By Mordechai Ben-Menachem
Israel withdrew all forces from the Gaza Strip by 8 am Tuesday (Jerusalem time) when the 72-hour cease-fire declared on Monday evening went into effect. Hamas has already, at time of this writing (Thursday morning) declared that the cease-fire will end on Friday at 8 am and will not be renewed. How does that fit with total withdrawal of Israeli Forces? No one yet has a definitive answer to that question. Well, perhaps not quite no one:
Tareq al Suwaidan, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait: “Without a doubt, the blood spilled in Gaza is dear. But the equation is like this: ‘Our dead are in paradise, yours are in hell’ (quote from the Hadith). We are not afraid of Shahada (martyrdom). It was not long ago that you cried out: ‘Death for the sake of Allah is our most exalted desire’ (the Muslim Brotherhood creed). Well, you got the death you wished for. We have no problem with death. We are different than the children of Israel. ‘You will certainly find them most eager to cling on to life’ (Quran, Sura 2). While we yearn for death and martyrdom. Every mother, especially the mothers of Palestine, but every mother of this nation of Islam should nurse her children with hatred for the sons of Zion. We hate them and they are our enemy. We will plant that seed in their (our children’s) souls, to raise a generation that will remove them from the earth.”
The population that worships death, who believe in death disguised as God, has no interest in talking to Israel, or really, to anyone. They do not believe in talking, they believe in death, preferably via the sword; in Shahada. They remain with Muhammad in his seventh century, in his desert – of the mind and soul, not just of sand.
Their only desire is to impose Islam over the entire world.
In an October 1956 interview by CBS, David Ben Gurion, our first Prime Minister stated: “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles” – and we do!
By now, I assume most have read or heard of the Daily Mail article entitled, “‘Hand of God’ prevents rocket from striking its target: Israeli Iron Dome operator says sudden gust of wind blew missile into sea when defence system failed.” Can I confirm absolutely that this event occurred exactly as that article depicts? No, I cannot, but I can confirm that many events have occurred – I repeat, many – that are inexplicable by science as we know it (caveat: this writer is a scientist with many hundreds of scientific publications, what in US parlance may be called “a rocket scientist”).
End the occupation!
The greatest irony is that these cruel conquerors, who conquered our land killing millions of Jews (and millions others) and forced so many to convert to Islam, are now lamenting the so-called “occupation.”
Essentially, all monies donated by the West and others, and all resources invested in advancement of Gaza over the last decade and a half (since Israel’s one-sided misnomer disengagement) have been invested in war; building an underground city and buying weapons.
“Despite predictions to the contrary, the unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas seems not only alive and well, but stronger than ever. Over the past month, the two parties have been waging separate wars against Israel – one (Hamas) on the battlefield and the second (Fatah) in the international arena.”
“Palestinians: United Against Israel”; Khaled Abu Toameh, August 5, 2014.
A senior aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday boasted on Arabic-language television that Tehran supplies Hamas with military aid for use against Israel. (Khamenei speaking at the end of Ramadan, called for “punishment” for the “evil, filthy and merciless Zionist regime.”) Iranian officials have increasingly vocalized Islamic Republic support for Hamas during Operation Protective Edge.
Last month Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told state-run television that Tehran provided Gaza’s jihadist groups with “arms manufacture know-how.” Some of this we now know is a cover-up for support that actually comes from North Korea, as reported here earlier.
The Wall Street Journal notes relations between Hamas and the Islamic republic had recently warmed. The escalation was seen by some observers as an effort by Hamas to get back into Iran’s good graces. Iran has also provided constant support for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which the Journal described as “almost solely a creation of Iran and the Revolutionary Guard” and which has long relied on the Islamic republic.
The Weekly Standard last week noted that “[i]f Iran is not in fact driving the campaign, then Hamas may be putting on a demonstration for Tehran of how helpful it can be to the Islamic Republic.”
So who is really driving the madmen in Hamas to pass the brink and restart fire on Friday morning? Frankly no one really knows for sure. I suspect that even those doing so don’t really know for sure.
Reliable data indicates that some 900 arms-bearing terrorists were killed in Gaza, and at least 253 of them were Hamas operatives.
Gazans fired 3,360 rockets at Israel, 584 of which were intercepted by Iron Dome.
Some 115 projectiles hit populated areas in Israel, and 2,542 rockets exploded in open areas.
Combined, Israel’s air and ground forces launched 4,762 strikes against terrorist targets in Gaza.
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Mordechai Ben-Menachem is a former researcher/lecturer at Ben-Gurion University and an author of 30 book ranging from engineering to poetry. He is also an ordained clergyman and a former soldier.
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