Palestinian Civilian Casualties

[NewsGuy]

As I watched TV reports of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, I was struck by the universal concern with the ongoing civilian casualties of the residents of Gaza. I heard various Muslim interviewees calling the situation “a massacre,” and the like. The pictures of the Palestinian dead were comprised of scenes of women and children being rushed to the hospital bleeding.

Watching these TV reports, I was almost convinced that there was not a single Hamas soldier in Gaza, nor a single rocket ever fired on Israeli civilians and, actually, no males living in Gaza, except for the hospital physicians. Apparently, there are also no women or children suffering in Israel, no Jewish casualties, no decades of Palestinian terrorism, and no Iranian weapons and financing flowing into Gaza.

To watch CNN or BBC news, there are only two kinds of people living in the Middle East: Evil Israeli soldiers bent on genocide for no reason, and Palestinian women and children who are 100% innocent and haven’t the slightest idea why the Israeli soldiers are in Gaza.

Truly amazing… but I’m not buying it.

I do believe that the Palestinian people are suffering now, and I am saddened by it. It is true that any innocent Palestinian who is used by Hamas terrorists as a human shield and then injured in the war that Hamas started, is a tragedy. Like the various Muslim interviewees on CNN, I too, would like to see all people in the Middle East able to live in peace and freedom. However, unlike the Muslims and their Leftist apologists, I do not believe that Hamas is entitled to have the freedom to use Gaza as a launching pad to mass-murder Jewish families at will – as it has done for the past decade.

I am also saddened by the fact that having Hamas in control of a land situated in Israel’s border has forced Israel to sacrifice its soldiers to stop the rockets from being fired into Jewish homes, schools, and temples. The situation is like having Osama bin Ladin running a country sharing a border with the United States and firing rockets into American cities. Obviously, it is a situation that cannot be allowed to continue.

There are two competing interests in Gaza right now: Israel wants to strike at Hamas and eliminate the Muslim terrorists’ ability to fire rockets into Israeli homes. The IDF wants to do so with minimum civilian casualties. On the other hand, Hamas is interested in maximizing civilian casualties, because the misleading TV pictures are causing anti-Israeli sentiment that they hope will lead to a cease-fire that includes international legitimacy for the Islamic terrorist organization.

To that end, Hamas has stockpiled enormous quantities of explosives in civilian homes and is launching rockets at Israel from Palestinian homes and schools that are filled with children. Every dead Palestinian child brings a trophy for Hamas and for Muslims worldwide: The Leftist media will reward them with even more sympathy for the Islamic cause. After all, if Hamas is able to cause Israel to shoot back at Palestinian homes from where Hamas is firing, the world will love the Palestinians even more.

So far, unfortunately, Hamas seems to be winning the PR war. And it is doing it at the expense of the Palestinian civilian population. No matter, what counts is that the global Jihad is going as planned.

[Tonto]

Newsguy, I gotta tell ya that you really nailed it! The entire exercise has been planned, prepared and executed by hamas with carefully considered purpose to maximize civilian casualties. I think that is why Israel is sending in ground troops, in part at least. Israel needs to seek out and destroy all the arms caches they can find at a minimal casualty rate for civilians. That wrecks hamas' careful plan because, as IDF movement goes forward, proof positive of WHERE munitions and fighters are hidden is a factor that has a direct effect on world opinion. There is no doubt that munitions and fighters are hidden in mosques and civilian centers like schools and hospitals and private homes, especially those with lots of kids in them. The world needs to be shown that because hamas is denying that it does that. As you said, hamas likes nothing better than a giant civilian body count. I think the only thing that will cause Israel to leave Gaza now is excessive Israeli casualties....and right now they're 0 for 30 armed hamas thugs killed. Israeli casualties are only wounded, although some are serious. I think that hezbullah taught the IDF a bunch of good lessons on muz ambush techniques that Israel has figured out the answers for....it's ALWAYS training that make the difference in military operations.
Some female palestinian was on Fox tonight and was saying "Oh me! Oh my! The Israelis have been starving us and preventing medicines to come into Gaza." Well, my question is: How did all those brand new Iranian rockets get there instead of food, fuel and medicine? But nobody seems willing to ask that question. The hezbullah leader's kid was on Fox too (the one that went apostate and converted to Christianity) and he said islam will be dead in 10 years. I pray to GOD Almighty he's right. So many people dead for nothing but BS from a lunatic raider, slaver and killer. Pitiful!

[NewsGuy]

Some female palestinian was on Fox tonight and was saying "Oh me! Oh my! The Israelis have been starving us and preventing medicines to come into Gaza." Well, my question is: How did all those brand new Iranian rockets get there instead of food, fuel and medicine? But nobody seems willing to ask that question.

