The Hamas “moderation” mask is gone for good. The PRC and Hamas attacked an Israeli military post, killing two soldiers and kidnapping a third. Hamas isn’t even trying to hide that they took part in the attack.
“This operation is a natural response to the Israeli crimes of killing women and children, and the assassination of two (militant) leaders,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said of Sunday’s attack.
So. How’s that moderation thing coming along, stupid world leaders and media?
Of course, the cowards came in via a tunnel instead of launching a frontal assault, knowing full-well the IDF would slaughter them any other way.
KIBBUTZ KEREM SHALOM, Israel Jun 25, 2006 (AP)— Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated Israel through a tunnel early Sunday, lobbing grenades and bombs at a military outpost and killing two Israeli soldiers and seizing a third.
The ruling Hamas group said its fighters participated in the attack, calling it an act of revenge for Israel’s recent killing of militant leaders and civilians. Militants said three of their fighters were killed in a gunbattle with soldiers.
[…] Militants crossed under Israel’s border fence with Gaza through a tunnel and lobbed bombs and grenades at an Israeli tank and an armored personnel carrier at the border post, the military said. Simultaneously, anti-tank missiles were fired at both vehicles from inside Gaza, the army said.
Two other militants, meanwhile, attacked a 25-yard high observation post with assault rifles, touching off a gunbattle with soldiers in which several militants were killed, the military said.
The PRC bragged to the media:
“Our fighters infiltrated the Israeli army military location near so-called Kerem Shalom,” said Abu Mujahid, a PRC spokesman.
“They succeeded in blowing up several Israeli vehicles and clashed with Israeli soldiers. The battle is still going on. The number of fighters is bigger than any time. We have some martyrs who fell during the battle.”
“It was a very complicated and well-studied operation. The details are going to shock the Zionists. There are many surprises that are going to be announced about planning and about the process and about the battle itself.”
And the IDF is going into Gaza to take out the garbage:
Following the attack, the IDF advised Palestinian security units to evacuate the Philadelphi Route along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt in the Rafah area, saying Israeli military units were to enter.
The IDF General Staff convened for consultations after the attack, and IDF chief Dan Halutz was expected to recommend that the government order a “severe response.”
And Hamas is running scared:
Meanwhile, senior Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip went underground Sunday following the attack. The officials would not take phone calls, fearing IDF assassination attempts after Israeli government and military officials placed blame for the attack on the ruling Hamas party.
The soldier is alive:
A spokesman from the PRC told a local Gaza radio station earlier Sunday that Shalit had sustained stomach wounds but was in stable condition.
They want to use him as a bargaining chip.
Sources in the Palestinian organizations that took part in the attack told media outlets in the Palestinian Authority that “the activists are providing the abducted soldier with medical treatment in order to use him as a bargaining chip and hold negotiations for a hostage exchange deal.”
Hamas won’t help without “compensation“:
Hamas said on Sunday that it would not provide any information on the whereabouts of the kidnapped IDF soldier unless they were compensated, Israel Radio reported.
Olmert is not going to negotiate for Corporal Gilad Shalit’s return:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday evening ruled out negotiations with the Palestinians to secure the release of an Israel Defense Forces soldier kidnapped in a pre-dawn raid on an IDF post.
[…] The sentiment was echoed later Sunday by Defense Minister Amir Peretz who told a joint news conference with Halutz that Israel would make every effort to ensure Shalit’s return.
Peretz warned the soldier’s kidnappers against harming him, making a veiled threat that whoever did so would pay with his life and the lives of his commanders.
It wasn’t so veiled:
Defense Minister Amir Peretz severely threatened the terrorists responsible for the kidnapping of an IDF soldiers Sunday, saying, ”I want to inform all who are involved, anyone who has hand or foot in the soldier’s welfare, in our view, anyone that brings harm to the soldier, should know that his blood is on his own head and on the heads of his leaders.
We intend to respond to this morning’s incident in a way that all those involved, who made a pact in this attack against the State of Israel, will understand that the price from such acts will be painful. If things don’t change, it could be painful sevenfold.‒
Ha’aretz has a blow-by-blow, with map, of the attack.
And Mahmud Abbas, titular leader of the palestinians, is utterly useless.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza on Sunday that Hamas bears sole responsibility for the fate of the abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier, who was kidnapped in a militant raid on an IDF post near the Gaza border, as well as the anticipated IDF response.
Abbas condemned the attack on the IDF post, and called on Palestinian factions to immediately return Shalit in the event the soldier is in their custody.
Do you know who he sounds like? Go Google my archives, and I’d bet you dollars to donuts that you will find the exact same quotes and “condemnations” by Yasser Arafat whenever Hamas o any other terrorist group conducted a successful attack. The world will never admit that Abbas is part and parcel of the same terrorists that run Hamas. The “prisoner’s document” is simply an agreement to attack Israels only in the terrortories [sic], not in Israel proper.
I pray that Cpl. Shalit is released or rescued without being tortured. But knowing what I know of the animals that kidnapped him, his stomach wounds are the least of his problems.
Well at least this time they attacked soldiers, instead of murdering some pregnant woman and her daughters in a stopped car, or a five year old child in her bed, like some of their earlier great victories.
The Pali Arabs claim they are at war with Israel. Take them at their word. This has gone on far too long.
Sweep the Gaza Strip from one end to the other with overwhelming force.
Kill anyone who resists.
Kill anyone bearing arms.
Destroy any building from which fire comes.
Destroy all munitions found.
Tell the population that any further attacks on Israel will be met by heavy and indiscriminate shelling, just like the Qassem attacks are indiscriminate.
Listen to the Arabs whine that the Jews aren’t playing fair ’cause they shot back.
Do not apologize or offer regrets for anything. Such action is what the Arabs asked for when they decided to make war. Hiding their “fighters” amidst the civilian population just puts the onus for any civilian casualties on the Palis, as the Geneva Convention spells out. Let them endure the just deserts of their own folly, incompetence, and black malignity.
‘The Hamas “moderation†mask is gone for good. The PRC and Hamas attacked an Israeli military post, killing two soldiers and kidnapping a third. Hamas isn’t even trying to hide that they took part in the attack.’
Silly Meryl – that was the military wing, not Mr. Haniyeh’s political wing. They’re just sharing the name, and maybe office space at the parliament building, to get savings on rent and stationery. The politicals have already announced that they’d like the militarys to keep a lid on things, and they’ll be telling them in person next time they run into them, maybe over Kiddush in the Mosque next Friday. What more could anyone ask of them? It’s not like they have control, or responsibility or anything like that. Be reasonable.
If you weren’t so brutally Zionist you’d see the distinction. The Guardian, the BBC and the Independent will.
That should read Cpl Shalit, not Col. He’s nineteen.
Fixed.
Perhaps this will teach them that Olmert’s convergence plan (better called consolidation, retreat, or surrender) will never work. I hope that the “(not so) veiled threat” will indeed be carried out. Unfortunately, I am afraid that the “veiled threat” will take its place beside the dreaded European “strongly worded letter”.
We shall see what happens. If the IDF retrieves Cpl. Shalit then we will know that someone in the political wing of the Israeli governing class has actually grown a spine.
Sabba Hillel
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7637/544/640/SabbaHillel.jpg