Boots & Sabers

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Tag: Hamas

Hamas Disappointed With Lack of Arab Support

by | 0708, 3 Oct 2424 | | 3 Comments

This is interesting.

DOHA, Qatar — The day after Iran launched strikes against Israel, a senior Hamas official told NBC News on Wednesday that the militant group has been let down by its Arab neighbors in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks.

 

In an interview in Qatar’s capital, Doha, where part of the group’s political wing is based, Dr. Basem Naim said Hamas was “disappointed by the reaction of the region, of the countries in the region.” Although some of them had supported the group politically and financially, he said Iran “was maybe the only country regarding supporting the resistance.”

He has a point. Where is Saudi Arabia? Iraq? Egypt? Jordan? Turkey? Oman? The UAE? Qatar? Libya? Bahrain? Syria? It is telling that none of these countries have stepped out to support Hamas or Hezbollah

Why?

Two reasons. First, for decades, the myth of a unified Arab or Muslim block is just that… a myth. These countries all have their own interests and, as history has shown, the sharpest fights are often between siblings. They have given rhetorical support to the Palestinian cause in an effort to further their own interests, but they aren’t interested in expending blood or treasure on it.

Second, knowing this first fact, Trump’s Middle East policy of engagement and economic entanglement based on mutual self-interest is paying dividends. Many of these Arab countries have political, economic, and even cultural ties to Israel, the United States, and European nations that are more valuable to them than the Palestinian cause.

Iran is on an island even in their own sea. That is largely thanks to Trump’s foreign policy.

Aid Stolen Before Reaching Gazans

by | 1942, 21 May 2424 | , | 0 Comments

Garsch… Who could have possible predicted that supplied would be stolen before ever reaching the intended people. /shockedfface. Despite the effort by CNN to sanitize the report and attribute the thefts to “desperate Gazans,” only Hamas has the internal force to affect such interceptions. Once again, Hamas is stealing from their own people.

None of the aid that has been unloaded from the temporary pier the US constructed off the coast of Gaza has been delivered to the broader Palestinian population, as the US works with the UN and Israel to identify safe delivery routes inside the enclave, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

 

Several desperate Gazans intercepted trucks delivering aid from the pier over the weekend, leading the UN to suspend the delivery operations until the logistical challenges are resolved.

 

[…]

 

Asked whether any of the aid has been delivered to the people of Gaza, Ryder said, “As of today, I do not believe so.” He added that aid had been held in an assembly area on shore, but as of Tuesday had begun getting moved to warehouses for distribution throughout Gaza as alternative routes have been established.

 

[…]

 

Over the weekend, as trucks began moving the aid delivered off the floating pier, CNN reported that a group of men in Gaza intercepted the aid, saying they did not trust that it was actually meant for the Palestinian people.

UWM’s disgraceful appeasement

by | 0722, 21 May 2424 | , , | 0 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here you go:

Most Americans have stood aghast as a wave of antisemitic and pro-Hamas protests swept through our universities. We thought that such hate was the stuff of 1905 Russia or 1938 Germany, but here we are witnessing it in 2024 America amongst those who are supposed to be our future. Many universities responded deplorably, but none more so than the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

 

Hamas has been clear about their goal to wipe out Israel and the Jews who live there since their inception. Everything they have done — including the October 7 massacre — has been to further that goal. While one can criticize Israel’s response to the attacks and wish for peace, the campus protests long since descended into the hateful rhetoric of, and support for, Hamas.

 

Some universities took immediate action to clear out illegal encampments and threatening protesters. Some universities offered minimal appeasement coupled with a firm rejection of hate. Then there is UWM, which decided to weigh in with full-throated support for Hamas and has encouraged a campus culture where Jewish students can no longer feel safe.

 

The protests and encampment at UWM was instigated by the UWM Popular University for Palestine Coalition (PUPC), whose coalition includes the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Muslim Student Association (MSA), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Un-PAC, and Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA). These groups range in interests from communism to overthrowing capitalism to ending our republic to the destruction of Israel. All of their interests coalesced around supporting Hamas in their terrorism against Jews.

 

These groups are well-funded and well-organized. In return for ending an encampment that was already illegal, UWM Chancellor Mark Mone and the UWM leadership gave these communists and Hamas supporters a seat at the table. Mone agreed to have the UWM Foundation release financial statements to the PUPC and meet with them to discuss where the Foundation invests.

 

Mone also agreed to “study” whether UWM should end studying abroad in Israel and pressured the Water Council, on whose board Mone serves, to end relationships with two Israeli companies. Mone agreed to forgo any punishments for the protestors’ encampments despite the violation of state law. He agreed to further meetings and a working group with PUPC for a “series of campus conversations and educational opportunities.” That’s eduspeak for “spreading Hamas propaganda.”

