US designates Hamas Television founder a global terrorist
It's certainly taken long enough, but the United States has designated Fathi Hammad, the founder of Hamas' al-Aqsa Television station, as a global terrorist.
The United States on Friday added a senior Hamas
official, the Islamist group's former interior minister Fathi Hammad, to
its "global terrorist" list.
Hamas, the Palestinian party controlling the Gaza Strip,
has already itself been proscribed by the United States as a "foreign
terrorist organization."
Under the new designation, U.S. citizens and companies
will be banned from doing business with Hammad and any property he holds
in areas under U.S. jurisdiction will be frozen.
According to the U.S. State Department, which issued the
designation, as interior minister Hammad used his position to
"coordinate terrorist cells."
The statement also said Hammad founded al-Aqsa TV, "with
programs designed to recruit children to become Hamas armed fighters
and suicide bombers upon reaching adulthood."
Report: Hamas' al-Aqsa Television station hit, Hamas asks for 24-hour truce beginning at 2:00 pm local time
IAF attacked Hamas's Al Aqsa TV station moments ago.
— Daniel Nisman (@DannyNis) July 27, 2014
And perhaps that has something to do with the fact that Hamas has now asked for a 24-hour truce beginning at 2:00 pm, which would cover much of the Eid-el-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan.
Hamas Islamist militants have agreed to a 24-hour humanitarian truce in
its conflict with Israel in the Gaza Strip that should start within the
hour, the group's spokesman said on Sunday.
"In response to UN intervention and considering the situation of our
people and the occasion of Eid, it has been agreed among resistance
factions to endorse a 24-hour humanitarian calm, starting from 2 p.m. on
Sunday," Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
There was no immediate word from Israel, which called off its own
24-hour truce earlier in the day after Hamas fired a volley of rockets
into southern and central Israel.
The request was made through UN Middle East envoy Robert Serry, and Israel's cabinet is meeting on it at this writing. Although it's unlikely, I would love to see us say no.
In a song on Al-Aqsa TV, Hamas promises to launch more rockets at Israel and encourages Palestinians to seek Martyrdom death for Allah through suicide bombings in cafés and buses.
The song calls to "destroy" and "blow up Tel-Aviv" and to "return" the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon to Palestinians, while the video shows rockets being fired.
Addressing Hamas' military wing, the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the song affirms that "victory is from Allah" and that "in Paradise there is a Garden [for Martyrs] calling to you." The video shows a café and a bus destroyed by a suicide bomber, along with the words, "Martyrdom-seeker (i.e., suicide bomber), O blaze, hurry, blow up Tel Aviv."
They're such good singers. That must be why President Hussein Obama loves them so much.
Hamas TV explains to the kiddies what 'negotiations' are about
It's been a while since I've shown you a video from Hamas' al-Aqsa Television's children's show Tomorrow's Pioneers. Now, Nahoul the giant bee is back to explain to the Hamas kiddies what 'negotiations' are all about.
Let's go to the videotape.
I hope you weren't expecting 'peace' or something.
“Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming
civilians was their aim,” said HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah
Whitson. “There is simply no legal justification for launching rockets
at populated areas.”
The group also found that Gazan groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad,
and the Popular Resistance Committee, justified targeting civilian
centers as reprisal for Israeli strikes, an act also banned under
international law.
Furthermore, such groups "repeatedly fired
rockets from densely populated areas, near homes, businesses, and a
hotel, unnecessarily placing civilians in the vicinity at grave risk
from Israeli counter-fire," the report said.
The detailed report
included examples of rockets being launched from densely populated areas
in Gaza, and noted that groups fired from underground tunnels with
hatches for the first time. HRW faulted Palestinian armed groups for
failing to alert civilians or urge them to evacuate prior to launching
rockets in their vicinity.
As the ruling power in the Strip, the
human rights group said, Hamas was responsible for reining in the
behavior of other groups.
“As the ruling authority in Gaza, Hamas has an obligation to stop unlawful attacks and punish those responsible,” Whitson said.
But lest you get your hopes up for a Goldstone or other style of inquiry into these human rights violations....
A week earlier, HRW reported that Israeli attacks on journalists and
media facilities during the operation also violated laws of war, saying
that Israel provided no specific information to justify claims that they
were military targets.
“Just because Israel says a journalist
was a fighter or a TV station was a command center does not make it so,”
Whitson said. “Journalists who praise Hamas and TV stations that
applaud attacks on Israel may be propagandists, but that does not make
them legitimate targets under the laws of war.”
Well yeah, except that Israel did provide evidence, and Hamas' al-Aqsa television is a designated terror organization.
Hamas: Kidnap six more soldiers, free remaining 6,000 terrorists
Since Gilad Shalit's release last Tuesday, Hamas Television is encouraging 'Palestinians' to kidnap six more soldiers so as to free the remaining 6,000 'Palestinian' terrorists in Israeli jails.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
