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Stand for Israel Blog

Israel: UN doesn’t seem to mind when rockets fall on us

March 23, 2010

Israel charged Monday that it appears that the United Nations Human Rights Council doesn’t believe that Israel has the right to self-defense against the rockets Gaza Palestinians launch against its citizens on the southern border, the Jerusalem Post reports.

“You have done nothing about it, and you expect that Israel does nothing either,” Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Aharon Leshno Yaar, told the body during a day-long council debate about the Jewish state’s actions in the West Bank and Gaza. Later this week, the council is expected to approve four resolutions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Just last week, he said, one such rocket killed a Thai man, Manee Singueanphon, who was working in a greenhouse near the Gaza border. He accused council members of disproportionately focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a way to shift the body’s focus away from their own human rights issues.

Yaar noted that even South African jurist Richard Goldstone had stated that “the firing of these rockets are war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity.”

Of course, the Goldstone Report’s real position on the seriousness of rocket attacks is a little shaky. Last month, Desmond Travers, a retired Irish army colonel who was one of the four members of the “fact-finding” commission that produced the report, claimed that Hamas fired “only two rockets” at Israel prior to last year’s Gaza war.

We’d been wondering about the commissioners’ moral compass, but now we have to wonder about their basic ability to count.

More Son of Hamas

March 4, 2010

Intrigued by the Son of Hamas? Mosab Hassan Youssef, who you’ve already read about here and here, is telling his story of renouncing Hamas and converting to Christianity — and the mainstream media is paying attention to his compelling tale. Youssef was interviewed by CNN’s Christian Amanpour Tuesday and FoxNews’ Sean Hannity Wednesday night, with upcoming appearances on The Today Show (March 4) and elsewhere listed on his website.

Youssef also spoke Tuesday at the International National Religious Broadcaster’s convention. Joel Rosenberg, author of  Epicenter 2.0: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future, said Youssef confronted the news that his father had disowned him while there. “He was deeply pained and visibly shaken, but as he spoke he said he loved his family and would never disown them,” according to Rosenberg.

Rosenberg also interviewed Youssef on his blog, asking him about Israel, showing God’s love to your enemies, and fears for his own security. Youssef told Rosenberg:

The One who saved my life in the past is able to save it in the present and in the future as well.  Physical death is not the worst thing that can happen to a man. Spiritual death is much more dangerous. This is not the time to give up. Our goal is to liberate people and our weapon is love. They can hate us but we will still love them. They can torture us but we will pray for them and they will accuse us but we continue to forgive them as we were forgiven!

Al-Qaeda looking to out-jihad Hamas

March 3, 2010

Hamas Islamists ruling Gaza are being challenged: In recent weeks, al-Qaeda-inspired Palestinian groups have stepped up their ongoing anti-Hamas campaign, launching bombing attacks on Hamas security men and offices.

According to Reuters and AP reports, sources close to Salafi groups said uber-fundamentalists set off three bombs in the Beach refugee camp last week near the heavily guarded home of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The bombs were intended to convince Haniyeh to stop trying to arrest members of the anti-Hamas groups. Interestingly, the wire services reported that the bombs were placed by sympathizers among Haniyeh’s own guards. And, earlier this week, someone placed a bomb under the car of a top Hamas police officer in Gaza.

The attacks have been going on for months: In January, a bomb destroyed a senior security official’s jeep in Gaza. Last month, a senior Hamas commander in Rafah escaped injury in a bomb blast. The Salafis told wire services that the two officers were involved in “killing and torturing” Islamist fighters, which probably means that they were involved in Hamas’ clamp-down on the groups.

While “Salafi” may not be a familiar term to most Americans, it’s the branch of Islam that is commonly referred to as “Wahhabi” — frequently identified with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Interestingly, the tensions between the two groups seems to stem from the Salafi criticism that Hamas is too moderate. Apparently, re-introducing crucifixion as a legal penalty and raining thousands of missiles onto Israeli civilians don’t count for much.

Like we’ve said before, it pays to remember that Israel lives in one nasty neighborhood.

“Son of Hamas” disowned by terrorist father

Last week, we told you about Mosab Hassan Yousef, the heroic son of a Hamas leader who turned on his father’s violent ideology and spied for Israel to help fight Hamas terror and save lives. Now comes word that he’s been disowned by his father following the revelations.

