Fortunately, Israel Air Force warplanes bombed two weapons-smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip early Sunday in response to the rocket attack.

On Thursday, gunmen opened fire on IDF soldiers near the security fence along the border with Gaza.  No soldiers were wounded in the incident.

And for those keeping score and who  align themselves politically with “thepoorpalestinianpeepull”, approximately 670 Qassam rockets, mortar shells and Grad missiles have been fired at Israel since the beginning of 2009.

For example, the concept of “Palestinians” is one that did not exist until about 1948, when the Arab inhabitants, of what until then was Palestine, wished to differentiate themselves from the Jews. Until then, the Jews were the Palestinians. There was the Palestinian Brigade of Jewish volunteers in the British World War II Army (at a time when the Palestinian Arabs were in Berlin hatching plans with Adolf Hitler for world conquest and how to kill all the Jews); there was the Palestinian Symphony Orchestra (all Jews, of course); there was The Palestine Post; and so much more.

The Arabs who now call themselves “Palestinians” do so in order to persuade a misinformed world that they are a distinct nationality and that “Palestine” is their ancestral homeland. But they are no distinct nationality at all. They are the same – in language, custom, and tribal and family ties – as the Arabs of Syria, Jordan, and beyond. There is no more difference between the “Palestinians” and the other Arabs of those countries than there is between, say, the citizens of Minnesota and those of Wisconsin.

What’s more, many of the “Palestinians”, or their immediate ancestors, came to the area attracted by the prosperity created by the Jews, in what previously had been pretty much of a wasteland.

The nationhood of the “Palestinians” is a myth.

So too is the concept of the mythical “West Bank”. Again, this is a concept that did not exist until 1948, when the army of the Kingdom of Transjordan, together with five other Arab armies, invaded the Jewish state of Israel, on the very day of its creation. Even thought the Jews defeated the Arabs, Transjordan stayed in possession of Judea and Samaria and the eastern part of Jerusalem. The Jordanians expelled all the Jews from the area that they occupied, destroyed all Jewish houses of worship, and renamed as “West Bank” the territories that had been Judea and Samaria since time immemorial.

The attempt, quite successful, was to persuade an uninformed world that these territories were ancestral parts of the Jordanian Arab Kingdom (itself a very recent creation of British power diplomacy).

The world continues to call this territory the “West Bank”, a geographical and political concept that cannot be found on any except the most recent maps.

It is Palestinian rejection of Israel’s right to exist and not Israeli policies that are the cause of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. See, folks, because unlike the political Arabian Nation, the Zionist movement to Palestine/the Land of Israel represents a return, not an invasion.

The only religious argument that makes sense is to point out how so many Jewish holy places exist in Israel. It’s hardly irrational that Jews should want to live near the Wailing Wall or other sites of great importance in Jewish history and religion, particularly given how poorly Muslims have treated such sites.

Arabs and their apologists refuse to accept the fact that if Arabs had not attacked Israel in the first place, there would never have been an “occupation”.

In fact, prior to 1967, Jordan had occupied the West Bank and Egypt had occupied the Gaza Strip; their presence in those territories was the result of their illegal invasion in 1948, in defiance of the UN Security Council. Jordan’s 1950 annexation of the West Bank was recognized only by Great Britain (excluding the annexation of Jerusalem) and Pakistan, and rejected by the vast majority of the international community, including the Arab states.

Where was the international outrage then?

See, folks, the current territorial dispute is contrived by the myth of an Israeli decision “to occupy,” rather than the reality of a result of a war imposed on Israel by a coalition of Arab states in 1967.

The truth is Arabs are the singular instigators of this longest running war against the Jews, this war of hatred perpetrated upon Jews since the first wave of anti-Jewish riots in 1920-21 (which was characterized by the brutal murder in Jaffa of the prominent Jewish author Y. Brenner), during the ‘Disturbances’ of 1929 (which included the massacre of the Jewish community in Hebron), during the Arab Revolt of 1936-39, and in many other recorded incidents of wholesale anti-Jewish Arab violence throughout the pre-state period.

In 1929, Arabs shot and murdered 66 innocent Jewish men, women and children while praying in a synagogue in Hebron. On August 23rd, 1929, the Grand Mufti preached to a crowd fomenting them into a cauldron of hate, viciousness and cruelty and charged them with their holy mission: “Itbah al-Yahud!” – “Slaughter the Jew!” and that’s what Arabs have been doing to Jews for almost a century.

And all this occurred before there was an “occupation”. The politically-loaded term “occupied territories” or “occupation” seems to apply only to Israel and is hardly ever used when other territorial disputes are discussed, especially by interested third parties. For example, the U.S. Department of State refers to Kashmir as “disputed areas.” Similarly in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the State Department describes the patch of Azerbaijan claimed as an independent republic by indigenous Armenian separatists as “the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The often-repeated Arab claim that the Israeli ‘occupation’ is somehow to blame for the Palestinian terrorism is nothing more than an empty retort, repudiated by the facts, and disproved by a century of historical reality.

In 1956, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Desert, both of which were held by Egypt, because Arab terrorists were infiltrating into Israel from the Gaza Strip and killing Jewish children in elementary schools. By infiltrating those territories, Israel cut the Gaza Strip off from Egypt, stopped the terrorism, and ensured that the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran would be open to Israeli shipping – something the Egyptians tried to deny.

Since the Palestinians refused to make peace with Israel even when they were offered the entire Gaza Strip and most of the “West Bank” in 2000, it is clear that just handing them territory is not going to solve any problems.

