Israel Declares War After Surprise Hamas Attack Freedom Fighters Millions 2 Die Soon

This Land Is Mine Land And God Gave This Land To Me. Who Is Me ? Tens Of Millions Dead All Ready 5,000 Years Old War Already In Palestine is a small region of land that has played a prominent role in the ancient and modern history of the Middle East. The history of Palestine has been marked by frequent political conflict and violent land seizures because of its importance to several major world religions, and because Palestine sits at a valuable geographic crossroads between Africa and Asia. Hamas launched a surprise attack within Israel’s borders overnight, launching rockets from the Gaza Strip then sending militants into the southern part of the streets of Israel. Raf Sanchez reports from Ashkelon on the fatalities known so far and why this situation is unprecedented. Israel says its aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip is one of the largest it has conducted on the besieged territory.

Show more

Isn't there a place in the Koran that is specifically anti-violence and murder? I mean something like the commandment that says, "thou shalt not kill". I'm hardly pro-Christian but you've got to admit it's clear cut. The commandant doesn't say, "Thou shalt not kill except for Communists and Islamic believers", but that's another discussion. I ask this because I wonder why the Muslim clerics aren't thumping their Koran's and condemning the killings. They may be doing so and the American media is just not covering it. That is possible. Generally I would like to be more familiar with the Koran.

After the first few bites of dinner, the Israeli bombardment of Gaza began Tonight is the third night of Israel’s attacks on Gaza. A typical war night in Gaza. Family members gather where it is safest, people monitor news updates on television, and women who cover their hair in public make sure to remain covered so they can flee at any moment. Discussions and arguments about what might happen next are endless.

But the worst part is the horrifying sound of air strikes. During past escalations and wars on Gaza, people hated nights the most. That is when the attacks would intensify. For the last two nights, the sound of heavy bombardment has not stopped. Everyone thinks they will be a target, and houses shake from the explosions.

Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza stuns Israel and leaves hundreds dead in fighting, retaliation Backed by a barrage of rockets, Hamas militants stormed from the blockaded Gaza Strip into nearby Israeli towns, killing dozens and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday. A stunned Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza, with its prime minister saying the country is now at war with Hamas and vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”

In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities as far as 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gaza border. In some places they gunned down civilians and soldiers as Israel’s military scrambled to muster a response.

Gun battles continued well after nightfall, and militants held hostages in standoffs in two towns. Militants occupied a police station in a third town, where Israeli forces struggled until Sunday morning to finally reclaim the building.

Before daybreak Sunday, militants fired more rockets from Gaza, hitting a hospital in the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon. The hospital sustained damage, said senior hospital official Tal Bergman. Video provided by Barzilai Medical Center showed a large hole punched into a wall and chunks of debris scattered on the ground of what appeared to an empty rooms and a hallway. There was no report of casualties.

Israeli media, citing rescue service officials, said at least 250 people were killed and 1,500 wounded in Saturday’s attack, making it the deadliest in Israel in decades. At least 232 people in the Gaza Strip were killed and 1,700 wounded in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Hamas fighters took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive into Gaza.

The conflict threatened to escalate with Israel’s vows of retaliation. Previous conflicts between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers brought widespread death and destruction in Gaza and days of rocket fire on Israeli towns. The situation is potentially more volatile now, with Israel’s far-right government stung by the security breach and with Palestinians in despair over a never-ending occupation in the West Bank and suffocating blockade of Gaza.

Palestine is a small region of land that has played a prominent role in the ancient and modern history of the Middle East. The history of Palestine has been marked by frequent political conflict and violent land seizures because of its importance to several major world religions, and because Palestine sits at a valuable geographic crossroads between Africa and Asia. Today, Arab people who call this territory home are known as Palestinians, and the people of Palestine have a strong desire to create a free and independent state in this contested region of the world. At some point in evolutionary history, human beings came to understand, as no non-human animals do, that death brings to an end a person's bodily and mental presence in the world. A potentially devastating consequence was that individuals, seeking to escape physical or mental pain, might choose to kill each other. Even accidental killing, or "thou shalt not kill," is expressly prohibited in Numbers 35:33. If the killing is accidental, the accused must flee to one of the cities of refuge—and remain in that city until the high priest dies, or the "revenger of blood" can kill the accused with no legal repercussions.

So Their 6,000,000 Jews That Never Existed - Started 18 years before Hitler assumed power ?

https://rumble.com/v3tsvew-their-6000000-never-existed-started-18-years-before-hitler-assumed-power.html

Israeli-Palestinian 5,000 Years Conflict On Going Now And Why Is It After 5,000 Years Its Still Going On ? Remember God Said "Thou Shalt Not Kill," is expressly prohibited in Numbers 35:33 And Quran, Verse 5:32 Say ? According to the Quran, "Thou shalt not kill" is a commandment that applies to killing only for a just cause. The commandment does not specify whether it applies to communists or Islamic believers. Scholars agree that "Thou shalt not murder" is the proper translation of "Thou shalt not kill" in Exodus 20:13. However, not all Christians refer to it as the sixth commandment. The Ten Commandments are listed twice in the Old Testament, with "Thou shalt not kill" appearing in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17.

According to Quranic verse 5:32, Allah decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. The verse is often cited by duaah in the wake of Islamic terrorist attacks and massacres as proof that the Qur'an forbids senseless slaughter. The Hirabah verse specifies punishment for those who wage war against God and His Messenger and strive to spread disorder in the land. The verbal noun form irabah is frequently used in classical and modern books of Islamic jurisprudence, but neither the word irabah nor the root verb araba occurs in the Quran.

And do not kill anyone which Allaah has forbidden, except for a just cause. And whoever is killed (intentionally with hostility and oppression and not by mistake), We have given his heir the authority [to demand qisaas Law of Equality in punishment or to forgive, or to take Diya (blood money)]. But let him not exceed limits in the matter of taking life (i.e., he should not kill except the killer only).

In early October 2023, war broke out between Israel and Hamas, the militant Islamist group that has controlled Gaza since 2006. Hamas fighters fired rockets into Israel and stormed southern Israeli cities and towns across the border of the Gaza strip, killing and injuring hundreds of soldiers and civilians and taking dozens of hostages. The attack took Israel by surprise, though the state quickly mounted a deadly retaliatory operation. One day after the October 7 attack, the Israeli cabinet formally declared war against Hamas, followed by a directive from the defense minister to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to carry out a “complete siege” of Gaza.

