HAMAS in the News

In the past, I have said that Hamas is evil. So far, I have seen nothing to dissuade me of that opinion. See the Human Rights Watch video that discloses a new underbelly of evil.

Obama: Hamas is a Terrorist Organization

From the April 16, 2008, Democratic presidential candidates debate Senator Barack Obama said:

“That’s why I have a fundamental difference with President Carter and disagree with his decision to meet with Hamas,” Obama said. “We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel’s destruction. We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel’s right to exist and abide by past agreements.”

“Hamas is not a state. Hamas is a terrorist organization,” he said.

I believe that makes all three major presidential candidates unanimous in describing Hamas aa a terrorist organization.  Of course, it is stating the obvious, but there remain some Americans (especially American muslims) who remain blind to the facts.

Of course, Hamas will never meet Sen. Obama's preconditions for talks.  Not unless they amend their charter.

Update:  This blog has not gotten many commenters, but be sure to read the comment of Mahmoud El-Yousseph who is a USAF veteran, a Muslim, and an outspoken opponent of US support for Israel.  Mahmoud and I disagree on much, but he is passionate in his views and deserves a reasoned response to his arguments, whether agreeing or disagreeing.

Hamas Uses Good People Like Mahmoud

I have met Mahmoud El-Yousseph and personally like him. And, as we have seen, he is not always on the wrong side. But he sent me the following which deserves discussion and refutation:

Way to go to Israel! by Mahmoud El-Yousseph

Finally the Israeli army killed the person who is responsible for missile and rocket attacks from Gaza. The suspect was killed by a single bullet to the head by an Israeli army death-squad, and was among 120 killed and 200 injured (many women and children included) in a series of Israeli air raids and ground invasions that lasted for 5 days. .

Surprisingly, this earth-moving news was not aired on Fox News, CNN, or reported by other major main stream media. Here is an update about this latest high value target that was executed. The victim was a two week old baby. Israel seems to actually think that this baby is capable of firing missiles and rockets.

Name: Amira [princes in Arabic] Abu 'Assr
Address: Deir El-Balah, Gaza, Palestine
Date of Death: March,5, 2008

To better understand why Israel targets Palestinian children, Jennifer Loewenstein a Jewish professor at the University of Wisconsin put it eloquently in a recently published article. She wrote, " Who really cares about these children? Every Palestinian is a militant because everyone (sooner or later) wants Israel off their land, out of their life, and forgotten like a horrible dream. It is for that reason they are all equal targets."

Just an added reminder, Amira's precious life was taken away while she was in her mother's arms. Her father was kidnapped by soldiers and her mother was seriously injured. As far as Amira is concern; rest in peace little princess!

Of course, it is absurd to say that Israel target Palestinian children. It is clear to all who will see that Israel targets terrorists.

But, as Hamas MP Fahti Hammad said,

Fathi Hammad: [The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its [methods] of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death like you desire life."

Well, guess what? If Hamas uses women and children as human shields, their blood is on the hands of Hamas, not Israel.

As to Mahmoud's eulogy for the unfortunate child, a similar eulagy could and should be written for each poor, defenseless seminary student heartlessly massacred by Hamas on March 6, 2008.

I understand that Muslims sympathize with the plight of thir fellow Muslims in Palestine, but, Mahmoud, will I have to spend my entire life getting you to see both sides of this conflict and to acknowledge the evil that is Hamas?

Mahmoud, don't be a dupe in Hamas's game. You are a warm hearted guy who bleeds in sympathy with the death of the child. What normal human would not ? (Hint: Hamas if the child were Jewish.) You are the target for the Hamas public relations campaign. Do not be fooled. Hamas caused the death. Hamas considers the death acceptable martyrdom. Hamas is using you because you are a warm and empathetic individual, something Hamas is not. See them for what they are. Please.

Celebrating Barbarism

Islam, at least the way Palestinian Arabs practice it, is a religion of Jew-hatred. After the horrible mass murder of Jewish seminary students, did the Palestinian Arabs mourn? No, they celebrated.

To his credit, Palestinian President Abbas condemned all attacks on civilians. But the Palestinian people celebrated.

Gaza Conflict Explained

What is the difference between the Israeli attacks on Gaza which killed innocent civilians and the HAMAS massacre of seminary students?

Simple.

Israel's intended targets were the terrorists themselves. After all, terrorists had been sending shrapnel-filled rockets onto civilian populations. If your neighborhood were the target of rockets, what would you expect your government to do?

HAMAS's intended targets were innocent seminary students.

The bad folks at the ironically named "Cross Cultural Understanding" web site calls HAMAS's mass murder of innocent students a "counter-attack." Evil.

Gaza Conflict

In the course of researching the horrible mass murders approved by HAMAS within a Jewish seminary, I ran across references to the killing of 120 including many civilians by the Israelis in a raid in North Gaza that I had not previously heard about. I will continue looking for credible reports on what that is about, but so far it sounds pretty terrible and has been underreported by the Western press. Updates to come when I have reliable information on this.