Mosab Hassan Yousef, who converted to Christianity 10 years ago and now lives in California, went public with his role on the eve of the publication of “Son of Hamas,” a memoir about his life that’s due to be released this week.

According the the AP report, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, the top Hamas official in the West Bank, released the following statement:

“I, Sheikh Hassan Yousef… my wife, sons and daughters announce that we have completely disowned the man who was our oldest son and who is called Mosab,” …

The decision was taken following “the man who is called Mosab’s apostasy towards God and his prophet… his betrayal of Muslims, his cooperation with the enemies of God and the damage he caused to our people and our cause.”

The younger Yousef fled the Palestinian-controlled West Bank in 2007 and went public with his conversion to Christianity the following year. Death threats soon followed.

Although Israeli officials said that the younger Yousef had been Israel’s top informant on Hamas and had provided intelligence that stopped numerous planned attacks and led to the arrests of Ibrahim Hamid, a Hamas military chief in the West Bank, and Abdullah Barghuti, the bomb maker behind an infamous 2001 suicide attack on a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, the older Yousef, who has been held in an Israeli prison since 2005, denied his son had access to Hamas secrets and that members were warned to avoid him as early as 1996.

SFI sends prayers and deep gratitude to Mosab Yousef.

Report shows that London has become the epicenter of Hamas activity, Jews feel “under attack”

March 1, 2010

We’ve told you before how the British legal system is allowing itself to be used to harass Israelis — often at the behest of pro-Palestinian groups that are openly supportive of terror groups like Hamas.

Now, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a research center near Tel Aviv, has released a report showing that, beyond having a conveniently quirky judiciary, London has become the epicenter of Hamas’ political, propaganda and legal activities in Europe (click the link – that’s basically the report’s title).

Hamas operatives have been particularly successful in controlling the discourse regarding Arabs in Israel, and initiating widespread anti-Zionism throughout the UK.

Ironically, Hamas’ success is due to its taking advantage of Britain’s open society:

1. Political freedom and freedom of speech prevailing in Britain allows Hamas to incite against Israel, despite Hamas’ designation as a terrorist organization by the European Union. Though activities by terror groups is technically illegal in Britain, the legal system has shown great tolerance, which has been exploited by radical Islamic elements, including Hamas.

2.  A broad infrastructure of Hamas activists, supporters, and collaborators took refuge in Britain in the 1990s, which work with radical leftist organizations that are hostile to Israel and the West. This enables Hamas to reach British political, media and academic elites.

3. The UK is one of the world’s media hubs, especially for Arab s newspapers, and broadcast and electronic media. This gives Hamas access to key outlets to spread its messages throughout the Muslim world.

The report notes that much of Hamas’ propaganda work is targeted at children and that the organization is able to get money and supplies “for Gaza” (really, for Hamas) from British organizations and politicians.

None of this would come as a surprise to brilliant British firebrand Melanie Phillips, whose book “Londonistan” argued that British “benign neglect” has allowed radicals to gain way too much of a foothold in the city. In her blog, Phillips quipped that, now, it should be called “Hamasistan.”

Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that Britain’s Jewish community reports feeling “under attack.” According to London’s Independent, Lord Mitchell, a Labor MP, ” praised the multi-cultural nature of London but pointed to rising incidents of anti-Semitism.”:

Stickers such as “death to Jews” had been displayed at some of the UK’s leading university campuses and had been “slow to be removed”, he said.

He told peers in a debate on tolerance in British society that universities had a “duty of care to all students and in many cases they are slow to uphold this duty”, citing free speech as the reason for not interfering.

Lord Mitchell said: “It may well come as a shock that the Jewish community in this country feels under constant attack.

“I don’t want to overstate the case but many Jewish friends have said to me that they felt more frightened, more threatened, than at any time in their lives.”

New book tells story of Hamas founder’s son who became a Christian — and spied for Israel

February 26, 2010

Israel is buzzing with the news that one of the most valuable Palestinian informants to Israel’s security service is none other than the son of one of the founders of Hamas.

In an interview published in full in Friday’s Ha’aretz magazine, Mosab Hassan Yousef discussed the decade he spent passing information about Hamas to Israel, exposed of a number of terrorist cells, and prevented dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts on Israeli figures.