 

Most egregious was Mone’s statement on behalf of UWM condemning Israel for responding to Hamas’ violent pogrom of October 7. Calling Israel’s war in Gaza a “plausible genocide,” Mone calls for a ceasefire in Gaza without any precondition for Hamas to release hostages or stop their violence against civilians. Mone voiced this condemnation with full knowledge that Hamas started the war, raped and killed civilian women and children, and has repeatedly rejected a ceasefire. Mone’s statement is indistinguishable from those issued by antisemites and Hamas supporters that were camping on the UWM campus.

 

Rightfully, Jewish groups Hillel Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and the Anti-Defamation League Midwest, condemned Mone’s UWM for appeasing PUPC. After reminding us that Mone has refused to meet with Jewish students despite a surge of antisemitic incidents on campus since October 7, they say, “Chancellor Mone gave protesters who fueled hate and violated school policies at UWM a seat at the table and even invited them to nominate individuals and faculty to serve on key university committees and working groups … the chancellor’s decision to grant immunity to individuals who mocked and broke school rules and the law sets a dangerous precedent for future incidents on campus.” Indeed, it does.

 

When given an opportunity to educate young adults and reject antisemitic, terrorist, and communist activists, UWM and Chancellor Mone chose to support and enable them. This choice is a disgrace that succors a culture of hate on the UWM campus.

Hamas Pretends to Accept Ceasefire After Israel Responds to Attacks

by | 1853, 6 May 2424 | | 3 Comments

Hamas’ actions are so obviously insincere and designed to play to their fellow supporters of geocide that you have to willingly suspend reason to believe them.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas announced its acceptance Monday of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its “core demands” and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Still, Israel said it would continue negotiations.

 

[…]

 

Hamas’s abrupt acceptance of the cease-fire deal came hours after Israel ordered an evacuation of some 100,000 Palestinians from eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, signaling an invasion was imminent.

[…]
On Sunday, Hamas fighters near the Rafah crossing fired mortars into southern Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers.
Uh huh. Whatever.

Hamas Offered Yet Another Generous Deal

by | 2148, 29 Apr 2424 | , | 2 Comments

This is nuts. Every negotiation should begin with, “release all of the hostages, and then…”

Riyadh and JerusalemCNN — 

Hamas is considering a new framework proposed by Egypt that calls for the group to release as many as 33 hostages kidnapped from Israel in exchange for a pause in hostilities in Gaza, an Israeli source familiar with the negotiations and a foreign diplomatic source told CNN.

The latest proposal, which Israel helped craft but has not fully agreed to, is laid out in two phases, the first of which calls for 20 to 33 hostages to be released over several weeks in exchange for the pause and the release of Palestinian prisoners. The second phase is what sources described as the “restoration of sustainable calm,” during which the remaining hostages, captive Israeli soldiers and the bodies of hostages would be exchanged for more Palestinian prisoners.

The diplomatic source familiar with the talks said the reference to sustainable calm was “a way to agree to a permanent ceasefire without calling it that.”

Hamas Continues War Into Ramadan

by | 0800, 11 Mar 2424 | | 9 Comments

I do seem to remember that our president said there would be a ceasefire by today. No?

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians began fasting for Ramadan on Monday as the Muslim holy month arrived with cease-fire talks at a standstill, hunger worsening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to the five-month-old war between Israel and Hamas.

 

[…]

 

Hamas is demanding guarantees that any such agreement will lead to an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until “total victory” against the militant group and the release of all the remaining hostages.

 

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Hamas is still believed to be holding around 100 captives and the remains of 30 others following an exchange last year.

 

[…]

 

The United States and other countries have begun airdropping aid in recent days, but humanitarian groups say such efforts are costly and insufficient. The U.S. military has also begun transporting equipment to build a sea bridge to deliver aid, but it will likely be several weeks before it is operational.

 

A ship belonging to Spanish aid group Open Arms carrying 200 tons of food aid was expected to make a pilot voyage to Gaza from nearby Cyprus, though it was not clear when it would depart. Israel says it welcomes the sea deliveries and will inspect Gaza-bound cargo before it leaves Cyprus.

 

The ship in Cyprus is expected to take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza. The food is being supplied by the World Central Kitchen, a U.S. charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, which said contruction work on a jetty in Gaza began Sunday. Once the ship reaches Gaza, aid will be offloaded by a crane, placed on trucks and driven north.

And do you notice that, once again, it is the Americans and the Europeans extending their money and their hearts with humanitarian aid? Where are the lorries and air drops full of aid from Egypt? Saudi? UAE? Iraq? JORDAN!? Syria? Lebanon? Libya? Algeria? Pakistan? Qatar? Kuwait? Turkey? Indonesia?

Are all of those countries willing to watch their Palestinian brothers die for the cause? Yes. Yes, they are.

