The Hamas notoriety :: Weekly Blitz

Mega terrorist organization Hamas is targeting every Jewish child!

HAMAS leader Mahmoud Zahar has warned that Jewish children are now legitimate targets, in a bloodcurdling precursor to tanks rolling into the Islamic militant stronghold of Khan.

Zahar's threat of retaliation, in his first comments since the Israeli campaign began 11 days ago, came before tanks, firing cannons and machineguns and supported by helicopter gunships, moved into the city in the southern Gaza Strip.

The pre-dawn operation to open a third front came a day after troops andHamas militants fought pitched battles in Gaza City, in the north - where four Israelis were killed by tankfire in two friendly-fire cases, and on the edges of the Deir al-Balah and Bureij refugee camps in the centre.

"They have legitimised the murder of their own children by killing the children of Palestine," said Zahar, in a video recorded from his hiding place in Syria and broadcast on Hamas's al-Aqsa television. "They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people."

The warning, delivered late on Monday, suggested a new round of suicide bombings inside and even outside Israel to avenge the deaths of at least 159 Palestinian children, killed since the campaign to take out Hamas rocket teams began with airstrikes on December 27. Defence Minister Ehud Barak said last night that the strip had been cut in half and that Gaza City had been surrounded.

The death toll on both sides rose as diplomatic initiatives failed to make progress on halting the fighting in the enclave of 1.5million people.

The incursion into Khan Younis's eastern district of Abassan al-Kabira was the first time Israeli ground forces had entered the city since they poured into the territory on Saturday night. The armoured force was met in Khan Younis by return fire from Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters. Artillery and airstrikes hit two UN schools in Khan Younis and Gaza City, one crowded with refugees, killing at least five people - bringing the Palestinian death toll since the campaign began to more than 580, of which the UN says a quarter are civilians.

In other pre-dawn clashes yesterday, fighting raged in the north around Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya, near Gaza City. In the eastern Gaza City district of Zeitun, a three-storey house belonging to a Hamas member with 30 people inside was destroyed by an airstrike. At least 12 people - seven of them children - were killed. They were all related.

Despite the relentless air, ground and naval assault on their stronghold launched to stop rockets, a defiant Hamas continued to fire into Israel.

One projectile travelled 45km, the deepest yet inside the Jewish state, lightly wounding a baby. Three others landed elsewhere without causing injuries.

Israel yesterday rejected separate ceasefire initiatives from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the European Union, saying the 11-day offensive in Gaza was an act of self-defence that would end only when Hamas stopped firing rockets into Israel.

Before a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mr Sarkozy said: "We in Europe want a ceasefire as quickly as possible, and that everyone understands that time is running against peace. The guns must fallsilent."

Mr Olmert told Mr Sarkozy: "The results of the operation must be ... that Hamas must not only stop firing but must no longer be able to fire. We cannot accept a compromise that will allow Hamas to fire in two months against Israeli towns."

President Shimon Peres was more blunt to the EU delegation. "Europe must open its eyes," he said. "We are not in the business of public relations or improving our image. We are fighting against terror and we have every right to defend our citizens."

The heaviest fighting so far occurred as Israeli troops clashed with Hamas fighters in the Shejaiya district of Gaza City.

Palestinian medical officials say at least 110 people have died since the ground assault began, while Israel says it has killed 130 Hamas fighters.

The Israeli army said three soldiers from the elite Golani Brigade were killed and 24 wounded in northern Gaza when their position was accidentally hit by Israeli tank fire. The brigade commander, Colonel Avi Peled, was lightly injured. The army said a paratroop officer was killed in northern Gaza, indicating he may have been killed by friendly fire.

"The details of the event are still being investigated; however, it is suspected that a tank shell was mistakenly fired at the force," it said in a statement.

The death brought to five the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the army poured ground troops into the Hamas stronghold on Saturday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said people were dying because ambulances could not reach them amid the fighting.

A foreign doctor at a Gaza hospital, Mads Gilbert, challenged Israel's claim that Hamas fighters were being targeted, saying that by his count 801 children had been injured or killed. Dr Gilbert told the BBC last night: "The numbers are contradictory to everything Israel says. This is the worst man-made disaster for the time I can think (of)."

Mr Sarkozy had a blunt message for both sides: Israel could not allow the humanitarian situation to go on and Hamas's firing of rockets on civilians in southern Israel was "unforgiveable".

Hamas, an acronym of ?arakat al-Muq?wamat al-Isl?miyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement" is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist terror group which was elected to power by the sick Palestinians during their election. Hamas holds a majority of seats in the elected legislative council of the Palestinian National Authority.

