Does anyone take this seriously?
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip voiced its rage on Thursday after Gaza militants fired two rockets into southern Israel Thursday, causing no injuries but further straining a shaky, week-old truce between Israel and the Gaza rulers. [my emphasis]
The militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, affiliated with Hamas rivals Fatah, claimed responsibility for Thursday’s Qassam strikes. In a statement carried by the official Palestinian news agency Ma’an, Hamas warned the militant factions against violating the terms of the cease fire with Israel, saying such violations harmed the Palestinian national interest. Hamas also threatened to take the necessary steps against the violators. — Ha’aretz
1) The truce has been reported as ‘strained’ almost since the beginning. When do we decide that it’s been broken?
2) Fatah did it? But Fatah are the ‘moderates’ who control the PA, and who are paid by the US to be Israel’s friends. By the way, did you know that PA employees in Gaza, those who work for Fatah and Hamas alike, are also paid from PA funds? So my tax dollars bought those Qassams.
3) By the way, speaking of money, did you know that Israel is helping Hamas launder huge sums of money that are being smuggled into ‘blockaded’ Gaza? This is a truly amazing story, from Elder of Ziyon.
4) Can you just pick up a pack of rockets at your local Qassam shop and fire them without Hamas’ permission? When Hamas was annoyed at Fatah operatives during the takeover last summer, they shot them in the kneecaps and threw them off tall buildings. Will they do this again? Why would the Fatah people take such a risk to shoot a few rockets unless they had Hamas’ approval? Come on, folks!
5) This is for Ha’aretz: why do you use the word ‘militants’ in the English version of this story? In Hebrew you just referred to Fatah’s al-Aqsa Brigades. If you really need to insert some kind of description, they are terrorists.
6) Everyone predicted this. Everyone knew that there would be terrorism during the ‘truce’ and Hamas would point its finger at someone else. Everyone knew that there would be tremendous pressure on Israel not to retaliate. Everyone knew all kinds of reasons why the truce was a horrible idea. The Chief of staff and the head of the internal security service (Shabak) were opposed. And yet Israel agreed.
This is actually a positive development, because it might shorten the ‘truce’.