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| Wednesday, Jul 30 '14, Av 3, 5774 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1. Netanyahu 'Nixed' Idea of Assassinating Hamas Leaders
by Gil Ronen  Finance Minister Yair Lapid suggested, in a session of the Diplomacy-Security Cabinet, that Israel eliminate the heads of Hamas, reported Yisrael Hayom. According to the newspaper, Lapid said that the IDF should “take down the heads of Hamas,” including Hamas-Gaza chief Ismail Haniyeh and the head of the organization's political bureau, Khaled Meshaal. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Chairman of Yisrael Beytenu) and Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Chairman of Jewish Home) supported the idea. The prime minister opposed it. It was decided instead to bomb the homes of the Hamas leaders even though it is known that they are not residing in them. Diplomatic sources explained that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wants to behave in a more “measured” way, “in order to give Israel international maneuvering room.” Netanyahu ordered the elimination of Meshaal by poison in Jordan in September, 1997, but the assassination bid failed. Jordanian security forces arrested two of the Israeli agents involved and the Mossad team found itself trapped in Amman. Israel ended up supplying an antidote to the poison that was killing Meshaal and freeing 70 jailed terrorists, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas. The heads of Hamas in Gaza are reported to be hiding out under the Shifa Hospital, true to the organization's tactic of using women, children, the aged and the infirm as human shields.
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2. IDF Launches New Offensive into North, Central Gaza
by Gil Ronen  The Israel Defense Force began to advance toward “new targets” in the Gaza Strip Wednesday morning, ignoring US President Barack Obama's reported attempt to strongarm Israel into an immediate ceasefire. IDF Radio, which reports the military advance, said that “it can be estimated that the IDF received permission from the political echelon to advance forward in various sectors in northern and southern Gaza." The advance is into more densely populated areas, it said, and the movement is being accompanied by fire, and receiving close air support from aircraft. Two soldiers have been lightly injured, so far, from antitank fire, and a explosive charge was also activated against a tank. No one was hurt. The IAF struck dozens of terror targets in north and central Gaza overnight. The IDF struck over 80 targets in Gaza overnight. These included two mosques that served senior Hamas terrorists for observation and other terror-related purposes.
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3. Italian Reporter Reveals Hamas Cover-Up Over Misfired Rockets
by Ari Soffer  An Italian journalist who until Tuesday was embedded in Gaza has backed the IDF's account of a rocket strike on a school playground in central Gaza's Shati refugee camp on Monday. At least 10 people were killed in the attack - most of them children - and some sources claimed the death toll was as high as 30. Palestinian sources were quick to blame Israel, claiming that an Israeli fighter jet fired missiles directly at the playground and nearby hospital. Israel denied the accusations, saying that Hamas rockets aimed at Israel from the area misfired, and struck both the school and the hospital: IDF Tweet illustrating the path of misfired Hamas rockets: Verifying facts on the ground in Gaza is notoriously difficult for foreign reporters, and even for Palestinian journalists seen as aligned with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, as journalists are closely watched by Hamas security forces and can face interrogation and a permanent ban from Gaza for publishing material deemed unfavorable to the territory's Islamist rulers. As such, little information has emerged on what exactly happened that day in Shati. But returning from a stint in Gaza, and safe from what he ominously referred to as potential "Hamas retaliation", Italian journalist Gabriele Barbati broke the media silence by tweeting the following message, confirming that Hamas terrorists rushed to cover up evidence of what was indeed errant rocket fire aimed at Israel: During the 23 days of Operation Protective Edge a handful of journalists have defied, purposefully or inadvertently, Hamas's restrictions on reporting negative information from Gaza - only to backtrack soon after. Two cases in particular were highlighted earlier this week. In one, Wall Street Journal reported Nick Casey tweeted evidence - and veiled criticism - over Hamas's leadership's use of Shifa Hospital in Gaza as a command center, shedding more light on the group's use of human shields. Hamas reacted furiously, and a Hamas-affiliated twitter account blacklisted him as a journalist "who lies for Israel" - a potentially deadly accusation for anyone in Gaza, let alone a foreigner. Shortly afterwards, the tweet was promptly removed by Casey. Hamas Numerous foreign journalists have admitted to interviewing Hamas leaders inside the hospital, but their reports are notable for the lack of emphasis placed on such a flagrant violation of international law. In the second case, another WSJ journalist tweeted evidence of a Hamas rocket misfire which damaged Gaza's main hospital. Again, shortly after tweeting it, Tamer El-Ghobashi removed the evidence. Deleted tweets: The use of human shields by Gazan terrorist groups during the current conflict has been repeatedly documented. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have stored and fired rockets from within densely-populated civilian areas, making Israeli attempts to stop them without causing collateral damage near to impossible. To compound the problem, Hamas has openly encouraged civilians to act as human shields, glorifying their actions as heroism. Terrorists have also used hospitals and schools as command centers and military bases. On Tuesday, the United Nations Work and Relief Agency (UNWRA) admitted that it had discovered rockets stored in one of its schools for the third time. Hamas has not issued a response to Barbari's claims, and it is unclear whether he will face a ban from reporting from the Strip in the future. But whatever happens to him, his claims raise some uncomfortable questions about the objectivity of reports coming from Gaza - in particular the accuracy of the much-touted civilian death toll, and who may be responsible for it.