Background
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back to the end of the nineteenth century. In 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, known as the Partition Plan, which sought to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was created, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War. The war ended in 1949 with Israel’s victory, but 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, and the territory was divided into 3 parts: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip.

Over the following years, tensions rose in the region, particularly between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Following the 1956 Suez Crisis and Israel’s invasion of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria signed mutual defense pacts in anticipation of a possible mobilization of Israeli troops. In June 1967, following a series of maneuvers by Egyptian President Abdel Gamal Nasser, Israel preemptively attacked Egyptian and Syrian air forces, starting the Six-Day War. After the war, Israel gained territorial control over the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt; the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan; and the Golan Heights from Syria. Six years later, in what is referred to as the Yom Kippur War or the October War, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise two-front attack on Israel to regain their lost territory; the conflict did not result in significant gains for Egypt, Israel, or Syria, but Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat declared the war a victory for Egypt as it allowed Egypt and Syria to negotiate over previously ceded territory. Finally, in 1979, following a series of cease-fires and peace negotiations, representatives from Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords, a peace treaty that ended the thirty-year conflict between Egypt and Israel.

Even though the Camp David Accords improved relations between Israel and its neighbors, the question of Palestinian self-determination and self-governance remained unresolved. In 1987, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rose up against the Israeli government in what is known as the first intifada. The 1993 Oslo I Accords mediated the conflict, setting up a framework for the Palestinians to govern themselves in the West Bank and Gaza, and enabled mutual recognition between the newly established Palestinian Authority and Israel’s government. In 1995, the Oslo II Accords expanded on the first agreement, adding provisions that mandated the complete withdrawal of Israel from 6 cities and 450 towns in the West Bank.

In 2000, sparked in part by Palestinian grievances over Israel’s control over the West Bank, a stagnating peace process, and former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to the al-Aqsa mosque—the third holiest site in Islam—in September 2000, Palestinians launched the second intifada, which would last until 2005. In response, the Israeli government approved the construction of a barrier wall around the West Bank in 2002, despite opposition from the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. 

Factionalism among the Palestinians flared up when Hamas won the Palestinian Authority’s parliamentary elections in 2006, deposing longtime majority party Fatah. This gave Hamas, a political and militant movement inspired by the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, control of the Gaza Strip. Gaza is a small piece of land on the Mediterranean Sea that borders Egypt to the south and has been under the rule of the semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority since 1993. The United States and European Union, among others, did not acknowledge Hamas’ electoral victory, as the group has been considered a terrorist organization by western governments since the late 1990s. Following Hamas’ seizure of control, violence broke out between Hamas and Fatah. Between 2006 and 2011, a series of failed peace talks and deadly confrontations culminated in an agreement to reconcile. Fatah entered into a unity government with Hamas in 2014.

In the summer of 2014, clashes in the Palestinian territories precipitated a military confrontation between the Israeli military and Hamas in which Hamas fired nearly three thousand rockets at Israel, and Israel retaliated with a major offensive in Gaza. The skirmish ended in late August 2014 with a cease-fire deal brokered by Egypt, but only after 73 Israelis and 2,251 Palestinians were killed. After a wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in 2015, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah announced that Palestinians would no longer be bound by the territorial divisions created by the Oslo Accords. In March and May of 2018, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip conducted weekly demonstrations at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The final protest coincided with the seventieth anniversary of the Nakba, the Palestinian exodus that accompanied Israeli independence. While most of the protesters were peaceful, some stormed the perimeter fence and threw rocks and other objects. According to the United Nations, 183 demonstrators were killed and more than 6,000 were wounded by live ammunition. The tense political atmosphere resulted in a return to disunity between Fatah and Hamas, with Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party controlling the Palestinian Authority from the West Bank and Hamas de facto ruling the Gaza Strip. This remained largely true throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s, despite Abbas’ efforts to bring the Palestinian people together under the Palestinian Authority.

In May of 2018, fighting once again broke out between Hamas and the IDF in what became the worst period of violence since 2014. Before reaching a cease-fire, militants in Gaza fired over one hundred rockets into Israel; Israel responded with strikes on more than fifty targets in Gaza during the twenty-four-hour flare-up.

The Donald J. Trump administration set achieving an Israeli-Palestinian deal as a foreign policy priority. In 2018, the Trump administration canceled funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency, which provides aid to Palestinian refugees, and relocated the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a reversal of a longstanding U.S. policy. The decision to move the U.S. embassy was met with applause from the Israeli leadership but was condemned by Palestinian leaders and others in the Middle East and Europe. Israel considers the “complete and united Jerusalem” its capital, while Palestinians claim [PDF] East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. In January 2020, the Trump administration released its long-awaited “Peace to Prosperity” plan, which was rejected by Palestinians due to its support for future Israeli annexation of settlements in the West Bank and control over an “undivided” Jerusalem.

In August and September 2020, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then Bahrain agreed to normalize relations with Israel, making them only the third and fourth countries in the region—following Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994—to do so. The agreements, named the Abraham Accords, came more than eighteen months after the United States hosted Israel and several Arab states for ministerial talks in Warsaw, Poland, about the future of peace in the Middle East. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah rejected the accords, as did Hamas.

In October 2020, an Israeli court ruled that several Palestinian families living in Sheikh Jarrah—a neighborhood in East Jerusalem—were to be evicted by May 2021 with their land handed over to Jewish families. In February 2021, several Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah filed an appeal to the court ruling, prompting protests around the appeal hearings, the ongoing legal battle around property ownership, and the forcible displacement of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem.

In late April 2021, Palestinians began demonstrating in the streets of Jerusalem to protest the pending evictions, and residents of Sheikh Jarrah—along with other activists—began to host nightly sit-ins. In early May, after a court ruled in favor of the evictions, the protests expanded, with Israeli police deploying force against demonstrators. On May 7, following weeks of daily demonstrations and rising tensions between protesters, Israeli settlers, and police during the month of Ramadan, violence broke out at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, with Israeli police using stun grenades, rubber bullets, and water cannons in a clash with protestors that left hundreds of Palestinians wounded.

After the clashes in Jerusalem’s Old City, tensions increased throughout East Jerusalem, compounded by the celebration of Jerusalem Day. On May 10, after several consecutive days of violence throughout Jerusalem and the use of lethal and nonlethal force by Israeli police, Hamas, the militant group which governs Gaza, and other Palestinian militant groups launched hundreds of rockets into Israeli territory.