Right on.

After Israel foolishly gave Hamas the Jewish towns of Gaza in 2005, the Palestinians had the freedom to build a thriving, successful state. Instead of doing so, they spent all their time and money building a bizarre underground maze of smuggling tunnels and weapons caches.

In many ways, Gaza is really typical of the Muslim world, in which they prefer to make bombs than make a living.

The hezbullah leader's kid was on Fox too (the one that went apostate and converted to Christianity) and he said islam will be dead in 10 years. I pray to GOD Almighty he's right. So many people dead for nothing but BS from a lunatic raider, slaver and killer. Pitiful!

Fascinating story. I saw it too. I wanted to post some of the transcript here.

[Cellis]

nobody mentions use of civilians as human shield. we people use technologic intelligence for most of airstrikes no matter which military is.. sending dozens of mortar and/or qassam rockets in between of civilian families is not fair. If arabs want a fair fight they should play by the combat rules. the most important rule is to prevent civilian causalities; am I right here?
Israelis might use uneven strike power but hey isn't Hamas confident of it? Thus they're confident of possibility of civilian causalities.
and they're acting the victim.
give them hell

[codedvirus]

"Brave" HAMAS Gunmen firing on the Israeli Defense Force while hiding in a crowd of children knowing that the Israelis will not deliberately fire on children. This exactly what is expected from cowardly terrorists.

[andak01]

First of all, I'm happy that the ground operations are underway, because I believe that will reduce the civilian casualties. Second, I'm glad that Israel has done everything possible to reduce their own civilian casualties. Third, I believe there really are IDF soldiers that are making attempts to reduce civilian casualties, some of which are going to be unavoidable. To those, my hat is off for performing admirably in a very difficult situation. None of us I hope wants Hamas to end up more popular at the end of this conflict than when it began.

[Hisardut]

First of all, I'm happy that the ground operations are underway, because I believe that will reduce the civilian casualties. Second, I'm glad that Israel has done everything possible to reduce their own civilian casualties. Third, I believe there really are IDF soldiers that are making attempts to reduce civilian casualties, some of which are going to be unavoidable. To those, my hat is off for performing admirably in a very difficult situation. None of us I hope wants Hamas to end up more popular at the end of this conflict than when it began.

soilders should not go in, just need to napalm the whole coast.

[Cellis]

soilders should not go in, just need to napalm the whole coast.

then things will get hairy.

[dayag]

soilders should not go in, just need to napalm the whole coast.

I hope that is hyperbole. I'd hate to see a fellow Jew advocating genocide.

[Steven]

First of all, I'm happy that the ground operations are underway, because I believe that will reduce the civilian casualties. Second, I'm glad that Israel has done everything possible to reduce their own civilian casualties. Third, I believe there really are IDF soldiers that are making attempts to reduce civilian casualties, some of which are going to be unavoidable. To those, my hat is off for performing admirably in a very difficult situation. None of us I hope wants Hamas to end up more popular at the end of this conflict than when it began.

Days after andak gets bashed for his usual "disproportionate force" comments, he does his usual backtrack.

[Steven]

Fascinating story. I saw it too. I wanted to post some of the transcript here.

Please do, the world will be better off if he is correct.

[codedvirus]

Please do, the world will be better off if he is correct.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html

Son of Hamas Leader Turns Back on Islam and Embraces Christianity

Mosab Hassan Yousef is an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary story. He was born the son of one of the most influential leaders of the militant Hamas organization in the West Bank and grew up in a strict Islamic family.

Now, at 30 years old, he attends an evangelical Christian church, Barabbas Road in San Diego, Calif. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and is seeking asylum in the United States.

The story of how his life unfolded is truly amazing, whether you agree or disagree with his views. Below is a transcript on an exclusive FOX News interview with Hassan as he tells firsthand how a West Bank Muslim became a West Coast Christian.
-----------------

to view video of Mosab Hassan Yousef speaking out..........http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html

[codedvirus]

Son of Hamas Leader Turns Back on Islam and Embraces Christianity
..........http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html

JONATHAN HUNT: Why, after 25 years, did you change?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: I believe that all those walls that Islam built for the last 1,400 years are not existing (sic) anymore. They don't recognize this. They built those walls and made people ignorant because they're afraid. They didn't want people to discuss anything about the reality of Islam, about the big questions of Islam and they asked their followers, the Muslims, 'Don't ask about those certain questions.'

But now, people have media. If the father closes the door for his daughter not to leave the house, she's going to go behind her computer and travel the world. So people easily can get information, knowledge, searching (sic) engines, so it's very, very available for everybody to study about Islam, about other religions. Not from the Islam point of view, but from other points of view.