Hamas was created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mohammad Taha of the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood at the beginning of the First Intifada. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin is one of the top listed terror kingpin in the world. Notorious for its numerous suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians and security forces, Hamas also runs extensive social programs and has gained popularity in Palestinian society by establishing hospitals, education systems, libraries and other services throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hamas' charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Hamas describes its conflict with Israel as political and not religious or antisemitic. However, its founding charter, writings, and many of its public statements reflect the influence of antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Hamas's political wing has won many local elections in Gaza, Qalqilya, and Nablus. In January 2006, Hamas won a surprise victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, taking 76 of the 132 seats in the chamber, while the previous ruling Fatah party took 43. Many perceived the preceding Fatah government as corrupt and ineffective, and Hamas's supporters see it as an "armed resistance" movement defending Palestinians from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. However, since Hamas's election victory, particularly sharp infighting has occurred between Hamas and Fatah.

Following the Battle of Gaza in June of 2007, elected Hamas officials were ousted from their positions in the Palestinian National Authority government in the West Bank, replaced by rival Fatah members and independents in an action that many Palestinians and other experts considered illegal. On 18 June 2007, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah) issued a decree outlawing the Hamas militia and executive force.

Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by Canada, the European Union, Israel Japan, and the United States, and is banned in Jordan. Australia and the United Kingdom list only the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organization. The United States and the European Union have both implemented restrictive measures against Hamas on an international level.

Hamas, unlike the Fatah, refused to accept Israel's existence. Its charter calls for an end to Israel, though during the 2006 election campaign, Hamas did not mention its call for the destruction of Israel in its electoral manifesto. On 25 January 2006, after winning the Palestinian elections, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar gave an interview to Al-Manar TV denouncing foreign demands that Hamas recognize Israel's right to exist.

After the establishment of Hamas government, Dr Al-Zahar stated his "dreams of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it...I hope that our dream to have our independent state on all historic Palestine (including Israel). This dream will become real one day. I'm certain of this because there is no place for the state of Israel on this land". He also "didn't rule out the possibility of having Jews, Muslims and Christians living under the sovereignty of an Islamic state, adding that the Palestinians never hated the Jews and that only the Israeli occupation was their enemy". In November 2008 Ismail Haniyah said that Hamas was willing to accept a Palestinian state within the 1949 armistice lines, and offered Israel "a long-term hudna, or truce, if Israel recognized the Palestinians' national rights."

Hamas's charter calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic Republic in their historic homeland of Palestine, in place of Israel. Hamas sees this view as an Islamic religious duty and prophesy that comes directly from Hadith. In 1999, late Hamas co-founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin mentioned the year 2027 as the possible date for the "disappearance" of Israel. The group has not issued a clear statement about how it would deal with the current population of Israel, should it succeed in overthrowing Israeli and secular Palestinian government. Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, one of its co-founders, stated that the movement's goal is "to remove Israel from the map".

Hamas uses both political activities and violence to pursue its goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel and the secular Palestinian Authority.

The slogan of Hamas is "God is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Qur'an its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of God is the loftiest of its wishes." Hamas states that its objective is to support the oppressed and wronged and "to bring about justice and defeat injustice, in word and deed." Hamas believes that "the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf (trust) consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day," and as such, the land cannot be negotiated away by any political leader. Hamas' covenant states that "so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences" are "in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement", stating "there is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad".

The largest backer of Hamas is Saudi Arabia, with over 50% of its funds coming from that country The funding continues despite Saudi pledges to stop funding of terrorism and recent outwardly denouncing of Hamas' lack of unity with Fatah.

According to the U.S. State Dept, Hamas is funded by Iran (led by a Shi'i Islamic regime), Palestinian expatriates, and "private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states." The party is known to support families of suicide bombers after their deaths, including providing a monthly allowance.

Dirty faces of fanatics:

Human rights groups and ordinary Gazans accuse Hamas of forcefully suppressing dissent. An August 26, 2007 article from British conservative newspaper The Telegraph accuses Hamas of using criminal means, including torture, political detentions, and firing on unarmed protesters who object to Hamas policies. In October 2008, Hamas announced it would release all political prisoners in their custody in Gaza. Several hours after the announcement, 17 Fatah members were released.

Hamas members have also been harassing and arresting Palestinian journalists in Gaza. On August 29, 2007 Palestinian health officials reported that Hamas had been shutting down Gaza clinics in retaliation for doctor strikes - Hamas confirmed that "punitive measure against doctors" who, according to Hamas, "incite others to strike and suspend services" have been taken.

In 2007 Hamas disbanded the Gaza Strip branch of the pro-Fatah Union of Palestinian Journalists, a move that was criticised by Reporters without borders.

On September 7, 2007 Hamas banned public prayers, after Fatah supporters began holding worship sessions that quickly escalated into raucous protests against Hamas rule. Hamas security forces beat several gathering supporters and journalists.

On November 14, 2007 Hamas arrested a British journalist and canceled all press cards in Gaza. No news photography is allowed without a license from Hamas.

On February 8, 2008 Hamas banned distribution of Al-Ayyam newspaper and closure of its offices in the Gaza Strip due to a caricature that mocked legislators loyal to Hamas,. Hamas had later issued an arrest request for the editor.

