame IDF soldiers works in the international arena to seriously damage Israel’s image.”

In early May 2015 several soldiers and officers who served in a tank unit appeared on Israeli Channel 2.  The Algemeiner reported their contrasting comments disputing testimonies acquired by Breaking the Silence.  The soldiers spoke on Israel’s Channel 2 to give their side of the story to counter the testimonies compiled by Breaking the Silence.

One soldier called the report “a wicked story” and a “stab in the back.”

Another soldier, Lt. Oren (a pseudonym), was a platoon commander in the 7th Brigade during the previous Operation Cast Lead, which began in late 2008. The Breaking the Silence report claimed that one of the tank commanders in Oren’s platoon carried out a “revenge attack” by targeting civilian houses in Gaza.

Oren refuted the claim, saying “this nonsense about ‘fire on the house that you want for revenge’ is simply a total lie.”

He said “it is very hard for me to believe that one of ours said something like that, definitely not someone who was there.”

Oren, who was personally involved in the operation, told a different story.

He said that any “revenge” incident might have occurred after Armored Core Capt. Dmitri Levitas (26) was killed in battle, but that the Breaking the Silence testimony “simply is not true.”

He said despite the fact that he and his fellow soldiers were severely affected by the death of Levitas, “we maintained combat ethics.”

“While it’s true there was heavy [IDF] fire, this fire was directed at positions from which we were being fired upon, or suspicious locations,” he recalled.

IDF tanks only fired “in accordance with procedure, and after a very strict identification process,” he said.

Oren emphasized that despite “losing a great commander and friend … we still abided by shooting procedure.”

A decade ago I attended a presentation at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut by an IDF Sgt, a refusenik reservist. Anti-Israel and BDS leftist group Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) sponsored the event at Wesleyan. The IDF reservist had served a term in a military jail for refusing to serve with his unit in the disputed territories during the Second Intifada.  The packed amphitheater lecture hall was filled with attentive students and some faculty listening to the reservist rationale about why he refused to serve because of alleged human rights problems occasioned by Israeli occupation.  When it came time for Q&A I raised my hand, was recognized by the moderator.  I asked the refuseniks IDF Sgt. if he knew anything about the group he was marching with at his next stop in San Francisco. He said, “no”.  I told both he and the audience that ANSWER, the sponsoring group was rabidly anti-Semitic.  I explained that the ADL considered A.N.S.W.E.R one of the leading anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic groups in the US.  A.N.S.W.E.R stands for Act Now to Stop War and Racism.  The ADL also considered  the JVP on the leading anti-Zionist groups in the U.S. The refusenik sheepishly smiled and scurried off in a clutch of admiring students and faculty for refreshments shepherded by his JVP minders.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.