Go Argue with Hamas Logic

This logic:

"Hamas has one clear and specific demand: for the siege to be completely lifted from Gaza," he said. "It's not reasonable that every now and then Israel decides to level Gaza to the ground, and then we decide to sit down and talk about it after it is done. On the Israeli part, they want to stop the missiles from one side. How is that?"

He added: "If they stop the aircraft from shooting, Hamas will then stop its missiles. But violence couldn't be stopped from one side."

The siege is in place because Hamas, who could better spend its money on social welfare projects rather than on longer-range rockets that can reach Tel Aviv and Jerusalem's outskirts, insist on shooting across the border, planting explosives along the security fence, digging under the border so as to invade and kidnap, and when not doing that, permitting others to do so.

Let's go back a few days:

This past week [Nov. 7-13] terrorist events focused on a new round of rocket fire escalation, a little more than two weeks after the previous one. It began when an IDF jeep was attacked by an anti-tank missile, wounding four IDF soldiers. During the current round 121 rockets and in addition, mortar shells have been fired into Israeli territory. On the morning of November 13 a rocket landed near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod; since then quiet has prevailed.

Details:

IDF Force near the Security Fence Attacked

On November 8, 2012, a side charge was used to attack an IDF force operating near the southern Gaza Strip to locate IEDs. The activity was carried out following the increase in the number of terrorist attacks from the southern Gaza Strip in the two preceding weeks. The side charge was detonated from inside a tunnel. The IDF force found a number of IEDs. As the activity drew to a close there was a strong explosion from a tunnel running parallel to the security fence. The explosion exposed a tunnel four meters, or about 4.4 yards, long and four meters deep, and threw an IDF vehicle into the air (IDF Spokesman, November 10, 2012). Hamas' military-terrorist wing claimed responsibility for the attack (Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website, November 8, 2012).

On the evening of November 10 a Kornet anti-tank missile was launched at an IDF jeep engaged in routine counterterrorism activity near the security fence in the central Gaza Strip. The missile set the jeep on fire and wounded four IDF soldiers, two seriously, while two were slightly wounded (IDF Spokesman, November 10, 2012). The military-terrorist wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for the attack (PFLP website, November 10, 2012).

Another Round of Rocket Fire
The terrorist attack on November 10 marked the beginning of another round of escalation in the rocket attacks targeting Israel's south, a little more than two weeks since the previous one. During the current round (November 10-13), so far 121 rockets have landed in Israeli territory. A number of mortar shells have also been fired. Some of the rockets were long-range rockets and landed in the southern cities of Netivot, Ashdod and Beersheba. Some of them hit civilian homes and factories. A number of civilians incurred slight wounds and some were treated for shock. There was a large amount of property damage. Several rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system (in Ashdod and Beersheba).
On the morning of November 13, after a relatively quiet night, a rocket landed in an open area near Ashdod. There were no casualties and no damage was reported. The first half of the day was quiet.

More:

Three IDF Soldiers Injured near the Security Fence

On the morning of November 6, during a routine IDF counterterrorism activity conducted near the security fence in the central Gaza Strip, what was apparently an IED exploded. The blast injured three IDF soldiers, one of them seriously, while two sustained minor injuries.
Suspicious Palestinian Shot and Killed at the Security Fence
On the evening of November 4 an IDF force identified a suspicious Palestinian approaching the security fence. They called to him to halt and fired shots in the air. However, when he did not comply and continued towards the fence, he was shot and killed (IDF Spokesman, November 5, 2012).
The Palestinian media reported the death of Ahmed Tawfiq al-Nabahin, 23, a resident of Juhr al-Dik. The reports claimed he was "mentally disturbed." A picture of the same "mentally disturbed" individual, wearing a body-armor vest and armed with a rifle, was posted on the Hamas forum. The Al-Mezan Center for Human
Rights in the Gaza Strip denounced the event and called on international organizations to take action against Israel's so-called "war crimes" against the Palestinians (Ma'an News Agency and Shihab News Agency, November 5, 2012). Hamas posted a notice of al-Nabahin's death on its website and appealed to the residents of the Al-Bureij refugee camp to participate in his funeral. His body was wrapped in the Hamas flag
(Alresala.net website and Safa News Agency, November 5, 2012). (Safa News Agency, November 5, 2012)

Previous to that:

1. On October 23, 2012, in response to massive barrages of rocket and mortar shell fire, Israeli aircraft struck a number of terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip. Among them were terrorist squads in the region of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip preparing to fire rockets. Four Palestinian terrorist operatives were killed in the strikes, three of the from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military-terrorist wing. Among those killed were Yousef Abu Jalhoum (aka Abu Musa'b) from Beit Lahia, and Ismail Fathi al-Teli from Jabalia (Filastin al-'Aan and the Ma'an News Agency, October 24, 2012).

2. On October 24 the Hamas administration's ministry of the interior, to which the internal security services are subordinate, issued a statement announcing the death of the two. It said that Ismail al-Teli belonged to the Hamas police force and that Abu Jalhoum worked for the Hamas Rehabilitation and Imprisonment Administration (Safa News Agency, October 24, 2012). Thus the operatives killed by the IDF two had double identities, they were Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades terrorist operatives on the one hand and employees of the Hamas security services on the other.

And it is so frustrating when Westerners in government, human rights agencies, international organizations and the media fall for Hamas.

We do not intend to do so.

I can only hope our government shares these thoughts - and plans and intentions.

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Gazan deaths here but notice how many are of terrorist fighter age.


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