Israel responded with artillery bombardments and airstrikes, several of which killed more than twenty Palestinians, against targets in Gaza. While claiming to target Hamas, other militants (such as those from Palestinian Islamic Jihad), and their infrastructure—including tunnels and rocket launchers—Israel expanded its aerial campaign and struck non-military infrastructure including residential buildings, media headquarters, and refugee and healthcare facilities.

On May 21, 2021, Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire, brokered by Egypt, with both sides claiming victory. More than 250 Palestinians were killed and nearly 2,000 others wounded, and at least 13 Israelis were killed over the eleven days of fighting. Authorities in Gaza estimate that tens of millions of dollars of damage was done, and the United Nations estimates that more than 72,000 Palestinians were displaced by the fighting.  

Concerns
Following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023, President Joe Biden made a strong statement of support for Israel. On the same day that Israel declared war against the terrorist group, the United States announced that it would send renewed shipments of arms and move its Mediterranean Sea warships closer to Israel. While the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting to discuss the renewed violence, the members failed to come to a consensus statement. Given the history of brutality when Israel and Palestinian extremist groups have fought in the past, international groups quickly expressed concern for the safety of civilians in Israel and the Palestinian territories as well as those being held hostage by militants in Gaza. In the first two days of fighting, approximately 800 Israelis and 500 Palestinians were killed. Increasing loss of life is of primary concern in the conflict.

While the United States did not immediately confirm reports that Iranian intelligence and security forces directly helped Hamas plan its October 7 attack, Iran has a well-established patronage relationship with Hamas and other extremist groups across the Middle East. In addition to worries that the attacks were a signal from Iran that it is prepared to escalate its malign influence in various Middle Eastern conflicts, experts have expressed concern that another extremist group with Iranian backing, Hezbollah, will be drawn into the war, thereby expanding the conflict beyond Israeli and Palestinian borders. On October 9, reports surfaced that the IDF was firing at targets within Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based. An Israeli statement on the matter did not clarify the purpose of the cross-boundary operation.

A 2023 effort by the United States to help broker a normalization accord between Israel and Saudi Arabia was thrown into chaos by the October conflict. Saudi Arabia has long advocated for the rights and safety of Palestinian Arab populations in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. Especially in Gaza, those populations are now in the path of IDF operations, jeopardizing the progress the Israelis and Saudis made toward common understanding.

Recent Developments
The most far-right and religious government in Israel’s history was inaugurated in late December 2022. The coalition government is led by Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu and his Likud party and comprises two ultra-Orthodox parties and three far-right parties, including the Religious Zionism party, an ultranationalist faction affiliated with the West Bank settler movement. To reach a governing majority, Netanyahu made a variety of concessions to his far-right partners. Opponents have criticized the government’s stated prioritization of the expansion and development of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The governing coalition has also endorsed discrimination against LGBTQ+ people on religious grounds, and it voted to limit judicial oversight of the government in May 2023 after a delay due to nationwide protests in March.

2022 marked a renewed level of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The first nine months of 2023 were characterized by a steady trend of clashes in the West Bank, including nearly daily Israeli incursions. Israel approved five thousand new settler homes in June 2023 which, along with other settlements in Palestinian territory, are considered by experts and intergovernmental institutions to be illegal under international law. The Israeli military also escalated its operations, including raiding the al-Aqsa mosque twice in one day, wounding thirty-five in a Ramallah operation, and firing missiles from a helicopter at the Jenin refugee camp. In May, Israel battled Gazan militants for five days, with nearly two thousand combined missile launches by Hamas and Israeli forces. Then, in July, Israel deployed nearly two thousand troops and conducted drone strikes in a large-scale raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, killing twelve Palestinians and wounding fifty. Israel, which lost one soldier in the operation, claimed all those killed were militants. While withdrawing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the incursion was “not a one-off” incident; Israel intends to prevent the camp from serving as a safe haven for Jenin Brigades and other militant groups. Hamas responded to the raid by carrying out an attack in Tel Aviv and launching missiles at Israel.

The October 2023 conflict between Israel and Hamas marks the most significant escalation of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in several decades.

You might go on-line for a copy of the text of theQuran . . . but beware, most of the URL's you will get will take you to Christian sponsored sites . . . some Muslim clerics have condemned fundamentalist killers--and yes, there's not copy in it for the western press, so it is not much referred to. However, consider both that clerics are oppotunists like everyone else, and may play to the house on this issue, and others with a more stringent personal code might have reasonable fears for their own health and saftety if they speak out. Finally, "muslim clerics" is a misleading term. Quadis are students of Islamic theological minutia (sp?) who apply their studies to the sharia, islamic law; mullahs are students of the Quran who counsel the faithful on those texts, Imams are teachers of Islamic belief and the hadith (the sayings and actions of the Prophet and the Companions)--"muslim clerics" do not equate to christian priests or ministers. Within Islam, each man or woman can be considered to be as competent as anyone else about the meaning and nature of their relationship with Allah. An Imam or Mullah only attains ascendancy over others on the strength of the public's perception of their righteousness. Additionally, morality is judged in the Islamic community by the Alim, or Alima--an Ullama is a righteous man, so recognized by his community, and the Alim, or Alima are the aggregate of the righteous men within any particular community. In the face of a united Alima, no particular cleric is going to have much influence if his teaching is in opposition to the beliefe of the Alima.

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations... (Deuteronomy 32:7)

The birthplace of the Jewish people is the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael). There, a significant part of the nation's long history was enacted, of which the first thousand years are recorded in the Bible; there, its cultural, religious, and national identity was formed; and there, its physical presence has been maintained through the centuries, even after the majority was forced into exile. During the many years of dispersion, the Jewish people never severed nor forgot its bond with the Land. With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Jewish independence, l​ost 2,000 years earlier, was renewed.

Archeology in Israel involves the systematic investigation of all the remains of the country's past - from prehistory to the end of Ottoman rule. The profusion of material remains is evidence of the many cultures that have left their imprint on the Land.

Above all archeological research clearly reveals the historical link between the Jewish people, the Bible and the Land of Israel, uncovering the remains of the cultural heritage of the Jewish people in its homeland. These visible remains, buried in the soil, constitute the physical link between the past, the present and the future of the Jewish people in its country.

This unbroken chain of history can be observed at sites all over the country. Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, has been the focus of extensive archeological activity and remains of 5,000 years of history have been revealed.