So for the next 25 years this is for sure going to make huge change in the Muslim and the Arab world.

JONATHAN HUNT: You speak from a unique perspective, a man who grew up not just in an Islamic family but as part of an organization seen by many people around the world as an extreme force in Islam: Hamas. What is the reality of Islam? You say people don't see the reality; What is the reality of Islam?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: There are two facts that Muslims don't understand ... I'd say about more than 95 percent of Muslims don't understand their own religion. It came with a much stronger language than the language that they speak so they don't understand it ... they rely only on religious people to get their knowledge about this religion.

Second, they don't understand anything about other religions. Christian communities live between Muslims and they're minority and they (would) rather not to go speak out and tell people about Jesus because it's dangerous for them.

So, all their ideas about other religions on earth are from Islamic perspectives. So those two realities, most people don't understand.

If people, if Muslims, start to understand their religion — first of all, their religion — and see how awful stuff is in there, they'll start to figure out, this can't (be) ... because most religious people focus on certain points of Islam. They have many points that they are very embarrassed to talk about.

JONATHAN HUNT: Such as?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Such as Muhammad's wives. You will never go to a mosque and hear about anyone talking about Muhammad's wives, which is like more than 50 wives — and nobody knows (this), by the way. If you ask the majority of Muslims, they will not know this fact.

So they're embarrassed to talk about this, but they talk about the glory of Islam, they talk about the victory, the victories that Muhammad made. So, when people just like look at themselves and see they're defeated, they have ignorance, they're not educated, they're not leading the world as they're expected to do. They’re think they want to get back to that victory by doing the same, what Muhammad did, but disregarding (sic) the timing. They forget that this happened 1,400 years ago and it's not going to happen again.

JONATHAN HUNT: Do they want to destroy Christianity?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Islam destroyed Christianity from the beginning and Muslims don't recognize that they stabbed Christianity (in) its heart when they said that Jesus wasn't killed on the cross. They think that they honor him in this way.

Basically, any Christians understand that this way, (but Muslims) tell Jesus, okay, we don't care, you didn't die for us. Someone sacrificed his life for you, (but) you tell him, okay, you didn't do it!

This is what Muslims are doing basically. But they don't understand that this is the most important part of Christianity: the cross!

So, they are ignorant, they don't know what they are doing and it explains what an evil idea it is behind this Islam.

JONATHAN HUNT: What specific event or events began to change your mind about Islam?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Since I was a child I started to ask very difficult questions, even my family was telling me all the time, 'You're a very difficult person and we were having trouble answering your questions. Why are you asking so many questions?' This was from the beginning, to be honest with you.

But I felt that everybody — and my father was a good example for me because he was a very honest, humble person, very nice to my mother, to us, and raised us on the principle of forgiveness, okay? I thought that everybody in Islam was like this.

When I was 18 years old, and I was arrested by the Israelis and was in an Israeli jail under the Israeli administration, Hamas had control of its members inside the jail and I saw their torture; (they were) torturing people in a very, very bad way.

JONATHAN HUNT: Hamas members torturing other Hamas members?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Hamas leaders! Hamas leaders that we see on TV now, and big leaders, responsible for torturing their own members. They didn't torture me, but that was a shock for me, to see them torturing people: putting needles under their nails, burning their bodies. And they killed lots of them.

JONATHAN HUNT: Why were they torturing people?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: Because they suspected that they had relations with the Israelis and (were) co-operating with the Israeli occupation against Hamas ... So hundreds of people were victims for this, and I was a witness for about a year for this torture. So that was a huge change in my life. I started to open my (eyes), but, the point (is) that I got that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims. Good Muslims, such as my father, and bad Muslims, like those Hamas members in the jail torturing people.
............to read the complete artcle go to
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html

[Tonto]

Yeah, according to the fakestilians, all the casualties so far are widows and orphan kiddies that are starving and denied medical treatment because there are no medicines. What no one has mentioned on the MSM is that hamas precipitated this whole thing by shooting rockets and mortars into Israel. Amazing considering there isn't even a shred of plausible denialbility. There have been no pointed questions about how it was possible to ship vast quantities of arms and munitions while failing to ship in medicine, fuel and food to provide for the civilians. Odd how denialbility works.
The bottom line is that Israel must continue, if for no other reason than to prove that these are lies to the world, and that hamas is really the "bad guy" as portrayed, who has no concern whatsoever for the civilians hamas depends on for support around them. Civilians are simply "cannon fodder" for hamas and the "prefered" casualty for hamas....as a political toy.

[andak01]

The reason Muslims don't know that Muhammad had more than 50 wives is because it didn't happen. After all, he wasn't Solomon!