Operation Cast Lead: Day 20

The Hamas terrorists continue firing rockets into Israel, and continue attacking Israeli forces operating in Gaza from UN positions. This should come as no surprise. UNRWA admits that they've had Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists on their payroll for years and have been freely teaching anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda in the UNRWA-operated schools. As FoxNews reports:

The United Nations agency that administers a school in Gaza where dozens of civilians were killed by Israeli mortar fire last week has admitted to employing terrorists to work at its Palestinian schools in the past, has no system in place to keep members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad off its payroll, and provides textbooks to children that contain hate speech and other incendiary information.

A growing chorus of critics has taken aim at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in recent years, although momentum on Capitol Hill has been slow. But last week’s incident, which Israel maintains was prompted by Hamas operatives firing mortars at Israelis from a location near the school, has prompted some lawmakers to scrutinize the U.N. agency.

UNRWA isn't the solution. It's a huge part of the problem. It has condoned the activities of terrorists and provides them with safe havens from which to operate, including schools and the very refugee camps that UNRWA administers.

So, it should come as no surprise that Hamas thugs were firing on Israeli positions from in the vicinity of UNRWA administrative buildings in Gaza. Israel responded to Hamas anti-tank fire with attacks of its own. The NYT reports that UN officials (namely Chris Guiness) were told by unnamed Israeli officials that the attack was a mistake. MSNBC says that Ehud Barak told the UN that there had been a "grave mistake", but the Jerusalem Post contradicts that statement claiming that Israel was justifiably firing on terrorists operating in the vicinity of UNRWA facilities. Carl in Jerusalem has more on this. If Hamas or other terrorists were firing on Israeli positions from UNRWA facilities, Israel is more than justified under international law to return fire. Terrorists do not get the benefit of doubt.

Reports also indicate that the nearby hospital was hit by gunfire. Hamas has no care for human life, and purposefully uses human shields to maximize the body count. Israel has sent five of its firetrucks to assist in dousing the fires at the UNRWA headquarters.

The UN continues to push out nonsensical and morally bankrupt statements such as the death toll in Gaza being unbearable. If that's the case, why isn't the UN demanding that Hamas cease attacking Israel and laying down its arms as it operates from within UNRWA administered locations throughout Gaza? But for the Hamas war against Israel, Israel would not be forced to defend itself by going after Hamas terrorists inside Gaza.

Where is the UN and ICRC to demand access to Gilad Shalit. He's been held by Hamas for more than 2.5 years, and the only reason that he's being held by Hamas is so that Hamas can demand Israel release hundreds of terrorists in exchange for Shalit. Where are the demands by the UN or other human rights groups for Hamas to engage in a humanitarian gesture by releasing Shalit unconditionally. The reason is simple. No one expects the terrorists to engage in humanitarian gestures. That's why Hamas continues violating each and every 3-hour Israeli ceasefire allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. It's why it's sheer folly for Israel to consider any longer ceasefire when Hamas will use that time to regroup and rearm.

That's because the UN too is part of the problem and its organization is riddled with the same anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment that we see from Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups.

Venezuela is the latest country to break off relations with Israel. [T]hugo Chavez is close warm personal friends with Iran's Ahmadinejad (who's busy calling for the Arab world to cut relations with Israel), so it should come as no surprise that he's doing his friend's bidding. The same goes for Bolivia's Evo Mendes, who broke off relations with Israel yesterday. Never mind that all three countries are busy funding terrorists and call for Israel's destruction.

As per the NYT report, Israeli human rights groups were ignoring Hamas terrorist attacks and tens of thousands of documented terrorist incidents - each and every instance a war crime - and instead are seeking to find war crimes against Israel:

Also on Wednesday, nine Israeli human rights groups called for an investigation into whether Israeli officials had committed war crimes in Gaza. The groups say that tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza have nowhere to flee, the Gaza health system has collapsed, many people are without electricity and running water, and some are beyond the reach of rescue teams.

“This kind of fighting constitutes a blatant violation of the laws of warfare and raises the suspicion, which we ask be investigated, of the commission of war crimes,” the groups said in a news conference on the 19th day of the war.

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger, who spent Tuesday in Gaza City, agreed that the situation with civilians was dire but said that the principal hospital was making do with medical supplies, and that doctors, working around the clock, were mostly coping with the flow of the wounded.

Let's ignore the Hamas use of human shields, attacking from civilian areas, putting civilians at risk, purposefully targeting Israeli civilians, and calls to genocide and ethnic cleansing of Israel. Instead, these "human rights groups" stand human rights on its head and attack a nation's right to defend itself from attack. Hamas is responsible for the events in Gaza, and but for the rocket attacks, Israel would not have responded. Indeed, Israel didn't respond to the rocket attacks for years, and didn't respond to the hundreds of kassam attacks during the last ceasefire, which is why Hamas continues to believe that it can and will destroy Israel.