TIMELINE OF HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS

17th-6th C. BCE BIBLICAL TIMES
(BCE - Before the Common Era)
c.17th century

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - patriarchs of the Jewish people and bearers of a belief in one God - settle in the Land of Israel.
Famine forces Israelites to migrate to Egypt.
c.13th century Exodus from Egypt: Moses leads Israelites from Egypt, followed by 40 years of wandering in the desert.
Torah, including the Ten Commandments, received at Mount Sinai.
13th-12th
centuries Israelites settle in the Land of Israel
c.1020 Jewish monarchy established; Saul, first king.
c.1000 Jerusalem made capital of David's kingdom.
c.960 First Temple, the national and spiritual center of the Jewish people, built in Jerusalem by King Solomon.
c. 930 Divided kingdom: Judah and Israel
722-720 Israel crushed by Assyrians; 10 tribes exiled (Ten Lost Tribes).
586
Judah conquered by Babylonia; Jerusalem and First Temple destroyed; most Jews exiled.

THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD
538-142 Persian and Hellenistic periods
538-515 Many Jews return from Babylonia; Temple rebuilt.
332 Land conquered by Alexander the Great; Hellenistic rule.
166-160

Maccabean (Hasmonean) revolt against restrictions on practice of Judaism and desecration of the Temple
142-129 Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans.
129-63 Jewish independence under Hasmonean monarchy.
63 Jerusalem captured by Roman general, Pompey.

63 BCE-313
CE

Roman rule
63-4 BCE

Herod, Roman vassal king, rules the Land of Israel;
Temple in Jerusalem refurbished

(CE - The Common Era)
c. 20-33 Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth
66 Jewish revolt against the Romans
70 Destruction of Jerusalem and Second Temple.
73 Last stand of Jews at Masada.
132-135 Bar Kokhba uprising against Rome.
c. 210 Codification of Jewish oral law (Mishna) completed.

FOREIGN DOMINATION
313-636 Byzantine rule
c. 390 Commentary on the Mishna (Jerusalem Talmud) completed.
614 Persian invasion

636-1099 Arab rule
691 On site of First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock built by Caliph Abd el-Malik.

1099-1291 Crusader domination
(Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem)

1291-1516 Mamluk rule

1517-1917 Ottoman rule
1564 Code of Jewish law (Shulhan Arukh) published.
1860 First neighborhood built outside walls of Jerusalem's Old City.
1882-1903 First Aliya (large-scale immigration), mainly from Russia.
1897

First Zionist Congress convened by Theodor Herzl in Basel, Switzerland; Zionist Organization founded.
1904-14 Second Aliya, mainly from Russia and Poland.
1909 First kibbutz, Degania, and first modern all-Jewish city, Tel Aviv, founded.
1917 400 years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest;
British Foreign Minister Balfour pledges support for establishment of a "Jewish national home in Palestine"

1918-48

British rule
1919-23 Third Aliya, mainly from Russia
1920 Histadrut (General Federation of Labor) and Haganah (Jewish defense organization) founded.
Vaad Leumi (National Council) set up by Jewish community (Yishuv) to conduct its affairs.
1921 First moshav (cooperative village), Nahalal, founded.
1922 Britain granted Mandate for Palestine (Land of Israel) by League of Nations; Transjordan set up on three-fourths of the area, leaving one fourth for the Jewish national home.
Jewish Agency representing Jewish community vis-a-vis Mandate authorities set up.
1924

Technion, first institute of technology, founded in Haifa.
1924-32 Fourth Aliya, mainly from Poland.
1925 Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened on Mount Scopus.
1929 Hebron Jews massacred by Arab terrorists.
1931 Etzel, Jewish underground organization, founded.
1933-39 Fifth Aliya, mainly from Germany.
1936-39 Anti-Jewish riots instigated by Arab terrorists.
1939 Jewish immigration severely limited by British White Paper.
1939-45 World War II; Holocaust in Europe.
1941 Lehi underground movement formed; Palmach, strike force of Haganah, set up.
1944 Jewish Brigade formed as part of British forces.
1947 UN proposes the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in the Land.

STATE OF ISRAEL
1948

End of British Mandate (14 May)
State of Israel proclaimed (14 May).
Israel invaded by five Arab states (15 May).
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) established.
War of Independence (May 1948-July 1949).

1949
Armistice agreements signed with Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon.
Jerusalem divided under Israeli and Jordanian rule.
First Knesset (parliament) elected.
Israel admitted to United Nations as 59th member.

1948-52

Mass immigration from Europe and Arab countries.
1956 Sinai Campaign
1962 Adolf Eichmann tried and executed in Israel for his part in the Holocaust.
1964

National Water Carrier completed, bringing water from Lake Kinneret in the north to the semi-arid south.
1967

Six-Day War; Jerusalem reunited.
1968-70 Egypt's War of Attrition against Israel
1973 Yom Kippur War
1975 Israel becomes an associate member of the European Common Market.
1977 Likud forms government after Knesset elections, end of 30 years of Labor rule.
Visit of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem.
1978 Camp David Accords include framework for comprehensive peace in the Middle East and proposal for Palestinian self-government.
1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty signed.
Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
1981 Israel Air Force destroys Iraqi nuclear reactor just before it is to become operative.
1982 Israel's three-stage withdrawal from Sinai Peninsula completed.
Operation Peace for Galilee removes Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorists from Lebanon.
1984 National unity government (Likud and Labor) formed after elections.
Operation Moses, immigration of Jews from Ethiopia.
1985 Free Trade Agreement signed with United States.
1987 Widespread violence (Intifada) starts in Israeli-administered areas.
1988 Likud government wins elections.
1989

Four-point peace initiative proposed by Israel.
Start of mass immigration of Jews from former Soviet Union.
1991 Israel attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles during Gulf war.
Middle East peace conference convened in Madrid;
Operation Solomon, airlift of Jews from Ethiopia.
1992 Diplomatic relations established with China and India.
New government headed by Yitzhak Rabin of Labor Party.
1993 Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements for the Palestinians signed by Israel and PLO, as representative of the Palestinian people (Oslo Accords).
1994

Implementation of Palestinian self-government in Gaza Strip and Jericho area.
Full diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Morocco and Tunisia interest offices set up.
Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty signed.
Rabin, Peres, Arafat awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

