Stand for Israel

Hamas may station human shields on Gaza border

A particularly macabre and shocking manifestation of Hamas' culture of death:

The IDF is concerned that Hamas is planning to resettle thousands of displaced Gazans in caravans and temporary homes along the border with Israel, defense officials said on Sunday.

The army learned recently of the plan, initiated by Hamas Housing Minister Yousef al-Mansi, under which thousands of Palestinians who are waiting for their homes that were damaged during Operation Cast Lead to be repaired will be housed in temporary structures and caravans along the border with Israel.

The IDF believes that Mansi plans to set up the temporary villages to serve as obstacles in the event that Israel sends ground forces into Gaza. The border villages will also likely serve as cover for tunnels that Hamas will dig under the security fence and into Israel to carry out attacks.

The next time you hear about Israeli officials being sought for prosecution for imagined "war crimes," remember this: Hamas will, without hesitation, place innocent Palestinian men, women, and children in harms' way if it thinks that by doing so it will garner victory on the battlefield, or in the media.

Azerbaijan jails two in plots against Israeli, US embassies

Azerbaijan appears to have foiled an attempt to attack the Israeli and American embassies in Baku, the capital city. Sources say that the plot was an attempt to follow through on promises by Iranian-sponsored terror groups to target Israeli facilities abroad. Two Lebanese and four Azerbaijanis were sentenced to between 12-15 years in prison for the plans.

Azerbaijan is a mainly Muslim country of 8.7 million on the Caspian Sea north of Iran.

Israel captures "most wanted terrorist"

One of the men responsible for the horrific 2002 Park Hotel terrorist attack has been arrested:

A senior Hamas terrorist, involved in planning the 2002 suicide bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya, was arrested overnight Monday in the West Bank, security officials announced Tuesday.

Muhammad Harwish, head of Hamas's armed wing in Tulkarm, was apprehended along with his personal aide, Adnan Samara. The two were being interrogated by security forces.

A Duvdevan special forces unit, along with personnel from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and special Border Police forces, arrested the pair after encountering them during a search for weapons in Tzurif, close to Bethlehem.

Two rockets hit northern Israel

JPost:

A small-scale Global Jihad terror group was likely behind the firing of at least two Katyusha rockets into northern Israel on Friday afternoon, military sources said.

The rockets landed in open fields near the city of Nahariya. No casualties or damage were reported, and the IDF responded by firing some 15 artillery shells towards the source of the fire near the Lebanese city of Tyre.

IDF sources said that the rockets were 122 millimeter Katyushas, a short-range rocket known to be in the hands of Hizbullah as well as other smaller Palestinian terror groups that operate in southern Lebanon.

A travesty of justice

At the Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach challenges the decision of the Scottish government to release terrorist Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi, found guilty of the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103:

What was the Scottish government thinking? That because this cold-blooded killer was terminally ill he should die in freedom rather than rot in jail where he belongs? And the Scots have the gall to call this compassion.

Where is the compassion for the families whose lives were destroyed when this monster blew their loved ones into oblivion? Did the Scottish government and its justice minister, Kenny MacAskill, think of the additional horrors they were going to visit on the families when they saw their loved ones' barbaric murderer carried aloft as a returning conqueror?

Fatah to Israel: Release all Palestinian prisoners

Another unreasonable demand:

Fatah delegates meeting here Thursday resolved not to renew peace negotiations with Israel until all Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli jails, all settlement-building is frozen and the Gaza blockade is lifted.

In a nutshell, Fatah's precondition for renewing peace talks is releasing the guys held in Israeli prisons who staged the attacks that thwarted peace talks in the first place. More significantly, when you read what they say in Arabic, they make clear that they're not going to give up "armed struggle" -- meaning, attacking Jewish men, women, and children.

Lovely. Sounds like a great "peace process". Wouldn't you want to negotiate with these guys?

The limits of dialogue and concessions

For years, many Israelis have questioned the notion, held by some Western diplomats and leaders, that terrorists can be swayed from their radical positions by dialogue and concessions. Well, here's Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's second in command, to give the radical Islamist view on the subject:

"The very minimum that the mujahideen will accept is the following: withdrawing the infidel forces from all Muslim lands, stopping the theft of the Muslims' wealth by the threat of military force, conducting [economic] exchange at real, fair prices, stopping the support for the corrupt, apostate regimes in the Islamic world, releasing all Muslim prisoners, and stopping the interference in the affairs of the Islamic world ... The Muslims will not accept two states on the land of Palestine. Palestine belongs to the Muslims. It was occupied by the infidels, and it is the duty of the Muslims to drive the invaders out of it. Israel is a crime that has to be eliminated."

Stopping support for "apostate" Muslim regimes ... releasing all Muslim prisoners ... withdrawal from all Muslim countries ... eliminating the state of Israel ... doesn't sound like a guy too interested in dialogue, compromise, or even-handedness. Maybe those Israelis are on to something.

Seven planned terror attacks in Israel

Ha'aretz:

American authorities on Monday arrested seven North Carolina natives who have been charged with plotting to carry out terrorist attacks overseas, including in Israel, Kosovo, Jordan and the Gaza Strip.

U.S. prosecutors said the ringleader of the group, Daniel Patrick Boyd, trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 1989 to 1992 and used that experience to set up his own organization to train fighters, raise money and carry out attacks abroad.

Palestinians connected to terrorist plot

Egypt foiled a terrorist plot to bomb oil pipelines and ships on the Suez Canal. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Palestinian and Egyptian terrorists were aided by al-Qaida:

The group learned how to make car bombs through communicating with al-Qaida terrorists on jihadi Web sites, according to an Interior Ministry statement.

The means by which the terrorists were funded is both shocking and tragic:

The detainees confessed to funding their activities through contributions from Islamic charities abroad and in one case robbed a jewelry store and murdered its Coptic Christian owner.

IDF thwarts terror attack at security fence

The IDF stopped a major terror plot by the Janud Ansar Allah (Soldiers Loyal to Allah) organization aimed at destroying portions of Israel's security fence:

Members of the cell, some of whom had suicide bomb belts strapped around their bodies, led the horses from trucks and began planting explosive devices along the fence. They were identified by IDF soldiers on patrol, of Golani's 13th Battalion. The gunmen proceeded to open fire on the troops, while mortar fire from deep within the Gaza Strip was also directed at the soldiers.

4 terrorists were killed, but no Israeli soldiers were harmed. And, despite the terrorists' attempt to destroy the security barrier, Israel is still funneling aid into Gaza to meet humanitarian needs:

Following the attack, Israel closed the Karni crossing, the main commercial terminal between Israel and Gaza, as well as the Nahal Oz fuel depot.

However, 30,000 vaccine units against foot-and-mouth disease were transferred to Gaza via the Erez crossing, despite the thwarted attack. The IDF said that 125,000 units had been supplied to the Strip in the last three months in three separate transfers, due to the importance of preventing the outbreak of the disease.

In addition, 140 truckloads of humanitarian aid was scheduled to be transferred via the Kerem Shalom crossing.