Operation Cast Lead: Day 18

The rockets keep coming, and Israel continues to attack Hamas positions in Gaza.

If you want to know why UNRWA keeps complaining about the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, just ask Hamas why they're stealing all that humanitarian aid coming in from Israel and selling it to the highest bidder.

Hamas on Monday raided some 100 aid trucks that Israel had allowed into Gaza, stole their contents and sold them to the highest bidders.

The IDF said that since terminal activity is coordinated with UNRWA and the Red Cross, Israel could do nothing to prevent such raids, Israel Radio reported.

UNRWA has an obligation to the people living in its refugee camps, but it long ago abdicated that responsibility when it offered aid and comfort to terrorist groups operating openly in those camps. Now, UNRWA sees its mission not to provide ultimate resettlement of those people living in the camps, but to perpetuate its own existence. That means ignoring the underlying causes of the problems in the camps - Gazans themselves and the terror infrastructure and Islamist ideology that is pervasive in the camps and only means death, destruction, mayhem and misery for all. Hamas is a cancer upon Gaza and the region as a whole, and yet UNRWA seems more interested in attacking Israel for providing humanitarian aid than attacking Hamas which keeps stealing it and appropriating it for their war effort.

The EU diplomats keep thinking that Israel is using excessive force in Gaza. They wouldn't understand excessive force if they were being bombarded by thousands of rockets a year since 2000. None of these diplomats would ever allow their own nations to tolerate being attacked in the way that Israel has endured for years on end. They would demand nothing less than the destruction of all those who attack their respective countries, and demand victory. Israel is the only nation on the planet whose sovereign right to defend itself from attack is constantly undermined by the diplomats, media, and leftists who seek to hamstring Israel and prevent it from defending itself from terrorists who seek nothing less than Israel's destruction.

The diplomats are actually extending the misery and inhumanity of Hamas rule in Gaza by pushing Israel to stop fighting Hamas, which has never once waivered from its goal of Israel's destruction. Ceasefires are hudnas for Hamas; they enable Hamas to regroup and rearm, and when Hamas starts talking hudna, you know that it is on the ropes and it's the time to press forward to destroy Hamas, not talk. Otherwise, we are right back in the same situation months later. That's the ultimate inhumanity of the diplomatic efforts. It completely fails to take into account the theological underpinnings of jihad and the Hamas efforts are wholly intertwined.

Meanwhile, two "journalists" have been indicted of selling secrets to Hamas.

Two east Jerusalem reporters were incited Tuesday for providing the enemy with sensitive and confidential information.

The two are employed by a production company which services various media outlets worldwide, including the Iranian Alalam Television.

And people wonder why Israel is limiting access of the media to Gaza beyond the stringers that are already in Gaza or the Israeli approved media embedded with the Israeli military? Not only are some operating as propaganda outlets for Hamas, but they're actively assisting the terrorists carry out their terror operations.

Some Israeli politicians get it. Avigor Lieberman wants Israel to carry on until they succeed in winning an unconditional victory; likening the fight to the US victory over Japan in World War II.

Israel meanwhile will carry out another 3-hour truce to allow humanitarian aid to flow, which means that Israel will stop fighting, but Hamas will continue its attacks on Israelis.

Following an attack on Israel from gunmen firing into Israel from Syria, we get reports of a similar attack across the Jordanian border.

The Islamists have been taking a theological thumping from Israel for years, including Hizbullah's war in 2006 during which Hizbullah claimed victory, but at a terrible cost to Hizbullah weapons and the Lebanese people; terrorist attacks courtesy of Islamic terrorists haven't destroyed the country or its will to survive.

It's a black eye on the Islamic movements, which push for Israel's destruction as an integral part of the ultimate goal of establishing a caliphate across the region and the world. One has to wonder what the constant losses do to the Islamists and their acolytes who think that the outcome is preordained and that Israel's destruction is assured for standing in the way of Islam. Yet another loss, despite the propagandists efforts to spin losses as victories, will not aid their cause. Under normal circumstances, such a loss would lead to a necessary examination of how and why the loss occurred, but Hamas is not a normal organization and it's ideological and theological underpinnings will not allow for such an examination.

A Hamas defeat will mean that the Islamists will likely redouble their efforts to wage war against Israel asymmetrically. They will likely seek out weapons of mass destruction that will destroy Israel; Iran's nuclear ambitions are part and parcel of this goal. Not only is Iran Hamas' biggest backer, but Iran's nuclear ambitions, tied with its missile technologies, is looking to dominate the region along the Sunni-Shi'ite schism and destroying Israel is among its top priorities because it would force the rest of the countries in the region to kowtow to the mullahs in Tehran. The Islamists will see that they lack the weapons to destroy Israel, and will seek out those weapons capable of inflicting the largest numbers of casualties, rather than actually engaging in the work of peace precisely because the Islamists cannot tolerate Israel's very existence.

UPDATE:
Time Magazine has a propaganda piece that masquerades as news, although you'd be hard pressed to actually find news in there, or even any reporting from named sources. It's conjecture, speculation, and opinion of the author, and nothing more. Stephen Green has the details.

The cover of the Time magazine this week is a real winner too, although I think the editors may have mixed up their metaphors and the facts (not that the facts have gotten in the way of Time lately.

Time's editors want people to think that Israel is imprisoning Gazans and engaging in human rights violations, but the cover gets it wrong. Israel wants to keep Gazan terrorists out of Israel. It builds the fence to protect itself from suicide bombers, who used to ply their deadly trade until the fence was completed. Now, the terrorists rely on kassam attacks to attempt to murder Israelis in the streets, schools, businesses, restaurants, buses, and homes. But for the incessant terror attacks, Israel would have not needed the fences and the current military operations in Gaza. Hamas chose war - it's an integral part of Hamas - and only now when Israel responds to defend itself does the media find its voice to attack Israel.