1995 Broadened Palestinian self-government implemented in West Bank and Gaza Strip; Palestinian Council elected.
Prime Minister Rabin assassinated at peace rally.
Shimon Peres becomes prime minister.
1996 Fundamentalist Arab terrorism against Israel escalates.
Operation Grapes of Wrath, retaliation for Hizbullah terrorists' attacks on northern Israel.
Trade representation offices set up in Oman and Qatar.
Likud forms government after Knesset elections.
Binyamin Netanyahu elected prime minister.
Omani trade representation office opened in Tel Aviv.
1997 Hebron Protocol signed by Israel and the PA.
1998

Israel celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Israel and the PLO sign the Wye River Memorandum to facilitate implementation of the Interim Agreement.
1999 Ehud Barak (left-wing One Israel party) elected prime minister; forms coalition government.
Israel and the PLO sign the Sharm-el-Sheikh Memorandum.
2000 Visit of Pope Paul II.
Israel withdraws from the Security Zone in southern Lebanon.
Israel admitted to UN Western European and Others Group.
Renewed violence (Second Intifada). Prime Minister Barak resigns.
2001 Ariel Sharon (Likud) elected Prime Minister; forms broad-based unity government.
The Sharm-el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee report (Mitchell Report) issued.
Palestinian-Israeli Security Implementation Work Plan (Tenet ceasefire plan) proposed.
Rechavam Ze'evy, Minister of Tourism, assassinated by Palestinian terrorists.
2002
Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield in response to massive Palestinian terrorist attacks.
Israel begins building the anti-terrorist fence to stop West Bank terrorists from killing Israeli citizens.
Prime Minister Sharon disperses the Knesset, calling for new elections to be held on 28 January 2003.
2003
Right-of-center coalition government formed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Israel accepts the Roadmap.
2005
Israel carries out the Disengagement Plan, ending Israel's presence in the Gaza Strip.
2006
After Prime Minister Sharon suffers a stroke, Ehud Olmert becomes acting prime minister.
Following elections on 28 March, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert forms new government led by the Kadima Party.
Israel carried out military operations against Palestinian terrorists in Gaza after kidnapping of Israeli soldier.
The Second War in Lebanon, during which Israel carried out military operations against Hizbullah terrorism from southern Lebanon, following missile attacks and kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers.

2007
Shimon Peres elected President by the Knesset.
Israel declares Gaza "hostile territory" following Hamas violent takeover of Gaza Strip.

2008
Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Israel launches its Gaza Operation (Operation Cast Lead) in response to the barrage of over 10,000 rockets and mortars fired from the Gaza Strip.

2009
Benjamin Netanyahu is elected Prime Minister in national elections held in February 2009, and forms a broad-based coalition government
The city of Tel Aviv celebrates its 100th anniversary.

2010
Israel joins the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The war in Gaza in July and August of 2014, fought between Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, was viewed by Hamas as a critical link in the chain of jihad and armed struggle, whose long-term goal is the liberation of all of Palestine and the destruction of Israel. Since its establishment in 1987, Hamas has enshrined its goal in the Hamas Charter which it steadfastly has refused to modify. The analysis that follows will show that destroying Israel remains its goal and, unfortunately, there are signs that it has adopted genocidal doctrines as well, directed against the Jewish people as a whole, beyond its militancy toward the Jewish state. This ideology undoubtedly supported the readiness of Hamas to undertake mass casualty suicide bombing attacks against Israelis and to target Israeli civilians with its rocket forces. There is built-in tension in how Hamas conducts itself between being a Palestinian organization and being committed to the global jihadi network. In its charter, Hamas defines itself as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, the original organization which gave birth to many of the jihadi groups that have been active in the last two decades. In his first “Declaration of Jihad against America,” issued on August 23, 1996, Osama bin Laden made reference to five religious authorities whom he said would serve as an inspiration for his movement; they included Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the founder of Hamas.1 Over the past ten years, the cooperation of Hamas with the global jihadi network expressed itself in a number of ways. First, its external leadership established contacts with prominent elements of that network, like Sayyid Salah al-Din, the supreme commander of Hizb al-Muhajidin, which was part of the insurgency against India in Kashmir. There were also ties with Abd al-Majid al-Zindani, who recruited for bin Laden’s training camps and also held fundraising events for Hamas in Yemen.

85 Billion Worth Of US Equipment Adds To World Terrorist Military Muscle Groups

https://rumble.com/v28yen6-85-billion-worth-of-us-equipment-adds-to-world-terrorist-military-muscle-gr.html

The Taliban takes control of Afghanistan - there is a big concern emerging. $85 billion worth of military equipment sponsored by the Americans is now under Taliban's control. The US has tried to downplay the situation. In this episode of Defense Dispatch, we look at possible artilleries that went into the hands of the Taliban that the US had sent for the Afghan forces. The following is a list of world terrorist incidents that have not been carried out by a state or its forces. Assassinations are listed at List of assassinated people with U.S.A.

After becoming the dominant force in the Gaza Strip, Hamas gave several significant jihadi groups sanctuary within its territory, like Jaish al-Islam [Army of Islam]. While the two organizations went through periods of tension, nonetheless they engaged in joint operations, like the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The role of Jaish al-Islam in the global jihadi network was demonstrated in 2012, when the U.S. released documents taken from Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, including correspondence between Jaish al-Islam and the al-Qaeda leadership. High-ranking Egyptians have charged that Hamas has been cooperating with the jihadist group in Sinai known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which actually joined ISIS in 2014. These accusations were made at one point by Egypt’s interior minister in late 2013. These reports, along with the consistently uncompromising stand that Hamas took with respect to Israel, contradicted the view voiced sometimes in the West that Hamas was prepared to jettison its past positions and become a diplomatic player. Hamas’ strategic goals in this latest campaign were to fundamentally shake Israel’s security concept with attacks deep inside Israeli territory, impose ceasefire conditions on Israel, and create a balance of terror and a deterrent capability that would prevent Israel’s military command from opting for a ground operation in Gaza. This strategy explains the importance of the tunnel project in which Hamas so heavily invested. In keeping with the Islamic concept of the hudna and the way of the Prophet Muhammad, ceasefires are always temporary and solely intended to improve military preparedness so that the jihad can be renewed under better conditions. During the year-and-a-half before the fighting in the summer of 2014, Hamas placed special emphasis on building up its military force and acquiring the weapons and capabilities to inflict numerous casualties on IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians, and to kidnap Israelis alive or dead as bargaining chips for Palestinian terrorists serving prison sentences in Israel. Coordination with all the combat organizations in Gaza, including through the use of a joint operations room, is seen as supremely important for conducting the campaign against Israel. Hamas regards this coordination as a force multiplier that enables persistence in the struggle. To accomplish these goals, Hamas established an army in Gaza based on infantry units and special units, including naval commandos, rocket-launching units, antiaircraft forces, and a small drone-operating unit. This army, which is blended with the civilian population and holds positions in heavily populated urban areas and whose forces wear civilian clothing during combat, is capable of delaying and disrupting activity by a regular army during combat in a built-up area, and of causing numerous casualties through booby-trapped residential buildings, sniper fire, suicide attacks, explosive devices, and high-trajectory fire. A substantial qualitative and quantitative upgrade in rocket capabilities gave Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations the ability to strike with greater destructive power and at longer ranges than in the past. With the addition of attack tunnels penetrating Israeli territory and infiltration operations by naval-commando units, Hamas, before the latest round, had reached a great potential for the large-scale killing of civilians and IDF forces.

