Hamas: Reality Check
Israel’s weirdly inept public relations machine has allowed Hamas, which has a much better instinct for massaging world opinion, to hijack our interwoven narrative. The group’s defenders around the world, who equate Hamas with all Palestinians in an impressive bundling of blithe ignorance and smug self-righteousness, really need to know who they’re getting in bed with. Hamas is the worst thing to happen to the Palestinians since Yasser Arafat, kids. And that’s saying something.
This is an IDF video on Hamas tactics inside the Gaza Strip. The video uses 3-D computer graphics to illustrate how the group transformed the population centers of Gaza into booby-trapped terrorist battlefields following Israel’s total withdrawal from the area in 2005. It’s based on intelligence gathered during Operation Cast Lead in 2008. For the benefit of those readers who don’t have access to YouTube, I’ll summarize the main points.
In 2005, the IDF unilaterally withdrew from every inch of the Gaza Strip. In the years following the withdrawal, rockets continued to be fired regularly at Israeli towns from the area. In 2007, Hamas took power in Gaza, and in 2008 alone, it fired 2,735 rockets and mortars at Israel. This escalation of an already bad situation prompted the Israeli government to order the IDF to go back in. (One wonders how many rockets into their territory other governments would tolerate before taking military action, but we’ll leave that aside.) That was Operation Cast Lead.
As we know, Iranian-backed Hamas has invested the vast bulk of its resources in the creation of an infrastructure in Gaza for terror operations, including tunnels. What Israel learned during Cast Lead was the extent to which that infrastructure was deliberately constructed to be inseparable from the civilian population. The entrances to the tunnels, which are used to smuggle in Iran-supplied arms from Sinai, are often camouflaged inside houses, factories, greenhouses, and – nice touch, this – mosques. The weapons themselves – explosive devices, assault rifles, RPGs, rockets, missiles, grenades – were found stashed inside civilian homes, schools, hospitals, and, again, mosques. (Storing weapons inside mosques violates international law, but international law is a rather quaint concept for Hamas. It’s only a priority when they can accuse Israel of breaking it.)
Weapons storage is only the half of it. As the video shows, Hamas built training camps and placed rocket-launching sites, explosive devices and snipers near medical centers and schools in the Tel-Zatar neighborhood in the Strip. Looking for cover wasn’t an option: Hamas forcibly prevented the local population from leaving the neighborhood when the IDF began to move in.
Hamas considers women, children and the elderly particularly useful as shields. In the Jabaliya neighborhood, they booby-trapped some schools and used others as rocket-launching sites. In Northern Gaza City, launchers were placed near medical centers, soccer fields, gas stations, and the Palestinian Association for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled. (No evidence was found as to whether the irony was intentional.)
The situation in the West Bank, meanwhile, has progressed to the point that direct talks are approaching between the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority. Israel is even dismantling the concrete security wall separating Gilo and Beit Jala. There is a way forward, but Hamas will do everything it can to blow it up. If you want to blow Hamas's horn, go ahead. But if your main concern is a healthy future for the Palestinian people, you might want to think again.
- Comment (3)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Hamas: Reality Check
How does one speak to those who won't hear? My solution would be to ignore the international journalisto community when the action involves self-defense. One thing can be guaranteed. As much braying in protest as has been done on behalf of "palestinians", a literal cacophony of anti-Israel (anti-Jewish) venom, the silence would be deafening as these same apologists watched and cheered Israel's destruction. Only Israelis know how to ultimately live in concert with their neighbors.. Only they will be able to make a peaceful resolution. None of the jackals in the press can accomplish anything but gin up a fight. And if it takes a fight, the Israelis need to give a real thumping. Politically correct wars cause more death and misery, while accomplishing less, than quick and devastating beat downs.
Aug '10
Re: Hamas: Reality Check
One can wish for the world to take the blinders off, but I think we'll wish in vain. The world has a long-standing and deep need to scapegoat Israel. Envy and jealousy explain a lot, as well as a near suicidal impulse to destroy a culture that has been an indestructible target for over 5,000 years.
Israel is an astonishing anachronism. Their original contemporaries, the Egyptians, Babylonians, Syrians, Hittites, et al, have all turned to dust; yet the Jews endure. The real motive for the world's hatred defies logic. We may never understand it.
There may come a time of lasting truce. But they will never have peace in this world, I predict.
Jun '10
Re: Hamas: Reality Check
Thank you for the video and the analysis.