The International Red Cross is coming under fire for making veiled accusations that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza.
The European Center for Law and Justice has responded forcefully to the Red Cross assertions, stating that the terrorist attacks of Hamas and their continued use of children and women as human shields for their fighters and weapons is the real war crime.
“It is deeply disturbing that the International Red Cross, which should be an objective relief organization, is engaging in an unbalanced and biased campaign to smear Israel,” wrote Jay Sekulow, who serves as Chief Counsel of the ECLJ. “While insinuating that Israel is committing war crimes as it protects its civilian population under attack by Hamas terrorists, the Red Cross is turning a blind eye to the deadly terrorist tactics used by Hamas – using its own population as human shields – in clearly violation of international law. We are urging the Red Cross to rely on the facts and the truth in reporting what is taking place in the Gaza conflict.”
The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross made statements during a visit to Gaza last week that in Gaza he saw “serious discrepancies between obligations” under the “laws of war” and what was “reality on the ground.” The statement was widely seen as an attack on Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas wasn’t just committing war crimes but “double war crimes.”
“Hamas is committing a double war crime. It is both targeting civilians and hiding behind civilians, including U.N. facilities, which are not only rocket storage sites but rocket launching sites and mortar launching sites,” Netanyahu said. “So, Israel has every right to defend itself and we are obeying the rules of war and the international code and those who are responsible for all these tragic civilian deaths are Hamas.”
Israeli scientists have developed a system that allows the Israeli Defense Forces to detect the infiltration tunnels used by the terrorist group Hamas.
A source inside the IDF told the Jerusalem Post the system has proven flawless in laboratory testing and it will now be taken into the field to see if it is as effective in real world situations. If it proves reliable, it would be able to be deployed full-time in about a year.
The IDF also announced on Israel Radio they are working on an upgrade to the Iron Dome system.
The new system is aimed at stopping multiple rockets at the same time or multiple other pieces of debris that are fired into the country. Also, the system will be able to target rockets and other objects much higher in the air than the current system.
The IDF believes that Hamas is being given upgraded weapons by countries like Iran that will help them overwhelm the current Iron Dome system.
The IDF also prised the Trophy tank defense system, saying it successfully stopped dozens of anti-tank missiles in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.
Egyptian negotiators have been frantically moving back and forth between Israeli representatives and those representing the terrorist group Hamas after another 72-hour cease-fire agreement was struck between the two sides.
Israel had previously said they would not agree to negotiations or a cease-fire unless Hamas stopped their terrorist rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.
The cessation of hostilities went into effect around 5 p.m. eastern U.S. time Sunday after Hamas fired hundreds of rockets in the hour before it was to go into effect.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said they would be working with international aid groups to bring humanitarian supplies into the Gaza strip during the cease-fire. Reports say that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pledge financial support for the rebuilding of Gaza and for humanitarian aid to Palestinians trapped in the Gaza strip.
The talks broke down last Friday when Hamas, enraged that Israel had not removed a naval blockade, broke a previous cease-fire with rocket attacks.
There has been one reported incident since the cease-fire. An Islamic militant was shot by the IDF after he opened fire on two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of Qabalan.
Islamic terrorist group Hamas lived up to their threat and broke the 72-hour cease-fire Friday by launching rockets toward residential areas of Israel.
According to sources within the Israeli Defense Forces, Hamas terrorists fired over 45 rockets Friday morning. The “Iron Dome” defense system only stopped two of the rockets from striking within Israel.
IDF spokesman said that Israel has resumed air strikes at rocket launching sites in response to the Hamas attacks.
“We will continue to strike Hamas, its infrastructure, its operatives, and restore security for the State of Israel,” Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said in a statement.
Egyptian negotiators have called for a resumption of the cease-fire because negotiations are close to reaching a solution. However, Hamas has refused to agree to stop their assaults because they demand all of their demands be met.
International media organizations, such as the New York Times, ABC, NBC and CBS, have been running stories from Gaza showing casualties and claiming that the Israel response to being attacked by Hamas has not been targeted like stated by Israeli leadership.
A report from the United Nations says all the anti-Israel stories are wrong.
Figures released by the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights were analyzed by the BBC’s head of statistics and found that the number of civilian men killed in the attacks were almost four times higher than women. The figures went even higher when Hamas terrorists killed were included in the total.
“If the Israeli attacks have been ‘indiscriminate,’ as the UN Human Rights Council says, it is hard to work out why they have killed so many more civilian men than women,” Anthony Reuben said.
Reuben said the conclusions being drawn in much of the media coverage is “premature.”