Hamas Promotes Threatening Nuclear War to End War

by | 1024, 18 Dec 2323 | | 2 Comments

You’ll notice that negotiation, releasing hostages, and committing to coexistence is not part of Hamas’ playbook. Only Western liberals are pretending that Hamas wants peace.

Hamas leaders and Islamic scholars met in Pakistan’s capital for a convention last week and argued that Israel’s war in Gaza would end if Pakistan, a country armed with nuclear weapons, threatened Israel.

 

[…]

 

“Pakistan is a strong country. If Pakistan threatens Israel, then the war can stop,” Haniyeh said. “We have lots of expectations from Pakistan. Pakistan can force Israel to retreat.”

 

He deemed Jews the “biggest enemy of Muslims in the world.”

 

“In this war, our 20,000 children, women, and men have been martyred,” he said. “At this time we are destroying Israel’s most modern weapons. We have hope we will succeed.”

 

The conference was also attended by Hamas leader Naji Zuhair, who had been in Pakistan in recent weeks. Conference attendees recognized Hamas fighters as a “political force” waging a “defensive jihad.”

Israel Continues on the Offensive

by | 1234, 2 Dec 2323 | , | 4 Comments

Some running thoughts...

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered more neighborhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians a day after a truce collapsed.

The truce didn’t “collapse.” It’s not something that just happened. Hamas broke the truce.

Also, notice how Israel continues to try to protect civilians by announcing where they are going next despite the increased risk to their soldiers. Hamas does not do that.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed Friday morning following the weeklong truce with the territory’s ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Several homes were hit across Gaza on Saturday, with multiple casualties reported in a strike that flattened a multi-story building on the outskirts of Gaza City.

The Health Ministry in Gaza is Hamas and they have been proven habitual liars. Yet, this reporter takes their statements at face value.

The appeal from the United States, Israel’s closest ally, to do more to protect civilians came after an air and ground offensive in the first weeks of the war devastated large areas of northern Gaza.

The Biden Administration has abandoned Israel and is lobbying on behalf of Hamas.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said they fired a barrage of rockets on southern Israel. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesperson, said Hamas had launched more than 250 rockets at Israel since the cease-fire ended.

Put another way, “Hamas terrorists continue to target Israeli civilians with indiscriminate rocket attacks.” Notice how Israel is intentionally warning civilians to protect them while Hamas is targeting civilians. There is not a moral equivalence here.

The maps and leaflets generated panic and confusion, especially in the crowded south. Unable to go to northern Gaza or neighboring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometer (85-square-mile) area.

Remember that Egypt could – at any time – open their border with Gaza and offer their fellow Muslims sanctuary. Egypt is not willing to welcome the terrorists into their country for good reason.

Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in Dubai on Saturday for the COP28 climate conference, said in a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that “under no circumstances” would the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besiegement of Gaza or redrawing of its borders, according to a U.S. summary.

 

Harris was expected to outline proposals with regional leaders to “put Palestinian voices at the center” of planning the next steps for Gaza after the conflict, according to the White House. President Joe Biden’s administration has emphasized the need for an eventual two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting.

Again, the Biden Administration is firmly on the side of the terrorists now.

Islamist Uprising in Israel as US Moves Embassy

by | 1158, 14 May 1818 | | 0 Comments

Remember that Hamas is still a terrorist organization. They appear to be leveraging their normal process of violence to stoke international outrage against Israel.

At least 52 Palestinians have been killed and 2,400 wounded by Israeli troops, Palestinian officials say, on the deadliest day of violence since the 2014 Gaza war.

Palestinians have been protesting for weeks but deaths soared on the day the US opened its embassy in Jerusalem.

Palestinians see this as clear US backing for Israeli rule over the whole city, whose eastern part they claim.

[…]

There have been six weeks of protests at the Gaza border, dubbed the “Great March of Return” and led by Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas.

Hamas had always said it would step up the protests before Tuesday, when Palestinians hold their annual commemoration of what they call the Nakba or Catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands fled their homes or were displaced following the foundation of the Israeli state on 14 May 1948.

On Monday, the Israeli military said 40,000 Palestinians had taken part in “violent riots” at 13 locations along the Gaza Strip security fence.

Palestinians hurled stones and incendiary devices while the Israeli military used snipers, as black smoke poured from burning tyres.

The health ministry, run by Hamas, said children were among those killed.

Islamic State: Hamas Not Terroristy Enough

by | 2035, 30 Jun 1515 | | 6 Comments

Lovely. I can’t wait to see them try to out-Islamist each other.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Islamic State insurgents threatened on Tuesday to turn the Gaza Strip into another of their Middle East fiefdoms, accusing Hamas, the organization that rules the Palestinian territory, of being insufficiently stringent about religious enforcement.

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