With the addition of attack tunnels penetrating Israeli territory and infiltration operations by naval-commando units, Hamas had reached a great potential for the large-scale killing of Israeli civilians and IDF forces.

Hamas’ approach was based, among other things, on the “surprise factor.” According to Hamas, Israel was surprised by the range of the organization’s rockets, the attacks on IDF force concentrations along the Gaza border, and the use of anti-aircraft weapons that limited Israel’s use of drones. It is possible to get an internal look at Hamas military thinking. Hamas based its military strategy during the summer 2014 campaign upon the assessments that the organization made regarding its previous round with Israel in 2012 (called “Pillar of Defense” in Israel and “Sajil Stone” among the Palestinians). A glimpse into that thinking can be seen on the Al-Majd website run by Hamas’ security and intelligence services that analyzes the military lessons of the November 2012 war from Hamas’ viewpoint. The Hamas security document detailed the organization’s achievements in the 2012 campaign: Israel’s request for a ceasefire as soon as the second day of the fighting, the eagerness of Arab states and the United States to help Israel reach a ceasefire agreement, the recognition of Hamas as a liberation movement rather than a terrorist organization, the erosion of the IDF’s image as an invincible army, and strengthening the belief that the Palestinians are capable of defeating the IDF. A short time after the end of the November 2012 round of warfare, Hamas leader Khaled Mashal set forth the principles of Hamas’ strategy to destroy Israel, which rest on two main, complementary elements, the military and the political. Mashal suggested that Israel’s military superiority could be overcome by attaining tactical military advantages that would exploit Israel’s vulnerabilities, and by curtailing Israel’s military options by using political and legal tools, in the framework of jihad, with the help of Western leftist and human rights organizations. As Mashal put it:

What occurred in the eight days [of the war] is an example of how to wage military campaigns, and particularly of the close connection between [political and military tools]. Whoever wants to conduct a political campaign must have strong cards on the ground, as this case exemplifies. We think that the cause of restoring the land, Al-Quds [Jerusalem], the right of return, and Palestinian rights requires real cards of power, and that stopping the aggression against Gaza requires the whole beautiful, strong, and faithful symphony.

How is it possible to regain Al-Quds and the land and return the expelled people to its land? What is needed is a campaign using all the cards of power, and above all the struggle waged with unified Palestinian ranks and a unified Arab position, and also with proper management of the political campaign.

Whoever thinks that the regaining of Palestine and Al-Quds will be achieved only through a process of negotiations is mistaken. Negotiations are a brief phase in the context of the resistance struggle and the national struggle that is supported by the Arab and Islamic and liberal forces in the world, until we attain our rights, and the jihad and the struggle are the strategic path to realizing them.

In November 2013, Hamas Political Bureau member Mahmoud al-Zahar revealed part of Hamas’ combat doctrine in the 2014 war: “We will invade them and they will not invade us.”

At a ceremony for the one-year anniversary of the Sajil Stone campaign, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, one of its senior figures, and associated with the military command of the Al-Qassam Brigades, revealed one of the combat doctrines that Hamas would use in the summer of 2014. “We will invade them and they will not invade us.”

Al-Zahar’s words implied that Hamas was planning to mount offensive operations inside of Israeli territory, and not settle for combat within Gaza or the firing of rockets from Gaza at civilian and military targets in Israel. In many respects he was hinting at a radical change in Hamas military strategy that would carry the war into Israel. The main instrument for accomplishing this ambitious task was the network of attack tunnels which were still under construction. In fact, al-Zahar even asserted that the Palestinian people have the right to tunnel under any territory and that Palestinian combat organizations are not committed to any borders, thereby hinting at an intention to use the attack tunnels that were dug from Gaza into Israeli territory. Raid Saad, one of the heads of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades and commander of the Gaza City Brigade, said at the same event that “a moment does not pass in which the Al-Qassam Brigades are not preparing, training, manufacturing, developing, building, digging, and equipping themselves for the encounter with the enemy,” emphasizing that “the Al-Qassam Brigades today [November 2013] are many times stronger” than in the past. Saad warned Israel that the brigades’ restraint regarding “the blockade” would not last for long. Saad cited Hamas’ basic assumption that military conflict with Israel is certain and only a matter of time. He also set forth the fundamentals of Hamas’ program of military preparation for this conflict, particularly a massive investment in a military buildup including weapons development, upgrading fitness and preparedness, and the digging of attack tunnels.

The Al-Qassam Brigades’ official spokesman, Abu Obeida (his full name is Hudayfa Samir Abdullah al-Kahlout), made similar statements about the lessons of the 2012 Sajil Stone campaign and about future combat methods, which indeed were implemented in the summer of 2014. In an interview with Al-Hiwar TV on February 5, 2013, Abu Obeida, who is part of the brigades’ senior command, declared that in the next war, “we will make use of the ground-attack method, of long-range missiles, and of other surprises that we have not yet revealed.”8 In an interview with Al-Rai radio in November 2013, Abu Obeida said, “The occupation will struggle with a new kind of war that it was not accustomed to in the past, namely the tunnels,” which “will be part of the methods of the Palestinian struggle in any future campaign.”