According to Ha’aretz, Yousef–the oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of Hamas’ founders and its top official in the West Bank– was considered the most reliable of the security services’ sources on Hamas,:

… earning himself the nickname “the Green Prince” – using the color of the Islamist group’s flag, and “prince” because of his pedigree …

During the second intifada, intelligence Yousef supplied led to the arrests of a number of high-ranking Palestinian figures responsible for planning deadly suicide bombings. These included Ibrahim Hamid (a Hamas military commander in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti (founder of the Fatah-linked Tanzim militia) and Abdullah Barghouti (a Hamas bomb-maker with no close relation to the Fatah figure). Yousef was also responsible for thwarting Israel’s plan to assassinate his father.

Perhaps even more dangerous for Yousef than spying for Israel, however, is the fact that Yousef converted to Christianity 10 years ago. Yousef, now 32, fled the West Bank in 2007 and now lives in California. In 2008, he went public with his conversion — also in an interview with Ha’aretz.

After the article about his faith ran, the al-Qaida-affiliated Global Islamic Media Front released a statement calling for his death. Quoting Mohamed, the statement said, “Whoever alters his religion, kill him.” [emphasis theirs]

It is only now–on the eve of publication of Son of Hamas, his new book, which is being released by Tyndale next month–that Yousef is going public about his work with Israel. The book a childhood spent being groomed for the Hamas leadership, about his conversion and faith (his publisher pithily ays he “embraced instead the teachings of another famous Middle East leader”), his agonizing separation from family and homeland, his the dangerous decision to make his newfound faith public, and his belief that the Christian mandate to “love your enemies” is the only way to peace in the Middle East.

While his own father’s comrades may call him an infidel or worse, Israelis marvel at his bravery:

“So many people owe him their life and don’t even know it. People who did a lot less were awarded the Israel Security Prize. He certainly deserves it,” Ha’aretz quotes his handler, who his book calls “Captain Loai”:

Loai makes no secret of his admiration for his former source. “The amazing thing is that none of his actions were done for money,” he says. “He did things he believed in. He wanted to save lives. His grasp of intelligence matters was just as good as ours – the ideas, the insights. One insight of his was worth 1,000 hours of thought by top experts.”

Speaking by phone from California, Yousef told Ha’aretz that he wishes he were in Gaza now so that he could help the IDF liberate kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. But Yousef argued against the sort of prisoner swaps that have been discussed: “We wasted so many years with investigations and arrests to capture the very terrorists that they now want to release in return for Shalit. That must not be done.”

Mosab told the newspaper that he acted in accordance with his beliefs, which compelled him to hate Hamas.

Buy the book here.

Israeli air strike thwarts planned suicide bombing

February 12, 2010

A air strike on Thursday by the IAF (Israeli Air Force) apparently thwarted an attempted suicide bombing by Al Qaeda terrorists near the Karni Crossing in Gaza, Arutz Sheva reports.

The planes fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at a squad of terrorists who were preparing to carry out a terror attack near the Karni Crossing, killing one. The joint IDF-ISA (Israel Security Agency, also known as “Shin Bet”) operation eliminated the lead terrorist, a member of Global Jihad, and wounded a second one as well. Military sources said al-Qaeda had masterminded the terrorist operation.

IDF officials warned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last month that the international terrorist group would attempt to infiltrate Israel disguised as Sudanese refugees and that al-Qaeda operatives are attempting to sneak through the holes in the Egyptian border to set up a terror cell in Israel.

Israeli security officials foil plot to kidnap IDF soldier

Israel’s security agencies revealed this week that they foiled a Hamas plot to kidnap and murder an IDF soldier in order to draw the Jewish state into negotiations over the body, Haaretz reports.

On Thursday, the Shin Bet announced that authorities arrested Salman Abu Atik in December as he tried to enter Israel with a gun, a silencer, and $15,000 in counterfeit money. Atik is a highly ranked member of Hamas.

Security officials then arrested another terrorist three weeks later while attempting to smuggle two bombs into Israel. Ibrahim Zuara confessed to being involved in the kidnapping plot, and also said that he planned to detonate the bombs in densely populated areas.