To those with a moral conscience, I say, be disgusted with the demonization of Israel, the nazification of Zionism, the politicization of all things Israeli, the Islamic oversimplification reducing all discussions of Israel to the Palestinian problem. Be disgusted with the myth that all will be peaceful once the Israeli “occupiers” are gone. Be disgusted by Arab bullies who make life miserable for non-Arabs in the Middle East and around the the world.

Do not fall into the trap of endlessly denying what Islam is as revealed by its 1400 year history. Do not become like your enemy, who is too uneducated, too cowardly, too mendacious, too uncivilized to know the real truth.

Know thy enemy.

To understand the causes of the Gaza conflict, it is essential to understand the Hamas ideology. Hamas presents itself as an Islamic supremacist movement. Its charter opens with a quote from the Quran: “You [Islamic nation] are the best nation that hath been raised up unto mankind.” [3: 110] However, whereas many religions and cultures believe that their own traditions represent messages of truth, Hamas believes that this supremacy of Islam obligates them to commit genocide, literally to exterminate millions of people who have different beliefs, including the Jews.

The following are some recent examples of Hamas defining this ideology of genocide, as it applies to Jews:

1- Quran condemns Jews to extermination

“The Meccan [Quran] chapter entitled ‘Jews’ or ‘Children of Israel’ is remarkable … It’s about today’s Jews, those of our century, and speaks only of extermination and digging graves… This chapter sentences the Jews to extermination before a single Jew existed on earth… Palestine’s blessing is linked to destruction of the center of global corruption [Jews of Israel], the snake’s head. When the snake’s head of [global] corruption is cut off, here in Palestine, and when the octopus’s [Jew's] tentacles are cut off around the world, the real blessing will come with the destruction of the Jews, here in Palestine, and it is one of the splendid real blessings in Palestine.” [Palestinian cleric ,Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 13, 2008]

2- Jews to face yet another Holocaust
Headline: “Suffering by Fire is Jews’ destiny in this world and next.”
“… you will taste the punishment of Scorching Fire.” [Quran 3:181]
“This [Quran] verse threatens the Jews with the punishment of Fire… the reason for the punishment of Fire is it is fitting retribution for what they have done… but the urgent question is, is it possible that they will have the punishment of Fire in this world, before the great punishment [of Fire in Hell] … many of the [Islamic] religious leaders believe that the [Jews'] punishment of Fire is in this world, before the next world… therefore we are sure that the Holocaust is still to come upon the Jews.” [Sheikh Yunus Al-Astal, Hamas MP, in his regular column in Al-Rissala, (Hamas weekly) March 13, 2008]

It is important to note that the Hamas MP switched words in the last sentence, from the word he used throughout, “harik”, which means “fire”, to “mahraka” a word from the same root, that is used by Arabic speakers to mean “holocaust.”

3 – Muhammad’s promise: Jews will be killed
“Regarding the Jews, our business with them is only through bombs and guns… the prophet [Muhammad] promised that we will fight you, with Allah’s help, until the tree and stone say: “Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
[Nizar Rayan, Hamas religious and military leader, Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Jan. 1, 2009. Note: Rayan was killed on Jan. 2, 2009]

4 – Extermination of Jews – good for humanity
In an article promoting the continued use of suicide terror in the official Hamas newspaper:

“We find more than one condemnation and denunciation of the resistance operations and bombings [suicide attacks], carried out by Hamas and the Palestinian resistance branches… [Eventually] everyone will know that we did this only because our Lord commanded so: ‘I did it not of my own accord’ [Quran] and so that people will know that the extermination of Jews is good for the inhabitants of the worlds.”
[Al-Rissala, (Hamas weekly) April 23, 2007]

5- Kill a Jew go to Heaven
A poster that Hamas posted on its old web site taught that killing a Jew is enough to grant the rewards of Heaven.

Text on Hamas poster: “I will knock on Heaven’s doors with the skulls of Jews.”
Axe is crashing through the word: “Jews.”
[URL on poster, Hamas terror wing: "Ezz Din Al Kassam"]

6- Resurrection dependent on Muslims killing Jews (1)
Hamas goes even further in its religious packaging of genocide. Hamas teaches that the redemption of all of humanity, the anticipated Islamic “Hour” of Resurrection, will happen only when Muslims are killing Jews and the remaining Jews will be exposed by the trees and stones.

Hamas write in Article 7 of the Hamas Charter:
“Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The prophet [Muhammad] said: ‘The time (of Resurrection) will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: 0 Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him!’”
[Sahih Muslim, Book 041, Number 6985]

7- Resurrection dependent on Muslims killing Jews (2)

The Hamas belief that Jews must be killed for redemption to occur is a repeating theme of religious leaders on Palestinian Authority (Fatah) and Hamas TV. The following is one example:

“‘The Hour [Resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, and the rock and the tree will say: ‘Oh, Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him!’ We must remind our Arab and Muslim nation, its leaders and people, its scholars and students, remind them that Palestine and the Al Aqsa mosque will not be liberated through summits nor by international resolutions, but it will be liberated through the rifle.”
[Hamas Spokesman, Dr. Ismail Radwan, PA TV, March 30, 2007]

Conclusion:

Given this Hamas ideology of genocide, the essential problem with Hamas is not the missiles and rockets it showers on Israel, but the core belief that killing Jews is a prerequisite to redemption. Hamas’s ongoing attempts to kill Jews, which have led to the current Gaza War, are a symptom of the far deeper problem — the ideology teaching that Allah demands the extermination of Jews.

Israel and the West must create a strategy not only to destroy the terror infrastructures of Hamas, but to ultimately ensure that Jews and the world are safe from this ideology and its consequences.

This is the first of a series of PMW background briefings on Hamas ideology.

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