Several anti-Israeli politicians, including some within the United Nations, have been calling for Israel to be investigated for war crimes because of alleged targeting of civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the statistics show Hamas has been using civilians as human shields.
A new report shows anti-Semitism worldwide making a significant increase in the wake of the conflict in Gaza.
The footage of Hamas terrorists shooting rockets into Israel, the murder of Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists, the tunnels into Israel that have been used for terror attacks have fallen on deaf ears in most countries because of media coverage only showing the impact on Palestinian civilians who are used as cover by terrorists.
The heavily Jewish section of Paris was looted and attacked as the mob showed “gas the Jews.” Synagogues and Jewish centers in Paris and other French cities were firebombed and Nazi symbols spray painted onto Jewish property.
Germany showed particularly nasty incidents including in Berlin where protesters would stand in front of the homes of Jewish residents and yell “Jew, cowardly pig, come out and fight.” In Frankfurt, protesters carried signs saying “Jews are beasts.”
In the United States, the mainstream media ignored multiple instances of Jews being attacked and harassed. No major network covered the story of a Jewish student in Boston who was attacked by a woman saying that Jerusalem would be cleansed of the Jews while a crowd chanted that Jews better learn how to swim.
Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, is calling out the body’s head for his open bias toward the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza conflict.
After Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a verbal assault against Israel, saying they need to be investigated for their attacks that caused damage to some U.N. facilities in the Gaza Strip, Prosor responded by telling the Secretary-General he needs to realize who was behind the entire situation.
“Israel did not seek the confrontation,” Prosor said. “We left Gaza with the intention of never returning.”
Prosor was referencing the 2005 unilateral withdrawal.
It was also pointed out to the Secretary-General that Hamas was using schools, hospitals and other locations to launch attacks. On three separate occasions, Hamas weapons were found stored inside U.N. schools and the Secretary-General made no condemnation of Hamas for their actions in those cases.
Reports have begun from inside Israel that the government will agree to an extension of the 72-hour cease-fire to allow longer negotiations in Cairo, Egypt. However, a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces says they have plans in place to target Hamas leadership should they break the agreement and fire a single rocket into Israel.
A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces said that all ground troops had been pulled out of Gaza Tuesday morning as part of a 72-hour cease-fire agreement.
The two sides in the conflict have now sent representatives to Cairo where an Egyptian mediator will shuttle between the two sides to try and work out some kind of deal to bring a lasting peace in the conflict.
Israel had said they would not agree to a cease-fire or any deal until all the Hamas tunnels into the country were destroyed. IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said that the destruction of 32 tunnels was completed late last night.
Lerner also told reporters that at least 3,500 rockets from Hamas had been fired into Israel at the time the cease-fire went into effect. He said that Israeli troops were able to destroy at least 3,000 rockets being held in storage during the ground incursion into Gaza.
Hamas has said their demands now include international funding for the rebuilding of Gaza.
A video leaked online from the Chicago Islamic Center shows a local imam telling those in attendance to “wage jihad” against Israel “for the sake of Allah.”
The clips of the video were released by the Middle East Media Research Institute showing the rant from Sheikh Mohamed Elimam in July.
“Oh, those of you who want to wage jihad for the sake of Allah, Palestine is calling you and Gaza is crying out for your help,” he declares. “If you are true believers, real mujahideen, hasten to Palestine. The enemy was planted in the midst of the Arab nation and they chose Jerusalem, Palestine—the most important area—in order to be a thorn in the side of the Arab and Islamic nations. May Allah pull this thorn out and stick it down their throats. May they be sent back to their countries in shame and disgrace, Allah willing.”
The video shows those in attendance chanting for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.
The similar message was delivered to the crowd at a pro-Hamas rally in Miami that led to a Jewish photographer having to flee because of the threat of violence.
The U.S. Senate has approved $225 million dollars for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.
“We could not go out for a month or five week [on vacation] and not act to help the Israelis replenish their supply of Iron Dome missiles,” Senator John McCain of Arizona said at a press conference.
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma who objected to the bill because of budget concerns had originally held the bill. However, Coburn relented after speaking with McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham to see the urgent need for Israel.
“[The Israeli people need to know] we will stand with them and that we will provide them with what they need in order to defend themselves,” said McCain.
The House approved the bill 395-8 on Friday. The eight representatives who voted against it were Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Zoe Lofgren of California, Jim Moran of Virginia, Justin Amash of Michigan, Walter Jones of North Carolina, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Beto O’Rourke of Texas.
