Hamas takes revenge…
Without anything even remotely resembling due process. But that’s how they roll:
Hamas sources in Gaza say 18 people suspected of collaborating with Israel have been executed.
The killings came after an Israeli air strike killed three senior Hamas leaders on Thursday…
Hamas sources said Friday’s executions had been carried out by what it called the Resistance…
Hamas officials told Reuters that the first 11 executions were carried out at an abandoned police station.
Witnesses said another seven people were shot by men in Hamas uniforms outside the Al-Umari mosque in central Gaza.
I wonder if any of these people actually were informants, or whether they were just people who were targeted because someone or other was tired of their continued existence.
Those “three senior Hamas leaders” must have been pretty senior. Here’s some information about the three, along with a 15-year-old photo:
The three officials killed on Thursday are the highest-ranking fatalities since the beginning of the offensive.
Mr. Shamalah oversaw Al Qassam forces for the entire southern Gaza Strip, and Mr. Attar played a major role in arms smuggling, construction of infiltration tunnels and the capture of Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit in 2006, Israeli officials said. Israel accused them of deadly attacks going back 20 years. Mr. Barhoum supervised weapons smuggling into Gaza and helped raised funds for the group, the officials said.
This is the rationale behind the killings of the three, according to Israel:
Amos Yadlin, the former head of Israeli military intelligence, said Israel’s pursuit of Hamas leaders is part of a broader strategy to convince the Palestinian fighters that waging a war of attrition comes at an unbearable price.
“Israel is saying: ‘You want attrition? You are welcome,” Mr. Yadlin, now director of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said in a briefing for reporters. “Because our firepower, our intelligence, and our capability to sustain”¦are much bigger than yours. This is the strategy, and this is what you just saw in a couple of days.”
Israelis and Palestinians said Hamas would eventually replace the commanders. Previous assassinations had shown that Hamas could survive this kind of attack, said Darwish Al Arja, 65 years old, a Hamas supporter living at a United Nations-run shelter in Rafah.
“So long as Palestinian women can get pregnant, there will always be another Al Attar, another Abu Shamala, another Barhoum,” he said.
As for the killing of the supposed collaborators, that’s just par for the Hamas course:
The often-public deaths of informants or so-called collaborators are a routine part of life in Gaza, although instances greatly increase during times of heavy conflict.
Back in 2012, following the last conflagration with Israel in Gaza, Hamas executed a number of Palestinians it had accused of giving up valuable intel to the Israelis. As with today’s killings, the men are executed publicly as a warning not to cooperate with Israeli intelligence efforts.
According to the article, it is also routine for the bodies to be desecrated by the crowds.
This report disagrees, however, that any public executions occurred in 2012, stating that this was the first time such killings were public since the 1990s.
Well, which is it, folks?
[NOTE: Many of the comments to this Jerusalem Post article about the “collaborator” killings are interesting. The first group are to the effect that, if the Gazan Palestinians could only get rid of the terrorists
and stop trying to eliminate Israel, they could have a flourishing economy. These are typical:
I know I’m repeating myself, but it’s such a no brainer … they are sitting on such great beachfront property, if they just had some level of stability and the good sense to put up some nice hotels with all that concrete they could create a good tourist economy that would support many people with good jobs…
I served two stints of IDF reserve army duty in Gaza in the mid-1970’s after Sharon had cleaned out the terrorists there. Our base was on the the southern outskirts of Gaza City by the beach with beautiful houses across the street and locals jogging each morning. The shoreline reminded me of Laguna Beach near Los Angeles and the weather was very similiar. A few big hotels and a boardwalk and Gaza could have been a tourist mecca. Instead, Gazans just go to the other Mecca on their Haj and prepare for war.
Other comments mention that if in fact the collaborators who were executed actually were collaborators (which people doubt), then they are the real martyrs.]
Do you know how easy it would be to get Hamas to murder their own who are close to figuring out things that Israel doesn’t want them to know? A few planted items or papers, a second hand report to an unquestionable Hamas loyalist, who would push through to find the incriminating information first hand. Considering how Israeli, and possibly still US intelligence (if that is debatable after the brownout) work, my guess is none of them were traitors, at least to their own cause. Traitors to humanity, perhaps, but not to their own cult.
