Israel Drops The Gloves

The International Tribune Herald is reporting an Associated Press story today stating that Israel is targeting mosques used by Hamas. What caught my eye - beyond the fact that Israel is not tiptoeing around mosques to begin with - is that the Associated Press even acknowledged Hamas using mosques, but even more so in such prominent fashion. I had expected that if they had mentioned it at all, it would be buried at the end of a latter paragraph. Will wonders never cease?

It is a positive sign that Israel first rejected the phony truce offer as a clandestine method for Hamas to regroup and re-arm, and is now pulling out all the stops to topple them for good. It's also encouraging to see the press starting to come around, finally.

In addition to the AP's headline admission of Hamas' culpability, the very first paragraph reads thus (emphasis mine):

JERUSALEM: Mosques and Muslim prayer halls have not escaped the relentless bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza by Israel, which claims the Islamic militants misuse some of the holy sites as weapons depots and command centers.

Also from the article:

A security official said Israeli intelligence — probably surveillance aircraft — saw missiles being fired outside the mosque and the men who launched them running inside the building.

Worshippers denied the mosque was a military outpost.

Well, of course they did, but what this illustrates is the inability of ordinary Palestinians to direct their ire towards those who truly desecrate holy sites by hiding in them, assuming that the Israelis will behave in a war like...well, like we would.

No, it is still all too convenient for them to chant in opposition to the "Zionists" who are only doing them a favor in the grand scheme of things. I would be willing to bet, also, that if the outraged Palestinians at last rose up against Hamas and their cowardly practice of hiding in mosques - thereby making them targets - and accepted peace, that Israel would gladly help rebuild the mosques they destroyed. What a New Year that would be.

As an aside to this essay, I am including a link to an IAF video that I was unable to embed. It is quite a demonstration of the precision of the Israeli air assault. It is in stark contrast to the haphazard practice of Hamas cavalierly launching rockets at Israel.
View it here.

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