Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘islamic jihad’

Israel’s attack on the UN Observer Post in Lebanon wasn’t – despite what Kofi Annan thinks – deliberate. But these attacks sure were:

Palestinian protesters stormed the main U.N. compound in Gaza City on Sunday during a demonstration against Israel’s bombing of southern Lebanon that killed around 60 civilians, witnesses and U.N. staff said.

Hundreds of members of the Islamic Jihad militant group, some throwing stones and others firing assault rifles, attacked the compound at the end of a rally, witnesses said.

At least five people were wounded, police said.

[ . . . ]

Witnesses in Gaza said extensive damage had been caused to the U.N. compound, from where the world body directs its relief and aid operations for the Gaza Strip’s 1.4 million people.

The attack came hours after thousands of Lebanese demonstrators attacked the U.N. headquarters in Beirut, smashing windows and ransacking offices.

Several thousand people massed outside the building in the center of the capital chanting “Death to Israel, death to America. We sacrifice our blood and souls for Lebanon.”

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

Don’t count on a condemnation from Kofi Annan, though.

A suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, near the central bus station, has so far injured at least 10 people.

What is there to say that hasn’t already been said thousands of times already?

Update: The latest figures say 22 people were wounded. Ha’aretz is reporting that the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, but suggests that it’s a bit murky and that the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade (in other words, Fatah) may be behind the attack.

What really irks me is that media reports call this the “first bombing in a year”. Not true. It’s the first suicide bombing (though not the first attack) of the 2006 calendar year. But it’s been barely five weeks since a terrorist bomber struck in Netanya on December 5th, murdering five Israelis.

Say it with me now: What truce?

We’ve long known that the United Nations is incapable of actually doing anything about violence, terrorism or injustice. Today, they once again proved incapable of even denouncing it:

The UN Security Council failed to agree on Tuesday on a statement condemning the suicide bombing in Netanya, after a dispute between the United States and Algeria, the only Arab council member, made approving the resolution impossible.

The statement, similar to one adopted by the so-called quartet of advisers to the Middle East peace process, would have “unequivocally” condemned the blast. It also would have urged Syria to close the offices of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for Monday’s bombing that killed five Israelis and injured more than 50 people.

[ . . . ]

[The U.S.] said “Algeria objected to the reference to Syria and to the reference to Palestinian Islamic Jihad” even though the group claimed responsibility for the attack and the Palestinians said the orders came from Damascus.

[The Algerian Ambassador], however, said he was ready to discuss the mention of Syria but also wanted to say something about Israel’s “disproportionate use of force” which resulted in a death of a child during in the West Bank city of Jenin last week.

As usual, the U.N. proves itself incapable of saying anything that isn’t directed against Israel.

The General Assembly has long been a write-off but occasionally we’ve seen the Security Council do something useful. But today, we are once again reminded of the corrupt and ineffective way in which the U.N. is run. If this actually is a war on terror, the U.N. is increasingly making its case for why it should be considered on the other side.

The murderous bastards attacked more innocent Israelis today. A suicide bomber in Hadera blew himself up in a market and killed at least four people:

The explosion occurred in front of a felafel stand at the market in downtown Hadera, a frequent target of attacks during the past five years of violence.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack soon after the blast, saying the bombing was revenge for the death of its military leader Luay Sa’adi in an Israel Defense Forces raid in the West Bank several days ago.

The world will accept the excuse of “revenge”, implicitly saying that the terrorists can’t be expected to control themselves or to take any responsibility for their actions. They will whitewash these murders as being somehow morally equivalent to Israel’s targeted attacks on terrorists… as though killing Wednesday morning shoppers is the same as killing masterminds of dozens of suicide attacks. Everyone will urge “restraint” on Israel’s part to preserve the “truce” and avoid jeopardizing the “peace process”.

Reading these articles sometimes makes me think we’re living in a 1984-like universe, where words are meaningless and actions even more so.

Sick. Disgusting. All of it.

Update: Ma’ariv reports that the toll is up to 5 killed and 26 wounded, including 5 in critical condition.

Israel has taken out another terrorist leader, this time a senior Islamic Jihad commander responsible for hundreds of innocent Israeli deaths. (Leave it to Reuters to refer to him as a “militant”):

Israeli troops killed a top militant in the Bank on Monday, while Gaza gunmen fired several rockets toward Israel in a flare-up of violence that threatened to unravel an eight-month ceasefire.

Israeli troops shot dead Islamic Jihad commander Loai Assadi during a raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. He was the most senior Palestinian militant to be killed since the start of the truce in March.

Islamic Jihad gunmen in northern Gaza said they fired 25 rockets into Israel in retaliation. There were no casualties. The army said several landed in open fields in Israel and that they responded with artillery fire into Gaza.

Militant groups in Gaza, including Islamic Jihad and Hamas, stopped firing rockets last month after a similar flare-up in violence in which Israel killed several gunmen in retaliation for rocket and mortar bomb salvoes.

Islamic Jihad vowed to avenge the killing of Assadi, 26, who Israel had accused of masterminding suicide bombings that killed 10 Israelis since the truce was declared in February.

That’s one… two… three references to the nonexistent truce. And anyone notice how it’s five paragraphs into the article before anyone mentions that the Islamic Jihad killed Israeli citizens – and even then, it’s a whitewashed mention? Then again, why would I expect differently from Reuters?