Update from from the AP reported March 2:

Early today, Israeli aircraft destroyed the office building in Gaza City used by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, witnesses said. Five people were lightly wounded in the raid.

At least two dozen Palestinian civilians, including a baby, were among those killed Saturday, and militants said 25 fighters died. Health officials said about 200 people were wounded, 14 of them critically.

The overall death toll was the highest in a single day since the current round of violence erupted in September 2000. The highest previous death toll was 38 on March 8, 2002.

The intense fighting pushed the Palestinian death toll to more than 80 since fighting flared Wednesday. About half of those were civilians.

While expressing regret for civilian casualties, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak blamed "Hamas and those firing rockets at Israel," his office said in a statement, pledging to continue the offensive to protect Israeli towns and cities.

On Friday, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai renewed a threat to invade Gaza to crush militant rocket squads that attack southern Israel daily.

Palestinian fighters kept up a steady stream of rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli targets, firing around 50 on Saturday alone in defiance of the Israeli assault. Six Israelis were injured by rockets that reached as far as Ashkelon, a coastal city 11 miles north of Gaza.

The Israeli military said one of its airstrikes on northern Gaza targeted a parked truck loaded with 160 rockets.

On Thursday, militants raised the stakes by firing Iranian-made rockets into Ashkelon, striking closer to Israel's heartland than ever before and putting more Israelis at risk. Palestinian rocket fire earlier in the week also killed an Israeli man.

Here is a follow up from AFP on March 4:

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Israeli warplanes early Tuesday carried out raids on the north of the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians and wounding two others, a Palestinian medical source said.

Israel had vowed on Monday to keep hitting Gaza even as troops pulled out of the Hamas-run territory after clashes that killed more than 120 Palestinians and dealt a major blow to Middle East peace talks.

A first raid against Gaza City killed one person while the second further north killed one and wounded two. The victims were not immediately identified.

A military spokesman in Tel Aviv told AFP that the Israeli air force had "attacked a group of terrorists who were preparing to fire rockets at Israel."

An Israeli military source said a rocket fired from the Beit Hanoun district north of Gaza City on Tuesday had smashed into a house in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, but nobody was hurt.

"We are not prepared to show any tolerance, period. And we will respond. Our reaction is not limited to a specific operation or day," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a meeting of his Kadima party in Jerusalem on Monday.

"The operation will not end before we achieve our goals and our first goal is a significant reduction of Qassam and Grad rocket fire against Israeli civilians," he said, referring to rockets used by Gaza militants.

It is tragic when civilians get killed in fighting between militants. It is hard to assess this situation though, knowing that Palestinian Islamic militants have been known to use innocent Muslim women and children as shields.

It is terrible when innocents lose their lives as "collateral damage." It does not appear that Israel is targeting innocents, but is instead targeting terrorists, killing innocents in the process. The level of civilians killed must be condemned.

It is evil, even Satanic, to deliberately target innocents as HAMAS did in the Jewish seminar, and then laud the action.

Further Update: As bad as the Israeli actions appear to be in terms of the loss of innocent life, it is as if HAMAS want to prove that HAMAS is worse.

Gaza Quagmire

I have been thinking about commenting on the horrible Gaza situation for some time. I received a friendly email from Mahmoud El-Yousseph letting me know of an article he wrote which is published at MR Zine, Monthly Review. The article decries the deplorable conditions suffered by those in Gaza.

It is with understandable passion that Mr. El-Yousseph writes about the conditions suffered by the habitants of Gaza. What Mr. El-Yousseph does not mention is that the Christian inhabitants are faring even worse than the Muslim in Gaza. They suffer the same indignities of being fenced-off from Israel, but they are also terribly mistreated by the majority Muslims. They are permitted no new churches and are forbidden to repair their churches as they break down 9plumbing, electrical etc.). Many turn away potential Muslim converts in fear for the physical safety of anyone who accepts Jesus as the Son of God and personal Savior. No church bells are permitted, but Muslims loudspeakers calling Muslims to prayer are aimed to blare at Christian churches to disrupt services. Christians are unsafe in their homes from their Muslim neighbors.

Mr. El-Yousseph mentions the (understandable in my view) Israeli concerns about Muslim attacks on innocent Israelis by suicide bombers. Unfortunately, it is dangerous to simply treat the jihadists as the criminals that they are. Jihadists wear no uniforms and permeate the Muslims society. they can arise anywhere. When they spring into action as mass murderers, many innocents get killed. Their prophet Muhammed said, and the sayings of Muhammed have equal weight as the Koran, "The time [of judgment or redemption] will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them; and the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslims! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him1" [Sahih Muslim book 41, no. 6985] How can anyone in Israel ever feel safe?

The problems of Gaza are horrible and will not be solved until the Muslims of the world openly, clearly and loudly and en mass denounce and disavow the above saying of Muhammed as having any validity to today's world.

Personally, I am not holding my breath.