In those days where the media war is sometimes just as important than the real war on the ground, Israel opened a channel on You Tube where IDF footage shows how the Hamas hide his rockets in and around civilian’s houses and mosques .
To illustrate one of those ways I quote a few excerpts from the article by Noah Shachtman on Wired. The article called “Robot Planes, Life-and-Death Choices Over Gaza”:
…”The man, Gil’s superior officers told him, was a known Hamas terrorist. The neighborhood, a militant haven. So when the black blotch of a man stepped out into the alley, and began to fiddle with dark strings that looked suspiciously like wires, Gil’s Colonel gave the order to a second aircraft, flying nearby: Take this man out. He’s setting up a booby trap for our soldiers.
The double-tailed, 40 foot-long Heron spy drone banked over the Gaza rooftops, and zoomed in on the man, to get a better look at the now-designated target. The man was tying the wire at about eye-level, from one home to another. It was an odd location for a booby trap. But a perfect place to hang clothes. Gil, his voice rising, told everyone to stop. ‘Don’t attack! Don’t attack’ he yelled. ‘The man, he’s doing laundry.’
Looking back, Gil is pretty sure he made the right decision. But he can’t be certain. ‘I prefer this kind of mistake,’ he says in a voice, soft as tissue,’than to have the innocent on my conscience.’ “,
….”That’s different from the American system, where decisions are often made by the commander on the ground, or by a network of legal and intelligence analysts. It means means ‘a lot of moral dilemmas’ for the pale father of two. ‘You see a Qassam [rocket] launcher with children around it. Now, what do you prefer: Let them fire the rocket, and have it fall on a kid in [the Israeli town of] Sderot? Or drop the bomb, and risk Palestinian children?’ he asks.”…see here for the whole article.
And what did the Hamas doe to defend his people, knowing that shelling Sderot for 8 years and finally not renewing the truce with Israel may have some harsh consequences?…The Hamas did nothing. Miscalculating the Israeli response to their terrorist aggression, they didn’t bother to prepare their own people for the war they instigate.
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida columnist ‘Omar Hilmi Al-Ghul, arrive at the same conclusion I quote…”In response to Mash’al’s call to Gaza residents to stand firm, he wrote: “[Mash’al] does not take into account the interests of the [Gaza] residents, who are being sacrificed, while the commanders, who have abandoned the fighting, hide in the tunnels they prepared in advance – although they should be courageously leading the fighters in battle.”
Referring to Mash’al’s statement that the resistance is still alive and that it has not been defeated, Al-Ghul wrote: “Where is the victory that Mash’al is speaking about, allegedly from the battlefield. Can [Israel’s] renewed occupation of Gaza, its division, and the destruction of its infrastructure and its residents’ homes [be considered victory]? Can the [fact that] thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded, as opposed to [only a few] dozen occupying Israeli soldiers [be considered victory]?…”
And more here, …””Hamas does not care if a destructive war is waged against Gaza – such as the one that is going on today. For Hamas, realizing an historic vision for which it has been yearning over many years justifies a heavy toll – as long as what is gained is a land crossing that will enable Hamas members to [transport] the goods and money that they have been hiding. It sees a crossing as the only opening to the outside world, as an umbilical cord [connecting it with the world]… see more here.
- Hamas rockets on Sderot
Louis Michel, the European Commissioner and humanitarian aid commissioner , who was not always a great supporter of Israel, visiting Israel he said, I quote:
…”, [he] has ruled out Monday during a visit to Gaza any dialogue between the EU and Hamas, describing it as “terrorist movement” that killed “innocent civilians”.
“Hamas is a terrorist movement. He missed an opportunity to be an interlocutor of the international community and was thus clearly an element of the division of the Palestinian people,” said Michel in the press in Gaza.
‘You can not talk to a terrorist movement that uses terrorism as a means. We can not accept how Hamas behaves be confused with resistance. When you kill innocent civilians, it is not the resistance is terrorism, ‘he added.”, see more here (in French) and here.
What more can be said on the Hamas? .. Well, there is more to be said and with their own voices. Look at the following clip:
To see the IDF channel see here.