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4. Ex-MK Alleges Government Cover-Up Over 'Terror Tunnels'
by Shimon Cohen, Gil Ronen  Shai Hermesh, a resident of the Gaza Belt and a former MK for Kadima, said Wednesday that local residents have been hearing digging sounds from the ground for years, as Hamas terrorists dug their tunnels into Israel, but authorities preferred to hush up the matter. Hermesh, who is a member of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, told Arutz Sheva in an exclusive interview that only the men remain in the kibbutz for the moment, after the women and children evacuated northward to greater safety. The kibbutz is located just 1.5 kilometers (one mile) from the Hamas stronghold of Sejaiya, in Gaza. Seventeen kibbutzim – as the communal agricultural settlements are called – are within the range of Hamas's tunnels, he explained. Life in the communities at present is an unpleasant mix of “Kassam fire, rocket alerts, IDF artillery fire, alerts about infiltrations, the Nahal Oz incident not far from us, the Nir Am incident which is also not far from us,” and more. "The most problematic thing is what is happening underground,” said Hermesh, whose party carried out the Disengagement in 2005, which brought Gaza under full control of genocidal terrorists. Hermesh said that while members of his kibbutz did not hear digging sounds from underground over the years, members of neighboring kibbutzim did. “Sounds like that rose up [from the ground] and they were even recorded, but someone made sure this was forgotten and kept out of public discussion. Maybe they did not want to create panic, but on the other hand, hiding information like that from the public is like not telling the residents around the Dimona nuclear plant that it is leaking radiation.” "The existential danger from the tunnels is several times worse than that of artillery fire. To counter artillery fire, we have safe rooms. A break-in by terrorists under one's home is a reality that even a military outpost would not stand for, not for a single day.” "We had a feeling that, perhaps, there are one or two problems [with regard to tunnels] and that they will deal with it, but no one thought that there were dozens of networking tunnels here, with openings pointing straight at the kibbutzim of the 'tunnel line'. This is a new reality for us,” he explained. “The thought that under your home, there is such bustling activity that no one controls or locates,” he added, “is a very problematic one for the state of Israel. The first thing that can be deduced from this is that a solution or arrangement needs to be found to remove this threat – either by brawn or by brain.”
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5. Latest Rocket Salvo Targets the South; Iron Dome Intercepts
by Talia Blatman  Since 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 'Color Red sirens have sounded in a number of southern communities, including in Ashdod and its surrounding neighborhoods, in Ofakim, Netivot, Ashkelon and in the Bnei Shimon, Merhavim, Sdot Negev, Sha'ar Hanegev, and Hevel Yavneh Regional Councils. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system over the Merhavim Regional Council. Two other rockets exploded in agricultural zones in the region and caused damage to property. The Iron Dome intercepted at least one other rocket over Netivot. At this time, no further information is available regarding hits, casualties or property damage, but it appears that no one was hurt by any of the blasts. The siren in Ashdod was apparently a false alarm. This latest rocket salvo comes as pressure is being placed on Israel by several world leaders to accept a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Over the past few weeks, Israel has agreed to several unilateral ceasefire deals. Hamas has abided by none. On Wednesday morning the IDF intensified its operations against Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza,launching a new offensive into the more densely-populated regions of northern and central Gaza.