Atik was arrested on December 12, during a period in which intensive talks were taking place between Israel and Hamas on a deal to release abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Find out about the Gaza 54 letter — and maybe you have something to say

February 9, 2010

Last month, 54 Congressmen and women signed a letter asking President Barack Obama to pressure Israel to lift the border closing with the Gaza Strip. The letter was initiated by Washington’s Rep. Jim McDermott and Minnesota’s Rep. Keith Ellison from Minnesota.

According to reports in the Israeli media, McDermott and Ellison wrote that they understand the threats facing Israel and the ongoing Hamas terror activities against Israeli citizens but that “this concern must be addressed without resulting in the de facto collective punishment of the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip.”

“We ask you to press for immediate relief for the citizens of Gaza as an urgent component of your broader Middle East peace efforts,” they wrote, adding that the siege has hampered the ability of aid agencies to do their work in Gaza.

The letter urged Obama to place pressure on Israel to allow Gazans entry to Israel and to allow the import of building materials to rebuild houses. Israel has warned that such materials would be used to rebuild Hamas infrastructure and not civilian homes.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington responded:

“The Israeli position is that the Hamas government in Gaza does not meet the conditions set forth by the international community and the Quartet. And as long as Hamas continues to attack Israel with missiles and other means, Israel will not open the border crossings. With this, Israel is doing everything possible to ensure that humanitarian aid enters Gaza in a controlled manner so that it is ensured that the population receives what it needs, including medical care in Israel. But Israel will not allow a neighbor that calls for its destruction to enjoy the benefits of an open border.”

It goes without saying that the members of congress did not express concern about what consequences lifting the restrictions might have on the level of terror emanating from Gaza, which is down significantly.

If you have a feeling about what some are calling the “Gaza 54,” let them know.

The 54 Congressmen who signed this letter are:

Arizona
Raul Grijalva: 202-225-2435

California
Lois Capps: 202-225-3601
Sam Farr: 202-225-2861
Bob Filner: 202-225-8045
Barbara Lee: 202-225-2661
Loretta Sanchez: 202-225-2965
Pete Stark: 202-225-5065
Michael Honda: 202-225-2631
Lynn Woolsey: 202-225-5161
Jackie Speier: 202-225-3531
Diane Watson: 202-225-7084
George Miller: 202-225-2095

Connecticut
Jim Himes: 202-225-5541

Indiana
Andre Carson: 202-225-4011

Iowa
Bruce Braley: 202-225-2911

Kentucky
John Yarmuth: 202-225-5401

Maryland
Elijah Cummings: 202-225-4741
Donna Edwards: 202-225-8699

Massachusetts
Michael Capuano: 202-225-5111
William Delahunt: 202-225-3111
Jim McGovern: 202-225-6101
John Tierney: 202-225-8020
John Olver: 202-225-5335
Stephen Lynch: 202-225-8273

Michigan
John Conyers: 202-225-5126
John Dingell: 202-225-4071
Carolyn Kilpatrick: 202-225-2261

Minnesota
Keith Ellison: 202-225-4755
Betty McCollum: 202-225-6631
James Oberstar: 202-225-6211

New Jersey
Donald Payne: 202-225-3436
Rush Holt: 202-202-225-5801
Bill Pascrell: 202-225-5751

New York
Yvette Clarke: 202-225-6231
Maurice Hinchey: 202-225-6335
Paul Tonko: 202-225-5076
Eric Massa: 202-225-3161

North Carolina
David Price: 202-225-1784

Ohio
Mary Jo Kilroy: 202-225-2015
Marcy Kaptur: 202-225-4146

Oregon
Earl Blumenauer: 202-225-4811
Peter DeFazio: 202-225-6416

Pennsylvania
Chaka Fattah: 202-225-4001
Joe Sestak: 202-225-2011

Vermont
Peter Welch: 202-225-4115

Virginia
Jim Moran: 202-225-4376
Glenn Nye: 202-225-4215

Washington
Jim McDermott: 202-225-3106
Adam Smith: 202-225-8901
Jay Inslee: 202-225-6311
Brian Baird: 202-225-3536

West Virginia
Nick Rahall: 202-225-3452

Wisconsin
Tammy Baldwin: 202-225-2906
Gwen Moore:202-225-4572

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