“The tunnels are one of the methods of the struggle, and they will be the most effective weapon in any future conflict with the occupation.” – Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida, November 2013

He added: “The tunnels are one of the methods of the struggle, and they will be the most effective weapon in any future conflict with the occupation.” He continued: “The combat [organizations] have invented the war of the tunnels,” which “have achieved a profound effect and sown terror in Israel.” The main difference between the 2014 Gaza war and the 2012 Sajil Stone campaign lies in Abu Obeida’s words about “shattering all the red lines” in the military campaign against Israel, stated at a ceremony in Rafah on November 13, 2014:9 Hamas’ massive, unending attack included the use of attack tunnels and of infiltration from the sea, along with the firing of long-range rockets with 75-90-kg. warheads at Israel’s nuclear reactors in Dimona (by Hamas)10 and at Sorek (by Islamic Jihad),11 a base where Hamas believes nuclear missiles are stored,12 at Ben-Gurion International Airport,13 and at the Haifa area where large chemical plants are located.14 Abu Obeida remarked that “the nature of the campaign against the enemy requires the combat [organizations] to operate clandestinely and to prepare,” adding, “when the moment of confrontation arrives and the campaign is launched, the enemy will become aware of the preparations that the Al-Qassam [Brigades] have made for [the conflict].” In Abu Obeida’s view, the main achievement of Sajil Stone was “the total erosion of the deterrent power of the Israeli occupation,” which “feels weak and helpless in the face of the fighting Palestinian [organizations].”15 In an interview with the Hamas mouthpiece Al-Rissala Net in 2013, Abu Obeida said the Al-Qassam Brigades are always ready and engaged in preparations for any conflict and any aggression, and that all options are open including suicide operations.16 In an official video issued by the Al-Qassam Brigades in October 2013, Abu Obeida said the combat organizations were better prepared than in the past for a conflict with Israel, that they had “strategic weaponry,” and that full coordination existed between all the military forces in Gaza in the struggle against Israel, which he called “a common enemy” and “the enemies of humanity.” The ultimate goal of the Palestinian struggle, Abu Obeida stressed, is the conquest of the cities of Jerusalem, Ashkelon, Ramle, and Beersheba – in other words, the eradication of Israel.17 In May 2013, Abu Obeida asserted that the anti-Israel strategy entails a struggle using all methods until the full liberation of all of Palestine. He emphasized that the land of Palestine is an Islamic trust where no one has the authority to concede a single inch, and negligence in fulfilling the commands of jihad for its liberation is a crime.18 In another interview on Hamas’ official site in December 2013, Abu Obeida clarified some main aspects of the anti-Israel struggle. The ceasefire reached after the November 2012 round, which Hamas called a tahdiyya (period of calm), “does not mean rest for the fighter as is claimed, but rather readiness, preparations, and preparedness.” He also asserted that “the [military] surprises will remain surprises, and they will not be revealed except at the time to be determined.” He further stated that “so long as the occupation [of any part of Palestine] exists, we are in a situation of jihad or preparations [for jihad]….[The Al-Qassam Brigades] are actually an army.” He was asked: “Do you foresee imminent Zionist aggression and do you have a plan ready for dealing with any scenario of escalation?” Abu Obeida replied: “We foresee aggression at any moment and we have plans for dealing with it.” He also observed that there were “good and mutual relations at all the levels,” as well as “ongoing coordination and contact” with the military wings of the Palestinian organizations in Gaza, as evidenced by “the existence of the joint operations room in different scenarios.”19 Thus, Hamas’ strategy is derived from the supreme goal of destroying the State of Israel through a protracted struggle, which includes an ongoing terror offensive and high-intensity military clashes for variable time spans. In keeping with the Islamic concept of the hudna and the way of the Prophet Muhammad, ceasefires are always temporary and intended solely to improve military preparedness so that jihad can be renewed under better conditions. Since the end of the 2012 Sajil Stone campaign, Hamas had been preparing for a further inevitable round of military conflict with Israel, which, as noted, it views as a link in the unending chain of clashes until all of Palestine is liberated. It was Hamas that, in its own manner, initiated the summer 2014 round, similar to how it initiated the previous rounds. Most prominent were Hamas efforts to perpetrate attacks in the West Bank. These attempts were often directed by “outside” command centers and operatives, some of them in Turkey. A notable role was also played by individuals freed in the Shalit deal, who went to live in Gaza and directed terror activity in the West Bank.20 Hamas was well aware that a successful strategic terrorist attack, such as a kidnapping, suicide bombing, or mass murder of Israelis, would probably – in line with past experience and with Israel’s declared policy – prompt an Israeli retaliation against strategic Hamas targets in Gaza. Hamas regards all ceasefires as temporary, never entailing a full cessation of the anti-Israel struggle. During a period of calm, the modes and magnitudes of operations, and the theaters where they are carried out, undergo changes. That is, Hamas gauges its freedom of action for Gaza-based operations according to the anticipated Israeli response and the strategic interests of Hamas at any given time. The more Hamas develops its power structure and military capabilities, and particularly the ability to mount ongoing attacks against strategic targets in Israel without Israel completely suppressing the sources of fire, the more Hamas strengthens its deterrent power – according to its conceptions. This mindset grants Hamas greater freedom of action to continue waging the armed struggle from Gaza and in other theaters, especially the West Bank and Jerusalem. Hamas believes it can use terror attacks to gradually stretch the limits of Israel’s “restraint” until Israel realizes that the price it will have to pay in an all-out conflict will be especially high.

Hamas has cast off all limitations in choosing targets to attack in Israel. The aim is to inflict mass killings of civilians in as large a magnitude as possible. In the next round Hamas intends to use rockets with larger warheads or missiles with guidance capabilities.

Hamas and the coalition of terrorist organizations operating under its command cast off all limitations in choosing targets to attack in Israel. The aim is to inflict mass killings of civilians in as large a magnitude as possible. Nuclear reactors, chemical plants, and passenger planes became legitimate targets for repeated attacks, and in the next round Hamas intends to use rockets with larger warheads or missiles with guidance capabilities. Rarely in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict did the Arab side seek to attack Israel’s nuclear reactors and its international airport in an attempt to hit passenger planes. In 1991 during the First Gulf War waged by the international coalition to free Kuwait from the Iraqi occupation, the Iraqi army launched Scud missiles at Ben-Gurion Airport and the Dimona nuclear reactor as retaliation for Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s Osirak reactor ten years earlier. Israel is the only Western country whose nuclear reactors have been subject to military attack.

In the summer of 2014, Hamas’ patterns of warfare once again evinced the ideological and pragmatic similarity between Hamas and the Islamic State (ISIS). From the start, Hamas directed a massive and ongoing rocket offensive at civilian targets, seeking to indiscriminately cause the greatest possible loss of life; and like the Islamic State, Hamas demonstrated that its terror policy and choice of targets are entirely devoid of moral boundaries.