Tags: rocket attacks.
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6. Brussels: Suspect in Jewish Museum Shooting Charged With Murder
by AFP  A Frenchman suspected of carrying out a fatal shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels was charged Wednesday with "murder in a terrorist context", the Belgian prosecutor's office said. Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, who spent more than a year fighting with Islamist extremists in Syria, was extradited from France to Belgium the previous day to be questioned over the May 24 shooting which left four people dead. "Since his arrival he has been interrogated by the counter-terrorist unit of the federal judiciary police of Brussels, as well as by the investigating judge," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. The Frenchman of Algerian descent was questioned by Belgian officers over the deaths of a Jewish couple, a Frenchwoman and a Belgian man by a gunman who opened fire at the downtown museum in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon. Belgian media said Nemmouche had remained largely silent during his interrogation. His lawyer told journalists that he was annoyed over the leaking to the press of statements he made during police questioning in Paris in the two months since his May 30 arrest. "He doesn't want to read his statements the next day in the press," said lawyer Sebastien Courtoy. "That is the reason, and the only reason, why he's refusing to answer questions." The shooting - the first such attack in Brussels in three decades - raised fears of a resurgence of anti-Semitic violence in Europe and of terror attacks from foreign fighters returning from Syria. Nemmouche was arrested in the southern French city of Marseille after being spotted on a bus from Brussels. A revolver and Kalashnikov rifle were found in his luggage, resembling weapons caught on a museum video-camera, as was a portable camera.
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7. Son of Hamas Founder: They Consider Dying as a Form of Worship
by Ari Soffer  Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of Hamas's founders Sheikh Hassan Yousef, has said that the current conflict illustrates how the Islamist group's disregard for human life is central to its ideology. "Hamas does not care about the lives of Palestinians, does not care about the lives of Israelis or Americans - they don't care about their own lives," he said in an interview with CNN. "They consider dying for the sake of their ideology as a way of worship."  Youssef - who left Hamas and converted to Christianity after becoming disillusioned and serving for a period as an Israeli spy - added that there was no way for Israel to reach any kind of compromise with Hamas, whose very charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and whose leaders have repeatedly called for the extermination of the Jewish people. "Hamas is not seeking coexistence and compromise - Hamas is seeking conquest and taking over," Yousef insisted. But he went further to describe Hamas as part of an imperialist force seeking to establish an Islamic super-state - much like the so-called "Islamic State", formerly known as ISIS, which seized control of much of Iraq and Syria. "The destruction of the State of Israel is not Hamas's final destination. Hamas's final destination is building the Islamic khlifa (Caliphate) - which means an Islamic state on the rubble of every other civilization. These are the ultimate goals of the movement." Yousef recalled how he was taught "since the age of five" that establishing an Islamic state couldn't be achieved "without shedding innocent blood", and expressed pity for the children of Gaza who, he said, have little choice but to follow Hamas.
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8. UNRWA Finds Another Rocket Stockpile in Gaza School
by Elad Benari  The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) announced on Tuesday that another rocket stockpile has been found at one of its schools in Gaza, Breitbart reported. This instance marks the third time since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge that a weapons arsenal has been found at an UNRWA school in Gaza. UNRWA has yet to place blame on any individuals or organizations for placing the weapons stockpile within a children’s school. The UN body refused to do so on the past two previous occasions as well. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness condemned those responsible for placing civilians in harm's way by storing the rockets at the school. "We condemn the group or groups who endangered civilians by placing these munitions in our school. This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises. We call on all the warring parties to respect the inviolability of UN property," Gunness said in a statement quoted by the Reuters news agency. After the first finding of rockets at an UNRWA school, it was reported that rather than destroying the rockets, UNRWA workers called Hamas to come remove them. While UNRWA confirmed the existence of rockets in one of its schools last week, the organization refused an Israeli request to provide a picture of the weapons. A picture could have helped Israel show that Hamas uses civilian institutions to store weapons and launch attacks. Hamas has openly used human shields in its latest conflict with Israel. The terrorist group has also issued a statement urging Gaza residents to ignore IDF warnings to evacuate their homes.
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Everyday of Freedom is an Act of Faith for my writings ============> http://robertoscaruffi.blogspot.com for something on religions ===> http://scaruffi1.blogspot.com
Wednesday 30 July 2014