Hamas has been responsible for launching suicide attacks against Israel; the group sees these attacks as a legitimate aspect of its asymmetric warfare against Israel. Hamas' first use of suicide bombing occurred on April 16, 1993 when a suicide bomber driving an explosive-laden van detonated between two buses parked at a restaurant. It was Hamas' 19th known attack since 1989 (the others included shootings, kidnappings and knife attacks).

During the second Intifada, Hamas, along with the Islamic Jihad Movement, spearheaded the violence through the years of the Palestinian uprising. Since then Hamas has conducted many attacks on Israel, mainly through its military wing — the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. These attacks have included large-scale suicide bombings against Israeli civilian targets, the most deadly of which was the bombing of a Netanya hotel on 27 March 2002, in which 30 people were killed and 140 were wounded. This attack has also been referred to as the Passover massacre since it took place on the first night of the Jewish festival of Passover. Overall, from November 2000 to April 2004, 377 Israeli citizens and soldiers were killed and 2,076 wounded in 425 attacks by Hamas.

In a 2002 report, Human Rights Watch stated that Hamas' leaders "should be held accountable for the war crimes and crimes against humanity" that have been committed by its members. In May 2006 Israel arrested Hamas top official Ibrahim Hamed whom Israeli security officials claim was responsible for dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis.

Since 2002, militants have used homemade Qassam rockets to hit Israeli towns in the Negev, such as Sderot. Hamas has claimed responsibility for most of these attacks, and has condoned them when it did not acknowledge responsibility. These attacks are outlined in the List of Qassam rocket attacks. The introduction of the Qassam-2 rocket has allowed militants to reach large Israeli cities such as Ashkelon, prompting the Israeli military to stop the proliferation and use of the rockets.

The FBI and United States Department of Justice have stated that Hamas threatens the United States through covert cells on U.S. soil. According to Steven Emerson, Hamas has an extensive infrastructure in the US mostly revolving around the activities of fundraising, recruiting and training members, directing operations against Israel, organizing political support and operating through human-rights front groups. While Hamas has not acted outside Israel, it has the capability of carrying out attacks in America if it decided to enlarge the scope of its operations.

FBI director Robert Mueller has testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that,

It is the FBI's assessment, at this time, that there is a limited threat of a coordinated terrorist attack in the U.S. from Palestinian terrorist organizations, such as HAMAS, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, and the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. These groups have maintained a longstanding policy of focusing their attacks on Israeli targets in Israel and the Palestinian territories. We believe that the primary interest of Palestinian terrorist groups in the U.S. remains the raising of funds to support their regional goals. [...] Of all the Palestinian groups, HAMAS has the largest presence in the U.S. with a robust infrastructure, primarily focused on fundraising, propaganda for the Palestinian cause, and proselytizing. Although it would be a major strategic shift for HAMAS, its U.S. network is theoretically capable of facilitating acts of terrorism in the U.S.

On 8 November 2006, after Israeli artillery shells killed 19 Palestinian civilians, Hamas's military wing released a statement condemning both Israel and America. "America is offering political, financial and logistic cover for the Zionist occupation crimes, and it is responsible for the Beit Hanoun massacre. Therefore, the people and the [Islamic] nation all over the globe are required to teach the American enemy tough lessons," Hamas said in a statement sent to the Associated Press. Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian government denied any involvement with the statement, saying "Our battle is against the occupation on the Palestinian land. We have no interest to transfer the battle."

In addition to killing Israeli civilians and armed forces, Hamas has also attacked suspected 'Palestinian collaborators', and Fatah rivals.

According to National Public Radio, a non-commercial broadcasting organization in the U.S., "Israel and many Western powers have struggled with how best to interact with a group that is at once labeled terrorist and, at the same time, is the legitimately elected leadership of the Palestinian National Authority." Canada describes Hamas as a "a radical Sunni Muslim terrorist organization". The European Union lists Hamas among its list of entities against which it applies restrictions in order to combat terrorism. Israel's ministry of foreign affairs claims that "Hamas maintains a terrorist infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank, and acts to carry out terrorist attacks in the territories and Israel."

Now during the recent war in Gaza, many of the Arab media are trying to put the responsibility on Israel saying, Israel is targeting civilians in Gaza while these media are trying to suppress the fact that Hamas and other terror groups within Gaza and Palestine as well as some adjacent lands are mainly responsible for today's tension in the peninsula. Most unfortunately, Arab and Muslim press are extremely biased and they prefer catering news with the aim of putting all responsibility on Israel thus instigating anti Semitic notion as well as culture of Jihad.

International community especially the peace-loving masses should wake up forthwith and try to understand the problem from a close distance. They should understand the fact that, keeping terror groups like Hamas very much active in the Middle East with hidden patronization from many Arab nations, peace in the Middle East will remain a wild dream.

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The Hamas notoriety

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