Participating in the warfare against Israel were organizations identified with the Islamic State, such as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. Hamas, which is fully in charge in Gaza, provides a haven to all the Palestinian terrorist organizations (Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), and allows branches of al-Qaeda to operate freely there (as long as they do not flout Hamas’ authority). On the ideological level, the religious duty to destroy the Jewish people (in other words, genocide) in the Land of Israel is reiterated by Hamas leaders. Mashal, who denied that the rockets Hamas fired were intended to kill Israeli civilians, stressed that in his view, all Jews residing in Palestine are combatants and not civilians. At a press conference in Qatar during the war (July 23, 2014), Mashal stated, “They accuse us [Hamas] of attacking [Jewish] civilians and of attacks that continue every day and are directed against civilians. It is not possible to say that the settlers [the Jews] are civilians. They live on occupied land, which is not legitimate for them. They are armed, they kill, and they cause destruction.”21 On July 25, the official Hamas TV channel, Al-Aqsa, broadcast the Friday sermon given at a mosque in Dir al-Balah in southern Gaza. In it the imam called for the total annihilation of the Jews: “Our doctrine is to struggle against them [the Jews] until their complete destruction. We will not leave even one of them alive, since you are foreign land thieves and perennial mercenaries. You are mercenaries in all periods. My brothers, learn the history. Everywhere that the Jews lived they spread corruption.”22 Threats of genocide against the Jews are voiced by senior leaders of Hamas and of the Al-Qassam Brigades. Before the war, in May 2014, the brigades posted a video calling on the Jews in Palestine to hurry and leave, warning that if they did not do so their fate would be death, as decreed by Hamas.

Hamas dreams that it will conquer all of Israel and kill or deport the Jewish population. (Safa.Ps)

Hamas’ Theological Leader Endorses Genocide
Dr. Yunis al-Astal, a senior Hamas figure and Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament, gives legal justification to this Muslim imperative to destroy the Jewish people. Al-Astal served in the past as head of the committee responsible for religious law in the Association of Religious Scholars of Palestine (al-Astal was called “the Mufti of Hamas”), which is considered Hamas’ most important religious institution and formulates the movement’s Islamic ideological platform.24 Al-Astal also served as dean of the Faculty of Sharia and chairman of the Committee for Religious Law at the Islamic University of Gaza; founded and administered, as chairman, the Islamic al-Hoda schools in Gaza; and was a senior official of the Al-Rahma Philanthropic Committee in Khan Yunis. In a legal ruling he posted on March 13, 200825 on the website of the Association of Religious Scholars of Palestine, al-Astal asserted that the fate of destruction, burning, and conflagration would not only befall the Jews in the next world but also in this world at the hands of the jihad warriors. He based himself on the Koran passage (“The Constellations,” v. 4-7) that states:

Cursed be the diggers of the trench, who lighted the consuming fire and sat around it to watch the faithful being put to the torture! The fate of death by fire would befall the Jews just as it befell the diggers of the trench (who killed the believing Muslims); Allah would show the Jews no mercy because of their insolence toward him, corruption, the murder of the Prophets, and the spilling of Muslims’ blood.

The vision of genocide against Jews is consistent with Hamas’ worldview, which, in turn, is consistent with that of the Islamic State regarding a global Islamic revolution, centering on the creation of a caliphate that will wage an all-out campaign against the infidels on the way to conquering Europe. Islamic law is being implemented in Gaza, and members of the Hamas parliament have already prepared a bill to amend the criminal law and allow executions for severe transgressions of Islamic law. Punishments would include death by crucifixion, amputation of limbs for thieves, and flogging for drinkers of alcohol.29 Al-Astal said in this context that “when Palestine is liberated and its people return to it, the entire region by the grace of Allah will become the united lands of Islam, the land of Palestine will become the capital of the Islamic caliphate, and all of the states will be states within the caliphate.”30 In a sermon broadcast on the Al-Aqsa channel, al-Astal set forth Hamas’ long-term goals:

Very soon, by the will of Allah, Rome will be conquered, as Constantinople was conquered, and this will be in keeping with the prophecy of our Prophet Muhammad. Today Rome is the capital city of the Catholics, or the capital city of the Crusaders, which has declared its hostility to Islam and planted the brothers of the apes and the pigs [Jews] in Palestine to prevent the awakening of Islam. This capital city will become a springboard of the Islamic conquests that will spread throughout Europe, and from there will turn toward the two continents of America and also toward Eastern Europe.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Formed in 1981 by Dr. Fathi Shkaki in Egypt, PIJ was deeply influenced by the success of the Iranian revolution and radicalization of student groups in Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood. PIJ was the first major Palestinian organization to present a religious-Islamic alternative to the secular-national agenda of Fatah. PIJ defines Palestine as the heart of the religious-historical conflict between Muslims and Jews, as well as the focal point for Western imperialism which seeks to conquer Muslim lands. The solution to this challenge can only be achieved by the liberation of the entire Muslim nation, PIJ declares. According to this dogma, “freeing Palestine” is only the first step towards a pan-Islamic revival. However, this pan-Islamic aspiration remains mostly a declarative one, as the PIJ agenda is foremost a national one, rather than global. Israel is regarded as a moral and spiritual corruption afflicting all Muslims; therefore, eliminating Israel is a step that helps every Muslim heal his soul and society. The movement was unique at the time among Sunni organizations in its acceptance and admiration of the Iranian revolution, and it adopted the Shiite model of subjugating the political echelon to the religious one. PIJ’s leadership is located mostly in Syria and Lebanon, with additional branches in Tehran and Khartoum. Most of the organization’s funding came from Syria, and it receives arms and training from Hizbullah, which also channels Iranian support to the PIJ. PIJ is similar to Hamas in drawing its influence from the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), but while Hamas sees itself as the Palestinian branch of the MB, PIJ no longer owes allegiance to the MB and has openly criticized it. Ironically, this distance between PIJ and the Muslim Brotherhood sometimes works in PIJ’s favor: Communications between Egypt and Hamas is a very problematic issue due to Hamas’ relations and origins with the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement outlawed in Egypt. The result is that Egypt is often more willing to converse with the PIJ than with Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and the de facto ruler of Gaza. This Egyptian dynamic elevates PIJ’s importance as a political player and assures it “a place at the table.” As a result, PIJ is the second most dominant force in Gaza, as well as the second most active organization that participated in Operation Protective Edge in 2014. This puts PIJ in a position where it can cooperate with Hamas from a position of leverage. Within Gaza, PIJ tends to be more hawkish than Hamas, as it is not burdened by the responsibilities of governing.

Show less