And as we brace ourselves for the inevitable criticism of Israel for “threatening the truce-that-isn’t”, the reasons behind these targeted attacks will surely get lost in the shuffle:

Israeli officials say Assadi was behind two suicide bombings this year, one that killed five people at an Israeli shopping mall in the coastal city of Netanya in July and another that killed five Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub in February.

Army Colonel Aharon Haliva, commander of the force that entered Tulkarm, said troops had surrounded a house where Assadi, long at the top of Israel’s wanted list, was hiding and killed him when he fired on them as he tried to escape. A soldier was lightly hurt.

The army said Assadi had planned to send a suicide bomber into Israel in coming days.

But of course, it’s Israel threatening the peace. Riiiiiight.

Abbas and Sharon are making the usual meaningless statements about “working towards peace” and starting a “new page” in Israeli-Palestinian relations.

In the meantime, Hamas is giving the real picture:

Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced on Monday that they have reached an agreement with the Palestinian Authority according to which the two groups would not be disarmed.

[ . . . ]

“We stressed during the meeting that the Palestinians have the right to continue the resistance [against Israel] and that there would be no attempt to collect weapons from the resistance groups,” he added.

“The weapons of the resistance were founded to defend the Palestinian people and resist the occupation. The Gaza victory was achieved with the weapons of the resistance, which is the only strategy to drive Israel out of the rest of our lands.”

Any questions?

The Jerusalem Post reports the findings of a Shin Bet report on how the Palestinians have been using the so-called “truce” to escalate terror attacks against Israel:

The first seven months of the year have witnessed a marked, gradual increase in attempts by all the terror organizations, especially the Islamic Jihad, to launch attacks, despite the Palestinian declared tahdiya (truce) on January 22, a seven-page report published by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed on Monday.

[ . . . ]

Since the beginning of 2005, 33 Israelis have been killed – 21 of them after the so-called January 22 truce. The deterioration of the continued while terror threats increased, totaling 436 attacks in July alone.

There was also a 50 percent increase in Gaza-based mortar attacks during the same period, with a total of 142 mortar shells fired at settlements, compared to 65 in May, the report stated.

As Meryl Yourish would say: What truce?

A suicide bomber struck a Netanya shopping mall. At least two people are dead and another two dozen wounded, and those are just the initial numbers.

This despite the fact that there’s supposed to be a “truce” (as Meryl has been saying pretty much daily, what truce?).

This despite the fact that Israel is withdrawing unilaterally from Gaza this summer, over the protests of many of its citizens.

This despite the fact that the G8 just committed more money to the Palestinian Authority only a day after London’s terrorist bombings.

Bastards.

Islamic Jihad, in one sentence, stated that it “remained committed to the truce” and that it was responsible for today’s attack. That ridiculous contradiction will probably make perfect sense to the rest of the world, who will find a way to blame Israel.

The script by now is familiar. Israel will press Mahmoud Abbas for a condemnation of terror. Abbas will “condemn” the attack to the Western press, but not too loudly in case the Arab world might hear. The Americans will call for “all sides” to remain calm. The EU will find a way to blame Israel. Until the whole thing starts all over again.

When will this end?

Update: The grisly toll is now 3 dead and over 90 injured.

There were apparently quite a few athletes from the Maccabiah games in the area seeing as how numerous events were taking place in Netanya. Maybe it’s just the cynic in me speaking, but something tells me that the media coverage and pressure on Abbas would be stepped up if any Europeans or North Americans are determined to be among those dead or injured.

The Palestinian Authority is so serious about stopping terrorism, that they free terrorists soon after arresting them:

Palestinian police, enforcing a ceasefire with Israel, arrested two men from a suspected Hamas rocket squad after a gun battle in the Gaza Strip but freed the militants soon after, officials said on Tuesday.

[ . . . ]

In return for their freedom, the two militants, promised to abide by an agreement that militant factions reached with Abbas in Cairo in March to respect the ceasefire the Palestinian leader declared along with Sharon in February, Abu Khoussa said.

Yeah, right. Because that agreement has been respected oh-so-well:

Describing the clash, Abu Khoussa said, a third militant had escaped arrest: “The three were in a car, en route to fire rockets, when police waved for them to stop. Gunmen opened fire at the police, forcing policemen to fire back.

“Policemen controlled the situation, took away the car, arrested the gunmen and took away their arms,” he said, adding that the third man ran away and avoided the police.

A Palestinian security official said police found rockets in the vehicle.

The Hamas gunmen accused the police of opening fire first and said there was no plan to launch rockets. Another militant group, Islamic Jihad, said it carried out a rocket attack on Israel from nearby shortly before the Hamas men were arrested.

Oh yeah, that cease-fire. The nonexistent one. Why didn’t you just say so?

But the media continues to pretend that a cease-fire exists, just as they continue to pretend that Abbas is actually interested in fighting terrorism. Why tell the truth when the lies sound so much prettier?

In a targeted strike, Israel has taken out the top commander of Islamic Jihad, Bashir ad-Dabbash.

Of course, we expect the usual cries of revenge. But they’re starting to ring hollow, as it’s becoming increasingly clear that Israel’s campaign of terrorist assassinations is taking its intended toll on the terror groups.