Israel has rounded up more than 200 Hamas terrorists, and killed a few while she was at it. The IDF has set up a front on the Gaza border and launched artillery rockets into a field to let the pals know they’re not the only ones who can send rockets into the air.
And of course, the media bias continues.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israeli aircraft blasted suspected Palestinian weapons facilities in Gaza on Sunday and authorities arrested hundreds of militants in the West Bank, launching an offensive against the Islamic group Hamas after it bombarded Israeli towns with rockets.
[…] The new offensive dubbed “Operation First Rain” dashed hopes that Israel’s recently completed Gaza withdrawal would help restart peace talks and left a seven-month-old cease-fire teetering on the brink of collapse.
You see, even though the palestinians launch rockets into Israel, set bombs, try to set off suicide bombs, smuggle weapons, shoot and knife civilians and soldiers, the “truce” holds–until Israel retaliates.
In a further sign the truce was unraveling, the military arrested 207 wanted Palestinian men in the West Bank overnight, most of them members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements. The military has conducted sweeping arrests of Islamic Jihad militants since the February cease-fire with Palestinians. But this is the first time it has detained large numbers of Hamas members.
Just to be sure, let’s see if I’ve got this straight: Hamas launches rockets, and the truce holds. Israel arrests Hamas terrorists, and the truce is unraveling.
But wait–the AP manages to plant even more bias:
In tandem with the airstrikes, large numbers of ground forces deployed near northern Gaza, the launching area for most Palestinian rocket attacks. And in an unprecedented step, Israel set up five artillery pieces on the border, and fired test-rounds into empty fields in northern Gaza in preparation for a possible artillery strike, causing no injuries.
The Israeli soldiers danced in a circle after firing the artillery and sang a biblical song of revenge.
Hey, let’s make the Israelis look like bloodthirsty savages, shall we? (I’d love to get a fact-checker on this to see if it’s even true.)
Look at the boilerplate story ending every AP article on these events:
The chain of events began Friday afternoon, with an explosion at a Hamas rally in Gaza’s crowded Jebaliya refugee camp, that killed 20 Palestinians, four of them 16 years old and under.
Hamas blamed Israel for that blast, and said its rocket attacks were retaliation.
Israel denied involvement. Abbas said Sunday an investigation by the Palestinian Authority determined the blast was caused by a shell dropping out of a vehicle laden with weapons.
No, the chain of events began Friday afternoon with the firing of rockets into Israeli towns for no reason other than to kill Israelis.
But don’t let the facts get in the way of the story here.
“I’d love to get a fact-checker on this to see if it’s even true.”
Meryl,
We looked into the matter. We’ve spoken to people on the scene and saw several photos of Israeli soldiers dancing after a successful test mission calibrating their artillery for accuracy. We were told that they celebrated the success of their test and quoted a passage from Judges in which Samson asks G-d for the strength to avenge his eyes in the Gaza temple in which he was imprisoned.
In this particular instance, there is corroboration to AP’s claim.
CAMERA staff