I enjoy this part of being among the civil. It reminds me, of a story from my childhood. On an Easter morning, we went to a farm for the day. Family friends, I think. We were each, of us kids, allowed to take a chick home. We had a small place for them, from the previous owners. We put a string or piece of yarn around the necks of the ones we wanted to take, so we could find them later as we were about to leave. By the time we were warned not to do that, and went to undo our mistake, the chicks had already been pecked to death by the other chickens. So it goes with the animal.
This isn’t primarily about public execution of possible collaborators, it’s about intimidation and preemptive dissuading of future collaborators.
Moderate Muslims know why not to be moderate.
Geoffrey Britain:
Yes. In a way, it’s a form of terrorism on the locals.
Yep, deterrence.
Likely Hamas is working themselves up into a huge lather of suspicion about who among them is spying for the Israelis. Shouldn’t be surprised if the Israeli counter-espionage agencies are encouraging this. So much more efficient, driving your enemies to destroy themselves.
It is rather a pity about Gaza, though. Way back when, they could have been a beach destination for Israelis. They could have raked it in, been the Bali or the Phuket beach of the eastern Med, prosperous beyond anything. But no – had to cherish a grudge, instead.
Yes, it is a form of terrorism on the locals, which will have two effects, first, sure, is intimidation. The second is to break down any sense of mutual trust, even solidarity. Such a breakdown can be produced in a variety of ways, as we have learned in America, but planting these rumors is cheaper than maintaining a spy and disinformation network. The Soviets offset the cost of doing that with the fruits of the industrial espionage by the KGB. The Israelis do their own research, and so don’t need to steal. So, the short and functional approach works. Over time, the distrust will eat away inside “Palestinian” society like termites. Purty slick!
I came here to say what Doom said. That’s how Hitler got Stalin to purge the Red Army in the ’30s: plant a bunch of information that various officers were spies for the Nazis, and let Stalin do the rest.
Michael Adams
Yes, it is a form of terrorism on the locals, which will have two effects, first, sure, is intimidation.The second is to break down any sense of mutual trust, even solidarity.
As the Palestinian territories already constitute a low-trust society, the summary executions of alleged “collaborators” will only exacerbate the low trust baseline in Gaza. This poll is from 2008. I suspect that low trust in Gaza has only increased since 2008 with each year that Hamas is in power.
Three days have passed since the Israeli attempt to kill Muhammed Deif, the military leader of Hamas. If alive, he could still be buried in the rubble. If he has been found, I would surmise that Hamas would want to publicize that. That there has been no such news leads me to conclude that he hasn’t been found yet. With each passing day, the probability of his being found alive will decrease.
Or is he safe and alive and Hamas wants to keep Israel guessing?
http://www.pewglobal.org/2008/04/15/where-trust-is-high-crime-and-corruption-are-low/
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/search-for-mohammed-deif-continues-in-gaza-city-ruins/2014/08/21/
Due process?
Rule of law?
Religion of Peace?
Retrograde barbarian savages.
Guess Hamas has no ACLU.
I hope the fact that they we do and they don’t, isn’t part of the cause of our eventual defeat. But I’m afraid it is, increasingly.
AAAAARRRGH. Strike the first “they”.
Guess Hamas has no ACLU.
I hope the fact that we do and they don’t, isn’t part of the cause of our eventual defeat. But I’m afraid it is, increasingly.
Dear Bibi: Kill some more of the loathsome butchering savages. Then, some more. Follow that up with more. See, we Americans who are ALL FOR putting Islamist Murderers in the ground must—most unfortunately—live vicariously through your wonderful actions. Our own leader(cough)ain’t up to it.
Americans all over were talking bout the Vietnamese and Iraqis not fighting for democracy, justifying abandonment as a policy. In reality they were working hand in hand, coordinating propaganda efforts with on the ground death squads. The death squads would intimidate people, and then Americans would benefit politically by exploiting the result of that intimidation.
See how the Left works?
These players lost their patrons when the three Big Boys died.
Obviously, no counter-intel organization discovers eighteen agents in a single swoop.
So, it was a house/ party purge.
One is reminded of the ethos expressed in the old Star Trek episode: “Mirror, Mirror.”
The anti-normal society promoted to leadership via assassination and treachery.
Since Hamas is a criminal gang aping government, what should one expect?
Guess Hamas has no ACLU.
They have CARE. But it only works in the US.
Dear CAIR: Looky, just Looky at what your Hamas Bruthas are doing to Muslims. ‘Bout time y’all in CAIR spoke the ***k up against that slimy butchering behavior. Right? Uhhh…Right?????
NCS//Right!
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