If Israel injures or kills civilians accidentally, it rushes to apologize. Hamas attacks civilians purposefully and cheers gleefully when Israelis die. Yet the media, the human rights groups, and the diplomats ignore this crucial difference. Do mistakes happen during wars? Yes. Do civilians get killed during wars? Yes. Do terrorists deserve the benefit of doubt. Absolutely not. The death toll in Gaza is higher precisely because Hamas seeks to maximize the casualties by operating outside the bounds of the laws of war and the Geneva Conventions.

Where can Gazans flee? Egypt doesn't want them. Israel left Gaza in 2005 precisely to see whether Gaza could live in peace with Israel. Gazans have to choose between war and coexistence; and that means finally standing up against Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They have a choice to make, and knowing how Palestinians have chose in the past, they will again choose Hamas and terrorism, despite the terrible toll.

UPDATE:
Israeli operations killed five Hamas terrorists, who happened to be bodyguards to one of the Hamas bigwigs, Mahmoud Al Zahar. Arab reports suggest that the IDF has Zahar's home surrounded. Israellycool has the details and more extensive updates.

The Muqata reports that Israeli soldiers came under fire from UNRWA positions and from buildings being used by journalists, which explains why Israel returned fire to those locations and their vicinity. Hamas is using journalists and the UN as cover to carry out their terror operations and hopes that Israel kills civilians, UN officials and/or journalists to further Hamas propaganda aims.

Muqata also has this report:

12:12 PM Italian reporter, one of the first members of the foreign press allowed into Gaza claims that there is no real humanitarian crisis in the strip and, surprisingly enough, reports in the Arab media are greatly exaggerated. This is in line with G.S.S. Yuval Diskin's statement for a couple weeks ago. (source in Hebrew)

UPDATE:
UNRWA is claiming that Israel fired on the warehouse using white phosphorus (WP). Expect to see whining and seething from the human rights groups that this is somehow a human rights violation or war crime, when Israel is within its rights to use WP.

There's nothing controversial about the use of WP, other than the fact that Israel is using it. It isn't an illegal weapon, it isn't a chemical weapon, and nations the world over have it in their arsenals. Human rights groups and anti-Israel groups are trying to make it controversial, but they're treading on thin ice. They're hoping that the repeated mention of it creates outrage and forces Israel to stop using yet another tool in their defense.

UPDATE:
Expect to hear complaints about how Israel killed Hamas' interior minister.

Hamas' interior minister, Said Siam, considered one of the most senior members of the Palestinian group's leadership, was killed Thursday afternoon in an Israeli air strike on his brother's home in Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Siam's brother Ayad and the head of Hamas' security organization in Gaza, Salah Abu Sharah, were also killed in the strike. Palestinian sources reported that 20 other people were injured in the attack.

Siam, 50, is the most senior Hamas figure assassinated in Operation Cast Lead so far, and is the most senior Hamas figure killed by Israel since the assassination of Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in April 2004.

People will attempt to claim that there's a difference between Hamas military and political wings, but that's a smokescreen. Both are Hamas and both are dedicated to the same goal. What are the Siams' role in Hamas? These guys organized the top level terror infrastructure.

UPDATE:
Hamas is now more accepting of a ceasefire? I guess when your top terrorists are dying in airstrikes, you reconsider your alternatives - a hudna lets you regroup, rearm, and prepare for the next battle. Of course, note too that Hamas wants to do everything possible to make the ceasefire one-sided. It claims to be doing so in the name of the Palestinian people, but if that ever were the case, Hamas would not have started a rocket war against Israel and attempted to negotiate a peace deal on the basis of the 2000 Camp David outlined proffered by Ehud Barak. In fact, Palestinians could have already had their state if they offered up counterproposals rather than rockets and mortars and suicide bombers in response to the Barak offer. Instead, we've got nothing but death, pain and misery because Arafat refused to provide a counteroffer to Barak, and Arafat, the PA, Fatah and Hamas launched into another Intifada.

UPDATE:
Photo review time.
Palestinians transport wounded people. I'd get hurt just attempting to ride in a car like that.

If Israel really wants you dead, here's what they do to your home. That was the home of a major Hamas terrorist. That's a clarion call that terror masters understand. Despite their bravado, they're cowards at heart and aren't keen on dying. They'd much rather have others die for them - the more Palestinians who die, the better since Hamas doesn't have a clue how to govern but it churns out the propaganda like clockwork.

Propaganda masquerading as captions.