UPDATE:
UNRWA bears culpability for this situation as well:

Does UNRWA provide protection to Palestine refugees?

Protection is what UNRWA does to safeguard and advance the rights of Palestine refugees. In particular, UNRWA promotes respect for Palestine refugees’ rights through monitoring, reporting and intervention; delivers its services in a manner that promotes and respects the rights of beneficiaries; and ensures that protection needs are addressed in all aspects of programming, policies and procedures.

Apparently none of UNRWA's officials on the ground seem to notice that Hamas has coopted their operations, openly operates in UNRWA refugee camps, using Palestinians as human shields, and is running up a body count right under UNRWA noses, despite UNRWA pledges to protect and advance the rights of Palestinian refugees. It's a most curious way that UNRWA safeguards and advances the rights of those refugees; by supporting, condoning, and looking the other way as Hamas and other terrorist groups use the UNRWA as cover to carry out attacks against Israel.

The UNRWA mandate expires in 2011, and they think that it should be extended further. It should end. UNRWA has been one of the biggest reasons that the conflict persists; it fosters an environment that Hamas and other terrorists exploit, and a welfare class that knows of nothing else but handouts. The definition of refugee is such that grandchildren and great grandchildren of those who live in the camps are considered refugees, despite the fact that all that they've known is living in the camps because Palestinians refuse to settle in Gaza or the West Bank where they have civil administrative control.

UPDATE:
This is particularly rich. Another Hamas thug laid to rest, and the caption is not without a sense of irony.

Palestinian relatives bury Hamas militant Mohammed Asaliya at Sheikh Radwan cemetery in Gaza City, Tuesday, Jan.13, 2009. In crowded Gaza, relatives have always struggled to bury their dead. But Israel's shelling and deep ground incursion into the territory to crush militant group Hamas mean residents can't reach Martyrs Cemetery, Gaza City's only open graveyard on its eastern border with Israel, at a time when there's a rush of people needing burial.

No need to bury those thugs and terrorists and all others killed in the fighting if Hamas simply chose not to attack Israel repeatedly for years on end.

If Gazans were so worried about being able to bury the dead, they should have thought about who they voted for and why they chose a genocidal group - Hamas - to lead them. Where are the calls by Gazans to demand Hamas stop their attacks and to stop their destructive war against Israel? I have to believe that Gazans figure that the world would sooner force Israel to stop their defensive actions than they could get Hamas to stop their offensive war against Israel.

UPDATE:
MSNBC is at it again, this time with a headline reading that Gazans feel that they're alone in this world. Let's see. Demonstrations and protests supporting Hamas and Palestinians all over the world, including in Damascus, Jordan, Yemen, Rome, Beirut (to show just a few), and Gazans still feel alone? How about Israelis who are bombarded by Hamas rockets on a near daily basis for the last eight years, including during so-called ceasefires? You've got millions of people around the world demanding Israel's destruction, and Gazans feel lonely?

UPDATE:
I'll be damned... the ICRC finds that the IDF wasn't using white phosphorus as the human rights groups were busy complaining - and that in fact Israel was complying with international conventions on weapons as they had been saying all along.

The International Committee of the Red Cross urged Israel to exercise "extreme caution" in using the incendiary agent, which is used to illuminate targets at night or create a smoke screen for day attacks, said Peter Herby, the head of the organization's mines-arms unit.

"In some of the strikes in Gaza it's pretty clear that phosphorus was used," Herby told The Associated Press. "But it's not very unusual to use phosphorus to create smoke or illuminate a target. We have no evidence to suggest it's being used in any other way."

The only evidence that it was being used in any other fashion was from self interested Palestinians who want to propagandize against Israel and human rights groups that have repeatedly bent over backwards to ignore Hamas violations of every international law on the book but attempt to hold Israel to a standard of international law that doesn't even exist.

I guess the propagandists will have to try again. Meanwhile, Israeli teams are busy scouring through Gaza collecting evidence so as to defend their actions should the inevitable lawsuits crop up. In the process, they're busy gathering evidence of Hamas' depraved indifference to civilian casualties, using civilians as human shields, and storing weapons and hiding in and among civilians so as to avoid detection or evade retaliatory strikes.

Meanwhile, Israeli security discovered a tunnel leading to the vicinity of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, which supplies much of Gaza with fuel supplies. It is likely that Hamas was planning on using the tunnel to carry out an attack against the terminal. It also wouldn't be the first time terrorists targeted that fuel depot or others in the vicinity.

Israel's shipments of humanitarian aid to Gaza has been repeatedly delayed not because of Israel, but because Hamas continues to plot attacks against the border crossings and the shipments themselves.

On Monday, the IDF opened the chute at Karni for a test run during which 23 truckloads of grain were sent into Gaza, according to Lerner.

It was shut on Tuesday, however, after the army found a tunnel on the Gaza side, meant to be used for a mine attack.

On Wednesday the IDF hopes to open the chute for the passage of 60 truckloads of grain.

After that, Lerner said, the IDF wants to operate Karni every day.

It has also begun pumping fuel through Kerem Shalom, so that it can serve as an alternative to Nahal Oz, which is often closed for security reasons.

In addition, Lerner said, the IDF plans to open Erez for cargo on Wednesday. Until now, Erez has been used only for emergency medical cases.

If all goes as planned, 180 truckloads of humanitarian assistance should enter Gaza on Wednesday, compared with 106 on Tuesday.

Those crossings could have been open full time and cross-border traffic at normal levels for the past three years had Hamas not engaged in repeated attacks on Israel, the crossings, and their environs. Instead, Hamas has brought upon a humanitarian crisis largely because they have no interest in peace with Israel, even during the 6-month ceasefire.