Israel Matzav

'Mufti' of Hamas' 'military wing' gets his virgins; family stays with him

The IAF destroyed a building in the Jabalya 'refugee camp' this afternoon, killing Sheikh Nizar Rayyan (pictured) and six other people (apparently members of his family) who were serving as 'human shields' for him. According to 'Palestinian sources' quoted by Army Radio, the 'human shields' were warned to leave the building by the IAF before it was destroyed and they refused to leave.

Here's a video of Riyyan babbling away in Arabic. The video is apparently from an appearance he made on Hamas television on Wednesday in a bid to rally his people. I don't speak Arabic, so I cannot translate it for you. Let's go to the videotape.



I wanted to show you that video so that titles like 'Mufti' and 'Sheikh' don't fool you into thinking that Riyyan is anything other than a terrorist.

But I want to talk to you about the 'human shields,' because I'm sure that someone is going to leave a comment accusing Israel of 'targeting civilians.' That's not what happened. Under the Geneva Convention, Israel's actions today were completely permitted (this particular post dealt with Hezbullah in Lebanon, but the same principles apply to Hamas).

Article 28 of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949 is simple and clear. It says: " The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations." Hezbullah violates this provision daily. It is due to Hezbullah's violations of this provision that Lebanese civilians are being killed.

In an article published on the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com web page over the weekend, Orde F. Kittrie, a professor of international law at Arizona State University and who served in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. State Department from 1993 to 2003, summarized the three-part test in determining whether Israeli actions violate the Geneva Convention:

International law has three major prohibitions .... One forbids deliberate attacks on civilians. Another prohibits hiding forces in civilian areas, thereby turning civilians into "human shields." A third prohibition, the proportionality restriction that Israel is accused of violating, involves a complicated and controversial balancing test.

Ignoring the fact that Israel has warned Lebanese citizens to flee the combat zones dozens of times, given the manner in which Hezbullah has hidden both itself and its weapons among civilians, it is impossible to assert, let alone prove, that Israel is deliberately attacking civilians. But it is clear that Hezbullah has turned what remains of Lebanon's civilian population into human shields.

Israel Radio has just reported that ten people were killed in the strike on Riyyan, including his wife and children. They describe Riyyan as having 'one foot in the military wing and one foot in the political wing' (as if there's a difference between them) of Hamas. He is the most senior Hamas terrorist to have been killed in this war, although three other senior Hamas terrorists were also killed today.

O God may all of your enemies be eliminated this way, and your friends shall depart like the sun in glory. And the land was quiet for forty years (Judges 5). May it happen speedily and in our times.

UPDATE 7:28 PM

Gateway Pundit has raw video of the scene outside Riyyan's house shortly after the planes departed. Turn down the sound a bit on your headphones or you will blow your ears away!

UPDATE 9:05 PM

Israel Television is reporting that Riyyan tried to persuade the entire Hamas leadership to become human shields for him this afternoon, but the other leaders refused.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:53 PM